general internet news - 3 August

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

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Free speech, libel and the internet age by Michael
Geist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5230776.stm

us: Social network sites face US ban
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5230506.stm
http://www.out-law.com/page-7157

cn: China intellectuals decry closure of Web site
http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=13051728

uk: Criminal gangs moving into child internet porn
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1833836,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1833834,00.html

Canadian Libel Law Raises Net Free Speech Chill
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1343%3E

us: Can Internet be really gagged? 
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2006/106073104.asp

tw: Fixing the child porn loophole in Taiwan law
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/07/30/2003321066

au: Study shows IM is OK
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/08/01/1154198131278.html

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CENSORSHIP, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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Free speech, libel and the internet age
Internet law professor Michael Geist says the issue of
free speech and the power of the net to disseminate
comment is far from being resolved in law.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5230776.stm

us: Chatrooms may be banned in US schools to combat
sexual predators
Chatroom websites including MySpace, Facebook and
Friendster could be banned in America's schools and
libraries under legislation aimed at sexual predators
that is working its way through Congress.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1834600,00.html
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6099414.html

us: Social network sites face US ban
Children in the US could be banned from using social
networking sites in schools and libraries by a new
law.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5230506.stm
http://www.out-law.com/page-7157

uk: Parents warned of webcam danger
PARENTS are being warned against letting children have
webcams in their bedrooms after the arrest of a
Canadian accused of tricking British girls into
performing sex acts for him to watch over the
internet.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2292692,00.html

us: Female-name Chat Users Get 25 Times More Malicious
Messages
A study by the University of Maryland's A. James Clark
School of Engineering found that chatroom participants
with female usernames received 25 times more
threatening and/or sexually explicit private messages
than those with male or ambiguous usernames.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060731153456.htm

cn: China intellectuals decry closure of Web site
Dozens of Chinese writers and dissidents have decried
the closing of a Web site they said was one of the few
refuges for relatively unfettered views in their
censorship-bound country.
http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=13051728

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CYBERCRIME, CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY
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uk: Criminal gangs moving into child internet porn
Organised criminals are moving into child pornography
and trafficking an increasing number of women to work
as prostitutes in the UK, according to the first
report from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency
(Soca).
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1833836,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1833834,00.html

uk: Lifting the veil on internet voices
Police and intelligence agencies are lobbying hard for
means of snooping on internet-based telephony, arguing
that they need them to catch criminals
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1830460,00.html

uk: Why the Lords is investigating security
Q&A: Lord Broers tells ZDNet how a Lords inquiry will
try to encourage the government to do more to protect
the UK's Internet users
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39280288,00.htm

us: Feds appeal loss in NSA wiretap case
The Bush administration has asked a federal appeals
court to halt a lawsuit alleging AT&T illegally opened
its communication networks to surveillance by the
National Security Agency.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6100612.html

Canadian Libel Law Raises Net Free Speech Chill
The Rivoli, a well-known Toronto club, may seem like
an unusual venue to consider Internet free speech. Yet
later this week, it will play host to a fundraiser in
support of P2Pnet.net, a British Columbia-based
website that is being sued for defamation for comments
posted on the site by its readers.  
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1343%3E

us: Porn link case testing web freedom
At issue in the case being appealed in the San
Francisco whether Google infringed on copyright by
creating links to Perfect 10 pictures copied from its
website and posted elsewhere on the internet, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation said.
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,19938965%5E15342%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html

us: Can Internet be really gagged? 
Many countries have attempted to block or ban websites
and blogs on the Internet. Shashwat Charurvedi from
CyberMedia News takes a look at cyber gagging in the
backdrop of the DoT's recent directive to ISPs to
block certain websites and blogs
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2006/106073104.asp

Billy Bragg pays tribute to MySpace
Billy Bragg has paid tribute to social networking
giant MySpace after persuading it to change its terms
and conditions. The site is owned by owned by Rupert
Murdoch's News Corporation and changed its terms after
lobbying by Bragg.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/31/bragg_myspace_tribute/
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/business/media/31bragg.html

419ers debut Interpol mirror site
419 advanced fee scammers have created an exact copy
of the Interpol website, which is expected to be used
to dupe victims into believing they are dealing with
the real International Criminal Police Organisation.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/31/scammers_create_interpol_mirror/

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GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
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us: Milking the Internet (net neutrality)
Don't expect a quick decision from Congress on network
neutrality. Not deciding is too profitable. 
After senator Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican,
explained recently that he opposed "network
neutrality" because "Internet" was delayed by the
clogged "tubes" of the Internet, his awkward lingo was
lampooned by comedian Jon Stewart. The parody became a
YouTube hit. Laugh if you want. But the pols get to
laugh all the way to the bank: The fight over the
Internet and what fees should be assessed for access
is a surefire moneymaker--for their campaign coffers.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0814/044.html

zw: Bill for monitoring e-mail and mobile phone calls
submitted to parliament
Reporters Without Borders condemned the Interception
of Communications Bill that was submitted on 26 July
to the Zimbabwean parliament. It would allow the
authorities to intercept and read e-mail messages and
listen to mobile phone calls without needing to get
permission from a judge.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17623

tw: Fixing the child porn loophole in Taiwan law
Earlier this month, the Ninth Investigation Brigade of
the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Taiwan
chapter of the End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism
(ECPAT) campaign joined forces to bust a Web site
peddling child pornography CDs.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/07/30/2003321066

us: Free speech on internet under fire
"The internet is not something you dump something on,"
Senator Ted Stevens, chairman of the Senate Commerce
Committee, noted during recent hearings. "It's not a
truck. It's a series of tubes." The Alaskan
Republican's ignorance, ridiculed by bloggers and TV
comics, added a surreal touch to a titanic struggle,
unfolding in Washington and cyberspace. The
82-year-old senator was defending a telecommunications
bill that, if made into law, could have far reaching
impacts for internet users.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10393704

