general internet news - 5 April, part 3

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

Fightback or death-rattle?
The recording industry has launched a wave of lawsuits
outside America in a bid to curb illegal file-sharing on
the internet, which has contributed to a steep decline in
music sales. The industry is cutting costs, consolidating
and—finally—getting to grips with legal online
distribution.

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2552490

EU tells Greece to lift electronic games ban
The European Commission has threatened to take Greece to
court if does not lift a ban on electronic games within two
months.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4735049

Microsoft and Sun End Long Acrimony in Surprise Accord
Microsoft and Sun Microsystems announced an armistice
Friday, ending years of hostility between Sun's chief
executive and the world's largest software company.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/03/business/03SUN.html

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/2004-04-02-sun-cuts-settles_x.htm

The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales - An Empirical
Analysis by Felix Oberholzer and Koleman Strumpf
A longstanding economic question is the appropriate level
of protection for intellectual property. The Internet has
drastically lowered the cost of copying information goods
and provides a natural crucible to assess the implications
of reduced protection. We consider the specific case of
file sharing and its effect on the legal sales of music. A
dataset containing 0.01% of the world’s downloads is
matched to U.S. sales data for a large number of albums. To
establish causality, downloads are instrumented using
technical features related to file sharing, such as network
congestion or song length, as well as international school
holidays. Downloads have an effect on sales which is
statistically indistinguishable from zero, despite rather
precise estimates. Moreover, these estimates are of
moderate economic significance and are inconsistent with
claims that file sharing is the primary reason for the
recent decline in music sales.

http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/downloads/secao/FileSharing_March2004.pdf

United Nations progress on e-commerce treaty
The recommendation on a draft text adopted last week at a
meeting of the UN Commission on International Trade Law's
(UNCITRAL) Working Group on Electronic Commerce will be
submitted to the Commission's next full session in June.
The text focuses on areas such as legal electronic
transactions, data exchanges and e-mail messages.

http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/novidades/noticias/index.asp?id=2624

UTAH ENACTS SPYWARE LAW (Bill)
 www.freedom-to-tinker.com/doc/2004/utah_9mar.pdf

Information Privacy/Information Property by Jessica Litman
Almost everything each of us does seems to generate
transactional information. Walks round the block are still
unrecorded, except in those communities with cameras.
Interactions that begin and end and stay within the home
are still largely unreported, although everything entering
and leaving by way of the phone lines, cable lines,
satellite dishes or wireless, non-broadcast spectrum is
documented. Non-cash purchases are memorialized and toted
up. Large cash purchases are memorialized and turned in.
Cash withdrawals and deposits are recorded and saved.
Visits to the doctor, diagnoses, prescriptions, and
referrals are coded and passed along. Everything we look at
on the Internet is noted and retained. All of this
information is collected, aggregated and stored on
computers. Anyone with reason to do so can correlate the
information stored on one computer with the information
stored on another, and another and another. Theresulting
dossier may be used, sold, published, or correlated with
other sources of data. In the United States, that's
completely legal.
 http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/downloads/secao/000320305.pdf

Next-Generation File Sharing with Social Networks by Robert
Kaye
Open file sharing systems like Kazaa welcome everyone on
the net and enjoy a broad selection of content. The
selection is so vast that Cory Doctorow calls it "The
largest library ever created." (Personally, I'd call it the
"largest and messiest library ever created," but that is
another essay entirely.) However, this vast selection comes
with a significant risk attached -- outsider attackers who
want to stop you from sharing files and would like to throw
you in jail or pilfer your college fund.

http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2004/03/05/file_share.html

http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/novidades/artigos/index.asp?id=2642

us: Council of Better Business Bureaus, National Cyber
Security Alliance, Federal Trade Commission, Offer
Businesses Tips For Keeping Their Computer Systems Secure
The Council of Better Business Bureaus, the National Cyber
Security Alliance, and the Federal Trade Commission are
urging small businesses to keep their computer systems
secure by evaluating their computer security practices
regularly and by performing a substantive security audit at
least twice a year - when they're focused on changing their
clocks. The BBB and the National Cyber Security Alliance
have developed a checklist to help businesses guard their
computer systems against attacks.
 http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/04/cybersecure.htm

