general internet news - October 21

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

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Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/
Internet in Asia blog: sirc.blogspot.com
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CENSORSHIP & CONTENT REGULATION
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us: Chilling Speech With Take Down Notices
Just how easy is it to censor speech on the web under
current copyright laws? Apparently, it's not very
difficult to do. The Bits of Freedom group, a
non-profit Dutch digital rights advocacy organization,
recently completed a study to show how easy it is to
compel ISPs to disable a customer's web site. They
opened an account with 10 different Dutch ISPs and
uploaded text from the famous author Multatuli, from
1871. The text stated that the work belonged to the
public domain (Multatuli died in 1881, 117 years ago).
They then created a fake society to act as the
copyright holder and sent take down notices to all the
ISPs from a Hotmail e-mail account. 7 of the 10 ISPs
took the site down without even having looked at the
site. 1 ISP forwarded the customer's information to
the fake plaintiff, even though that information was
never asked for. In all cases, the customer was
informed, but few ISPs sent the full complaint to the
customer, and gave only a very short amount of time to
the customer to reply. One ISP gave the customer only
3 hours to respond before it removed the material.
Only one ISP requested verification of the fake
plaintiff's identity because of the dubious hotmail
e-mail address.

http://lsolum.typepad.com/copyfutures/2004/10/chilling_speech.html

au: Tougher child sex law kicks in
QUEENSLAND'S new tougher child-sex laws began to bite
when a prominent Mackay man was given a wholly
suspended jail sentence for possessing computer child
sex images.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11120779%255E3102,00.html

au: Child-porn laws to be changed
THE NSW Government will retrospectively amend child
pornography laws so police can lay charges without
first having the material officially classified as
pornography.

http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11119431%255E1702,00.html

au: NSW Govt to tighten child pornography laws
The New South Wales Government has agreed to tighten
child pornography laws after the State's Opposition
revealed that a loophole in the law could jeopardise
charges against 30 people in the State.
 http://abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1223475.htm

au: Gap in child pornography law to be closed (reg
req'd)
The State Government has been forced to amend child
pornography laws to remove the possibility that
charges laid against 30 people in NSW under Operation
Auxin could be declared illegal.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/19/1097951699870.html

au: Child pornography laws to change (reg req'd)
The NSW government has announced it will
retrospectively amend child pornography laws so police
can lay charges without first having the material
officially classified as pornography.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/19/1097951681732.html

au: Partners of Paedophiles support group in demand
A Partners of Paedophiles support group says it has
received an influx of calls after a police operation
in which hundreds of Australians have been accused of
possessing child pornography.
 http://au.news.yahoo.com/041019/21/rabu.html

au: Cyber bullying leaves its scars
THE psychological effects of cyber and mobile-phone
bullying on school children may be even more severe
than face-to-face abuse.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11114029%255E421,00.html

http://thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,11114029%255E421,00.html

au: Bullies expand into cyberspace
CYBER bullying via SMS messages, e-mail and on
Internet chat sites are becoming more destructive to
children's lives than traditional face-to-face
bullying, a QUT study of Year 8 students found.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11110442%255E3102,00.html

au: Police memo backs child porn claims: Brogden (reg
req'd)
The NSW opposition today released an internal police
memo to support claims that 30 child porn suspects
could walk free on a technicality.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/18/1097951611746.html

uk: Text message bullies harm children more
Cyber-bullying is more damaging to children than
traditional playground bullying, researchers claim
today.
 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/14150257

uk: York deputy chief joins child porn task force
A new committee to co-ordinate a provincewide strategy
to fight Internet child pornography will meet tomorrow
(Monday) in Newmarket and include York Regional Police
deputy chief Bruce Herridge.
 http://crime-research.org/news/17.10.2004/720/

uk: 73% of network managers would not report illegal
images
Seventy-three percent of network managers would not
report illegal images of children to the police,
despite internally disciplining the employee
committing the offence, according to research by the
Internet Watch Foundation.

http://out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=ofnetworkmanag1098181786

us: Adolescent bullying moves from the schoolyard to
the Internet
When 15-year-old Lauren went to hear a band in the
spring, the drummer autographed her stomach. It was
meant as a joke among friends, a parody of rock stars
and their groupies. But the musician's jealous
girlfriend didn't see the humor.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041016/news_lz1c16cyber.html

Ghanaian Children in Internet Pornography
The National Coordinator of the International Labour
Organisation Action Programme Against Forced Labour
and Trafficking in West Africa Eric Okrah, has said
information reaching his office indicate that there
are a lot of Ghanaian children involved in pornography
on the internet.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200410180486.html

http://ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=67967

us: Experts Say Child Pornography Increasing
The increasing popularity of the Internet and digital
cameras are two reasons experts say they're seeing a
huge increase in cases of child pornography.

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=70817

us: Parents' watchful eyes keep children safe from Web
porn
In the Internet world, two things seem destined to
find each other: pornography and children. The first
is one of the Internet's most profitable and most
viewed enterprises. The second is one of the largest
and most Web-savvy groups of users.
 http://newsok.com/article/1342164/

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LEGAL AND SECURITY
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uk: Watchdog takes on rogue diallers
Eleven firms are barred as part of action against
scams which left dial-up net users in the UK with big
bills.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3756816.stm

Identity theft surges in Asia
ONLINE theft of financial information from individuals
has become one of the fastest-growing non-violent
crimes in the Asia-Pacific region, according to
research group IDC.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,11117633%5E15342%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html

Singapore to introduce jail terms, fines for software
and Internet piracy
Singapore will next year introduce jail terms and
stiff fines for people who break software and Internet
copyright laws, the government warned.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1509&ncid=738&e=6&u=/afp/20041019/tc_afp/singapore_internet_crime

au: Nigerian scam fools financial adviser (reg req'd)
"Dear Inmate, I am the brother of the prisoner in the
cell opposite you - a holy man wrongly jailed and now
forced to sell his only hope of freedom, a magic
carpet, to pay for surgery to save our mother's life.
For just six cartons of cigarettes ..."

