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Generated Glossary

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Record count: 39

CASE-BERNSTEIN-V-DOJ: Bernstein v. United States Department of Justice

Bernstein v. United States Department of Justice, 176 F.3d 1132 (9th Cir. 1999), held that software source code is protected speech under the First Amendment and that government regulations preventing its publication constituted an unconstitutional prior restraint.

CASE-CARPENTER-V-US: Carpenter v. United States

Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. 296 (2018), held that the Government's acquisition of historical cell-site location records was a Fourth Amendment search requiring a warrant supported by probable cause in ordinary circumstances.

CASE-JUNGER-V-DALEY: Junger v. Daley

Junger v. Daley, 209 F.3d 481 (6th Cir. 2000), held that computer source code is protected by the First Amendment because of its expressiveness in conveying ideas, reversing the district court's contrary finding on encryption source code and export restrictions.

CASE-PACKINGHAM-V-NC: Packingham v. North Carolina

Packingham v. North Carolina, 582 U.S. 98 (2017), held unanimously that a North Carolina law prohibiting registered sex offenders from accessing social media websites violated the First Amendment, establishing that the internet and social media are protected spaces for the exercise of free speech rights.

CASE-PERFECT10-V-CCBILL: Perfect 10, Inc. v. CCBill LLC

Perfect 10, Inc. v. CCBill LLC, 488 F.3d 1102 (9th Cir. 2007), is an appellate decision addressing DMCA § 512 safe harbor requirements for online service providers.

CASE-RENO-V-ACLU: Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union

Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997), held that certain Communications Decency Act provisions restricting indecent and patently offensive Internet speech violated the First Amendment.

CASE-UNIVERSAL-V-CORLEY: Universal City Studios v. Corley

Universal City Studios v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001), upheld a DMCA anti-circumvention injunction against distribution of DeCSS code while acknowledging that computer code is speech entitled to First Amendment scrutiny, applying intermediate scrutiny to content-neutral regulation of code's functional aspects.

CASE-VAN-BUREN-V-US: Van Buren v. United States

Van Buren v. United States, 593 U.S. 374 (2021), interpreted the CFAA phrase exceeds authorized access narrowly in a gates-up-or-down case about database access.

ORG-ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. civil liberties organization documented in OIR from official ACLU pages.

ORG-CDT: Center for Democracy and Technology

The Center for Democracy and Technology is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to promote democratic values by shaping technology policy and architecture, with a focus on the rights of the individual.

ORG-EFF: Electronic Frontier Foundation

Electronic Frontier Foundation is a U.S. nonprofit organization that, according to its official pages, defends civil liberties in the digital world.

ORG-FSF: Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1985 with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and defend the rights of all software users.

ORG-INSTITUTE-FOR-JUSTICE: Institute for Justice

The Institute for Justice is a nonprofit public interest law firm whose mission is to end widespread abuses of government power and secure constitutional rights, with First Amendment free speech litigation as a central focus.

ORG-KNIGHT-FIRST-AMENDMENT: Knight First Amendment Institute

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education.

ORG-OSI: Open Source Initiative

The Open Source Initiative is a non-profit corporation with global scope formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source software.

ORG-SFLC: Software Freedom Law Center

The Software Freedom Law Center provides pro bono legal representation and related services to not-for-profit developers of free and open source software.

ORG-SIGNAL: Signal

Signal is documented in OIR from its official website as a nonprofit-associated private messaging service.

ORG-SOFTWARE-FREEDOM-CONSERVANCY: Software Freedom Conservancy

Software Freedom Conservancy is a U.S. nonprofit organization that provides infrastructure and legal support for free and open source software projects and promotes the right to repair, improve, and reinstall software.

ORG-TOR-PROJECT: Tor Project

Tor Project is a nonprofit organization documented in OIR from official Tor Project pages about privacy and onion routing technology.

PERSON-CINDY-COHN: Cindy Cohn

Cindy Cohn is an American civil liberties attorney specializing in internet law who served as executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 2015 to 2026 and was lead attorney in Bernstein v. DOJ, the landmark First Amendment challenge to cryptography export restrictions.

PERSON-CORYNNE-MCSHERRY: Corynne McSherry

Corynne McSherry is the Legal Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in intellectual property, copyright, intermediary liability, open access, and free speech issues.

PERSON-EBEN-MOGLEN: Eben Moglen

Eben Moglen is a professor of law at Columbia Law School and founding director of the Software Freedom Law Center, who served as general counsel to the Free Software Foundation and was heavily involved in drafting the GNU General Public License version 3.

PERSON-JENNIFER-GRANICK: Jennifer Granick

Jennifer Granick is the surveillance and cybersecurity counsel with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, who litigates, speaks, and writes about privacy, security, technology, and constitutional rights.

PERSON-KIT-WALSH: Kit Walsh

Kit Walsh is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Director of Artificial Intelligence and Access to Knowledge Legal Projects, working on free speech, net neutrality, copyright, coders' rights, and freedom of expression.

PERSON-LAWRENCE-LESSIG: Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, founder of Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, and author of foundational works on internet law and free culture including Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace and Free Culture.

PERSON-MITCH-STOLTZ: Mitch Stoltz

Mitch Stoltz is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who focuses on copyright, trademark, antitrust, telecommunications, and free speech, with particular work fighting the use of copyright as a tool for censorship and keeping the internet open for creativity and innovation.

PROTOCOL-DNS: Domain Name System

Domain Name System (DNS) concepts and facilities are described in RFC 1034.

PROTOCOL-TCP: Transmission Control Protocol

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is an internet transport protocol specified by RFC 9293.

PROTOCOL-TLS-13: Transport Layer Security 1.3

Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 is specified by RFC 8446.

STAT-CFAA-1030: 18 U.S.C. § 1030

18 U.S.C. § 1030 is a United States criminal statute concerning fraud and related activity in connection with computers.

STAT-DMCA-512: 17 U.S.C. § 512

17 U.S.C. § 512 is a United States copyright statute commonly associated with online service provider safe harbor provisions.

TOPIC-CODE-AS-SPEECH: Code as Speech

The code-as-speech doctrine concerns whether software, encryption, or other expressive code receives First Amendment protection.

TOPIC-COMPUTER-FRAUD: Computer Fraud and Abuse

Computer fraud and abuse in U.S. federal law commonly refers to criminal prohibitions on unauthorized access and related computer activity under 18 U.S.C. § 1030.

TOPIC-FIRST-AMENDMENT: First Amendment

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution addresses religion, expression, assembly, and petition rights.

TOPIC-FOURTH-AMENDMENT: Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits unreasonable searches and seizures and is a foundational source for privacy and surveillance law.

TOPIC-INTERMEDIARY-LIABILITY: Intermediary Liability

Intermediary liability concerns when online platforms, service providers, or other intermediaries may be held legally responsible for user or third-party content or conduct.

TOPIC-KADEMLIA: Kademlia

Kademlia is a peer-to-peer distributed hash table described in a 2002 paper by Petar Maymounkov and David Mazières.

TOPIC-ONION-ROUTING: Onion Routing

Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a network in which messages pass through multiple relays in layered encryption.

TOPIC-SAFE-HARBOR: Online Service Provider Safe Harbor

Safe harbor in U.S. copyright law commonly refers to limitations on intermediary liability for online service providers under 17 U.S.C. § 512.