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archive : 2002-11

Border surveillance cameras fail "95 percent of the time"
Excerpt: Seattle Insider reports on serious flaws with a border surveillance system that is supposed to automatically track targets and record images. The article plays up the terrorism angle, but it's...

Sousveillance Day
Excerpt:Wired reports on Sousveillance Day , an effort by a political science professor to encourage people to take photographs of surveillance cameras. It's a fairly trivial stunt though, particularly...

Iris scanners at US airports
Excerpt: Two US airports are testing iris scanners as biometric authentication for employees. Logan International says it previously tested face recognition but found it problematic. Logan, which has...

White House fights order to release documents
Excerpt: The NY Times reports on repeated refusals by the White House to comply with court orders to produce documents related to DIck Cheney's energy policy. The 36-page ruling is the latest step...

Three states refuse to adopt Australian handgun bans
Excerpt:Three states have refused to adopt the Australian federal government's call for an outright ban on many types of handguns, instead opting for compulsory safety training and stronger restrictions on...

Indonesia passes new media regulations
Excerpt: The Indonesian government has passed a new broadcasting bill that critics say will restrict freedom of speech. The Committee to Protect Journalists has written an open letter to President...

Philippines bands ammonium nitrate imports
Excerpt:The Phillipines government has banned imports of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, over fears it is being used in explosives. No word yet on other useful household chemicals such as nitric acid and...

NSW court rules sniffer dogs "not a search"
Excerpt: The NSW Supreme Court has overturned an earlier finding that the use of a drug sniffer dog constituted an illegal search. The judge ruled that the use of drug dogs is not a search at all. The...

FBI raids cable modem upgraders
Excerpt:The FBI and local police have raided the homes of 13 people suspected of altering their cable modems to remove bandwidth caps. Altering the modems is a straightforward violation of the service...

Call for Israeli media regulation
Excerpt: An Israeli watchdog organisation has called for government regulation of journalism, in order to enforce "responsible" reporting. Elad Shraga, chairman of the Movement for Quality...

US seeks suppression of vaccination documents
Excerpt: The US Justice Department has asked a court to suppress documents related to claims of neurological damage resulting from a preservative used in vaccines. The DoJ says it has a right to control...

US judge grants exemption from campaign finance law
Excerpt: A Hawaiian anti-abortion group has been granted an exemption from the US campaign finance law , which would otherwise have prevented them from running advertisements in the leadup to an...

Amnesty says Chinese net users face torture, death
Excerpt: Amnesty International has released a new report on the fate of those arrested by the Chinese government on internet-related charges. Their press release, quoted below, claims two Falun Gong...

NT announces new anti-terrorism powers
Excerpt: The Northern Territory joins NSW, Victoria and the Australian federal government in announcing new anti-terrorism legislation , which will include increased police search and seizure powers....

Opposition to forthcoming Australian anti-terror powers
Excerpt:The Sydney Morning Herald reports on opposition to Australian state and federal anti-terrorism legislation. The NSW Terrorism (Police Powers) Bill 2002 gets a mention, as does the forthcoming...

Danish file sharers billed for royalties
Excerpt: Danish users of the Kazaa and eDonkey file sharing networks have been issued with bills for copyright infringement. An anti-piracy group monitored the networks to find IP addresses, then...

California drops DVD DeCSS case
Excerpt: The California Supreme Court has ruled that Matthew Pavlovich, a Texan software developer who was sued last year for publishing DVD player software , is outside the court's jurisdiction. EFF has...

ACLU will get Patriot Act surveillance stats
Excerpt: The US DoJ has agreed to release statistics about the use of Patriot Act surveillance powers, following an ACLU FOI request . The agreement was reached Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Ellen...

FBI probe concludes polygraph testing 'doubtful'
Excerpt: A report into the conduct of FBI agents who obtained a false confession from momentary September 11 suspect Abdallah Higazy casts further doubt on the value of polygraph testing in criminal...

Madrid internet cafe restrictions dropped
Excerpt:Wired reports on an unexpected victory for a group of Spanish net users over a proposed Madrid law that would have classified internet cafes as casinos. The cyberpunks, who gather at the site...

