Congress' National Smut Tour (Wired) The esteemed National Research Council wants to know what you think about porn on the Net.
Studies Find Scant Availability of Spectrum for Wireless Internet (New York Times) Three government studies by the Federal Communications Commission, the Commerce Department and the Pentagon cast doubt on a plan by President Bill Clinton to find space on the congested airwaves, a move seen as essential to the future of a new generation of hand-held wireless devices capable of browsing the Internet at high speeds.
Two Sentenced Over Laptop Child Porn Blackmail (Ananova) Two men who blackmailed the owner of a stolen laptop computer after finding pornographic pictures of children on it have been sentenced.
Saudi Bans Pokemon As Gambling, Un-Islamic (Reuters) Saudi Arabia has banned the popular children's video and card game Pokemon, saying it promoted gambling and un-Islamic teachings.
Verfassungschutz: Zahl rechtsextremistischer Websites steigt weiter (Heise) Die Propaganda deutschsprachiger Rechtsextremisten über das Internet nimmt weiter zu: Die Zahl der identifizierten Internet-Seiten sei innerhalb der vergangenen fünf Monate von 800 auf 1.000 gewachsen. Die Zahlen gehen aus dem neuen Zwischenbericht des baden-württembergischen Landesamtes für Verfassungsschutz in Stuttgart hervor.
Familienministerin: Gesetzliche Altersgrenze für "Horror-Computerspiele" (Heise) Bundesfamilienministerin Christine Bergmann will eine gesetzlich geregelte Altersgrenze für von ihr als "Horror-Computerspiele" bezeichnete Spiele einführen. In einem Interview kündigte Bergmann einen entsprechenden Gesetzentwurf an.
Lawmakers Call For ICANN Scrutiny (Interactive Week) A group of key lawmakers are calling on the Department of Commerce to carefully examine a controversial agreement between the Internet's domain name management group and VeriSign to ensure the new deal will not adversely impact competition
AltaVista Adds Asian Languages To BabelFish (Interactive Week) Search-engine company AltaVista has added Asian languages to its popular computer-based translation service, BabelFish. BabelFish already performs more than a million translations per day, and is the first translation service to support traditional Asian characters in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
New Bill labels ISPs as publishers (The Register) A government bill currently in the House of Lords labels ISPs as publishers, in an apparent attempt to bypass their undecided legal status and enforce new tobacco advertising rules.
NYC Court Kills One "Cookie" Suit Against DoubleClick (Internetnews) DoubleClick won a victory in one of its class-action suits. The case alleged that the firm's use of "cookies" violated the Wiretap Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. But U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald dismissed the suit, writing that DoubleClick's practices weren't illegal, but instead, were part of a publicly available and well-known business plan for commercial gain
NorthPoint shuts down network (Total Telecom) Bankrupt DSL provider NorthPoint Communications said it has been forced to close down its network having failed to secure enough interim funding to migrate customers to other networks. see also Calif. Regulator Blocks NorthPoint Shutdown (Reuters) California's Public Utility Commission blocked a planned shutdown of bankrupt NorthPoint's high-speed Internet access service, saying it had not provided customers with sufficient warning. NorthPoint, which has said it is already shutting down its network, must immediately stop the closure and provide customers with a 30-day notice of termination.
Powerline Technology Wins Legal Backing (Reuters) Germany's Bundesrat cleared regulatory hurdles for the so-called powerline technology for fast Internet access via electricity lines. A statement issued by the economics ministry in Berlin said three laws setting out the conditions for powerline operations had been approved, clearing the way for nationwide implementation in the 16 states in due course.
29 March 2001
Keeping Kids Online in Line (Los Angeles Times) Monitoring software--which can secretly record all Web sites visited, every chat message and all e-mails--is the latest electronic tool used by parents and spouses to track online activities. Its use brings up contentious issues concerning privacy and trust. Kids are vulnerable online, but privacy advocates warn that parents should think long and hard before they undermine the trust of their children.
Straw launches taskforce to tackle online child porn (Silicon) Home Secretary Jack Straw has announced the formation of a taskforce to tackle the thorny issue of paedophiles and child pornographers operating over the internet. The taskforce will be chaired by Home Office minister Lord Bassam, and will include representatives from the government, police, child welfare organisations and the internet industry. The taskforce's aim is to educate parents and children about 'safe surfing' and to improve the lines of communication between police and service providers. In achieving this end, the taskforce will also review internet content rating systems and implementing a 'kite marking' scheme for chatrooms that are deemed safe for children's viewing. see Home Office Press Release.
Anti-Abortion Site Wins Appeal
(Wired) A unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that the so-called Nuremburg Files, an ati-abotion website which listed names and home addresses of doctors, did not violate the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression.
Anti-porn crusaders hide behind our kids (Wired) The Children's Internet Protection Act is nothing more than the latest offensive in the moralistic jihad against pornography (Brock N. Meeks) see also Filters don't censor, they protect our kids. Foes of Internet filter law don't understand the dangers of online porn (Donna Rice Hughes).
EU-US clash over personal data: private right or commercial opportunity? (FT) The European Commission yesterday rejected US concerns about its new privacy guidelines for companies transferring data across the Atlantic. The Bush administration, in a letter sent last Friday to the Commission, protested against model contract terms agreed by the EU for the transfer of personal data.
Children's sites short on privacy info (AP) The Annenberg Public Policy Center has released a report (PDF) finding that most websites targeted at children do not comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) The report found that while the majority of websites collecting personal information from minors do display a privacy policy, many privacy policies are hard to find, difficult to understand, and do not describe all the protections provided by COPPA.
Ministry ad ?too pornographic? (Burnitblue) A Ministry of Sound television advert for their latest ?Annual? release has been banned by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) for being too pornographic.
Web researchers settle court case, another starts (vnunet.com) Jupiter Media Metrix has settled a patent infringement lawsuit against a rival online audience research firm, but has filed a similar suit against another competitor.
Two porn channels pulled by Canadian satellite-TV firm (Reuters) Two hard-core porn TV channels, True Blue and Extasy, were taken off the air by a Canadian satellite broadcaster, Bell ExpressVu because their programming could violate Canadian regulations.
Police smash child porn network (The Guardian) More than 30 people, including a 13-year-old boy and a man working for a national youth organisation, were arrested in dawn raids on the homes of suspected paedophiles who collect and distribute obscene computer images of children. Twenty-five forces in England, Scotland and Wales took part in the operation, codenamed Appal and coordinated by Greater Manchester police. Gardai quiz teen as Net closes in on porn (Irish Independent) .
Record industry attacks Napster filter (BBC) The record industry has stepped up the war of words with the music-swapping service Napster by calling its filter to block copyrighted music an "utter failure". Napster is using the filter to prevent copyrighted music from appearing on its website, in accordance with a court order earlier this month.
Oftel says U.K. unbundling now business as usual (Total Telecom) U.K. regulator Oftel claims local loop unbundling is now proceeding smoothly, though it would like more powers to enforce conditions on incumbent operator BT.
Russia lacks laws to fight child porn explosion (Reuters) Over the past few years, the Internet has helped bring about a global explosion of child pornography, making it far easier than ever before for traffickers to sell and distribute their wares, and for paedophiles to communicate with each other. The good news is that the profusion of child pornography on the Internet has also lured paedophiles into the open, making it easier for police to trace and catch them. But that only helps if laws are in place to put them in jail. Perhaps nowhere has the law proved as inadequate to that task as Russia, which U.S. law enforcement officials say is now probably the world's leading exporter of photographs and videos of children having sex. Not only does Russia have an unusually low age of consent (14), it also has no law whatsoever against the possession or procurement of child pornography. see also
Russians Want Laws on Child Porn (Guardian) Russian police lament lack of laws to combat child porn (Fox News).
The 3G window of opportunity (FT) Europe's proudest technological boast is its leadership in mobile telephony. Europe's leadership may not, however, survive the move to the next generation of mobile phone technology. The efforts of regulators, vendors and operators to ensure Europe stays ahead of the pack as the world moves to third-generation (3G) services could inadvertently cost it its dominance
Die neue TKÜV (TKRNews) Innere Sicherheit auf Kosten von Netzbürgern und Providern? Symposium des ITM, des Instituts für Kriminalwissenschaften und der Landesdatenschutzbeauftragten des Landes NRW am 11. Mai 2001 im Mövenpick-Hotel in Münster. Weitgehend unbeachtet von der Öffentlichkeit wurde im März diesen Jahres im Bundesrat der Entwurf einer Telekommunikationsüberwachungsverordnung beraten. Dieser Entwurf sieht u.a. eine umfassende Überwachung des Telefon- und des E-Mail-Verkehrs vor. Auf dem Symposium soll der Frage nachgegangen werden, welche Auswirkungen die TKÜV als neuestes Mittel der Strafverfolgung auf die Privatsphäre der Bürger hat und welche finanziellen Belastungen durch die Überwachungsverpflichtungen auf die IT-Branche zukommen.
Commission adopts the eLearning Action Plan (RAPID) The Commission adopted the eLearning Action Plan. The purpose of this Plan is to promote cooperation between the European Union, Member States, and education, training and industry to combine lifelong education, modernisation of our education and training systems and use of new information and communication technologies to maximum benefit. The eLearning Action Plan complements eEurope 2002 and is a key element in the European employment strategy and in the recently adopted strategy on the new European labour market.
EC's Liikanen Talks About Content In The E-World (Newsbytes) Content is crucial in the new electronic world, said Erkki Liikanen, the European Commission (EC) Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society. Speaking at the fourth European Broadcasting Union (EBU) conference in Brussels, Belgium, Liikanen said that the content sector, including the public service broadcasters, has an important role to play in the world of broadcasting and multimedia. see Broadcasting and content in eEurope (RAPID).
L'audiovisuel de service public et les technologies numériques (RAPID) Mme Viviane Reding Membre de la Commission européenne responsable de l'Education et de la Culture 4ième conférence de l'Union Européenne de Radio-Télévision (UER) Bruxelles, le 27 mars 2001
Commission clarifies the application of competition law principles to telecommunications (RAPID) The European Commission has adopted draft Guidelines on market analysis and the calculation of Significant Market Power (SMP) in advance of the final adoption of the proposed directive for a new regulatory framework for electronic communications services. The definitive version of the Guidelines will be adopted when the Framework directive is finally adopted.
EU, Greece and the USA settle long-running disputeon television piracy (RAPID) The European Union, Greece and the United States have settled a long-running dispute on television piracy. The parties, this week reached an agreement which brought an end to a dispute that dates back to 1998 when the US requested consultations under the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism against the EU and Greece, citing the high level of TV piracy in this country.
