general internet news - 05 Aug

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

Law via the Internet Conference 2003
Call for Papers - AustLII will be hosting the fifth Law via
the Internet Conference on 26-28 November 2003.
 http://www.austlii.edu.au/austlii/conference/

Sale of mod-chips now illegal in Australia
Sony Australia celebrated on Wednesday as the Australian
Court of Appeal ruled that it was no longer legal to sell
mod-chips that could be used to override the copy
protection system used by PlayStation consoles. Consumer
bodies were critical.

http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=saleofmodchipsno1059738203&area=news

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/31/1059480459941.html

Watch what you surf, Net police are here
The thought police is gearing up to storm the virtual
world. In what appears to be its first serious attempt to
monitor the Internet, the Government of India has outlined
an official procedure for blocking websites.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=105813

FTC warns against file-sharing and spyware
The US Federal Trade Commission issued an alert yesterday,
warning consumers about the risks of file-sharing and
spyware. The alert came only days after a bill was
introduced into Congress demanding consumer consent to
install spyware.

http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=ftcwarnsagainstfi1059646219&area=news

Net terrorists targeted
NEW legislation before federal Parliament will give tougher
powers to the government, allowing it to cut off phone or
internet access to individuals or groups believed to
"prejudice national security".

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6841378%5E15331%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html

Growing fears over net threat
An upsurge of hacker activity on the internet is causing
alarm among computer experts.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3115389.stm

Bill Aims to Shield Children From P2P Porno
U.S. Representative Joe Pitts (R.-Pa.) has introduced
legislation requiring Internet file-swapping services to
obtain parental consent before allowing children to use the
peer-to-peer (P2P) network software. Pitts said the bill
would give parents the tools they need to protect their
children from the pornography available on P2P networks.
 http://boston.internet.com/news/article.php/2242761

Bang goes the phone porn
As porn gets handier we need to be sure we make mobile
phones child-friendly, says technology analyst Bill
Thompson.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3116099.stm

Trojan horse found responsible for child porn
A man has been cleared of child porn charges, after
investigators found that an Internet attacker was
responsible for the presence of illicit images on his PC.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39115422,00.htm

.ie - Minister concerned over children's 'net usage
Minister of State Brian Lenihan has expressed concern at
the level of internet usage by children given the amount of
paedophiles accessing the web.
 http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0729/internet.html
.ie - Internet Advisory Board report
 http://www.iab.ie/Publications/Reports/d51.PDF

Judges OK evidence from hacker vigilante
A federal appeals panel ruled this week that the government
did not violate search and seizure laws when it used
evidence that a hacker gathered to establish a child
pornography case.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5058835.html

Videogame Virtue
Playing computer games doesn’t shorten kids' attention
spans—it helps them to manage competing demands in the new
era of "continuous partial attention."

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_jenkins080103.asp

MSU study: Children who spend more time online do better in
school
Internet use has no negative effect on users' social
involvement or psychological well-being, and it increases
children's grade point averages and standardized test
scores, Michigan State University research shows.

http://newsroom.msu.edu/news/archives/2003/07/homenettoo.html

Hackers look to hide communications
Hackers intent on anonymously sending data across the
Internet have a new tool. A program called NCovert uses
spoofing techniques to hide the source of communications
and the data that travels over the network--a potential
boon to both privacy advocates and hackers, said Mark
Loveless, senior security researcher for network protection
firm BindView, who unveiled the program Thursday at the
Black Hat Briefings security conference here.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1002-5058535.html

Nuremberg documents go online
Harvard Law School is planning to put more than a million
documents from the Nuremberg trials on the internet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1010794,00.html

Downloaders dive in
Two-thirds of those who download online songs say they
don't care if the files are copyrighted.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/orl-downloaders080103,1,5413097.story

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6429613.htm

Wikipedia: The know-it-all Web site
Are you well versed in Russian history? Or familiar with
the finer points of roller hockey? An expert on any topic
can find a home in "Wikipedia," a know-it-all Web site
created by thousands of plugged-in volunteers.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/03/wikipedia/index.html

Digital Media Paper Published
The Berkman Center is pleased to announce the publication
of "Copyright and Digital Media in the Post-Napster World."
Part of the Berkman Center's Digital Media Project with
Gartner G2, the paper is aimed at extending our
understanding of the current landscape and unresolved
questions related to the distribution, use, and control of
digital media.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=60

Fast-spreading worm poses as administrator email
The latest threat arrives amid fresh fears of a widespread
Internet attack, and uses social engineering to trick users
into executing malicious code.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39115436,00.htm

Internet Use Spreading Quickly Among Adults
The Internet, which is often regarded as the domain of
teenagers and tech-savvy young adults, is rapidly gaining
popularity here with people in their 30s and 40s.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200308/kt2003080417004911790.htm

Worm masquerades as note from IT staff
A new mass-mailing virus, which disguises itself as a file
sent by a computer user's network administrator, began
infecting systems Friday.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5059087.html

CERT: Windows is still vulnerable
Adding its voice to the chorus of concern about potential
exploits of a major flaw in Windows, the CERT Coordination
Center has issued its own warning, noting that attackers
are not only actively scanning systems and successfully
compromising PCs.

http://www.itnews.com.au/storycontent.cfm?ID=9&Art_ID=12573

Malaysia annuls court ruling allowing text message divorce
The Malaysian government has overturned a religious court's
ruling that Muslim men can divorce their wives through text
messages on mobile phones, a newspaper on Thursday quoted
the prime minister as saying.
 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3515663

.us - Senate bill would ban tax on Internet access services
Internet service would be permanently free from taxes under
a bill that advanced through a Senate committee Thursday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0308010302aug01,1,310117.story

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/6428948.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8310-2003Jul31.html


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=====
David Goldstein
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 email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
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