EFF: Appeals Court Corrects Dangerous Web Privacy Ruling

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 01, 2006

Contact:

Rebecca Jeschke
   Media Coordinator
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   press@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x125

Appeals Court Corrects Dangerous Web Privacy Ruling

Judges Agree with EFF Brief in DirecTV Case

San Francisco - The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has
corrected a dangerous lower court ruling that threatened
Internet privacy.  In doing so, it preserved the privacy of
password-protected websites as well as the right to read
public sites.  The decision followed the arguments made in
an amicus brief filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF).

"A real privacy disaster was averted today," said EFF Staff
Attorney Kevin Bankston, who authored the brief.  "The
court affirmed important legal protections for truly
private websites, and also protected your right to read
public content on the Internet without getting sued."

The case began when Michael Snow, the publisher of an
anti-DirecTV website, sued the company for unauthorized
access under the Stored Communications Act (SCA).  Snow's
site had a banner and purported Terms of Service forbidding
DirecTV representatives from entering the site or using its
message board, but it was configured such that anyone in
the public could do so.

A lower court had rightly dismissed the case, but for the
wrong reasons -- holding that the SCA did not protect
websites at all, even if they were configured to be
private.  However, the 11th Circuit clarified that websites
are protected by the SCA, except when they are designed to
be readily accessible to the general public.

"Through the World Wide Web, individuals can easily and
readily access websites hosted throughout the world. Given
the Web's ubiquitous and public nature, it becomes
increasingly important in cases concerning electronic
communications available through the Web for a plaintiff to
demonstrate that those communications are not readily
accessible," the opinion reads.  "If by simply clicking a
hypertext link, after ignoring an express warning, on an
otherwise publicly accessible webpage, one is liable under
the SCA, then the floodgates of litigation would open and
the merely curious would be prosecuted. We find no intent
by Congress to so permit."

For the full opinion:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Snow_v_DirecTV/200513687.pdf

For EFF's brief:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Snow_v_DirecTV/EFF_amicus.pdf

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_06.php#004720

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


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