Cory Doctorow's linkblog
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Every time the US has a change of administration, EFF staffers - lawyers, policy analysts, activists - create a "transition memo": a series of one-page briefings on the tech policy issues the new admin should take up. The Biden memo is *great*.

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

It opens with a section on surveillance, with three subsections:

I. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

II. Facial Recognition Technology

III. Border Search and Immigration Surveillance

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

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Cory Doctorow's linkblog

Next up is encryption:

I. Background on Encryption Backdoors

II. End-to-End Encryption and Client-Side Scanning

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

Then, broadband:

I. 21st-Century-Ready Access for All Americans

II. Net Neutrality and Public Safety

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

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Cory Doctorow's linkblog

Nothing says 2021 like Section 230!:

I. Deepfakes

II. Mandated Political Neutrality

III. CSAM, Sex Trafficking and other Unlawful Content

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

EFF's old favorite, consumer privacy, has some very 2021 angles:

I. Consumer Privacy Legislation

II. Private Companies and Facial Recognition/Biometrics

III. Student Data

IV. COVID and Health Data Privacy

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

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Cory Doctorow's linkblog

After a 40+ year slumber, antitrust is having a revival, and EFF's proposals combine traditional antitrust with new, sui generis tech approaches.

I. Reform Antitrust Law

II. Competitive Compatibility

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

Copyright/copyfight has been on the agenda since the 1990s, but not like this:

I. Intermediary Liability (DMCA Section 512)

II. Freedom to Tinker and Right to Repair (DMCA Section 1201)

III. Statutory Damages

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

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Cory Doctorow's linkblog

A coupla quick hits next:

* Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

* Upcoming Supreme Court Ruling and Further Opportunities for Reform
eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

And it closes out with a deep dive on patents:

I. Low Quality Patents

II. Patent Trolling

III. Inter Partes Review

IV. Alice v. CLS Bank

V. More Patents Do Not Result in More Software Innovation

eff.org/wp/eff-transition-memo

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Cory Doctorow's linkblog

You don't have to be an administrative branch staffer to appreciate this. Each of these topics is covered in brief, digestible form. Together, they constitute a rapid, extensive tour of the most important tech policy issues facing America today.

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SJ Zero
@pluralistic Two important ones would be giving DMCA abuse legislation teeth -- it's starting to be used by megacorps to silence legitimate speech -- and banking neutrality. The banks are starting to stick their fingers into businesses in ways that absolutely shouldn't be legal. You shouldn't be allowed to take away someone's ability to use money because you don't like their face, but the banks can do exactly that. Some of the tech censorship we've seen is actually bank censorship.
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coyote
@pluralistic First rule of asking for something: don't ask if you think you won't get what you ask for. Joe Biden was VP during Obama, exactly how committed do you think he is to privacy, keeping invasive surveillance technologies away from cops and feds, and fair and ethical treatment of illegals? I'd say almost not at all. As much as I'd like to root for the EFF and the FSF, they gave Stallman the boot, so I can't really feel too good about their intentions.
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