general internet news - 13 November

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

Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the most recent edition of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online! And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for recent updates and news and RSS feeds as well.

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Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/

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Internet at a crossroads
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2006/11/09/219800/Internet+at+a+crossroads.htm

us: Are More Laws Needed To Protect Kids Online?
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116299783252817209-lqXuBka9GdpFDf3LJtAdvnYbpfQ_20061209.html

us: Judges: Mere Viewing of Child Porn Images on Internet Not a Crime
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1162820129956

au: Internet child pornography a growing problem
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1784212.htm

nz: School's refusal to name students in pictures ditched
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10409935

nz: Gattung speech raises serious questions - InternetNZ (news release)
http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/2006-11-01-telecomspeech

uk: VoIP regulation hit by three-month delay
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39284663,00.htm

uk: Internet groomer handed jail term
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/6133360.stm

Spam Levels Up by 80 Percent
http://pcworld.com/article/id,127801-c,spam/article.html

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CENSORSHIP, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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uk: Mum's plea to stop cyber bullying
A Nottingham mother is calling for a national campaign to stop cyber bullying after a video showing her son being beaten was posted on a website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/6139692.stm

uk: Racist bullying 'rising at schools'
Pupils are being urged to help protect Muslim children from bullying in the playground amid claims that racist attacks have increased since the July 7 bombings.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/11/nterr111.xml

cn: Net controls defended after online protest
The Chinese government on Wednesday said accusations by a press freedom group that it was one of the worst culprits of systematic online censorship were "groundless" and that its citizens could freely access the internet.
http://asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=57367

Internet Censorship in China
Li Yonggang, a professor at the School of Public Management at Nanjing University, is the well-known founder of the Frontiers of Thought Website (www.sixiang.com), a collection of articles and commentaries by many prominent Chinese intellectuals. The website hosted lively discussion on a wide variety of intellectual and academic topics until, tragically, it was forcibly shut down by the Chinese authority on October 14, 2000. These past few years, Mr. Li has continued to express concern over Internet censorship in China, and has recently completed some research on the issue, which he has released as Internet Censorship in the People's Republic of China.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-11-10/47995.html

ir: Government filtering makes two websites inaccessible (news release)
Reporters Without Borders today criticised the Iranian government for blocking access to two independent websites on 7 November, www.tik.ir and meydaan.com. No official reason was given but the tik.ir website reportedly said the orders to filter Entekhab came from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s office. Iran is on the Reporters Without Borders list of 13 Internet enemies.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19678

The actress, the Internet, the sex film and Iran (Reuters)
Sex films, soap stars and international fugitives were an unheard of combination on the front pages of newspapers in conservative Muslim Iran until now. For Western readers who regularly feast on celebrity antics in popular scandal sheets, a grainy film of sexual activity is probably no big deal. But Iranians have been transfixed by a judicial inquiry into media reports that a budding starlet is the woman in a graphic film widely distributed across the Internet.
http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=13985569

nz: School's refusal to name students in pictures ditched
A secondary school's policy forbidding publication of students' names with newspaper photographs has been reversed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10409935

Nations that Censor the Net
Reporters Without Borders calls out China, Myanmar, Belarus, and 10 other countries for quashing online political and religious expression
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061109_790623.htm

The World's Worst Web Censors
Human rights group Reporters Without Borders identifies the world's 13 most pronounced Internet “black holes”
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/11/1110_webcensors/index_01.htm

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CYBERCRIME, CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY
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us: Are More Laws Needed To Protect Kids Online?
The Internet is a fixture in most kids' lives, but there is broad disagreement over the best way to protect children from things they shouldn't see online – and what role, if any, new laws should play.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116299783252817209-lqXuBka9GdpFDf3LJtAdvnYbpfQ_20061209.html

us: Judges: Mere Viewing of Child Porn Images on Internet Not a Crime
A Pennsylvania Superior Court decision issued late last week has shed light on a legal loophole that appears to let off the hook those who view child pornography on their computers but don't save those images on their hard drives.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1162820129956

us: Pennsylvania court says viewing child porn 'not illegal'
A US court has ruled that viewing child pornography on a website without deliberately saving it to a computer is not a crime. The judge said that the state penal code was ambiguous, so he must rule in favour of the defendant.
http://www.theregister.com/2006/11/10/pennsylvania_court_ruling/

au: Internet child pornography a growing problem
For many people, the Internet of course has created an exciting new world of information and communication but as we've increasingly come to know, it has its very definite dark side. Broadband and high-speed Internet connections have helped a global market in images of abused children. Interpol now has a database of a staggering 200,000 images and only a fraction of these children have been identified. If anything, the problem is only getting worse.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1784212.htm

