general internet news - October 28

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

***************************************************
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
***************************************************
CENSORSHIP, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
******************************************
my: Net censorship: Govt dangles carrot, wields big
stick
The message is clear: The Government will uphold its
commitment to non-censorship of the Internet, but no
violations of the law will be tolerated.

http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/10/25/technology/9227186&sec=technology

au: NSW Education trials porn filter as students
suspended
The NSW education department said today it was
trialling a new Internet filtering system, as three
high school students were suspended for looking up
pornographic images on school computers.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/0,2000061744,39164177,00.htm

au: Child porn investigation hits school morale
The Primary Principals Association says the ongoing
investigation into child pornography in Victoria is
having an impact on morale in the state's school
system.
 http://au.news.yahoo.com/041026/21/rdka.html

au: Study shows up chat room dangers
ALMOST 60 per cent of teenagers in an Adelaide study
had no parental attention or guidance when using
internet chat rooms.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,11180303%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e15306,00.html

New UK Mobile Adult Content Industry Regulation Body
The UK mobile phone operators, O2, Orange, TMobile,
Virgin Mobile, Vodafone and 3, have today appointed a
body to oversee the self-classification of new forms
of adult commercial content on mobiles. The new body,
which will be named the Independent Mobile
Classification Body (IMCB), is a subsidiary of premium
rate regulator ICSTIS. It will prepare a framework
against which providers of commercial content to
mobile subscribers will be able to self-classify new
forms of content such as still images and video clips.
The framework will be based on comparable standards in
other media, such as film and computer games, and the
first draft is scheduled for publication on 1st
January 2005.

http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/2004/10/27.html#a738

http://www.icstis.org.uk/icstis2002/pdf/IMCB_release_191004.pdf
(news release)

VeriSign and AOL explores 'safe chat room' idea
Internet service provider America Online (AOL) is
demonstrating a "safe chat room" for children and
teenagers that uses so-called "multi-factor
authentication" technology from VeriSign to verify a
child's age.

http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=134581

http://news.com.com/VeriSign%2C+AOL+team+up+to+make+chats+safer+for+kids/2100-1032_3-5427836.html

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20041026/tc_pcworld/118342
VeriSign and AOL To Demonstrate Prototype Of First
“Safe Chat Room” with i-Safe (news release)

http://verisign.com/verisign-inc/news-and-events/news-archive/us-news-2004/page_016550.html

Why can't the British make better pornography?
It's fast food to the haute cuisine of erotic art. As
part of a controlled diet, it won't make us go blind

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=575606

Wireless porn set to be $1bn market
Half of all wireless data content is of an adult
nature and the revenues are set to grow, research has
found
 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5425948.html
 http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158986

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/26/handheld_porn_market/

http://reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=6600488

German porn site fined for inadequate controls
Germany's campaign against pornographic websites that
can be seen by children and teenagers has won a boost
with a court ruling that requires tougher entrance
checks for surfers.

http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/10/26/technology/9237500&sec=technology

us: Bush website adopts isolationist stance
International access to the official re-election
website of Us President George W. Bush
(www.georgewbush.com) has been blocked. Surfers from
outside the US trying to reach the site receive an
"access denied" message.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/27/bush_blocking_non-americans/

Man jailed over China porn haul
A Chinese court has sentenced a man to 19 years in
prison for trafficking millions of pornographic DVDs,
China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3954257.stm

mv: Cyber-dissident Fathimath Nisreen banished again
Reporters Without Borders welcomed the release from
prison today of cyber-dissident Fathimath Nisreen, who
was detained on 13 August in the wake of a
pro-democracy rally, but condemned as "unacceptable"
her announced transfer within a few days to Feeail
island south of the capital to resume serving a
five-year sentence of "banishment."
 http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=11706

in: Karnataka to monitor cyber-café users
Karnataka state, which is home to Bangalore, the
premier ICT zone of India, is planning to introduce
legislation requiring cyber-café operators to keep
track of their customers.
 http://digital-review.org/aud14b.htm