Illegal Internet Networks in the Developing World by Joshua
Gordon
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/Illegal%20Internet%20Networks.pdf
 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/2004-03

us: Internet Law Program at Harvard Law School
The Internet Law Program at Harvard features two central
components: a distance-learning component and classroom
instruction. No previous experience with Internet law is
required and international participation is encouraged. The
lectures are designed to appeal to professionals from
diverse backgrounds, including business, law, education,
technology, policy, and journalism. American lawyers may be
eligible for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit.

http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/novidades/eventos/index.asp?id=2493
 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/harvard_2004

O GOVERNO DA INTERNET: UMA ANÁLISE SOB A ÓTICA DO DIREITO
DAS TELECOMUNICAÇÕES by Carlos Alberto Rohrmann*
A Internet apresenta-se como um novo meio de comunicação
para a humanidade. Fazendo uso de uma complexa
infra-estrutura técnica, a rede permite a troca de dados
entre pessoas localizadas em continentes distintos a baixo
custo. O fato de um email ser enviado de um país e,
rapidamente, chegar a outro, contendo gráficos, texto,
imagens e som parece algo mágico. Obviamente, a rede não
padece da falta de uma estrutura organizacional técnica e
de regulamentação.
 http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/downloads/secao/GovInt.pdf

The Changing Roles of Patent and Copyright Protection for
Software by Gregory J. Kirsch

http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/novidades/artigos/index.asp?id=2613

Telecom Outlook Report on Wireless What Lies Ahead:
Understanding Customers’ Requirements in Demanding Times by
Dr. Elizabeth Fife
The Telecom Outlook Report (TOR) has sought to pinpoint the
current state of thinking in the telecom industry since
1987. Based upon a comprehensive survey of industry
experts, the TOR presents findings about customer
requirements for services, devices, and infrastructure in
the mobile world. The TOR experts provide forecasts and
supporting rationale about the future of the industry and
the business models that will ensure a profitable future
for the wireless telecom industry. This white paper
provides a few select findings and introduces a few of the
overall themes that are developed in the full report.
 http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/downloads/secao/telecom.pdf

International Internet Governance in the Area of
Infrastructure and Security by Carlos Motta

http://www.cbeji.com.br/br/novidades/artigos/index.asp?id=2635

de: Schröder calls job offshoring 'unpatriotic'
Government and business representatives this week quarreled
over who is to blame for increasing job exports from
Germany. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called the transfer of
jobs to cheaper foreign locations “unpatriotic“ after
comments from a prominent business lobbyist were
interpreted as a call on German companies to seek their
luck elsewhere.

http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain.asp?rub={B1311FCE-FBFB-11D2-B228-00105A9CAF88}&doc={89BEB462-0D31-4189-A2E5-8DE082E1583A}

Mobile phones on planes
Mobile phones may not be banned on planes for much longer.

http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2559174

Google Drops an E-Mail Bomb
Its coming free "Gmail" service, with 1 gigabyte of
storage, looks likely to score a direct hit on rivals
Yahoo! and Microsoft.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2004/tc2004041_5024_tc120.htm

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/0,39023166,39143629,00.htm
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3588933.stm
 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/technology/01google.html

Google's Prying Eyes in Your E-Mail Inbox
Months of glowing press for search engine darling Google
came to a crashing end yesterday as privacy advocates
sounded the "Big Brother" alert about the company's planned
Gmail service.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44454-2004Apr2.html
 http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=6753
 http://news.com.com/2010-1032_3-5183646.html

Google is watching you
Once it was a plucky upstart, but now the
multi-billion-dollar firm is charged with invading our
privacy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1185534,00.html


=====
David Goldstein
 address: 2/4 Dundas Street
             COOGEE NSW 2034
             AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
 phone: +61 418 228 605 - mobile; +61 2 9665 0015 - home

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