AOL Censorship

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Sat, 15 Apr 2006 04:47:28 -0700 (PDT)

AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents

 

 

 

EFFector Vol. 19, No. 14 April 14, 2006 editor

 

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

ISSN 1062-9424

 

In the 375th Issue of EFFector:

 

* AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents

* You're Invited! " Email -- Should the Sender Pay? " : EFF

Fundraiser, Debate Between Esther Dyson and Danny O'Brien

* Digital Copyright Law Hurts Consumers, Scientists, and

Competition

* E-Voting Lobby Days a Resounding Success

* EFF Defends American's Free Speech Against Foreign Court

Ruling

* Get Secure, Encrypted Webmail and Support EFF

* Support EFF at the Maker Faire Dunk Tank!

* miniLinks (10): 2006 Underhanded C Contest

* Staff Calendar

* Administrivia

 

For more information on EFF activities & alerts:

<http://www.eff.org/>

 

Make a donation and become an EFF member today!

<http://eff.org/support/>

 

Tell a friend about EFF:

http://action.eff.org/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1061

 

effector: n, Computer Sci. A device for producing a desired

change.

 

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* AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents

 

Blocked Delivery Emails Mentioning www.DearAOL.com

 

San Francisco - This week, AOL blocked delivery to AOL

customers of all emails that include a link to

www.DearAOL.com. Over 100 people who signed a petition to

AOL tried sending messages to their AOL-using friends, and

received a bounce-back message informing them that their

email " failed permanently. "

 

" The fact is, ISPs like AOL commonly make these kinds of

arbitrary decisions every day - silently banning huge

swathes of legitimate mail on the flimsiest of reasons -

and no one hears about it, " said Danny O'Brien, Activism

Coordinator of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

" AOL's planned CertifiedEmail system would let it profit

from this power by offering to charge legitimate mailers to

bypass these malfunctioning filters. "

 

After the original version of this press release was sent

out Thursday afternoon, AOL stopped blocking email with

links to www.DearAOL.com. This incident only increases our

worry about organizations that don't have the ability to

seek instant press attention. The next time AOL's anti-spam

filters fail for a small organization - or one without

political muscle - will they move so quickly to fix them?

Or will they push organizations to just sign up with

Goodmail and pay to avoid the problem?

 

When reports of undelivered email started rolling in to the

DearAOL.com Coalition, MoveOn co-founder Wes Boyd decided to

see for himself if it was true.

 

" I tried to email my brother-in-law about DearAOL.com, and

AOL sent me a response as if he had disappeared, " said Boyd.

" But when I sent him an email without the DearAOL.com link,

it went right through. "

 

While AOL may imply that censoring www.DearAOL.com is part

of some anti-spam effort, its own customers are witnessing

how faulty AOL's spam measures would be if that were the

case.

 

" I forwarded www.DearAOL.com to my own AOL account and it

was censored. Apparently I can't even tell myself about

it, " said Kelly Tessitore from Framingham, Massachusetts.

 

" This proves the DearAOL.com Coalition's point entirely:

left to their own devices, AOL will always put its own self-

interest ahead of the public interest in a free and open

Internet, " said Timothy Karr, campaign director of Free

Press, a national, nonpartisan organization working on media

reform and Internet policy issues. " AOL wants us to believe

they won't hurt free email when their pay-to-send system is

up and running. But if AOL is willing to censor the flow of

information now to silence their critics, how could anyone

trust that they will preserve the free and open Internet

down the road? Their days of saying 'trust us' are over -

their credibility is zero, zip, nada. "

 

The DearAOL.com Coalition represents over 15 million people

combined - and has grown from 50 member organizations to

600 in a month. Since the beginning of the DearAOL.com

campaign, more than 350,000 Internet users have signed

letters to AOL opposing its pay to send proposal. Coalition

members include craigslist founder Craig Newmark, the

Association of Cancer Online Resources, EFF, Free Press, the

AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org Civic Action, Gun Owners of America, and

others.

 

For more on the issues surrounding pay-to-send email, join

EFF for a debate on April 20 in San Francisco. EFF's

O'Brien and tech expert Esther Dyson will face off over the

question " Email -- Should the Sender Pay? " Entrepreneur and

EFF cofounder Mitch Kapor will moderate.