*******************
LEGAL AND SECURITY
*******************
uk: Internet grooming case makes legal history
IN the first internet grooming case in Britain under
new sex offence laws, a man has pleaded guilty in a
case involving a 14-year-old girl from the Newmarket
area.

http://w3.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/story.asp?StoryID=63726

uk: Child porn blackmail threat to website
Internet extortionists yesterday threatened one of the
leading UK online betting companies with a child
pornography smear campaign unless it paid out several
thousand euros.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3778d8ba-27b5-11d9-a0dd-00000e2511c8.html

uk: Child porn threat to betting site
Online betting site Blue Square has been attacked by
criminals threatening to e-mail out child pornography
in its name unless it pays 7000 euros (£4,863).
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3957757.stm

nz: NZ mobile operators coy over mobile smut
Age verification and the stigma of adult content are
problematic for Vodafone and Telecom

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/34755ABAC342338BCC256F39000BEBBF

au: Surge in online spying may force law change (reg
req'd)
The threat of identity theft and consumer fraud is
rising as spyware joins the much-loathed spam, viruses
and pop-up ads on the dark side of the internet.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/24/1098556297381.html

br: Hacker defaces 200 government Web sites
Anti-government messages have been left on a large
number of Web sites in Brazil

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39171540,00.htm

ng: $242m Scam: Jurisdiction Motion Adjourned Lagos
An Ikeja High Court judge, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole,
has adjourned till November 1st hearing in a motion on
jurisdiction of the court to continue adjudicating in
an ongoing trial involving three accused persons over
their alleged involvement in a $242 million Advance
Fee Fraud a.k.a. 419 scam.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200410251313.html

nz: Cellphone virus threat targeted
Software security companies and handset makers are
gearing up to launch products intended to secure
cellphones from variants of internet viruses that have
become a scourge for personal computer users.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_technology_story_skin/455365?format=html

Web Server Takedown Called Speech Threat
Devin Theriot-Orr, a member a feisty group of
reporter-activists called Indymedia, was surprised
when two FBI agents showed up at his Seattle law
office, saying the visit was a "courtesy call" on
behalf of Swiss authorities.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/high_tech/1700/10-26-2004/20041026114504_15.html

us: Spyware opponents win another battle
The Federal Trade Commission won an important victory
last week in its fight to protect consumers from
spyware, the software that tracks unsuspecting Web
surfers, bombards them with advertisements and
sometimes even steals log-in information and
passwords.

http://news.com.com/Spyware+opponents+win+another+battle/2100-1030_3-5425421.html

nz: Care needed in web travel
Travellers being taken for a ride when pre-paying for
tickets has become a growing problem in the internet
age.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3603976

us: Zeta-Jones sues strip club over Web photo
Catherine Zeta-Jones has sued a Nevada strip club for
using a picture of her face to promote itself on the
Web as "The Friendliest Topless Cabaret in Reno."
 http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5426161.html

Mind those IMs--your cubicle's walls have eyes
Big Brother is watching you at work, and making a
pretty penny doing it. As more and more companies
install monitoring software to track employee
activities--threatening to turn cubicles into
no-privacy zones--businesses that offer workplace
surveillance tools are enjoying a boomlet.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-5423220.html

The rise of extremist hacking, criminal syndicates
Islamist hacking groups and criminal syndicates have
caused more damage to global computer systems in the
third quarter of 2004 than in any preceding quarter,
according to the latest study published by the mi2g
Intelligence Unit.

http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/10/26/technology/9225925&sec=technology

Law Improvement: The legal base in fighting cyber
crime
Problem of cyber crime induced many states to
reconsider their own legislation. Nowadays more than
100 countries (including 60% Interpol members) have no
laws regulating fighting cyber crimes.
 http://crime-research.org/news/27.10.2004/744/

