Chilling Effects (group)

Infobox Organization
name = Chilling Effects


image_border =
size =
caption =
motto = Monitoring the legal climate for Internet activity
formation = 2001
extinction =
type = Web site
headquarters =
location = San Francisco, California
membership =
language = English
leader_title = Founder
leader_name = Wendy Seltzer
key_people = Diane Cabell, Berkman Fellow
DePaul University College of Law
EFF
George Washington University Law School
Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic
Santa Clara University, School of Law High Tech Law Institute
Stanford Center for Internet & Society
University of Maine School of Law
USF Law School, IIP Justice Project

num_staff =
budget =
website = http://chillingeffects.org/

Chilling Effects is a collaborative archive created by several law school clinics and the Electronic Frontier Foundation to protect lawful online activity from legal threats. Its website, [http://chillingeffects.org Chilling Effects Clearinghouse] , allows recipients of cease-and-desist notices to submit them to the site and receive information about their legal rights and responsibilities. It was created by Wendy Seltzer.

Inception

The archive was founded in late 2001 by Internet activists who were concerned that the unregulated private practice of sending cease and desist letters seemed to be increasing and was having an unstudied but potentially significant "chilling effect" on speech.

The archive got a significant boost when Google began submitting its notices in 2002. Google began to do so in response to the publicity generated when the Church of Scientology convinced Google to remove references and links to the anti-Scientology Web site Operation Clambake in April 2002. The incident inspired vocal Internet users and groups to complain to Google, and the links to the Clambake site were restored. Google subsequently began to contribute its notices to [http://www.chillingeffects.org/ chillingeffects.org] , archiving the Scientology complaints and linking to the archive. [Don Marti, " [http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/5997 Google Begins Making DMCA Takedowns Public] ," "Linux Journal" (2002/4/12) (describing Google's response to the Scientologists and subsequent decision to contribute to ChillingEffects.org).] [cite web | first = David F. | last = Gallagher | title = New Economy; A copyright dispute with the Church of Scientology is forcing Google to do some creative linking | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E5D7103FF931A15757C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | work = | publisher = New York Times | date = 2002-04-22 | accessdate = 2008-01-24 ]

Since 2002, researchers have been using the clearinghouse to study the use of cease-and-desist letters, primarily looking at DMCA 512 takedown notices, non-DMCA copyright, and trademark claims. [J. Urban & L. Quilter, "Efficient Process or 'Chilling Effects'? Takedown Notices Under Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act," "Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal" (March 2006)] [Free Expression Policy Project, [http://fepproject.org/policyreports/WillFairUseSurvive.pdf (PDF)] "Will Fair Use Survive? Free Expression in the Age of Copyright Control" (2005).]

Members

* Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School
* Electronic Frontier Foundation
* George Washington University Law School
* Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic, Boalt Hall
* Santa Clara University School of Law High Tech Law Institute
* Stanford Center for Internet & Society, Stanford Law School
* University of Maine School of Law
* IIP Justice Project, USF Law School

See also

* Censorship by Google

References

External links

* [http://chillingeffects.org/ Official site]