News

• The government wants to know what it doesn't know

  "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."

• H.R. 1981, the jaws of law will eat your Internet rights

  You remember in "Jaws" where a girl is swimming in the ocean and the music starts playing ("dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun ...")? You know what's going to happen ... at the last moment she sees the shark's dorsal fin slicing through the water and, "eeeekkkkkkkkk!" ... too late! CHOMP!

• EFF: Forget cookies, your browser has fingerprints

  Even without cookies, popular browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox give Web sites enough information to get a unique picture of their visitors about 94 percent of the time, according to research compiled over the past few months by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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  Patent office to review VoIP patent

  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to review a controversial patent issued in 2001 that is claimed to cover much of the technology underlying VoIP.

• iiNet outcome an "application of common sense": EFF

  Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFF) has hailed the outcome of the iiNet vs AFACT case in favour of iiNet, calling the decision an "application of common sense".

• EFF: Browsers can leave a unique trail on the Web

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation has created an on-line tool that details the wealth of information a Web browser reveals, which can pose privacy concerns when used to profile users.

• Lawsuit seeks information on federal surveillance of social networking sites

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the University of California, Berkeley's Samuelson Clinic have filed a lawsuit (PDF document) against six government agencies, seeking information on their use of social networking sites for data collection and surveillance.

• Judge throws out Craigslist lawsuit

  An Illinois judge this week dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Cook County Sheriff's Office charging Craigslist with facilitating prostitution.

• Group of authors opposes Google book settlement

  More than two dozen authors and publishers have filed an objection to a proposed settlement that would allow Google to digitize and sell millions of books, saying that the agreement ignores important privacy rights of readers and writers.

• EFF: Apple's claim that jailbroken iPhones can crash cell towers a 'hill of beans'

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) took exception today to Apple's claims that "jailbroken" iPhones could cripple a mobile carrier network, calling the argument nothing but "a hill of beans."

• Wiki founder hopes win over Apple bodes well for online freedom

  The founder of a wiki site that attracted the force of Apple’s legal team hopes that his stand against Apple will create a precedent that will encourage online freedom in the future.

• Apple retracts legal threats against wiki site over iTunes

  Apple has retracted its legal threats against public wiki hosting site Bluwiki, and a counter suit on behalf of the Wiki operator has also been dropped.

• EFF urges members to pressure Google on books privacy

  Digital liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation is urging its supporters to pressure Google to build significant privacy protections into its Book Search service, with the EFF suggesting the service gives Google access to new personal information.

• When your phone rings, the copyright police may come calling

  A digital rights group is contesting a U.S. music industry association's assertion that royalties are due each time a mobile phone ringtone is played in public.

• EFF files surveillance lawsuit against NSA, Bush, Cheney

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit against the US National Security Agency (NSA), US President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other government officials, alleging that an NSA electronic surveillance program continues to illegally spy on US residents.