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general internet news - 9 February
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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:
http://internetinasia.typepad.com/
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eu: afer Internet Day 2006: EU stresses commitment to
safer use of the Internet (news release)
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/126&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
uk: BT sounds child web porn warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4687904.stm
Timeline: a history of free speech
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,,1702539,00.html
us: Gonzales: NSA may tap 'ordinary' Americans' e-mail
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6035637.html
us: The End of the Internet? by Jeff Chester
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester
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CENSORSHIP, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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uk: BT sounds child web porn warning
The number of attempts to view illegal child
pornography on the web has risen sharply since 2004,
according to BT.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4687904.stm
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/07/uporn.xml
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1704342,00.html
IWF Response to BT?s ?Cleanfeed? Figures (news
release)
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) was formed in 1996
following an agreement between the government, police
and the internet service provider industry that a
partnership approach was needed to tackle the
distribution of child abuse images (often referred to
as child pornography) online.
http://iwf.org.uk/media/news.153.htm
eu: afer Internet Day 2006: EU stresses commitment to
safer use of the Internet (news release)
Safer Internet Day (7 February) will be celebrated by
95 organisations in 36 countries across the world,
including 24 EU countries, Russia, Argentina, New
Zealand and the USA. Organised under the patronage of
Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane
Reding, Safer Internet Day 2006, features a blogathon
or ?blog-marathon? during which wide range of
organisations and special guests will promote internet
safety by making postings and inviting comments from
visitors, children, schools and parents. The
geographical focus of the 24hr blog will move steadily
westwards through the global time zones, and include
content in different languages.
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/126&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
eu: Global 'blogathon' marks Safer Internet Day
The European Commission is putting the potential
dangers of using the web under the spotlight by naming
today "Safer Internet Day". Insafe, the EU's network
for safer internet use, today launched a global
"blogathon" to draw attention to the legal, ethical
and safety issues associated with the internet.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/07/internet_safety_day/
uk: IWF in first global ?blogathon? for Safer Internet
Day (news release)
Safer Internet Day will take place on 7 February 2006.
Among the host of events taking place, Insafe, the EU
network for internet safety awareness, will organise a
global ?blogathon? which the Internet Watch Foundation
(IWF) will participate in.
http://iwf.org.uk/media/news.152.htm
uk: Call for internet safety lessons
Lessons on how to use the internet safely should
become compulsory in schools, university researchers
say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4688696.stm
us: Chatroom seminar by Tequesta police takes aim at
online predators
"Downright scary" is how Kirk Pfister summed up a
seminar designed to help parents protect their
children from online predators.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-ppredator06feb06,0,388927.story
cu: Journalist on hunger strike to demand unrestricted
Internet access
Reporters Without Borders voiced support today for
Guillermo Fariñas, the editor of the Cubanacán Press
independent news agency, who has consumed no food
since midday on 31 January and has told President
Fidel Castro in an open letter he will pursue his
hunger strike ?to the death? if he and his fellow
journalists are not allowed the Internet access they
need for their work.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16346
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LEGAL, SECURITY AND PRIVACY
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uk: Lords restrict terror website censorship plans
The House of Lords has restricted Government plans to
allow the police to order the take down of suspected
terrorism-related web content by requiring that the
authorities obtain the permission of a judge first.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/06/lords_restrict_terror_censorship/
us: Internet data trail leads away from privacy, and
into court
Just as technology is prompting Internet companies to
collect more information and keep it longer than
before, prosecutors and civil lawyers are more readily
using that information.
http://iht.com/articles/2006/02/06/business/netprivacy.php
fr/ru: 'Sleeper bugs' steal ?1m
Russian thieves steal more than ?1m (£680,000) in
France by infecting computers with "sleeper bugs" that
take control of and empty bank accounts in seconds.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1703778,00.html
China reports closure of 76 Web sites in online piracy
crackdown
Chinese authorities say they have shut down 76 Web
sites in a crackdown on illegal use of pirated
material.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/ht/58/02-06-2006/2545000856ae8f48.html
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=115&art_id=qw1139208124369B255
us: Increasingly, Internet's Data Trail Leads to Court
(reg req'd)
Just as Internet companies collect more information,
prosecutors and civil lawyers are more readily using
that information.
http://nytimes.com/2006/02/04/technology/04privacy.html
us: Gonzales: NSA may tap 'ordinary' Americans' e-mail
Agents operating a controversial National Security
Agency surveillance program may have inadvertently
spied on the e-mails and phone calls of Americans with
no ties to terrorists, Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales said Monday.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6035637.html
us: NSA has a few options in tapping program
Even a panel of determined senators couldn't convince
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to divulge much
about how the massive surveillance program conducted
by the National Security Agency actually works.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6035910.html
us: Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects
Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of
Americans in overseas calls under authority from
President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as
potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to
a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current
and former government officials and private-sector
sources with knowledge of the technologies in use.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020401373.html
us: Without 'Net neutrality' will consumers pay twice?
