general internet news - 26 June

[David Goldstein <goldstein_david@yahoo.com.au>]

APNIC 16 - Fellowship programme
A reminder that applications for fellowships to attend
APNIC 16 in Seoul, Korea, close on Monday 30 June 2003.
APNIC is offering a limited number of fellowships to allow
members of the Internet community in the developing
economies of the Asia Pacific region to attend the meeting,
which is being hosted by the Korea Network Information
Center (KRNIC).
 http://www.apnic.net/meetings/16/fellows

Vint Cerf: People power must 'censor' the web
Internet guru Vint Cerf has called on citizens to accept
responsibility for determining the accuracy and truth of
information published online.

http://www.silicon.com/news/500022/1/4787.html?nl=d20030624

http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/communications/story/0,2000048620,20275649,00.htm

CMWeb - a new kind of web 
Web users will soon be surfing video and audio content as
easily as text and images thanks to some innovative Web
tools being developed by CSIRO.
 http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Prcmweb

Global internet laboratory launches 
The lab will help fight net worms, develop new distributed
software and engineer smarter protocols for the
next-generation internet
 http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993862

International Ratings Conference - Sydney
As entertainment media products increasingly converge, the
lines blur as to what medium the final product actually is
for classification and regulation purposes. When is a game
a film? When is an internet site part of a game? While we
regulate the internet here in Australia, some countries
rely on the self education of their users and in other
countries they do not regulate at all.
 http://www.iceaustralia.com/oflc/home.htm

US porn-filter law upheld
The US Supreme Court has upheld a law forcing public
libraries to filter out internet pornography in what is
being seen as a victory for attempts to protect children
from obscene content.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3014490.stm

http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=librarywebfilters1056451024&area=news

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0306240107jun24,1,1616263.story
 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-1019952.html
 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/politics/24INTE.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25720-2003Jun24.html

http://www.onlinepolicy.org/media/schoolblocking030623.shtml

Filter-Bashing Alive and Well
Librarians say a Supreme Court ruling upholding legislation
to shield minors from obscene online content will end up
subjecting the broader population to another evil: bad
filtering software.
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59367,00.html

Library Group Targets Secrecy of Filters
The nation's librarians, set back by a Supreme Court ruling
upholding requirements for Internet filters to block
pornography, plan to step up pressure on software vendors
to disclose more about how their products work.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/high_tech/1700/6-24-2003/20030624151507_32.html
Case decision at:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=02-361
 http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/02pdf/02-361.pdf
 http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/02-361.html

Many libraries will skip grants to avoid using Net filters
Uncle Sam wants YOU to have no library access to
potentially pornographic Web sites. But many local
libraries will do whatever it takes to avoid computer
filters that restrict access to information, even if it
means losing their federal funding in lean economic times.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/6158188.htm

Study Released on Internet Blocking in Schools
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Online
Policy Group (OPG) today released a study documenting the
effects of Internet blocking, also known as filtering, in
U.S. schools. The study found that blocking software
overblocked state-mandated curriculum topics extensively --
for every web page correctly blocked as advertised, one or
more was blocked incorrectly.

http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Censorware/net_block_report/20030623_eff_pr.php
Report at:
 http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Censorware/net_block_report/

SOON A SELF-REGULATION CODE ON THE INTERNET
The Code of Self-regulation for the protection and the
defence of minors from the dangers of the Internet will be
presented soon. This was announced by the Communication
Minister, Maurizio Gasparri, during a meeting organised by
'Telefono Azzuro' on "The child subject of rights and
protagonist of choices".

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200306181632-0119-RT1-CRO-0-NF82

.au - Democrats blocking FOI net rules
THE Democrats are blocking controversial amendments to the
Freedom of Information Act, declaring they will not support
moves to tighten FOI rules to exempt information on
internet censorship.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6640122%5E15319%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html

Judge Won't Block Internet Cigarette Ban
A judge refused Monday to temporarily block New York's ban
on Internet cigarette sales while several online retailers
challenge the law in court.

http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4554&PHPSESSID=5fbdb29e164b191dc67724ccbfd12d92

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6158074.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24557-2003Jun23.html