Strategic confusion, internal politics lead to failures online (CNET News.com) The TV networks may have scaled back their online initiatives, but that doesn't mean they've abandoned all hope for the Internet. Rather than running their online operations as separate, broadly focused entities, the networks are using Web sites as extensions of hit TV shows. Those that have worked best are ones that lend themselves to online interactivity, such as game shows and reality programs. But executives are trying to repeat the formula with popular sitcoms and dramas.
27 March 2001
Australian Government Set To Ban Net Gambling Services (Newsbytes) The Australian Federal Government has decided to introduce legislation that will seek to prohibit Australian companies from offering online gambling and sports betting to any person located within Australia.
Courts wrangle over cyberstalking (I.T.) A criminalogist has urged Australian governments to fast-track new computer crime laws after a further appeal was lodged in a controversial cyberstalking case. Brian Andrew Sutcliffe, 37, who is accused of stalking a Canadian actress by e-mail, has appealed against the decision of a Supreme Court judge that the case can be heard in Australia. The judge overturned an earlier ruling by a magistrate who had dismissed the charge, arguing lack of jurisdiction.
Home Office rules undermine war against child porn (Silicon) The fight against online child pornography is being hampered by Home Office rules which forbid porn-busting software companies from handling illegal images. The companies which specialise in developing products to combat offensive picture sharing through internet newsgroups and via email claim they need to be able to use samples in order to create effective filters.
Europe to Lead iTV Revolution (CyberAtlas) Digital TV will surpass PC-based Internet penetration in Western Europe by 2005, making DTV-based interactive services, the more popular means of accessing the Internet by the middle of this decade, according to the Yankee Group.
UK police swoop on 45 net paedophiles (Silicon) Police have used net filtering software to track down a massive ring of suspected paedophiles. The three month investigation, called Operation Appal, led police to the homes of 45 men believed to be involved in the possession and distribution of illegal child pornography. The police used filtering software from SurfControl to help track down users trading illegal images online. see also Boy among 17 held in paedophile swoop (Ananova).
Handsets relieve CeBIT gloom (FT) Motorola executives at CeBIT were making confident noises about increasing market share in handsets with their new range of handsets designed for General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) networks. The technology is expected to improve experience of mobile internet by allowing phones to be always online. That sense of confidence in the potential of GPRS was one of the strongest themes at the show.
Microsoft to market UK's e-government technology (FT) The UK government and Microsoft plan to sell around the world Britain's new system for online transactions between citizens and government after its successful launch in the UK.
Chaos Computer Club verleiht Preis an Siemens für Filtersoftware (Telepolis) Der Chaos Computer Club (CCC) verleiht den Chaos CeBIT Award an die Software "Smartfilter" von Siemens. Ganz in Anlehnung an die ironisch-unterkühlte Diktion des Big Brother Awards heißt es als Begründung, dass damit "die besonderen Verdienste, die die Firma Siemens mit ihrer Software 'Smartfilter' um die Internet-Zensur und Kommunikationsverhinderung erworben hat", gewürdigt werden. see also Le filtre internet de Siemens ridiculisé au CeBIT (Yahoo FR).
Web site closed, child porn alleged (AP) Law enforcement officials in the United States and Russia have shut down a Russian Web site that sold videotapes worldwide depicting children performing sexual acts. Many of the tapes, costing $200 to $300, were shipped to the United States.
The Customs Service, which worked with Moscow city police, announced the action Monday.
EurActiv Portal on EU Affairs (EurActiv.com) A well-designed and up-to-date site about EU affairs. Apart from Information Society, QuickLinks readers are encouraged to have a look at Transparency (e-government in the EU institutions). Lots of news items and useful links.
Die ETSI-Dossiers (Heise Online) Ein internationaler Verbund von Polizeibehörden und Geheimdiensten entwickelt einen weltweiten Standard zum Abhören digitaler Netze. Hand in Hand mit der Industrie legen die Gremien, die ihre Tätigkeit immer mit dem Etikett "lawful" schmücken, die Technik der Abhörschnittstellen fest - am EU-Parlament vorbei. Von Anfang an arbeiteten hier US-Behörden mit den EU-Ländern zusammen.
MTV to Mesh Its 2 Channels With Web Site (New York Times) Looking to evolve with its youthful audience, the MTV cable network is reinventing itself again: It will integrate its two cable channels with its Internet Web site to create what its executives are calling "a multimedia version of the MTV brand."
Mobile phone trio plan wireless gaming platform (ZDNet UK) Motorola, Ericsson and Siemens announced they are banding together to push an initiative to develop a common gaming platform for mobile phones. The group is aiming to define APIs (application programming interfaces) and create software development kits (SDK) with which developers can license and build games. see also Motorola GPRS phones have licensed games onboard
Commission clears France Telecom purchase of Equant (RAPID) The European Commission has given the go ahead to the proposed acquisition by France Telecom of Dutch-based telecommunications company Equant after a careful analysis which showed that there would be sufficient competition in the telecommunications market even after the deal.
Justizministerin: Gesetze im Internet (Heise Online) Rechtzeitig zur CeBIT läutet die deutsche Justiz eine neue Epoche ein. Die 600 wichtigsten Gesetze würden in das Internet gestellt und künftig seien auch alle Neuerungen im Bundesrecht unter "Gesetze im Internet" zentral zu finden, sagte Bundesjustizministerin Herta Däubler-Gmelin (SPD) in einem dpa-Gespräch.
Stockholm Challenge We are looking for IT-projects which engage and inform people and offer them a new way to develop and improve their common life. The contest is free and projects can compete in seven categories: New Economy, Education, Health and Quality of Life, Public Services and Democracy, Culture and Entertainment, Environment, a Global Village. Deadline April 1, 2001.
Stockholm European Council : Presidency Conclusions (Council Web site) The European Council met in Stockholm on 23 and 24 March for its first Annual Spring Meeting on economic and social questions. see in particular paras 34-44 on harnessing new technologies.
British Web chat doubles (ZDNet UK) Britain's uptake of online chat has doubled in the last twelve months according to new research from Internet research company NetValue, despite increasing publicity surrounding the dangers posed to children by Internet chatrooms.
25 March 2001
Safe Kids (PC World ) Try these 23 parent-approved tips to defend children and teens against Internet dangers --from overzealous marketers to online criminals.
24 March 2001
A New Zealand hotline (childsafety1st.org.nz) The hotline will provide the ability for people to report instances of child pornography found on the internet, through the website, anonymously, where it will be swiftly forwarded onto the appropriate authorities for processing.
Napster deals point to new services (CNET News.com) Napster has struck a deal with music-recommendation company Gigabeat, which could result in a new set of personalized services on the music-swapping network.
Is Microsoft's privacy plan an improvement? (CNET News.com)
Microsoft unveiled detailed plans for inserting Platform for Privacy Preferences, or P3P, technology into the upcoming version of Internet Explorer 6.0. Privacy experts say the proposal is a good first step but still doesn't go far enough in protecting consumers from snooping companies.
23 March 2001
Jail term for net paedophile is cut in half (Daily Telegraph) A man who used the Internet to lure a girl of 13 to his home for sex could be out of jail in five months after the Appeal Court halved his five-year sentence. Patrick Green's lawyers argued that the Crown court judge who sentenced him had not taken proper account of his remorse and lack of previous convictions. Campaigners for more controls over the internet said the Appeal Court had sent out the wrong message to paedophiles.
Diffamation: la loi s'applique au Net (Libération) En matière de diffamation, l'Internet ne modifie en rien les règles du jeu: le délai de prescription s'y applique comme aux autres médias, vient de trancher pour la première fois la Cour de cassation. Récemment, les juges ont eu tendance à penser que l'Internet dérogeait au droit commun, concluant dans diverses affaires à l'imprescriptibilité de la diffamation sur le réseau, et ont posé le principe d'un «délit continu», soulevant un tollé auprès des responsables de sites web qui mettent de l'information en ligne. Or, la Cour de cassation en a décidé autrement.
European Parliament continues Echelon investigation (The Register) The European Parliament will continue its investigation into the Echelon spying system. A temporary committee was set up half way through last year when reports of the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand-sponsored spying system entered wide circulation.
Verzahnung von Internet und Fernsehen beobachten (dpa) Die zunehmende Verzahnung von Internet-Anbietern und Programmanveranstaltern sollte nach Ansicht des Medienwächters Prof. Ernst-Joachim Mestmäcker verstärkt unter die Lupe genommen werden.
Is this the man that will make it safe for kids to surf the Net? (The Register) The issue of making the Internet safe for kids has become a bigger one as the Web becomes ever more ubiquitous. ICRA is an independent, non-profit organisation that is promoting self-regulation on the Net through its voluntary rating system. see also Protecting kids from porn (Christian Science Monitor).
Germany Won't Stop Yahoo! Auction (AP) German prosecutors have decided they won't take legal action against U.S.-based Yahoo! over online auctions of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf". The state prosecutor's office in Munich said Yahoo! could not be charged with incitement to racial hatred, because the Internet giant is the provider rather than the person directly offering the service. Yahoo! could have been charged only if it had been fully aware of the content of the online offer and been able to prevent it, but that was not the case.
The Recording Industry's Secret Weapon Exposed (7amNews) The recording industry's latest weapon against online music piracy is software, known as "Media Tracker", which masquerades as a client on any of the file-sharing networks through which Net users have been exchanging copyrighted music, collecting details from other machines on that network and adding it to an infringement database. It can also passively monitor IRC chatrooms, newsgroups, interrogate search engines and check ftp sites for offending material. The level of information is more than adequate to allow recording companies to identify a machine and, by obtaining access logs from an offender's ISP (which is also identified), determining their identity.
Online problems could deter customers (CNET News.com) Some 70 percent of online buyers would spend less money at a traditional retailer after having a bad experience with the retailer's online site, according to a report from Jupiter Media Metrix. Yet many retailers haven't yet set up their computer or logistical systems to offer the service that customers expect.
Imposters Obtain Microsoft Digital 'Signatures' (Reuters) Security software maker VeriSign said that an individual posing as a Microsoft employee was able to obtain two digital certificates - the online equivalents of signatures - that could potentially allow him to send harmful or virus-ridden software to unsuspecting Internet users.
Writers Fight for E-Rights (Wired) Tens of thousands of freelance writers, photographers and illustrators eagerly await the outcome of Tasini vs. The New York Times, which will be argued before the Supreme Court. The landmark lawsuit brought by members of the National Writers Union against The New York Times Company, Newsday, Time, Lexis/Nexis, and University Microfilms, charges that these publishers violated freelance contributors' copyrights by republishing their work electronically without permission or further compensation.
Bush Pick for FTC Was on '80s Staff (Washington Post) Timothy J. Muris, an economist and professor at George Mason University's law school, was named yesterday by President Bush to become the next chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.
