Free Republic

The above link goes to their most recent annual report, 2008/2009. In it is a rundown of their funding. Their biggest funding sources are this, in this order: 1: Foundation grants 2: Membership income 3: Individual Major Contributions The foundations are by far the easiest to track. As you look through the list of foundations on page two, most of you will immediately notice that the Open Society Institute is on that list, and most of you know that that's George Soros. As I've catalogged elsewhere, he gave them 300 large in one year. Unlisted on eff.org but accessible via...

The dismissal of lawsuits brought against Northwest Airlines has online privacy advocates renewing calls for federal privacy legislation. In a decision dated June 6, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that seven consolidated class action lawsuits against Northwest had no merit--in part because the privacy policy posted on the airline's Web site was unenforceable unless plaintiffs claimed to have read it. The plaintiffs had contended that the airline, in giving passenger information to the government in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, violated laws and its own privacy policy. "Although Northwest had a privacy policy for...

In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers. Closely tracking arguments made by EFF in its amicus brief, the court found that email users have the same reasonable expectation of privacy in their stored email as they do in their phone calls and postal mail.

Your emails should be safe from warrantless search, says 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, again. From an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) press release today: In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers.... EFF filed a similar amicus brief with the 6th Circuit in 2006 in a civil suit brought by criminal defendant Warshak against the government for its warrantless seizure of his emails. There, the...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants to prosecute Julian Assange for espionage. The founder of WikiLeaks "intentionally harmed the U.S. government," says Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. By releasing 250,000 State Department cables, he also violated the 1917 Espionage Act by transmitting "information which the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation," Feinstein, D-Calif., charged in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Tuesday. To John Perry Barlow, co-founder of San Francisco's Electronic Frontier Foundation, "The first serious infowar is now engaged. The field of...

In a sea of 7,000 fans, controversial TV and radio talk-show host Glenn Beck took his crusade to Safeco Field today, saying he is the voice of reason in a divided America. "I am a flawed human being," said Beck, 45. "But I'm in a position to ring the bell of warning." Beck, sponsored by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, came to Seattle amid a torrent of anger over his proclamation on July 28 that President Obama was a racist and that he believed the president has a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." Outside the stadium, about...

Some experts say the government needs to step into Cyberspace to protect the Internet and its users from security threats. A bill is working its way through Congress that would give the government final control over fundamental Internet infrastructure. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco group advocating maximum freedom on the web, thinks the proposed legislation goes too far. “The bill as it exists now risks giving the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily improving security in the ways that matter most,” the group argues in an editorial on its web site. “It should be opposed...

Attorneys for the University of Tennessee student accused of breaking into Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's email account have filed a small forest's worth of court documents in defense of the high-profile suspect. Among them is a motion to prohibit prosecutors from referring to their client as a hacker. The terms "hacker" and "hacking" have no basis under the statute Kernell is accused of violating, a motion filed in US District Court in Knoxville argues. It goes on to seek an order forbidding prosecutors and their witnesses from using those words when referring to the case. "Because of the negative connotations...

The Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that telecommunications companies assisted the government's warrantless surveillance program and were being sued as a result, an admission some legal experts say could complicate the government's bid to halt numerous lawsuits challenging the program's legality. "[U]nder the president's program, the terrorist surveillance program, the private sector had assisted us," Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said in an interview with the El Paso Times published Wednesday. His statement could help plaintiffs in dozens of lawsuits against the telecom companies, which allege that the companies participated in a wiretapping program that violated Americans'...

Documents of “no legitimate concern to the public.” OLYMPIA—On February 8, 2007, seven unions filed a complaint in King County Superior Court to prevent the state from releasing documents made and exchanged between the state and unions during collective bargaining agreement negotiations last year. The case has been assigned to Judge Hilyer, and has been noted for hearing on Friday, March 9, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. In 2006, the state’s Labor Relations Office (LRO) negotiated 22 contracts with unions representing state employees. These contracts will cost the state more than a half-billion dollars. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation filed a public...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense and the Army that seeks more information on a military web censorship unit called the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell (AWRAC) after the DOD failed to answer the EFF's Freedom of Information Act request in an expedited fashion.

