It looks like the BBC has finally backed down on their "multi-million pound failure" called the iPlayer! They will now offer flash video. This isn't free as in freedom by any means, but it is accessible to users of GNU/Linux systems. What a great week this has been for the crew at BinaryFreedom! See http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/17/0323202
Comrade Ringo Kamens

See EFF's Accurate take on Facebook's Beacon:

"* Facebook Beacon Roundup: Data Collection Methods Still
Troubling

Facebook has been the the target of much criticism in
recent weeks, thanks to the rapid spread of reports about
Facebook's Beacon, a tool that allows third-party websites
to send information about user activities back to Facebook.

Despite implementing changes that gave the user more
control over the publishing of their information on
Facebook pages, important privacy considerations remain.
Initial reports on Beacon's behavior demonstrated that
Beacon's fundamental technical underpinnings rely on
third-party websites sending information to Facebook
regardless of the user's opt-out/opt-in preferences.
Security researcher Stefan Berteau observed that his
behavior on epicurious.com was being transmitted to
Facebook in several unexpected scenarios, including while
he was completely logged out of Facebook. While his actions
on epicurious.com weren't at risk of being published, it
was still eerie that epicurious.com was telling Facebook
about his actions despite his being logged out.

As a general precaution, we would advise users not to send

Looks like we've got to step up our campaigns in Canada. From the EFF:
"
* Copyright in Canada: No Longer Business as Usual

It's been a roller-coaster few weeks for digital rights
activists in Canada. A few weeks ago, rumors began
circulating that the current minority Conservative
government was going to present a copyright reform act
before the new year. It's long been known that the US
government and media companies are pressuring Canada to
"normalize" its IP law with its southern neighbor.

The apparent intent of the government to slip the bill
through at the very end of the Christmas parliamentary
session suggested an administration that believed that
importing IP law was a simple enough trade for US approval
-- a law that would gather nothing more than a muted
protest from those not involved in the backroom
negotiations.

The administration could not have been more wrong! Despite
the unseasonal timing of the bill's announcement, and with
no confirmed text of the bill, Net users in Canada quickly
created their own opportunities for public discussion.
Spearheaded by Canadian law professor Michael Geist, over

I come to you today with absolutely amazing news. Because of the hard work of Binary Freedom Activists, the ACLU, the EFF, MoveOn, and thousands of other organizations, we have killed the FISA bill that includes retroactive immunity. Chris Dodd, the fearless leader who promised to filibuster the bill is truly an American hero. He has taken things into his own hands and defended the constitution by going against the desires of his party. He debated the bill for over 30 minutes on the Senate floor and brought this bill what it needed: publicity. Thanks for all the calls, emails, and in-person visits you have paid to your elected representatives. Thanks for all of the letters to the editor, conversations with friends, and coffeehouse flyers you put up. They paid off today and this proves once again that we are a powerful force when we take action.

The bill is dead for now, but it will probably be brought to the floor again sometime next month. Get ready to mobilize.

Please call Chris Dodd and thank him for his strong leadership on this issue. Make sure he knows how much we appreciate him
(202) 737-3633

In a completely unrelated case that Binary Freedom activists have not been following or involved in, we won! A federal district judge has ruled that passphrases to encryption keys are subject to 5th amendment protection. This is a big win for the 5th amendment and sanctity of encryption. I don't think this ruling would be upheld if it was taken to the supreme court, so you might want to consider using encryption with built-in plausible deniability. Truecrypt.org is one open source project that can provide that. Until then, keep encrypting with open-source programs!
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/12/15/1459243.shtml
Comrade Ringo Kamens

The vote is coming soon. Our congress will decide the fate of privacy in this country and choose whether to let un-american, law-breaking, constitutional-rights-violating telecoms off the hook for their participation in the illegal NSA Domestic Spying program. We've been calling and emailing on this issue for weeks and this is the *FINAL* stretch. The ACLU, EFF, NLG, and thousands of other organizations have called for action on this issue. We brought this issue to the forefront, now let's smash the opposition!

