RESOUR> [NetGold] FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND SPEECH : INTERNET: PRIVACY AND SECURITY : PERIODICALS: NEWSLETTERS: Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter

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Date: Sun, 9 May 2004 09:54:38 -0400 (EDT)From: David P. Dillard 
<jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: NetGold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: NetGold <NetGold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [NetGold] FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND SPEECH : INTERNET: PRIVACY
    AND SECURITY : PERIODICALS: NEWSLETTERS: Global Internet Liberty Campaign   
  Newsletter

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND SPEECH : INTERNET: PRIVACY AND SECURITY :
PERIODICALS: NEWSLETTERS: Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter

The full text of this edition of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign
Newsletter is carried full text on the MediaMentor discussiong group at
this URL in the public archives of that discussion group.

From:  George Lessard <media@xxxxxxx>
Date:  Sat May 8, 2004  9:30 am
Subject:  Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mediamentor/message/14390>

GILC Alert
Volume 8, Issue 4
7 May 2004

Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 12:07:48 -0400
From: "Chris Chiu" <CCHIU@xxxx>
Subject: [Gilc-announce] GILC Alert
List-Help: <mailto:gilc-announce-request@xxxx?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://mail.2rad.net/mailman/listinfo/gilc-announce>,
<mailto:gilc-announce-request@xxxx?subject=subscribe>

Welcome to GILC Alert, the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty
Campaign. We are an international organization of groups working for
cyber-liberties, who are determined to preserve
civil liberties and human rights on the Internet.
We hope you find this newsletter interesting, and
we very much hope that you will avail yourselves
of the action items in future issues.


Issue Contents

Free expression
[1] Jailed Vietnamese Net dissident on hunger strike
[2] Controversial French digital economy bill in final phases
[3] Shanghai cybercafe users face further restrictions
[4] Net journalists detained in the Maldives
[5] RIAA launches a further round of file-sharer lawsuits
[6] Vietnam website blocking broader than previously thought
[7] New Canadian copyright proposal might stifle Net speech
[8] Google feature blocks many non-controversial websites
[9] Japanese gov't plans crippling of digital TV
[10] North Korean protestors start Internet radio service
[11] New joint initiative to defend cyberliberties

Privacy
[12] European Union considers new data retention plan
[13] Continued controversy over Google Gmail privacy flaws
[14] Spyware problems may lead more U.S. legislation
[15] Debate over U.S. spy-friendly Net tapping rules heats up
[16] Microsoft belatedly releases several new security patches
[17] Serious security flaw in vital Internet protocol system
[18] Studies indicate Internet privacy awareness lags
[19] U.S. Big Brother Awards for 2004 handed out
[20] EFF Pioneer Awards winners announced

Sample Excerpts from the Newsletter Issue

===================================================================
[3] Shanghai cybercafe users face further restrictions
===================================================================
Internet users in Shanghai will soon have to
overcome still more hurdles in order to go online.

For years, people who wished to use cybercafes in
China's largest city have had to face numerous
constraints, including software that blocked
access to various websites deemed taboo by
Chinese authorities. Now Shanghai government
officials have started implementing further
restrictions. Among other things, special
software is being installed on Shanghai cybercafe
computers that requires customers to provide
their identity numbers (or passport numbers, if
they are foreigners) when they login. The
software also will notify the authorities if a
given user visits certain places on the
Information Superhighway that are banned by the
government, such as websites that provide
information about the banned Falun Gong spiritual
movement. Finally, state officials have placed
surveillance cameras in Internet cafes,
presumably to help officials track down and
arrest violators. The Shanghai rollout of this
scheme is meant as a test that, depending on the
results, could lead to implementat!
ion of similar controls in communities all across the Land of the Dragon.

These developments came as public concern
continues to mount over the plight of a noted
Chinese Internet dissident. Yang Jianli, the
editor of ChinaEWeekly.com, was arrested two
years ago while conducting an investigation of
worker strikes in the northeastern part of the
country. He remains in detention despite the fact
that has yet to be convicted (much less
sentenced) for any crime. Reports indicate he has
been placed in solitary confinement, denied
access to a lawyer, and been handcuffed for weeks
at a time.

These and other efforts by Chinese government
agents to censor criticism have led to an
astonishingly sharp rebuke from a noted scholar.
Jiao Guobiao, a Beijing University journalism
professor, lashed out at Chinese government
censors in an essay that has been widely
circulated via the Information Superhighway.
Among other things, he called censorship orders
by Chinese officials "totally groundless,
absolutely arbitrary, at odds with the basic
standards of civilisation, and as counter to
scientific common sense as witches and wizardry.
They take money from the parties referred to in
reports. They distort the media's sense of right
and wrong and justice. They are killing the
constitution." Not surprisingly, Chinese
authorities have now banned the essay.

