APNIC Home APNIC Home
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

general internet news - 26 February

Nigerian Slain Over E-Mail Scam 
A Czech distraught over financial losses in the notorious
Nigerian 419 e-mail scam kills a diplomat at the Nigerian
Embassy in Prague.
 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57760,00.html

Net blocking threatens legitimate sites
Government efforts to block offensive Web sites are
technically problematic and legally worrisome, a new study
says.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-985216.html

Pennsylvania forces ISPs to block access to porn Web sites
Pennsylvania is forcing Internet providers to block Web
sites that include child pornography, a new legal strategy
that technology and civil liberties experts worry will
unintentionally interfere with legitimate surfing.

http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2003/02/19/internet_filters/index.html

National laws dominate net
THE notion of a borderless internet is a myth, according to
a legal expert. Matthew Hall, IT partner in the law firm
Phillips Fox, said national law dominated regulation of the
internet.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6034290%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Publish at your peril
The Joseph Gutnick case showed internet publishers that
lawsuits can come from anywhere, but there is still no
consensus on policing the net.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/24/1045935329522.html

In Web disputes, U.S. law rules the world
Few Internet law issues generate more controversy than
concerns surrounding Internet jurisdiction. In recent
months, courts in both Australia and the United States have
grappled with the issue in high-profile cases.

http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035778088598&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851

Groups Prepare to Argue Against 'Net Filtering Law
The U.S. Supreme Court soon will hear arguments in a case
that observers say could determine just how far
constitutional liberties go on the Internet. On March 5,
oral arguments are scheduled for a case challenging the
Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a two-year-old
law that requires public schools and libraries to install
Internet filtering software on their computers as a
condition of receiving federal funding.
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21323-2003Feb17

Group warns of racist Web games
Australia's rights watchdog warned on Monday of an
increasing number of computer games sold via the Internet
that involved simulated killings of other races and called
for action to clamp down on this trend.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/02/24/racist.games.reut/index.html

Visa getting tough on child porn
The giant credit card company Visa sponsors the Olympics,
the National Football League and NASCAR. "It's everywhere
you want to be," proclaims its ads.

http://www.azstarnet.com/star/mon/30224nVisa-childporn.html

European Commission New Regulatory Framework for electronic
communications infrastructure and associated services
In response to the conclusions of the special European
Council of Lisbon of 23 - 24 March 2000,  and building on
the Communication on the results of the public consultation
on the 1999 Review of the Electronic Communications Sector
and the principles and orientations for the new Regulatory
Framework (COM(2000)239), the Commission proposed in July
2000 a package of measures for a new regulatory framework
for electronic communications networks and services. The
package consists of five proposed EP and Council directives
under Article 95, one Commission directive to be adopted
under Article 86 and one proposed Commission Decision on a
regulatory framework for radio spectrum.

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/telecoms/regulatory/new_rf/index_en.htm

Congress Submits New Child Porn Crackdown
Not a senator dissented as the Senate sent to the House
legislation seeking to give prosecutors powerful new tools
to fight child pornographers. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2431508,00.html
 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030225/3/38788.html

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=5G0GAQT2IIH0WCRBAELCFEY?type=technologyNews&storyID=2280109

Ban on Porn Is Proposed at University
An engineering professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has
launched a campaign to ban the use of school computers to
view pornography, igniting debate over the limits of
academic freedom.

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-porn22feb22,1,6345456.story

Parliament Committee approves plan for safer use of
internet
On 18 February, the Parliament's Citizens' Rights Committee
spoke out in favour of stricter measures to protect
children from harmful internet content.  
The Commission's proposal extends for a further 2 years the
previous 4-year action plan 1999-2002, which was adopted by
the European Parliament and the Council in 1998. It
proposes to adapt the scope and implementation of the
action plan to take account of new technologies such as
mobile content, online games, chat rooms, instant messaging
and peer to peer downloading. The proposal intends to allow
users to report illegal content, promote self-regulation,
empower users to avoid harmful content, promote
user-friendly content rating and increase awareness about
safer Internet use. It also intends to bring the action
plan in line with work carried out in parallel in the field
of network and information security.

http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/3388073-560?targ=1&204&OIDN=1504763&-tt=me
 

Racist Collectibles on EBay?
Activists on Friday asked the Internet auction site eBay to
stop listing items they say are racially offensive and
demeaning to blacks.
 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57781,00.html

Time Heals All Copyright Wounds
Washington politicians would make a grave mistake in
crafting new copy-protection laws based on Internet
patterns today, an influential Stanford law professor
warned.
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57746,00.html

Why European ISPs need partners
Subscription services promise huge revenues for Europe's
Internet service providers. But even the biggest will have
to share resources.
 http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/links/4999

Internet firms seek limits on privacy law
The ink is hardly dry on Minnesota's first-of-its-kind
Internet privacy law, but already opponents are trying to
limit the law's reach, raising concerns among privacy
advocates.

http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/779256p-5590114c.html

Rep. Berman May Not Revive Internet Piracy Bill
Rep. Howard L. Berman said he may abandon his controversial
proposal to help Hollywood battle Internet piracy, in part
because of complaints from an unexpected source: Hollywood.