 

More information about the DearAOL.com Coalition:

<http://www.dearaol.com/>

 

More information on next week's debate:

<http://www.eff.org/bayff/aolmail_debate.php>

 

For the initial press release:

<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_04.php#004556>

 

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* You're Invited! " Email -- Should the Sender Pay? " : EFF

Fundraiser, Debate Between Esther Dyson and Danny O'Brien

 

In light of AOL's adopting a " certified " email system, EFF

is hosting a debate on the future of email. With

distinguished entrepreneur Mitch Kapor moderating, EFF

Activism Coordinator Danny O'Brien and renowned tech expert

Esther Dyson will discuss the potential consequences if

people have to pay to send email. Would the Internet

deteriorate as a platform for free speech? Would spam or

phishing decline?

 

WHEN:

Thursday, April 20th, 2006

7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

 

WHAT:

 

" Email - Should the Sender Pay? "

 

WHO:

 

Danny O'Brien

 

Danny O'Brien is the Activism Coordinator for the EFF. His

job is to help our membership in making their voice heard:

in government and regulatory circles, in the marketplace,

and with the wider public. Danny has documented and fought

for digital rights in the UK for over a decade, where he

also assisted in building tools of open democracy like Fax

Your MP. He co-edits the award-winning NTK newsletter, has

written and presented science and travel shows for the BBC,

and has performed a solo show about the Net in the London's

West End.

 

Esther Dyson

 

Esther Dyson is editor of Release 1.0, CNET's quarterly

technology-industry newsletter, and host of its PC Forum,

the high-tech market's leading annual executive conference.

She sold her business, EDventure Holdings, to CNET Networks

in early 2004. Previously, she had co-owned EDventure and

written/edited Release 1.0 since 1983. She was also an

early board member of EFF and was our chairman from July

1995 to January 1998, and was founding chairman of ICANN

(1998-2000). The author of the book " Release 2.0: A design

for living in the digital age, " which suggested a sender-

pays model for e-mail in 1997, Dyson also recently wrote a

New York Times op-ed called " You've Got Goodmail, "

supporting a voluntary recipient-charges/sender-pays model

for email.

 

Mitch Kapor

 

Mitchell Kapor is the President and Chair of the Open Source

Applications Foundation, a non-profit organization he

founded in 2001 to promote the development and acceptance of

high-quality application software developed and distributed

using open source methods and licenses. He is widely known

as the founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the

designer of Lotus 1-2-3, the " killer application " that made

the personal computer ubiquitous in the business world in

the 1980's. In 1990, Kapor cofounded EFF. Mitch will

moderate the debate.

 

WHERE:

Roxie Film Center

3117 16th Street, San Francisco

(between Valencia and Guerrero)

Tel: (415) 863-1087

 

For a map:

http://www.roxie.com/directions.cfm

 

Local Muni are the 22 and 53 (both at 16th & Valencia), 33

(18th & Valencia), 14 (16th & Mission), 49 (16th & Mission).

BART stops one block east at 16th & Mission.

 

Public Parking is available on Hoff Street, off of 16th

between Valencia and Mission, at very reasonable rates.

 

This fundraiser is open to the general public. The suggested

donation is $20. Wear you EFF t-shirt and your suggested

donation plummets to just $10! No one will be turned away

for lack of funds.

 

Please RSVP to events

 

Adaptive Path is the generous sponsor of this fundraising

event. Founded in 2001, Adaptive Path is a leading user

experience consulting, research, and training firm that has

provided services to a range of clients, including Fortune

100 corporations, pure-Web startups, and established

nonprofit organizations. The company is headquartered in

San Francisco. To learn more about Adaptive Path, visit the

company website at:

<http://www.adaptivepath.com>

 

To learn more about the DearAOL campaign against AOL's

planned sender-pay system:

<http://www.dearaol.com>

 

For Esther Dyson's editorial, " You've Got Goodmail " :

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/opinion/17dyson.html>

 

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* Digital Copyright Law Hurts Consumers, Scientists, and

Competition

 

EFF Report Highlights More Unintended Consequences in Seven

Years of DMCA

 

San Francisco - In the seven years since Congress enacted

the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), examples of the

law's impact on legitimate consumers, scientists, and

competitors continue to mount. A new report released this

week from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF),

" Unintended Consequences: Seven Years Under the DMCA, "

collects reports of the misuses of the DMCA -- chilling free

_expression and scientific research, jeopardizing fair use,

impeding competition and innovation, and interfering with

other laws on the books. The report updates a previous

version issued by EFF in 2003.