Iranian student leaders arrested
Excerpt: Five Iranian students have been arrested by order of the Revolutionary Courts over recent protests against Hashem Aghajari's death sentence . Students have held two weeks of almost daily...

Russian media restrictions rejected
Excerpt: Russian President Vladamir Putin has vetoed proposed media laws that would have restricted coverage of terrorist activities and groups. His comments indicate he may be willing to approve a...

Bangladesh holds UK journalists on sedition charges
Excerpt: Two UK journalists have been arrested in Bangladesh on sedition charges, after attempting to film a political documentary. Police say "anti-government material" was found in their possession....

UK child pornography conviction overturned
Excerpt: A British appeals court judge has overturned the conviction of a pro-pedophilia campaigner on child pornography charges, on the grounds that pictures in his possession were no different to...

Fatwa issued against author of blasphemous Miss World article
Excerpt:One of Nigeria's Muslim states has declared a fatwa against This Day fashion writer Isioma Daniel, condemning her to death for her article that sparked the weekend riots . The federal...

FBI questions professor in anti-American investiation
Excerpt: Staff at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst are outraged after an Iraqi-born professor was questioned by the FBI about alleged anti-American views. A few minutes later, an FBI agent and a...

US police challenge restrictions on coercive interrogation
Excerpt: US police officers, backed by the government, have challenged the notion that suspects have the right to remain silent. Government lawyers claim "Miranda" rights don't prohibit police from using...

Israeli pirate radio interviewees face fines
Excerpt:Israel's Central Election Committee has threatened to fine candidates for the forthcoming elections who give interviews on pirate radio stations. The CEC tightly controls electoral advertising;...

Credit reporting fraud went undetected for 3 years
Excerpt: The discovery by the FBI of a long-term fraud involving an insider in a credit rating company illustrates the problems with relying on identity checks for security: even if credentials are...

Academics describe Indonesian torture, corruption
Excerpt: Two academics, from Britain and America, have given their first interview since being arrested by Indonesian police last month on espionage charges. They were investigating allegations of...

Berlin police raid net cafes
Excerpt: Berlin police ("men in black berets and heavy boots") have been raiding internet cafes, confiscating computers and revoking licenses for failing to prevent customers from accessing banned content...

Victoria announces new police search and surveillance powers
Excerpt: The Victorian government has joined NSW in announcing new anti-terrorism powers for state police. The new legislation will introduce covert search warrants, authority for police to quarantine...

Material witnesses held without ever being called to testify
Excerpt: According to the Washington Post, at least 20 people detained as material witnesses in the September 11 terrorism investigation have never been called to testify - 14 months on. The DoJ is...

DoJ moves fast to use new wiretapping powers
Excerpt: More information on the US DoJ's rush to use its new wiretapping powers, as granted by last week's FISA review court decision . Justice Department officials, emboldened by last week's...

Saudis deny torture evidence while Britons face beheading
Excerpt: The Guardian has a frightening update on the westerners - now numbering eight - still being held in Saudi Arabia on bombing charges . Ron Jones was released following pressure from the British...

215 dead, editor arrested over blasphemous article
Excerpt: Rioting in Nigeria has escalated significantly since I last reported on the matter, despite a front page apology from the newspaper that published Isioma Daniel's article. The article has...

DARPA considers, drops 'eDNA' internet ID plan
Excerpt:According to Declan McCullagh, DARPA considered developing a project named "eDNA", an ID system intended to prevent online anonymity. eDNA GREW OUT of a private brainstorming session that...

Australian govt claims immunity from tracking device questions
Excerpt: The Australian Justice Minister and Federal Police Commissioner are attempting to claim "public interest immunity" in order to avoid answering questions about the alleged use of tracking and...

Australian Bomb Data Centre annual summit
Excerpt: The Sydney Morning Herald reports on an otherwise obscure AFP department, the Australian Bomb Data Centre (ABDC), which is meeting tomorrow for its annual summit. Another to add to the list of...

Pentagon reveals consumer purchasing surveillance plans
Excerpt:More details are emerging on the Pentagon's plans to create a database of intelligence information about US citizens . Officials have confirmed that they intend to record an analyse purchasing...

