Action Center
The Internet Blacklist Legislation– known as PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House - is a threatening sequel to last year's COICA Internet censorship bill. Like its predecessor, this legislation invites Internet security risks, threatens online speech, and hampers Internet innovation. Urge your members of Congress to reject this Internet blacklist campaign in both its forms!
Call on the Department of Homeland Security to Publish Clear Guidelines for What They Do with Sensitive Traveler Information Collected in Digital Searches
Our lives are on our laptops - family photos, medical documents, banking info, details about what websites we visit, and so much more. But when it comes to searching travelers entering the U.S., border agents can take a laptop or smart phone, search through all the files, and keep it for further scrutiny - without any suspicion of wrongdoing whatsoever.
The U.S. House of Representatives is currently considering H.R. 1981, a bill that would order all of our online service providers to keep new logs about our online activities to help the government identify the web sites we visit and the content we post online. Tell your Representative to oppose this sweeping new "mandatory data retention" proposal, which treats every Internet user like a potential criminal.
S. 978 is a reckless attempt to attack online streaming by focusing on the "unlawful public performance" area of copyright law. By increasing the criminal penalties for certain online public performances, the bill will impose a chilling effect around the posting and creation of online video. Moreover, it will hamper the pace of innovation as users, websites, and investors cope with the uncertainty of running afoul of one of the more vague sections of copyright law. Act now and tell your Senators to oppose this shortsighted bill!
If the government wants to track our cell phones, or see what web sites we’ve visited, or rummage through our Gmail, or read our private messages on Facebook, it should be required to go to a judge and get a search warrant based on probable cause.
Chinese dissident writer Du Daobin is facing the possibility of imprisonment and torture. Urge Cisco Systems to intervene on Mr. Du's behalf and to stop helping China abuse human rights.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a trade agreement currently being negotiated by the United States and eight other countries. Like ACTA, the TPP is being negotiated in secret, and on a fast timetable. We don’t know what’s in the TPP IP chapter, and that’s what worries us. Entertainment industry executives who are members of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee will likely get to see the agreement drafts – again – but the rest of us will be kept in the dark unless we speak up now.
Users shouldn't be left in the dark. They have a right to know when the government is seeking their data and deserve a chance to stand up for themselves. But they can't do it unless companies are willing to make a commitment take a stand with them. As stewards of our digital lives, companies need to promise to be transparent and help users fight for stronger, clearer protections and standards in the law.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Action Center | Electronic Frontier Foundation
via eff.org
