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Chilling Effects
The NewsLog of Flemming Funch
 Chilling Effects2006-02-01 22:25
5 comments
by Flemming Funch

Chilling Effects Clearinghouse is a resource set up by Electronic Frontier Foundation, essentially to help you out if somebody is trying to shut you up on the net when you state your opinion or tell your story. For example, if you give a critical report of the products or activities of some company. They might send you a legal sounding notice, threatening you with million dollar lawsuits and jail if you don't remove your criticism. It you're just one individual without legal resources, that might freak you out, and you might do what they say, and shut up. But you don't have have to, if you realize you're not alone, and if you have a place to share your story, and receive support and advice.
Do you know your online rights? Have you received a letter asking you to remove information from a Web site or to stop engaging in an activity? Are you concerned about liability for information that someone else posted to your online forum? If so, this site is for you.

Chilling Effects aims to help you understand the protections that the First Amendment and intellectual property laws give to your online activities. We are excited about the new opportunities the Internet offers individuals to express their views, parody politicians, celebrate their favorite movie stars, or criticize businesses. But we've noticed that not everyone feels the same way. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some individuals and corporations are using intellectual property and other laws to silence other online users. Chilling Effects encourages respect for intellectual property law, while frowning on its misuse to "chill" legitimate activity.
Notice particularly that they're gathering a searchable database of Cease and Desist letters that people have received, and they will help decode the legalese, to explain what they actually mean, and what your rights actually are.


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5 comments

2 Feb 2006 @ 05:19 by vibrani : database link kaput
that link doesn't work - it's only for members, it seems.

Under copyright there is some good info there, such as:
Fair use provides a defense to a claim of copyright infringement, but (according to most courts, at least) does not provide the would-be copier with the affirmative right (or ability) to copy. That is, you cannot force a copyright holder to give you copies of a work or allow you to make copies of the work. Under current copyright law, it is perfectly lawful for a copyright holder to use technological barriers to prevent others from making copies of her/his work. And that copying an entire article is not fair use.  

2 Feb 2006 @ 16:22 by ming : Search database
They had some quotes in the url that shouldn't be there. Works now that I removed them.  

2 Feb 2007 @ 01:31 by Todd Alphine @220.57.164.122 : People threating to shut down SantaRoman
It is good that people like yourself, become aware that there are many people that would like to Shut down the Santa Romana website, as it is disclosing too much information that can uncover the embezzlement of 617,500MT of gold that was explain, that just somehow disappeared out of the vaults of the Bank in the Philippines. I also heard other so-called author of some yet to be seen unpublished book also about the Santa Romana yet to be told story, was to have his US Lawyers shut down Mr. Flemming Santa Romana web site as it was attracting more readers than the guy who was wanting to sell his books. The benefit of a free forum is that different people can loh and and express their viewpoint and that is not what the author of some books does, when the reader is forced to read what the author wrote or toss the damn book into the trash can. I hope Mr. Flemming also is not forced to shut down because of the new actions to be taken against his Santa Romana forum by some grown up children of a woman named Luz C. Rambano, as they also want to STOP anyone from learning about their mother and her bad deeds, as that woman faked a marriage to a dead man as was explained on this other Santa Romana forum on this same site. I spend at least a hour reading many of the different discussions that are posted and I then tell myself that I cannot afford to be spending so much time here, then the next day or so, I am mentally driven to come back and again read and I learn and I hope all of us will fight to prevent BIG BROTHER or little brothers from being able to silent any of these forums, as this is Freedom of the Press and a damn good site.  

2 Feb 2007 @ 11:17 by ming : Todd
Nobody has contacted me about shutting down anything, and I certainly wouldn't be cooperative. And Jim Brown is a friend of mine, and he certainly wouldn't be somebody who'd be worried about competition from this site.  

29 Apr 2016 @ 04:57 by Lefty @188.143.232.32 : VaaFGwkmSDHictMlNW
Dapper geschreven T. – knap! Wij worden nog geregeld heen-en-weer geslingerd tussen ‘april’ en ‘november’, maar blijven gelukkig steeds vaker hangen in e&6;nov8mber1#8217;…  

Other stories in
2012-01-24 00:50: Intellectual Property
2011-11-03 16:51: Seeing the world through the Internet
2009-06-11 18:53: Blogging/Microblogging and work
2008-02-23 17:19: Web 1, 2, 3 and 4
2008-02-22 11:07: Illusion
2008-01-09 22:45: A Communication Model
2007-12-02 20:41: Give One Get One
2007-10-25 21:47: Static or dynamic web metaphors
2007-09-18 22:54: Rethinking blogs
2007-07-04 23:59: Scrutiny of Information


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