Mozambique President's son implicated in murder of journalist
Excerpt: Nhimpine Chissano, the son of Mozambique's President, has been implicated in the murder of investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso. Cardoso was writing a story on a banking scandal when he was...

UK police investigate journalist over racist comments
Excerpt:A journalist for the Daily Telegraph has been arrested and questioned over alleged racist comments made at a fox hunting rally. The Telegraph has the original article, but it's not accessible...

Homeland Security promises to fund incompetence
Excerpt: Declan McCullagh reports on the net-related aspects of the now inevitable US Homeland Security Department. The bill gives the government an important role in internet security; ironic, given...

DSD interception unlikely to uncover evidence
Excerpt: Lots of interesting information in this piece on communications interception by Australia's DSD. As usual with this kind of thing it's hard to sort the useful data from the Tinfoil Hat paranoia,...

Groups protest lingerie fashion show
Excerpt: Women's and parents' groups have asked CBS not to air a Victoria's Secret lingerie fashion show, despite its being less risque than last year's FCC-approved show. Concerned Women for America,...

Muslim rioters burn down newspaper for publishing blasphemous article
Excerpt:Muslim protesters have burned down the office of a newspaper that published an article claiming the Prophet Muhammed may have been attracted to a Miss World contestant. Islamic scholars have...

Call for vigilance leads to hoaxes, noise
Excerpt: The Australian Prime Minister has called for increased vigilance following government warnings of a possible terrorist attack; as a result, police have been inundated with phone calls, most...

WA begins DNA testing of witnesses, victims
Excerpt: A new Western Australian law gives police new powers to take DNA samples from witnesses and victims, as well as forcibly take samples from suspects. Witnesses and victims appear to have the...

UK stop and search extended to 'anti-social behaviour'
Excerpt:In a neat example of the proverbial slippery slope, the British Home Office has proposed an expansion of "stop and search" laws, originally implemented to combat gun crime, in order to crack down...

German court sentences man for dressing children in suicide bomber costumes
Excerpt: A Palestinian man living in Berlin has been sentenced to five months' probation on charges of "condoning criminal acts" for dressing his children in mock explosives during a protest in April....

FBI 'lost control' of terrorist watch list
Excerpt:According to CNN, an obsolete FBI list of 370 people wanted for questioning in the September 11 terrorism investigation has been widely circulated and is still in use despite many errors....

US Govt double standards on computer security
Excerpt: AP reports on some of the "cyber crime" provisions included in the US Homeland Security legislation. "We must not ignore the growing threat of cyber attacks," said Rep. Lamar Smith,...

Ashcroft announces immediate use of new wiretapping powers
Excerpt: US Attorney General John Ashcroft has already announced an increase in wiretapping and surveillance operations, just a day after the FISA Review Court issued a ruling approving the use of...

UK freezes charity assets despite lack of evidence?
Excerpt: The British Treasury and Charity Commission have frozen the funds of two charity organizations with alleged links to al Qaeda - despite admitting there is no evidence linking one of the charities...

More detail on NSW police anti-terrorism powers
Excerpt:More details are emerging of the proposed new anti-terrorism powers for NSW police. Premier Bob Carr has emphasised that the new powers for warrantless searches are only available following a...

FISA Review Court approves broader wiretapping
Excerpt:The FISA Court of Review has overturned the decision to reject a request for broader wiretapping powers, after a DoJ appeal . Not only was the earlier decision rejected, the review court found...

Mugabe bans finger, insults
Excerpt:Faced with famine and a looming economic crisis brought on by his own corrupt policies, Zimbabwe's President Mugabe has decided to deal with the problem by banning offensive gestures and language...

Minor compromise on ASIO detention powers
Excerpt:Australia's opposition Labor party has proposed a compromise to the government's ASIO bill. The new proposal isn't much of a compromise however: non-suspects can still be detained and interrogated...

Quantum crypto at 250 megabits
Excerpt: CNet reports on a recent demonstration by Northestern University researchers of a quantum cryptography system operating at 250 megabits per second. The team says they're working on 2.5 gigabits....

Background report: Greece
Excerpt: Greece Population: 10,645,343 (July 2002 est.) Government type: parliamentary republic; monarchy rejected by referendum 8 December 1974 Telephones - main lines in use: 5.431 million (1997)...