Read "China's censorship machine endures," Taipei Times, 4 May 2004 at
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=10890

See Jonathan Watts, "Chinese professor attacks
state censors," The Guardian (UK), 4 May 2004 at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1208925,00.html

For more on the Yang Jianli case, visit the
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF-a GILC member)
website at
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9937

Read Bill Savadove, "New system to monitor Net
surfing," South China Morning Post, 29 April 2004
at
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=10742

See "Shanghai cameras spy on web users," BBC News Online, 22 April 2004 at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3648813.stm

See also "Shanghai cracks down on internet
cafes," Associated Press, 22 April 2004 at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1200862,00.html

===================================================================
[5] RIAA launches a further round of file-sharer lawsuits
===================================================================
A major recording industry trade group has sued
still more Internet users over their alleged
file-sharing activities.

The Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) has launched yet another wave of lawsuits
against Internet users who it claims have engaged
in copyright infringement by sharing music files
online. As with previous waves, the RIAA
mentioned its targets by their supposed IP
addresses, and is trying to discover the true
identities of the people it sued. In total, the
Association has sued 2454 alleged file-sharers in
the U.S. over the past year. The RIAA's efforts
have encountered staunch opposition from various
groups, including GILC members the American Civil
Liberties Union and EFF as well as Public
Citizen. Responding to this latest round of legal
battles, Fred von Lohmann from the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF-a GILC member) chided
the RIAA, saying: "The lawsuits against students
and individuals are not working and we hope the
record industry will come to its senses and
arrive at a new strategy."

In addition, several entertainment companies have
developed a new spy system to hunt down people
who share copyrighted files along the Information
Superhighway. The Automatic Copyright Notice
System (ACNS) is installed by Internet service
providers and is supposed to automatically cut
off online access to alleged file-sharers. ACNS
apparently also sends notices of ostensibly
illegal behavior to targeted individuals and can
keep the access restrictions in place until those
individuals delete various downloaded files. The
University of California at Los Angeles is
currently testing ACNS on its computers. EFF's
von Lohmann questioned whether the system will
actually be effective: "Whether it's an opening
gambit for the recording industry to try to tell
universities how to design their computer
systems, we'll have to wait and see. The trouble
I have with this, there will be countermeasures,
and who is going to absorb costs to constantly
modify this system to make it work? Do uni!
versities really want to be drawn into the arms race?"

See "US sues 477 more 'song-swappers,'" BBC News Online, 29 April 2004 at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3668989.stm

Read "RIAA Sues 477 More People," Associated Press, 28 April 2004 at
http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63263,00.html

See also John Borland, "RIAA files new round of
file-swapping suits," CNET News, 28 April 2004 at
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5201637.html

Read "UCLA becomes Hollywood enforcer," P2Pnet.net News, 29 April 2004 at
http://p2pnet.net/story/1327

See Stefanie Olsen, "Hollywood's new lesson for
campus file swappers," CNET News, 19 April 2004 at
http://news.com.com/2102-1027_3-5194341.html

===================================================================
[8] Google feature blocks many non-controversial websites
===================================================================
A special feature provided world's most popular
Internet search engine is apparently preventing
users from reaching many non-controversial
webpages.

A CNET News investigation has revealed that
Google's SafeSearch program has a tendency to
block access to websites whose addresses contain
certain strings of characters (such as "sex")
without regard to context. One example is
PartsExpress.com, which sells spare parts for
electronic audiovisual equipment. Another victim
of SafeSearch's blocking is
ALittleGirlsBoutique.com, an e-tailer that
markets children's clothing, hats, shoes and
accessories. These mistakes come despite Google's
assertions that SafeSearch only denies access to
websites "containing pornography and explicit
sexual content." Indeed, when asked about this
issue, Matt Cutts, who developed SafeSearch,
admitted that the program does not check the
context of the affected websites and that it
tends censor out innocent websites.

Cyberliberties experts were not surprised by this
research, noting that the problems posed by
Internet blocking software have been known for
years. Karen Schneider, the proprietor of the
Librarian's Index to the Internet, called
SafeSearch "certainly evocative of the very
primitive CyberSitter-type tools of the
mid-1990s." Representatives from several of the
blocked sites have complained about Google's
techniques; Gareth Roelofse from
RomansInSussex.co.uk noted that this censor
system has been "a challenge" to his organization
"because its target audience is school children."

Read Declan McCullagh, "Google's chastity belt
too tight," CNET News, 23 April 2004 at
http://news.com.com/2102-1032_3-5198125.html

------------------------------------------------

If this content gains your interest, be assured that there is much more
worthwhile to read in just this issue alone, so adjourn to the MediaMentor
post to see more or directly to the source to subscribe to this newsletter
laden with much valuable content in the areas of privacy and freedom of
speech.


Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetGold/>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>

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