******
POLICY
******
au: 10 years' jail for child pornography
CHILD pornography offences will now attract jail terms
of up to 10 years and fines of up to $75,000 in South
Australia, and police will be given wider surveillance
powers to catch offenders.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11198687%255E2682,00.html

http://theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,11198687%255E2682,00.html
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1228407.htm

au: AFP reject child porn list allegation
Australian Federal Police (AFP) have rejected claims
they have withheld the names of child pornography
suspects from state and territory police forces.
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1227021.htm
 http://au.news.yahoo.com/041025/21/rcw0.html

au: Alice conference puts focus on crime fighting
A conference involving Australia's top crime fighters
ends in Alice Springs today. The two-day conference is
considering several major crime issues including child
pornography.
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1228046.htm

us: Womenyt asks cops to fight pornography
The Womynet, a group of women network composed of
various organizations from Visayas and Mindanao asked
the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other
agencies of the government to launch a no-nonsense
drive against pornography and other forms of obscenity
which are damaging the morals of society especially
the young adults.

http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/news/story.php?id=2564

us: Pornography debate sold out at MTSU
The Great Pornography Debate takes place at 7:30 p.m.
tomorrow in MTSU's Tucker Theater, but don't expect to
show up and see what happens.

http://tennessean.com/local/archives/04/09/60347214.shtml?Element_ID=60347214

us: Kerry, Bush Split on Broadband
A John Kerry administration would use federal
subsidies to help spur broadband deployment while
President Bush would continue his policy of
deregulation to spread the technology, two think tank
officials said Tuesday.
 http://internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3427161

nz: Govt to clampdown on spyware
Computer users are being warned about potentially
crippling software which is unwittingly being
downloaded from the internet

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_technology_story_skin/454943%3fformat=html

ca: Internet pharmacy group upset at suggestion
industry vulnerable to terrorists
A spokesman for the online pharmacy industry said
Monday he has caught his opponents "cooking a plot" to
portray the operations as vulnerable to being
overtaken or hijacked by terrorists.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2004/10/25/684946-cp.html
Expert: Net pharmacies at risk from terror

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/10/24/683784-cp.html

*****
SPAM
*****
UK spam fighter urges 'let's play Aussie rules'
A UK-based anti-spam organisation is to advise legal
officials at the European Commission on new
legislation to block junk email.

http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39125299,00.htm

************
INTERNET USE
************
Online risks for US web users
US home internet users are not nearly as safe online
as they believe, according to the results of a study
released today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/security/story/0,14230,1335688,00.html

AOL/NCSA Online Safety Study
Internet users at home are not nearly as safe online
as they believe, according to a study by AOL and the
National Cyber Security Alliance. The AOL-NCSA Online
Safety Study (PDF) was conducted through in-person
interviews and technical analyses with a typical
sample of 329 dial-up and broadband adult computer
users, at least 18 years of age, from September 15 to
October 8, 2004. Some sample results after showing
respondent the results of a spyware scan on their
computer.

http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/2004/10/26.html#a735

http://www.staysafeonline.info/news/safety_study_v04.pdf
(study)

Munich's Linux plans attract international attention
The planned migration of 14,000 desktops in the City
of Munich to Linux has attracted attention from as far
away as Japan and Australia - and so far all they've
switched over is the browser

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39171380,00.htm

Home Internet Users Not as Safe Online as They Believe
Most consumers have no firewall protection, outdated
antivirus software and dozens of spyware programs
secretly running on their computers, according to a
new study by America Online and the National Cyber
Security Alliance. And yet many people operate under
the happy illusion that they are safe.

http://technologyreview.com/articles/04/10/ap_2102504.asp

uk: Computer games 'can help children learn'
Computer games can help children's social and
educational development, according to researchers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Education/schools/story/0,5500,1336802,00.html

U.S Adults Search for Info On Colleagues and Employees
Curiosity fuels desire to learn more about clients and
the person at the next desk.

http://www.clickz.com/stats/big_picture/applications/article.php/3426021

In Internet phone calls, broadband's 'killer
application'
Free, one of the country's biggest Internet service
providers, offers unlimited free telephone calls
throughout France.

http://iht.com/articles/2004/10/26/technology/btvoip.html

*****
WSIS
*****
Ghana to Host WSIS Preparatory Meeting
>From 2 to 4 February 2005, the city of Accra in Ghana
will host the African region preparatory meeting in
the run-up to the WSIS, which will be held in Tunisia
in November 2005.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200410260335.html

http://ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/economy/artikel.php?ID=68494

