A cyber attack earlier today left Optus’s business customers with limited internet access to the US and wreaked havoc on corporate email systems. An Optus spokeswoman confirmed that a denial-of-service attack on one of the carrier’s business customers swamped the link, slowing internet traffic to a trickle
Child pornographers can be captured and prosecuted without having to resort to mandatory internet filters, says Barack Obama confidante and US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich. The Rudd government has said the mandatory filters are crucial in its arsenal of online weapons aimed at stamping out child pornography and other forms of illegal material
Internet Industry Association (IIA) chief executive officer Peter Coroneos has said he plans to ask his members to sign a declaration calling for more transparency in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) talks being held this week in Wellington, New Zealand. Unfortunately, The US Trade Representative issued a release just prior to the launch of the New Zealand round of ACTA negotiations that has left no doubt that the US is the biggest barrier to official release of the ACTA text. The full text of the release is couched in terms of improving transparency, but is really a thinly-veiled shot at the European Union’s public demands for release of the text
For all its ideals in support of openness and freedom of information, those behind WikiLeaks — especially its key founder, Julian Assange — dwell in shadows and intrigue. They have no headquarters, no offices and the barest of a formal structure. Assange is particularly elusive, part obviously through necessity and part mercurial make-up. Home — or the nearest he has to one — is said to have been eastern Africa for the past two years or so
Japan’s largest business newspaper, the Nikkei, joined the trend of other news sites last week by requiring readers to pay to view its Web site. But, in a twist, it also imposed a policy severely restricting links to its articles — or even its home page. Links to Nikkei’s home page require a detailed written application. Among other things, applicants must spell out their reasons for linking to the site
Kevin Trudeau was sentenced to 30 days in jail on a contempt charge for urging his followers to e-mail a judge. Lots of e-mail. The brouhaha began in February, when TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau urged his radio and web followers to deluge US District Judge Robert Gettleman with e-mail so he would side with him in a civil lawsuit pending before the Chicago judge. The judge’s inbox was flooded with hundreds of messages, and his Blackberry froze up. He promptly found Trudeau in contempt of court and sentenced him to jail
When Exit International wanted to ensure its members could access its pro-euthanasia material, set to be blocked under the government’s proposed Internet content filter, it turned to the Pirate Party of Australia. The Pirate Party hates the Internet filter and readily put Exit International in contact with member David Campbell, from Newcastle IT shop ClearComputers. The brief? To teach 70-year olds to bypass the Internet filter. Campbell accepted the challenge, and proved breaking the filter is not just child’s play. Your grandma can do it too
For $5000 you could buy a round the world air ticket — maybe even two — a Prada handbag, or a dozen Apple iPads. Or you could buy 1GB of mobile data on TPG’s $49.99 Super Cap plan when you go over the 500MB per month cap
Last night the UK Government rammed through the controversial Digital Economy Bill after its third reading and just two hours debate. This means that it will later become law, everyone will stop sharing files online and the music and movie industries will net billions in the years to come. Better still, it has the full support of the people
Google should not expect to be beyond international criticism while it offers the US Government access to its data on request but lambasts other governments for interfering with the rights of online users
Memory sticks and CDs containing the personal details of 9,000 school children have been stolen from a house in north London. The devices storing names, addresses and dates of birth of pupils in Barnet were taken during in a break-in at a council employee’s home two weeks ago
When the science writer Simon Singh sat down to write an opinion piece on chiropractors two years ago, he could have had little inkling of the nightmare that lay ahead. Yesterday, after a court of appeal ruling hailed as a resounding victory
for Singh, he has been spared having to stand up in court and prove that the comments that sparked a libel suit from the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) were factually correct — an experience that the three appeal judges compared to an Orwellian ministry of truth
. The landmark ruling will allow the writer, whose battle has become a catalyst for demands for libel law reform, to rely on a fair comment
defence of his statements about chiropractors. It will also strengthen the position of others — from science writers and medical professionals to bloggers — who face libel suits, as the judges made clear the court was not the place to settle scientific controversies
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration’s effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W Bush
Yahoo e-mail accounts belonging to foreign journalists appeared to have been hacked and Google’s Chinese search engine was intermittently blocked Tuesday, the latest troubles in China’s heavily censored internet market. The Yahoo accounts of at least three journalists and an analyst became inaccessible over the last few weeks. They were greeted with messages saying, We’ve detected an issue with your account
and were told to contact Yahoo, they said Tuesday. Yahoo technicians told one of the four that his account had been hacked and restored his access, but it was not clear if the other instances were related
Patents on genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer are invalid, ruled a New York federal court today. The precedent-setting ruling marks the first time a court has found patents on genes unlawful and calls into question the validity of patents now held on approximately 2,000 human genes. The ruling follows a lawsuit brought by a group of patients and scientists represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), a not-for-profit organization affiliated with Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law
Australia’s planned mandatory internet service provider level internet filter will block Refused Classification (RC) material. Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy says that’s child pornography, pro-bestiality sites, pro-rape websites and material like that
. But it’s actually more than that. The full definition of RC isn’t even described by adding the phrase detailed instruction in crime
which Senator Conroy sometimes mentions. It’s actually any instruction in any crime whatsoever. Since copyright infringement now includes some criminal offences, some technical information on bypassing digital rights management or copy protection is potentially RC. Offline, books about graffiti art have already been Refused Classification, as was a satirical article about shoplifting published in a student newspaper
Data on 3.3 million borrowers was stolen from a nonprofit company that helps with student loan financing. The theft occurred on 20 or 21 March from the headquarters of Educational Credit Management Corp (ECMC), which services loans when student borrowers enter bankruptcy. The data was contained on portable media, said the organisation, which is a dedicated guaranty agency for Virginia, Oregon and Connecticut. The data included names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers but no financial information such as credit card numbers or bank account data, ECMC said in a news release
The US government says it has concerns about Australia’s plan to introduce a mandatory internet filter. The Federal Government wants to force internet service providers to block offensive material, including child pornography and instructions for criminal activity, from overseas web sites. The Government is facing growing pressure from anti-censorship and internet groups to drop the idea. Now the US government has added its voice to those expressing concern
The last days of this dreadful government are being accompanied by an attack on rights and privacy that seems unprecedented during Labour’s 13-year rule. The government is now drawing up plans to amend the Postal Services Act to allow tax inspectors to intercept and open people’s mail before it is delivered. Given the state’s ambitions to collect all communications data this is hardly surprising, but we must ask ourselves how many more rights are seized by government and its agencies before Britain becomes the GDR’s most obvious European imitator. Currently postal workers have the right to intercept suspicious letters and packages and pass them to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and then at an agreed moment the item is opened in front of the addressee. The change in the law will mean that HMRC will be able to open whatever it likes without the addressee being present or being made aware of the interception
Schools and libraries are hurting students by setting up heavy-handed Web filtering software that block access to potentially educational sites. Instead, educators should trust teachers and librarians to oversee schools Internet access, says Craig Cunningham, a professor at National-Louis University. Web filtering software should be configured so that, when a student stumbles across a site that’s blocked, the teacher or librarian can make a judgment whether the content is appropriate for study, and if it is, the teacher or librarian can let the site through
RSS – Posts