 

The report tells the story of the delay of the disclosure of

the Sony BMG " rootkit " vulnerabilities on millions of music

CDs. The dangerous software flaws were initially discovered

by Princeton graduate student J. Alex Halderman. But

Halderman delayed sounding the alarm about the security

problems for several weeks so he could consult with lawyers

about potential violations of the DMCA. The report also

details the DMCA's role in impeding RealNetworks from

selling digital music to Apple iPod owners, along with other

unintended consequences from the DMCA.

 

" Rather than being used to stop 'piracy,' the DMCA has

predominantly been used to threaten and sue legitimate

consumers, scientists, publishers, and competitors, " said

EFF senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann. " This law is

not being used as Congress intended, and a review of the

past seven years makes it clear that reform is needed. "

 

For " Unintended Consequences: Seven Years Under the DMCA " :

<http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/?f=unintended_consequences.html>

 

For more on EFF and the DMCA:

<http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/>

 

For this release:

<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_04.php#004554>

 

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* E-Voting Lobby Days a Resounding Success

 

Last week, hundreds of citizen lobbyists joined leading

election integrity advocates in Washington, DC, to show

their support for safe and auditable elections. The " I

Count " Coalition, " which includes EFF, Common Cause,

Verified Voting, Voters Unite, VoteTrustUSA, and Working

Assets, led the lobbying effort in support of HR 550 -- the

Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act. This bill

would ensure a voter-verified paper record of every vote,

establish mandatory random hand-counted audits, and prohibit

the use of secret software and wireless communications in

voting machines.

 

The Lobby Days event was a resounding success. New

endorsements came from Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL), Rep. John

Shimkus (R-IL), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Lucille

Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA), Rep. Jim Leach

(R-IA), Rep. Steven Lynch (D-MA), Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY),

Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Rep. Jim

Gerlach (R-PA). The number of co-sponsors of the House bill

now stands at 178. The bill needs 218 cosponsors to go

before the full House and out of committee where it has been

held up since its introduction.

 

" These new bipartisan co-sponsors demonstrate that the issue

of transparent elections doesn't belong solely to Democrats

or Republicans, " said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman.

" Making election technology work in an open and verifiable

way is a goal we should all share. It's refreshing to see

that message continues to gain momentum. "

 

HR 550 " I Count " Coalition:

<http://www.icountcoalition.org>

 

EFF's Lobby Days Blog:

<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/cat_evoting_lobby_days.php>

 

To tell your Representative to support HR 550:

<http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=109>

 

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* EFF Defends American's Free Speech Against Foreign Court

Ruling

 

Your online speech may be perfectly legal under our laws,

but when can a US court be made to enforce a foreign law

against you? Can the First Amendment be undermined by court

decisions from nations that are less protective of free

speech? That's the issue addressed in an amicus brief filed

by EFF on Monday, arguing that the First Amendment blocks

two French fashion design companies from enforcing a French

court judgment in the U.S.

 

In this case, Sarl Louis Feraud International v. Viewfinder

Inc., the French companies had won a default judgment in

France against Viewfinder Inc., an American company that

maintains websites of photographs from fashion shows. The

French designers claim that Viewfinder's posted photographs

infringed rights in their dresses. The companies then tried

to enforce the judgment in New York federal court, which

rightly found that the French court judgment was " repugnant "

to U.S. law and public policy because it would stifle

Viewfinder's speech.

 

Just because your online speech may be read in another

country doesn't mean that country's law should bind you.

Joined by ACLU and CDT, EFF supported the district court's

decision and this week filed its brief opposing the French

companies' appeal to the Second Circuit. Former EFF staff

attorney Wendy Seltzer, now teaching at Brooklyn Law School,

was counsel to EFF, ACLU and CDT on the brief.

 

For the brief:

<http://eff.org/global/jurisdiction/viewfinder-amicus-final.pdf>

 

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* Get Secure, Encrypted Webmail and Support EFF

 

MailSaurus is an open source webmail system that helps you

protect your privacy. Using end-to-end data encryption,

MailSaurus ensures that nobody -- not even the system

administrator -- can read your e-mail in storage or in

transit. Also, MailSaurus' unique " Secure Registered E-

mail " feature allows you to send encrypted e-mails to any

recipient in the world without exchanging keys or using any

special software. You can download the MailSaurus software

and run your own secure mail server for free, or sign up for

MailSaurus' email service.

 

MailSaurus has graciously pledged to donate 20% of service

fees from EFF members who sign up for its pay service.

Also, 5% of all donations to the project at the SourceForge

website will be given to the EFF.

