Tag Archives: Electronic Frontier Foundation
What Is CISPA?
It has not been too long since SOPA has been scrapped, but now we are hearing about a new law being proposed called the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). Even though it has not received much attention in the media, they have gained a lot of support from legislators. CISPA was authored by Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.). There are over 100 co-sponsors of the bill, but critics are describing it as being worse than SOPA.
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MegaUpload Users Are Demanding The Return Of Seized Content
MegaUpload has gone offline because of copyright infringement. The founders and executives at the company were raided and a lot of their possessions were taken into custody. However people that used MegaUpload for legal reasons want their data back. Specifically an Ohio man is asking a federal judge to preserve the data of 66.6 million users of MegaUpload.
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What Is ACTA?
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed plurilateral agreement that is used for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement. The Agreement would create a body outside of international institutions such as the WTO, WIPO, and the U.N. A couple of days ago, most European Union countries formally signed the agreement.
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Categories ACTA, EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Craigslist Not Held Accountable For Discriminatory Housing Ads
“The soapbox is not liable for what the speaker has said,” stated Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
Craigslist was taken to court recently. The lawsuit was regarding whether Craigslist should be held accountable for housing ads that contain discrimination. Craigslist won the case based on a decision at the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Craigslist is a classifieds web site where 30 million posts are made per month. Craigslist generates revenue by charging certain major cities a dollar amount per post. The Associated Press called this decision, a triumph for web sites that receive user-generated content.
A consortium of lawyers in Chicago, Ill. got together and decided to accuse Craigslist for over 100 ads that prevented potential housing buyers to be customers. Some of the ads that appeared in the housing ads included: “NO MINORITIES,” “Requirements: Clean Godly Christian Male” and “Only Muslims apply.”
“We’re pleased the Court agreed that online service providers like Craigslist should not be held liable as `publishers’ of content submitted by their users, and view this outcome as a win for the general public’s ability to self-publish content (such as free classified ads) on the Internet,” stated CEO of Craigslist, Jim Buckmaster.
Craigslist was founded by Craig Newmark.
[Information Source: Associated Press via Google]
Categories craigslist, Electronic Frontier Foundation
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