Labels to tell courts Napster is slacking (CNET News.com) Unimpressed by Napster's efforts to strip copyrighted songs out of its file-trading network, the record industry says it will go to court to complain that the company is flouting the terms of a court order.
Canadian Group Gets Backing For E-commerce Trust Programs (Newsbytes) The Canadian Online Trust Project (COTP), an effort to develop and promote trustworthy business practices for e-commerce outfits has received a federal government-sanctioned thumbs-up and some funding.
Net-Enforce An initiative to support Law Enforcement against the Sexual Exploitation of Children promoted by the Centre for Europe's Children, University of Glasgow. This web site co-financed by the European Commission's STOP Programme offers a range of up to date information, news and links to relevant resources in its open area and provides a forum for the exchange of expertise in a secure area. Guests and concerned user groups are welcome to use Net-Enforce as a tool of working against child sexual exploitation in a European context. see also
New tool to protect children from Net exploitation (ZDnet UK).
22 March 2001
Interview with a Net pedophile (Register) first in a series of stories examining firsthand how pedophiles use the Internet.
Commission clears France Telecom purchase of Equant (RAPID) The European Commission has given the go ahead to the proposed acquisition by France Telecom of Dutch-based telecommunications company Equant after a careful analysis which showed that there would be sufficient competition in the telecommunications market even after the deal.
Thus to bust Demon child porn (Silcion) Thus, the owners of Demon Internet, are to take down another 96 newsgroups it believes contain paedophilic content.
Datenschützer zur Cyberkriminalität (Heise) Der schleswig-holsteinische Landesdatenschutzbeauftragte Helmut Bäumler versucht jetzt die rechtstaatlichen Grundsätze bei der Bekämpfung der Cyberkriminalität zurechtzurücken. Mit seiner Stellungnahme wendet der profilierteste deutsche Datenschützer sich aber nicht nur mahnend an den Europarat, sondern vor allem an die EU-Kommission.
CeBIT: Webwasher und Cobion stellen neuartige Web-Filter vor(Computerwoche) Die Webwasher AG aus Paderborn und der Bildanalysespezialist Cobion aus Kassel haben eine neuartige Filtertechnik für Internet-Inhalte vorgestellt. Die gemeinsame Lösung "Dynablocator" kombiniert Bild- und Texterkennung, um beispielsweise Porno-Seiten zu identifizieren, die dann von "Webwasher Enterprise Edition" geblockt werden. siehe auchWebWasher mit automatisch generierter Filterliste (Heise).
La Commission européenne tente de sauver la téléphonie mobile du désastre (Le Monde) L'attribution des licences de téléphonie mobile dites de "troisième génération" (norme UMTS) s'est faite dans le plus grand désordre en Europe selon le commissaire européen à la société de l'information, le Finlandais Erkki Liikanen, qui affirme la volonté de la Commission de reprendre en main ce dossier.
NCH - A parent's guide to the internet (NCH) The Internet is a huge technological achievement promising great benefits to society. However, as with many new or emerging technologies, the Internet has brought a number of unfamiliar problems in its wake. Find out how to keep your children safe on the internet. see also Open letter to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP and Agenda for Action.
Consumers Connected (ERICA) One stop for advice! The trusted charities NCH and European Research into Consumer Affairs are teaming up to bring you one combined stop for both kids? and parents? problems with the Internet. Buying on the net, avoiding hazards to children, your rights to complain - look on our joint pages for information! And throughout this page you will find links to relevant information.
21 March 2001
Fighting racism in the EU (RAPID) Speech by Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner responsible for Employment and Social Affairs. see Innovation Prize 2000 award ceremony, fight against racism, Brussels, 21 March, 2001
Salon to launch online subscription service (FT) The urgency of online media companies' search for alternatives to advertising-supported business models was underlined by plans from Salon.com, the online magazine, for a paid-for premium subscription service. The service will cost subscribers $30 a year. It will begin next month.
Man Broke Into Accounts of Celebrities, Police Say (New York Times) Using simple tools and public library access to the Internet, a fraudster was able to gain access to the accounts of many of the 400 richest people in America.
UK - new protection for children from unsuitable material on the Internet in schools (DfEE) New guidance for schools is to be displayed on the DfEE?s Internet safety website on the following areas: emails for pupils, filtering systems, school websites, and chat rooms. The revised guidance to schools recommends whole class rather than individual Internet email addresses, where possible. The guidance will stipulate that no children be identified by name or by other personal details and will advise that schools think carefully about their reasons for including pictures of children on their websites.It will also give advice for pupils, teachers and parents about chat rooms in an educational context.
Bedroom Net 'puts children in danger' (Times) Families were advised to move computers from children?s bedrooms to living rooms to protect them from Internet paedophiles. Girls between 13 and 17 are most at risk from sex offenders who pose as children in chat rooms then lure their victims into sexual abuse. Paedophiles are also monitoring school e-mail addresses and today schools will be advised to avoid putting individual pictures of children on their systems. A report highlighting the need for vigilance over the use of Internet chat rooms estimated that five million children were online in Britain and that a quarter used chat rooms that allowed messages to be typed to anyone else in the room at that time. see Chatwise (Internet Crime Forum) . see also Chat wise, street wise - safe internet chat for children and
Government challenges internet industry to make chatrooms "chat wise street wise" (Home Office Press Releases).
Fox Kids sees market niche (FT) Fox Kids Europe, the children's broadcaster backed by Rupert Murdoch, is to sell market research about its young customers to WPP, the world's largest advertising company. Children visiting the Fox Kids' websites will be questioned about their attitudes, tastes and behaviour - to help advertisers and brand managers understand the valuable youth market.
UK web policy criticised (FT) The UK telecommunications watchdog has been criticised by a Commons committee for its "almost farcical" handling of internet liberalisation. The House of Commons trade and industry committee accused Oftel officials in its report on Local Loop Unbundling of not understanding the technical issues involved during the introduction of high-speed internet access through a process known as local loop unbundling. It also said the watchdog should have intervened earlier to prevent British Telecommunications from disrupting the growth of competition and warned that the UK had slipped behind other European countries. see also Unbundled broadband faces grim future
Freenet: Will It Smash Copyright Law? (Newsbytes) This is an age, Ian Clarke says, when copyright laws and freedom of speech cannot coexist. One of them has to go. And, if he has anything to say about it, freedom of speech won't be the one. Clarke is the founder and project director for Freenet, an open-source content exchange project that many are calling the next Napster, or even the indestructible Napster, because of its ability to function as a place to swap MP3 music files undetected.
Legal Storm Brewing Over Microsoft's HailStorm (The Industry Standard) AOL TW and Sun are among the companies quietly talking to antitrust regulators about Redmond's online services project.
UK attracts 1m new Net users since October (The Register) The Net attracted 700,000 new UK-based home users between January and February 2001, according to the latest figures from Jupiter MMXI. In total, a million people were added to the list since October 2000 bringing the number of people going online from home in the UK to 13.5 million.
The next Napster? (Salon) A new online music service, the BitBop tuner from AudioMill, aims to give listeners what they want - if music-biz moguls are smart enough to let it.
NCAA sues gambling sites over trademark use (AP) A federal judge ordered a company to shut down two gambling-related Internet sites for unauthorized use of NCAA trademarks. U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Lee signed a temporary restraining order in Alexandria, Va., last week that froze the U.S. assets of BBF International of Haiti. The NCAA contends the sites lead consumers to believe they are sponsored or approved by the association. One Web site used pictures of athletes at member schools, the NCAA said.
Verwaltung geht online (Heise Online) Mit einer Sonderausstellung präsentiert das Bundesinnenministerium auf der CeBIT sein Projekt "Moderner Staat ? Moderne Verwaltung". Bis 2005 will die Regierung eine Vielzahl von Dienstleistungen der Bundesverwaltung über das Internet zugänglich machen. Die elektronischen Informationsangebote und die Online-Dienstleistungen des Bundes will Innenminister Otto Schily (SPD) zur Eröffnung der weltgrößten Computermesse unter www.bund.de freischalten.
Why the Net is not child-safe (Times - John Carr) Millions of children are signing up to the World Wide Web but the Internet service providers who connect them take little interest in who is online. Should they not be more responsible?
Australian websites warning (Australian IT) Australia's consumer watchdog has warned that websites have a bad record of protecting customer privacy and basic consumer rights.
The Internet and State Security Forum (Cambridge Review of International Affairs) May 19th, 2001Trinity College, Cambridge UK. Identify how networks create new state vulnerabilities, Examine appropriate and best practice responses to these challenges, Explore international opportunities for state security using network technologies.
Digital music: End the holy war now! (Gene Hoffman / EMusic.com) I've often heard Napster users talk about the importance of the concept of sharing. I've also heard the major record labels counter with the concept of respect (as in copyright laws). Here's a new word for both of them: compromise. The five major record labels need to start selling their music inexpensively as MP3s. Frankly, if they had done so a year ago, you would have probably never heard of Napster. Techies should stop trying to find ways to avoid having to pay for the music they enjoy.
Don't Panic - Do E-commerce (Dr. Ecommerce) The beginner's guide to European Law affecting E-Commerce. Dr. Ecommerce Have you got a burning question about electronic commerce? Whether you need to know about European Commission support for e-commerce, how to accept credit cards on your web site, what the story is about VAT and e-commerce, or indeed anything about e-commerce, send your questions to Dr. Ecommerce, the Internet savvy, electronic commerce expert.
Just Numbers (eRevolution) (PDF Document) . Numbers on Internet use, electronic commerce, IT and related figures for the European Community. January 2001 see also Statistics page.
20 March 2001
A Thorn in the MPAA's Side (Wired) Dave Touretzky might seem like an unlikely champion of free expression. The 41-year-old researcher at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science in Pittsburgh spends his evenings investigating how the brains of rats record and process location information. Touretzky's latest project: a Gallery of CSS Descramblers that thumbs its nose at the Motion Picture Association of America by exhaustively documenting how to decrypt DVDs. It includes every known computer program that does so.
FCC weighs interactive TV rules (CNET News.com) Consumer groups are pushing federal regulators to write rules for interactive television, but the companies that will deliver that service argue that it's hard to regulate an industry that barely exists.
Bush signs off from the internet (Daily Telegraph) President Bush has been forced to withdraw from cyberspace after lawyers warned him that any future emails could be made public.
Website operators must identify maker of defamatory comments (Times Law Report) Totalise plc v Motley Fool Ltd
QBD Mr Justice Robert Owen. An internet service provider was able to obtain an order requiring website operators to disclose the identity of the source of defamatory material posted by an anonymous contributor to their discussion boards. see also Websites forced to reveal user identity (BBC).
