EFFector March org Publication of t

EFFector       Vol. 15, No. 7,      March 8, 2002      editors@eff.org 

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation     ISSN 1062-9424 

  * ALERT: Oppose SSSCA; Support Intel's Bravery

  * Judge Ponders Jurisdiction in Russian eBook Formatter Case

  * Court Sets Jury Trial in Morpheus Peer-to-Peer Software Case

  * Meet Up With EFF Staff and Friends at South by Southwest on Monday,

    March 11

  * Administrivia

For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org/

To join EFF or make an additional donation:

  http://www.eff.org/support/

EFF is a member-supported nonprofit. Please sign up as a member today!

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ALERT: OPPOSE SSSCA; SUPPORT INTEL'S BRAVERY

A BAD LAW AND A SNEAKY PROCESS

Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT

(Issued: Friday, March 8, 2002 / Expires: Friday, March 22, 2002.)

When Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) held his hearings last week, he

thought he'd be setting the stage for slipping the Security Systems

Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA) back onto the legislative fast

track. The SSSCA was the bill that would have given Hollywood a veto on

the design of new technologies in order to "secure" copyrighted

material. The far-reaching bill would have crippled the American

technology industry in response to hysterical entertainment execs,

flushing away consumer rights and dumping innovation down the same

Senator Hollings' idea was to bring a bunch of Hollywood executives

together with technology industry execs to show that all the players

agreed with Hollings' plan to implement a mini-SSSCA that gives

Congress control over the specifications for all digital video

technologies.

What he got instead was a gutsy speech from Intel co-founder Leslie

Vadasz, who told Congress that his industry shouldn't be treated like a

munition. Vadasz was the sole voice of reason in those hearings, saying

things that were patently obvious to anyone with a smidge of tech

know-how, but his words provoked a torrent of vitriol from Hollings and

out from underneath the entertainment industry.

Vadasz was the only technology industry representative with the

ntelligence and integrity to speak up on behalf of the public interest

and consumer and business freedom. Civil liberties organizations and

the general public were definitely not welcome at Senator Hollings'

With Congress greatly influenced by Hollywood's financial clout, our

only hope of seeing justice served and our interests represented is

through brave technology industry execs like Leslie Vadasz. We're

n this fight, but he needs to hear it from Intel customers, too.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:

  * Send Intel Executive Vice-President Leslie Vadasz a letter letting

    him know that you're glad that *someone* finally stood up to the

    entertainment industry. Let him know that you're behind him all the

    way, tell him how many Intel-powered products you've bought in the

    past couple years (not just chips -- Intel's also behind Xircom

    networking gear, consumer electronics, and educational toys), and

    what your plans are for the future.

  * If you're still fired up, save that letter as a template and make

    tailored versions of it for the CEOs of your other favorite

    hardware, electronics and software vendors. Tell them that you're a

    happy customer who wants to stay that way. Tell them that your

    wallet only opens for the pure of heart, that you're only buying

    products from companies that represent your interests in Congress

    and in back-room meetings with the entertainment industry.

  * Contact your legislators about this issue - urge them to oppose the

    SSSCA and similar legislation. For information on how to contact

    your legislators and other government officials, see EFF's

    "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers" guide at:

      http://www.eff.org/congress.html

  * Join EFF! For membership information see:

      http://www.eff.org/support/

SAMPLE LETTER:

Here's the template that you can use as to send your thank-you notes to

    Dear Mr. Vadasz,

    I am writing today to applaud your bravery at the hearings before

    the Senate Commerce Committee last week in DC. It is heartening to

    see an innovative technology company standing up for its customers

    in the face the over-reaching demands of the entertainment

    industry. Thank you for fighting the entertainment industry's

    attempts to undermine our fair use rights and harm our economy by

    hobbling your industry with burdensome, nonsensical regulations

    that protect their bottom line at the expense of your own.

    [Insert your own history with Intel here, for example:

    I'm not a big corporate customer with a million Intel chips in my

    data center, but I am a loyal consumer whose laptop and desktop are

    both Intel Inside, whose last six computers have been powered by

    your chips. My 802.11 card comes from Xircom, another Intel

    company, and I imagine that as the years go by and you folks keep

    on speeding up your processors that I'll keep on buying newer,

    fancier machines that grant me access to an ever-more bountiful

    harvest of new software, services, communities and information.]