Have you ever notice the pleasure children receive when delving into one of the numerous “Where’s Waldo” books? Though attempts to find Waldo are good-hearted fun, taxpayer’s attempt to find leadership in the midst of hundreds of millions of dollars of state legal violations is a more troubling endeavor. When it comes to Governor Gregoire and the state’s seemingly perpetual Medicaid audit problems, the search for executive leadership evokes the frustrating question, “Where’s Gregoire?” Consider the fact that once again the state auditor has identified multiple problems with the state’s Medicaid program, yet to date, the governor has been silent...

OLYMPIA -- The state's largest teachers union is pushing legislation that would, in effect, allow unions to spend fees paid by nonmembers on political campaigns without first getting permission. The bills, drafted by the Washington Education Association (WEA) and other labor groups, were introduced Wednesday in the House and Senate by a handful of Democratic lawmakers. Union leaders say they are merely trying to clarify a confusing statute. But critics said the union is attempting an end-run on the U.S. Supreme Court, which is currently reviewing the constitutionality of a Washington law that required unions to get permission before spending...

Only a week into the 2007 legislative session and already taxpayers are facing conflicting budget information. On the one hand we hear from Governor Gregoire that Olympia is sitting on nearly a $2 billion surplus and years of pent-up spending priorities to fund. On the other hand fiscal conservatives and the Governor's own budget office project that if adopted, Gregoire's budget would throw the state back into deficits as soon as next biennium. Who is right? Unsurprisingly, the answer depends on your worldview. These conflicting worldviews, however, could easily by harmonized if lawmakers would commit to getting the state off...

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices indicated today they are inclined to uphold a Washington state law preventing unions from using fees they get from workers for political activities. The case involves a few thousand teachers and other education employees who are in the bargaining unit and thus represented by the more than 70,000-member Washington Education Association — but who have chosen not to join the union. Workers can't be forced to join or pay for the union's political activism, but they can be charged a fee for labor negotiations that affect them. The narrow issue before the justices is whether,...

SPOKANE, Wash.--Teachers unions are supposed to promote the financial interests of, well, teachers--but not in Washington state. Here, the Washington Education Association is fighting some 4,000 nonmember teachers who don't want their paychecks raided each year and used for political activities that they don't believe in. "The right of free speech is being trampled" by the union political spending, complains Scott Carlson, a business teacher in Spokane. "And that's a right I hold very precious." Too bad the unions don't. The WEA derisively refers to teachers like Mr. Carlson who want their money back not as free-speech advocates but "dissidents."...

OLYMPIA—Today the State Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought against the state for violations of the people's Taxpayer Protection Act (I-601) passed in 1993. Earlier this year a Snohomish County Superior Court judge found the state violated I-601 by adopting the 2005 budget and various tax increases in excess of the established spending limit without a vote of the people as required by law. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Director of Economic Policy, Jason Mercier, had the following to say about today's oral arguments: "This case boils down to whether or not the state will be held accountable...

You've got to hand it to the people at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. When they devise a gimmick to make a point, they go all out. The Olympia-based conservative think tank has been battling the Washington Education Association in court over the use of union dues to fund political activities. That's not legal, the EFF argues, and says union processes allowing members to reclaim the portion of their dues used on politics are too complicated. Most workers "give up and pay," the organization says, and opting out of the union doesn't solve the problem either. While it waits to see...

Twice during the past few months I have been informed in no uncertain terms that teaching is a noble profession. This has been in response to my suggestion that in addition to encouraging parents to keep children out of the government school system, we should also be encouraging teachers to abandon it. Who knew that the mere suggestion that teachers hold the power to dismantle the system faster than just about any other group, and should do so, would result in emotional outbursts and anger? Apparently there is some unspoken rule that it is ok to suggest that the government...

“I love seduction, but I hate rape.” I heard those words for the first time during my freshman year at college. George Mason University professor Walter Williams was giving a lecture on the role of government and the proper use of its monopoly on force in a free society. Government isn’t alone in its ability to abuse its power. Labor unions have also failed to learn the lesson that “no” means “no.” One of the most egregious examples of this is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. For the last five years, Washington state, its National Education Association-affiliated teachers’ union,...

As Stephen Covey, the best-selling author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, once said: “Accountability breeds response-ability.” Thanks to a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals, labor unions will finally be required to show some accountability and transparency for how they spend their members’ money—a crucial step in making Big Labor more responsive to its membership.   On August 1, Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg ruled the U.S. Department of Labor can require state affiliates of the National Education Association to provide detailed financial records to members. The federal Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) requires labor organizations to annually...

The Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE), the largest state employee union, will not allow workers to vote on the 2007-09 collective bargaining agreement if they have not agreed to pay for the union’s political activity. These workers pay full collective bargaining dues. So why not give them a vote on their contract?State employees who are covered by union bargaining are required to pay union dues. Those who object to the union’s political activism can become “fee payers.” Fee payers are classified as nonmembers, and are entitled to a rebate of a portion of dues. They are still required, however,...

Yesterday a federal district court in Seattle handed down a decision that undermines the security of your ballot this fall. The case is called Washington Association of Churches v. Secretary of State Reed, and is the brainchild of a New York-based group called the Brennan Center for Justice. If you’ve never heard of them before, don’t feel bad. All through the recounts and lawsuits of the 2004 gubernatorial election, and despite the thousands of legal voters who were disenfranchised by illegal votes and counting errors, the Brennan Center hasn’t once stepped foot into the state of Washington to help bring...

OLYMPIA—Today Thurston County Superior Court Judge Paula Casey denied the National Education Association's (NEA) motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF). At issue is the NEA's violation of RCW 42.17.760, which requires unions to get "affirmative authorization" before using nonmember dues for political purposes. After Attorney General Christine Gregoire successfully prosecuted Washington Education Association in 2001 for admitted violations of the law, EFF filed a "citizen's action" lawsuit against the NEA in April 2002, arguing the NEA committed similar violations. The Attorney General later filed an identical suit against the NEA.A Public Disclosure...

Every year businesses and governments lose billions of dollars because of overpayments to contractors, suppliers, and individuals. The United States Government Accountability Office's Improper Payments report states that overpayments result "from duplicate payments; invoice and pricing errors; failure to apply discounts, rebates, or other allowances; failure to comply with purchasing agreements; and any other errors resulting in overpayments." Fortunately for the stockholders of most Fortune 500 companies and the taxpayers in a growing number of states, that money is reclaimed using recovery audits. Recovery audits find, confirm, and collect refunds from overpayments. In many cases, overpayments are not intentional, but...

To quote the old Mercedes Benz airbag commercial: “Some things in life are too important not to share.” The National Education Association’s national convention begins today at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Outside, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (a Washington State think tank) is parking a truck with a billboard highlighting some of the expenditures the NEA listed on its 2004 federal financial disclosure forms. The billboard is too important (and good) not to share:

ORLANDO—An organization that defends the First Amendment rights of teachers will deliver a message to union officials at the National Education Association’s (NEA) convention in Orlando, Florida this weekend.The Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Labor Policy Center will be at the Orange County Convention Center during the convention with a professionally prepared billboard truck (click here for images). The truck will have three key themes: “It pays to be a union boss.” When it comes to salaries, benefits and perks, union officials are better off than teachers. The average NEA employee’s salary is nearly twice as much as the average teacher’s. Further,...

To see the original article, go to http://www.effwa.org/main/article.php?article_id=1632. EFF delivers a message from teachers to the NEA Convention: "No Means No!" www.teachers-vs-union.org ORLANDO—An organization that defends the First Amendment rights of teachers will deliver a message to union officials at the National Education Association’s (NEA) convention in Orlando, Florida this weekend. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Labor Policy Center will be at the Orange County Convention Center during the convention with a professionally prepared billboard truck (click here for images). The truck will have three key themes: “It pays to be a union boss.” When it comes to salaries, benefits and...

OLYMPIA---Today the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) released a listing of all allegations of election fraud stemming from the contested 2004 general election, the number of prosecutions in each county, and every county prosecutor’s contact information. "This database is a tool for citizens who are concerned about the integrity of their county’s elections, but do not have the time to track all of the alleged crimes and prosecutions that occurred in their county. Armed with this new information, citizens will be able to accurately judge their prosecutor’s performance," according to Victor Joecks of EFF’s Voter Integrity Project. EFF has consistently recommended...

DOJ Will Assert Military and State Secrets Privilege and Request Dismissal of Lawsuit San Francisco - The United States government filed a "Statement of Interest" Friday in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against AT&T, announcing that the government would "assert the military and state secrets privilege" and "intervene to seek dismissal" of the case. EFF's lawsuit accuses AT&T of collaborating with the National Security Agency in its massive surveillance program. EFF's evidence regarding AT&T's dragnet surveillance of its networks, currently filed under seal, includes a declaration by Mark Klein, a retired AT&T telecommunications technician, and several internal AT&T...