The debate over whether broadband providers should be
allowed to prioritize the traffic they carry and to
charge companies to ship data via their networks is
about to get its second airing in Washington.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6035906.html
http://news.com.com/Without+Net+neutrality+will+consumers+pay+twice/2100-1034_3-6035906.html
BitTorrent to crack down on use of name
The creators of the BitTorrent file-swapping
application will soon begin cracking down on how other
software developers use the BitTorrent name.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6035800.html
my: E-mail scams stoop to new low
Get-rich quick e-mail scams that solicit small amounts
of money purportedly in exchange for large returns are
not new to Internet users in the country.
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2006/2/6/technology/13313951&sec=technology
BlackBerry addicts fear total blackout
They have become essential for businessmen and
officials who are on the move but need to keep in
touch, and are a common sight in airports, on trains
and in restaurants. But users of BlackBerrys, the
hand-held devices which have been nicknamed
CrackBerries because of their addictiveness, may soon
have to wean themselves off the habit. A legal row
over patent rights could force the makers of the
BlackBerry to shut down the email service across
America, plunging the country's 3.6 million users into
technological blackout.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1702546,00.html
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SPAM
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E-mail charging plan to beat spam
Big net firms are trying to stop spammers by charging
to deliver e-mail messages.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4684942.stm
us: Google blacklists BMW.de
Google has blacklisted BMW.de after the carmaker
violated the search giant's guidelines by using a
technique that could artificially boost its search
engine rating, according to a Google engineer.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6035412.html
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2027523,00.html
Beating the Google search: a brief history
For as long as there have been internet search
engines, there have been people trying to manipulate
their results
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2027553,00.html
Google blacklists--fair or not?
A decision by Google to blacklist BMW's German Web
site for allegedly boosting its internet search
ranking in breach of Google guidelines has divided
experts and Web users, as another big name company
comes in for the same treatment.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6036184.html
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INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE
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au: Exhausted students tap in to SMS instead of REM
MORE than 40 per cent of school students are
chronically sleep deprived, leaving them grumpy and
disadvantaged at school the next day, a study has
found. Many are losing precious sleep because they are
staying up late into the night sending text messages
to friends via their mobile phones, education expert
and clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller said.
http://smh.com.au/news/national/exhausted-students-tap-in-to-sms-instead-of-rem/2006/02/04/1138958944964.html
uk: Gervais podcast in the record books
He's got two hit series, two Golden Globes and too
many Baftas to mention. But now Ricky Gervais has a
world record after his podcast became the most
downloaded ever.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1703591,00.html
us: The End of the Internet? by Jeff Chester
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are
crafting an alarming set of strategies that would
transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory
Internet of today to a privately run and branded
service that would charge a fee for virtually
everything we do online.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester
iPods can damage your hearing, claims lawsuit
The technology giant Apple is under fresh fire over
its iPod range. A lawsuit has been filed in the US
claiming the company is putting consumers at risk of
suffering hearing loss.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1702604,00.html
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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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Timeline: a history of free speech
Starting at 399BC: Socrates speaks to jury at his
trial: 'If you offered to let me off this time on
condition I am not any longer to speak my mind... I
should say to you, "Men of Athens, I shall obey the
Gods rather than you."'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,,1702539,00.html
Forget the browser wars, prepare for the toolbar wars
Fighting for icon space on the desktop is so 2001. The
new frontier on a virgin PC is the browser, and
Internet companies like Google are jostling for space
on the browsers of new PCs.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6036263.html
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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
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au: WA teacher to face court over child porn
A West Australian 24-year-old high school teacher has
been charged with child pornography offences.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1564602.htm
http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18072389%255E29277,00.html
uk: Doctor jailed for child porn site
A former GP has been jailed for eight months for
setting up websites to distribute child pornography.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4687502.stm
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Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and
BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>.
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(c) David Goldstein 2006
David Goldstein
address: 4/3 Abbott Street
COOGEE NSW 2034
AUSTRALIA
email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au
phone: +61 418 228 605 - mobile; +61 2 9665 5773 - home
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