The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to save non-pirated user data from file sharing service Megaupload, allowing users to access their legitimate data before the company’s two U.S. based hosting services delete those files forever.

The EFF is currently working with Carpathia Hosting to “assess the scope of the issue facing Megaupload users.” In the meantime Carpathia has already launched the website MegaRetrieval.com which allows users to submit details of their data situation on an individual bases.

According to EFF staff attorney Julie Samuels:

“EFF is troubled that so many lawful users of Megaupload.com had their property taken from them without warning and that the government has taken no steps to help them,” and “We think it’s important that these users have their voices heard as the process moves forward.”

Carpathia is no longer being paid to house Megaupload data since the US Department of Justice froze the file sharing company’s assets, however they also state that they have “no immediate plans” to wipe out the data from their servers.

In the meantime some file retrieval may hinge on the US Government which copied a portion of the sites files allowed through a governmental search warrant before taking down Megaupload servers.

According to an official EFF statement:

“The government has finished its investigation of Megaupload’s servers and claims that the companies that own those servers – Carpathia and Cogent – are free to delete their contents,” and “Luckily, those companies aren’t following the government’s example of shooting first and asking later.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation isn’t the only group fighting for the retention of files, lawyers for Megaupload are also attempting to retain data for more than 50 million users.

Do you think users should be given one last shot to retrieve their data before Megaupload is closed permanently?

Electronic Frontier Foundation Vows To Save Megaupload User Data is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) might have a slight bias when it comes to reporting on stuff that is happening on the web but when they have post that is basically highlighting the responses to the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator’s request for submissions regarding its Joint Strategic Plan for intellectual property enforcement it’s worth looking at. Especially when you read the obvious wishlist from entertainment trade organizations (mouthpieces) like the RIAA and MPAA.

While there are days where what comes out of these organizations doesn’t surprise me in the least (hint: ACTA) this laundry list of ways that the RIAA and MPAA want to screw the consumer even more does surprise me considering how blatant the attempt is.

Here’s the list courtesy of the EFF:

• Anti-infringement software for home computers - in other words they want the legal right to install spyware on your computer that will scan and identify infringing files – and possible delete the files automatically.
  

  There are several technologies and methods that can be used by network administrators and providers…these include [consumer] tools for managing copyright infringement from the home (based on tools used to protect consumers from viruses and malware).

• Pervasive copyright filtering – to force network operators to institute filters on their networks to filter out any infringing files.
  

  Network administrators and providers should be encouraged to implement those solutions that are available and reasonable to address infringement on their networks. [This suggestion is preceded by a list of filtering methods, like protocol filtering, fingerprint-based filtering, bandwidth throttling, etc.]

• Intimidate and propagandize travelers at the border – to be given the right to have border guards seize and search all electronic devices like iPods and laptops for ‘pirated’ material.
  

  Customs authorities should be encouraged to do more to educate the traveling public and entrants into the United States about these issues. In particular, points of entry into the United States are underused venues for educating the public about the threat to our economy (and to public safety) posed by counterfeit and pirate products. Customs forms should be amended to require the disclosure of pirate or counterfeit items being brought into the United States.

• Bully countries that have tech friendly policies – The idea here is to force countries like Canada to copy and enforce all the guidelines and laws that the US has in regards to copyright and intellectual property. This is also one of the reasons that ACTA came into being in the first as a way to end run local country laws and force draconian laws on countries that normally wouldn’t do so.
  

  The government should develop a process to identify those online sites that are most significantly engaged in conducting or facilitating the theft of intellectual property. Among other uses, this identification would be valuable in the interagency process that culminates in the annual Special 301 report, listing countries that fail to provide adequate and effective protection to U.S. intellectual property rights holders. Special 301 could provide a focus on those countries where companies engaged in systematic online theft of U.S. copyrighted materials are registered or operated, or where their sites are hosted. Targeting such companies and websites in the Special 301 report would put the countries involved on notice that dealing with such hotbeds of copyright theft will be an important topic of bilateral engagement with the U.S. in the year to come. (As noted above, while many of these sites are located outside the U.S., their ability to distribute pirate content in the U.S. depends on U.S.-based ISP communications facilities and services and U.S.-based server farms operated commercially by U.S.-based companies.)

• Federal agents working on Hollywood’s clock – the use of ‘deputized’ Federal agents, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to provide muscle during the big summertime blockbuster season because we all know those cammers out there are a dangerous bunch.
  

  The planned release of a blockbuster motion picture should be acknowledged as an event that attracts the focused efforts of copyright thieves, who will seek to obtain and distribute pre-release versions and/or to undermine legitimate release by unauthorized distribution through other channels. Enforcement agencies (notably within DOJ and DHS) should plan a similarly focused preventive and responsive strategy. An interagency task force should work with industry to coordinate and make advance plans to try to interdict these most damaging forms of copyright theft, and to react swiftly with enforcement actions where necessary.

Gee doesn’t that leave you all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that the money we spend on movies and music is being spent in such a great way .. not to mention tax-payer dollars.

RIAA & MPAA wishlist to screw the consumer is a post from: The Inquisitr

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is pushing to receive royalties for ringtones played in public.

ASCAP claims that ringtones that sounds in public constitutes a public performance, a categorization that is beyond the purchased rights of those who have legitimately purchased a ringtone. If ASCAP wins, you, or your telco would have to pay a royalty every time your phone rang using a musical ringtone outside your own home. Did I mention we’re not making this up.

The EFF is dutifully on the case, and is arguing that if the incidental mobile phone playback of a short snippet in a public place were viewed as a “public performance” the Copyright Act has a specific exception, 17 U.S.C. 110(4), that covers performances made “without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage.” The EFF also notes (and again, we’re not making this up) that if ASCAP were to win, playing your car radio with the window down could also constitute a public performance as well.

The greed of the music industry continues to have no bounds. The EFF has more details here, and a copy of ASCAP’s brief as follows:

Music industry now wants to be paid public performance royalties for ringtones is a post from: The Inquisitr

The one document that just about everyone dreads reading, and most don’t, has to be the Terms of Service (TOS) that we have to agree to before using their services. Even when we get notification of changes chances are most of us ignore them. We shouldn’t but we do because they have to be some of the most boring shit we could ever not want to read.

To make things easier for us though the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created the Terms-Of-Service Tracker. At TOSback.org you can see a real-time feed of TOS agreements that have been changed as well as updates to more than three dozen policies from the some of the most popular services on the Internet.

"Some changes to terms of service are good for consumers, and some are bad," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "But Internet users are increasingly trusting websites with everything from their photos to their ‘friends lists’ to their calendar — and sometimes even their medical information. TOSBack will help consumers flag changes in the websites they use every day and trust with their personal information."

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation

Currently TOSback.org is following the policies of these companies

Amazon
Apple
Automattic
Blizzard
Craigslist
Data.gov
DoubleClick
EBay
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Facebook
Flickr
GoDaddy
Google
MySpace
Organizing For America
Recovery.gov
Twitter
Whitehouse.gov
Yahoo!
YouTube

You can also grab their RSS (or use this RSS link)

The EFF tracks companies and their changing TOS agreements is a post from: The Inquisitr

The lawsuit also includes President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the alleged warrantless domestic surveillance.

According to EFF, the lawsuit, Jewel v. NSA, aims at ending the NSA’s dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and holding accountable the government officials who illegally authorized it. Evidence in the case includes undisputed documents provided by former AT&T telecommunications technician Mark Klein showing AT&T has routed copies of Internet traffic to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA.

EFF Sues Bush, Cheney, NSA on Surveillance is a post from: The Inquisitr