Events
"The US has confirmed it is finally ready to cede power of the internet’s naming system, ending the almost 20-year process to hand over a crucial part of the internet's governance." ~ Dave Lee, BBC News, http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37114313 Attorney Scott McCullough will
Privacy
If you've got 90 minutes to spare, this looks like a great discussion with Richard Stallman of GNU and FSF fame about EME, also known as DRM in the HTML5 standard, and why such systems of software control leave us all worse off. https://boingboing.net/2016/04/
Activism
"We shouldn’t waste so much breath on the idea of keeping the network completely neutral. It isn’t neutral now. What we should really be doing is looking for ways we can increase competition among ISPs — ways we can prevent the Comcasts and the AT&Ts from
Creativity and Innovation
Motherboard TV documentary about Free Network Foundation. More information here.
Privacy
Being a sequence of quotations from contemporary articles contextualizing the visit of the rising Vice President of China amidst a conspicuously timed introduction of unprecedented domestic cybersecurity legislation. National Post Full Comment (Feb 14) - "From bitter gruel, Xi Jinping to ascend to China's top job"
Government 2.0
This post concludes EFF Austin's investigation of DART's #OpWardrive; here's our initial post, announcement of operation cancellation, and update on the open records request. In our last post, we summarized our inquiry into the City of Austin Police Department's Digital Analysis Response
Privacy
In late September, the Austin Police Department (APD) aimed to identify open residential wireless access points around the city and educate their owners about the risks of providing free Internet access. The initiative, dubbed Operation Wardrive, was announced by an APD Public Information Office press release which was quickly picked
Government 2.0
On Wednesday September 21st, EFF Austin [ @EFFaustin ] was notified about the Austin Police Department's (APD) Digital Analysis Response Team's [ DART, @APDDART ] "Operation Wardrive" [ #OpWardrive ] via the KVUE [ @KVUE ] news article that originally appeared at the following URI (it's relatively common for journalism
Government 2.0
Update (Sep 22 @ 1:07pm) - The Austin Police Department has decided to cancel Operation Wardrive and focus on the public education facet of this work. See Mark Boyden's comment, an email response from APD Chief Art Acevedo. Thanks go to <a href="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.
Free Speech
View "#BART Special Board Meeting re: Cellphone Shutdown & Protests" on Storify Earlier: BART’s Protest Position Does Not Withstand Legal Scrutiny
Creativity and Innovation
Thanks to everyone who came out last month to hear Jon Lebkowsky [ @JonL ] guide us through and to the past and future Internet. This month, we'll be hearing former EFF Austin Board member Michael Hathaway present information from the world of modernizing electric utilities and the regulatory bodies
Free Speech
Before beginning, it's worth stating that EFF-Austin [ @EFFaustin ] is based in...well, Austin. Our statements have no association with national EFF [ @EFF ], based in San Francisco, beyond the principles we share (see here for details on that history if you're interested; our hearts go out to