general internet news - 29 March

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

Who should govern the Net?
A United Nations summit ended Friday with a consensus that
poorer nations must have more influence on the way the
Internet is run, but with no agreement among delegates on
the details.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5180134.html

United Nations ponders Net's future
The United Nations wants a big piece of the Internet. At a
summit here this week, delegates from around the world
gathered to take a preliminary step toward U.N. involvement
in some of the areas that are bedeviling Internet users and
governments alike, including spam, network security,
privacy and the regulation of the technical underpinnings
that control the sprawling global network.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5179694.html
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5179694.html

Internet Group Defends Its Stewardship
The U.S. government-sanctioned organization that oversees
the Internet's all-important "telephone book" defended its
work Friday as diplomats and computer companies considered
a greater role for the United Nations. Paul Twomey, the
chief executive of the Internet Corporation of Assigned
Names and Numbers, said the organization is already trying
to modernize and allow participation from other countries.
 http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=6664

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040326.gtnetmar26/BNStory/Technology

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8286842.htm

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8288308.htm

Digital divide: Are the rich ruling over the internet?
Who runs the internet and how can it better serve the
world? Everyone from the internet’s founders to advocacy
groups recently met at the United Nations to work on a new
definition of governing the internet.
 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/584615.cms

http://www.sabcnews.com/sci_tech/internet/0,2172,76630,00.html

U.N. finds Net governance tempting
A task force that intends to increase the United Nations'
involvement with running the Internet is convening here
Thursday, its first meeting since VeriSign filed a lawsuit
against the group that now oversees domain names and
addresses.
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5179122.html
 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5179122.html

http://www.cbronline.com/currentnews/1599b90183a7117980256e6200385e2e

The Legacy of WSIS
AudioBerkman brings you inside the World Summit on the
Information Society – the enormous UN-sponsored convention
held in December 2003.  WSIS brought together a staggering
number of international diplomats, scholars, activists, and
government officials for discussions about the future of
information and communications technologies (ICTs).  How do
you make sense of a milestone this big?  The scholarly
journal, Information Technologies and International
Development, asked exactly this question in January by
issuing a call for papers for an issue devoted to making
sense of WSIS.  AudioBerkman follows Colin Maclay, a
Berkman Center fellow and contributor to the journal, as he
and ITID editors sift submissions and try to evaluate the
legacy of WSIS.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=259

Groups debate U.N. control over Internet
Typically, only heads of state and titans of industry get
an audience on the 38th floor of the marble-and-glass tower
housing the United Nations.

http://newscoast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040328/NEWS/403280422/1060/NEWS02

Good Internet Governance Key for Development - Annan
A story making the rounds at the United Nations forum on
Internet governance is about a young U.S. student of
philosophy who decides to seek spiritual guidance from an
ascetic monk living in the foothills of the Himalayas.
 http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=23052

Africa Cautioned On Liberalisation
Africa governments have been urged not to fully liberalise
their information and communication sectors if the goal of
universal access to communication services is to be
achieved.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200403260393.html

un: Internet governance system working but needs to be more
inclusive, UN forum told
The current system of Internet governance seems to be
working well, but the question was how to better coordinate
the work of specialized bodies and ensure the involvement
of all stakeholders, participants told a United Nations
forum today in New York.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10228&Cr=internet&Cr1=

un: Experts meet at UN to examine Internet regulation
Government, business and civil society representatives
convened today at United Nations Headquarters in New York
to examine issues surrounding the regulation of the
Internet, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging
participants to ensure that the benefits of this
revolutionary medium are made available to everyone around
the world.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10199&Cr=internet&Cr1=

WSIS Geneva, just a talking shop?
It is barely a quarter of the year since the first phase of
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held
in December 2003 to discuss ways in which the Information
Society, could address issues of accessibility and how the
dissemination of information for development could be made
easier than ever before in the world, through the use of
communication tools such as Internet, radio, TV,
telephones, etc, collectively known as Information and
Communications Technologies (ICT's).
 http://africa.oneworld.net/article/view/80144/1

Eurobarometer survey on illegal & harmful content on the
Internet
The Eurobarometer survey, conducted by the Commission, 
presents the attitude of European Union citizens towards
illegal and harmful content on the Internet and their
knowledge of how to protect their children against it.