MSN builds UK lead over Yahoo (BBC) MSN appears to be widening its lead over Yahoo as the UK's most popular internet portal. The number of UK visitors to MSN has increased by 100,000 a month since December, while traffic hitting Yahoo's pages has shown much slower growth, according to research by Jupiter MMXI. Child-centered websites such as Disney.co.uk and popstarsonline.net are other sites that have shown particular growth.
Children aged between two and fourteen are the fastest growing category of surfers. Young surfers have boosted their presence form 10.7% of the population last October compared to 15.2% last month. And the digital divide is also narrowing with more lower income households logging on.
Beyond the Information Superhighway: Searching for the Next Policy Metaphor (University of Washington School of Law) 20 - 22 April 2001Seattle, Washington, USA. The Center for Law, Commercial and Technology presents its Spring Conference. The conference will focus on legal and policy questions arising from the Internet and technology arenas. Panelists will explore emerging issue in telecommunications, the Internet, intellectual property and e-commerce.
Adobe in Wonderland (The Standard) Larry Lessig in good form about "permissions" (i.e. restrictions) on the eBook version of Alice in Wonderland.
Warner Bros. backs off Harry Potter fight (CNET News.com) Claire Field, the 15-year-old owner of harrypotterguide.co.uk, will maintain her site now that Warner Bros. has agreed not to seek transfer of the domain name.
Gates to challenge AOL Time Warner customer base (FT) Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, for the first time publicly demonstrated the software giant's .Net web services. The .Net service will allow users to access their calendar, e-mail, instant messaging, address books and information stored online, from any device.
European Commission to tackle telcos' 3G debt (FT) The European Commission wants European Union governments to consider deferring payments for third-generation mobile phone licences or allow operators to share infrastructure because of its worries about high debt levels in the telecoms sector.
18 March 2001
360,000 emails a second in UK (Guardian) The equivalent of 360,000 email messages are sent every second in Britain, underlining the spectacular growth in use of the internet, new figures revealed yesterday.
The Eastern Web Gets Wider (Industry Standard) Asia will dominate the global Net population by 2002, but icy Scandinavia is still tops in per-capita usage.
Information Harvesting measures (ONCE Project - Rachel O'Connell) Developing a protective buffer-zone for chat users. On-line solicitation via chatrooms is a very worrying aspect of computer-mediated communications. This paper will outline a set of measures for children, parents, teachers and carers, which both complements existing safety guidelines and also addresses the heart of the issues surrounding on-line solicitation, i.e. de-cloaking on-line anonymity.
State-owned Telecommunications Monopoly Set To End (Panafrican News Agency) Telkom - the government owned telecommunications monopoly - will soon face new competition, a South African cabinet minister announced.
Voter.com to Sell Membership List (TheStandard.com: ) The recently failed political portal Voter.com plans to sell a list of 170,000 e-mail addresses, complete with the party affiliations and issues of interest to people on the list, raising new concerns about the strength of voluntary privacy protections when companies go belly-up
16 March 2001
Senate OKs measure to keep dot-coms from selling personal customer data (Mercury News) The U.S. Senate approved legislation that would forbid companies from selling their customers' personal information to outside parties if they had promised they wouldn't, or unless a judge weighed the privacy implications and allowed the sale to go forward. The measure, tucked into a much broader bill that would reform the nation's bankruptcy laws, is aimed specifically at financially failing dot-coms.
Anonymous company goes after John Does (CNET News.com) (CNET News.com) A plaintiff identified only as an Indianapolis-based "Anonymous Publicly Traded Company" sued AOL Time Warner's America Online in an attempt to learn the names of five people who posted criticism of the company on AOL message boards. The company said the John Does posted "defamatory and disparaging material misrepresentations." However, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the company must reveal its identity if it wants to proceed with the suit, overturning a lower-court ruling that had allowed the case to progress. see also see also Virginia Court's Decision in Online 'John Doe' Case Hailed by Free-Speech Advocates (New York Times)
Government attacked over broadband commitments (ZDNet UK) MPs sitting on the Department of Media, Culture and Sport select committee have accused the government of failing to take account of citizens' needs, and have challenged e-Minister Patricia Hewitt's assertion that the UK is leading broadband roll out in Europe. see also UK - Roll out of broadband internet access (FT) Patricia Hewitt
(e-minister) and Andrew Pinder (the government's e-envoy) We have been listening to the debate about the roll out of broadband internet access in Britain with increasing puzzlement. If you include all broadband technologies such as cable and satellite, Britain is set to have more competition, sooner, between the competing infrastructures than virtually any other country.
ITV pays £100m to go digital (FT) ITV could be available to Sky Digital viewers by the end of this year, after the broadcaster struck a £100m ($144m) 10-year deal with Societe Europeenne des Satellites to put its channel on satellite.
AOL-UFC/Que Choisir : condamnation confirmée (vneunet.fr) Dans un arrêt rendu le 14 mars, la cour d'appel de Versailles a confirmé la condamnation d'AOL en référé dans le conflit qui l'oppose à UFC-Que Choisir. Une condamnation allégée. AOL conserve ses timers et le dédommagement passe de 250 000 à 100 000 francs.
eContent call for proposals (European Commission) Part 1: Demonstration projects - fixed deadline: 15 June 2001 Part 2: Definition phase projects and Accompanying measures - continuous submission scheme up to 16 December 2002. see also Work Programme for the years 2001 - 2002 and Information days.
Canada Makes Surfing for Child Porn a Crime (Reuters) The Canadian government, apparently breaking new ground internationally, introduced a bill on Wednesday to make it a crime to surf for child pornography on the Internet. The bill is not meant to catch people who inadvertently open e-mail attachments or Web pages that have child pornography, but those who "knowingly cause child pornography to be viewed,". Accessing child pornography would carry a penalty of up to five years in prison. see also Canada next up with unworkable Net laws (The Register)
FTC Privacy Workshop Ends in Stalemate (InternetWorld) The biggest news at the Federal Trade Commission's gathering this week to talk about online consumer privacy was the bombshell that didn't explode. The FTC's meeting, billed as a "workshop," was the first to expand the commission's examination of the privacy issue beyond the Internet. Despite pleas to check emotions at the door, tempers and rhetoric flared a few times.
Internet chat danger for children (BBC) Paedophiles are regularly using internet chat rooms to lure vulnerable children as young as 13, according to a disturbing new report. The Home Office is warning that up to one in five children could be in danger from these internet abusers. In an unpublished report obtained by the BBC, the Home Office said those most at risk are girls aged 13 to 17.
Its report says it is "imperative" that steps are taken to protect the estimated five million children who are now online in the UK.
£10m computer giveaway (BBC) Thousands of families will get free computers under a £10m scheme to boost education and job prospects. Almost 12,000 homes across England will take part in one of the biggest-ever social experiments, aimed at tackling the "digital divide".
Fast-spreading code is weapon of choice for Net vandals (CNET News.com) Computer worms are not ordinary viruses. Their ability to spread quickly across the Internet has made worms the weapon of choice for malicious vandals to spread their latest creations. Furthermore, the programs can be easily copied and changed, and point-and-click tools to create complex worms are readily available.
Internet et droits de l?homme (MRAP) Paris, 31 mars 2001 Colloque Nouveau vecteur de communication, internet modifie dans le temps et l?espace les rapports entre les hommes. Lieu de rencontre des cultures et des expériences il permet de renforcer l?universalité du combat pour les droits de l?homme. Mais tout espace de démocratie permet aussi l?expression des haines, du racisme et de la xénophobie. Internet échappe-t-il aux règles qui régissent la vie citoyenne ?. Faut-il adopter des modes de régulation spécifiques dans le respect des libertés fondamentales ?
Tech predictions from leading scientists (CNet.com) Almost daily, we hear about the latest breakthroughs from technology gurus at Microsoft, Intel, and other big players in the tech sector. What we don't hear about is where their big ideas come from. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in Palo Alto, California; and Starlab in Brussels, Belgium, are among the top think tanks in tech research across the globe, and many technological innovations were born within their walls. According to these science soothsayers, technology is just beginning to change our lives, with plenty of advances to come.
Bridging the Digital Divide (E-PING!) Online Chat 20 March 2001, 13.00 - 15.00 Brussels Time. Chairperson: Diana Wallis MEP. Open discussion: Our Expert Panel will answer your questions on "Bridging the Digital Divide". The panel will consist of representatives from: US Department of Commerce, Council of Europe, European Commission, PlaNet Finance, European Parliament.
Web-Filter gegen privates Surfen im Büro (Computerwoche) Firmen suchen nach Wegen, die private Internet-Nutzung am Arbeitsplatz einzuschränken. Neben dem Blocken von anrüchigen Sites bieten Tools Funktionen zur Analyse von Texten und demnächst auch Bilderkennung.
e-Mobility 2001 (Business Region Göteborg) 31 May - 1 June 2001 Göteborg, Sweden
Mobile communications in general and the new "e-mobility" paradigm in particular has the potential to provide citizens with new freedoms, corporations with new ways of working, and governments and administrations new patterns of user friendly interaction with their citizens. This conference addresses how "e-mobility" will impact upon European society and its constituencies.
15 March 2001
Second World Congress on commercial sexual exploitation of children (ECPAT) Yokahama, 17 to 20 December, 2001. The Japanese government, ECPAT International. UNICEF and the NGO Group on the rights of the child will be the organising partners. The main objective of the Congress is to review progress on the implementation by states of the Stockholm Agenda for Action.
Commission assesses impact of eEurope and sets future priorities (RAPID) In the run-up to the Stockholm Summit of 23-24 March, the European Commission adopted a Communication on the Impact and Priorities of the eEurope 2002 Initiative. The document consists of two parts: benchmarking on the take-up and use of the Internet and priorities for future action. Internet penetration has grown rapidly: the number of EU households connected increased by 55% between March and October last year and Europe now has about as many Internet users as the USA. One reason for this increase is that in an increasingly liberalised market, Internet access, Internet access prices fell by an average of 23% over the same period and as much as 47% in some Member States. Internet growth has been even faster in EU schools and 80% are now connected to the Internet for educational purposes.
Welcome to the World Wide Web. Passport, Please? (New York Times) A French judge named Jean-Jacques Gomez made Internet history when he ordered the Yahoo Web site to prevent French residents from viewing Nazi memorabilia in its online auctions. His decision raised the question, How can one jurisdiction decide what can or cannot be displayed on the World Wide Web?
Bundesregierung prüft Maßnahmen gegen rechtsradikale Sites (Heise) Nach Angaben der Bundesregierung nimmt die Zahl der von Deutschen betriebenen rechtsextremistischen Hompages seit 1996 sprunghaft zu. Auf nationaler Ebene will die Bundesregierung dem Anstieg durch konsequente Anwendung bestehender Gesetze begegnen. Auch auf internationaler Ebene (EU und G8) versucht die Bundesregierung, Maßnahmen zur Bekämpfung von Rassismus und Extremismus im Internet zu beraten. Zudem wird der Einsatz von Filtertechnologien geprüft. In Deutschland ansässige Provider hätten dem Bundeskriminalamt entsprechende Filtertechniken vorgestellt.