ITU and Internet Governance draft input to the 7th
meeting of the ITU Council Working Group on WSIS,
12-14 December 2004
The paper starts by discussing the question of scope.
In accordance with ITU’s Constitution, the ITU is
concerned with the transmission, emission, and
reception of information , not with the content of the
information. Questions related to content are outside
the scope of ITU. The paper also discusses how in
recent years, ITU has been directly involved in
important issues related to Internet, such as VoIP,
ENUM, MPLS, cable modems, ADSL, etc. These issues have
resulted in stronger collaboration with other Internet
standardization bodies and have confirmed that ITU has
an important role to play with respect to the key
issues related to the continuing evolution of the
global telecommunication system.

http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/tsb-director/itut-wsis/files/zhao-netgov01.doc

First meeting of the WSIS Group of Friends of the
Chair (GFC)
The first meeting of the Group of Friends of the Chair
(GFC) of the PrepCom of the Tunis Phase of WSIS was
held in Geneva on Friday 22 October 2004. The
chairman, Mr Janis Karklins, invited all participants
to submit drafting proposals and contributions by 2
November 2004. The second meeting of the group will be
held on 15 and 16 November 2004.

http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/2004/10/25.html#a733

******************
ONLINE MUSIC & P2P
******************
au: Free music internet site in court over links
AN Australian song-sharing website that offered a
"smorgasbord" of free music downloads was one of the
biggest copyright infringers in the world, a court
heard yesterday.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11185233%255E662,00.html

au: Website faces the music
THE international war on music piracy entered the
Federal Court yesterday as a hearing began in a $500
million stoush between Australian and international
recording companies and a small Brisbane-based music
sharing website.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,11186350%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

au: Copyright case a publicity stunt: lawyer (reg
req'd)
A $500 million copyright lawsuit against a man whose
website offered links to free downloadable songs was a
"publicity stunt" for the Australian music industry, a
court has been told.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/27/1098667819160.html

us/es: Online Music Site Settles Copyright Suit
The operators of a Spanish-based Web site that sold
music downloads have agreed to pay $10.5 million to
settle a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by
several recording companies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62424-2004Oct25.html
 http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5425885.html

us: Study finds no decrease in file-sharing (reg
req'd)
File-sharing has not decreased this year despite
claims by the Recording Industry Association of
America that threats of legal action may have had
exactly that effect, a study by US academics says.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/27/1098667807155.html

************************
COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
************************
Who knows?
It has no editors, no fact checkers and anyone can
contribute an entry - or delete one. It should have
been a recipe for disaster, but instead Wikipedia
became one of the internet's most inspiring success
stories.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1335837,00.html

Firefox aims for 10 percent of Web surfers
The Mozilla Foundation expects one in 10 Internet
users to be browsing using Firefox within the next
year
 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5425918.html

us: Madison Avenue Ponders the Potential of Web Logs
Advertising agencies and communications professionals
are using blogs to create discussion about ideas
within their industries.

http://nytimes.com/2004/10/27/business/media/27adco.html

**********************************
ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
**********************************
au: Man netted in child porn crackdown
A WEST Australian man has been arrested and charged
with possessing child pornography and images of
bestiality as a result of a nationwide police
operation.

http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11204892%255E1702,00.html

au: Community service for child porn owner
A former Melbourne brothel manager has been given a
two-year community order for possessing child
pornography.
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1229178.htm

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11202146%255E1702,00.html

au: Child porn suspect keeps school job
A VICTORIAN school principal suspected of accessing
child pornography on a computer still had a job last
night.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11198368%255E421,00.html

au: Thwaites defends suppression of principal's name
Acting Victorian Premier John Thwaites has defended
the state's police for not revealing the identity of a
Melbourne primary school principal believed to be
under investigation for allegedly possessing child
pornography.
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1227969.htm

au: More Victorians could be charged for child porn
Scores of Victorians, including some in high-profile
jobs and "positions of trust", could yet be charged
under a national crackdown on the possession of child
pornography, said a senior Victoria Police spokesman.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=3603903

http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11178293%255E1702,00.html

nl/br: Consul keeps job in child porn scandal
The Dutch consulate-general in Rio de Janeiro is to
stay in the post despite issuing emergency passports
to two Dutch nationals who used them to flee Brazil to
avoid jail for trading in child pornography.

