general internet news - 22 March

[David Goldstein <goldstein_david@yahoo.com.au>]

Vigilantes Troll for Pedophiles (Part 1 of 2)
Posing as children, members of Perverted Justice haunt chat
rooms looking for would-be child molesters. Their goal is
to catch sexual predators in the act, but critics say their
aggressive tactics may undermine police efforts.
 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62650,00.html

They Wanted to Teach Him a Lesson (Part 2 of 2)
Police often pose as minors in chat rooms to snare
pedophiles. But when a group of vigilantes took on the
task, a 42-year-old high school teacher's life was turned
upside down.
 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62676,00.html

uk: Delegates back porn age reduction
Teenagers as young as 16 should be allowed access to
sexually explicit material, Liberal Democrat delegates have
agreed.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3553273.stm
Sex banter livens up Lib Dem debate
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3553583.stm

CoE: Entry into force of the Council of Europe Convention
on Cybercrime
The Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime will enter
into force following its ratification today by Lithuania as
the 5th country. The Secretary General of the Council of
Europe, Walter Schwimmer, has welcomed this important step
in the international fight against cybercrime, and has
encouraged more countries to ratify the agreement.
 http://press.coe.int/cp/2004/135a(2004).htm

CONFERENCE: JOLT 2004 Symposium - Evolving Media: Emerging
Distribution Technologies, and the Legal Response, March
19-20, 2004 - Harvard Law School
Janet Jackson and TiVo. Weblogs and presidential politics.
Howard Stern and Clear Channel. Decency vs. Censorship.
Newspapers online. The Drudge Report. Video-phones imbedded
with troops in Iraq. Comcast and Disney. FCC rules on trial
in Philadelphia. All access, all the time, to anything, for
everyone.
 http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/p.cgi/symposium/main2004.html

fr: Appeal court to try former Yahoo! boss in Nazi
memorabilia case
The Paris court of appeal ruled that it is competent to
hear the case against former Yahoo! boss Timothy Koogle who
was acquitted a year ago of illegally selling Nazi
memorabilia over the Internet.
 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040317/323/eotuk.html
 http://www.juriscom.net/actu/visu.php?ID=477 (Francais)

uk: Net chatbots to catch paedophiles
Smart software is being used to fool paedophiles into
thinking they are talking to children in net chatrooms.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3520834.stm
 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=4590716
 http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994783
 http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5174065.html

uk: Student 'sells virginity' via web
A lesbian university student who auctioned her virginity on
the internet to pay for her studies is reported to have had
sex with the highest bidder.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/3554121.stm

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/story_pages/news/news2.shtml

uk: Townshend fails to block BBC film on pornography arrest
New documentary shows Who guitarist being interviewed by
Scotland Yard's Child Protection Team after he was detained
for logging on to a child porn website.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=503463

nz: Online with the abusers
Steve O'Brien's three children have difficulty explaining
what their father does for a living. "One of the children
did a school talk that Daddy looks at porn." His youngest -
a 7-year-old - has an even shakier understanding. He can
only tell you that Daddy is no longer a policeman, which
means he'll probably never get a chance to ride in a police
car with the lights flashing.
 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3555810

uk: Bookies suffer online onslaught
The extent to which British betting websites are being
attacked by criminals using the net to bring down a site
unless a ransom is paid has been revealed by a BBC News
Online investigation.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3549883.stm

au: 20 students suspended over porn downloads
Twenty students at a South Australian school have been
suspended after pornographic video clips were found on
personal computer files, it was reported today.
 http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/18/1079199328566.html

us: Brewing interest in teens?
A new study shows that minors spend a significant amount of
time on alcohol company websites.
 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0315/p12s02-lifp.html

us: "Pee-wee Herman" actor pleads guilty to obscenity
charge
"Pee-wee Herman" actor Paul Reubens was sentenced to three
years probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanour
obscenity charge involving photographs seized from his
erotica collection.

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/content.asp?y=2004&dt=0321&pub=Utusan_Express&sec=Entertainment&pg=en_04.htm
 http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13736,00.html
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1070033.htm

US: Cop hard drives a bargain
Next month, 30-year-old Eric Cathcart is going to court for
charges of sex assault and sexual exploitation on a child
because pornographic files he thought he had deleted from
his home computer came back to life.
 http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11138124

us: Man accused of having child pornography
A Fayetteville man was charged Wednesday with possessing
pictures of girls 3 to 13 having sex.

