EFFector       Vol. 14, No. 9       May 10, 2001     [email protected]

  A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation     ISSN 1062-9424

 IN THE 169th ISSUE OF EFFECTOR (now with over 27,400 subscribers!):

    * 2600 Court Asks for Further Briefing on 1st Amendment
    * EFF Moves to Protect Anonymity of Online Speech
    * Administrivia

  For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org
    _________________________________________________________________

   Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

   2600 Court Asks For Further Briefing on First Amendment

   For Immediate Release -- May 10, 2001

   Contact:

    Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director
    [email protected]
    +1 415 436 9333 x108

    Kathleen Sullivan, Stanford Law School Professor
    [email protected]

  New York - The Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals today asked the
  parties in the 2600 Case to file supplemental briefs on May 30, 2001,
  focusing on the First Amendment issues raised in the case.

  "This is good news," noted Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan
  who argued the case for 2600 Magazine. "It means that the Court took
  our First Amendment arguments seriously. They are asking for very
  specific answers about how the First Amendment should be applied here
  and we welcome the chance to tell them."

  The text of the order is available at:
   http://eff.org/Legal/Cases/MPAA_DVD_cases/20010508_ny_augment_order.h
  tml

  "Dean Sullivan did a wonderful job did in the argument," added Cindy
  Cohn, EFF's Legal Director. "We credit her for focusing the Court on
  these issues. We are especially pleased that the Court asked
  specifically about the section of the injunction that prevents linking
  to DeCSS." During the argument the court asked questions about whether
  this kind of injunction could chill expression by the New York Times
  and other mainstream media publications.

  The case arises from 2600 Magazine's publication of and linking to a
  computer program called DeCSS in November, 1999 as part of its news
  coverage about DVD decryption software. DeCSS decrypts movies on DVDs
  that have been encrypted by a computer program called CSS. Decryption
  of DVD movies is necessary in order to make fair use of the movies as
  well as to play DVD movies on computers running the GNU/Linux
  operating system.

  The Movie Studios have sued 2600 Magazine under a 1998 law that
  prevents even the publication of programs that can decrypt DVDs or
  other digital media. Most recently the law was used to frighten a
  Princeton Computer Science Professor, Edward Felton, from presenting a
  paper describing how to break proposed watermarks on CDs at a
  scientific conference. For more information see:
  http://www.acm.org/usacm/IP/DMCA-release.html

  An informal transcript of the oral argument and more information about
  this case are all available on the EFF website at:
  http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/Video/MPAADVD_cases/

   About EFF:

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
  organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded
  in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and
  government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the
  information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
  maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
    http://www.eff.org

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


   Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

   EFF Moves to Protect Anonymity of Online Speech

   Defends Critics of Failing dot Com Company

   For Immediate Release

    Contact:
    Lauren Gelman, EFF Public Policy Director, [email protected],
    202-487-0420

    Robert C. Holtzapple, Farella, Braun & Martel,
    [email protected], 415-954-4400

  May 7, 2001 -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with San
  Francisco law firm Farella, Braun & Martel, today filed a motion in
  the Federal District Court in the Northern District of California to
  defend the right of anonymous critics to express their views online
  without fear of arbitrary disclosure of their identity. The motion
  seeks to prevent an Idaho company called Medinex Systems, Inc. from
  learning the identities of 14 John Does who participated on a Yahoo!
  message board devoted to discussions about the company.

  Medinex sued the John Does, identified by their screen names such as
  "zippershut", "awe2bad4mdnx", and "dotcommie2000", after they made
  remarks critical of the company on Yahoo! message boards. Medinex
  stock has dropped precipitously in the past few months and is
  allegedly on the verge of being dropped from the NASDAQ exchange for
  non-compliance with NASDAQ's $1 minimum bid price requirement.

  The critics, some self-identified as shareholders and employees of the
  company, stated their opinions about the mismanagement of the company
  and other factors leading to its financial difficulties. Medinex
  alleged defamation, tortious interference with business relationship
  and wrongful interference with a prospective economic advantage. The
  company then issued a subpoena to Yahoo! in California seeking the
  identities of their critics without first proving any illegal actions.

  "This case is another in a disturbing trend where failing dot com
  companies seek to silence their critics using the civil discovery
  process," said Lauren Gelman, Public Policy Director for EFF. "We are
  hopeful that this court will agree with a recent Seattle District
  Court decision stating unequivocally that the First Amendment protects
  anonymous online speech." Gelman referred to a case entitled In re
  2theMart.com, in which the court quashed a subpoena seeking the
  identity of Internet posters on an Infospace message board after a
  motion brought by the EFF and the ACLU of Washington.

  "These people were simply expressing their opinions. Unfounded
  subpoenas such as these chill everyone's speech on the Internet. Since
  some of the Does claim to be employees, we are also worried that
  Medinex has brought this suit in order to identify and retaliate
  against them, rather than because of any real defamation," added
  Robert Holtzapple of Farella, Braun and Martel, which is handling the
  matter pro bono.

  Background materials about this case are available on the EFF website
  at: http://eff.org/Cases/Medinex_v._Awe2bad4mdnx/

  Materials concerning the 2TheMart case are available at:
  http://www.eff.org/Cases/2TheMart_case/

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org ) is the
  leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the
  digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges
  industry and government to support free expression, privacy, and
  openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported
  organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the
  world.

                                 - end -
    _________________________________________________________________


Administrivia

  EFFector is published by:

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation
  454 Shotwell Street San Francisco CA 94110-1914 USA
  +1 415 436 9333 (voice)
  +1 415 436 9993 (fax)
  http://www.eff.org

  Editors: Katina Bishop, EFF Education & Offline Activism Director
  Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technical Director/Webmaster ([email protected])

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