War on file sharing
Excerpt: Star Wars producer Rick McCallum has warned that peer-to-peer file swapping will destroy the film industry in 3 years unless a "war" wipes out copyright infringement. The drive to protect...

More claims about surgical microchip tracking
Excerpt: A scare piece by The Guardian about satellite tracking of surgically-implanted electronic tags makes a number of dubious claims. As with recent suggestions that implanted microchips could be...

US judge rules hacked evidence was obtained illegally
Excerpt: This is a few days old, but worth mentioning: a US federal judge has ruled that the FBI acted unconstitutionally by using illegally-obtained evidence as the basis for child pornography arrests....

Blasphemy death sentence divides Iran
Excerpt: Iranian reformists and conservatives are violently divided over the death sentence handed down last week to Hashem Aghajari on charges of insulting Islam. Aghajari has declined to appeal the...

NSW terror laws increase wiretapping, detention powers
Excerpt: NSW state police will be given increased wiretapping powers and the ability to interrogate suspects without a lawyer present, under a new government anti-terrorism plan. The new laws, which will...

Quick links
Excerpt:Associated Press photographer amongst 35 arrested at continuing WTO protests in Sydney: AAP . Protesters claim police arrested demonstrators who were trying to leave: AAP . Police begin random...

Background report: Germany
Excerpt: Germany Population: 83,251,851 (July 2002 est.) Government type: federal republic Telephones - main lines in use: 50.9 million (March 2001) Telephones - mobile cellular: 55.3 million (June...

US security amendments propose expanded wiretapping powers
Excerpt: As well as threatening life sentences for computer intrusions, last-minute amendments to a US homeland security bill would further reduce warrant requirements for wiretapping and electronic...

Panama upholds blocks on internet voice traffic
Excerpt: Panama's Public Services Regulator has upheld a ban that prohibits ISPs from allowing voice-over-IP traffic. The ban, first noted earlier this month by Politech , is intended to protect tax...

FSB accused of attacks on US-based web sites
Excerpt: Russian security service FSB has been accused of launching denial-of-service attacks on two US-based web sites that publish Chechen separatist news. One of the sites has had its domain name...

Israelis face prison over web site posting
Excerpt:An IDF soldier has been sentenced to 14 months prison for passing classified information to a web site. The civilian operators of the site could also face charges. There's not much information in...

UK group urges secret censorship of internet newsgroups
Excerpt:UK anti-pornography group the Internet Watch Foundation has proposed that 76 usenet newsgroups be dropped from all UK news servers. The list of newsgroups is secret, so there's no way to test...

Australian government bans four more groups
Excerpt:The Australian Attorney General has added four more groups to its blacklist of terrorist organisations, warning sympathisers they could face 25 years in prison for associating with the groups. The...

Sex offender register challenges privacy and free speech
Excerpt: CNet reports on a challenge to two US state sex offender registers. Advocates of privacy legislation say the information shouldn't be published on the internet, while free speech advocates say...

New Russian media law prohibits terrorism coverage
Excerpt:The Russian government has overwhelmingly approved ammendments to media laws that restrict reporting of anti-terrorist operations, and prohibit the publication of statements from terrorists....

WTO protest arrests in Sydney
Excerpt:The Sydney WTO protests have passed with predictable results: police arrest people on various charges of disorderly and offensive conduct, protesters accuse police of unnecessary force. Sydney...

Background report: France
Excerpt: France Population: 59,765,983 (July 2002 est.) Government type: republic Telephones - main lines in use: 34.86 million (yearend 1998) Telephones - mobile cellular: 11.078 million (yearend...

Thailand threatens journalists over terrorist report
Excerpt: Thailand's government has threatened to expel a journalist from the country for reporting that senior al Qaeda members had met in southern Thailand to plan the October 12 Bali bombings. Defence...

Misleading statistics on Australian gun crime
Excerpt:Gareth Parker points to an opinion piece by Simon Chapman that purports to refute figures quoted yesterday by firearm dealer Lisa Oldfield. Chapman claims statistics show that legal, licensed...