 

To learn more about MailSaurus and sign up:

<http://www.mailsaurus.com>

 

To download the MailSaurus' software:

<http://mailsaurus.sourceforge.net>

 

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* Support EFF at the Maker Faire Dunk Tank!

 

If you're going to O'Reilly's Maker Faire on April 22-23 in

San Mateo, California, be sure to pop by the Dunk The Makers

stand. Maker Bruce Gee has constructed a fine DIY dunk tank,

and you'll get an opportunity to see the great and the good

of hardware hacking doused for the benefit of cleanliness,

godliness -- and $20 to the EFF per bucket.

 

If you'd like to volunteer for victimhood (or are bringing

an unsuspecting friend who you'll volunteer by proxy), send

mail to danny marked " H2O " with names. Ponchos and

warm towels will be available.

 

EFF will also have a booth at the Faire on April 22. Come

by and grab some EFF swag -- we look forward to seeing you!

 

Maker Faire:

<http://www.makezine.com/faire/>

 

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* miniLinks

miniLinks features noteworthy news items from around the

Internet.

 

~ 2006 Underhanded C Contest

The competition for sneaky code writing is back, and this

year it's all about the " plausible deniability. "

<http://www.brainhz.com/underhanded/>

 

~ Does OK Spyware Bill Give Carte Blanche to EULAs?

An Oklahoma bill would enshrine in law software's ability to

root through your hard drive if you click the " Agree "

button.

<http://www.okgazette.com/news/templates/cover.asp?articleid=423 & zoneid=7>

 

~ Wiretapping on the Increase in Europe

It's not just for the NSA.

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800529\

..html>

 

~ Some Worries as San Francisco Goes Wireless

New York Times points to EFF's concerns with Google's pan-

Francisco Wi-Fi.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/technology/10wifi.html?ex=1302321600 & en=93da4\

b89b4623e07 & ei=5088 & partner=rssnyt & emc=rss>

 

~ Remote Storage DVRs Pose " Gigantic Copyright Issues "

TV industry freaks at CableVision's attempts to centralize

time-shifting video.

<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060410-6564.html>

 

~ Chinese Food for Thought

The Center for Democracy and Technology's resources on tech

companies in China.

<http://www.cdt.org/international/china/>

 

~ Ex-MPAA Anti-Piracy Enforcer Joins MySpace as " Chief

Security Officer "

Hemanshu Nigam will be protecting the children for News

Corp.

<http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view & n\

ewsId=20060411005413 & newsLang=en>

 

~ Grover Norquist Seeks Trademark on " K Street Project " Name

Worries that the lobbying brand may be tarnished in

Washington.

<http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/041206/news2.html>

 

~ Another Think Tank Turns Against the DMCA

The Competitive Enterprise Institute says big rights holders

shouldn't be subsidized by the state.

<http://www.cei.org/gencon/016,04454.cfm>

 

~ Mark Mulligan: Who's Got The BPI's Missing 0.81 Billion?

Jupiter Research skewers the British Phonographic Industry's

piracy figures.

<http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/mulligan/archives/014722.html>

 

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* Staff Calendar

 

For a complete listing of EFF speaking engagements (with

locations and times), please visit the full calendar:

<http://www.eff.org/calendar/>

 

April 20 -

EFF Fundraiser, " Email -- Should the Sender Pay? " , Debate

Between Esther Dyson and Danny O'Brien, San Francisco, CA.

<http://www.eff.org/bayff/aolmail_debate.php>

 

April 21-23 -

Derek Slater speaking at FreeCulture.org National Summit,

Swarthmore College, PA.

<http://freeculture.org/summit2006/>

 

April 22 -

EFF at the Maker Faire, San Mateo, CA.

<http://www.makezine.com/faire/>

 

April 23 -

Ren Bucholz speaking at Flash in the Can, Toronto, Canada.

<http://www.fitc.ca/presentation_detail.cfm?festival_id=5 & presentation_id=319>

 

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* Administrivia

 

EFFector is published by:

 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

454 Shotwell Street

San Francisco CA 94110-1914 USA

+1 415 436 9333 (voice)

+1 415 436 9993 (fax)

<http://www.eff.org/>

 

Editor:

Derek Slater, Activist

derek

 

Membership & donation queries:

membership

 

General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries:

information

 

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is

encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent

theviews of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually,

please contact the authors for their express permission.

Press releases and EFF announcements & articles may be

reproduced individually at will.

 

Current and back issues of EFFector are available via the

Web at: <http://www.eff.org/effector/>

 

 

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