Our Victories

From BinaryFreedom.INFO

= Dear WIPO =

Along with EFF Europe and several other groups, Binary Freedom members called on the WIPO to stop the new "Broadcast" treaty that was in the works, and they did. But a few months later, the resolution rose from the dead and we again called on the WIPO to stop it, and they did. Let's hope it's the last time we have to do that. More info at www.dearwipo.com

1 Thailand Backs Down On YouTube
2 REAL ID out of Immigration Bill
3 Senate checks itself before it wrecks itself
4 "Creator" of Electric Slide's Illegal Campaign Ended
5 Grassroots Legislation Defeated
6 Congress Tightens Reigns on Warrantless Surveillance
7 Linux+DVD
8 C-SPAN Backs Off Over-zealous Licensing
9 School Administration in New York Chooses Free Speech
10 Dell Gets Informed About the GNU/Linux Market Base
11 Steve Jobs Comes Good On His Promises
12 BinaryFreedom and BadVista Activists Crash Vista Promotional Party
13 Freeing Brazilian Taxes
14 Freeing ATI
15 Credit Where Credit is Due
- 15.1 Webcam Drivers
- 15.2 EFF Defends a Comrade

[edit] Thailand Backs Down On YouTube

In April of 2007, the government of Thailand started blocking YouTube and we asked our members to oppose this. We sent emails to ministers, parliament members, and the government speaker... and it WORKED. As of Jun 2007, YouTube has been unblocked under the provision no videos insulting the King will be posted, which is another issue. See http://splashcastmedia.com/thai-govermnet-says-it-will-lift-ban-on-censored-youtube

[edit] REAL ID out of Immigration Bill

The Senate immigration bill is dead. That also means that the REAL ID background checks provisions we were fighting are also dead. Jun 9 2007

[edit] Senate checks itself before it wrecks itself

"Senate Panel Rejects Dangerous Spying Bill, Demands Details of NSA Program"

The Senate Intelligence Committee has affirmatively stated that it will not consider the Bush Administration's dangerous "FISA modernization" surveillance legislation until critical details about the NSA spying program are revealed. Noting that "the Administration's refusal to satisfy these document requests span over a year," the Intelligence Committee demanded "the President's orders authorizing the warrantless surveillance and the Department of Justice's opinions on the legality of the program."

As you may recall, we were concerned last month that the Administration's proposal could slip into the Senate's intelligence budget authorization. The authorization bill and the Committee's report were made public last week, and we're pleased to see that it decided against legislating in the dark about the still-shadowy surveillance program. Thanks to everyone who took the time to call the Senate Intelligence Committee to oppose the spying bill.

The Administration isn't about to back down, though, and it's critical that Congress keeps pushing back and conducting with vigorous investigations into the program. Take action now to help stop the illegal spying: http://action.eff.org/fisa

For this post and related links: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005286.php

Thanks to everybody who sent emails and called congress. You made a difference!

[edit] "Creator" of Electric Slide's Illegal Campaign Ended

Thanks to litigation by the EFF and letters from Binary Freedom to Ric Silver himself, he has called off his DMCA intimidation campaign and licensed the Electric Slide under a creative commons license. See http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/electricslide/

[edit] Grassroots Legislation Defeated

In 2007, a bill was introduced that would require grassroots organizations to register, pay taxes differently, and operate similarly to political parties. We defeated this attempt to regulate grassroots activism and saved ourselves thanks to the work of our activists and thousands of others from around the world. Special thanks to DownsizeDC.org

[edit] Congress Tightens Reigns on Warrantless Surveillance

From EFF:

Last week (May 2007), the House passed legislation aimed at preventing illegal government spying. Attached as an amendment to the intelligence budget authorization bill, the legislation reaffirms that the NSA's domestic surveillance program must comply with Congress' laws.

Meanwhile, the House did not pass a Bush Administration proposal that would radically expand the government's ability to spy without warrants while also threatening to let telecom providers off the hook for assisting in the illegal NSA program.

Aggressive Congressional action to stop the illegal spying is long overdue, and this is an important first step in the right direction.

Thanks to the actions of Binary Freedom activists such as letters, emails, and phone calls this was made possible. Solidarity creates change.

[edit] Linux+DVD

In February BinaryFreedom activists emailed the Linux+DVD Magazine asking them to please use GNU/Linux when referencing "Linux". BinaryFreedom activists sent this email (although some sent custom emails/comments):

Hi my name is $name recently I saw your magazine in a store titled "Linux+DVD". I believe that it would be better to refer to it as Gnu/Linux+DVD because "Linux" would not exist without GNU. Almost all modern "Linux" distributions are based off GNU/Linux and it seems unfair not to give them credit. I understand that asking you to change the title of your magazine is a large request, however I believe it is a worthwhile one. Perhaps you could just add a small little "GNU" next to Linux so as to clarify it without affecting the design or name of the magazine. It can be said that shortening names is beneficial and it is however it's not beneficial when it's misleading.

Please take a look at: http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html

Thank so much for reading our note.

We got a response from the office and they said they would always include a footnote or reference to GNU/Linux.

Hi, thank you for your interest in our magazine and for emailing me your comments. I appreciate and understand your opinion but, as you stated - we cannot change the title- it is connected with to many legal, financial and operational conditions. We will be happy, though, to place a note about GNU in each imprint and to write an editorial about the problem mentioned by you. I hope it meets somehow your expectations. Also, as you are interested and involved in GNU/Linux matters and have much to say on this topic - we would be honoured if you wish to write some technical articles for us. By doing this, you can promote GNU and spread the news about its technical and useful functions and aspects. I am looking forward to hearing from you. All the best Magda & LINUX+DVD magazine

Thanks to everybody who participated.