EFF Files Evidence in Motion to Stop AT&T's Dragnet Surveillance Internal AT&T Documents Had Been Temporarily Held Back Due To Government's Concerns San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Wednesday filed the legal briefs and evidence supporting its motion for a preliminary injunction in its class-action lawsuit against AT&T. After asking EFF to hold back the documents so that it could review them, the Department of Justice consented to EFF's filing them under seal -- a well-established procedure that prohibits public access and permits only the judge and the litigants to see the evidence. While not a party...

EFF: AT&T forwards all Internet traffic into NSA April 07, 2006 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Wednesday filed the legal briefs and evidence supporting its motion for a preliminary injunction in its class-action lawsuit against AT&T. After asking EFF to hold back the documents so that it could review them, the Department of Justice consented to EFF's filing them under seal -- a well-established procedure that prohibits public access and permits only the judge and the litigants to see the evidence. While not a party to the case, the government was concerned that even this procedure would not provide...

A Snohomish County judge has struck down a key package of tax increases on liquor and cigarettes, agreeing that lawmakers illegally bypassed voter-approved spending limits to enact the new fees. The judgment, issued Friday by Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer in Everett, invalidated an omnibus tax plan that Democratic lawmakers used to balance the two-year state budget during the 2005 session. State officials are likely to appeal the ruling, which essentially would require a statewide vote to keep the $263 million, two-year tax package in place. >snip Their lawsuit targeted the 2005 Legislature's overhaul of state taxation and spending limits...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A civil liberties group sued AT&T Inc. on Tuesday for its alleged role in helping the National Security Agency spy on the phone calls and other communications of U.S. citizens without warrants. The class-action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, seeks to stop the surveillance program that started shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks. It also seeks billions of dollars in damages. The EFF claims the San Antonio-based telecommunications company not only provided direct access to its network that carries voice and data but also to its...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T on January 31, 2006, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications. In December of 2005, the press revealed that the government had instituted a comprehensive and warrantless electronic surveillance program that ignored the careful safeguards set forth by Congress. This surveillance program, purportedly authorized by the President at least as early as 2001 and primarily undertaken by the NSA, intercepts and analyzes...

Company Should Repair Damage to Customers Caused by CD Software The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with two leading national class action law firms, today filed a lawsuit against Sony BMG, demanding that the company repair the damage done by the First4Internet XCP and SunnComm MediaMax software it included on over 24 million music CDs.

Tiny dots produced by some laser printers are a secret code that can allow the government to track down counterfeiters, a new study concludes, raising the hackles of privacy advocates. The Electronic Frontier Foundation said its researchers recently broke the code behind the tiny tracking dots and said the US Secret Service confirmed that the tracking is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers to identify counterfeiters. "We've found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document was printed, as well as the serial number of...

Tiny Dots Show Where and When You Made Your Print San Francisco - A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document. The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known. "We've found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document...

OLYMPIA—In response to his Wall Street Journal column concerning those responsible for Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, Bob Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, will appear on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight programs this evening. Mr. Williams may also appear on ABC's World News Tonight.

Rumor is afoot that Hollywood is taking another crack at the Broadcast Flag on Capitol Hill, this time by sneaking a Flag provision into an appropriations bill before the Senate. If what we hear is true, the provision will be introduced before a subcommittee tomorrow and before the full appropriations committee on Thursday. That gives us 48 hours to stop it. EFF's action alert, geared to people with senators on the committee, is here. Public Knowledge also provides a number of excellent talking points in an email urging readers to phone their senators: * There has been No Debate in...

Audio link courtesy of TVW: 6/2/05 Inside Olympia OLYMPIA—Appearing on the June 2 edition of TVW’s Inside Olympia hosted by David Ammons, State Auditor Brian Sonntag agreed with the criticisms offered by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) and Initiative 900 sponsor Tim Eyman concerning the performance audit law passed this session. EFF and Eyman have complained that under the new performance audit law (HB 1064), an unelected political board unnecessarily restricts the state auditor’s ability to conduct performance audits. The text of HB 1064 clearly states that the unelected board will “establish criteria for performance audits” as well as be...

In the recently completed 2005 legislative session, legislators enacted 98 bills with emergency clauses. An emergency clause serves two purposes: 1) bills adopted take effect immediately, and 2) the people are denied their right of referendum due to the purported emergency addressed by the bill. In addition to the 98 bills adopted with emergency clauses, even more bills started the session with emergency clauses (eventually stripped from final bill) and still more were proposed but did not receive final passage (such as HB 1608 – Creating the potato commission). Because Article 2, Section 1 of the Washington Constitution grants the...

