The Government’s plan to censor the internet is in tatters, with Australia’s largest ISP saying it will not take part in live trials of the system and the second largest committing only to a scaled-back trial. And the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has written to critics saying that the so-called live
trials would be a closed network test and will not involve actual customers
. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said this was a sign the Government was slowly backing away from the heavily criticised policy
Among international outrages, depriving citizens of personalised maps seems far down on the list. Still, that was the condition put on the introduction of Apple’s iPhone 3G in Egypt. The government demanded that Apple disable the phone’s global-positioning system, arguing that GPS is a military prerogative
Wikinews has learned that at least six of the United Kingdom’s main ISPs have implemented monitoring and filtering mechanisms that are causing major problems for UK contributors on websites operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, amongst up to 1200 other websites. The filters appear to be applied because Wikimedia sites are hosting a Scorpions album cover which some call child pornography. The Scorpions are a German rock band who have used several controversial album covers and are perhaps best known for their song, Rock You Like a Hurricane
Community advocacy group Get Up says the Federal Government’s commitment to internet censorship will slow down speeds and hurt the economy. The Federal Government will place mandatory filters on the internet as part of its cyber-safety plan, but Get Up says it will bring speeds to a crawl and limit productivity. Meanwhile, Telstra chief operating officer Greg Winn says the federal Government’s attempt to censor the internet is akin to trying to boil the ocean
The fingerprints and DNA samples of more than 857,000 innocent citizens who have been arrested or charged but never convicted of a criminal offence now face deletion from the national DNA database after a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. In one of their most strongly worded judgments in recent years, the unanimous ruling from the 17 judges, including a British judge, Nicolas Bratza, condemned the blanket and indiscriminate
nature of the powers given to the police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to retain the DNA samples and fingerprints of suspects who have been released or cleared. The judges were highly critical of the fact that the DNA samples could be retained without time limit and regardless of the seriousness of the offence, or the age of the suspect
The Bush administration on Tuesday will try to convince a federal judge to let stand a law granting retroactive legal immunity to the nation’s telecoms, which are accused of transmitting Americans’ private communications to the National Security Agency without warrants. At issue in the high-stakes showdown are the nearly four dozen lawsuits filed by civil liberties groups and class action attorneys against AT&T, Verizon, MCI, Sprint and other carriers who allegedly cooperated with the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance program in the years following the 11 Spetember terror attacks. The lawsuits claim the cooperation violated federal wiretapping laws and the Constitution
The Rudd government has finished its one-year anniversary by honouring an election commitment to remove discrimination against same-sex couples from a wide range of federal laws
An analysis of ISP filtering schemes in Europe has shown that none have adopted mandatory filtering — a claim Senator Conroy has used to justify such a scheme in Australia. With the limited exceptions of Germany and Italy, mandatory ISP level filtering is not a feature of any of the countries reviewed,
Tom Edwards and Gareth Griffith wrote in a special research note published by the NSW Parliamentary Library Service
Internet fraudsters sell complete financial identities for just £80, according to an online safety group. The details packaged and sold online include names, addresses, passport numbers and confidential financial data such as credit card numbers. With six out of 10 people now managing finances online, experts say the public needs to do more to prevent e-crime
Duke University has joined the growing list of schools balking at following Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s RIAA sue ’em all instructions. Put up or shut up, Duke University for VP for student affairs Larry Moneta (right) has told Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s RIAA, in effect. And the same goes for Hollywood’s MPAA
Michael Malone, managing director iiNet, said he would sign up to be involved in the ridiculous
trials, which are scheduled to commence by 24 December this year. Optus and Telstra both said they were reviewing the Government’s documentation and would then decide whether to take part. But Malone’s main purpose was to provide the Government with hard numbers
demonstrating how stupid it is
— specifically that the filtering system would not work, would be patently simple to bypass, would not filter peer-to-peer traffic and would significantly degrade network speeds. They’re not listening to the experts, they’re not listening to the industry, they’re not listening to consumers, so perhaps some hard numbers will actually help, he said. Every time a kid manages to get through this filter, we’ll be publicising it and every time it blocks legitimate content, we’ll be publicising it.
Malone concluded: This is the worst Communications Minister we’ve had in the 15 years since the [internet] industry has existed
Detailed information on the web pages people view will be retained for possible future criminal investigations if telecommunications operators comply with a letter from the Garda Commissioner
Under Government plans to monitor internet traffic, raw data would be collected and stored by the black boxes before being transferred to a giant central database. The vision was outlined at a meeting between officials from the Home Office and Internet Service Providers earlier this week. It is further evidence of the Government’s desire to have the capability to vet every telephone call, email and internet visit made in the UK, which has already provoked an outcry
Open wireless networks have served as a successful defence strategy for several alleged filesharers, as it is often impossible for content owners to prove that the person they accuse, has actually distributed the files they claim they did. Unfortunately, for the customers of the UK ISP Karoo, running open WiFi might also get them disconnected — even if it’s unintentional
In a decision likely headed to the Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals upholds a patent court ruling that software and business methods can be patented only if they are implemented by a machine or transform something into a new or different thing. The decision reverses a decade-long trend of expanded patent protection
The leaders of three of Australia’s largest internet service providers — Telstra Media’s Justin Milne, iiNet’s Michael Malone and Internode’s Simon Hackett — have, in video interviews with ZDNet.com.au over the past few months, detailed technical, legal and ethical reasons why ISP-level filtering won’t work. Critics of the policy also say that users will have no way to know what’s being filtered — via Slashdot
A headline-grabbing election promise to crack down on internet nasties looks to be in trouble as Senate opposition grows. As part of its election-winning pitch, the Rudd Government promised families far-reaching measures to block prohibited content at the internet server level. It now faces a concerted backlash against the proposal by the internet industry. The Greens have added their voice to Coalition concerns about the plan, with the Greens’ communications spokesman calling the proposal daft
The Federal Government is planning to make internet censorship compulsory for all Australians and could ban controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia. Australia’s level of net censorship will put it in the same league as countries including China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea, and the Government will not let users opt out of the proposed national internet filter when it is introduced. Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy admitted the Federal Government’s $44.2 million internet censorship plan would now include two tiers – one level of mandatory filtering for all Australians and an optional level that will provide a clean feed
, censoring adult material. Despite planning to hold live trials
before the end of the year, Senator Conroy said it was not known what content the mandatory filter would bar, with euthanasia or pro-anorexia sites on the chopping block
Belgian ISP Scarlet scored an important victory in the first major European test of copyright law. The interim decision forcing them to block transfers of copyrighted materials via P2P has been reversed, because the judge agreed with Scarlet that the measures the Belgian RIAA proposed to implement proved to be ineffective. A final decision is expected next year — via Slashdot
Leading Internet companies, long criticised by human-rights groups for their business dealings in China, agreed Tuesday to new guidelines that seek to limit what data they should share with authorities worldwide and when they should do so. The guidelines call for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to try to reduce the scope of government requests that appear to conflict with free speech and other human rights principles. They also require participating companies to seek requests in writing, along with the names and titles of the authorising officer
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