Senate Judiciary Committee
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ACTION ALERT: Tell the Senate to Hold Up the IP Enforcement Bill | Public Knowledg...
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee gave the green light to S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act of 2008. We need you to show them the red light, NOW! This intellectual property enforcement bill lets the DOJ enforce civil copyright claims and lets the government do the MPAA and RIAA’s intellectual property rights enforcement work for them—at tax payers’ expense.
By allowing the federal government to sue infringers in civil court, the DOJ would be asking a court for monetary damages on behalf of content owners. In a civil suit brought by the government, the defendant loses many of the protections he possesses in a criminal action—including his right to free legal representation. What’s more, the government’s legal burden of proof is lower: the government only needs to prove infringement with a “preponderance of the evidence,” meaning that it’s more likely than not that infringement occurred, as opposed to the usual criminal standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Does the content industry need this help from the Department of Justice? Absolutely not! In the last five years, the RIAA filed or threatened more than 30,000 suits against alleged infringers. If the Enforcement bill passes, not only will the number of such suits increase—they’ll also be paid for with your tax dollars.
Now, the bill’s backers are pushing to have it pass the Senate as early as today via a streamlined procedure, without the full Senate voting on the measure. Tell members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that you don’t want your tax dollars spent on DOJ’s civil enforcement of copyright, and to put a hold on the bill. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee gave the green light to S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act of 2008. We ne... more -
FBI, DOJ Push to Legislate Racial Profiling
New rules on FBI investigations of national security cases should be delayed, top Senate Judiciary Committee members said Monday, raising concerns that ethnic or racial groups could be targeted despite no evidence of wrongdoing.
In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the senators called for congressional hearings on the rules before they are finalized. They suggested delaying the rules — known as the attorney general guidelines — until FBI Director Robert Mueller appears before the panel Sept. 17.
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel's top Republican, called the guidelines a "laudatory effort to ensure that front-line agents are given clear rules to follow in pursuit of their investigations."
"Nevertheless, efforts to harmonize the rules governing criminal and national security matters also raise potential civil liberties concerns, given the broader latitude currently given to investigators to consider race and ethnicity in national security matters," Leahy and Specter wrote.
They added: "The important aims of the guidelines, and their potential implications for civil liberties, require a meaningful dialogue between Congress and DOJ."
DOJ stands for the Department of Justice, which oversees the FBI.
The rules are expected to be finalized later this week or early next week. Justice spokesman Peter Carr said Monday that the department is reviewing the letter. New rules on FBI investigations of national security cases should be delayed, top Senate Judiciary Committee members said Monday, rais... more -
URGENT: Oppose Telecom Immunity and Tell Your Senator to Vote "No on Cloture&...
The EFF would like to thank everyone for standing with EFF in opposing telecom immunity in the past. It's time to contact your Senators once again. As early as next Monday, the Administration and its allies are trying to end Senate debate on FISA and telecom immunity and force a vote on the Senate Intelligence Committee's bill -- a bill that would broadly expand the executive branch's spying powers while granting immunity to telecoms that broke the law and assisted in the NSA's illegal domestic spying.
Now is the time to urge your Senators to vote no on "cloture" in order to keep the debate going!
http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=357
Every time you've taken action to fight against immunity, it's made a huge difference. In November, your calls helped to ensure that the Senate Judiciary Committee did not include telecom amnesty in its surveillance bill, and in December your calls helped convince Harry Reid to delay the vote until January. Both times, the pundits assumed we didn't stand a chance, and both times we proved them wrong.
It's time to beat the odds again. Visit the EFF Action Center now. The EFF would like to thank everyone for standing with EFF in opposing telecom immunity in the past. It's time to contact your Se... more -
Senate Judiciary Committee votes Bolten and Rove in contempt
The citations will go to the full senate, but Republicans could still block the motion
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Senate Judiciary Committee
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Senate Judiciary Committee
