Home page| Extended HTML version
(EUROPOL) In a joint action against persons suspected of being involved in child pornography offences, police from 12 EU Member States and the United States made several arrests and around 150 house searches. The action, named "Baleno", is the result of a worldwide investigation led by the Dutch National Police Agency and co-ordinated by Europol.
(Australian IT) The Australian government has given the internet industry mixed signals over the performance of current laws designed to shield consumers from porn and offensive content online. ICT Minister Helen Coonan said that findings of an audit carried out by the communications regulator released today demonstrated the effectiveness of codes of practice under its co-regulatory content regulation scheme. However, a spokeswoman for the Minister said that the federal Government had not ruled out ISP-level content filtering. see also AU - ACMA encourages consumers to report on lack of internet safety measures
(ZDNET) The New York Times reports on a new censorship force: a cadre of undergraduate researchers who report on 'unhealthy' content on the Web and 'guide' online discussions away from dangerous notions.
(Reuters) Yahoo is seeking the government's help in urging China to allow more media freedom, after reports linking information it gave to Chinese authorities with the jailing of a dissident.
(RAPID) Arrêt du Tribunal de première instance dans l'affaire T-279/03. Galileo International Technology LLC et e.a. / Commission des Communautés européennes. Le Tribunal rejette le recours introduit par le groupe d'entreprises Galileo contre l'emploi par la Commission du terme Galileo pour désigner le système européen de navigation par satellite. Les requérantes n´ont pas établi que l´utilisation par la Commission dudit terme était susceptible de porter atteinte à leurs droits de marque.
(EDRI) At the beginning of May 2006 the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/14) met in Geneva with the aim to decide on recommendations on a draft WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations. On the last day the SCCR finally decided to split the negotiations into two parts: a treaty that will focus on "traditional" broadcasting and one on the technologies that would deliver content over the Internet.
(Washington Post) The Bush administration has secretly been collecting the domestic telephone records of millions of U.S. households and businesses, assembling gargantuan databases and attempting to sift through them for clues about terrorist threats.
(BBC) Internet regulators have rejected plans to create a domain for pornography websites ending with the .xxx suffix. Advocates of the exclusive domain had argued that it would make it easier for web users to locate - or avoid - pornography online. See ICANN Board Votes Against .XXX Sponsored Top Level Domain Agreement and ICANN Response to GAC Communique and Recent Communication (ICANN). See also Dispute over porn domain name veto (FT), Coalition of willing against EU in online porn dispute (iTWire), Fight for .xxx not over yet? (Computer Business Review), Why ICANN was right to reject .xxx (OUT-LAW News) and Adult industry welcomes .xxx domain rejection.
(ICANN) The ICANN Nominating Committee (NomCom) invites the participation of the Internet community in its ongoing process for selection of well qualified, accomplished individuals to serve in four sets of leadership positions within ICANN. The following seats are to be filled in the 2006 NomCom process: Board of Directors (3 seats); Generic Names Supporting Organization Council (GNSO) (1 seat); Interim At-Large Advisory Council (ALAC) (2 seats, European and North American regions); Country Code Names Support Organization Council (ccNSO) (1 seat). Statements of Interest should be received before 16 July 2006, and the selection of final appointees will be announced before 31 October 2006. see ICANN Nominating Committee.
(Euroap) In 2005 at least one third of the European adult population, 130 million EU citizens, browsed the web in search of information on health. However, searching for health-related information is not always easy. Researchers can be confronted with thousands of sites, many of them complex, and it can be hard to know which are reliable or up to date. To help European citizens answer their health questions, the Commission has launched the Health-EU Portal. The Health-EU Portal is a gateway to simple and sound information on 47 topics that range from babies' health to bio-terrorism, and from infectious diseases to health insurance.
(EDRI) After many complaints from Russia, the Swedish authorities closed up on 5 May, Kavkazcenter.com, a Chechen separatist Web site that allegedly encouraged terrorism. The police arrived at PRQ Web hosting company in Stockholm with a search warrant and confiscated two servers.
(CommsWatch) On 11 May 2006, the European Regulators Group (ERG) published its second response to the EC's proposals for a Regulation on the price of international roaming services. The ERG reiterated its support for the Commission's objective for a substantial reduction in average retail roaming prices though it has significant reservations, shared by Ofcom, about the regulatory mechanisms proposed by the EC. see also ERG Press Release
(EUobserver) A Brussels initiative to regulate European roaming prices would be counterproductive, the association representing mobile phone operators has said, arguing that the market is the best way to meet customers' needs. 'This is a nice headline, eye-catching proposal but it doesn't work,' said Tom Phillips, regulatory affairs officer of GSM, a global association representing more than 690 mobile operators around the world, including T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange.
(ZDNet UK) European telecoms regulators are continuing to argue that no intervention is necessary to curb retail mobile roaming prices, a policy that appears to put them at odds with the European Commission.
(ZDNet UK) O2 has taken the lead in the race to make European roaming tariffs more affordable - and avoid sanctions from the EC. Mobile operator O2 has launched two roaming price plans, giving its UK customers cheaper overseas rates than any of its competitors and becoming the first network to allow frequent travellers to receive calls overseas for free.
