I haven’t talked about the EFF in awhile. They’ve recently put up an article mocking those that are overly aggressive in asserting their copyrights and trademarks. No one seems to care about fair use anymore. YouTube is where most of these bogus takedowns occur. What seems most troubling to me is the use of takedowns and lawsuits to stifle free speech. Read the article for more information.

If you asked the average person, they would typically say privacy is very important. That is what makes several developments across the United States and Canada so troubling. Here are two recent cases.

1. A judge threw out a lawsuit by the ACLU and the EFF against several telcos. The lawsuit was filed as a result of the assistance they provided to the government in its warrantless wiretapping campaign. He cited the law passed by Congress granting immunity from lawsuits to the telcos.
2. A Canadian victim’s rights group called Victim’s of Crime has asked their government to force ISP’s to provide law enforcement with users’ data on demand. They blame the internet for the rise of abuse against children.

In the case of the new US law granting the telcos immunity from lawsuits, it cites the need to track terrorists and cyber-criminals. As for the Canadian group, the desire is to protect children.

At face value, these are very noble goals. However, will governments use these laws to spy on its citizens? Will powerful groups (RIAA, MPAA, etc.) use these laws to force ISP’s to give out private user data? These are the questions we must ask ourselves.

I’m going to go a little serious on this one. I usually don’t in this forum, but this is important to me.

I am a passionate advocate for the EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. You’ll see a web badge for them on my side bar. We have groups like the RIAA and the MPAA that are determined to take away our fair use rights in the digital realm. The EFF opposes them, and advocates us in the courts.

Before you think I’ve gone off the deep end, understand this. The RIAA uses an unlicensed investigative firm to track online downloading behavior. They are also lobbying the government to force the telcomm companies to divulge our downloading habits. I could go on and on, but I’ll save that for Empire of Geek.

One of their current projects is the Patent Busting Project. They are challenging in court the use of frivolous patents that discourage innovation. They even have a top 10 worst offenders list.

If you want to give me a Christmas present, make part of it (emphasis on part) a donation to the EFF. It would really make me smile.