[ga] [Fwd: FC: How to respond to cease-and-desist nastygrams:chillingeffects.org]

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

All assembly members,

  FYI...

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 121k members/stakeholdes strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-244-3801 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208

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• To: politech@politechbot.com
• Subject: FC: How to respond to cease-and-desist nastygrams: chillingeffects.org
• From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
• Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 00:31:43 -0500
• Reply-To: declan@well.com
• Sender: owner-politech@politechbot.com

---

From: Donna Wentworth <donna@cyber.law.harvard.edu>
To: "'declan@well.com'" <declan@well.com>
Subject: Chilling Effects.org
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 09:47:36 -0500

Declan,

The Berkman Center is announcing the launch today of a
collaborative project that may be of interest to politech
readers.

Conceived by Berkman Fellow Wendy Seltzer, the project is
intended to serve as a tool for Internet users to understand
their legal rights in the face of potentially intimidating/
confusing cease-and-desist letters.

The website is here:
<http://www.chillingeffects.org>

Amy Harmon's NYT piece is here:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/25/technology/ebusiness/25CHIL.html>

Below is our press release:


  Berkman Center Announces Project to Counter Chilling Effects
  of Legal Threats

  ChillingEffects.org Aims to Educate Internet Users About
  Online Rights

  San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
  and four major law school legal clinics announced the
  launch today of a project and website to empower Internet
  users with detailed information about their legal rights in
  response to cease-and-desist letters designed to restrict
  their online activities.

  The project brings the EFF together with Internet law
  clinics at Harvard, Stanford, the University of California
  at Berkeley, and the University of San Francisco, and is
  expected to grow to include additional law schools.

  Called Chilling Effects in reference to the way legal
  threats can freeze out free expression, the project invites
  Internet users to add their cease-and-desist letters to an
  online clearinghouse at ChillingEffects.org. Students at
  the participating law school clinics will review the
  letters and annotate them with links to explain applicable
  legal rules.

  "The Internet makes it easier for individuals to speak to
  a wide audience, but it also makes it easier for other
  people and corporations to silence that speech," said
  Berkman Center Fellow Wendy Seltzer, who conceived the
  project and programmed the website. "Chilling Effects aims
  to level the field by helping online speakers to understand
  their rights in the face of legal threats."

  The Chilling Effects project works by publishing
  cease-and-desist letters received by Internet users and
  providing detailed information about the relevant law.
  For example, if an Internet user receives a letter
  demanding that she remove a synopsis of a "Star Trek"
  episode from her website, members of the Chilling Effects
  team would post the letter online, embedding it with links
  to information about basic copyright protections, the rules
  governing synopses, and the fair use doctrine.

  "EFF receives hundreds of requests for help and information
  from recipients of cease-and-desist letters," said EFF
  Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "This project should help
  individuals gain access to greatly needed information as
  well as allow us to track who is sending these letters and
  research larger trends."

  The project currently provides basic legal information on
  issues like fan fiction, copyright and the Digital
  Millennium Copyright Act, trademark and domain names,
  anonymous speech, and defamation. New topics will be added
  as new issues arise. In addition to publishing
  cease-and-desist letters, the Chilling Effects team will
  offer periodic "weather reports" assessing the legal
  climate for Internet activity. The reports will seek to
  answer such questions as what types of Internet activity
  are most vulnerable to the chilling effects of legal
  threats.

  The Chilling Effects project website:
  <http://www.chillingeffects.org/>


  About Berkman Center for Internet & Society:

  The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is a research
  program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study,
  and help pioneer its development:
  http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/


  About EFF:

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
  liberties organization working to protect rights in the
  digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
  challenges industry and government to support free
  expression, privacy, and openness in the information
  society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
  maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world at
  http://www.eff.org/


  About Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic:

  The Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at
  Boalt Hall was the first clinic in the country to provide
  law students with the opportunity to represent the public
  interest in cases and matters on the cutting-edge of high
  technology law. Since January 2001, students participating
  in the Clinic have worked with leading lawyers in nonprofit
  organizations, government, private practice, and academia
  to represent clients on a broad range of legal matters
  including Internet free speech and online and wireless
  privacy.
  http://www.law.berkeley.edu/news/releases/20000424Samuelson.shtml


  About Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society:

  The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) is a public
  interest technology law and policy program at Stanford Law
  School. The CIS brings together scholars, academics,
  legislators, students, hackers, and scientists to study the
  interaction of new technologies and the law and to examine
  how the synergy between the two can either promote or harm
  public goods like free speech, privacy, public commons,
  diversity, and scientific inquiry. The CIS strives as well
  to improve both technology and law, encouraging decision
  makers to design both as a means to further democratic
  values.
  http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/


  About University of San Francisco Internet and Intellectual
  Property Justice Project:

  This University of San Francisco School of Law program
  provides legal services to parties who require help with
  intellectual property matters. The project is currently
  available to help parties in domain name disputes under
  ICANN online dispute resolution proceedings as well as with
  other trademark and copyright work that the faculty
  supervisors feel is appropriate. Legal work is performed
  free of charge by students under the direction of faculty
  members.
  http://www.usfca.edu/law/html/iipjp.html


  Contact:

  Wendy Seltzer
  Fellow
  Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
  Harvard Law School
  wendy@seltzer.com
  +1 212-715-7815

  Diane Cabell
  Director
  Clinical Program in Cyberlaw
  Berkman Center for Internet & Society
  Harvard Law School
  +1 617 495-7547
  dcabell@law.harvard.edu

  Cindy Cohn
  Legal Director
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  cindy@eff.org
  +1 415 436-9333 x108 (office), +1 415 823-2148 (cell)

  Jennifer Stisa Granick
  Clinical Director
  Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
  jennifer@granick.com
  +1 650 724-0014

  Deirdre Mulligan
  Acting Clinical Professor and Director
  Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic,
  Boalt Hall School of Law,
  University of California at Berkeley
  dmulligan@law.berkeley.edu
  +1 510 642-0499

  Professor Robert Talbot
  Professor of Law and
  Director of
  Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project
  University of San Francisco School of Law
  +1 415 422-6218 (office), +1 415 717-2826 (cell)
  talbotr@usfca.edu

..........
Donna Wentworth
Editor
The Filter <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter>
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
Phone: (617) 495-0662
Fax:   (617) 495-7641
filter-editor@cyber.law.harvard.edu
donna@cyber.law.harvard.edu




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