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archive : 2003-02

Tonga bans newspaper on 'human rights' grounds
Excerpt: The Tongan Prime Minister has banned the Times of Tonga newspaper, which is published in New Zealand and flown into the country, for campaigning against the government. A government statement...

German torture controversy
Excerpt: The Guardian reports on a controversy in Germany over whether evidence extracted under torture should be admissible in court. The article recounts an instance in which the threat of torture was...

US to have direct access to EU flight databases
Excerpt: Via The Register , Statewatch says that the EU's recent cooperation with the US in handing over passenger data extends to providing full access to flight reservation databases. 1. US Customs...

More on CDT-Pennsylvania challenge
Excerpt: Wired reports on the CDT's challenge to Pennsylvania's internet child pornorgraphy law. The law requires ISPs to block access to web sites blacklisted by the Attorney General. The CDT wants...

US Supreme Court overturns RICO anti-abortion charge
Excerpt: The US Supreme Court has ruled that a lower court incorrectly applied RICO organised crime laws against anti-abortion protesters. By a vote of 8 to 1, the justices held that the anti-abortion...

US targets universities over file swapping
Excerpt: A US House of Reps subcommittee has criticized universities for not doing enough to prevent students from using p2p file sharing software to violate copyright laws. One Rep likens file swapping...

DoJ seizes ISO News web site
Excerpt:The US DoJ has taken over the ISO News web site, as part of a deal with its owner, who faces copyright circumvention charges over his sale of mod chips for Playstation and Xbox game consoles. It...

Terrorism suspects dispute FISA warrants
Excerpt: Fox News reports on the trial against five men arrested in October on charges of training with al Qaeda. The evidence against the five includes FISA warrants and testimony from paid...

Le Monde threatens libel suit over 'hate-filled' book
Excerpt: Le Monde has threatened legal action against the Spanish publishers of a book that accuses the French paper's management of running a mafia-like "Orwellian nightmare". Edwy Plenel took up a...

Secret Irish data retention orders
Excerpt:According to this article [ed: subscriber only link here , thanks to Karlin for the update], the Irish government secretly ordered telcos to retain call data for 3 years, more than 12 months ago....

Victoria unveils anti-terrorism laws
Excerpt: The Victorian government has unveiled its new anti-terrorism bill . The proposal would allow for secret search warrants, amongst other things. ANTI-terror laws introduced in the Victorian...

US funding 'black' propaganda in Iraq?
Excerpt:New Scientist reports on investigations by DXing.info and Clandestine Radio into Radio Tikrit, an Iraqi radio station that many suspect has been taken over by the US for propaganda purposes....

CSIS watches wifi war drivers
Excerpt:Canada's domestic CSIS intelligence service has reportedly distributed briefs to government and law enforcement departments describing "war driving" as a serious security threat. Via Future...

New virtual child porn bill reverses burden of proof
Excerpt: The US Senate has unanimously passed a revised version of its unconstitutional virtual child porn bill. The new law would require defendants to prove their innocence. The Senate voted 84 to...

Berman's hacking bill dead?
Excerpt: Howard Berman's Hollywood hacking bill looks to be closed due to lack of interest. This week, however, Berman said he may not revive the measure. For one thing, copyright holders may not need...

Drug paraphernalia raids take down web sites
Excerpt:The US Justice Department has taken down more than a dozen web sites as part of a raid on stores selling pipes and bongs. Federal officials said the raids had yielded several tons worth of drug...

US Supreme Court to rule on searches
Excerpt: The US Supreme Court is to reconsider an earlier ruling by an appeals court that police acted unreasonably by not waiting for the owner of a home to answer the door before breaking it down to...

Scottish asset seizures, money laundering intelligence
Excerpt: It's Asset Seizure day here at Vigilant TV. A new Scottish law not only allows the seizure of assets from non-criminals, but comes with a bonus clause that provides additional powers for...

UK asset seizure law
Excerpt: Another asset seizure law, this time from the UK. The approach is novel: rather than prove guilt, just prove that they couldn't have obtained their wealth legally, and seize their assets....

SA to seize assets without conviction
Excerpt: The South Australian government has drafted new legislation that allows police to seize assets from those accused of a crime, regardless of whether or not they are found guilty. The draft follows...

