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The domain name news is supported by auDA. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dr. Peng Hwa Ang Speaks on "Who's Really Out To Control the Internet?" http://www.hamilton.edu/news/more_news/display.cfm?id=11338 U.N. summit revives concerns about Net control http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6130087.html Should ICANN Become Autonomous? (AP) http://wired.com/news/wireservice/0,72017-0.html "Call to Bloggers" to stand up for freedom ahead of world meeting on future of Internet (news release) http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGPOL300552006 au: ENUM Day - Sydney, 15th November 2006 http://www.enumday.com.au *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** Online Dispute Resolution by MELISSA CONLEY TYLER (University of Melbourne-Faculty of Law/U of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper) Abstract: Every community - whether physical or virtual - will inevitably experience conflict. New ways of interacting through information and communications technology lead to new conflicts, such as domain name or e-commerce disputes. At the same time, governments need to deal with the entire range of disputes in society, whether crimes, neighborhood disputes, ethnic conflict or disputes with its own employees. A key role for government and for e-governance is providing mechanisms to help resolve these disputes. The emerging area of online dispute resolution (ODR) potentially offers a useful set of tools and techniques for resolving disputes. Capable of being used for both online and offline disputes, ODR has already proved that it can provide effective resolution for at least some disputes: more than 1.5 million cases had been successfully resolved online to July 2004 (Conley Tyler, 2005). Governments and e-governance institutions around the world are adopting or considering the applicability of ODR as a tool for digital government. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=934947 Domain Name Piracy - A Threat to Trade Marks by RAGHVENDRA SINGH RAGHUVANSHI (National Law Institute University/The Intellectual Property Law Review) Abstract: In this paper I have endeavored to discuss the intricacies rooted in the disputes between trademarks and domain names. I shall discuss the legal position of domain names in India at length. Further I shall also discuss various kinds of domain names with special reference to remedies available. Moreover the effect of use of somebody else's trademarks in Meta-tags is also discussed in brief and whether that constitutes trademark infringement or not. In last but not the least practical recommendations are set forth followed by conclusion. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=935097 United States Approaches to Trademark Protection in Cyberspace by DOUGLAS J. SYLVESTER Arizona State University (College of Law/Jurisprudencija (Lithuania)) In this essay, the author focusses on two areas: (i) cybersquatting and dilution; and (ii) metatagging, keywords, and initial interest confusion. Although these two areas provide only a taste of the legal issues raised by online trademark usage, they capture the basic approach that lawmakers have taken in the face of technological challenge - protect trademark owners' interests. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=937411 IP addressing in China and the Myth of Address Shortage In recent years, various sources have repeated a myth that the IPv4 address pool is close to exhaustion. Many of these stories also falsely claim that there are fewer IPv4 addresses allocated to China than to some individual US universities. The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) is committed to countering this myth and has published an article in its newsletter Apster on this topic. http://www.apnic.net/news/hot-topics/internet-gov/ip-china.html IPv6 Internals by Iljitsch van Beijnum This article discusses some of the protocol details you should be aware of when planning a transition from IPv4 to IPv6. Although it is not intended as a complete step-by-step guide, this article explains the differences between IPv4 and IPv6 as they relate to actually operating a network. Vendor-and operating system specific details can be found in the book from which this text was adapted, and further information is available in the references. http://cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_9-3/ipv6_internals.html ***************** GOVERNANCE ***************** Dr. Peng Hwa Ang Speaks on "Who's Really Out To Control the Internet?" Dr. Peng Hwa Ang (Nanyang Technological University) gave a lecture titled “Who’s Really Out To Control the Internet? UN and U.S.A. Internet Governance” at Hamilton on Oct. 26. Dr. Ang is the dean of the School of Communication and Information at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, as well as one of 40 persons appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to a UN Working Group on Internet Governance in 2004. He spoke about the current international efforts to create a multilateral, transparent, and democratic method for Internet governance, as well as why it is in the United States’ best interest to relinquish some control over the Internet. http://www.hamilton.edu/news/more_news/display.cfm?id=11338 U.N. summit revives concerns about Net control A long-simmering dispute over whether the U.S. government has too much control over the Internet's underpinnings will heat up again next week at a United Nations summit in Greece. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6130087.html http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6130087.html Should ICANN Become Autonomous? (AP) An international dispute over U.S. control of the internet appears unlikely to be resolved even as state envoys, regulators and technology experts convene next week to discuss the network's future. http://wired.com/news/wireservice/0,72017-0.