Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
Internet Pioneer Gives Over $1.2 Million to EFF to Defend Online Freedom
Electronic Frontier Foundation Announces Endowment Fund for Digital Civil Liberties
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, February 18, 2004
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world, is honored to receive a $1.2 million bequest from the estate of Leonard Zubkoff, an EFF supporter and technology pioneer. EFF will use $1 million of this money to establish the EFF Endowment Fund for Digital Civil Liberties.

"This generous legacy enables us to establish a permanent source of support for EFF," explained EFF Development Director Terri Forman. "It also leverages a $1 million pledge challenge from one of our co-founders and board members. We are now two-thirds of the way towards our Phase I goal of $3 million."

"This gift is important to us for several reasons," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "Not only does it help us establish our endowment fund, Leonard's legacy makes it possible for us to bring aboard a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to create and implement a technology strategy for EFF. With our combined expertise in both the law and technology, EFF is perfectly situated to help create and foster new technologies designed to enhance freedom."

Leonard Zubkoff was an internationally known software developer and entrepreneur, respected for his expertise in computer architecture and operating systems. He loved to fly and was learning to pilot a helicopter when he died in a crash in Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness in Alaska on August 29, 2002.

Mr. Zubkoff was born in Seattle and earned a master's degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University after graduating summa cum laude in mathematics and physics at the University of Rochester. He moved to the Bay Area in 1985 to become the principal scientist for a Menlo Park company developing artificial intelligence software. In 1994, Mr. Zubkoff joined Oracle Corp., the database software giant located in Redwood Shores, as a principal member of its technical staff. He joined VA Linux Systems Inc., a Fremont company now known as VA Software Corp., as chief technical officer in 1998. Zubkoff also founded Dandelion Digital, a small, state-of-the-art recording studio that produced "filk" -- originally a typo of "folk" -- recordings on compact discs.

http://www.eff.org/about/20040218_eff_pr.php

this is some of the best news I've heard in a very long time and my guess is that the boy named sue is throwing a red faced temper tantrum and stomping his feet like a little kid because of it.

That's right carey the EFF has a little bit of money to stand up to you with now. The word is getting out no matter how hard you try to prevent it. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

What I meant to say was

MY condolences to Mr
Zubkoff's family. It's never a good thing to lose loved one and it always hard to lose someone who works hard and accomplishes things but they can take comfort from the fact that he was doing what he loved.

Hope the money is put to good use ...

Here is a question for an EFF lawyer:

If I take my computer into a shop for repair, can that shop legally turn my computer over to authorities because the technician found mp3 files which (through digital tracing) were found to have been downloaded from a P2P app?

I ask because on a recent long thread (the one about the latest RIAA lawsuits) one of our site participants claimed that this happened to a relative of his recently.

Bufo...I'm not a lawyer...but I would like to wade in on your question....

If you take a computer to a shop for repairs, it does matter the nature of the repairs. For example, should they be violating your privacy to be rifling through your files if you just needed a power supply replaced? Of course not, and you have a reasonable expectation of privacy if, what a technician was to do, did not involve them auditing your files, in the same way that if you had personal papers in your locked glove compartment, and you took your car to have the tires changed...the tire changer would have no right to break into your glove compartment (even if it wasn't locked) and rifle through your personal effects.

Another thing, why would a technician who basically fixes boxes, be in possession and know how to use instruments to perform digital tracing...

Number three, there is nothing illegal about downloading MP3 files from a P2P app..so there is nothing to turn over to authorities.

A computer technician does not have a legal duty to become an unpaid agent of the RIAA, and invasion of a person's privacy is not warranted on mere speculation that something illegal might be found if you trespass on someone's hard drive.

Now, can they legally turn over your computer? That's an interesting idea, because, the computer is legally yours. If they were to take illegal possession of your machine, without your authorization and use it for their own purposes, this would probably constitute conversion. It certainly would be an unauthorized use of your machine.

I'm not sure what "authorities" the machine was turned over to...but I think anyone doing such a thing may be setting themselves up for a serious lawsuit, and if they are an employee...through the theory of respondeat superior, may be exposing their employer to serious legal action.

To me, this goes beyond a weasley act like turning your neighbor in because you think they are stealing cable. In this case, a techncian is appropriating chattel, physical property without a court order...problematic.

"If I take my computer into a shop for repair, can that shop legally turn my computer over to authorities because the technician found mp3 files which (through digital tracing) were found to have been downloaded from a P2P app?"

Yes.

You may have a case against the tech for invasion of privacy. However, the RIAA can use the information without any restrictions.

Further the tech probably did not give the comuter to anyone. He probably just mirrored the harddrive.

Mirroring the hard drive would then be a violation of the DMCA on his part, since people create copyrighted material (using the "point of creation" model )
on the hard drives all the time.

And, thus, the whole thing would be tainted in that the tech received the evidence through illegal means, and in the chain of custody and control, the RIAA would inherit evidence that I believe should be thrown out...certainly a loss of clean hands early on...

Also, again...DOWNLOADING MP3 FILEZ FROM OTHERS using A P2P APP (YOU DON'T ACTUALLY DOWNLOAD FROM AN APP...YOU DOWNLOAD FROM THE HARD DRIVES OF OTHER USERS OF THAT P2P NETWORK OF CONNECTED BOXES) IS NOT ILLEGAL.

