FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

news snippets

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Wed, 14 Apr 1999 07:20:25 +0200
From:          "felipe rodriquez" <felipe@xs4all.nl>
Subject:       news snippets
To:            "Gilc-Plan@Gilc. Org" <gilc-plan@gilc.org>
Cc:            "Efa-Board@Efa. Org. Au" <efa-board@efa.org.au>
Reply-to:      gilc-plan@gilc.org

Some news pieces I received:

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Eisner [mailto:fred.eisner@nlip.nl] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 1999 2:11 PM
To: NLIP Knipselkrant
Subject: NLIP-Internet-Knipselkrant


Aan de leden van de NLIP                Den Haag, 13 april 1999
en andere belangstellenden


***Cybercrime

USA - Reno Announces Alliance to Curb Cybercrime (New York
Times (registration required)) A new public-private alliance to
curb Internet crime will help teach children "that hacking is
the same as breaking and entering," Attorney General Janet Reno
said.  Educating children about acceptable online behavior is
among three initiatives under the Cybercitizen Partnership, an
initiative of government and the high-tech industry to promote
cyberspace ethics and help law enforcers track down online
criminals.



***Content regulation

Australia - Internet content regime announced (Press Release)
The Government will introduce stronger measures to protect
Australian citizens, especially children, against illegal or
highly offensive material on the internet. The Australian
Broadcasting Authority (ABA) will administer this regime. For
content hosted in Australia, the ABA must seek a National
Classification Board opinion or classification if the content is
likely to be classified in certain ways. The <http://www.oflc.gov.au/>
Board is responsible for classifying films and videos, computer games
and publications. The regime also provides for self-regulatory codes
of practice for the online service provider industry, to be overseen
by the ABA. These codes of practice must include a commitment by an
online service provider to take all reasonable steps to block access
to RC or X material hosted overseas, once the service provider has
been notified of the existence of the material by the ABA. See also:
<http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR990319.html>Electronic Frontiers
Australia and <http://203.9.218.13/reports/blocking/index.html>CSIRO
report on content blocking
http://www.dcita.gov.au/nsapi-text/?MIval=dca_dispdoc&ID=3648



***Data Protection (privacy)

EU / US - Shakeups Won't Affect Privacy Debate (Newsbytes) Top
Commerce Department and European Union officials David Aaron and
John Mogg said that the recent resignation of all 20 members of
the European Commission should not have an effect on discussions
to arrive at proposals to allow online commerce between the two
trading zones in the future, but did not rule out that
possibility.

UK - ISP forum favours privacy code (Computing) A privacy code
for Internet service providers (ISPs) is top of the agenda at an
Internet privacy forum next week. The meeting, on 22 March, has
been organised by trade association London Internet Exchange
(Linx) to counter fears that ISPs have been collaborating with
police forces to allow access to personal data and email.

USA - Better Business Bureaus Offer Online Privacy Seal
(Washington Post) A subsidiary of the Council of Better Business
Bureaus plans to begin a new effort to protect privacy on the
Internet, offering qualified companies an electronic seal
verifying their commitment to use personal information properly.

* USA - Truste's Test: Going After MS (Wired) The Internet's
ability to guard consumers' privacy without government
intervention faces a significant challenge this week when the
independent online privacy organization Truste evaluates whether
to investigate Microsoft -- one of its biggest sponsors -- for
privacy infractions.



***Computer crime

Germany - Cyber-cops bust Net porn ring (Reuters) Police
cracked an international online child porn ring after a team of
Bavarian "cyber-cops" found thousands of pornographic images of
children as young as three in a chat room. Raids on private
homes in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Britain, Norway, the U.S.
and Canada Wednesday led to confessions by several suspects.

Japan - New Law To Help Internet Child Porn Fighters
(Newsbytes) Japan is slowly moving towards enacting a law that
will make child pornography illegal. The law, which has been
held in limbo for almost a year, looks set to pass through the
Diet during the summer. It targets child prostitution with a ban
on adults paying for sex with children under 18 years of age,
whether at home or overseas, and also attacks child pornography,
which is not illegal in Japan at present.

UK - Man convicted of cyberstalking (The Register) A spurned
lover, who used email to stalk his ex, made legal history when
he was convicted yesterday.  Cambridge graduate Nigel Harris
became the first person in the UK to be prosecuted for
cyberspace harassment.


***ISP's liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

UK - Demon libel loss could cripple Internet free speech (The
Register) Demon Internet has lost the latest round in its court
case against libelled scientist Laurence Godfrey.  But it says
it will appeal against the decision, which confirms that an ISP
can be held liable for any content posted on the Internet. In
today_s pre-trial ruling by in the High Court, Mr. Justice
Morland ruled in favour of the plaintiff, who sued Demon for its
failure in 1995 to remove forged messages on soc.culture.thai.
purporting to be from him.
http://195.89.1.232/990326-000022.html



</>