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/10/27/1161749267589.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/10/27/1161749267589.html http://iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/26/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_UN_Internet_Governance.php "Call to Bloggers" to stand up for freedom ahead of world meeting on future of Internet (news release) Amnesty International today issued a ‘Call to Bloggers’, asking them to get online and stand up for freedom of expression on the internet. The organisation says this is a critical time when fundamental rights – particularly freedom of expression and privacy – are under threat from governments that want to control what their citizens say, and what information they can access. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGPOL300552006 The Road to Rio and Beyond: Results-based Management of the UN Internet Governance Forum This paper (pdf) argues that the road to the 2007 meeting of the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro and beyond must be paved with effective management practices. Results-based management principles employed elsewhere in reform of United Nations agency practices provide that base. http://internetgovernance.org/pdf/roadtorio.pdf Whose information society? Developing country and civil society voices in the World Summit on the Information Society by David Souter This paper summarises a study of developing country and civil society participation and influence in WSIS that was commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications. As well as analysing participation, the study looked at the impact of WSIS on international ICT decision-making in general and makes recommendations to all main actors about how future decision-making might become more inclusive of developing countries, nongovernmental actors and their concerns. http://rights.apc.org/documents/wsis_EN.pdf Everyone talks, but no-one listens The net's great and the good are meeting in Athens, but Bill Thompson doubts that they will achieve much. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6091282.stm Google defiant over censorship in China Google is to enter the political arena in earnest this week when it debates freedom of speech, intellectual property rights and how to connect Africa to the internet at a special UN conference. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1934297,00.html Reporters Without Borders will go to IGF venue in Athens to put free expression on agenda (news release) Reporters Without Borders will be at the Internet Governance Forum in Athens to remind participants that free expression must be at the centre of any model of Internet governance, and to reiterate its positions on Internet neutrality and the need for Internet companies to behave ethically. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19481 Council of Europe participation in UN Internet Governance Forum The Council of Europe will participate in the UN facilitated Internet Governance Forum, to be held in Athens from 30 October to 2 November 2006. The IGF will focus on four main themes -openness, diversity, security and access of the Internet – which the Council of Europe will address in light of its core values pertaining to human rights, democracy and rule of law. For more on the CoE's participation in the IGF, see: http://www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/media/Links/Events/IGFAthens2006Homepage_en.asp ICANN agreement paves way for DNS transition (news release) ISOC welcomes the agreement announced between the United States Department of Commerce and ICANN. The agreement ensures continued stability of the Internet by setting the foundation for an orderly transition of the Domain Name System (DNS) to the private sector. It also demonstrates clear support for ICANN and the role it plays in coordinating those activities related to the Internet's system of unique identifiers. http://www.isoc.org/isoc/media/releases/060929pr.shtml If the Internet ain't broke, do not try to fix it While the US wants to release the agency charged with managing the World Wide Web from federal oversight, the UN wants to bury it under layers of bureaucracy http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/10/28/2003333762 Consensus Polling: ALAC Shows the Way ICANN is about to make the jump from “merely excavating” to efficiently mining top-quality jewels. I say this because ICANN’s ALAC has reached unanimous consensus on their internal Self Review. As the New Zealand meeting drew to a close, a weary ALAC was ready to give up on creating a consensus Self Review. The familiar ICANN collaborative process of emailing Word attachments had “excavated” ALAC into the also familiar ICANN mire of “deeply divided over competing versions.” http://www.circleid.com/posts/alac_shows_the_way/ ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Why it matters to master your domain Let your registration lapse, and your site could suddenly be taken over by links to porn - and there's little you can do about it http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1930968,00.html au: ENUM Day - Sydney, 15th November 2006 The Australian ENUM Day is a FREE event organised by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the other participating parties in the Australian ENUM Trial to be held on 15 November in central Sydney. ACMA, the Industry Regulator, AusRegistry, AARNet and Instra share their knowledge about ENUM with you, and they will also demonstrate how you can use ENUM. http://www.enumday.com.au ca: Submission to ICANN regarding its consultation on the Development of Transparency and Accountability Management Operating Principles (news release) CIRA supports ICANN's attempts to engage the community in defining accountability and transparency. Such