(BBC) China's leading web search company has launched an online, user-generated encyclopedia modelled on the US-based Wikipedia, which is blocked by Beijing. The new service from Baidu.com, Baidupedia, is heavily self-censored to avoid offending the Chinese government. see also CN - Censors turn China's Baidupedia into closed book (FT). The launch of "Baidupedia" as an alternative to Wikipedia throws into sharp relief the battle for the soul of China's internet, a struggle that pits divergent philosophies against each other in a new technological arena. See also Why global internet freedom matters by Josette Shiner, US Under-Secretary of State for economic, business and agricultural affairs.
(Heise) 250 rechtsextreme Propagandaplattformen wurden im vergangenen Jahr auf Veranlassung der länderübergreifenden Stelle Jugendschutz.net geschlossen. Das teilt das Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ) mit. Insgesamt 370 Verstöße gegen Jugendschutz- und Strafrechtsbestimmungen stellte Jugenschutz.net 2005 fest, heißt es im Abschlussbericht (PDF-Datei) des vom BMFSFJ in Auftrag gegebenen Projekts Entimon. Seit 2001 hat Jugendschutz.net laut eigenen Angaben die Schließung von rund 750 rechtsextremen Webangeboten veranlasst.
(Press Release) The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a guide for mobile chat providers on how to make their services safer for children.The Guide to the Implementation of Safety Measures in Mobile Services recognises the benefits that mobile chat services can bring for communications and social networking, but also provides information on the small but real risk of mobile chat services being used to facilitate illegal contact between children and adults.
(Safer Internet) From 2 May 2006, European parents, teachers and children can get free information on the safe use of Internet through EUROPE DIRECT, the European Commission's free information service (toll free telephone number 00800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by e-mail). EUROPE DIRECT is a free telephone and e-mail service which citizens can use from anywhere in the European Union to find answers to questions they may have about the EU and EU-policies, such as those in the field of Internet safety.
(Guardian) Teachers feel uneducated about protecting children from inappropriate websites and do not know who they should to turn to for advice, new research reveals. Research by telecommunications provider, BT, found that 70% of teachers did not know where to get advice if they suspected a child was being exploited on the internet or had accessed inappropriate material, such as pornography. Teachers were so concerned that more than 80% of those surveyed said they wanted internet safety included in the national curriculum.
(Net Family News) The US Federal Trade Commission has unveiled its 'Safety Tips for Social Networking Online' for parents and tweens and teens. Increasingly we need to empower our kids to think for themselves online - stay alert in public social sites and situations, think before they post, and protect their privacy and reputations. Here are our own 6 tips for teens at BlogSafety.
(Press Release) The Australian Communications and Media Authority is encouraging consumers to double check that their internet service provider is offering information on how to keep families safe online. A recent audit of the twenty-four largest Australian internet service providers by ACMA has found a high degree of compliance with consumer protection obligations under the industry's content codes of practice. Under the codes, all internet service providers must display a prominent link to online safety information on their homepage and provide regular information to consumers about filters. see also AU - No certainty for ISPs on filters
(Economist) In a few short years, Google has turned from a simple and popular company into a complicated and controversial one.
(BBC) Some net searches are leading users to websites that expose them to spam, spyware and other dangerous downloads, reveals a report The Safety of Internet Search Engines by Ben Edelman and Hannah Rosenbaum. According to the research the most dangerous words to search for are 'free screensavers'.
(International Herald Tribune) Google Trends measures how often particular phrases are searched for from computers in individual countries and cities. Pakistanis look up 'Danish cartoons' more avidly than anyone, according to Google. They also lead the rankings for 'sex' - with their neighbor and nuclear rival India seldom far behind. The British look up 'handcuffs' most often, while Mandarin ranks second only to English as the language used to look up 'democracy'.
(Safer Internet) The Eurobarometer survey presents the attitude of European Union citizens towards illegal and harmful content on the Internet and their knowledge of how to protect their children against it. It covers 25 Member States, candidate and acceding countries and was conducted in December 2005. It was commissioned by the Directorate-General Information Society and Media and was carried out by TNS Opinion & Social, a consortium formed by TNS and EOS Gallup Europe. Eurobarometer survey 2005 Report (530 KB) | Annex (860KB)
(ZDNet UK) VoIP provider Skype has begun selling credit vouchers at Sainsbury's supermarkets across the UK. The tie-up could be a turning point in bringing VoIP to a mass market, but some doubt whether the general public is willing to boot up a PC to make phone calls.
(Press Release) The first World Information Society Day will be commemorated on 17 May 2006 to mark the inception of the International Telecommunication Union in 1865, over 140 years ago. Promoting cybersecurity: ITU will release the results of a worldwide public survey to assess users' trust of online transactions and awareness of cybersecurity measures. The survey will continue beyond World Information Society Day to elicit further information on these critical issues. ITU will also launch a Cybersecurity gateway that will serve as an easy-to-use information resource on national and international cybersecurity-related initiatives and websites worldwide.
QuickLinks consists of
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.