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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 19 Feb 2009
The fundamental relationship between Government and the people of the UK is at risk because of the increasing surveillance being carried out by the state and by private bodies, a House of Lords Committee has said.
The Lords Constitution Committee has warned that better checks and balances are needed on the use of surveillance if the basis of open democracy is not to be eroded by incursions into citizens' privacy.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 18 Feb 2009
One of the key technical strategists behind United States President Barack Obama's successful online election campaign has added to the chorus of disapproval over the (Australian) federal government's controversial mandatory internet filtering plans.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 18 Feb 2009
Internet giant Primus, one of the internet service providers involved in the Government’s mandatory filtering system trials, has compared the new filtering process to China’s harsh censorship laws.
Primus – the largest ISP to take part in the trials – also says any filtering systems shouldn’t be mandatory.
Primus manager of marketing and products, Andrew Sims, told news.com.au that customers should have a choice as to whether their internet connections are filtered.
“We've got instances of that around the world, particularly in China where the Government forces filtering upon their population,” he said. “My professional opinion is I don't really believe that forced filtering is a good option.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 18 Feb 2009
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's news censors will create a new "black list" to force out reporters found breaking rules, an official news agency said on Friday, adding to the wary government's tools for media control.
Li Dongdong, a deputy chief of the General Administration of Press and Publication, told officials that proposed strengthened regulations for Chinese journalists would include a "full database of people who engage in unhealthy professional conduct", the China News Service reported.
"People entered into the transgressor list will be excluded from engaging in news reporting and editing work," the report said, citing Li.
She said stricter controls being drafted by the agency were needed to "resolutely halt fake news".
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 18 Feb 2009
Privacy groups say widely-anticipated recommendations on how websites collect, save and share information about users don't protect the public.
The Federal Trade Commission's new policies focus on targeted advertising that tracks consumer behaviour online.
"The time for baby steps to protect online privacy is long passed, there need to be laws," said Jeff Chester of the Centre for Digital Democracy.
"Self-regulation simply hasn't worked," he said.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 17 Feb 2009
Your activities on the Internet are akin to your activities out in public—they're not private and are possibly open for police scrutiny, according to an Ontario Superior Court. The ruling was made by Justice Lynne Leitch on—surprise!—a child pornography case. The judge said that there's "no reasonable expectation of privacy" when it comes to logs kept by ISPs. Canadians, watch out, because everything you do online could soon be turned into legal fodder, even without a warrant.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 13 Feb 2009
China's crackdown on internet pornography and "lewd" content on the web has claimed another 276 websites, the government said on Tuesday, bringing the total number of websites closed to 1,911.
Although officials say they've made "notable progress" in cleansing the internet of smut and pesky dissenting political voices behind its Great Firewall, an unnamed official told the Xinhua new service — believe it or not — some folks are still finding ways of getting around the anti-porn regime.
The official stated that many sites have sidestepped government warnings by changing the offending website's URL or simply the page's appearance.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 13 Feb 2009
Six companies will take part in the Federal Government's trial of an internet content filter, with the Government shunning large ISPs Optus and iiNet in favour of smaller ones that are more sympathetic to its censorship agenda.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has named the internet providers which will be involved in the six-week trial.
Primus Telecommunications, Tech 2U, Webshield, OMNIconnect, Netforce and Highway 1 have signed up, and more may do so, Senator Conroy said.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 10 Feb 2009
As an internet service provider, iiNet has always looked to innovate within the constantly evolving and transforming space that is the world wide web.
The proposed Federal Cyber Safety Plan poses some significant challenges to iiNet and the broader industry, not only in terms of our technical capacity to deliver on the plan's objectives but more importantly our moral compulsion to do so.
With trials of the Federal Government’s Clean Feed Filter imminent, there has been a great deal of debate on both the technical and moral implications of such a plan. Despite its heated exchanges, this debate is an important one, given the large number of stakeholders who will be affected by its outcome.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 09 Feb 2009
Since the Turkish Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publications came into force in November 2007, several websites were blocked by court orders and administrative blocking orders issued by the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB). In terms of statistics, it was revealed by TIB that as of 01 January, 2009, 1475 websites are blocked in Turkey (compared to 1310 on 01 December, 2008, 1187 on 01 November, 2008, and 1115 on 01 October, 2008) under the provisions of Law No. 5651.
