EFF Ought to Focus on Software Patents -- Maybe EPO Scandals Too -- Instead of Awarding (Publicity Stunts) and Rewarding Privacy Abusers

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2019-10-07 06:52:40 UTC
Modified: 2019-10-07 06:52:40 UTC

EFF on patents

Summary: Taking money from and giving awards to privacy-abusing corporations won't help the EFF, at least not in the long term

THIS quick post concerns a matter that we mentioned last night, albeit only in passing. The EFF is changing and in our view not for the better. It does not write about patents as much as it used to. That's 21 articles/posts so far this year (a lot less in recent months because Nazer left) compared to about 50 last year. What's more, they're losing sight of key issues and they still ignore EPO abuses (while having seemingly endless resources to tackle copyright policy in Europe). What is going on? Months ago they took Google money and people have used that to accuse the EFF of fronting for Google, in essence a surveillance company. Weeks ago the EFF (over)saw an award given to a person complicit in mass surveillance of Microsoft. Again, what the heck is going on? And check who the sponsors were: "Special thanks to our sponsors: Airbnb; Dropbox; Matthew Prince; Medium; O'Reilly Media; Ridder, Costa & Johnstone LLP; and Ron Reed for supporting EFF and the 2019 Pioneer Award Ceremony. If you or your company are interested in learning more about sponsorship, please contact nicole@eff.org."

"Weeks ago the EFF (over)saw an award given to a person complicit in mass surveillance of Microsoft."€¿Qué?

Can't the EFF sponsor (fund) its own ceremonies? Please don't become another Linux Foundation.

What do Airbnb and Dropbox do there? They're listed as forefront sponsors (the list is not alphabetical). The EFF surely knows about the surveillance (NSA PRISM), which was mentioned many times by the EFF itself in the wake of Snowden leaks. Dropbox is "coming soon" (in 2013) to PRISM and Airbnb is a privacy dump.

"Condy Rice on the Board and NSA PRISM don't seem to prevent the EFF from taking money from Dropbox to glorify privacy abusers from Microsoft."In our view, what EFF does here is what Lessig likes to call "leaning to the green" (money). Condy Rice on the Board and NSA PRISM don't seem to prevent the EFF from taking money from Dropbox to glorify privacy abusers from Microsoft. Will the EFF take the risk of condemning Dropbox for privacy abuses in the future? Maybe. People might always wonder.

What would Barlow (founder) have said? He died last year and it would be a shame if the EFF's credibility died with him. ⬆