[edit] C-SPAN Backs Off Over-zealous Licensing

In February 2007, we launched a campaign to request two things of the C-SPAN television network. We asked them to:

Back off their false DMCA claim against Nanci Pelosi as well as issue a public apology
Openly license their content and stop all claims against non-commercial infringers

C-SPAN announced shortly after that they would license their videos under a "Creative Commons" license. No word has come back about their DMCA claims however this new licensing would remove any legal ground for such claims.
Sources:
http://www.c-span.org/about/press/release.asp?code=video

[edit] School Administration in New York Chooses Free Speech

In March 2007, we launched a solidarity campaign with a struggle occurring in John Jay High School. Three girls were suspended for correctly performing the play "The Vagina Monologues" and saying "vagina" during the play in an act of civil disobedience. Thanks to letters and phone calls from activists, the school renounced the suspensions. We asked that the school:

Remove the suspension [completed]
Pass resolutions to prevent censorship from occurring again [unknown]
Issue a public apology [completed]

Sources:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/13/new_york_schoolgirls_who_said_vagina_get_suspensions_lifted/?p1=MEWell_Pos3

[edit] Dell Gets Informed About the GNU/Linux Market Base

Our activists contributed to a campaign urging Dell to deliver a GNU/Linux system. Dell has since announced it will begin shipping computers with GNU/Linux pre-installed
Sources:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/ideastorm/ideasinaction?c=us&l=en&s=gen

[edit] Steve Jobs Comes Good On His Promises

Thanks to activists like you who signed the open letter to Steve Jobs, he didn't just say DRM was bad but he also negotiated with EMI to release DRM-free music.
http://www.emigroup.com/Press/2007/press18.htm

[edit] BinaryFreedom and BadVista Activists Crash Vista Promotional Party

On April 7th, 2007 Activists from BinaryFreedom and BadVista crashed a Vista promotional party. $10 in stickers were distributed, 55 gnewsense CDs were given out, and 100 of our flyers ended up around town on lightposts or people. Microsoft wasn't able to pitch their product because people at the lecture knew the truth! They said no to proprietary software! Thanks for everybody who showed up
Pictures are available here:

http://wiki.binaryfreedom.info/index.php/Image:Vistaparty1.jpg
http://wiki.binaryfreedom.info/index.php/Image:Vistaparty2.jpg
http://wiki.binaryfreedom.info/index.php/Image:Vistaparty3.jpg
http://wiki.binaryfreedom.info/index.php/Image:Vistaparty4.jpg
http://wiki.binaryfreedom.info/index.php/Image:Vistaparty5.jpg
http://wiki.binaryfreedom.info/index.php/Image:Vistaparty6.jpg

[edit] Freeing Brazilian Taxes

In February of 2007, we asked for help in Freeing the Brazillian tax software. Tons of comments were sent in to the Brazillian "IRS" and they GPLed their software. Now, people can pay their taxes without needing to use proprietary software. One of the major obstacles facing the adoption of free software is that some organizations require the use of non-free software. Today, May 3 we mark a day where one of those major obstacles has been destroyed.

[edit] Freeing ATI

Binary Freedom activists put pressure on AMD to openly license drivers for their hardware. After they acquired ATI, this is exactly what they did.

[edit] Credit Where Credit is Due

Too often, the activist community doesn't thank their opponents for doing the right thing. We send thousands of emails, clog fax machines, and when the company finally decides to make some positive change we disappear. We believe that by thanking those who are helping our revolution, we are not only holding up our integrity as activists and showing up the other organizations, but that we are also building connections for a stronger future. So here are a few of those connections.

[edit] Webcam Drivers

As many of you have heard in the news recently, there is one man who has single-handedly written GNU/Linux drivers for 352 different webcams. That's right: three hundred fifty-two. He has received almost no recognition for his work and no compensation so we as members of the GNU/Linux and free software movement want to thank him. Instead of filling his inbox, we thought we would send a letter with all of his supporter's names attached. Here is a man who has tackled a major problem facing GNU/Linux and instead of looking it and saying "I'll just put in on my Windows box" decided to take matters into his own hands. Please add your name to the list of people who appreciate his work

We then sent this letter, with the signatures: Dear Michel,

This letter is being sent to you on behalf of the GNU/Linux and Free Software communities by the team at Binary Freedom (binaryfreedom.info). We know that you haven't received much recognition for your work until recently when the media picked up the story. We also did not know about the contributions you had made to the community by writing all the webcam drivers that you did. We honor you for the countless hours of work you have put into making widespread GNU/Linux adoption a reality. Instead of just "putting it on your other box" you took the problem head on and wrote drivers for the entire community. Many people complain that GNU/Linux doesn't offer good hardware support and now those claimed are weaker. In the past 2-3 years, we have seen hardware support on GNU/Linux systems grow by leaps and bounds. Now with the widespread adoption of GNU/Linux systems is becoming apparent that yes, we can take the entire market and drive Microsoft into the ground. Without hackers like you, this wouldn't have happened and for that we thank you. So from all of us in the community, we would like to thank you for your tireless work. While we don't have 10,000 signatures to give you and can't claim to represent the entire Free Software community, we can confidently say that everybody in the community appreciates the work you do.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

[edit] EFF Defends a Comrade

In an attempt to silence a critic of the artist Akon, Universal Music Group sent a baseless DMCA takedown request to YouTube. The EFF filed a counter-claim and restored his online rights by getting the video posted again. To thank EFF, Binary Freedom activists sent emails to the head attorney and also to the online critic who was being censored. http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_05.php#005251

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