    Please keep up the good work -- don't let Hollywood take away your

    right to innovate and my right to use my equipment as I see fit.

    Sincerely,

    [Your name;

    include full address for maximum effectiveness]

 WHO TO CONTACT:

Leslie Vadasz

Executive Vice-President

Santa Clara CA 95052

c/o tom.marchok@intel.com

ACTIVISTS AROUND THE WORLD

This alert is primarily for U.S. residents. However, this issue is of

mportance globally, so keep an eye out in your own jurisdiction for

considering legislation similar to the U.S. DMCA and SSSCA.

BACKGROUND:

 SAVING THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FROM ITSELF -- AGAIN

Technologists have always saved the entertainment industry from itself.

From Marconi's telegrapher-reviled radio to Jack Valenti's campaign

against the VCR, the entertainment industry has always fought to keep

new technologies out of the marketplace. Again and again, new

technologies have generated fresh millions for the labels and studios

and publishers, and again and again, they've come back to bite the byte

that feeds them, blustering in front of lawmakers for the right to

control what technologists can build in the privacy of their own

But this time, they've gone too far. The movie studios have cooked up a

Congressional fire-drill whose objective is nothing less than total

control over the computer and electronics industry. Senator Hollings'

n the wings. In the meantime, the entertainment industry is intent on

"mini-SSSCAs."

Their opening salvo is a seemingly innocuous pitch to "protect" digital

TV signals (coming to every TV near you by 2006, if the FCC gets its

These specifications will allow studios to control the way you use

content, on the equipment you've bought and paid for. Studios are

long those recordings will be viewable and whether you can make a copy

of the recordings. In order for this plan to work, "non-compliant"

technology, whether software, hardware, or otherwise, will have to be

Never mind that such a scheme will advantage foreign manufacturers --

cost less -- in a down economy where U.S. electronics, software and

computer companies are fighting for their lives. Never mind that this

consumers. Never mind that such measures are unduly restrictive and

electronics. (Who'd have imagined the fantastic capacity for

broadcast news programs?)

 INTEL STEPS FORWARD

Leslie Vadasz, one of the founders of Intel, had the chips to show up

at Senator Fritz Holling's hearings last week and let Congress know

that Intel, an Amercian company that pours $13.5 billion dollars into

the U.S. economy every year, wants the freedom to independently

negotiate the specifications for its equipment with the studios,

This attitude is something we need to encourage! Senator Hollings

conducted his hearings as a private discussion between the studios and

the gadget companies, without any representation from consumers or even

civil liberties organizations. The closest thing we have to an advocate

n these critical proceedings are the electronics, computer and

EFF has the credibility to catch the ear of some of the key players in

the technology world, and we're making sure that they know that we're

behind them on this.

But we can't do it alone: You're their customers, and it's time you let

them know that we don't want your rights managed out of existence by

the MPAA, RIAA and other Hollywood lobbies, with their army of

attack-lawyers.

CAMPAIGN FOR AUDIOVISUAL FREE EXPRESSION:

This drive to contact Intel about their position on SSSCA is part of a

larger campaign to highlight intellectual property industry assaults

against the public's fair use rights, and what you can do about it.

Check the EFF Campaign for Audivisual Free Expression (CAFE) website

  http://www.eff.org/cafe/

LINKS:

EFF Media Advisory: Senate Hearings on Dramatic New Digital Media

Regulations (Feb. 27, 2002)

  http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA/20020227_eff_pr.html

EFF Letter to the Senate Commerce Committee on the proposed SSSCA (Nov.

  http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20011105_eff_sssca_letter.html

EFF Action Alert on SSSCA (Sep. 21, 2001)

  http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_sssca_alert.html

EFF "Intellectual Property - Video - HDTV/Digital Cable" Archive

  http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/

ABOUT EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties

organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in

the most linked-to websites in the world:

  http://www.eff.org

CONTACTS:

Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney

fred@eff.org

+1 415-436-9333 x123

Cory Doctorow, EFF Outreach Coordinator

cory@eff.org

+1 415-726-5209

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JUDGE PONDERS JURISDICTION IN RUSSIAN EBOOK FORMATTER CASE

ADOBE ASSISTS U.S. GOVERNMENT IN ELCOMSOFT PROSECUTION

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

San Jose, CA, March 4 - In the first round of motions in its criminal

Judge Ronald Whyte to dismiss criminal charges against it. Elcomsoft

creating and distributing software that could permit electronic book

owners to convert the Adobe eBook format and make use of eBooks without

Russian programmer Dmitri Sklyarov, who was also charged based on a

complaint filed by Adobe Systems Inc. of San Jose, created the software

against Sklyarov, and the government has suspended its prosecution of

Sklyarov.