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=local&Story=6237594

us: Techny novice faces Web porn charges
Northbrook Police arrested a 30-year-old man studying with
the Society of the Divine Word March 11 and charged him
with possessing and disseminating child pornography over
the Internet.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/wi/03-18-04-251561.html

jp: Advertising exec nailed over online prostitution
An Internet advertising executive was arrested Thursday for
running advertisements for a Tokyo brothel on its homepage,
police said.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20040318p2a00m0dm005000c.html

us: Drug search also nets child pornography
Chicago police said a search for illegal drugs March 5
resulted in the recovery of cocaine, a gun and child
pornography.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/eb/03-18-04-249789.html

us: Bill targets online predators Legislation awaits
governor's pen
When Hurricane detective Jason Moore goes after Internet
predators who stalk children, he has a few tools at his
disposal: a computer, some scary profiles of online
pedophiles and the inside track from teenagers about how
young people interact in cyberspace. He also soon might
have a new law on his side.
 http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/200403204

us: FBI arrests Schiller Park man
Kerby Gross, 33, of 9829 W. Lawrence Ave., Schiller Park,
was arrested at his residence March 10 by members of the
Chicago FBI's Innocent Images Task Force.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/fp/03-17-04-248826.html

uk: Dogging Craze Has Brits in Heat 
Giving new meaning to the term "flash mob," the British
have invented a new sex craze called "dogging" that mixes
sex, exhibitionism, mobs and the Internet.
 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62718,00.html

us: R. Kelly Off the Hook in Florida
Prosecutors in Florida have dropped 12 charges of child
porn against the R&B singer after a judge tossed out shots
of Kelly allegedly having sex with an underage girl because
the digital pics were illegally seized.
 http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13721,00.html

au: HR's email problems surpass porn
While downloading pornography at work continues to grab
headlines, there are far wider ramifications that many HR
practitioners are struggling to stay abreast of. HR
departments are failing to draft enforceable company email
and internet policies, a leading Sydney lawyer has told
Human Resources.

http://humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/62/0C01E262.asp

http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/EA25319B497F41F5CC256E5800636D4B

uk: Acas updates internet and e-mail policy guide
An updated guide to internet and e-mail policies was
published yesterday by Acas, the UK Advisory, Conciliation
and Arbitration Service. The guide explains why employers
should have these policies.

http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=acasupdatesinterne1079703466

cn: Mainland censors target blogs
China was targeting blogs - diary-style personal pages for
internet users - in its latest attempt to censor the
increasing popularity of the internet in the country.
 http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=9168
 http://www.bizreport.com/print.php?art_id=6551

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2004-03-19-china-blogcensors_x.htm
Censorship stepped up to target blogging
 http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9545 (English)
 http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9544 (Francais)

fr: Central filter against web hate for French schools
France plans to install a nation-wide internet filter
system in its state schools to deny pupils access to racist
and anti-Semitic websites, the prime minister's office
announced yesterday.
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2850250a28,00.html
 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;?storyID=4599516

Pakistan to adopt Malaysian porn-blocking technology?
Pakistani authorities have expressed an interest in
adopting pornography-blocking software developed by
Malaysia's Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology
(Apiit).

http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/3/19/technology/7574100&sec=technology

se: Teliasonera shuts down Hamas internet page
The Nordic region's biggest telecoms operator TeliaSonera
yesterday shut down a web page of militant Islamic group
Hamas after a Swedish public radio reported the website was
on the TeliaSonera network.
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2850249a28,00.html

us: Critics Decry Interior Internet Shutdown
The court-ordered shutdown of many of the Interior
Department's Internet connections is depriving American
Indian children of educational opportunities and preventing
public input on land management decisions, a leading
senator and environmentalists say.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/high_tech/1700/3-19-2004/20040319164502_29.html

us: Anti-piracy vigilantes track file sharers
A pair of coders nurturing a deep antipathy for software
pirates set off a controversy Thursday when they went
public with a months-old experiment to trick file sharers
into running a Trojan horse program that chastises users
and reports back to a central server.
 http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8279

us: Setting a Trap for Net Pirates
State Sen. Kevin Murray has a plan for fighting online
piracy: just ask the pirates who they are. The Culver City
Democrat is pushing a bill that would require California
file sharers to attach their real names and addresses to
the copyrighted goodies they let others download over
networks like Kazaa and Morpheus.