German court says customers can order deletion of IP logs
The Supreme Court in Germany has ruled that ISPs must delete all customer logs when asked to by a user. The decision threatens to undermine entertainment industry and law enforcement attempts to urge ISPs to keep records.
http://out-law.com/page-7455

us: Online scams target the wealthy
High-income earners in the US are the target of online "phishing" scams a study shows. The study, by analysts Gartner, found that people who earn more than $100,000 received nearly 50% more phishing e-mails than lower earners.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6135346.stm

us: Lawyers face right to blog
Online journals that contain legal discussions and background information are challenging traditional practices on attorney advertising
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0611070249nov07,0,7074178.story

us: Law Firm Must Surrender Client E-Mails Shared With 'Lay Adviser,' Judge Says
A Morristown, N.J., law firm will have to turn over client e-mails in a federal court battle between a former client and his ex-employer, as a judge has rejected the firm's assertions of privilege.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1162820130107

us: LA police in YouTube beating film
An investigation begins after a video of a man being beaten by Los Angeles police is posted on YouTube. There is also a BBC TV report that includes the video.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6136046.stm

uk: ISPs 'should be responsible' for hacker attacks
ISPs should be made legally liable for the damage caused by "denial of service" attacks carried out via their networks, a leading internet lawyer says.
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10494

U.K. outlaws denial-of-service attacks
A U.K. law has been passed that makes it an offense to launch denial-of-service attacks, which experts had previously called "a legal gray area."
http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-6134472.html

uk: Child porn witness faces inquiry
A computer analyst who has given expert testimony in highly sensitive court cases is being investigated over concerns about his credibility.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6124616.stm

Child porn on rise
A police chief last night warned online grooming and the viewing of indecent images of children on the internet were on the increase in the North-East.
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/thejournal/regional/tm_headline=child-porn-on-rise&method=full&objectid=18080054&siteid=50081-name_page.html

Privacy chiefs vow to fight surveillance together
A group of international data and privacy protection commissioners has decided to act together to challenge the surveillance society which they claim is developing. Commissioners from the UK, France, Germany and New Zealand will adopt common policies.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/08/privacy_chiefs_unite_over_surveillance/

Google chief vows to protect users' privacy
The Google chief executive, Eric Schmidt, yesterday vowed to resist attempts by US president George W Bush's administration to obtain private information on internet users. On the day when the Republican administration faced dispiriting results in the US mid-term elections, Dr Schmidt launched a stinging criticism of the government's attitude to privacy.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1942176,00.html

Google video suit could signal YouTube trouble ahead (AP)
Google's online video service has been sued for copyright infringement, providing a possible preview of the legal trouble that may plague the Internet search leader after it takes over YouTube Inc. and its library of pirated clips, the company said.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-11-08-google-sued_x.htm

Google faces legal challenges over video copyright (Reuters)
Google's video service faces at least one copyright infringement lawsuit, the company confirmed on Friday, and the Web search leader faces a separate subpoena tied to the service.
http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6134679.html

Malaysia to use detention without trial for sms rumours: reports (AFP)
Malaysia has warned it could apply a draconian law that allows for detention without trial to people who used text messages to spread libelous or false information, reports have said.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/08112006/323/malaysia-use-detention-trial-sms-rumours-reports.html

Microsoft targets piracy
Microsoft needs to do more to crack the consumer market in developing countries, with piracy and affordability holding back sales in regions ranging from Asia and eastern Europe to Latin America, CEO Steve Ballmer told the FT.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3612715a-70da-11db-8e0b-0000779e2340.html

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GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
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Internet at a crossroads
Decisions about the openness of the internet and the technology behind it will affect all web users. The next couple of years will define whether the internet remains open, but acquires more heavy-duty infrastructure to meet the demands that all of us - businesses, consumers, government - have come to expect of it, or whether it is hijacked by private interests. Several key technological choices will have to be made by internet users, IT suppliers, standards organisations and governments. Those choices will determine the shape of the internet for the next decade and how fast new applications develop and grow.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2006/11/09/219800/Internet+at+a+crossroads.htm

uk: Software patent refusal could go to House of Lords
The businessman behind a patent application that failed on the grounds of being a software program has applied to appeal the case to the House of Lords.
http://out-law.com/page-5951

What the Democrats' win means for tech
Now that this week's elections have switched control of the House back to the Democrats--and they appear to have seized the Senate as well--the outlook for technology-related legislation has changed dramatically overnight. On a wealth of topics--Net neutrality, digital copyright, merger approval, data retention, Internet censorship--a Capitol Hill controlled by Democrats should yield a shift in priorities on technology-related legislation.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6133833.html

