THOUGH CONGRESS PASSED IMMUNITY FOR TELECOM LAWBREAKERS LAST WEEK, EFF recognizes that the year-long battle was made possible by record-breaking resistance from a fearless cadre of organizations and individuals. This resulted in far more opposition than immunity proponents were bargaining for when they initially sought to hide from accountability for cooperation with warrantless spying. In spite of the support of powerful corporations, and incessant political posturing by the Executive branch, wave after wave of public opposition delayed passage of immunity over and over and over again.
Though telecom immunity was eventually passed in the FISA Amendments Act, the fight is far from over. We have shown that there is a constituency -- a loud, organized, and active constituency -- that will passionately defend the Constitution, privacy rights, and the rule of law. Lawmakers risk their offices in ignoring this principled, tireless, permanent movement. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/little-victories-battle-against-telecom-immunity
Also, EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston guest blogged for The Hill, declaring that "our long war against warrantless wiretapping has only just begun." http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/repeal-immunity-movement-begins-today
VIACOM AND GOOGLE UPPED COMMITMENTS TO USERS' PRIVACY THIS WEEK in response to concerns aired by EFF after a court order that could have exposed the viewing habits of YouTube users. While the proposals are not perfect, they represent a sensitivity to users' privacy, even amidst controversial litigation. Viacom and Google have agreed that user IDs and IP addresses will be replaced with a "unique substituted value," and also that the parties will not try to reverse-engineer real identities from the unique identifiers. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/viacom-narrows-request-youtube-information
In addition, Viacom's General Counsel sent EFF a letter promising not to change the plan to protect users' privacy without informing EFF -- which leaves a chance for EFF to air privacy concerns in court if need be. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/viacom-letter-eff-re-google-youtube-data-privacy