UN-Konferenz nimmt Kinderpornografie im Internet ins Visier (Heise Online) In Berlin hat die erste nationale Konferenz zum Thema "kommerzielle sexuelle Ausbeutung von Kindern" begonnen. Mit dem Treffen wird eine erste Bilanz der UNO-Weltkonferenz 1996 in Kopenhagen gezogen und die zweite Konferenz dieser Art im Dezember dieses Jahres im japanischen Yokohama vorbereitet.
BBC plan to face criticism (FT) Government plans partly to exempt the BBC from regulation by Ofcom, the proposed communications watchdog, are expected to come under fire from MPs. A report by the commons select committee for culture, media and sport is likely to urge Chris Smith, culture secretary, to reduce the corporation's ability to regulate itself.
States argue for taxing Internet transactions (CNN) The ability of local governments to collect sales and use taxes from Internet transactions was argued strenuously during a lengthy Senate hearing, as time runs out on the existing federal moratorium on Internet taxation.
FBI swoops on internet twin broker (BBC) Federal agents in the United States have raided the California home of the woman at the centre of the internet adoption scandal and taken three small children away from her.
Luxembourg fails to comply with rules on rights of way in telecoms (RAPID) The Commission has brought an action against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg before the Court of Justice for an infringement relating to rights of way in the telecommunications sector. The 1996 'full competition' Directive provides for the granting of such rights on a non-discriminatory basis. This was transposed into Luxembourg law but has not been practically enforced in this Member State. New market entrant telecommunications operators have come up against a number of difficulties when deploying their networks.
Safer Internet Project Map (saferinternet.org) At the Safer Internet awareness meeting on 25 January 2001 in Luxembourg, it was suggested that it would be useful to have a map showing Safer Internet hotline, filtering /rating and awareness projects participants by country. This is now online.
GoDigital Initiative: Commission urges SMEs to go on-line (RAPID) Maximising the impact of measures aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make the most of electronic business opportunities is the key aim of a new European Commission Communication, GoDigital. This Communication is part of the wider eEurope Action Plan that will be one of the main items on the agenda of the forthcoming European Council in Stockholm.
Web Filtering Firm Execs Arrested (Newsbytes) Internet content filtering company Families On Line was charged by securities regulators and federal authorities with wire and bank fraud, and allegedly defrauding investors of nearly $4 million.
Group Charges Government Agencies Trade Personal Data (Newsbytes) A new report from Privacilla.org, a privacy public-policy group claims government agencies routinely trade personal user information. Some of the prime information swapping agencies include the Internal Revenue Service, the Health Care Financing Administration, the Labor Department and the Social Security Administration. see also Privacy Groups Clash Over Consumer Data Trading (Newsbytes).
Computer Security Institute: Cost of cybercrime soars (NUA) A recent report reveals that the cost of computer security breaches to US businesses and government organizations is rising rapidly. The Computer Security Institute (CSI) and the FBI questioned computer security experts in US corporations, medical institutions, governments agencies, financial institutions, and universities for its 2001 survey.
Canada to review media ownership concentration (Reuters) Canada's Liberal government, acting after a powerful media mogul urged gentler treatment of Prime Minister Jean Chretien, said on Monday it was setting up a panel to look at the concentration of media ownership.
Britain shifts taxes on online gambling (AP) A change in Britain's taxation of online gambling will give the country a global lead in a market worth tens of billions of dollars. Chancellor Gordon Brown, announcing the budget for the coming year, said the government would drop the 9 percent tax it had collected on all bets since 1966 in favor of a 15 percent tax on bookies' gross revenues. The deal came after lengthy consultations with the nation's turf accountants, who in return agreed to relocate to Britain the e-gambling outposts they had established in such tax havens as Antigua, Gibraltar and the Channel Islands.
Bureau Tries to Stop Web Link (AP) The Better Business Bureau is demanding that an Israeli company's Web site take down its link to the consumer protection organization. The demand raises new intellectual property questions about how companies protect their names and logos online. A trademark expert said that the group has little chance to enforce its demand in court. see When Linking Isn't Better Business (New York Times)
14 March 2001
New Gnotella Version Proves Popular (Newsbytes) The latest edition of download software Gnotella version 0.9.8 is popular among Web surfers. Gnotella is a distributed real time search and file sharing program.
Need Net regulation? Don't ask the Government (Daily Telegraph) The Government is bamboozled over the question of whether standards of taste and decency should apply to material appearing on the internet.
Verfassungsschutz-Provokation war für US-Nazi Lauck ein voller Erfolg (Heise) Die Netzseite www.verfassungsschutz.net, deren Inhalt absolut identisch mit der NSDAP/AO-Website des amerikanischen Nazis Gary Lauck war, ist ebenso schnell wieder vom Web verschwunden wie sie aufgetaucht war.
l?acces à internet à haut débit (ART) L?Autorité de régulation des télécommunications se prononce sur un différend entre Liberty Surf Télécom et France Télécom relatif aux conditions tarifaires de l?offre ADSL Connect ATM
Newsgroup Policy Consultation (IWF) The Internet Watch Foundation has published responses to the consultation paper on policies on newsgroups regularly receiving illegal images. The IWF invites further comments before the Board considers its recommendations for future policy on 25th April 2001.
Napster Blocks Over 115,000 Songs (The Standard) Napster is blocking more than 115,000 files from being traded over its popular song-swapping service and is taking new steps to prevent users from working around the limitations, but the company also said it was not taking action to screen an additional 46,000 titles because the copyright holders failed to follow procedures set by a federal judge for identifying allegedly infringing songs.
Nastier version of backdoor tool released (eWEEK) A new version of SubSeven, a powerful and well-known backdoor program that gives attackers almost complete control over a victim's computer, is making the rounds on the Internet.
13 March 2001
Warning issued on international domains (ZDNet Australia) "If you're not frightened, you don't understand the problem." This was the warning given to the Icann public forum by the Internet Architecture Board's John Klensin on the subject of internationalising domain names. see also Confusion Is Domain Problem (Wired).
Eurotica Rendez-Vous Television v. Commission Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Second Chamber) 13 December 2000 ('Television Without Frontiers directive - National restrictions on the retransmission across frontiers of television broadcasts - Finding by the Commission that those restrictions are compatible with Community law - Action for annulment - Admissibility) Case T-69/99, Danish Satellite TV (DSTV) A/S (Eurotica Rendez-Vous Television) v Commission of the European Communities
New Scientist: Free speech, liberty, pornography (New Scientist) Cyber-revolutionaries are abandoning the Web to build an anarchic, censorship-free alternative. Discusion of peer-to-peer technologies
US leads in web rankings (Yahoo) The US leads the world in home Internet use, with more than 98 million people logging on from home in December 2000.
Cyber Patrol unblocks The Register (The Register) SurfControl, owner of Cyber Patrol, told us by email today that it has removed The Register from its CyberNot list of banned sites. In future Cyber Patrol will block only the story containing a reference to Peacefire.org, a controversial anti-filtering organisation.
The Web?s Dark Secret (Newsweek) Before the Internet came along, pedophiles were lonely and hunted individuals. Authorities had child pornography under control. Today networks of child abusers are proliferating worldwide.
Vint Cerf Calls New.Net Domain Scheme A 'Cute Trick' (Newsbytes) A new online service offering consumers Web addresses in simulated top-level domains like .shop, .game and .xxx. What New.net offers aren't new top-level domains at all, but cleverly designed third-level domains dressed up to look like cousins of .com, .org and .net. When a user buys a New.net address in .shop, for instance, the address they are really purchasing is registered globally with three suffixes (for instance www.address.shop.new.net) but appears in that user's browser address bar bearing only the .shop suffix (address.shop).
US-Politiker sehen EU-Datenschutzrichtlinie als Affront (Heise) Im US-Kongressausschuss für Wirtschaft, Handel und Verbraucherschutz fand eine Anhörung darüber statt, welche Auswirkungen die EU-Datenschutzrichtlinie auf die Diskussion über den Datenschutz in den USA haben könnte. Für den Vorsitzenden des Ausschusses, den Republikaner Billy Tauzin, ist die Richtlinie "ein Versuch, den Vereinigten Staaten den Willen der EU aufzuerlegen".
Competitors Charge VeriSign Agreement Unfair (Interactive Week) Companies that compete with domain name registration giant Verisign are pushing the Internet's management authority to reject or modify a new agreement that critics say would allow the one-time monopoly to maintain - or even expand -- its dominant position.
ICANN-Tagung: Streit um VeriSign-Vertrag (Heise) Scharf kritisiert haben bei ihrer Sitzung am Samstag in Melbourne die Vertreter der für Domainfragen zuständigen Fachgruppen (Constituencies) der Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) den vom ICANN-Büro vorgeschlagenen Deal mit Exmonopolist VeriSign. Der am 1. März veröffentlichte Vertragsentwurf soll VeriSign erlauben, nicht nur die zentrale Datenbank (Registry) für die begehrten .com-Adressen zu betreiben, sondern die Adressen gleichzeitig als Registrar auch zu vermarkten. Etliche ICANN-Aktive befürchten, dass damit das Ziel, VeriSigns (NSIs) marktbeherrschende Stellung zu beenden und für mehr Wettbewerb im Domaingeschäft zu sorgen, in Frage gestellt werde. Das einzige Zugeständnis von VeriSigns Seite ist die Aufgabe von .org. Rechtsanwalt und ISP-Vertreter Michael Schneider setzte bei der Sitzung des Names Council gegen VeriSigns Stimme immerhin einen Beschluß durch, der ICANNs Direktoren auffordert, keinerlei Entscheidung zu treffen, bevor der neue Vertrag von ICANNs Gremien geprüft werden konnte. Die Sitzung des Names Council endete im Eklat; Icann-Jurist Louis Touton beschimpfte die Mitglieder des Names Council ? danach brach ein Tumult im Saal aus, der allerdings weder in den Videoaufzeichnungen noch im Sitzungsprotokoll verzeichnet ist.
EU-Kommission will eine "sichere Informationsgesellschaft" schaffen (Heise) António Vitorino, in der Europäischen Kommission für Justiz und Inneres zuständig, will "Computerverbrechen mit aller Macht" europaweit bekämpfen. Als ersten Schritt hat Brüssel dazu Mitte Januar eine Mitteilung an den Europäischen Rat und das Parlament geschickt, in denen sie Handlungsrahmen und -bedarf sowie Ziele zur "Schaffung einer sicheren Informationsgesellschaft" umrissen hat. siehe auch Brüssel gibt Gas bei der Bekämpfung der Computerkriminalität.