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/programmes/iap/docs/pdf/reports/eurobarometer_survey.pdf

NannieBot claims leave experts unconvinced
New software claims it can protect children using chatrooms
by spotting suspicious adults - but experts are not
convinced.
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1153845

au: Call for law to net cyber pedophiles
A 'dirty old man' offence should be introduced to combat
pedophiles using the Internet to trap children and
teenagers, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,9074513%255E95300.html

au: Panel wants online grooming to be federal offence
Luring and grooming children over the internet for sexual
purposes should be made a federal offence, a parliamentary
inquiry into cybercrime recommended yesterday.
 http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/25/1079939753415.html

au: ISP review needed to track net paedophiles: report
A Federal Parliamentary report into cyber crime has
recommended a review of the internet provider industry to
make it easier to track down online paedophile predators.
 http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1073191.htm

uk: UK ISPs clean up their act
UK ISPs now host less than 1 percent of potentially illegal
child-abuse material, according to latest research. But the
perpetrators are simply choosing offshore hosts where
legislation is more lenient.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39149922,00.htm
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1153772

uk: Chatrooms separate the men from the boys
Internet chatroom users can be so aggressive that a
sociologist studying them has labelled some online
communities 'electronic fight clubs'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1178589,00.html

ca: Canadian Web sleuths save U.S. girl in porn case
In the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina is a little
girl who owes her life -- perhaps literally -- to seven
Toronto police officers.

http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040326.gtblatch26/BNStory/Technology/

us: Under Ohio bill, children in porn wouldn't have to be
real
Legislation introduced in the Ohio House would amend Ohio
law so that no proof would be required that a minor
depicted in pornography is an actual person.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-03-26-ohio-porn_x.htm
 http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=13051

us: Probe targets online child abuse and exploitation
Authorities warned parents Tuesday to keep close tabs on
their children's Internet use as nearly a dozen new arrests
were announced as part of a yearlong probe into online
child pornography and exploitation in central Illinois.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2004-03-24-operation-cybersafe_x.htm

us: Primer: Children, The Internet and Pornography
Pornography has been a bellwether for the rise of Internet
since the World Wide Web emerged in the mid-1990s.
Pornography was the first e-commerce sector to post real
profits from online transactions and the first to incur the
scrutiny of lawmakers eager to set rules for the untamed
Internet.
 http://www.bizreport.com/print.php?art_id=6667

us: Virginia Net Porn Law Still Unconstitutional: Appeals
Court
Virginia's law limiting Internet display of adult material
to minors violates the Constitution, a three-judge 4th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled March 26. "The blanket
prohibition of adult commercial speech that the statute
imposes," wrote federal judge James R. Spencer, who is
sitting on the appellate court in the case, "violates the
First Amendment."

http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=78167
 http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=6668

us: Pierce County foster parent arrested in child rapes,
porn
A Pierce County man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of
repeatedly raping his six foster children — boys ages 5 to
7 — and forcing them to pose for sexually explicit
photographs that he allegedly distributed over the
Internet.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001888488_foster26m.html

us: Del. man faces child porn charges
State police high-tech investigators have found several
hundred images of children engaging in sexual acts in a
business computer of a 41-year-old Hockessin man.

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/03/26delmanfaceschil.html

us: Former coach faces child porn charge
A former Little League baseball coach from Willmar., Minn.,
is charged with possessing child pornography on his
personal computer.
 http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4684231.html

us: Eleven in Illinois Busted for Child Porn
Eleven people have been arrested this week on several child
porn charges, from possessing photographs to soliciting sex
with children over the Internet, the Central Illinois
Cybercrime Unit said March 24.

http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=78094

us: Man arrested in Turlock gets 5 1/2 years for attempted
kidnapping
Jerry Dock McClain pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping,
attempted child molestation, attempted in sending harmful
matter to a child and attempted distribution of child
pornography to a minor, said Stanislaus County District
Attorney James Brazelton in a press release Friday. McClain
was sentenced to a 5 1/2-year prison sentence.
 http://www.turlockjournal.com/news/newsview.asp?c=101874

us: Maryland man lured area boy, police say
If parents need more evidence that their children should be
strictly monitored while they are on Internet chat rooms,
here it is, police say.

http://pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1080383472319040.xml

us: Search for suspect spanned 2 continents

By Stuart Eskenazi and Michael Ko
Two groups that work to stamp out child pornography on the
Internet helped Pierce County investigators track down a
foster father who police say posted sexually explicit
photos of six young boys entrusted to his care.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001889357_catch27m.html

us: Man held on child porn charges
A 67-year-old Des Plaines man is in Cook County Jail after
being charged with felony possession and distribution of
child pornography.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/mp/03-25-04-253395.html

us: Jefferson man arrested on computer charges
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Jefferson
Police Department arrested a 39-year-old Jefferson man
Friday on charges of child computer pornography.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/032404/new_20040324030.shtml

us: Jury finds man guilty in teen-sex sting case
A former Navy physicist standing trial for the second time
on charges that he used the Internet to try to seduce a
teen-age girl was convicted yesterday after a federal jury
in Baltimore rejected the defendant's claim that he was
engaged merely in an online sexual fantasy.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.chambers24mar24,0,1779914.story
 http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/2945225/detail.html

us: Federal appeals court allows nude dance on Web
A federal appeals court has lifted an order that blocked
Internet sites from showing images of a former television
newswoman doing an impromptu nude dance.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-03-26-nude-dance-ruling_x.htm