definitions, if properly developed, will help ICANN to re-establish trust with its stakeholders and to meet the conditions set out in the recent Joint Project Agreement between the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN. http://cira.ca/news-releases/190.html ca: Dot-ca Internet registrations continue to climb (news release) Dot-ca Internet domain name registrations continue to climb at a record pace. The 750,000th dot-ca registration was recorded this week by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), marking a 50% rise in the number of dot-ca registrations in under two years. http://cira.ca/news-releases/191.html uk: Appointment of assessors for UK ENUM bids (news release) The organisation responsible for the appointment of the UK ENUM registry, plans to shortly issue the request for bids. UKEC is seeking independent assessors for a panel to examine the bids and make recommendations. The assessors, who may receive a fee for their time, should have at least one of the expected skill sets: technical, financial, business or legal/governance. http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=3324 ICANN: Clarification of Consultation Process for the Development of Transparency and Accountability Management Operating Principles (news release) The consultation process posted on 16 October 2006 has a number of phases. The first part of the consultation process seeks responses to a series of questions that have already been posted. Responses are sought by October 31, 2006. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-27oct06.htm Another round in the spam war It might be assumed that alleged spammer e360 Insight LLC hadn’t bargained for such a public fracas when it decided to take on UK-based anti-spam organisation Spamhaus in what has turned into the infamous court case of the year. Pry further and it becomes clear that the stand-off between the two taps a deeper well of bitterness that has been building up for some time, and is primed for new trouble even now. http://www.techworld.com/security/features/index.cfm?featureid=2908 VeriSign October Digital Branding Bulletin Highlights from the editor are "Companies can now register Internationalized Domain Names for Hong Kong, and Chinese keywords. The schedule and deadlines for second-level Korean domain names has also been announced, with the first deadline approaching in January 2007. The .MOBI launch generated more than 100,000 domain name registrations in the first few days. The rollout continues with the auction of Premium .MOBI domain names, some of which are expected to fetch thousands of dollars. In other news, a new study revealed that more than half of the Internet’s DNS servers are configured incorrectly, leaving them vulnerable to attacks, while recent reports from the National Arbitration Forum and the World Intellectual Property Organization showed a 25 percent increase in domain name disputes. http://www.verisign.com/Resources/Digital_Brand_Management_Services_Resources/Digital_Branding_Bulletin/page_039521.html VeriSign September Digital Branding Bulletin Highlights from the editor are "The number of registered domain names passed the 100 million mark for the first time, with more than 105 million names registered. As the Internet’s global reach continues to grow, it’s not surprising to see increasing interest in speculation in the ccTLD market, which saw high-dollar sales for several names in the last month. In order to help companies better manage their growing portfolios of domain names, VeriSign introduced an enhanced version of the Digital Brand Manager which provides a new interface for analyzing gaps by country and region. In other news, phishing attacks hit an all-time high in July, and the U.S. government renewed ICANN’s contract through 2011." http://www.verisign.com/Resources/Digital_Brand_Management_Services_Resources/Digital_Branding_Bulletin/page_039286.html Domain names again become big business More than 250 domain names were being auctioned through a Web company, Moniker Online Services, at the World Association of Domain Name Developers TRAFFIC conference in Florida yesterday. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1161985810071&call_pageid=970599119419 Domain Names and email addresses for 2008 Olympics mascot fetch high price on Taobao The official mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, previously named "The Five Friendlies", were renamed "Fuwa" on October 9 causing Fuwa-related email addresses and domains to go on sale at Taobao.com for high prices. http://www.webhostdir.com/news/articles/shownews.asp?id=17783 Web domain Hell.com hath no takers Hell.com failed to be bought via a live auction Friday, which organizers had hoped would bring bids of more than $1 million. http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/27/technology/hell.com_domain Who on earth would pay US$1million for hell? (Reuters) No one was buying hell on Friday - or at least its red-hot Web address. HELL.com was among hundreds of internet domain names up for auction in Hollywood, Florida, by domain asset management provider Moniker.com, a unit of marketing services firm Seevast Corp. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/10/28/1161749343255.html http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10408062 http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/873327 If at first a domain name does not succeed, bid, bid again Come hell.com or hi.net water, more than 250 high-profile Internet domain names will be up for auction Friday at the third annual live auction held by domain name registrar and reseller Moniker.com. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=web_site_management&articleId=9004480 Afilias Announces Launch of New IDN Scripts for .INFO Domain (news release) Afilias announced it has released support for eight additional Internationalized Domain Name language scripts in the .INFO generic top-level domain. These eight additional scripts join the German (DE) script that launched in 2004. The new scripts include: Polish (PL), Swedish (SV), Danish (DA), Hungarian (HU), Icelandic (IS), Latvian (LV), Lithuanian (LT), and Korean (KO). http://www.afilias.info/news/press_releases/pr_articles/2006-10-24-01 VoIP & IPV6 Set To Impact Asia Pacific Telecom Market The Asia Pacific telecommunications market is seeing a dramatic change in the business landscape as players look for opportunities in new technologies like VoIP and IPV6. http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=226660 us: Mystery surrounding Web site parodying Alaska senator solved The mystery behind an irreverent Web site about Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has apparently been solved. The site is made to appear to be registered to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who has clashed with Stevens in the Senate. ... "Isn't it part of identity theft, if someone goes and takes my name and registers it as a domain name, and then uses it out in the world?" Stevens asked a government official. http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15866910.htm http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/nation/15866910.htm us: Church's old Web domain converted into porn site Hope Community Church is trying to spread the word about its new Web site and disavow its former domain name. Because of an error, a pornography company bought the church's old domain name unbeknownst to the church. http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/10282006/nhnews-ph-dov-church.website.html http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=5602083&nav=4QcS us: Internet tactic raises concern In a possible first in Kansas politics, a candidate has bought Internet addresses, including his opponent’s name, and is using them to post negative information about her. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15859197.htm ********************** OTHER RESEARCH PAPERS ********************** The importance of convergence in the ICT policy environment By Kate Wild This paper looks at the meaning and importance of convergence and considers some of the challenges to implementing it, along with strategies for overcoming them. It also provides a global perspective on regulating convergence and broadband from ITU and then it looks at experiences in North America and Europe as well as regional and country approaches in Africa. http://rights.apc.org/documents/convergence_EN.pdf The Federal Election Commission and Individual Internet Sites After Shays and Meehan v. FEC by Matthew Fagan This paper looks at a recent spate of legislation, rulemaking and litigation that has thrown a shadown over the use of the internet by private individuals during political campaigns. The US Federal Electoral Commission is currently debating whether to regulate political commentary on the internet or maintain a hands-off approach. If Congress and the FEC choose to exempt the internet from regulation, bloggers and other commentators will continue their participation unfettered. But if the FEC promulgates any rule governing political speech online, no matter how unobtrusive, everyone who posts an opinion about an election on a website will have to first consider whether that speech falls within the FEC's rules, and second whether it complies with their regulations. http://www.bu.edu/law/central/jd/organizations/journals/scitech/volume121/documents/Fagan_EIC_WEBformat.pdf Costar v. Loopnet: Protection of the Internet at the Expense of Copyright Protection? by Wes Barger (Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property) Under the Copyright Act, any infringement of a copyright, either intentional or otherwise, makes one liable to the copyright holder. However, courts were split on how to deal with this issue in regards to ISPs. Some courts favored a strict liability approach while others leaned towards finding no liability for purely passive actions that led to infringement. To remedy this split, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, (“DMCA”) which provided a safe haven for ISPs under particular circumstances. While the split over the approaches to liability was resolved, the general question of whether liability existed was not, and new questions arose; such as were the traditional infringement defenses rendered useless with the passing of the DMCA and would active steps to prevent infringement actually increase an ISP’s exposure to copyright liability? This note discusses the Fourth Circuit’s answers to these questions, in CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc., and forecasts how the CoStar decision will be applied to future decisions. http://jip.kentlaw.edu/art/volume%206/6%20Chi-Kent%20J%20Intell%20Prop%201.doc Update to "Do Internet Stings Directed at Pedophiles Capture Offenders or Create Offenders? And Allied Questions" by JOSEPH S. FULDA (Sexuality & Culture) http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=936792 Capital punishment and virtual protest: A case study of Singapore by Yasmin Ibrahim (First Monday) Abstract: This paper analyses how the online community in Singapore protested against the hanging of a Vietnamese drug trafficker in December 2005. Singapore has upheld capital punishment in the island state despite pressure from local and global civil society organisations and diplomatic channels. This paper traces how the online medium was used by the public to protest against capital punishment in the quasi–authoritarian state. The virtual community protested against the hanging by maintaining a rigorous discursive protest on the Internet. These sustained discourses became enmeshed with those of the offline media in Singapore. This confluence of the online and offline media discourses is important in building a two–tier public