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/18/1097951631345.html

Vier Prozent der User Opfer von Internet-Kriminalität
Vier Prozent aller deutschen Internet-User sind
innerhalb eines Jahres Opfer von Datenmissbrauch im
Internet geworden. Dies hat das Statistische Bundesamt
in der Studie "Informationstechnologie in Haushalten
2003" erhoben. Jeder 100. Nutzer hat sogar den
Missbrauch der persönlichen Kreditkartendaten zu
beklagen gehabt - eine zwar gering erscheinende Zahl,
die aber im Einzelfall erhebliche finanzielle
Konsequenzen haben kann.
 http://zdnet.de/news/tkomm/0,39023151,39127006,00.htm

Studie: 15 Prozent der Internetnutzer hatten
Sicherheitsprobleme
15 Prozent der Internetnutzer in Deutschland haben bei
der Pilotstudie Informationstechnologie in Haushalten
2003 (PDF) des Statistischen Bundesamtes angegeben,
zwischen April 2002 und März 2003 Sicherheitsprobleme
im Internet gehabt zu haben. Mit 13 Prozent hatten die
meisten durch Computerviren Informationen oder Zeit
verloren. 4 Prozent haben auch oder zusätzlich
angegeben, dass ihre persönlichen Informationen im
Internet missbraucht worden seien. Der Missbrauch von
Kreditkartendaten trat mit weniger als einem Prozent
nur selten auf, teilt das Statistische Bundesamt mit.
An der Erhebung beteiligten sich 9720 Personen ab 10
Jahren in 4606 Haushalten.
 http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/52291

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POLICY
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African UN initiative urges universal telecom fund
As access to the Internet remains limited in many
rural areas in Africa, the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA), through its African
Information Society Initiative (AISI), is looking at
ways to expand online usage, especially in remote
areas of the continent.

http://idg.com.sg/idgwww.nsf/unidlookup/6B19DDA88DBDA01B48256F32000929D0

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INTERNET USE
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uk: Online gambling attracts surfers
More than four million Britons are regular internet
gamblers according to new research.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3759390.stm

uk: Warning on internet health advice
People with chronic disease should think twice before
relying on the internet for health advice, research
suggests.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3746056.stm

EMI venture puts Robbie on its cards
EMI is taking the next leap into digital music by
offering Robbie Williams' greatest hits on pre-loaded
memory cards.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1330731,00.html

Firefox macht Jagd auf den Explorer

http://zdnet.de/news/software/0,39023144,39127026,00.htm

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WSIS
*****
Lanka to chair WSIS Expert Group Meeting
Sri Lanka was elected to chair the Expert Group
Meeting (EGM) on follow-up to the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) at the First Regional
Conference on preparation for the second phase of the
WSIS to be held in Tunis in November 2005.
 http://dailynews.lk/2004/10/20/new21.html

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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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us: F.C.C. to Seek Net Telephone Oversight
Michael Powell, chairman of the F.C.C., said he would
seek broad regulatory authority for the federal
government over Internet-based telephone services to
avoid stifling the emerging market.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Powell-Voice-over-Net.html

Firefox fans take fight to the papers
Open-source supporters are being asked to open their
wallets and advertise Firefox in the mainstream media.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,39020381,39170729,00.htm

nz: Microsoft working on Maori language software
Waikato University has been appointed the technology
partner to work with the Maori Language Commission and
Microsoft in delivering te reo Maori versions of
Microsoft Windows XP and the Microsoft Office System
2003.
 http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3070561a28,00.html

Firefox passes five million download mark 
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39170570,00.htm

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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
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au: Perth man pleads guilty to child porn charges
A Perth man has pleaded guilty to charges laid against
him after the recent nationwide crackdown on child
pornography.
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1224252.htm

au: Teachers, army officer on child porno charges
Four men, including an army major and two
schoolteachers, appeared in court in New South Wales,
Australia yesterday over child pornography charges
laid in the Operation Auxin investigation.

http://www.hellopacific.com/news/general/show/news/2004/10/19/01reg29.html

au: Teacher given bail on child porn charges
A Sydney teacher remains free on bail after facing
court on child pornography charges.
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1222269.htm

ca/us: Child pornography and drug charges
A 24-year old Oakville man is facing child pornography
and drug charges after a five-week investigation by
Halton Regional and Toronto Police.

http://www.haltonsearch.com/hr/ob/story/2277191p-2639476c.html

us: West Texas man found guilty on federal child
pornography charges
A former juvenile corrections officer was convicted by
a federal jury in Pecos on Tuesday of receiving,
possessing and distributing child pornography over the
Internet.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/9961749.htm?1c
 http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=2452840

us: Child pornography case sentencing expected soon
A Milton man who pleaded guilty to possessing and
distributing child pornography may soon say goodbye to
the jail that's been home for the past nine months and
hello to relative freedom.

http://www.haltonsearch.com/hr/mcc/story/2281650p-2644865c.html

us: PCTV exec gets jail time for child porn
A Pottstown cable television employee who admitted to
possessing child pornography in his home and
disseminating it over the Internet last year is headed
to jail.

http://pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13176075

us: Teenager charged in child-porn case
A former Highland Springs High School student has been
charged with downloading child pornography on his
school-issue laptop computer.

http://timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778619787

us: Retired Judge Sentenced for Child Porn
A retired Orleans County Family Court judge will serve
six years probation for a child pornography
conviction.
 http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2446827
 http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=2453349


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

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(c) David Goldstein 2004

=====
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

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