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INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE
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au: Study shows IM is OK
Contrary to popular opinion, instant messaging may not
be harming the literacy of today's internet savvy
teenagers, says a new report. The dramatic rise in the
popularity of the medium has given rise to widespread
concerns over declining standards of grammar owing to
the heavy reliance on abbreviations and internet slang
in messages relayed back and forth by the teens.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/08/01/1154198131278.html

Digital Kids: MySpace blurs line between friends and
flacks
The volume of advertising in MySpace and other social
networks is expected to balloon in the next few years,
and much of it could blur the lines between
socializing, entertainment and marketing.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6100114.html

New media making deals with `old' news providers
Everybody knows that online news is free and that
technologically brilliant search engines like Google
and Yahoo have been stealing readers -- and revenues
-- away from technologically challenged newspaper
companies and wire services.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/15164807.htm

us: Online news audience growth slows in US - survey
Far more Americans use the Internet to get their news
than a decade ago but the rate of online news audience
growth is slowing, according to a study released on
Sunday.
http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=13027324

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DIGITAL DIVIDE
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Poverty-stricken Rwanda puts its faith and future into
the wide wired world
Office workers talking over Skype. Fibre-optic cable
snaking hundreds of miles underground and to the top
of a 4,500-metre volcano. Paperless cabinet meetings
with every minister using a laptop. This may sound
like an advanced western country rather than a tiny,
poor African state. Yet this is Rwanda, now in the
midst of an extraordinary development plan to leap
into the 21st century.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/rwanda/story/0,,1834621,00.html

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FILE SHARING
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uk: Why the music industry's new piracy tactics will
fail
Here?s a jarring statistic: in the past three years
music industry lawyers have sued more than 23,000
music fans for filling their hard drives with free
songs and sharing them with the world. But as almost
any music executive will tell you, suing your
customers is an unsustainable strategy. The negative
PR and lingering ill will the suits instil in music
fans is just too high a price to pay. Thus, while the
lawsuits continue today, litigation against individual
uploaders (and downloaders) is destined to become as
anachronistic as the 8-track tape.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20411-2277187,00.html

French anti-iTunes law is 'unconstitutional': Law to
be radically changed or rewritten
The controversial French law which would have forced
Apple to make music from its iTunes online shop
playable on any device has been rejected by the French
Constitutional Council. The whole law may have to be
rewritten.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/31/itunes_law_rejected/

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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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How Google Earth Is Changing Science
Biologists, epidemiologists and disaster control
experts are discovering Google Earth as a powerful
tool in their work. The success of the digital globe
has reawakened interest in computer mapping models.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,429525,00.html

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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au: Would an Irish-style split work for Telstra?
What sort of deals are the merchant banks taking to
Canberra to get the Howard Government out of its T3
dilemma? It appears that Babcock & Brown has come up
with a superficially attractive model based on its
plan to split Ireland's national telco Eircom into
infrastructure and retail operations.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/07/30/1154198009258.html

au: Plotting the future of broadband
By the year 2010, most Australians should have access
to high-speed broadband connections enabling them to
download high-definition video content. 
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/07/31/1154198058963.html

nz: Govt may scupper Woosh's TV plans
Wireless telecommunications provider Woosh claims
government regulations may prevent it rolling out new
technology that would see digital television broadcast
on the internet.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411415/800402

au: Tumble prompts fixed-line push
VODAFONE, the No3 mobile network, is seeking alliances
with fixed telecommunications companies as it moves to
address shrinking margins after reporting a dramatic
fall in net profits.
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,19974999%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html
	
au: IIA calls for widespread 10Mbps broadband by 2010
The Internet Industry Assocation has released a set of
"aspirational goals" for Australia' broadband services
calling for 80 percent of the population to have
access to a service delivering at least 10Mbps
downstream by 2010.
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/5145/127/

IT and telecommunications on collision course, says
IDC
According to IDC?s IT Services and Solutions Survey,
73.7 percent of respondents would consider using the
same provider for both IT services and telecom needs.
http://www.itworld.com/Net/2613/060801ittelecom/

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VoIP
*****
VoIP Will Become the New Standard
We tend to be creatures of habit. We like to stick
with the "same old same old" regardless of whether
there's something better out there, proclaiming,
"better the devil I know than the devil I don't know."
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) isn't exactly the
devil, but it is something new, and it takes a lot to
get telecom consumers to change their habits.
http://www.itworld.com/Net/3303/nls_itinsights_voip060802/

VoIP Service Revenue Doubles; Will Hit $120 Billion in
2009
VoIP service revenue doubled in North America, Europe,
and Asia Pacific from 2004 to 2005, and will continue
to boom for at least the next five years, according to
a new report by Infonetics Research.
http://www.networkingpipeline.com/news/191601112;jsessionid=R24GHPHDEOTGQQSNDLOSKHSCJUNN2JVN

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(c) David Goldstein 2006

David Goldstein
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