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/other/1110/3-26-2004/20040326110006_03.html

us: Child porn on city laptop; Davenport worker fired
A Davenport city employee was terminated from his job March
15 after investigators allegedly learned he visited child
pornography sites on a city laptop computer. 

http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=188778

us: Police target online porn
Authorities warned parents Tuesday to keep close tabs on
their children's Internet use as nearly a dozen new arrests
were announced as part of a yearlong probe into online
child pornography and exploitation in Central Illinois.

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/032404/new_20040324036.shtml

uk: Teacher looked at porn sites at school
A teacher who viewed pornography on his computer at a
Cambridge school will have his internet use monitored for
the next two years.

http://cambridgenews.co.uk/news/cambridge/story.asp?StoryID=51667

Reporters Without Borders announces prizes for online
repression
To mark the Internet Festival that France and several
French-speaking countries (Belgium, Burkina Faso, Senegal,
Madagascar and Canada-Quebec) are holding from 29 March to
4 April, Reporters Without Borders announces its awards for
online repression. Top prize, the Golden Palm, goes to
China. Eight other countries put in outstanding
performances.
 http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9661
Reporters sans frontières décerne ses trophées de la
répression sur le Net
 http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9658

Reporteros sin Fronteras pide entrevistarse con Marco
Tronchetti Provera, presidente del consejo de
administración de Telecom Italia
La organización quiere llamar la atención del Presidente
sobre las implicaciones de la participación de su empresa
en la operadora de telecomunicaciones cubana ETECSA.
 http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9650

kr: Controversy Erupts Over Online Political Parodies
The arrest of a university student Tuesday for circulating
images on the Internet parodying opposition parties and
their leaders has sparked a backlash from netizens who
believe the police are limiting their freedom of
expression.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200403/kt2004032416522011980.htm

German Police Raid Online Neo-Nazi Music Sharers
German police raided the homes of more than 300 people on
Wednesday who they suspect of posting neo-Nazi music files
on the Internet for others to download, the Federal Crime
Office said in a statement.
 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=4647828
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2855655a28,00.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/03/25/bc.germany.nazis.reut/index.html

uk: Industry targets song swappers
The music industry has announced it will begin issuing
legal warnings to the nation's most prolific online
song-swappers, its strongest declaration yet that lawsuits
are on the way.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4662306
 http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-5179121.html

uk: Why record labels' threats won't work
Record industry warnings will not halt illegal music
downloads - but big name online music stores could.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,1178988,00.html

us: Internet Safety Guide For Parents
The Internet is an area that can pose a very real threat to
children. The anonymity of the 'Net offers adults the
chance to pose as children, then try to set up a
face-to-face meeting. Young teens may also be lured into
virtual relationships with older adults that may result in
actual encounters.
 http://www.wpxi.com/family/1932126/detail.html

China in internet café crackdown
Maintaining its iron-clad stance on information censorship,
Chinese authorities have now banned internet cafes from
sprouting up near residences and schools.

http://www.silicon.com/networks/webwatch/0,39024667,39119519,00.htm
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39149878,00.htm

nz: ISP code slow to develop
InternetNZ’s code of practice (COP) for ISPs is proving a
much tougher job than anticipated. The society has not even
managed to appoint a person to co-ordinate the work towards
the code yet, and is unlikely to do so before late April,
executive director Peter Macaulay says.

http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/29B52994F1924C71CC256E620076CAD7

ru: Internet as an instrument of cyber crime
Experts of The Association of Russian Banks think that
uniqueness of the Internet is that it is not a system owned
by one individual, company, state authority or country.
Actually none of its segments is regulated, censored or
contently controlled.
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/25.03.2004/153

U.S. Online Gambling Policy Violates Law, W.T.O. Rules
The WTP, in its first decision on an Internet-related
dispute, has ignited a political, cultural and legal
tinderbox by ruling that the United States policy
prohibiting online gambling violates international trade
law.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/technology/26gamble.html