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-berman21feb21,1,4879496.story

CDT Reports Calls Pennsylvania ISP Law Unconstitutional and
Unsound Request Filed for Records of Undisclosed Web Site
Blocking
The Center for Democracy and Technology today released a
major report calling unconstitutional a recent Pennsylvania
law that forces Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block
access to numerous web sites without adequate court
oversight. The report? release coincides with a request
under Pennsylvania's right-to-know law seeking records of
the Attorney General's previously undisclosed demands to
block web sites pursuant to the law.
 http://www.cdt.org/press/030220press.shtml

OECD Privacy Protection Online report
The OECD has, over the last six years, placed high priority
on work on the global information infrastructure, the
global information society and electronic commerce. 
Based on the work achieved by OECD member countries to
fulfil the 1998 Ministerial Declaration on the Protection
of Privacy on Global Networks, this report reflects the
ministerial high level objective to build bridges between
different national approaches in order to ensure the
effective protection of privacy and personal data as well
as the continued transborder flow of personal data on
global networks. 
The report includes policy and practical guidance for
implementing privacy protection online. Addressed to OECD
member countries, business and other organisations,
individual users and consumers, the report is intended to
reinforce the impact and visibility of the action of the
OECD, and the importance of the OECD Privacy Guidelines in
the development and implementation of a mix of solutions
for ensuring global privacy.

http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2002doc.nsf/LinkTo/dsti-iccp-reg%282002%293-final

Report on Compliance with, and Enforcement of, Privacy
Protection Online - OECD report
Privacy compliance and enforcement are different topics,
but are interrelated. They are different, since compliance
refers to the level of adherence to legal requirements,
while enforcement refers to the mechanisms which can be
used to compel such adherence and to protect the rights of
data subjects when violations occur. At the same time, the
two are closely interrelated, since the higher the level of
compliance, the less need there is for enforcement, and a
strong level of enforcement may motivate actors to adopt a
higher level of compliance. This report recognises the
close interrelationship between these two topics, and thus
deals with compliance and enforcement together, while still
recognising the potential distinctions between them.

http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2002doc.nsf/LinkTo/dsti-iccp-reg%282002%295-final

Thailand - Govt to adopt new piracy rules 
The Commerce Ministry will announce new regulations to
protect intellectual property and which will affect the
selling and production of CDs containing software, movies
and music.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/190203_Database/19Feb2003_data03.html

Thai firm fined for providing porn mobile phone services
A Thai telecoms firm has been fined for providing
pornographic pictures and messages to mobile telephone
users, officials said.
 http://asia.tech.yahoo.com/030215/afp/030215040054aht.html

Swiss Crack E-Mail Code, but Minimal Impact Seen
Researchers at a Swiss university have cracked the
technology used to keep people from eavesdropping on e-mail
sent over the Web, but U.S. experts said on Thursday that
the impact would likely be minimal.

http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4182&PHPSESSID=5fbdb29e164b191dc67724ccbfd12d92

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/02/21/email.encryption.reut/index.html

Finland Leads Global Technoloy Rankings
Finland surpassed the United States in global rankings of a
nation's ability to benefit from information and
communication technology, according to a study.

http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4173&PHPSESSID=5fbdb29e164b191dc67724ccbfd12d92

Aust ranked 8th largest net user
AUSTRALIA is the eighth largest internet user in the world
with 10.5 million people online, according to a
just-released survey.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6017938%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Lovegate worm's got a hold on PCs
The mass-mailing worm has infected a moderate number of
PCs, installing a back-door that leaves them open to
control by an attacker.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2131014,00.html

Feds weed out drug paraphernalia sites
The US government says it has identified a new
Internet-based threat to American homes: Web sites selling
bongs, roach clips and rolling papers.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2131007,00.html

Never mind the Brits, here are the ISPAs
As the Brit Awards avoided the congestion charging zone on
Thursday night, the ISP community got a bit more
rock-and-roll with its own awards ceremony.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2130836,00.html
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1138975
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2787287.stm

World's first net president logs on
South Korea stakes a claim to be the most advanced online
democracy on the planet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,901446,00.html

Joint OECD/UN/World Bank Global Forum: Integrating ICT in
Development Programmes
This Forum is a follow up to the March 2001 Forum
"Exploiting the Digital Opportunities for Poverty
Reduction" and part of the OECD response to international
calls for increased donor attention to ICT from the UN ICT
Task Force, G8 DOT Force Task Teams, G8 Africa Action Plan,
and NEPAD.

http://www.oecd.org/oecd/pages/documentation/displayxml/0,3375,EN-document-13-nodirectorate-39082-13,00.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Check out http://www.auda.org.au/about/news for the latest
domain news. The domain name news is supported by auDA.

Also see
http://greta.electric.gen.nz/mailman/listinfo/internet-news
or http://www.alfa-redi.org/noticia for an archive or to
subscribe to the general news.

Sources include Quicklinks (www.qlinks.net), Moreover
(www.moreover.com) and BNA Internet Law News
(www.bna.com/ilaw)".



=====
David Goldstein
 address: 2/4 Dundas Street
             COOGEE NSW 2034
             AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
 phone: +61 418 228 605 - mobile; +61 2 9665 0015 - home

http://mobile.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Mobile
- Exchange IMs with Messenger friends on your Telstra or Vodafone mobile phone.