Timeline of Electronic Frontier Foundation actions

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit advocacy and legal organization based in the United States.

Contents

1990's

2000's

2010's

2020's

Related Research Articles

bnetd is a communication app that enables users of the online game StarCraft released on March 31, 1998 to connect and chat together. A bnetd clone was released on April 28, 1998 under the name StarHack and provided near-complete emulation of the original online multiplayer gaming service network. This was accomplished through reverse engineering of the corporate Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Felten</span> American computer scientist (born 1963)

Edward William Felten is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he was also the director of the Center for Information Technology Policy from 2007 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. On November 4, 2010, he was named Chief Technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, a position he officially assumed January 3, 2011. On May 11, 2015, he was named the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer. In 2018, he was nominated to and began a term as Board Member of PCLOB.

<i>Chamberlain Group, Inc. v. Skylink Technologies, Inc.</i> American legal case concerning the DMCA

The Chamberlain Group, Inc. v. Skylink Technologies, Inc., 381 F.3d 1178 is a legal case heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concerning the anti-trafficking provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2), in the context of two competing universal garage door opener companies. It discusses the statutory structure and legislative history of the DMCA to help clarify the intent of the anti-circumvention provisions and decide who holds the burden of proof. It expresses that the statute creates a cause of action for liability and does not create a property right, and holds that as Chamberlain had alleged that Skylink was in violation of the anti-trafficking provision, it had the burden to prove and failed to show that access was unauthorized and its rights were infringed under the Copyright Act. As Chamberlain incorrectly argued that Skylink had the burden of proof and failed to prove their claim, the court upheld summary judgment in favor of Skylink.

MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U.S. 913 (2005), is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled unanimously that the defendants, peer-to-peer file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast, could be held liable for inducing copyright infringement by users of their file sharing software. The plaintiffs were a consortium of 28 entertainment companies, led by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.

Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc., is an American legal case involving the computer printer company Lexmark, which had designed an authentication system using a microcontroller so that only authorized toner cartridges could be used. The resulting litigation has resulted in significant decisions affecting United States intellectual property and trademark law.

Sarah Beth Deutsch is an American attorney who was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of the telecommunications company Verizon Communications until her retirement in 2015. Since leaving Verizon, she is a practicing attorney in the Washington, D.C., area handling copyright, trademark, privacy and internet policy issues.

Arts and media industry trade groups, such as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), strongly oppose and attempt to prevent copyright infringement through file sharing. The organizations particularly target the distribution of files via the Internet using peer-to-peer software. Efforts by trade groups to curb such infringement have been unsuccessful with chronic, widespread and rampant infringement continuing largely unabated.

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia, program files, documents or electronic books/magazines. It involves various legal aspects as it is often used to exchange data that is copyrighted or licensed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act</span> 1998 U.S. federal law

The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is United States federal law that creates a conditional 'safe harbor' for online service providers (OSP), a group which includes Internet service providers (ISP) and other Internet intermediaries, by shielding them for their own acts of direct copyright infringement as well as shielding them from potential secondary liability for the infringing acts of others. OCILLA was passed as a part of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and is sometimes referred to as the "Safe Harbor" provision or as "DMCA 512" because it added Section 512 to Title 17 of the United States Code. By exempting Internet intermediaries from copyright infringement liability provided they follow certain rules, OCILLA attempts to strike a balance between the competing interests of copyright owners and digital users.

The WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act, is a part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a 1998 U.S. law. It has two major portions, Section 102, which implements the requirements of the WIPO Copyright Treaty, and Section 103, which arguably provides additional protection against the circumvention of copy prevention systems and prohibits the removal of copyright management information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recording Industry Association of America</span> Trade organization representing the recording industry in the U.S.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Millennium Copyright Act</span> United States copyright law

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. In addition, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. Passed on October 12, 1998, by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998, the DMCA amended Title 17 of the United States Code to extend the reach of copyright, while limiting the liability of the providers of online services for copyright infringement by their users.

