Free Republic

Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants to prosecute Julian Assange for espionage. The founder of WikiLeaks "intentionally harmed the U.S. government," says Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. By releasing 250,000 State Department cables, he also violated the 1917 Espionage Act by transmitting "information which the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation," Feinstein, D-Calif., charged in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Tuesday. To John Perry Barlow, co-founder of San Francisco's Electronic Frontier Foundation, "The first serious infowar is now engaged. The field of...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a report that look at some of the shortcomings of digital rights management (DRM) schemes, which are used to sell music online by companies such as Apple. According to the advocacy group, online stores like iTunes actually give music buyers less for their money than traditional CDs. For example, if music owners want to make more copies of an album (for personal) use than the DRM allows, they may have to turn to various "hacks." Unfortunately, "breaking the DRM or distributing the tools to break DRM may expose you to liability under the Digital...

New Site Teaches Web Users About Online Rights.The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse is a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and University of San Francisco law school clinics.Do you know your online rights? Have you received a letter asking you to remove information from a Web site or stop engaging in an activity? Are you concerned about liability for information that someone else posted to your online forum? If so, this site is for you. "Chilling Effects" refers to the deterrent effect of legal threats or posturing, largely cease and desist  letters independent of litigation, on lawful...