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4666619

http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/article.cfm?contentID=141805

us: FTC, Justice Department Halt Identity Theft Scam
In a joint law enforcement initiative, the Federal Trade
Commission and the Department of Justice have brought two
separate actions to shut down a spam operation that
hijacked logos from AOL and Paypal to con hundreds of
consumers into providing credit card and bank account
numbers. At the request of the FTC, a U.S. District Court
ordered the defendant to halt his identity theft scam,
known as “phishing.” The Justice Department obtained a
criminal conviction and the defendant is awaiting
sentencing.
 http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/03/phishinghilljoint.htm

us: Online Swindlers, Called 'Phishers,' Lure Unwary
Last year, EarthLink, the big Internet access provider,
went hunting for phishers.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/technology/24PHIS.html

nz: Spam effort needs to be global
An internet expert says the government's move to outlaw
unsolicited bulk commercial emails is doomed to failure in
the absence of a global effort to stop spam.

http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,263073-1-454,00.html

nz: InternetNZ welcomes anti-spam legislation (news
release)
InternetNZ, the Internet Society of New Zealand, is
welcoming the announcement by the Government that it will
introduce to Parliament anti-spam legislation by the end of
the year.
 http://internetnz.net.nz/communications/mr040323spam.html

UK plans to extradite spammers
Spam-related offences under the Computer Misuse Act may be
grounds for extradition to the UK, a Member of Parliament
has said.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39117491,00.htm

Spam Gets Its Claws in the U.N.
Delegates from around the globe gather to discuss how to
tame the beast of Internet regulation and maintenance.
Dealing with spam might be a test case.
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,62824,00.html

A Better Way To Squelch Spam?
An open-source scheme would impose a computational "cost"
on junk mailers while leaving legitimate users of e-mail
alone.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_johansson032604.asp

You call it spam, they call it a living
It's been almost three months since the Can-Spam Act became
official, yet most of us are still getting barraged with
e-mail come-ons. The subject lines might be more subtle:
"Check this out" instead of "Hot Babes!" for instance, but
the number of spam messages hasn't dwindled. In fact, it
has increased from 58 percent of e-mails last December to
62 percent last month, despite efforts of the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) to police the law.
 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0322/p12s02-ussc.html

Britain sees surge in 'phishing'
UK bank customers have been warned they may be targeted in
a new wave of "phishing" scam emails.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3567563.stm

ISPs Continue to Block Permission-Based Emails, Return Path
Report Says
A substantial number of permission-based emails continue to
be redirected to the digital dead letter office by the
overly aggressive filters of Internet Service Providers
(ISPs), according to Return Path's semi-annual "Email
Blocking and Filtering Report." In fact, the report by the
provider of email performance monitoring tools indicates
that the overall number of messages denied entry into
users' inboxes rose slightly from July-December 2003.
 http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsID=243830

us: For Some Internet Users, It's Better Late Than Never
Once viewed by many people as a lost digital cause, the
nation’s elderly are now the fastest-growing group of
Internet users.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/technology/circuits/25elde.html

nz: TCNZ in court over broadband
Telecom New Zealand has found itself in hot water with New
Zealand's competition watchdog over wholesale broadband
pricing, mirroring the regulatory woes of trans-Tasman
rival Telstra.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9073008%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

FREE CULTURE RELEASED UNDER CC LICENSE
Free Culture, the latest book from Professor Lawrence
Lessig, released yesterday by Penguin Press, has been made
available under a Creative Commons license. To  to Download
Free Culture by Larry Lessig, go to:
 http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/

uk: Are web sites deceiving the disabled on accessibility?
Tests carried out on 111 web sites of UK organisations
reveal that 40% of the sites do not meet the checkpoints
for which they claim accessibility compliance – and
government sites are the worst offenders.

http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=arewebsitesdeceiv1080217679

Windows à la carte (sub req'd)
Might the European Commission's controversial new antidote
to Microsoft's monopoly actually work?

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2539832

Can Microsoft be tamed?
After more than five years of investigation, the European
Commission has fined Microsoft almost €500m for
monopolistic abuses and given it four months to make life
easier for competitors in the server and media-player
markets. But with a long-winded appeal inevitable, the
punishment may prove ineffectual.

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2535519

Microsoft ruling sets EU against US
Does Europe have any right to impose measures upon a US
company?

http://www.silicon.com/management/government/0,39024677,39119556,00.htm

Microsoft: The Hot Ticket in Brussels
When European trustbuster Mario Monti announced the $613
million penalty, the first act came to an end. This drama
still has a way to run, however.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040325_3121_tc062.htm

A New World for Microsoft?
If the EU ruling against the software giant is upheld, it
could force changes in the way Redmond does business.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040325_5965_tc004.htm

US sought reassurance on Microsoft
Robert Zoellick, US trade representative, sought assurances
about Europe's antitrust case against Microsoft late last
month, it emerged.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1079419925750&p=1057562182635


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