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EFFector - Volume 24, Issue 7 - Three Months to Rein in PATRIOT and Restore JUSTICE

EFFECTOR

EFFector - Volume 24, Issue 7 - Three Months to Rein in PATRIOT and Restore JUSTICE

 
 
 
EFFector! Electronic Frontier Foundation
 
 

In our 565th issue:

Three Months to Rein in PATRIOT and Restore JUSTICE

Congress voted at the end of February to extend the expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, but only for three months -- giving liberty-loving citizens a new opportunity to continue to protest this dangerous law and demand the passage of meaningful PATRIOT reform before the end of May. Click here to email your congressperson today -- a message from you, opposing PATRIOT extension and demanding that Congress pass the reforms contained in the JUSTICE Act, could make a critical difference. Help EFF defend civil liberties and stop Congress from rubber-stamping the PATRIOT Act!

Supreme Court Case Could Jeopardize Medical Record Privacy

EFF has asked the Supreme Court to focus on the privacy issues at stake in a battle over the sale and data mining of medical records, urging justices to reverse a ruling that could jeopardize patient privacy. At issue is Vermont's Prescription Confidentially Law, which bans pharmacies from selling or using patients' prescription records for marketing purposes without the doctor's express consent. Companies that collect and sell these records challenged the law in court, arguing that they use "de-identified" information and that the law infringed their corporate free speech rights. In an amicus brief, EFF questioned the efficacy of the "de-identification," raising concerns that data-mining could expose patients' prescription histories.

Supreme Court Backs Government Transparency Over Corporate Privacy Claims

In a powerful ruling for government transparency and accountability, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected so-called "privacy" protections for corporate entities under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). EFF and a coalition of other groups filed an amicus brief in this case urging just this result, arguing that a new definition of "corporate privacy" would lead to broad swaths of previously public records becoming hidden from view.

Could 2011 Be The Year? A Look at the 2011 Patent Reform Act

The Senate began debating the watered-down Patent Reform Act of 2011 last week. Despite the bill's problems, we are encouraged that Congress seems serious about reforming the patent system. It is time to level the playing field between patent owners and other innovators whose work is often stymied by bad patents. EFF hopes that 2011 will be the year that long-awaited patent reform becomes a reality.

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miniLinks

Libya Goes Offline
Amid ongoing upheavel, Internet access was blocked in much of Libya.

Facebook Activists Arrested
Individual Facebook users were arrested in two countries -- Azerbaijan and Zimbabwe.

EFF Stands Up for Fans
At the Digital Music Forum, EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels stood up for the rights of music fans in the copyright debate.

(c)ensorship Unveiled
"Internet freedom" politician Al Franken speaks out for online censorship.

Administrivia

ISSN 1062-9424

EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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Editor: Rainey Reitman, Activist
editor@eff.org

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Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission.

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Announcements

CanSecWest Vancouver 2011

Marcia Hofmann, EFF Senior Staff Attorney, joins the line-up at this year's CanSecWest speaking on "The Law of Web Application Hacking."
Location: Vancouver, BC
Date: March 9-11, 2011

SXSW: South by Southwest Music + Film Interactive

Four of EFF's finest are presenters on three different panels at this year's SXSW Interactive!"
Location: Austin, TX
Date: March 11-20, 2011

Crossing Boundaries: Conference on International News, Technology and Audiences

Marcia Hofmann, EFF Senior Staff Attorney, will be speaking on a panel discussing "Citizen vs. Government."
Location: Berkeley, CA
Date: March 18, 2011

From Mad Men to Mad Bots: Advertising in the Digital Age

EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien joins a panel discussion on online advertising privacy at Yale Law School's Information Society Project's Spring Symposium.
Location: New Haven, CT
Date: March 25-26, 2011

SOURCE Boston and SOURCE Seattle

EFF is a proud partner of two SOURCE Security Conferences! In addition to advanced technical talks, SOURCE offers workshops on entrepreneurship, management strategies, job interviewing, presentation skills, and proficiencies and strategies designed for the security industry.
Location: Boston, MA
Date: April 20, 2011
and
Location: Seattle, WA
Date: June 15-16, 2011

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