sphere in Singapore. The first–tier public sphere is one dominated by the government-controlled media and the ruling party while the second–tier public sphere is a space where civil society organisations and social movements express viewpoints marginalised in the offline society. The confluence of these two tiers has a material significance for the political landscape of Singapore. This paper explores this phenomenon through the case study of online protests against capital punishment in Singapore. http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_10/ibrahim/index.html A History of Online Gatekeeping by Jonathan Zittrain (Harvard Journal of Law & Technology) The bulk of this Article puts together the pieces of that history most relevant to an understanding of the law’s historical forbearance, describing a trajectory of gatekeeping beginning with defamation and continuing to copyright infringement, including shifts in technology toward peer-topeer networks, that has so far failed to provoke a significant regulatory intrusion. I argue that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grokster decision upholds this tradition of light-touch regulation that has allowed the Internet to thrive. The decision thus is not a landmark so much as a milestone, ratifying a continuing détente between those who build on the Internet and those in a position to regulate the builders. http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v19/19HarvJLTech253.pdf Treason, Technology, and Freedom of Expression by TOM W. BELL (Chapman University School of Law/Arizona State Law Journal) This paper details the scope of the law of treasonous expression, explains why technology threatens to bring that law into conflict with the First Amendment, and suggests a way to safely separate the power to punish treason from our freedoms of expression. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=936889 ICT Use in the Developing World: An Analysis of Differences in Computer and Internet Penetration by MENZIE DAVID CHINN University of Wisconsin and ROBERT W. FAIRLIE University of California (NET Institute Working Paper) Abstract: Computer and Internet use, especially in developing countries, has expanded rapidly in recent years. Even in light of this expansion in technology adoption rates, penetration rates differ markedly between developed and developing countries and across developing countries. To identify the determinants of cross-country disparities in personal computer and Internet penetration, both currently and over time, we examine panel data for 161 countries over the 1999-2004 period. We explore the role of a comprehensive set of economic, demographic, infrastructure, institutional and financial factors in contributing to the global digital divide. We find evidence indicating that income, human capital, the youth dependency ratio, telephone density, legal quality and banking sector development are associated with technology penetration rates. Overall, the factors associated with computer and Internet penetration do not differ substantially between developed and developing countries. Estimates from Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions reveal that the main factors responsible for low rates of technology penetration rates in developing countries are disparities in income, telephone density, legal quality and human capital. In terms of dynamics, our results indicate fairly rapid reversion to long run equilibrium for Internet use, and somewhat slower reversion for computer use, particularly in developed economies. Financial development, either measured as bank lending or the value of stocks traded, is also important to the growth rate of Internet use. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=936474 Principles of Internet Privacy by FRED H. CATE Indiana University School of Law (Bloomington Connecticut Law Review/Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper) This article identifies principles that should undergird the government's efforts to protect privacy and craft privacy norms, and then contrast the application of those principles in particular settings identified by Professor Paul Schwartz in his article Internet Privacy and the State. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=933087 The Copyright Web: Networks, Law and the Internet by ANDRES GUADAMUZ University of Edinburgh - School of Law (NEW DIRECTIONS IN COPYRIGHT LAW) Abstract: This paper explores the possible implication of these theories to copyright law. The study of the architecture of networks has opened new avenues of research about the way in which scale-free topologies present in the Web may provide new strategies for copyright enforcement. Similarly, a better understanding of how websites link to one another could provide better tools to allocate liability and to distribute royalties in a more efficient manner. The paper asks the following questions. How should we regulate networks if we can find certain deterministic characteristics to them? Is enforcement of infringing behaviour easier to regulate because we understand the technology better? http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=939753 Bigger Phish To Fry: California's Anti-Phishing Statute And Its Potential Imposition Of Secondary Liability On Internet Service Provider by Camille Calman This paper explores whether California’s statute will lead to imposition of secondary liability for phishing, and whether this would have the effect of decreasing phishing. Part I explains how phishers operate and why criminal law has been largely ineffective in deterring phishers. Part II studies the California anti-phishing statute and its legislative history, as well as judicial precedents that suggest secondary liability may be available in California. Finally, part III discusses whether imposing secondary liability on ISPs is likely to be a practical tool