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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 09 Nov 2009
SHANGHAI — Chinese netizens are marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a little anarchy of their own.
They are flying over the Great Firewall of China (GFW) in exuberant numbers to send messages to an anniversary website in Berlin that was set up to allow people to share memories of the night the wall came down, or, recommend "which walls still have to come down to make our world a better place."
The opportunity to use the forum to chip away at Beijing's heavy Internet censorship was obviously too good a chance for many Chinese netizens to ignore and they deluged the site with calls for web freedom. Until the Chinese government caught wind, that is.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 09 Nov 2009
CENSORSHIP of the internet is open to challenge at the World Trade Organisation as it can restrict trade in services delivered online, a forthcoming study says.
A censorship case at the WTO could raise sovereignty issues, given the clear right of member states to restrict trade on moral grounds -- for example, by blocking access to child pornography websites.
But a WTO ruling could set limits on blanket censorship and compel states instead to use more selective filtering, according to the study, to be published this week by think-tank the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE).
"Censorship is the most important non-tariff barrier to the provision of online services, and a case might clarify the circumstances in which different forms of censorship are WTO-consistent," said the study by Brian Hindley and Hosuk Lee-Makiyama.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 05 Nov 2009
The Australian public will have to continue to wait on the release of the Federal Government’s report on ISP-level filtering, with a spokesperson for the Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, confirming no date has been set for the report’s release.
“...No date has been set. The trial report is under consideration and will be published in due course,” the spokesperson said in an email response to Computerworld’s enquiries.
The news is likely to frustrate many consumers and those in the industry, not least of all the managing director of the company that carried out the testing on the internet filter trial Enex Testlabs.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 05 Nov 2009
For the last decade or so, Internet service providers have been dealing with requests to block access to pornographic or copyright-infringing Web sites, or in China, ones that dare to criticize the government.
Now a U.S. House of Representatives bill is taking the unusual step of requiring Internet providers to block access to online financial scams that fraudulently invoke the Securities Investor Protection Corporation -- or face fines and federal court injunctions.
The House Financial Services Committee approved the legislation on Wednesday by a 41 to 28 vote.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 05 Nov 2009
The Motion Picture Association of America wants Congress to “encourage” internet providers to filter out pirated movies, and to punish customers who repeatedly engage in piracy with a “graduated response” that might include disconnection from the net.
The nation’s motion picture lobbying group floated the ideas in a 35-page lobbying letter to the Federal Communications Commission on Friday. The FCC is drafting recommendations to Congress for a national broadband plan.
“Working in cooperation with ISPs, MPAA’s member studios and other creators can utilize a variety of technological tools and policy approaches to address the threat of unlawful conduct online,” reads the MPAA’s letter.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 04 Nov 2009
GENEVA (Reuters) - Censorship of the Internet is open to challenge at the World Trade Organisation as it can restrict trade in services delivered online, a forthcoming study says.
A censorship case at the WTO could raise sovereignty issues, given the clear right of member states to restrict trade on moral grounds -- for example, by blocking access to child pornography websites.
But a WTO ruling could set limits on blanket censorship and compel states instead to use more selective filtering, according to the study, to be published on Thursday by think-tank ECIPE.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 04 Nov 2009
The European Council has approved a data breach notification rule for Europe's telecoms firms. The amendment to an EU Directive will force telcos to tell customers if they lose their data.
The European Parliament and Commission have already approved the amendments, which will become law after it has been published in the EU's Official Journal and signed by the President of the Council and President of the European Parliament.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 04 Nov 2009
These are just some of the actions that have been taken place in order to prevent Iranian Netizens from accessing the Web during the 4th of November:
* According to some sources from Iran, the internet speed has become too low and even when using ADSL, it is hard to open emails or display small size images.
* According to Emipmans blog, it seems that Yahoo messenger is inaccessible in Iran. Moreover, some proxy software such as Ultra Surf and the like are not working.
* According to Saitak, the Iranian government wanted to change the route (map) of protest by sending false emails to Iranian users.
* Also Saitak pointed out that some ISPs in Iran opened the access to Youtube and Facebook in order to identify and track users who are people upload video clips and other content.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 03 Nov 2009
If you've ever seen Comedy Central's "Daily Show," you've seen 21st century free speech in action.
A few seconds of an ad here, a few seconds of a newscast there, combined with Jon Stewart's comedic commentary -- and voila! A modern-day mash-up that samples digital bits and pieces to create something new.
But where does one person's creation end another person's begin?
Though copyright holders certainly have the right to protect what belongs to them, in some cases, the so-called fair use doctrine allows the limited use of copyrighted material.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 03 Nov 2009
Never before have so many people been threatened or imprisoned for what the words they write on the internet.
As activists and ordinary citizens have increasingly made use of the internet to express their opinions and connect with others, many governments have also increased surveillance, filtering, legal actions and harassment. The harshest consequence for many has been the politically motivated arrest of bloggers and online writers for their online and/or offline activities, in some tragic cases even leading to death. Online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide.