Israel checks out website run by Russian racists
The Israeli attorney general has launched a criminal
investigation into a local neo-Nazi website that jokes
about gas chambers, advocates shooting Palestinians and
denies that the Holocaust happened.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,984530,00.html

Former law professor sentenced on 100 child-porn counts
Edward Samuels, a former law professor accused of having
some 150,000 images of naked, raped, sodomized and whipped
children on his office and home computers, was sentenced
Monday to six months in jail and 10 years probation.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--childporn-sentenc0623jun23,0,4452077.story

Blunkett shelves access to data plans
Ministers were yesterday forced into a humiliating
climbdown over plans to hand a host of public bodies the
right to demand access to the communications records of
telephone and internet users.
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4436540,00.html

France to ratify Cybercrime Convention
France is likely to become the first European Union country
to ratify the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime,
the first international treaty on criminal offences
committed against or with the help of computer networks.

http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=francetoratifycyb1056450948&area=news

U.S. Court Limits Defamation Scope in Internet Case
In what was hailed as a victory for free speech on the
Internet, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a
person who distributes another's e-mail cannot be sued for
libel based on its content.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2983390

Web privacy policies confuse Net surfers
Privacy policies that explain a company's Web surveillance
habits have done little to dispel confusion among Internet
users about how they are tracked online, according to a
report released Wednesday.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-1020709.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28584-2003Jun24.html

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2983613

Television Without Frontiers: MEPs concerned with
increasing media concentration
The Parliament's Culture Committee believes that the
increasing concentration in the media industry throughout
Europe presents a major threat to integrity and pluralism,
and thus it seeks to establish EU-wide rules on ownership
of television media. Improving on the recommendations laid
down in the own-initiative report by Roy Perry (EPP-ED,
UK), the Committee called on the Commission to monitor
levels of media concentration in Europe and to draft an
updated Green Paper on this issue by the beginning of 2004.

http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/1?204&OIDN=1505715

El Senado solicita el refuerzo contra los delitos mediante
nuevas tecnologías al Gobierno
Una moción del PP, modificada parcialmente por CiU, ha sido
aprobada en el Senado. A través de la misma se intentarán
reforzar las actuaciones que las Fuerzas de Seguridad
realicen contra delitos de naturaleza basada en las nuevas
tecnologías, como puede ser la pornografía infantil a
través de Internet, el fraude electrónico, la piratería
informática.

http://delitosinformaticos.com/noticias/10565300086978.shtml

Microsoft forms group to fight flood of spam
Microsoft Corp. is assembling a team of experts charged
with battling the accelerating spread of spam as
unsolicited e-mail clogs in-boxes worldwide, including that
of Bill Gates, founder and chairman of the world's largest
software maker.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=40127

.au - Industry meets on spam Bill
SENIOR internet industry players will meet with federal
politicians this week to debate details of proposed
anti-spam legislation.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6640683%5E15342%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html

E-Mail Filters Still No Match for Non-English Spam
What's "spam" in Spanish? Or what about Chinese? Software
technicians are grappling with these questions as they toil
on new filters designed to intercept the burgeoning flow of
unsolicited e-mail -- known the world over as "spam" --
that land in e-mail in-boxes daily.
 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=2978203

Lazy Guide to Net Culture: Fighting penis enlargement
Tired of being offered "intimate enhancement" products? We
show how people get their revenge on spammers.
 http://www.news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=694642003

Women still the second sex in internet usage, report
The number of European women online is growing, but it may
be years before as many women as men surf the net in
Europe, according to the latest research from
Nielsen//NetRatings.
 http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=16824
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3019710.stm

EverQuest exposes cost of sexism 
Online fantasy games are not free of the realities of
sexism a study finds.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3016434.stm
  http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993864

Fiji and Cook Islands study high-speed internet powerline
plan
The Fiji Electricity Authority and the Cook Islands
Government are carrying out technical investigations to
assess the viability of powerline communications (PLC)
technology.
 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3508954

Analysts Sour on Commercial Wi-Fi
Out of hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi users, only a limited
number pay for public access. Since most prefer to utilize
free hot spots, will companies who charge for public Wi-Fi
access be forced to change their business models?
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59380,00.html

UK spectrum licensing under fire
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1141789

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

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) 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
- Check & compose your email via SMS on your Telstra or Vodafone mobile.