"Selbstkontrolle Multimedia" gegen Cyberpolizei und Zensur (Heise) Die Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter (FSM) wehrt sich gegen die ihr immer wieder untergeschobene Rolle, zusammen mit ihrer Dachgesellschaft INHOPE eine internationale Cyberpolizei zu spielen. Themen wie dem Jugendschutz oder der Verhinderung von neonazistischem Gedankengut könne man sich nur nähern, wenn man die kulturellen Werte und Gesetze in anderen Ländern im Auge behalte.
Pedofilia: Telefono Arcobaleno,Banca Dati a Disposizione g8 (ANSA) L' associazione antipedofilia Telefono Arcobaleno mette a disposizione del G8 la sua banca dati, che contiene siti pedofili ed i loro curatori. L'associazione dall' inizio dell' anno ha denunciato oltre 3.600 siti pedopornografici alle varie polizie del mondo
Messageries roses 077: surprenants rebondissements (DHNet) L'administrateur délégué et du président du conseil d'administration de Belgacom à l'époque où les messageries roses faisaient réaliser de réaliser de plantureux bénéfices à Belgacom sont renvoyés devant le tribunal correctionnel ! Plus qu'une surprise, un véritable rebondissement. Ils auront à répondre d'infractions d'ordinaire réservées aux proxénètes: exploitation de la débauche d'autrui, pour avoir facilité la prostitution d'autrui article avoir distribué des emblèmes et objets contraires aux bonnes moeurs.
An era of peer to peer (FT) The question now is whether "P2P" is only the latest internet technology fad, or whether this software may set a new direction for business computing. The essence of P2P networking is the ability to share information or computing resources among all computers linked to a network without reference to a central server.
Napster races to block copyrighted songs (FT) Napster is racing to block 135,000 copyrighted songs from its online music service, in the first significant test of the company's ability to police its system.
Ex-BBC head tipped for Ofcom (FT) Lord Birt, the former director-general of the BBC, is being tipped by the government as the leading contender to head Ofcom, the UK communications watchdog.
10 March 2001
Fashion, sex and security in India (FT) In the information ministry in Delhi, civil servants are working round the clock to safeguard India's security. Normally, their job is to monitor broadcasts from Pakistan and China, against whom India has gone to war. Now, they have been redeployed to focus on a more insidious enemy. What is this threat to India? It is Fashion TV, a non-stop haute and less haute couture show broadcast from France, that Sushma Swaraj, India's information and broadcasting minister, has decided is "contrary to Indian sensibilities". After negotiations the channel is now under scrutiny to test its assurances that deshabille models will appear only at safe viewing hours. As one government official put it, the information ministry monitors "have become full-time nipple counters".
Germany tough on pirates (FT) A German court has significantly toughened copyright laws covering the pirating of music on the internet. AOL, the internet service provider, could be required to pay damages after a decision by the appeals court in Munich, southern Germany, which threatens to create fresh headaches for the country's internet industry. The court found AOL liable for infringements of copyright laws - which took precedence over defences the internet service provider has under recent German internet legislation. The case referred to a music sound forum offered by a German subsidiary of AOL that enabled customers to exchange unlicensed music on so-called Midi files.
New version of the Digital Divide Network Several major features have been added, including the Digital Divide Database, a national
directory of over 20,000 digital divide-related services around the US, including places where citizens can get free Internet access and IT training. The website includes a new search engine that will give access to archives of DDN's many news stories, feature articles, a calendar of divide-related events and relevant web resources. A new option allows individuals to become members of
the Digital Divide Network.
3 Charged With Auction Fraud (New York Times) Three men accused of trying to sell an abstract painting for $135,805 on the eBay auction Web site last year were indicted on charges of taking part in a bidding ring that cost hundreds of art buyers a total of $450,000
Top-Level Domain "Ghettoization" Proposals (PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility) In the case of the Internet, a domain ghetto is a gTLD allocated for the specific purpose of attempting to keep particular users "in" or "out" of the sites contained therein. The two most frequently suggested domain ghettos at present are "dot-ex-ex-ex" and ".kids" (the phonetic version of the former is being used to try and avoid triggering typically overzealous and inaccurate filtering programs). The implementation of these "ghetto-domains" would be unwise, unworkable, unsuccessful at achieving the stated purposes, and potentially dangerous to speech-related freedoms.
Gadget wars (Economist) A new breed of consumer-electronics device is emerging from the computer industry, and with it a new sort of consumer-electronics company
Hotmail Addresses Shared With Site (AP) Hotmail, the free e-mail service from Microsoft, is divulging subscribers' e-mail addresses, cities and states to a public Internet directory site that combines the information with telephone numbers and home addresses. Hotmail customers are automatically added to Infospace's Internet White Pages directory unless they remove the check from a box in their registration form and "opt out'' .
Mom Can't Sue AOL Over Child Porn (AP) Florida's State Supreme Court said that federal law (the Communications Decency Act) shields America Online from illegal transactions - in particular, the sale of child pornography - taking place on its service. see also strong dissent from minority and Florida Case Renews Debate over ISPs' Liability (GigaLaw.com).
Amena to fight Spain's new GSM auction in court (Reuters) Spain's number-three mobile phone operator Amena is prepared to go to court to stop the government from issuing two new GSM licences using spectrum space allotted to existing providers.
FindLaw Legal News (AP) Organized hacker groups, primarily from former Soviet countries, are responsible for recent increases in credit card thefts and extortion attempts, the FBI said. It said e-commerce companies should be more vigilant in protecting their customers' credit card numbers.
Issue Tracker (Euroepan Multimedai Forum) The EMF's online Issue Tracker is a user-friendly monitoring tool, providing concise, up-to-date information on the EU Information Society regulatory and policy environment.
Funding Tracker (Euroepan Multimedia Forum) The EMF's online Funding Tracker is a user-friendly monitoring tool, providing concise, up-to-date information on EU Funding opportunities for digital Content and Technology projects in Europe and between the EU and third countries.
Fourteen-year-old girl raped by Net paedophile (ZDNet UK) A 45-year-old man has admitted to raping a 14-year-old girl that he met in an Internet chatroom. He pleaded guilty before Chichester Magistrates Court to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and one count of indecent assault and was remanded to Chichester Crown Court for sentencing owing to the seriousness of the offence.
BT plans Internet registrar business (ZDNet UK) British Telecom is planning a new business unit that will register domain names under the .com, .org and .net generic top level domains (gTLDs).
Kiwi kids most at risk from Internet dangers (ZDNet UK) New Zealand's teenage girls feel more threatened by Net predators than surfing kids in the UK and America, a new study reveals. The survey conducted by Auckland University's psychology department found one in three Kiwi girls aged 11 to 19 to have had a face-to-face meeting with someone they met in an Internet chatroom. 32 percent had gone to the meeting alone, with nearly half of them not having informed a parent or adult of their plans.
08 March 2001
Law planned to let ISPs remove malicious sites (The Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri) The Public Management Ministry has decided to nip in the bud the posting of Web sites that slander individuals or invade their privacy by drafting legislation to allow Internet service providers to remove such sites at their own discretion.
Despite Blocks, Napster Users Can Still Get Protected Files (Newx York Times) Napster made good on a promise by beginning to block access to some copyrighted songs. Hundreds of songs by artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre were no longer available through the free music-swapping service officially, at least. But that is not to say the downloading stopped. Howard King, a lawyer for Metallica and Dr. Dre who submitted one of the lists of files to be blocked, said that the ban was not fully effective yet .
Cyber Patrol bans The Register (The Register) We are officially irresponsible. Surfcontrol, the Internet filtering company, has, for some reason, put us on its CyberNOT list - which means that those using CyberPatrol won't be able to see us (or even this story).
Kirch heads for World Cup talks (Guardian) German media group Kirch is heading for crunch talks with the UK government over World Cup broadcasting rights. It wants to sell the rights to the 2002 and 2006 tournaments to the highest bidder. Such an auction threatens to exclude free-to-air broadcasters such as the BBC or ITV. However, a DCMS spokeswoman said the competition is protected by the 1996 Broadcasting Act. The act states that a free-to-air station must be allowed to screen the entire tournament.
07 March 2001
Big business gets to grips with web (FT) Although most big companies are pushing through e-business initiatives, many of the electronic marketplaces and industry-led exchanges that were to be the vehicle for those savings have yet to take off.
Law Agents Raids Internet Pharmacy (AP) Federal and state agents shut down a pharmacy suspected of illegally selling large quantities of controlled drugs over the Internet.
Conference to target kids' access to Net porn (Mercury News) Keeping children away from adult content on the Web is tough now, but experts already are warning about when the pornography industry and technology will really hit hyper-speed, making the job even tougher. The current discussion about how to prevent children from browsing or downloading sexually explicit images or videos merely taps the surface, says Herb Lin, a senior scientist at the National Research Council - part of the National Academy of Sciences - and project leader of a three-day conference in Redwood City: "Tools and Strategies for Protecting Children From Pornography."
New life for movie industry (FT) The US cinema industry is coming rapidly back to life thanks to a combination of theatre closures, higher ticket prices and soaring admissions.
Internet telephony encouraged (FT) Developing countries will be urged to embrace rather than restrict the new internet telephony technologies at a policy forum hosted by the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva.
Descramble That DVD in 7 Lines (Wired) Descrambling DVDs just got even easier, thanks to a pair of MIT programmers. Using only seven lines of Perl code, Keith Winstein and Marc Horowitz have created the shortest-yet method to remove the thin layer of encryption that is designed to prevent people from watching DVDs without proper authorization.
Textbook Publishers Try Online Education (New York Times) Two of the leading publishers of educational textbooks have bolstered their digital efforts by launching online learning networks in the past six months. But the differences between their two strategies demonstrate that it may take years before education companies discover the best way to extend their franchises online in a way supported by a viable business model.
ITV quality outstrips BBC1 (EuropeMedia) New ratings show that ITV has outstripped the BBC in terms of the calibre of its viewers. Usually regarded as the populist pap channel running behind the superior quality of the BBC, it now boasts the most professionals and people from managerial positions tuning in, including those from the highly regarded ABC1 channel.
Die Abhörtruppe im European Telecom Standards Instititute (Stern) Die Anfang des Jahres parallel bekannt gewordenen Überwachungsverordnungen in Deutschland und in Österreich beruhen beide auf einem Standard namens ETSI ES 201.671. Dieser Standard, der EU-weit gelten soll, wird von der Arbeitsgruppe "Lawful Interception" des European Telecom Standards Institute [ETSI] seit 1999 laufend weiterentwickelt.
