InternetPolicy.net

Top US officials' private data for sale on Internet

To demonstrate the lack of protection for personal data in the United States, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights says that it was able to purchase the social security numbers of CIA chief George Tenet, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao for $26 on the Internet. Possession of an individual's social security number is often enough to gain access to their medical files, bank records and credit history. Click here to see a report by Agence France Presse.

''Internet causes juvenile delinquency,'' says Chinese legislator

From The Hindu: "Beijing, Aug. 25. (PTI) - Despite the Chinese government's crackdown on illegal internet cafes and games rooms, indulgence in uncensored material on the net has become a prime factor leading to increasing juvenile delinquency in the country, a senior lawmaker said today. Quoting a survey of 15 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, lawmaker Gu Xiulian said crimes committed by minors under the influence of 'virtual reality' rose to 25.1 per cent of all crimes committed by juveniles in the first three months this year, compared with only 4.1 per cent in 2000...."

US: court upholds ISP immunity

From today's edition of the Baker & McKenzie Global E-Law Alert: "An appeals court overturned a lower court’s ruling that made ISPs and operators of interactive Websites liable for information posted by their users. The appeals court held that so long as a third party willingly provides content, ISPs and Website operators enjoy full immunity under the Communications Decency Act. See Carafano v. Metrosplash..."

Australia: draft code for ISPs condemned

From Electronic Frontiers Australia: "A proposed Cybercrime Code of Practice for ISPs would result in massive invasion of Internet users' privacy... The draft Code was recently issued for public consultation by the Internet Industry Association of Australia ("IIA"). It has been developed in secret over the last two years by the IIA and law enforcement agencies... '[IIA wants] ISPs to log and record everything Internet users do online,' said Irene Graham, EFA Executive Director. 'It's akin to asking a carrier to record every telephone conversation made over its system and asking Australia Post to photocopy every letter and record the content of every parcel it delivers... The information would be logged and kept by ISPs solely to comply with a voluntary Industry Code. More disturbingly, the logs could [be] disclosed to law enforcement agencies and private sector organisations, such as those investigating alleged copyright infringements, without the accountability and oversight mechanisms applicable to [telephone] interception warrants.'"

WTO and online gambling

No indication yet if the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has established a panel to arbitrate the dispute between the US and the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda over online gambling. The WTO panel was supposed to be created yesterday. Because of congressional opposition, American credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard, and payment services like PayPal, "now refuse to process betting transactions between US citizens and offshore casinos and gaming sites," according to Tax-news.com. Antigua and Barbuda have emerged as centers of the online gambling industry. They filed a complaint against the American policy and asked for WTO arbitration.

Russia: using Internet to strengthen the state?

Marcus Alexander has written an interesting 28-page paper on "The Internet in Putin’s Russia: Reinventing a Technology of Authoritarianism" (April 2003). The author uses game theory to show there is a third strategy in Internet regulation - in addition to the authoritarian (based on comprehensive censorship) and the democratic (limiting only hate-speech, minors' access to indecent content, etc.). Alexander refutes "the claim that the IT revolution can automatically lead to more freedom and better democracy in Russia, [and] shows the danger of an authoritarian government learning how to appropriate the benefits of the Internet in order to increase its control over the public information space."

Sobig.f - "controlled experiment" by organized crime?

According to Peter Simpson, manager of ThreatLab at anti-virus firm Clearswift, the Sobig.f worm now clogging email systems around the world is "the latest in a series of forays into the digital world by organised criminals looking to make a move online." Simpson, quoted by Will Sturgeon on Silicon.com, says, 'This is the sixth in a series of controlled experiments. This isn't about some kiddy writing viruses in his bedroom - this is really a very sophisticated example of organised crime.' And he believes there may be far worse to come. Simpson explained that the purpose of getting Sobig onto the computer is not to cause damage or purely to drive wide and rapid spread, but it is to gain control of machines, by downloading a Trojan [to] gain access to information such as bank details for the purpose of fraud...'"

Recent trends in P2P music file-sharing

Tony Smith posted an interesting synopsis a few hours ago at The Register, about the measurable impact of the music industry's campaign against peer-to-peer file sharing. He cites market research by the NPD Group, claiming that "14.5 million US households downloaded music files in April. In May the figure fell to 12.7 million, and dropped to 10.4 million in June." Looking at the trend another way: "In April some 852 million songs were acquired via the Internet. Come June, the figure fell to 655 million..." Put those two sets of figures together and the result is even more interesting: "the average number of files downloaded per household grew [our emphasis] between April and June, from 59 to 63." Conclusion? Casual file-swappers are holding back while hard-core swappers are getting more active - despite the fact (reported by Smith two days earlier) that the RIAA now says it will only go after major copyright infringers, not casual file-swappers.

Australia: getting hotter

Controversy is growing around the Australian government's proposal to criminalize "offensive" Internet content. A report today by Chris Jenkins and Simon Hayes in Australian IT says that "Opposition parties have greeted the federal Government's move to outlaw internet use for 'offensive and menacing purposes' with caution, saying it could be used to crack down on legitimate protest... Democrats justice and information technology spokesman Senator Brian Greig went further: 'I question whether there isn't a hidden agenda here and what the government is really looking for is increased mechanisms for censorship...' The proposals come in the wake of legislation designed to block terrorist groups from using the internet to raise funds and spread propaganda. The Communications Legislation Amendment Bill - introduced into the Senate on Tuesday - would allow the government to cut off the phone or internet connection of anyone found to 'prejudice national security.' Electronic Frontiers Australia executive director Irene Graham said the latest proposal looked like it was aimed at restricting political speech..."

Improving Internet Access in Developing Countries

The Development Gateway has just opened a new "highlight" section devoted to Improving Internet Access in Developing Countries. It features articles written for this "highlight" as well as links to earlier online texts with relevant content. Not surprisingly, many of the articles are about radio infrastructure: wi-fi, wireless local loop, wireless broadband, satellite multicasting, etc. Particularly worth noting is "Providing Low Cost Information Technology Access to Rural Communities in Developing Countries: What Works? What Pays?" by G.Caspari and D.O'Connor (OECD, June 2003).