Corporate DRM accused of hiding criminals
Excerpt: AP says some are worried that a new "rights management" product from Microsoft that is aimed at helping companies restrict the availability of internal documents will make it harder to expose...

GAO finds DOJ terrorism statistics misleading
Excerpt: Following up an article from last year , the GAO has completed its investigation into allegations the US DoJ has overstated numbers of terrorist arrests. The GAO found that numbers were indeed...

Home Office wins Internet Villain again
Excerpt: The UK's ISPA has awarded the Home Office with the title of Internet Villain, for the second year in a row. The Home Office was regarded by the judges as a worthy winner because of its confused...

IDF detains Reuters journalist
Excerpt:Israeli troops have reportedly detained a Reuters cameraman who was filming at Beit Hanoun during an IDF raid. Troops detained Reuters cameraman Ahmed al-Khatib who was filming at the scene....

Citibank seeks gag order on crypto research
Excerpt: According to CNet, a cryptography researcher has discovered a flaw in the algorithm used to hash ATM PINs that could allow a bank employee to uncover PINs in bulk. Citibank has sought a court...

Bookstores offer to purge customer records
Excerpt: AP says a few US booksellers are purging their customer databases in order to pre-empt law enforcement searches under the Patriot Act. Provided no subpoena or court order has been issued,...

HK sedition bill still limits free speech
Excerpt: Critics say Hong Kong's revised sedition bill will still lead to unacceptable restrictions on free speech, despite attempts by the government to tone down the legislation. The revised bill...

New p2p monitoring software
Excerpt: CNet reports on Audible Magic, a new monitoring system that enables network providers to examing p2p file sharing traffic. The product seems to be aimed at corporations and universities, on the...

CDT challenges Pennsylvania net censorship
Excerpt: The Center for Democracy and Technology has launched a challenge against Pennsylvania's internet child pornography law , which requires ISPs to block access to web sites blacklisted by the...

EU to give passenger data to US
Excerpt: The EU has agreed to provide passenger data to the US for all trans-Atlantic flights, despite concerns that doing so would violate European privacy laws. After two days of talks in Brussels,...

Singapore investigates SMS protest messages
Excerpt: Singapore's Democratic Party opposition says anti-war protestors were prevented from demonstrating on the weekend; police are investigating allegations that SMS text messages were used to organise...

FTC submission rubbishes DTV piracy claim
Excerpt: MIT student Raffi Krikorian examines MPAA claims that unprotected digital television broadcasts can easily be redistributed via email and peer-to-peer networks. Not surprisingly, he discovers...

ACLU challenges FISA wiretap ruling
Excerpt: The ACLU has launched a challenge against last year's decision by the FISA review court to permit the use of FISA wiretap warrants in criminal cases . The ACLU says FISA warrants are now more...

Spammers try child porn extortion?
Excerpt: An anonymous CSO article claims to have unearthed a blackmail scheme involving spam that supposedly plants child pornography on the recipient's computer. Via Sifry's Alerts . The article may...

Zimbabwe's youth militia trained by government
Excerpt: Andrew Meldrum reports on torture and political intimidation by Zimbabwe's youth militia. The gangs are reportedly given "political orientation" and trained in torture techniques at government...

Tunisia arrests twenty for web browsing
Excerpt: The BBC says the Tunisian government has the strictest internet censorship regime in the world. Twenty students were arrested last week for merely reading opposition web sites. Last year the...

7 years prison for Chinese web activist
Excerpt: A Chinese activist has been jailed for seven years for posting political messages on the internet. Tao Haidong, 45, posted articles on the Internet claiming the country was approaching economic...

Iraqi internet censorship
Excerpt: UPI reports on internet censorship in Iraq. As with the Chinese and Saudi censorship regimes, the list of blocked web sites is variable and often arbitrary. Yahoo! and Hotmail, highly...

Naomi Klein applauds censorship in the name of free speech
Excerpt: Naomi Klein claims that the Venezuelan government isn't really censoring when it shuts down television stations . It's ok to censor privately owned stations, says Naomi, as long as you're the...

EagleCheck, yet another national ID
Excerpt:Declan McCullagh reports on EagleCheck, a company trying to sell a national ID card system. There's nothing special about this particular product - just one of hundreds of smart card systems on...