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SPAM
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Spam Levels Up by 80 Percent
Researchers and IT managers are confirming security vendors' claims that spam levels have spiked in the past month--some say by as much as 80 percent--and show no signs of decreasing.
http://pcworld.com/article/id,127801-c,spam/article.html

Why spam is out of control
Noticed a lot more junk in your inbox? Danny Bradbury of The Guardian reports on the increasingly sophisticated methods being used to pump out millions of unwanted emails.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1942262,00.html

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INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE
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Baffled GPs urged to try diagnosis by Google
If in doubt, Google it, doctors puzzling over a diagnosis have been told. The internet search engine used by millions of people to find a plumber or discover what their house is worth is also pretty handy when it comes to putting a name to unusual ailments.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2446250,00.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/10/1162661871847.html

Blogosphere sees healthy growth
100,000 new blogs are started each day and the number of blogs responding to political issues is also on the rise.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129496.stm

Over Half of Singapore's Population Is Online
About 65 percent of Singapore's population is online at least moderately or count themselves casual users. That's according to survey results released by Media Development Authority (MDA), a group formed to focus on and develop Singapore's media industry. 
http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623907

'BlackBerry Thumb' sparks new massage treatment (Reuters)
Sore thumbs after spending hours on a hand-held e-mail device? Sounds like a case of "BlackBerry Thumb"--but help is at hand.
http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-6134721.html
http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=13997037

Google says speed is king
YouTube succeeded where Google Video didn't because users were able to see their videos posted immediately, Google executive Marissa Mayer said at the Web 2.0 Summit here on Thursday.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6134247.html

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FILE SHARING
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German music publishers demand YouTube royalties
The German Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights (GEMA) is demanding royalties from YouTube.
http://out-law.com/page-7460

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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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Gates warns of return to Internet bubble era
Bill Gates warned Thursday against the rush to new Web-based software services, likening the frenzy to the days of the 1990s Internet bubble.
http://iht.com/articles/2006/11/09/yourmoney/msft.php

Bubble 2.0?
Venture firms are pouring money into Web 2.0 startups in hopes of funding the next MySpace. But is the frenzy getting out of hand—again?
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061108_556422.htm

Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense
Computer scientists and a growing collection of start-up companies want to make the Web less of a catalog and more of a guide.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/business/12web.html

IP world best practices: what lessons for Europe?
As many Nations (United States, Japan, now China and India) realize that a robust IP system is central to their economic future and a prerequisite for a successful economy, the Europeans still seem to be struggling with this notion. Two years ago, the first paneuropean intellectual property summit in Brussels, IP2004, has plainly confirmed so. Issues covered will include: Why can’t Europe get it right when it comes to IP?; Why should rights owners themselves be doing more to shape the debate?; Why European companies couldn’t be learn from the way which Japanese or Americans companies have grappled with intellectual property and its potential?
http://ipsummit.info/

Punters converge on web summit
Tech luminaries converge on San Francisco to trade tips on how to create the next YouTube or MySpace.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/10/1162661881040.html

Google's New Frontier: Print Ads
With a slew of big-city newspapers on its side, Google sets out to reproduce the success of its online ad programs—offline
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061105_572061.htm

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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us: Telcos call on convergence to fight VoIP
Fixed and mobile network operators will invest more than US$450m in capital infrastructure over the next five years to provide fixed-mobile convergence, market watchers predicted today.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2168259/telcos-target-fixed-mobile
http://www.infomaticsonline.co.uk/vnunet/news/2168259/telcos-target-fixed-mobile

ITU: Presentation: Evolution of Digital Media in a Convergent Era
A presentation entitled "Evolution of Digital Media in a Convergent Era", was made by Cristina Bueti, Project Officer, ITU Strategy and Policy Unit,at the Festival International du Film et de la Télévision on 4 November in Geneva, Switzerland.
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Presentation+Evolution+Of+Digital+Media+In+A+Convergent+Era+.aspx

nz: Gattung speech raises serious questions - InternetNZ (news release)
“Yesterday’s address by Theresa Gattung to a TUANZ audience in Wellington raises serious questions, and she should not attack those who ask important questions about how Telecom is behaving,” said InternetNZ President Colin Jackson today.
http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/2006-11-01-telecomspeech

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VoIP
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uk: VoIP regulation hit by three-month delay
Ofcom is months late in publishing a statement on internet telephony regulation in the UK, as VoIP take-up increases
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39284663,00.htm

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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
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uk: Internet groomer handed jail term
A man is jailed for hacking into girls' PCs and blackmailing them into sending explicit images of themselves.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/6133360.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1943793,00.html
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2054987,00.asp

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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
 
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David Goldstein
 address: 4/3 Abbott Street
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 email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au
 phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home)
 
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