Net execs, governments collide on cybercrime treaty (Reuters) The Internet industry and governments clashed over efforts to come up with the world's first treaty against cybercrime. Industry representatives at a hearing held by the Council of Europe, which is drafting the pioneer compact, said passages requiring Internet service providers to store customer data for long periods would be unacceptably costly.
Pharmacies May Have Fiduciary Duty to Preserve Customer Confidentiality (New York Law Journal) Pharmacies may have a fiduciary duty to preserve the confidentiality of customers' medical history and prescription records, a Manhattan Supreme Court justice ruled. The ruling came in a class action brought by an unidentified man who says an independent drug store violated a duty of confidentiality when it sold customer information to one of the nation's largest drug store chains.
Report Opposes Internet Voting (AP) Voting through the Internet from home or the workplace should not be allowed in the near future because significant questions remain about security, reliability and social effects, says a report commissioned by the National Science Foundation the science foundation gave a grant to the Internet Policy Institute and the University of Maryland.
Yahoo! shows tougher line on piracy than child porn (ZDNet UK) Internet piracy is given a higher priority, by Yahoo!, than protecting children online, it emerges this week, as the Internet portal removes 13 chatrooms found to be trading encryption techniques, whilst ignoring hundreds of paedophile groups that it was alerted to six months ago.
Mom Can't Sue To Block Internet Porn In Libraries (Associated Pre) California's publicly funded libraries are not required to block minors' access to Internet pornography, an appeals court ruled in Kathleen R. v. City of Livermore. A Livermore mother brought the case, saying her 12-year-old boy was traumatized by viewing Internet pornography at the city's main library.
Wissenschaftler fordern weniger Regulierung am Telekom-Markt (Reuters) Namhafte Wirtschafts- und Rechtswissenschaftler haben einen massiven Abbau der Regulierung des deutschen Telekommunikationsmarkts und eine Änderung des Telekommunikationsgesetzes gefordert.
Naked Wife Virus Strips Down Computers (NewsFactor) The Naked Wife Trojan virus - which masquerades as a Flash movie of a naked woman - spreads via Microsoft Outlook and can damage vital system files, rendering an affected computer inoperable, according to security company McAfee.com Corporation. see also Yahoo Viruses page.
06 March 2001
Microsoft Xbox gets family-friendly (Inside.com) Microsoft will solder a V-chip-style control inside the video game console, which is slated for introduction this fall. Details about the device won?t be unveiled until the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual gaming industry powwow in May, but it will probably allow parents to prevent their kids from playing games rated for violent or sexual content.
OECD moots Net tax plan (IT Week) A global approach to the taxation of online trade came closer when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) called for companies that sell tangible goods electronically to register and pay VAT in the countries where their customers are based.
EC to investigate broadband rollouts (ZDNet UK) The European Commission has launched an investigation into the way incumbent telcos are opening up their exchanges to other operators in the light of complaints about the process.
XXX Domains May Be Hard Sell (Wired) New.net announced Monday that it was offering 20 new top-level domains (TLDs) including dot-xxx, which could be intriguing for adult sites. But Domain Name Systems has been selling dot-xxx domains for several months.
Status of EU initiatives page updated (QuickLinks) Links have been added to recently published documents: Evaluation report on Recommendation on protection of minors, EP 2nd reading of Copyright directive, Communication on Computer-related Crime, eContent programme, Jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments regulation, Communication on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, Regulation on Unbundled Access to the Local Loop, .EU Top Level Domain - proposal for a Regulation;
BT wins in Cloud Nine dispute (Netimperative) Oftel has closed the case on ISP Cloud Nine, stating that BT has not acted anti-competitively in its provision of unmetered access product SurfPort24 to smaller ISPs. In a document sent to Cloud Nine, the regulator said that BT does not have market power in internet call termination, and cannot therefore exploit its position by imposing unfairly high minimum requirements for its SurfPort24 product in order to materially distort competition between ISPs.
Half Of Asia's Student Net Users Visit Adult Sites - Study (Newsbytes) Surfing adult Web sites is very popular in Asia especially among students, with a study finding between 37 and 58 percent of Internet-using students in five Asian countries visited an adult site during January.
05 March 2001
It Just Got Harder For Air-Ticket Sites (InformationWeek) Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are scrapping commissions paid to online travel agents such as Travelocity and Expedia. Those commissions amounted to 5% of the ticket price, with a $10 per ticket maximum.
Porn surfing firemen feel the heat (vnunet.com) Three London Fire Brigade officers were today disciplined after logging on to Internet porn sites when they should have been carrying out a safety inspection.
ICANN: Launch of New Domain Names Behind Schedule (Reuters) The new Web addresses that were to be open for registration by Internet users worldwide by July of this year, could be delayed by several months or more, due to protracted contract negotiations with the new list operators and the high-tech downturn on Wall Street.
CRTC at centre of Liberal turf war (Ottawa Citizen) The Canadian government will establish a special task force to determine the future of the federal broadcast regulator, which is at the centre of a power struggle between the Industry Minister, whose department is responsible for telecommunications, and the Heritage Minister, whose department is responsible for cultural content.
Idealab Creates Alternate Domains (Wired) Idealab founder Bill Gross isn't happy with the Internet's newest top level domains (TLDs), so he's decided to fight the system. New.net, a spinoff of Idealab, is challenging the authority of the Internet's primary ruling body by preparing to sell up to a dozen unsanctioned TLDs that it plans to administer on its own.
South Africa Is Seeking the Return of a Cyberspace Address (New York Times) South Africa's government, battling a company that owns the domain name southafrica.com, asked the World Internet Property Organization today to adopt a policy that would return its .com address and those of other developing countries to the nations they designate.
Sony will go it alone in age of interactive TV
(Reuters) Sony will seek its own fortune in the brave new world of interactive TV, pulling out of a joint venture with three of its biggest rivals.
Cloud Nine blasts 'incompetent' Oftel BT ruling ISP Cloud Nine, maintains BT is in breach of the Competition Act and will take its complaint to the European Commission if the OFT decides not to act. Cloud Nine claimed the monster telco had hiked the price of its wholesale unmetered Net access product, SurfPort24, making it all but impossible for small and medium-sized ISPs to compete with large providers. Cloud Nine complained to the telecoms watchdog but last week Oftel ruled that BT was not acting anti-competitively.
Gnotella File-Sharing Browser Hits the Net (InternetNews) A new version of Gnotella, a browser that provides the interface for peer-to-peer file transfers on GnutellaNet, has ben released..
News: SafeWeb offers Triangle Boy source code (Newsbytes ) Online privacy company SafeWeb has released the source code of its Triangle Boy client, a peer-to-peer application that the company said prevents anyone, such as corporations, governments, and schools, from blocking access to SafeWeb.
The Internet's public enema No. 1 (Salon) Will Rotten.com -- home of the Web's most gruesome, explicit and utterly tasteless photographs -- ever be kicked offline?
Glasgow libraries ban Internet access (ZDNet UK) Internet access has been banned from all Glasgow libraries after it was discovered that primary school children had been using the computers to download porn. The council claims to have been unaware that the library was offering unlimited Internet access, after its original filtering software had been scrapped on the basis that it was too restrictive and blocked entry to newspaper Web sites. Technicians are working to install new security filters on all library computers.
ICANN officials defend VeriSign dot-com deal (ComputerUSer) Officials for the powerful Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) defended their decision to indefinitely ensconce VeriSign as the steward of the global .com Internet registry, adding that the arrangement probably won't be subject to further negotiation. VeriSign would retain control over the .com registry until at least 2007. At the end of that span, ICANN would give VeriSign a "presumption favoring renewal of" the company's .com contract, provided that VeriSign lives up to its other promises under the deal.
Professor Finds Her Legacy in Internet Law (New York Times) Pamela Samuelson, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is using her personal wealth to promote the public interest in the Internet legal battles.
AT&T wins on cable-ownership limits (Bloomberg News) -Siding with AT&T, a U.S. appeals court overturned a cap that had barred any cable company from controlling more than 30 percent of the U.S. market.On a 3-0 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the Federal Communication Commission rules violated the free-speech rights of cable companies. The court also said the agency lacked authority from Congress to implement the caps.
Although the court gave the FCC the opportunity to reconsider the rules and perhaps reissue them later in a different form, the court said the agency had failed to support its argument that the rules were necessary to ensure programming diversity.
03 March 2001
Still standing (FT) Microsoft appears to have gained the upper hand in the appeals court hearings on the antitrust case.
Detractors blast deal between ICANN, VeriSign (ComputerUSer) As industry observers rush to sort out the impact of the surprise deal solidifying Internet addressing giant VeriSign Inc.'s control over the incalculably valuable global ".com" registry, critics of the proposed arrangement are already crying foul. Contrary to initial reports, the proposed arrangement also gives VeriSign an opportunity to maintain its hold over the also-popular .net domain.
New-Nazi-Economy (Telepolis) Jens Siefert, einer der bekanntesten Nazis Hamburg, ist Internet-Provider geworden
Zur Lage der Informationsfreiheit in Europa (Telepolis) Ein Überblick über die derzeitige Rechtslage bezüglich Informationsfreiheit auf EU-Ebene, in Deutschland auf Länder- und Bundesebene, sowie in den Vorbildländern USA und Schweden
Mit Google durchs WWW (Telepolis) Was die immer populärer werdende Suchmaschine vom Rest der Welt unterscheidet
ACLU Defends Internet Anonymity (Newsbytes) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) renewed its stance that online critics and other speakers should be allowed to remain anonymous if they so choose.
In Washington State, the ACLU filed a motion to quash a subpoena that would force an Internet service provider (ISP) to reveal the identity of a user participating in an online bulletin board discussion. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the ACLU moved to block a state Appeals Court Justice from using the courts to ferret out the identity of an online critic.
Le forfait illimité bloqué par France Télécom (Libération) Une pétition réclame la baisse du prix de location des tuyaux de l'opérateur. Une brochette d'une trentaine de dot.com (entreprises high-tech) se sont payé de pleines pages de publicité cette semaine pour faire avancer leur cause. Cinq brokers, trois portails, deux fournisseurs d'accès et une brochette d'e-commerçants se mobilisent pour du lèche-vitrines bon marché et illimité. Ils baptisent cela la «démocratisation» du réseau
BBC's digital plans face probe (FT) The Office of Fair Trading has been called in to scrutinise the BBC's proposals for a range of free-to-air digital television and radio stations.
SEC renews net crackdown (FT) US securities regulators announced the fifth in a series of internet fraud "sweeps", bringing 11 new enforcement actions against 23 companies and individuals. Investigators alleged the perpetrators used a range of fraudulent online techniques to raise funds for private ventures or to boost the value of less regulated "penny" stocks in the over-the-counter (OTC) market.