http://expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=13257&name=Consul+keeps+job+in+child+porn+scandal

us: Lawyer: Child Porn, Sex Statutes Conflict
The lawyer for a man convicted for videotaping
consensual sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend argues
that the former high school teacher should not have
been prosecuted under a child pornography law.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041027/ap_on_re_us/sex_video_1

http://pressanddakotan.com/stories/102704/new_20041027051.shtml

us: Former Belding city manager sentenced on child
pornography charges
The former Belding city manager will spend 90 days
behind bars after pleading no contest to possession of
child pornography.

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2484281&nav=0RceSQtT

us: Former counselor sentenced for possession of child
pornography
A former counselor for juvenile sexual offenders has
been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on his
guilty plea to possession of child pornography.
 http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2484218

us: Linton man faces child pornography charges
A probe of financial records from two Linton-based
bowling leagues uncovered something unexpected --
child pornography.

http://www.dailycitizen.com/articles/2004/10/26/news/childporn.txt

us: Child-porn case nets 12-year term
After being sentenced yesterday to prison for trading
child pornography, a Boone County man intends to
appeal his conviction, his attorney said.

http://www.showmenews.com/2004/Oct/20041026News004.asp

us: Spanishburg man gets 16 years in child porn case
A Spanishburg man charged with possession of child
pornography was sentenced Monday to 16 years in
prison.

http://www.bdtonline.com/articles/2004/10/26/news/02childporn.txt

us: Former Hendricks County Man Arrested for Child
Pornography
Federal authorities have arrested a former Hendricks
County man on child pornography charges.

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2468809&nav=0Ra7SJOY

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/3843991/detail.html

us: Local Man Sentenced for Exploitation of a Child
Man Had Hundreds Of Pornographic Images Of Children On
His Computer
 http://www.krdotv.com/DisplayStory.asp?id=8451

us: Ex-guard guilty in porn case
A former Sierra Conservation Center guard pleaded
guilty yesterday to showing child pornography to and
fondling young girls at his Sonora apartment.

http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=15559

us: Man wanted for questioning in child exploitation
case
Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Director Mark Gwyn
on Monday announced a search for a man wanted for
questioning in connection with a child exploitation
case out of Dyer County. The search is a joint effort
of the TBI and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
 http://www.stategazette.com/story/1079418.html

us: Social Worker Charged with Child Pornography
A man from Williamsport who is also a social worker is
accused of having child pornography.

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=2467160&nav=5ka4SIRb

us: Former Indiana man arrested for child pornography
Federal authorities have arrested a former Indiana man
on child pornography charges.
 http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2467944

us: TV's Kamal fired after arrest
It took a police officer, posing online as a
14-year-old boy, two minutes to attract the interest
of WSVN meteorologist Bill Kamal, federal law
enforcement officials said Monday.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/10014834.htm

us: Internet Sex Surfer gets five years in prison
Bradley Sweeney, 46-year-old New Hampshire man has
been sentenced to nearly five and a-half years in
federal prison.
 http://crime-research.org/news/26.10.2004/738/

us: Cyber crime statistics in Ukraine
Global computerization developed new sphere of public
relations, which, unfortunately, became the object of
illegal actions.
 http://crime-research.org/news/25.10.2004/735

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

Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/dn-news for
the latest domain news. Within 24 hours of this news
being posted, a more recent edition of the news will
normally be posted to the auDA web site. The domain
name news is supported by auDA.

 * with support of Alfa-Redi

Also see
http://greta.electric.gen.nz/mailman/listinfo/internet-news
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)".

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

(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

Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies.
http://au.movies.yahoo.com