JD Scoop : JD Supra’s Blog : Content Publishing, Document Sharing, Expertise Marketing for Legal Professionals

Recent filings from two important cases in which the EFF is involved are now available on JD Supra:

1) EFF's suit against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice demanding information about telecommunications companies' efforts to get off the hook for their role in the government's illegal electronic surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans. EFF's suit sought the immediate disclosure of the agencies' telecom lobbying records, including any documents concerning briefings, discussions, or other contacts officials have had with representatives of telecommunications companies or members of Congress. On April 4, 2008, the Court granted EFF's request for an order requiring the defendants to produce the records sought, which is available here, along with the other filings in the case.

2) Universal Music Group's suit against an eBay seller based on claims of copyright infringement. EFF and the San Francisco law firm of Keker & Van Nest LLP are representing Troy Augusto, whose online auctions included sales of promotional CDs distributed by Universal. Universal claims that CDs marked as "promotional use only" remain the property of Universal and thus can never be resold.  Augusto's position is that the copyright law's "first sale" doctrine makes it clear that the owner of a CD is entitled to resell it without the permission of the copyright holder, and further, that Universal violated section 512(f) of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (see Answer & Counterclaim).  Last week, EFF and Keker & Van Nest filed a motion for summary judgment on behalf of the defendant and counterclaim plaintiff, available here.

One of our newest contributors, the Electronic Privacy Information Center ("EPIC"), is sharing some very Scoop-worthy filings, including the complaint it filed today seeking documents about the federal government's role in an effort to limit accountability of state "Fusion Centers."   According to EPIC, the Virginia Fusion Center is  a database that collects detailed information on ordinary citizens. The Virginia legislature is considering a bill that would limit Virginia's open government and privacy statutes, as well as Virginia's common law right of privacy, for Virginia agencies connected to the Fusion Center - thereby shrouding it in secrecy.

EPIC  had previously submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Virginia State Police for records relating to the Fusion Center.  EPIC's FOIA request focused on the possible role of the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Homeland Security in the development of the Virginia legislation. The Virginia State Police refused to comply with the request, apparently on the grounds that these documents (correspondence and communications between the Police Department and the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice about e.g. the Fusion Center's funding and development) were "relevant to the identification of criminal activity" among other things.

Sign up to JD Supra's RSS Feed for simultaneous access to new filings as this case progresses, and visit EPIC's Information Fusion Centers and Privacy page to learn more about Fusion Centers and the work that EPIC is doing.