First Sept 11 trial closes, hinges on 'support'
Excerpt: Reuters reports on the closing days of the German trial of Mounir El Motassadeq, who stands accused of supporting the September 11 terrorists. The case depends on the extent of Motassadeq's...

London congestion cameras to be used for general surveillance
Excerpt: The Register examines London's new traffic congestion charge , which will use 800 video cameras around the city to record license plates and bill drivers in central London during peak times. On...

eBay volunteers customer records to police
Excerpt:Lawmeme has the scoop on eBay's willingness to hand over customer records to law enforcement personnel, without requiring warrants or subpoenas. There are any number of problems with this: forged...

Record labels target Australian universities in copyright fishing expedition
Excerpt: Record labels have launched legal action against Australian universities in an attempt to prove staff and students are illegally sharing copyrighted works on college networks. It sounds like a...

Net implications of UK tobacco ad ban
Excerpt: Bill Thompson at the BBC examines the UK's recent ban on tobacco advertising , with respect to the internet. The act is curiously reasonable in one respect, explicitly exempting web sites hosted...

Science journals make biotech censorship pact
Excerpt:The publishers of 20 scientific journals have agreed to censor articles they believe could compromise US national security, according to the NY Times. The decision comes despite concerns that...

New NSW law used to close business, search without warrants
Excerpt: The NSW Police force has issued a press release describing their use of new legislation that allows them to close business premises and conduct warrantless searches for drugs. Superintendent...

US copyright industry wants international sanctions
Excerpt: The US copyright industry is lobbying the government to implement trade sanctions and monitoring to help protect its business model. The lobby group claims piracy costs the US economy up to $22...

Zimbabwe detains, questions US diplomat
Excerpt: The US state department has demanded an apology following the arrest and questioning of a diplomat by Zimbabwean police. It's not the first time such an incident has occurred, despite obligations...

Arrested, de-arrested, detained at Heathrow
Excerpt: Gone are the days when one was merely arrested and charged with committing a crime; law enforcement officials now have any number of mechanisms for detaining people. Four men arrested on Friday...

Malaysia censors Daredevil for 'unearthly elements'
Excerpt: Malaysian film censors have banned the film 'Daredevil' on the grounds that it is too violent and contains 'unearthly elements'. The board gave five reasons for the ban, citing the first as...

Iraqi journalist expelled from US
Excerpt: Iraqi journalist Mohammed Allawi, with the official Iraqi News Agency, has been expelled from the US on security grounds. US officials say he has engaged in harmful activities, but don't say what...

French crime bill passes
Excerpt: The French parliament has passed its controversial crime bill . The socialist opposition says it will appeal to the Constitutional Council. The Bill includes measures that outlaw passive...

HK releases draft sedition bill
Excerpt: Hong Kong has finally released a draft of its controversial sedition and subversion bill . The government claims it has toned down the legislation to reduce concerns it will restrict free...

Verizon asks judge to delay RIAA subpoena
Excerpt:Verizon has asked a US district court judge to reconsider his order to reveal the identity of a subscriber to the RIAA. The decision, which will be made soon, appears likely to favour the RIAA....

RIAA, MPAA target file sharing on corporate networks
Excerpt: The RIAA and MPAA have distributed brochures to Fortune 1000 companies warning that they may face legal action for copyright violations carried out by their employees. The guide, published...

US states censor beer web site
Excerpt: Several US state governments have ordered Miller to restrict access to its web site millertimenetwork.com on the grounds that it violates alcohol advertising laws. This of course creates all...

NY upholds cellphone ban
Excerpt: The New York City Council has voted to keep its ban on the use of cellular phones at public performances, overriding the Mayor's veto. The ban was first passed in December . Councillors again...

Amnesty on Muhammad Nazar
Excerpt: More on the arrest of Aceh political leader Muhammad Nazar . Amnesty International has a press release here . Amnesty called for the immediate and unconditional release of Muhammad Nazar,...

Can a broadcast be stolen?
Excerpt: CNet gives some more details on the 17 people charged with producing and distributing devices for descrambling satellite television broadcasts. Only six face DMCA charges; the others are...

Culture Minister blames rap for gun crime
Excerpt: UK Culture Minister Kim Howells has again blamed music for violence , this time in an interview with BBC Radio 4. He says record labels should consider censoring rap music. Speaking on...

