Good morning. My name is James Prigoff. I am 86 years old and a retired senior corporate executive, having been president of a Levi Strauss division and previously the senior vice president of the Sara Lee Corporation in Chicago. I am also a professional photographer – in fact, I have been a photographer for most of my life. My specialty is photographing murals, graffiti art, and other community public art. I am the co-author of three books utilizing my photographs, one of which, Spraycan Art, has sold over 200,000 copies. My photographs appear in countless other publications and my photography has been exhibited at the Smithsonian in Washington and in many other galleries. I have lectured on photography and public art in museums, universities, and venues worldwide.

The surveillance—apparently conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—is troubling for many reasons. It is also a reminder that even targeted surveillance authorities like FISA can be abused.

When 86-year-old photographer James Prigoff paused to photograph a natural gas storage tank in Boston 10 years ago, he was simply doing what countless of tourists have done before. The colorful tank, painted with a rainbow-like design, is a popular photo op. He had no reason to suspect his snapshot would prompt an ominous visit by a federal agent months later and the addition of his name to a government database of suspicious activity.

EFF asked the Second Circuit Court of Appeals today to reject a last-ditch attempt by the Authors Guild to block the Google Books project and rewrite the rules of fair use.

The chairman of a key House committee on Thursday charged that the Obama administration is gutting nonproliferation norms in its negotiating stance toward Iran, especially in light of its policy approach toward inking nuclear trade agreements elsewhere around the world.

The only way we even know about some of the huge new copyright impacts is because a draft copy of the secretive draft agreement was provided to Wikileaks. The draft shows that the U.S. is trying to get its partners onboard with a notice-and-takedown regime for copyright infringement.

You may know the practice by its Americanized nom de guerre: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

(8. April 2013) Dem berühmten gebildeten, peniblen und für seine Demokratiefähigkeit und intellektuellen Kapazitäten in ganz Europa bekannten deutschen Zeitungsleser mag da etwas auffallen. Oder sogar einfallen. Am Ende sogar vielleicht sogar, woher der Bundesnachrichtendienst und sein Publikum das alles wissen will.

Und wenn doch alles, alles, alles wahr wäre (was außerhalb der Käseglocke Deutschland keiner glaubt) , bleibt immer noch die ebenfalls von allen echt nordländischen Vorlesern von Spardiktaten für irgendwelche Spar-, Schulden- oder einfach Südsündern peinlichst umschlenderte Frage, ob der Bundesnachrichtendienst das alles überhaupt wissen darf. Und wie die Spione an die Daten kamen.

(17. April 2012) There is a distinct, if little discussed, downside to being a superpower and acting as the self-appointed global policeman with a multitude of targets. An arrogance feeding on a feeling of invincibility and an obsession with winning every battle blind you to your own impact and even to what might be to your long-term benefit. In this situation, as your planet-wide activities become ever more diverse, frenzied, and even contradictory, you expose yourself to exploitation by lesser powers otherwise seemingly tied to your apron strings.

Pakistan, twice during America’s 33-year-long involvement in Afghanistan made a frontline state, is a classic example of that. Current policymakers in Washington should take note: It’s a strategy for disaster.