OLYMPIA—The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) today filed a lawsuit asking the Washington Supreme Court to protect the voters’ right to file a referendum on legislative actions, as guaranteed by the state constitution. In the last days of the recent legislative session, lawmakers passed SB 6078. The measure overturned I-601—the voter-approved initiative that limited government spending and required a two-thirds vote in both houses to raise taxes. Last week the Washington Farm Bureau filed for a referendum that would put the issue back before voters in the next general election. The Secretary of State’s Office, however, refused to accept the referendum...

Feeling restricted by having to budget within a voter-approved spending limit? Tired of having to follow the will of the people? Worry no more! Now you too can be a contestant on the latest craze to hit Washington’s legislature: Budget Shell Games 101. It’s easy to play. First thing you do is roll the 2005 supplemental budget into next biennium’s (2005-07) operating budget while not providing any details about the supplemental. This may help dissuade the curious from learning about your budget slight of hand. Then you pray that no one takes the time to read line-by-line the fund shifts...

Still trying to find something in English to properly confirm all the details about this, but apparently a French court has ruled that adding anti-copying mechanisms to a DVD violates the rights consumers have to make private copies of media that they’ve bought and paid for. Reportedly the court has given the company that released the film in question one month to provide the guy who sued them with an unprotected DVD; it’s not entirely clear whether this ruling applies to every DVD sold in France or just that one copy of Mulholland Drive this guy was trying to dub....

OLYMPIA—On April 20, Governor Christine Gregoire issued a press release highlighting the state being a finalist for Harvard’s “Innovation in Government Award.” Washington was nominated for the award because of its use of the priorities of government (POG) budget model in crafting a no-new-taxes budget in 2003. Then-Senator Dino Rossi used POG to write the 2003-05 budget, which he prioritized within available revenue despite facing more than a $2 billion budget deficit. Gregoire’s release read in-part: “Washington’s pioneering budgeting method—which follows a process to prioritize state services within available resources—is among 18 government initiatives from across the nation to emerge...

OLYMPIA—A compromise to secure Republican votes for transportation tax increases was reached today in the Senate. The adopted compromise authorizes performance audits of the Department of Transportation (DOT). Today’s vote directly conflicts with the Senate’s previous vote on ESHB 1064 (performance audits for state government). Senate Democrats previously rejected amendments offered on ESHB 1064 by Sen. Bill Finkbeiner and Sen. Pam Roach that would have granted the state auditor authority to conduct independent comprehensive performance audits of all of state government, including DOT. As approved, ESHB 1064 exempted DOT (transportation reviews were left to an unelected Transportation Audit Board) and...

OLYMPIA—Not withstanding the current tax debate, tomorrow Washingtonians will finally reach their Tax Freedom Day for 2005. This means that from January 1 to April 20 (110 days), taxpayers in Washington have been working to pay their combined federal, state and local tax obligations. Tax Freedom Day for 2004 arrived on April 18, meaning Washingtonians had to work an additional two days this year to pay their taxes. The national average for Tax Freedom Day arrived on April 17, three days earlier than in Washington this year. Each year the Tax Foundation calculates the date by which taxpayers will finally...

Approves restrictive House bill OLYMPIA—The Senate fell one vote short today of adopting truly independent and comprehensive performance audits. Instead the Senate approved ESHB 1064, which creates an unelected political board to establish the criteria of any performance audits instituted. The bill passed by a vote of 30-19.Amendments offered by Sen. Pam Roach (R) and Sen. Bill Finkbeiner (R) would have allowed the state auditor to establish the scope of performance audits and conduct them without having to gain permission from an unelected political board. Both amendments failed by votes of 24-25. The language in the defeated amendments closely resembled...

OLYMPIA—Today House Democrats released their $26 billion 2005-07 budget recommendation. The House budget increases spending $2.7 billion over the current budget. This is an increase of 12 percent and more than three times the forecasted inflation rate for the next biennium. Their budget proposal also exceeds the voter-approved I-601 spending limit by $863 million, and the governor's proposed spending limit revisions by $53 million. "With this spending-limit-busting budget, Democrats have now gone 0-3 in drafting sustainable and fiscally responsible budgets," said Jason Mercier, budget analyst for the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. "Rather than step up to the plate and budget within...