--- What You Need To Know ---

Presidential candidates are already taking positions on the upcoming "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act" (S. 1959). Barack Obama has come out in favour of the bill that effectively created Orwell's thoughtcrime. Protestors demonstrated outside Hilary's office but they have refused to comment on the bill. Kucinich has come out against the bill, calling it "unconstitutional". Ron Paul was not present for the vote. Just so you know where your candidates stand.
For more information on why this bill is bad and why we must stop it, see http://binaryfreedom.info/node/267

http://act.credomobile.com/campaign/fisa_senate_dec102007

"The White House does not often lose a fight that really matters. However, the struggle to secure amnesty for the telecom companies that helped the Bush administration illegally spy on Americans may be the rare exception.

Why amnesty? Bush wants retroactive immunity for the telecom companies to thwart lawsuits that threaten to expose his own violations of the original FISA law. If these lawsuits aren't allowed to go forward, we may never know the extent of the Bush administration's illegal efforts to spy on American citizens without the required warrants.

Pressure from CREDO Action members (who have sent over 50,000 faxes on this issue alone), the ACLU, MoveOn.org, the blogosphere and other allies has thus far successfully beaten back efforts amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to grant amnesty for AT&T and Verizon's lawbreaking.

DefectiveByDesign.org
DRM ACTION ALERT
The Kindle Swindle

Although the Amazon Kindle may be a convenient device, it's real cost is that users must give up their freedom to use it.

Read the blog post.

Digg this action!

Tag the Kindle and Kindle ebooks on Amazon.

The terms of service on the Kindle make you agree to use the Digital Restriction Management (DRM) they place on all books. Kindle ebooks can not be shared with friends and they can not be moved to a new device or computer. you are locked in to the Kindle, and you must promise to never try to escape. If you do try to move the books you own to new ebook reader or a computer, Amazon can end your service and remove access to the books you have already purchased.

I just found out that Facebook has made Beacon opt-out. We pressured them and then they made it each item opt-in and we kept applying our pressure to Facebook and their advertisers until we won. Here is a copy of the blog post from Facebook:
"About a month ago, we released a new feature called Beacon to try to help people share information with their friends about things they do on the web. We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it. While I am disappointed with our mistakes, we appreciate all the feedback we have received from our users. I'd like to discuss what we have learned and how we have improved Beacon.

Another one bites the dust. The New York Times has announced that it will no longer participate in Facebook's unethical privacy-invading beacon program. Keep up the pressure on these companies, it is certainly working!
Comrade Ringo Kamens

After his provocative and accurate response to Discover's article on open source, I decided to interview him. Let's see what he has to say:
1. First off, let's have you introduce yourself. Who are you, where do
you work, what are your hobbies, and why are you here doing this
interview?

Well, my name is Jim Hutchinson and I am a teacher by trade. I currently work as a high school media specialist. I enjoy the outdoors - hiking, camping and biking and I have also developed an a strong interest in technology and Open Source. I have been spending a lot of time lately supporting and promoting OSS and Ubuntu in particular. I recently did a conference presentation on OSS in education and have been helping new users in the Launchpad Answers Tracker. My efforts recently earned me Ubuntu membership. I am here today because I believe strongly in the philosophy of Open Source and because I believe Open Source has a lot offer to students and education.

2. What about the discover article upset you the most? Was there any
specific thing that compelled you to take action on it?

Facebook's Misrepresentation of Beacon's Threat to Privacy: Tracking users who opt out or are not logged in.

"I then checked the network traffic logs, and was dismayed to find that in all three cases, data about where I was on Epicurious, what action I had just taken, and what my Facebook account name is was transmitted to Facebook. The first two cases involve the transmission of user data despite "No thanks" having been selected on the opt-out dialog, and are are causes for deep concern. They pale, however, in comparison to the third case, where Facebook was receiving data about my online habits while I was not logged in, and was doing so silently, without even alerting me to the cross-site communication."