in the war against phishing. http://law.richmond.edu/jolt/v13i1/article2.pdf ******************* OTHER INTERNET NEWS ******************* uk: The Sunday Times Leading article: A curb on free speech It is reassuring to learn that Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, is fighting on the side of the angels against the “surveillance society”. These are the state agencies that hold a growing body of personal and possibly inaccurate information on even the most inoffensive members of the public. It is comforting, too, to hear him lambast the high street banks, as he did in an interview yesterday, for leaving their customers’ financial records in bin bags on the pavement, vulnerable to identity thieves. One can but applaud his horror that a father was on police records as a suspected paedophile for five years after a dinner lady overheard his daughter say, “My dad bonked me last night”, when she meant that he had tapped her on the head with an inflatable hammer. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2426869,00.html Free speech online 'under threat' Bloggers are being asked to show their support for freedom of expression by Amnesty International. http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6090448.stm http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/26/amnesty_internet_campaign/ Amnesty calls for action on internet freedom Amnesty International is calling on the bloggers of the world to unite to defend the freedoms of their brother bloggers in countries such as China, Iran, and Tunisia. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/26/amnesty_internet_campaign/ http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1932723.ece Reporters without borders urges internet users to join in 24-hour online demo against internet censorship (news release) No one should ever be prevented from posting news online or writing a blog, but they are in the 13 countries singled out by Reporters Without Borders for a 24-hour online protest against Internet censorship. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19459 Google defiant over censorship in China Google is to enter the political arena in earnest this week when it debates freedom of speech, intellectual property rights and how to connect Africa to the internet at a special UN conference. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1934297,00.html Is Google legal? A Belgian court ruled against Google’s use of newspaper stories in early September. If you believe Google, it did nothing wrong and failed to defend itself because it was unaware of the publishers’ lawsuit. If you believe the publishers, Google is lying and infringes copyright on a colossal scale. The parties return to court on 23rd November in a case that finds legal uncertainty looming over the world’s leading search engines. http://out-law.com/page-7427 us: Judge mulls if site demoted by Google was defamed (Reuters) A federal judge on Friday questioned whether Google defamed a small company by cutting it from its Web search ranking system or whether Google is free to choose which sites it features. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/27/AR2006102701497.html Child Pornography Link To Abuse Of Children Unclear, Forensic Psychiatrist Says If someone downloads child pornography onto their computer, is that an indication they're a pedophile, or might become one in the future? That question is gaining the attention of forensic psychiatrists as never before, thanks to recent legislation making possession of Internet child pornography a federal crime constituting an unlawful transmission of information across state lines. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061027153001.htm http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-10/uocd-cpl102706.php OECD Policy Brief: Protecting Consumers from Cyberfraud E-mail and online shopping and banking have become a fact of life. How does cyberfraud impact the digital economy and what can governments do to protect e-commerce and use of the Net? http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/4/9/37577658.pdf OECD Cross-border Enforcement of Privacy Laws The OECD has undertaken an examination of challenges posed by cross-border aspects of privacy law enforcement. As a first step, a Report on the Cross-border Enforcement of Privacy Laws has been released. It examines the law enforcement authorities and mechanisms that have been established with a particular focus on how they operate in the cross-border context. It describes existing arrangements to address the challenges and identifies a number of issues that require further consideration. http://www.oecd.org/document/25/0,2340,en_2649_37441_37571993_1_1_1_37441,00.html au: Google 'harbouring racists' Racist blogs targeting minority groups in Australia are springing up on the web, but Google's Blogger, the service some are hosted on, refuses to take them offline, says an anti racism lobby group. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/10/25/1161749182901.html nz: Google accused of harbouring NZ racists Racist blogs targeting minority groups in New Zealand and Australia are springing up on the web, but Google's Blogger, the service some are hosted on, refuses to take them offline, says an anti-racism lobby group. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3840797a28,00.html au: Police warn Werribee DVD will be treated as child pornography In Melbourne, police have been questioning a number of young men over an alleged assault on a teenage girl, which was filmed and then sold on DVD. The DVD reportedly shows the girl's hair being set on fire after she'd been allegedly sexually assaulted and urinated on. http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1775589.htm nz: Internet users told to up security Home internet users are being advised to increase the security of their computers, which can now be infected faster than ever before. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411419/871082 nz: YouTube a new battle for schools Students from some of our top colleges have posted horrific videos of school yard violence and bullying on the internet. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/872738 NZ schoolkids put fights on website New Zealand school students are posting video clips of their peers fighting and beating others on the YouTube internet site. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3841512a11275,00.html http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407859 U.K. pushes global rules on gambling The British government plans next week to seek international support for legalized, regulated online gambling, emphasizing a trans-Atlantic difference on the issue after the Bush administration's recent move to outlaw transactions with Internet gambling services. http://iht.com/articles/2006/10/27/business/gamble.php uk: US gambling law flawed - Jowell The US crackdown on online gambling is a "new prohibition", which is likely to fuel a rise in fraud and exploitation, the UK culture secretary has said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6090358.stm au: $5.5m fine puts spammers on notice THE landmark conviction of a Perth business seminar promoter and his company for sending 280 million unsolicited emails will do little to reduce the amount of spam Australians receive daily. http://theaustralian.news.com.au/index/0,,2702,00.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/oz_spam_fine/ au: ACMA welcomes Federal Court spam decision (news release) http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.852114:STANDARD::pc=PC_100888 au: ACMA extends Zombie catching service to more ISPs The Australian Communications and Media Authority is to extend to additional ISPs a trial service that detects zombie infected PCs connected to the Internet and alerts their owners. http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/6636/127/ au: ACMA and ISPs combine to fight ‘zombies’ and improve internet e-security (news release) The Australian Communications and Media Authority is further stepping up the fight in combating spam by extending the rollout of its Australian internet security initiative, following completion of a successful trial. http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.852114:STANDARD::pc=PC_100882 cn: China looking to stop Internet addiction (AP) China's government wants to develop technology to stop children from becoming addicted to the Internet. Chinese officials encourage Internet use for education and business but express growing worry about its effect on children and the possibility that it could be addictive. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/15868512.htm http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHINA_INTERNET_CHILDREN China to develop technology to check Internet addiction China is considering a law to encourage the research and development of technology to stop minors from becoming Internet addicts. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1830834,00040006.htm Britain has 1m internet gamblers BRITAIN has become a nation of online gamblers, with 1m regular users logging on to betting websites and spending at least £1,000 a year each. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2426771,00.html uk: Digital divide could be deepening The number of people in the UK who have no intention of getting internet access has risen, research firm Point Topic has found. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6085412.stm da: AllofMP3 hit by Danish court ruling Much reviled Russian music site allofmp3.com has been hit by a Danish court ruling which forces internet service provider Tele2 to block access to the site. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/26/itnueski_banned/ da: Court orders ISP to block music website (AP) A court in Denmark has ordered Swedish telecom operator Tele2 AB to block its Internet service subscribers from connecting to a Russian website accused by recording companies of selling their music illegally. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-10-27-web-music-isp_x.htm us: BitTorrent man jailed for five months A US man has been jailed for five months and sentenced to a further five months of home detention for his role as a leading participant in the BitTorrent tracker site Elitetorrents. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/bittorrent_sentencing/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061027.gtpiracy30/BNStory/Technology/home Riding the Waves of "Web 2.0" “Web 2.0” has become a catch-all buzzword; the Pew Internet Project and Hitwise provide data to put it in perspective. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/189/report_display.asp Small is beautiful for the net giants 'Web 2.0' highlights how the online world is changing: amateurs come up with the ideas, then the big boys open their wallets: What exactly is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0? In essence, Web 1.0 was all about creating simple but effective internet versions of real-world businesses where selling could happen on the web, whereas Web 2.0 really uses the internet as a completely new way to market to people; 'selling' has shifted to 'buying' because the user is in control. He or she broadcasts his or her profile, tendencies and preferences in a way that is picked up by Web 2.0 technology infrastructure and marketing tools. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1934021,00.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (c) David Goldstein 2006 --------- David Goldstein address: 4/3 Abbott Street COOGEE NSW 2034 AUSTRALIA email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home) "Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- List policy, unsubscribing and archives => http://dotau.org/