<i>CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc.</i>

CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc., 373 F.3d 544, is a United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decision about whether LoopNet should be held directly liable for CoStar Group’s copyrighted photographs posted by LoopNet’s subscribers on LoopNet’s website. The majority of the court ruled that since LoopNet was an Internet service provider ("ISP") that automatically and passively stored material at the direction of users, LoopNet did not copy the material in violation of the Copyright Act. The majority of the court also held that the screening process by a LoopNet employee before the images were stored and displayed did not alter the passivity of LoopNet. Judge Gregory dissented, stating that LoopNet had engaged in active, volitional conduct because of its screening process.

<i>MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.</i> Court case in the United States

MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc and Vivendi Games, Inc., 629 F.3d 928, is a case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. At the district court level, MDY had been found liable under theories of copyright and tort law for selling software that contributed to the breach of Blizzard's End User License Agreement (EULA) and Terms of Use (ToU) governing the World of Warcraft video game software.
The court's ruling was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which reversed the district court in part, upheld in part, and remanded for further proceedings. The Court of Appeals ruled that for a software licensee's violation of a contract to constitute copyright infringement, there must be a nexus between the license condition and the licensor’s exclusive rights of copyright. However, the court also ruled, contrary to Chamberlain v. Skylink, that a finding of circumvention under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act does not require a nexus between circumvention and actual copyright infringement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotfile</span> File hosting website

Hotfile was a one-click file hosting website founded by Hotfile Corp in 2006 in Panama City, Panama. On December 4, 2013, Hotfile ceased all operations, the same day as signing a $4 million settlement with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA); the settlement had previously been misreported as $80 million.

Copyright Alert System (CAS) was a voluntary industry effort to educate and penalize internet users who engage in the unauthorized and unlawful distribution of copyrighted works via peer-to-peer file sharing services. The program was operated by the Center for Copyright Information, a consortium consisting of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and the internet service providers AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Litigation over global surveillance</span>

Litigation over global surveillance has occurred in multiple jurisdictions since the global surveillance disclosures of 2013.

Green v. Department of Justice is a pending lawsuit at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia filed to test the constitutionality of the anti-circumvention provisions enacted in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The lawsuit argues that, as passed, the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA prevent legitimate speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Copyright can be used to enact censorship. Critics of copyright argue that copyright has been abused to suppress free speech, as well as criticism, business competition, academic research, investigative reporting and artistic expression.

References

  1. "Inside the Electronic Frontier Foundation | TuxRadar Linux". www.tuxradar.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-22. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  2. Peterson, Jon (2015-05-08). "Your cyberpunk games are dangerous". Boing Boing. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  3. Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. US Secret Service, March 12, 1993, retrieved 2017-09-22
  4. "EFF: 1992 Pioneer Awards: Engelbart, Kahn, Warren, Jennings and Smereczynski Honored with EFF Pioneer Awards at Special Washington Ceremony". w2.eff.org. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  5. Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. US Secret Service, vol. 816, March 12, 1993, p. 432, retrieved 2017-01-22
  6. Staff, OSNews. "IO.com To Disappear, Piece of Internet History Lost". www.osnews.com. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  7. "Bernstein v. USDOJ (9th Cir. May 6, 1999)". epic.org. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  8. "EFF Helps Plant Seeds of 'Golden Key' Grassroots Campaign For Secure Electronic Communications | Electronic Frontier Foundation". Eff.org. May 2, 1996. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  9. "Craigslist Sex Ad Scammer Seeks to Silence Critics". Electronic Frontier Foundation. November 1, 2006.
  10. "EFF Wins Reexamination of Bogus Patent | Electronic Frontier Foundation". Eff.org. October 23, 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  11. "Sapient v. Geller Documents". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 2007-05-08. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
  12. "Jewel v. NSA | Electronic Frontier Foundation". Eff.org. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  13. "EFF Challenges Constitutionality of Telecom Immunity in Federal Court | Electronic Frontier Foundation". Eff.org. October 17, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  14. Simon Leo Brown, ABC News. "Few American friends for Wikileaks". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  15. "Defend Innovation". Defend Innovation. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  16. "New Coalition Site Fight215.org Launches to Amplify Opposition to the NSA's Mass Surveillance". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  17. "Stop the Patriot Act's Mass Surveillance". Fight 215. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  18. "Re: Takedown of the youtube-dl Repository". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-11-17.