EU admits e-commerce initiative is failing (Total Telecom) The European Union's heavily promoted drive to stimulate e-commerce in member countries is conspicuously failing to inspire public confidence in buying over the Internet, a European Commissioner admitted. In a remarkably downbeat speech to an e-economy conference in Brussels, the commissioner for consumer policy, David Byrne, said that "the reality, as opposed to the rhetoric, of business-to-consumer [B2C] electronic commerce is, to put it mildly, disappointing."
U.S. calls on Japan to increase telecom deregulation (Reuters) The United States called on Japan to further deregulate its telecommunications market, stressing the need for an independent regulator and fairer competition in broadband, or high-speed Internet services.
Keine Prüf- oder Sperrpflicht des DENIC bei Domains (Heise) Das OLG Dresden stellte in einer Entscheidung in dem Verfahren um die Domain kurt-biedenkopf.de fest, dass das DENIC, der Registrierungsstelle für de-Domains, keiner generellen Pflicht unterliege, Domains vor oder nach ihrer Registrierung auf eventuelle Rechtsverletzungen zu prüfen.
Just press print (Economist) The ability to print computer components, rather than making them on silicon wafers, could lead to lighter, cheaper computers?and you could even roll them up
Microsoft's appeal (Economist) This week's court hearing is another stage in the long battle between the world's biggest software company and the US government. The outcome of that battle could shape the future of both the computer industry and antitrust enforcement
Nominet defies WIPO over domain disputes (Yahoo UK) Nominet, the registry for UK Internet names, is considering whether to defy the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on methods for settle disputes over domain names. The UK registry claims that WIPO's methods are not far reaching enough or sufficiently flexible for settling accusations of cyber squatting. It may instead abide by its own guidelines.
02 March 2001
Belgium raises E450 million from UMTS license auction (Reuters)
Belgium has sold three UMTS licences to the country's three incumbent mobile phone operators at the minimum prices, raising a total of 450.2 million euros ($418.8 million).
Surf the Net Through Your Power Socket (Reuters) So-called powerline communications may beat TV cable modems and broadband wireless technologies by providing cheaper and faster Internet access through electricity sockets.
Web's major registrar turns phone numbers into Net names (CNET News.com ) VeriSign, the Web's biggest domain name registrar , will offer WebNum, a new service turning telephone numbers into Web addresses, hoping to ease the pain of having to type letters while Net surfing on a wireless phone.
VeriSign concedes .net loss for .com control (CNET News.com) In an effort to offset its dwindling power over domain name registrations, VeriSign has agreed to relinquish full control over the .org and .net suffixes to maintain rights to its registry for the .com domain. VeriSign will operate the .org registry only through December 2002, but it must ensure the suffix regains its status as an identifier for nonprofit organizations. Its control of the .net registry will last until Jan 1, 2006, and the rights to the .com registry will expire in November 2007.
Carmakers try to stop Kirch (FT) The leading carmakers involved in Formula One made clear their determination to block Kirch Gruppe, the German media group, from taking control of SLEC, the family trust of F1 that controls the rights to motor racing's flagship championship.
G8 ministers call for major fight against Internet crime (Reuters) Justice and interior ministers from the world?s leading industrialized nations are urging a global crackdown against crime and child pornography on the Internet.
Top départ pour la fête de l'internet (ZDNet FR) La Fête de l'internet reprend du service pour la quatrième année consécutive les 2, 3 et 4 mars. Avec pour mots d'ordre « la culture, l'éducation et l'action sociale et humanitaire » a indiqué Philippe Baron, vice-président de l'AFI, l'association en charge de la coordination de la fête.
Rape victim's father demands paedophile crackdown (ZDNet UK) The father of a Net paedophile victim is successfully lobbying the Home Office into criminalising the online "grooming" of children. ZDNet UK's investigation into the use of Yahoo!'s chatrooms by paedophiles prompted the parents of Patrick Green's 13-year-old victim to demand a government crackdown on Internet paedophiles. Green met the girl in a Yahoo! chatroom and raped her two months later.
La peine de Serge Humpich confirmée en appel (ZDNet FR) L'informaticien Serge Humpich, qui avait été condamné à 10 mois de prison avec sursis, a vu sa peine confirmée par la cour d'appel de Paris le 18 décembre. Il avait été gardé à vue et mis en examen après avoir démontré au groupement des cartes bancaires que son système de paiement avait de sacrées failles. Sa carte à puce programmable avait pu en effet tromper certains terminaux de paiement.
Plan Fabius sur la sécurité des cartes bancaires : « un début », selon les usagers (ZDNet FR) La principale mesure du plan Fabius concerne l'arrivée d'un nouveau gendarme, la Banque de France, qui reprend la tutelle sur la sécurité des cartes de crédit au grand dam du lobby en chef des banques commerciales, le GIE Cartes bancaires. Ce groupement d'intérêt économique était au centre du procès de Serge Humpich, cet informaticien qui a démontré les failles de verrous mis en place par le GIE.
L'internet met les démocraties à l'épreuve (Yahoo FR) Publié par le magazine Transfert et Reporters sans frontières, le rapport 2000 des « ennemis de l'internet » passe au crible les pratiques, loi ou règlements de 50 pays, dont bon nombre de démocraties. Les nations réputées civilisées adoptent elles aussi des mesures aux tendances liberticides: le Royaume-Uni apparaît en première ligne, la France est donnée comme à surveiller de près
01 March 2001
G-8-Staaten: Datenbank gegen Kinderporno geplant (Speigel) Die sieben wichtigsten Industriestaaten der Welt und Russland wollen stärker als bisher gegen Kinderpornografie im Internet vorgehen. Eine internationale Datenbank über Verdächtige und verbotene Pornonetze soll dabei helfen. Ende Juli wollen sich die Staats- und Regierungschefs bei ihrem Gipfel in Genua außerdem mit der Bekämpfung von rassistischem Gedankengut im Internet befassen.
Public Consultation phase of MedPICS (MedCERTAIN project) We are seeking feedback from medical webmasters on our MedPICS draft metadata vocabulary and rating criteria. This emerging metadata standard is potentially important for all health websites as this vocabulary allows webmasters to describe their own (privacy, ethics, advertising, content, quality, ...) policies using a standardized vocabulary (i.e. using XML). The vocabulary will also be used to achieve interoperability of third-party rating / evaluation services.
Thus fails in paedophile pledge (ZDNet UK) British telco Thus has failed in its pledge to remove paedophile content from its newsgroups, amid speculation that it has lost the will to take a more proactive approach in protecting children online. see also Thus does U-turn over child porn policy (Silicon) .
Censor Bill gets R rating (Australian IT) South Australia's internet censorship bill will give authorities wide-ranging powers to silence critics, anti-censorship campaigners have warned.
Judge worries prosecutors (FT) As Justice Department lawyers emerged, battered, from two days of grilling in a federal appeals court over the antitrust case against Microsoft, one member of the seven-judge panel probably weighed heaviest on their minds: Chief Judge Harry T. Edwards.
Top fraud squad may tackle Internet scams (Toronto Star ) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have launched a clearinghouse for Canadian online fraud information. The
site is designed to raise awareness of fraudulent sites situated anywhere in Canada and builds on an effort by police in Ontario.
Privacy's Guarded Prognosis (New York Times) With more medical records stored on computer networks, whose eyes will see them?
Support Network
for Pioneering Public Good Projects (TEN ) A global network of organizations and individuals whose purpose is to identify, support and empower projects that contribute to improving the state of the world. TEN has a special interest in projects, for whom information technology plays a central role in achieving their objectives.
RIAA Goes Right at Napster (Wired) The recording industry is stockpiling an arsenal of top Republicans as it tries to permanently blow Napster out of the water. The Recording Industry Association of America named former Montana Governor Marc Racicot to its team of consultants that includes former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS).
Lessig: Fight For Your Right to Innovate (O'Reilly Network) Internet applications such as Napster are not weakening copyright protection, they're actually contributing to making it stronger, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig told the Peer-to-Peer conference. By raising the ire of Hollywood and its armies of lawyers, the Napster case has further strengthened a century-long trend of extending the protection of intellectual property far beyond what the framers of the Constitution intended. While Congress has decided to take a more cautious approach on regulating the Internet in regards to pornography, the lobbying and litigational influence of the entertainment industry are pushing regulation more aggressively on intellectual property issues.
Govt Asks Supreme Court To Reverse COPA's Death Warrant (Newsbytes) The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that the Child Online Privacy Act (COPA), a law restricting minors' access to "inappropriate" material online, was unconstitutional.
Can a peer-to-peer phone network fly (CNET News.com) The Free World Dialup project aims to create a peer-to-peer network that allows people to borrow each other's phone lines over the Net, making any call a local call.
Crackdown on internet chatroom predators (Independent) Jack Straw plans to crack down on paedophiles who befriend children through internet chatrooms. The Home Secretary met officials to discuss drawing up a new offence to control the online activities of paedophiles yesterday, Tony Blair said. Internet service providers could be encouraged to provide parents with packages that excluded online chatrooms.
Das WWW soll intelligenter werden (Computerwoche) Mit einer Reihe von Standards will das W3-Consortium (W3C) Anbietern von Websites die Möglichkeit bieten, ihre Inhalte genauer zu beschreiben. Derartige Metainformationen sollen die maschinelle Verarbeitung von publizierten Daten erleichtern. Ein Ergebnis dieser Anstrengungen könnten unter anderem intelligentere Suchmaschinen sein.
The Filter No. 3.12 02.28.01 Your regular dose of public interest Internet news and commentary from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
Internet-Draft about ".xxx" domain (D. Eastlake 3rd, D. McCullagh ) Periodically there are proposals to require the use of a special top level name or an IP address bit to flag "adult" or "safe" material or the like. This document explains why this is an ill considered idea.
eBay sellers say new anti-spam system is backfiring (CNET News.com) eBay's new e-mail system, which was designed to limit the amount of junk mail sent to its members, is instead forcing some sellers to weed through stacks of unsolicited e-mail to find legitimate messages from bidders.
ICANN At Large Study Committee Web Site (ALSC) The At Large Membership Study Committee was recently formed to forge a consensus on the best method for representing the world's Internet users ("At Large Members") within ICANN. On behalf of the Committee, we are asking for your input to help us achieve agreement on an appropriate and effective means by which Internet stakeholders worldwide may participate in ICANN's activities and decisions. Sign up to email list for ALSC Announcements.
Internet-Filtern auf gut Deutsch (Heise) Die Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) bietet ihren Fragebogen zu "nicht-jugendfreien" Inhalten im Web auch auf Deutsch, Französisch und Spanisch an. ICRASafe ist eine Weiterentwicklung des technisch auf PICs (Platform for Internet Content Selection) basierenden Filtersystems des Recreational Software Advisory Council on the Internet (RSACi).