House and Senate agree on TIA restrictions
Excerpt:The NY Times is reporting that House and Senate leaders have agreed on a plan to prohibit the Pentagon's TIA surveillance project from being used to monitor US citizens. If passed, the plan will...

NHS leaks 200,000 patient records a year
Excerpt: The Foundation for Information Policy Research says public servants with access to National Health Service database provide as many as 200,000 patient records per year to investigators making...

DESA responses, opposition
Excerpt: Wired reports various responses to the DoJ's draft DESA anti-terrorism bill, dubbed "Patriot II" . The bill looks like it could receive more opposition by Democrats that the first Patriot...

NYPD could get broader wiretapping powers
Excerpt: A US federal judge says he might grant requests from the New York police department to loosen restrictions on wiretapping and surveillance of suspected terrorists. The current Handschu...

Belgian national ID firm looks to UK proposal
Excerpt: The maker of Belgium's national ID card is pushing thier technology as a possible model for the UK's national ID card proposal. Ubizen hints that their cards bypass the need for a centralized...

Aceh political leader arrested, charges unclear
Excerpt: The leader of an Aceh student political group has been arrested by Indonesian police. He has not yet been charged or accused of a crime. The arrest comes just days after Lesley McCulloch was...

Taxpayers fund copy protection damage control
Excerpt: A US federal investigation has led to charges against 17 people for producing devices that decrypt satellite television broadcasts. The devices are allegedly responsible for $15 million in losses...

Australian government praises ban on non-English signs
Excerpt: The Australian government says it supports moves by several Sydney councils to ban foreign language signs in stores. The Multicultural Affairs Minister hints that businesses don't know their own...

Background on DMCA Section 512h
Excerpt: Farhad Manjoo at Salon gives some background to the recent RIAA vs Verizon subpoena spat - in particular, AOL's conspicuous silence on the issue. The recording industry says that Section 512h...

German registrar takes down ogrish.com
Excerpt: A German domain name registrar has deregistered the domain name of a web site that hosted tasteless images, apparently under orders from the Dusseldorf government. This would not be the first...

DESA surveillance, wiretapping, subpoenas
Excerpt: DC Internet reports on some of the wiretapping, surveillance and subpoena powers proposed in the DoJ's new DESA draft anti-terrorism legislation. The new Ashcroft draft proposal, dated...

Yahoo not guilty of French nazi auction charges
Excerpt: Former Yahoo CEO Timothy Koogle has been acquitted by a French court of "condoning war crimes". He was charged for failing to prevent French users from accessing auctions of Nazi memorobilia...

More on the DESA
Excerpt: Declan McCullagh reports on the US DoJ's draft "Patriot Act II" bill. He notes problems with the parts of the bill criminilizing the use of encryption, as reported here recently. o The...

Police still unsure whether Hicks broke law
Excerpt: Australian police are still not sure whether David Hicks has broken any laws, according to AAP. He has been imprisoned without charge for a year. David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib are the only...

Burma arrests twelve for 'disruptive activities'
Excerpt: Twelve Burmese opposition party members have been arrested for distributing leaflets and planning protests. Military intelligence spokesman Brigadier General Than Tun said seven of those...

Chinese activist sentenced to life on terrorism charges
Excerpt:The Chinese government has sentenced democracy activist Wang Bingzhang to life in prison on terrorism charges. The Free China Movement says the charges are entirely invented. Wang was reportedly...

Lesley McCulloch released from Aceh prison
Excerpt: British academic Lesley McCulloch has been released from prison in Indonesia. She was charged in October along with American Joy Sadler for violating her visa by providing medical assistance in...

Patriot II proposes 5 year minimum for crypto use
Excerpt: The draft anti-terrorism legislation dubbed the Patriot Act II includes a provision for a minimum 5 year sentence for any federal crime in which encryption is used. Via Daily Rotten, which has...

NSW to overturn double jeopardy
Excerpt: The NSW government plans to overturn double jeopardy, to allow those found not guilty of a crime to be tried again. ABC says the change will be retrospective, though it doesn't say how far back...

French digital cash trial extends to Paris
Excerpt: CNN reports on Moneo, the French smart-card-based electronic cash system, which is now being trialled in Paris following two years running in a few small towns. The cards are described as...

