Phoenix File-Sharing Suit Based on Bogus "Making Available"

Argument

Phoenix, AZ – On Wednesday, EFF urged a federal judge in Phoenix to block the recording industry's effort to sue two Arizona residents for simply having music files in a "shared" folder on their computer.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is seeking thousands of dollars in damages from the defendants in the case, Pamela cheap viagra online without prescription and Jeffery Howell, for alleged unauthorized distribution of copyrighted digital music.

However, instead of proving that the Howells actually distributed music files, the RIAA claims only that they had songs in the "shared" folder of peer-to-peer file-sharing software Kazaa — without any proof that anyone other than their own investigators actually downloaded the songs from them.

EFF's Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann argued at Wednesday's hearing that the RIAA cannot take this shortcut in its lawsuit campaign.

"This amounts to suing someone for attempted copyright infringement — something the Copyright Act simply does not allow," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann.

"If the RIAA wants to keep bringing these suits and collecting big settlements, then they have to follow the law and prove their case. It's not enough to say the law could have been broken. The RIAA must prove it actually was broken."

For more about the case:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/01/eff-files-brief-atlantic-v-howell-resisting-riaas-attempted-distribution-theory

For EFF's amicus brief:

http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/atlantic_v_howel/EFF_amicus_atlantic_howell.pdf

For this release:

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/03/03

Trio of Commerce Chairmen Call for Further Investigation Based on Latest Spying Allegations

Washington D.C. – Three powerful House Commerce Committee Chairmen strongly urged their colleagues Thursday to defer acting on requests for retroactive immunity and to demand more information from the White House and the telecommunications companies in the wake of disclosures by another whistleblower that the government apparently has been granted an open gateway to customer information and calls by a major telecommunications company.

Babak Pasdar, a computer security consultant, has gone public about his discovery of a mysterious "Quantico Circuit" while working for an unnamed major wireless carrier. Pasdar believes that this circuit gives the U.S. government direct, unfettered access to customers' voice calls and data packets. These claims echo the disclosures from retired AT&T technician Mark Klein, who has described a "secret room" in an AT&T facility.

The White House is putting heavy pressure on lawmakers to grant the telecoms immunity from lawsuits over the spying as part of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) legislation pending in Congress. But in today's letter — written by John Dingell, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Ed Markey, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet; and Bart Stupak, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations — the congressmen argue that lawmakers must not "vote in the dark" on the immunity issue when "profound privacy and security risks" are involved.

"When you put Mr. Pasdar's information together with that of AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein, there is troubling evidence of telecom misconduct in massive domestic surveillance of ordinary Americans," said Cindy Cohn, Legal Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

"Congress needs to have hearings and get some answers about whether American telecommunications companies are helping the government to illegally spy on millions of us.

Retroactive immunity for telecom companies now ought to be off the table in the ongoing FISA debate."

EFF represents the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, a class-action lawsuit brought by AT&T customers accusing the telecommunications cheap viagra 100mg company of violating their rights by illegally assisting the National Security Agency in widespread domestic surveillance. The Hepting case is just one of many suits aimed at holding telecoms responsible for knowingly violating federal privacy laws with warrantless wiretapping and the illegal transfer of vast amounts of personal data to the government.

For the full letter:

http://www.eff.org/files/newwhistleblower.pdf

For more on the telecoms' role in warrantless spying:

http://www.eff.org/issues/nsa-spying

For this complete release:

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/03/06