Elcomsoft asked the court to dismiss the case because the company

outside the United States. Elcomsoft also explained that the government

both sides and is expected to issue a ruling shortly.

ts prosecution by providing it with a declaration from one of Adobe's

top engineers. "We're disappointed that Adobe continues to push for

criminal prosecution of creators of tools that allow the public to

exercise their rights," said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Legal

Director Cindy Cohn. "We were hopeful that, having publicly withdrawn

their support for throwing Mr. Sklyarov in jail, Adobe would not push

the prosecution of his employer."

Two additional motions to dismiss by Elcomsoft, on constitutional

On February 4, 2002, EFF filed an amicus brief in the Elcomsoft case

because it impinges on protected speech and stifles technological

nnovation. A group of over 35 law professors also filed an amicus

brief opposing the law.

LINKS:

EFF amicus brief in U.S. v. Sklyarov/Elcomsoft case:

  http://eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/20020204_eff_amicus_brief.pdf

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Sklyarov/Elcomsoft case:

  http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/US_v_Elcomsoft_faq.html

Other documents related to U.S. v. Sklyarov/Elcomsoft case:

  http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/

Related media coverage:

  http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50832,00.html

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COURT SETS JURY TRIAL IN MORPHEUS PEER-TO-PEER SOFTWARE CASE

JUDGE DELAYS DECISION ON BETAMAX VCR DEFENSE

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

Los Angeles - U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson today delayed

major entertainment companies.

Streamcast Networks, creators of the Morpheus software, had asked the

court to rule in favor of the technology on the basis of the "Betamax

uses cannot be banned simply because some people may use it to infringe

copyrights. The judge stated that it was too early to rule on this

question, deciding instead to set an accelerated trial schedule with a

"I am truly pleased that, unlike many of the cases where new

technologies have been attacked by entertainment companies, we will

Steve Griffin, CEO and President of Streamcast, the company which also

maintains the MusicCity.com website.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with the law firm of

Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, represents Streamcast. Andrew

Bridges, partner at Wilson Sonsini and lead attorney in the case, said,

"While we are disappointed that the judge thought our motion was

"There is an important principle at stake here," said Fred von Lohmann,

EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney, "Morpheus, as a technology

that has numerous noninfringing uses, should be legal for the same

legal."

Morpheus software users currently access a broad variety of materials,

ncluding public domain texts from Project Gutenberg, "shareware"

authorized by musicians.

Streamcast also cited the Napster case, noting that the court held

Napster liable based on Napster's operation of a centralized

file-indexing service, but it never held Napster liable for, or

enjoined, creation or distribution of its software. In its ruling on

Napster, the 9th Circuit warned, "To enjoin simply because a computer

network allows for infringing use would, in our opinion, violate Sony

and potentially restrict activity unrelated to infringing use."

On October 2, 2001, twenty-eight of the world's largest entertainment

companies sued Streamcast, the Nashville-based developer of the leading

of its product (MGM et al v. Grokster et al, Case No. 01-CV-8541 SVW).

LINKS:

Documents related to Metro-Goldwyn Mayer v. Grokster case:

U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Betamax case, Sony Corp. of America v.

Universal City Studios, Inc.:

OpenDocument

Related music publisher lawsuit against MusicCity:

EFF Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression:

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MEET UP WITH EFF STAFF AND FRIENDS AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST

ON MONDAY, MARCH 11TH

The Electronic Frontier Foundation , along with

Andrews and Kurth, L.L.P.  and Polycot

Consulting L.L.C. , will co-host a party during

the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. EFF's Cory

Doctorow will be on hand, along with former EFF-Austin leaders Ed Cavazos

(currently with Andrews and Kurth, L.L.P.) and Jon Lebkowsky (currently

The party will be held at Austin's great El Sol y La Luna, one of the

Festivities will begin around 8:30pm CST Monday, March 11. El Sol y La

Luna is located at 1224 S. Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78704. Free

munchies, lemonade, tea (and sangria while it lasts, then cash bar) -

and a happenin' crowd!

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