Slop is "just a hobby, won't be big and professional like GNU.": What Torvalds says about "hey hi" ("AI") does not prove he is in charge
Intercontinental Brigading - Part VII - Weekend Abuse Reported to British Police (Rogue Actors Take No Breaks): Some time in the next few days I'll share an elaborate report
Gemini Links 18/10/2026: Hospitals, Literature, Fixed IP Addresses, and Sunday Types: Links for the day
Links 18/10/2026: Brazil Reduces Deforestation, Some 4-5 Gray's Inn Square Scandals in Insolvency Petition of Reform UK: Links for the day
UbuntuBuzz is LLM Slop: Tragic
"Assisted by NSA" and "It's Just a Tool" (So Fine!): Free software is meant to be produced by people who value and pursue Software Freedom
Gemini Links 18/10/2026: Movies, Greenland, and Detectors of Slop Plagiarism: Links for the day
Links 18/10/2026: TikTok Censors Criticism of MElon, "Trump’s Latest Attempt to Be the King", and "Big Tech Oligarchs Have a Terrible Plan for Humanity": Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 17, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, October 17, 2026
Gemini Links 17/10/2026: Big Glowing Advertising Screens, Busy October, and Art: Links for the day
The First Casualty: The Reputation of Linux Developers (and of Linux): The last thing you can take from a person is pride
Links 17/10/2026: Europe Divorcing US President Putin (Kompromat), MElon and Kapo-berg ("Meta") Buying US Elections Again: Links for the day
GAFAM LLMs Seem to be Causing Veteran, Experienced Linux Developers to Quit, Only to be Replaced With GAFAM Bots and Unaudited Slopfest 'Code': Better than 'pulling a SCO'?
30 Years of KDE and "Project Banana": KDE recently turned 30 (many blog posts about it this past week)
Intercontinental Brigading - Part VI - Racism Against Blacks: Systems don't always work as intended
Inevitable Things: "Bitbucket was Inevitable"
Andy's Passing Thoughts on Media Dying, Not Reporting News (Even Critical News About Itself): No more news
Stallman Was Right About Torvalds: The crowd/audience Linus Torvalds panders to is paid by GAFAM to go attend and dominate (speak at) LF events. They're people whose employer forces them to use slop, it's inorganic.
Links 17/10/2026: "Why Math Dumped OpenAI", US Third Circuit Has Confirmed LLMs and Other Slop Constitute Plagiarism or Copyright Infringement: Links for the day
GPL Was Right (About Hoarding, Now Automated With Plagiarism Blenders): Some time next year the UK's High Court might listen to arguments related to this
Microsoft Allegedly Asks Many Workers to Leave at the End of This Year (or Get the Boot), It's Called Voluntary Exit Program a.k.a. Voluntary Early Retirement Program (or VEP) Even for People Far Too Young to Retire: "Everyone at Microsoft knows what those acronyms mean."
The Torvalds-led Slopfest as a Reminder to Pursue Software Freedom, Not Plagiarism Endorsed (for Money) by 'Linux' Foundation: What's happening this month moreover proves that he is not in control of important decisions in his project
Why We Never Got Back to IPFS: Practically speaking, we could get back to IPFS any time
Trillions of Dollars in Debt Are Not "Investment", More People Realise This Now: "Investors started offloading shares on Wednesday in response to an X post about the debt load of CoreWeave Inc..."
Red Hat Silent Layoffs: October 1 Bluewashing, Then Leaving IBM Altogether: It's said that weeks from now there will be another "round" (of "RAs")
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Metrovision, Smartwatches, and Rekindled Love for Geminispace: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 16, 2026: IRC logs for Friday, October 16, 2026
Intercontinental Brigading - Part V - Keeping Linux Under Users' Control, Not Microsoft's (NSA) Control, Leads to Weaponisation of Cops (Killing the Messengers): Transatlantic lawfare
TeamBlind Accused of Censorship, Maybe Surveillance in the Future: It's expensive to protect whistleblowers and to resist censorship of what whistleblowers try to expose
Another Friday 'Litter' of IBM Workers, Discarded and Sometimes Replaced to Cut Costs: The little that IBM earns is spent buying companies to pretend there's "growth" and headcount stability
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Carrie, Games, and Slop: Links for the day
Links 16/10/2026: Election Interference by Slop; White House Backs Russia, Not Ukraine: Links for the day
The Register MS Has New 'Article' That Has "AI" 20 Times. "SPONSORED POST" As Usual.: At the end, both the media and the pyramid scheme will collapse
UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Says Microsoft is Still Abusive: Today, ahead of the latest fake 'results' [...] Microsoft cheats the system everywhere it can
Links 16/10/2026: "Data Centers Are Driving Conservative Rural Voters to The Democratic Party En Masse" and Slop Bros Bribe Candidates "for Congress": Links for the day
Deplatforming People You Disagree With Is a Losing Strategy: Trying to deplatform people you don't agree with is oppressive and petty
Microsoft Cannot Pay Salaries: Microsoft is deep in debt
IBM "support that is USA based will migrate over 4 years to Indian based just because it lowers costs substantially.": IBM is not capable of growing, so it tries to find ways to shave off costs
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Publishing and Licensing, Going to Movies, and Nature/Seasons Change: Links for the day
Microsoft's OSI Calling Slop "Open Source AI" (Microsoft Paid OSI to Do This) Has Helped Associate "Open Source" With Pedophilia: Microsoft deflecting?
Fridges Do Not Need an Internet Connection: Keep it simple, stupid (KISS)
Wikileaks Still Matters: The world needs more sites like these
'Cocaine King' Campinos Should 'Get the Message', Pack Up His Things and Go Already: His staff is constantly on strike and engaged in various industrial actions
We Don't Do Slop: People tend to appreciate genuine work, not fakes
On Lying With Confidence: LLMs are hype
Market Share of Windows in the United Kingdom is Shockingly Low: Microsoft's losses are very profound
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 15, 2026: IRC logs for Thursday, October 15, 2026
Microsoft Can Barely Afford to Colonise Africa Any Longer (Too Much Debt): "Before the announcement, former Microsoft employees publicly described staff being placed on performance improvement plans or offered “voluntary” exits."
Intercontinental Brigading - Part IV - Harassment Registered With the Police Before Projection Attempts Made From America: The thing one gets subjected to for opposing back doors in Linux
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Dogs, Slop, and Blogging: Links for the day

EFF Ought to Focus on Software Patents -- Maybe EPO Scandals Too -- Instead of Awarding (Publicity Stunts) and Rewarding Privacy Abusers

Recent Techrights' Posts