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-bill17mar17,1,4257498.story

de: Massive German sweep targets pirates
German authorities conducted raids on more than 750
locations on Tuesday and Thursday this week, seeking
evidence of Internet movie piracy operations.
 http://news.com.com/2110-1025_3-5175777.html

us: Parents learn piracy from kids
Nearly 40 per cent of parents in a US survey were unaware
they were violating copyrights by swapping music or movies
over the internet, according to a survey released.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9000070%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

uk: MPs reassess computer crime laws
UK legislation aimed at protecting computer users from
hackers and spammers is to investigated by an influential
group of MPs.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3520204.stm

us: New Cybersecurity Plans Unveiled
Two joint government and private-sector task forces, both
part of the National Cyber Security Partnership, on
Thursday unveiled their proposals to help make cyberspace
more secure. The Awareness and Outreach Task Force and the
Cyber Security Early Warning Task Force were formed late
last year to help assess the security of critical national
infrastructure.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18400890

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5653-2004Mar18.html

ng:  Enforcebility of Foreign Jurisdiction Clauses "The
Nigerian Perspective" (reg req'd)
Foreign Jurisdiction clauses are of critical importance to
international transactions. Together with choice of law
provisions they are almost indispensable preconditions to
achieving the orderliness and predictability, essential to
any international business transaction1. Thus, it is not
uncommon these days for parties involved in International
transactions to specify in the contractual agreements a
court of a particular country where they want their dispute
resolved. Such clauses or provisions in a commercial
agreement are known as jurisdictional clauses. By inserting
such provisions no other court, (including the forum court)
has jurisdiction to adjudicate over the disputes of the
parties. However, in spite of such provisions, you still
find parties to such agreements referring their disputes to
the forum court in breach of the foreign jurisdiction
clause. This article is an attempt to trace the approach of
Nigerian courts to foreign jurisdiction clauses in
international commercial agreements. However, before
considering the legal position in Nigeria, it is perhaps
pertinent, albeit briefly, to state the position of the
English courts on this issue.

http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=24995&email_access=on

us: Washington, DC Schools Receive Internet Bomb Threat
Police searched all schools in Washington, D.C., on Friday
after receiving a threat via the Internet that bombs had
been placed in five schools.
 http://www.bizreport.com/print.php?art_id=6544

us: Internet Makes Drug Traffickers Hard to Catch, DEA Says
The Internet and cellular telephones are making drug
traffickers harder than ever to catch and the job will only
become more difficult as technology develops, a U.S.
anti-drug official said on Thursday.
 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;?storyID=4601039

us: With Internet Fraud Up Sharply, eBay Attracts
Vigilantes
Five months ago, Klaus Priebe, a soft-spoken building
contractor who said he was sick and tired of fraud on eBay,
decided it was time to catch the cheaters at their game.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/20/technology/20EBAY.html
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/18.03.2004/140

ru: Cyber terrorism suspects will be detained for 30 days
in Russia
The State Duma of the Russian Federation passed a new bill
at the second reading. This bill increases the term of
detention without charge or trial for detainees suspected
of implication in terrorism, during investigation of a
number of crimes, including cyber terrorism, from 10 to 30
days.
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/19.03.2004/144

Internet fraud: little tricks and large losses
Computer related crimes may cause weighty circumstances:
irreparable loss of especially high-value information,
break of important technical facilities, e.g. defence
systems, navigator systems. In cases like that if caught
and convicted the hacker could face up to 7 years of jail.
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/19.03.2004/141

au: Aussies prefer snail mail
Despite having among the world's highest rates of internet
usage, a survey suggests Australians prefer to receive
written communication through traditional mail.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8993743%5E421,00.html

us: AOL blocks spammers' Web sites
America Online Inc. has adopted a new tactic against spam:
blocking its members' ability to see Web sites promoted by
bulk e-mailers.
 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4566512

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4609228

us: Survey: Anti-Spam Law Not of Much Effect
A new federal law designed to halt e-mail spam has not had
much effect on most American's computer inboxes, according
to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life
Project.
 http://www.bizreport.com/print.php?art_id=6554

us: The CAN-SPAM Act has not helped most email users so far
The distress of Internet users at spam has increased in
recent months and growing numbers of Internet users are
becoming disillusioned with email, despite the first
national anti-spam legislation which went into effect on
January 1. A new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life
Project between February 3 and March 1, 2004 shows the
following:
 http://www.pewinternet.org/releases/release.asp?id=76
 http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=116
(REPORT)

China is second biggest spam target
China's Internet servers were hit by at least 150 billion
junk emails last year, becoming the world's second-largest
destination for spam after the United States.
 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040318/80/eov2k.html

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4593902

de:  Music Downloading Goes Legit
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder inaugurated a new
Internet platform for music by downloading the first song
on Thursday. The German music industry hopes "Phonoline"
can help reverse its sagging fortunes.

http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1431_A_1126978_1_A,00.html

de: largest hacker crack down operation ever held
On March 18, German law enforcement held the largest
operation against homeland hackers. Several people were
arrested and around 38 terabytes of pirated software and
films seized following raids in Germany, according to a
media release from the German Federation Against Copyright
Theft (GVU).
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/21.03.2004/145