For the full report, see http://community.ca.com/blogs/securityadvisor/archive/2007/11/29/faceboo...
misrepresentation-of-beacon-s-threat-to-privacy-tracking-users-who-opt-out-or-are-not-logged-in.aspx

WE MUST STOP- S. 1959 --"Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism
Prevention Act of 2007" This bill will also limit our digital freedoms!

THIS IS AN URGENT ACTION ALERT:

S 1959 "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of
2007" must be stopped at all costs.

Pick up your phone today and contact your US Senator's office to instruct
them to vote "NO" on S.1959.

Click here for your Senators contact info:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Full PDF text if the bill:
http://tinyurl.com/3a3y2z

S.1959 is a significant threat to our civil liberties. In encourages
the idea that the way to fight violence is to limit our constitutional
rights to freedom of speech and assembly. This is wrong, and not a
trade the American people are willing to make. S. 1959 says that,
"Understanding the motivational factors that lead to violent
radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence is
a vital step toward eradicating these threats in the United States." and
creates a Commission that will suggest "immediate and long-term

Comrades,

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
-- Ghandi

I am proud to announce that due to the joint efforts of MoveOn, Binary Freedom Activists, and over 50,000 of our friends, Facebook has gone through a policy reversal on their beacon program. Users now must proactively select that a news story be published in their feed before it is, requiring them to explicitly say that they want the story published. This is a huge victory but it isn't the end of the line for our protest. We need to continue pressuring Facebook until they allow a universal opt-out. Can you please take 30 seconds to email facebook? Send an email to privacy@facebook.com and then go here to submit your report so MoveOn can keep track of how many people sent emails. We are winning.

Keep up the fight,
Comrade Ringo Kamens

P.S. see http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3217&id=11735-7008709-YeW4B4&t=5 for more information.

I'm happy to tell you that Overstock.com has dropped Beacon until it becomes opt-in. See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/technology/30face.html?_r=2&ref=techno...

Keep up the pressure, it's working. We have also confirmed that Facebook is re-thinking their decision and that there are plans in the works to mitigate the issue. Keep fighting!
Comrade Ringo Kamens

CA Action Alert: Don't Let Senator Feinstein Give Immunity to Lawbreaking Telecoms - Senator Feinstein plans to vote in favor of telecom immunity at a critical Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. As the swing vote in a close legislative battle, she must hear from constituents if telecom immunity is to be stopped. Take action now! [EFF]

Copied from MoveOn.org -- see http://civ.moveon.org/releases/071126facebookoptout.html
MoveOn and Over 20,000 Facebook Users Say Facebook Should Do More To Protect Privacy

** Interviews available with Facebook users concerned about privacy **

Leaked screenshots of Facebook’s original Beacon feature for corporate advertisers – made public at TechCrunch.com earlier this month – reveal that Facebook originally planned to give its users the ability to permanently opt out of having their private purchases made public on Facebook.

Facebook evidently removed that option just before launching the new privacy-invading feature. Facebook users who are aware that their private purchases on other websites are being made public on Facebook must now opt out site by site, week by week, month by month. There is no permanent opt-out option – let alone an opt-in policy.

Dear TRUSTe,

As you may know, a huge uproar has erupted over Facebook's new Beacon program. Facebook's new beacon program violates the privacy rights of users and furthermore it violates Facebook's own privacy policy. This story has been featured in the New York Times, Associated Press, CNN, and almost every other major news outlet. In less than a week, over 20,000 people have signed an online petition to Facebook, asking them to make the Beacon program opt-out.

How Beacon Works

Firstly, I am happy to announce that Amazon is not a part of Facebook's beacon program. Lots of blogs/sites say they are, but we have received a statement from Amazon's lawyers saying that they do not participate in Beacon. Independent testing has also confirmed this.

Secondly, I want to say thank you to Livejournal. While they use Facebook's beacon program, they are making it opt-out so our privacy concerns are alleviated. Thank you LiveJournal!

Thirdly, I want to correct an erroneous email I sent out earlier regarding the LCRA. It didn't pass senate. Don't blame me, blame indymedia.us