InternetPolicy.net

"Caller-ID" for email?

From QuickLinks, based on a CNet report: "A new group will try to reconcile competing methods to thwart spam with a kind of caller ID for e-mail. The Anti-Spam Research Group (ASRG) of the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) has formed a subcommittee to hammer out differences between a number of competing protocols that all aim to do the same thing: verify that e-mail senders are who they say they are... The ASRG's new subcommittee is charged with blending [the various approaches] into a single standard."

New threat to traditional telephony

Vikki Lipset writes on Wi-Fi Planet about a new Internet-based threat to traditional telephony: Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) equipped with both wi-fi and VoIP software: "In a sign that voice over Wi-Fi could be headed for the mainstream, a top handheld computer maker has introduced a new PDA with built-in 802.11b and voice over IP (VoIP) capabilities. Toshiba's $599 e800/805 Pocket PC will be bundled with VLI's Gphone software, allowing users to make and receive phone calls over a wireless LAN. A subscription to VLI's service is needed to make VoIP calls. Softphones (software that adds telephony capabilities to a PDA or laptop) are proving popular... In time, [Voice-over-wireless-LAN capability] may be built into all Windows-based devices..."

For a broader view of this technology, see the website of the Wireless Voice-over-IP Consortium, "a nonprofit organization whose mission is to facilitate and accelerate the adoption of wireless VoIP products and technologies into the mainstream communications market." Gecko Research also maintains an extensive link-page for Voice-over-Wireless companies and services.

Identifiers to flood DNS

"DNS inventor Paul Mockapetris says the [Domain Name System] is poised for a new wave of explosive growth as emerging technologies like electronic signature encryption, Internet telephony and RFID tags become pervasive elements of a futuristic world in which trillions of electronic identifiers are constantly exchanged between a huge range of fixed and wireless applications..." [See the 17 October edition of TelecomWorld-03 Online News]

ISP charged in MP3-file-trading case

James Pearce writes (ZDnet Australia): "In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the world, the Australian music industry has listed an Internet service provider (ISP) as a respondent in a court case involving alleged music piracy. E-Talk Communications, trading as Comcen Internet Services found itself in Federal Court...this afternoon [21 October] charged with making money from the provision of copyright-infringing music files. This is the first time the music industry has accused an ISP of being directly involved in piracy by allowing its infrastructure to be used for file-trading activities, according to Michael Speck, the manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI), who led the industry's investigation.... 'This case proves what the music industry has been saying about the Internet industry for many years, that music piracy is an integral part of the ISP business model,' Speck told ZDNet Australia . He added that the evidence uncovered in this case proves that ISPs know how much illegal file sharing is happening on their networks, and they embrace it for the revenue. 'If things don't change we'll be going after more ISPs,' said Speck..."

RightsWatch paper: notice+takedown of "illegal information"

"RightsWatch is the name of a research project aimed at developing consensus and promoting awareness of self-regulatory notice and takedown (NTD) procedures for Europe, as a tool to achieve prompt removal of copyright-infringing material from the Internet. The impetus behind the project specification was provided within the text of the EU’s E-Commerce Directive which encourages a self-regulatory approach through voluntary agreements for ‘development of rapid and reliable procedures for removing and disabling access to illegal information.’ The RightsWatch team have drafted a White Paper which summarises the work of the RightsWatch project and its key results in a way that we hope is easily accessible. As such, it is hoped that this document will provide useful guidelines to stakeholders engaged in discussions on notice and takedown by highlighting the contentious issues and areas that need to be addressed in order to move forward. The RightsWatch partners would welcome your views on the project's findings. Comments can be submitted via the discussion forum."

Thanks to QuickLinks for the pointer.

US Senate passes anti-spam bill

See Roy Mark's dc.internet.com article for more information about The Can Spam Act of 2003 (S.877): "With Wednesday night's historic Senate vote to approve the first ever federal anti-spam legislation, the focus now turns to the House of Representatives in Congressional efforts to have a bill on President Bush's desk by the end of the year. Competing bills in the House containing many of the same provisions of the Burns-Wyden legislation that sailed through the Senate on a 97-0 vote are currently bottled up in the Energy and Commerce Committee. Disputes about the ability of individuals to sue spammers, caps on damages and definitions of what actually constitutes spam continue to divide the [House] committee members..."

Pew spam report

The Pew Internet Project just released a report on "Spam: How it is hurting email and degrading life on the Internet." Download the report by clicking here.

Japan developing "IP TV" receiver

A public/private partnership in Japan will cooperate to develop an "Internet Protocol TV set" capable of receiving and displaying images from both digital broadcasting stations and the Internet - this according to a report today in The Age (Australia): "The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, representing the [Japanese] government, will provide 100 million yen (917,000 dollars) for the project to cover development costs... They are scheduled to complete initial experiments by March 2004 with plans to test a billing system and a technique for blocking unauthorized copying. They hope to begin commercial production by 2010."

OARC: new crisis center for global DNS

CircleID recently interviewed Paul Vixie, founder & chairman of the Internet Software Consortium on the subject of ISC's new Operations, Analysis, and Research Center (OARC). As Vixie explained, this is "a crisis coordination system for the global DNS..." He also discussed two new "governance mechanisms within OARC" - the "Root Servers Advisory Group" and the "OARC Policy Council." See this Computerworld article for additional information about OARC.

Thinktank opposes permanent US tax ban on Internet services

A report issued last Monday by the influential Center on Budget and Policy Priorities urges the US Congress not to make the tax moratorium on Internet-based services permanent. A bill to make the ban permanent was approved by the House of Representatives on 17 Sept, and the Senate may take it up this week, says dc.internet.com.