George Z could upload his MP3s to Kazaa...as could Shmoo...and others, and you could d/l all day and not be doing a damn thing illegal !

And you can digital trace all you want...legal is legal

(Nothing in the original question indicated any MP3s were copied in an unauthorized fashion or that any actual or constructive infringing activity occurred. I think people have been assuming that without that being in the original hypothetical description).

As a computer technician myself I often go through and run untility programs and clean up the system as a preventitive measure even though I'm just replacing the power supply. I do not go into folders unless instructed to by the customer to get rid of things.

Personally I would never turn anyone in. when I see MP3's I just advise the customer to beware and give them pointers on how to protect themselves

Code,

You are correct of course that I could download certain mp3s from P2P all day long and stay legal.

In this case, I believe the issue was that there were a number of songs which were downloaded during the days of original Napster.

For more details, go to the news archive on this site and check out post #176 in the Feb 18 article "Record Industry Sues More Filesharers"

BTW, if this kind of thing really is happening, is there software that can erase this digital tracing on downloaded files so that a snoop cannot figure out where the file came from?

Again...tainted collection of evidence...could throw such a case out...
mirroring a hard drive would by definition include unauthorized copying of the owner's OWN copyrighted material....
cases get thrown out all the time in which a cop broke the law in order to get evidence on someone and the case gets thrown out....

the law cuts both ways on this unauthorized copying thing.
now...IF the owner was like me, and registers his copyrights, and had registered a copyright on materials that this tech made an unauthorized copy of..he could take the tech to federal court under the DMCA and sue him for statutory damages of 150 K per unauthorized copying of copyrighted materials...which, on a hard drive of a writer or graphic artist...could be lots of bucks!

there are progz that will overwrite files over and over and over and over....with random bits...there is a government standard on the level of overwriting which is deemed secure enough for the government, and there are programs for free out there that exceed this...

it may be still possible to recover some data using a hardware solution...but once it gets overwritten with random bits say, 20 times....it really gets touch to get anything back...
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html

I like a little prog called "Autoclave"
http://staff.washington.edu/jdlarios/autoclave/

lol..course the file is gone too..kind of like erasing a headache by using a shotgun

To Bufo:

People have been prosecuted on child pornography cases because repairmen found kiddie porn on the hd of computers they were fixing.

I would say this constitutes an unreasonable search and siezure, but these folks were convicted, so either judges in question didn't think so, or there was an implicit waiver of fourth amendment rights in the repair contract.

My suggestion, back up all of your mp3's (and pornographic files!) to disks and keep your drives free of it. Even if its all stuff you legally own or made yourself.

Also, you should probably ask about your privacy rights when getting any repair work done, policies can differ, tell them you're just worried about your personal information or something. If you have the time too, you can always make yourself really popular by standing nearby and breathing down the tech's neck the whole time.

A big posthumus thanks to Leonard Zubkoff also for his generous support of digital rights.

MY condolences to Mr Zubkoff's family.

agreed...I wish to extend my personal condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Zubkoff. I did not have the pleasure of knowing the gentleman, but it is telling to me , that he is able to continue doing good things after death, through this magnanimous contribution.

Mr. Zuboff, a big thank you posthumously, for what you have done.

Mr. Zuboff loved to fly, and died flying..
I believe he is looking down from up there, and flying more freely.

God bless you Leonard!

Bufo, I'd say whether they turn it in to the authorities depends on the technician. If you're referring to the tracing tools the way that I think you are, as in data recovery, their main purpose is generally to recover data in the case of an emergency like your hard drive failing and you absolutely need some of the data stored on there. One thing to keep in mind: Data is a lot easier to recover than it is to destroy. For example, when you delete something in MS Windows, all it does is change the file extension.

formerlurker,

Judging from the post made on the Feb 18 article on the new RIAA lawsuits, I would say that data recovery on a hard drive was probably the objective. The post stated that the computer was taken to Best Buy for work on the hard drive, and then the computer was turned over by Best Buy to the police because of several music files which had been downloaded onto it during the Napster era.

I think this is an important issue because there must be several thousand people each year who need technician's help with hard drive data recovery. If this story is true, then it clearly suggests that there is a real risk of having mp3 files on your computer which may have passed through a P2P, even if you did not do the actual downloading yourself (i.e. suppose a friend gives you some mp3s via a flash memory stick).

I'm a computer tech with my own shop and I find that all the time. No way in hell will I ever turn anyone in for that. it must be a company policy since Best Buy is a major distributor of music

Leonard was a buddy -- he hit a lot of the filk conventions over the years, helped promote and record people who couldn't afford it themselves, and was generally just a nice, quiet guy. His death hit the community hard, and we miss him. This is just one more reason to.

Look, the guy on the other thread said that Best Buy turned over the computer to the police. No way would the police care about downloaded music. Child porn, but NOT music.

I think this is the beginning of an urban legend.

who needs best buy to recover a hard drive. back the hard drive up you know backup on cdrw or cdr, hard drives are cheap

Isn't the statute of limitations 3 years on copyright infringement? That would make anything from the old Napster beyond limitations right? It has been three years hasn't it. Seems like that would my the computer tech up the creek if you know what I mean.

i just loved when the comcast people installed my cable 4 years+ ago and saw the giant folder in my documents starting with a W and ending a Z

Leonard Zubkoff

Hero