Background report: Spain
Excerpt: Spain Population: 40,077,100 (July 2002 est.) Government type: parliamentary monarchy Telephones - main lines in use: 17.336 million (1999) Telephones - mobile cellular: 8.394 million...

UK child pornography investigation
Excerpt:UK police are claiming a lack of funding has hampered the investigation of 7,000 people suspected of downloading child pornography from a US-based web site. The government denies funding is a...

US Supreme Court will hear library filtering appeal
Excerpt: The law that wouldn't die: the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a DoJ appeal against the ruling that overturned the CIPA library censorship law. The law, signed by President Bill Clinton...

NZ bill requires ISPs to wiretap their customers
Excerpt: The New Zealand parliament will consider a bill that makes ISPs and telephone companies legally obliged to upgrade equipment to provide wiretapping access to their networks. The government will...

ACCC sues US web site
Excerpt: Australian government consumer watchdog the ACCC has reportedly launched legal action against the operator of a US-based web site purporting to sell tickets for the Sydney Opera House. "The...

Background report: Israel
Excerpt: Israel Population: 6,029,529 (July 2002 est.) Government type: parliamentary democracy Telephones - main lines in use: 2.8 million (1999) Telephones - mobile cellular: 2.5 million (1999)...

EFA review of Australian net censorship
Excerpt: Electronic Frontiers Australia has submitted a review to the DCITA on the national internet censorship regime, which has been in operation since January 2000. EFA accuses the scheme of failing...

Background report: Palestinian Authority / Gaza Strip
Excerpt: Palestinian Authority / Gaza Strip: Gaza Strip Population: 1,225,911 (July 2002 est.) Telephones - main lines in use: 95,729 (total for Gaza Strip and West Bank) (1997) Telephones -...

US domestic surveillance proposals
Excerpt:John Markoff reports on US efforts to consolidate domestic intelligence data in a single computer network, supplied by the Pentagon and operated by the FBI. The plan would require removing...

Syrians face jail for political speech
Excerpt: The NY Times reports on recent prosecutions of human rights activists and political dissidents in Syria. The government has recently made a few concessions towards free speech, but these latest...

EU bans internet hate speech
Excerpt: The EU Council has approved a provision outlawing hate speech on the internet. ISPs and civil liberties groups have been warning against the consequences of such a law since early this year....

South Australia approves internet censorship law
Excerpt: The South Australian state government has passed an internet censorship bill that prohibits the publication of material unsuitable for children, even if minors are prevented from accessing it....

Vietnamese web author jailed for anti-Communist essays
Excerpt: Le Chi Quang, a Vietnamese teacher, has been jailed for 4 years for publishing web articles critical of the government. Quang was one of several dissidents arrested earlier this year for...

Background report: Saudi Arabia
Excerpt: Saudi Arabia Population: 23,513,330 note: includes 5,360,526 non-nationals (July 2002 est.) Government type: monarchy Telephones - main lines in use: 3.1 million (1998) Telephones -...

Quick links, followups
Excerpt:[ed: I'm back at a keyboard after a short break away from network access. Regular coverage will return next week. Daily background reports will continue until then; in the meantime, here's a...

Background report: Iran
Excerpt: Iran Population: 66,622,704 (July 2002 est.) Government type: theocratic republic Telephones - main lines in use: 6.313 million (1997) Telephones - mobile cellular: 265,000 (August 1998)...

Background report: Singapore
Excerpt: Singapore Population: 4,452,732 (July 2002 est.) Government type: parliamentary republic Telephones - main lines in use: 1.95 million (2000) Telephones - mobile cellular: 2.74 million (2000)...

Background report: Malaysia
Excerpt: Malaysia Population: 22,662,365 (July 2002 est.) Government type: constitutional monarchy Telephones - main lines in use: 4.6 million (2000) Telephones - mobile cellular: 5 million (2000)...

Background report: Hong Kong
Excerpt: Hong Kong Population: 7,303,334 (July 2002 est.) Government type: NA [special administrative region of China] Telephones - main lines in use: 3.839 million (1999) Telephones - mobile...

Background report: China
Excerpt: China Population: 1,284,303,705 (July 2002 est.) Government type: Communist state Telephones - main lines in use: 135 million (2000) Telephones - mobile cellular: 65 million (January 2001)...

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