5 ms·

If the EFF wants to continue pretending that they're still primarily a legal outfit, I want one of their lawyers to prepare an actual brief or at least a citati

If the EFF wants to continue pretending that they're still primarily a legal outfit, I want one of their lawyers to prepare an actual brief or at least a citation on this matter of law on which they have deigned to hold court. I am of course not a lawyer, but the inability of what is ostensibly a legal advocacy group to fail to attempt a prima facie case on violation of a law is just too pathetic for me to care.

sytelus 13y ago
Go back and read Microsoft's privacy policy [1]. Microsoft has inserted following in it: We may access information about you, including the content of your communications to protect the rights or property of Microsoft. In short, you agreed that they can search any of your shit without warrant or permission if they deem that you are a risk to Microsoft in anyway. [1] http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.mspx http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.mspx
rdl 13y ago
Stuff like "HTTPSEverywhere" isn't entirely a legal advocacy matter, either. I don't think EFF needs to constrain itself to legal advocacy to be an effective organization. Making technical and policy recommendations to private companies and individuals (as producers and consumers) seems fine.
- Locke1689 13y ago
  The article explicitly states a legal opinion -- that Microsoft violated the EPCA. The author is a lawyer. Come on.
  - rdl 13y ago
    "At first blush, Microsoft’s unilateral decision to rifle through its user’s emails sounds like a violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, ECPA. We at EFF have called for critical updates to ECPA’s privacy protections, but the law is fundamentally designed to protect email from this kind of snooping, albeit with some narrow exceptions." The charge is that they violated the spirit but not the letter of ECPA
josephlord 13y ago
The point isn't that Microsoft have done anything illegal[0] it is what they have done is crappy and privacy invading. If Microsoft's actions are legal (regardless of whether they should be) any legal case would be bogus and almost certainly lose; achieving nothing. [0] They haven't as far as I am aware.
pyre 13y ago
The EFF doesn't constrain themselves to just writing briefs in an effort to make sure that only the current laws on the books are interpreted in a sane fashion. Have you not seen them advocate for policy changes or against poor policy changes (e.g. SOPA)?
duaneb 13y ago
> primarily a legal outfit I think I would prefer an ethical one. Most interesting problems are not legal—the law simply reflects the solution. I think the EFF correctly identified this as a problem, even if they aren't going to be fined by the government.
lawnchair_larry 13y ago
An activists organization that only defends existing laws would be pretty useless. You're being shortsighted in your expectations here.

sytelus 13y ago

Go back and read Microsoft's privacy policy [1]. Microsoft has inserted following in it: We may access information about you, including the content of your communications to protect the rights or property of Microsoft. In short, you agreed that they can search any of your shit without warrant or permission if they deem that you are a risk to Microsoft in anyway. [1] http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.mspx http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.mspx

rdl 13y ago

Stuff like "HTTPSEverywhere" isn't entirely a legal advocacy matter, either. I don't think EFF needs to constrain itself to legal advocacy to be an effective organization. Making technical and policy recommendations to private companies and individuals (as producers and consumers) seems fine.

Locke1689 13y ago
The article explicitly states a legal opinion -- that Microsoft violated the EPCA. The author is a lawyer. Come on.
- rdl 13y ago
  "At first blush, Microsoft’s unilateral decision to rifle through its user’s emails sounds like a violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, ECPA. We at EFF have called for critical updates to ECPA’s privacy protections, but the law is fundamentally designed to protect email from this kind of snooping, albeit with some narrow exceptions." The charge is that they violated the spirit but not the letter of ECPA

josephlord 13y ago

The point isn't that Microsoft have done anything illegal[0] it is what they have done is crappy and privacy invading. If Microsoft's actions are legal (regardless of whether they should be) any legal case would be bogus and almost certainly lose; achieving nothing. [0] They haven't as far as I am aware.

pyre 13y ago

The EFF doesn't constrain themselves to just writing briefs in an effort to make sure that only the current laws on the books are interpreted in a sane fashion. Have you not seen them advocate for policy changes or against poor policy changes (e.g. SOPA)?

duaneb 13y ago

> primarily a legal outfit I think I would prefer an ethical one. Most interesting problems are not legal—the law simply reflects the solution. I think the EFF correctly identified this as a problem, even if they aren't going to be fined by the government.

lawnchair_larry 13y ago

An activists organization that only defends existing laws would be pretty useless. You're being shortsighted in your expectations here.