Some of EFF’s recent legal victories
By MIKE MILIARD | February 9, 2006
OPG v. Diebold (2004)
When two Swarthmore students published information about major security flaws in Diebold e-voting machines, the corporation rattled its swords, claiming copyright infringement. The EFF called Diebold’s bluff, striking a blow against abusive copyright claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Doe v. Ashcroft (2004)
The EFF filed an amicus brief to help the ACLU and an unnamed Internet-service provider challenge the constitutionality of secret subpoenas, a powerful prong of the USA PATRIOT Act. The court ruled that the subpoenas, and gag orders that prohibit recipients from revealing their existence, violate the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights of ISPs, and the First Amendment rights of the people who use them.
MGM v. Grokster (2004)
The EFF went before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to prove that the makers of P2P software weren’t liable for copyright infringement by their users. Upholding the “Betamax doctrine,” the 1984 Supreme Court decision that manufacturers can’t be responsible for users’ copyright violations if the technology ( e.g. , the Sony Betamax VCR) has substantial legal uses, the Ninth ruled in P2P’s favor — an important protection for technological innovation. (On appeal, the Supreme Court did rule against Grokster itself, but didn’t overturn the Betamax decision.)
JibJab Media v. Ludlow Music (2004)
In defending the makers of the widely circulated “This Land is Your Land” animated clip — in which George W. Bush and John Kerry trade verses of Woody Guthrie’s classic — from a litigious publishing-copyright holder, EFF uncovered evidence that the song is actually in the public domain.
Related:
Get it while you can, A fellow critic cops a plea, Free culture: what it is, why it matters, More 
- Get it while you can
A couple of months ago, a man with the screen name x-amount logged on to Recidivism.org , the blog he maintains with a few of his friends, and made a pronouncement.
- A fellow critic cops a plea
Paul Sherman, a long-time contributing critic for the Boston Herald , film editor at the Improper Bostonian , and former president of the Boston Society of Film Critics, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting copyright infringement in a San Jose, California, court last month.
- Free culture: what it is, why it matters
“Copyright law has successfully stopped artists in the past from releasing sample-based works, but I don't think anything could stop me from making it," says Gregg Gillis, a/k/a Girl Talk.
- Plunder, pillage, and profit
When Napster, invented by a Northeastern freshman, threw the music industry into chaos in 1999, Steve Jobs didn’t panic. He saw an opportunity.
- The Ninth Annual Muzzle Awards
Nearly five years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, our political culture has been warped beyond recognition.
- Stealing culture
The following review of Good Copy Bad Copy does not appear in the Phoenix ’s film section.
- Mic and the mechanics
At first blush, it was tempting to mock the 2007 National Free Culture Conference.
- Does not compute
Though he’s infamous for his aversion to computers, McCain is actually no Luddite.
- Fight the man with digicams
It depends on your perspective.
- The 11th Annual Muzzle Awards
Freedom of expression may be guaranteed by the Constitution. But it’s an idea we have to fight for every day.
- The 12th Annual Muzzle Awards
With the era of repression and secrecy fostered by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney finally over, this should be the best of times for freedom of expression, open government, and civil liberties. Yet change comes slowly.
- Less
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