-----Original Message-----From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 25/02/02 21:23
Subject: Filter Flash--Chilling Effects Launches
Dear Filter readers,
We're writing to inform you about the launch today of
Chilling Effects, a project and website to empower
Internet users with detailed information about their
rights in the online environment. (See Amy Harmon's NYT piece:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/25/technology/ebusiness/25CHIL.html>.)
Subscription details for The Filter follow the news release
below.
*****
Berkman Center Announces Project to Counter Chilling Effects
of Legal Threats
ChillingEffects.org Aims to Educate Internet Users About
Online Rights
San Francisco - The Berkman Center for Internet & Society,
four major law school legal clinics, and the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) 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 Berkman Center together with the EFF
and 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 at Harvard
Law School:
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law
School 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
[log in to unmask]
+1 212-715-7815
Diane Cabell
Director
Clinical Program in Cyberlaw
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
+1 617 495-7547
[log in to unmask]
Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
[log in to unmask]
+1 415 436-9333 x108 (office), +1 415 823-2148 (cell)
Jennifer Stisa Granick
Clinical Director
Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
[log in to unmask]
+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
[log in to unmask]
+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)
[log in to unmask]
*****
Subscription details:
You are receiving this email because someone (perhaps you)
requested that your name be added to The Filter mailing list.
Follow this link to unsubscribe from the list:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter/subscribe>
*****
A publication of the Berkman Center for Internet &
Society at Harvard Law School <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu>
You may--and please do--forward or copy this news brief
to friends and colleagues.
[cc] <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cc/cc.html>
************************************************************************************
Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion
list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic
study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html
*************************************************************************************
|