More Legal Wrangling Around Kazaa
The company that owns the file-sharing software is
embroiled in legal battles all over the world. Now its
being sued by a software developer who says he wrote the
source code to Kazaa and should be paid for his trouble.
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62700,00.html

Illegal internet networks in the developing world
Enabled by falling costs associated with constructing
international voice and data networks, and motivated by
high fees charged by incumbents for international telecom
services, illegal Internet network operators are
proliferating in many developing countries. Unlicensed
international data networks are commonly used by
competitive local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who do
not have the means to obtain an international gateway
license, and by Internet Telephony Service Providers
(ITSPs) that deliver international calling services
utilizing Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.
 http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/downloads/secao/2004-03.pdf

US: New Report on Libraries and the Digital Divide
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with a
number of national civic groups, today released a new
report that finds public libraries have helped close the
digital divide by providing free, public access to
computers and the Internet, particularly for people without
access at home or work. Yet despite widespread awareness of
and support for library-based public access computing,
libraries face significant challenges in sustaining and
improving this service.
 http://www.pewinternet.org/releases/release.asp?id=74

uk: UK Online Annual Report
This fourth and final annual report offers some encouraging
news about trends in UK Internet use. Here are a select
few:
 http://www.comminit.com/ctrends2004/sld-9592.html

us: Web Access at 75 Percent 
Nearly three of four people in the United States have
Internet access at home, Nielsen/NetRatings said on
Thursday.
 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62712,00.html

Beyond the digital divide
Amid much worthy talk of “bridging the digital divide”,
technology firms have realised that fostering the adoption
of information technology in the developing world would not
just benefit locals, but is in vendors' best interests as
well.

http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2476920

Blogging goes to work
Blogging brings to mind self-absorbed teenagers posting
their daily musings online. Might the technology be useful
in business?

http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2477025

IT workers--unhappy campers?
If information technology is your chosen vocation, think
again; you might be a lot happier if you switched
profession and took up hairdressing, plumbing, cooking or
even selling flowers.
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-5175988.html

http://www.city-and-guilds.co.uk/pls/cg2/PORTAL30.wwv_main.main?p_language=us&p_cornerid=44744&p_currcornerid=44744&p_full=1&p_siteid=393&p_edit=0&p_calledfrom=1

EU prepares second case against Microsoft
European competition authorities are preparing a second
probe into alleged anti-competitive behaviour by Microsoft,
the world's largest software company.

http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/news/story.jsp?story=503363

Microsoft's Bid to Settle Case in Europe Fails
European regulators announced on Thursday that settlement
talks with Microsoft had collapsed, leaving it virtually
certain that an antitrust ruling would be issued against
the company that could limit its ability to add new
features to its software in one of the largest and richest
markets in the world.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/technology/19SOFT.html

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1079419746010&p=1057562182635

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=4601701

What's Microsoft Up Against in Europe?
The EU's ruling against the software giant will have
far-ranging implications. Here's a look at how it's likely
to play out.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040318_6044_tc024.htm
High Noon for Microsoft in Europe

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040316_4269_tc119.htm
Microsoft: First Europe, Then...?

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040315_8257.htm

Microsoft's world of woe
As European Union verdict looms, software maker is more
distracted than ever.

http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040319.wmsfttt0319/BNStory/Business

nz: Man disputes damage caused in hacking case
A 36-year-old Dunedin man who has admitted breaking into
the computer system of an American company will argue about
just how much damage he caused in a special hearing.

http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/6ED3E18254E749C7CC256E5B0026B203

http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,262224-1-454,00.html

uk: Wireless internet stumbles ahead
The spread of wi-fi is being hampered by increasing complex
and incompatible products, an industry body promoting the
technology has said.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3549431.stm

The Future of Wireless Devices
Industry leaders and scholars discussed the Future of
Wireless Devices on a panel at South by Southwest
Interactive yesterday.  Discussion centered on the range
possibilities in both the future of devices, including
better phones and networked medical devices, and in
utilization of bandwidth, including available spectrum for
delivering data across the digital divide.  Panelists noted
that reaching this potential will hinge on questions like
standardization and future regulation.  The divide between
potential and actuality of wireless technology was clear as
we sat in the audience: despite good WiFi signals in the
conference rooms, cords from laptops still overloaded
outlets and power strips.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=251

US: Content Creation Online
More than 53 million American adults have used the Internet
to publish their thoughts, respond to others, post
pictures, share files and otherwise contribute to the
explosion of content available online.
 http://www.pewinternet.org/releases/release.asp?id=75

Microsoft plans new search engine
Microsoft says that a new engine for its MSN Search service
will start up in July, another step in its plan to
challenge Google's pole position as the Web's top search
destination.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4610763


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=====
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 address: 2/4 Dundas Street
             COOGEE NSW 2034
             AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
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