Israel bans Islamic leader from leaving the country
Excerpt: Israeli interior minister Eli Yishai has banned Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raad Salah from leaving Israel to attend the Mecca Haj. He is only one of a "large number" of Islamic leaders facing...

Australia considers ban on publishing leaked documents
Excerpt: The Australian government is considering changing the regulations surrounding media access to Senate reports to prohibit the premature publishing of information. Any such change is likely to...

Revisionist Zundel arrested in US
Excerpt: Holocaust revisionist Ernst Zundel has been arrested by US officials, apparently for missing an immigration hearing in May 2001. Zundel left Canada for the US after the Canadian Human Rights...

Leaked document is Patriot Act sequel?
Excerpt: The Center for Public Integrity claims it has obtained a draft of new US anti-terrorism legislation, which it describes as a sequel to the Patriot Act. The Justice Department says nothing has...

Canadian national ID proposal
Excerpt: Canadian immigration miminster Denis Coderre has proposed a national ID card with biometric storage to be used at border checkpoints. There's a good quote from IT professor Andrew Clement...

Webcasters face patent royalties
Excerpt: CNet reports on Acacia Media Technologies, which is delivering demands for patent royalties to internet radio stations. Stations say it's an extortion attempt based on a vague patent, but...

Voluntary mandatory sales tax for US online stores
Excerpt: Several large online retailers have begun collecting sales taxes in all US states, rather than only in the states in which they have a physical presence. The collection is described as...

Russia outlaws swearing, foreign words
Excerpt: The Russian lower house has passed a bill outlawing the use of cursing, slang and foreign words in the media and official documents. Critics say the law will be just another excuse for harassing...

Defense brief in printer DMCA case
Excerpt: SCC has filed a brief defending against Lexmark's DMCA lawsuit over 3rd party printer ink cartridges. They argue that the extension of the DMCA to cover physical objects that include software...

Bogus .gov domain name registered
Excerpt:The US GSA government domain name registry has pulled an apparently bogus .gov domain name, aonn.gov. The GSA says it has doubts about the authenticity of the site; meanwhile, someone has already...

ABA to vote on enemy combatants
Excerpt: The American Bar Association will vote next week on whether to challenge the detention of enemy combatants as unconstitutional. The American Bar Association's policy-making body, which...

DALnet blocks file sharing discussions
Excerpt: IRC network DALnet says it will begin removing chat channels that facilitate illegal file sharing. Note that neither IRC nor DALnet directly supports a file sharing infrastructure; they are...

Japan considers biometric passports
Excerpt: The Japanese government is considering implementing biometric passports. Details haven't been finalized, but the passports could include fingerprints and iris biometrics. The foreign...

UK spam filter censors censorship debate
Excerpt: British MPs discover the problem with keyword filtering: a new anti-spam system designed to blog porn spam has been hindering debate about censorship legislation (apparently even blocking the...

UK mandatory voluntary chat room guidelines
Excerpt: The BBC takes exception with Yahoo's reluctance to implement UK Government guidelnes for monitoring and moderating online chat rooms to "protect children". The fact that the guidelines are...

International DNA database proposed
Excerpt: Nobel Prize winner James Watson has proposed a mandatory DNA database of everyone in the US and Europe, saying the benefits outweight the loss of anonymity. He's not the first to make such a...

Tsvangirai treason trial begins
Excerpt: The trial of Morgan Tsvangirai has begun in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai faces treason charges for allegedly trying to arrange the assassination of President Mugabe. Prosecutors said today...

ASIC to monitor web sites
Excerpt: Australia's Securities watchdog plans to use automated document scanning to look for scam web sites. Scammers will of course apply countermeasures: block the ASIC spider, sacrifice decoy web...

Curitel announces 'wiretap-free' cellphone
Excerpt: Korea Times says mobile phone manufacturer Pantech & Curitel has announced a "wiretap-free" CDMA cellphone. The article doesn't include any technical details, but it sounds like the phones...

CNN parody takedown
Excerpt: According to Wired, a web site that generated fake CNN stories was taken offline after CNN threatened a copyright suit. The headlines and articles were submitted by users, and appear to have...

Cambodian journalists charged with incitement
Excerpt: Two Cambodian journalists have been charged with incitement following anti-Thai riots over rumoured insults by a Thai actress. Significantly, the editor's story reportedly includes no statements...

New polygraph measures body language
Excerpt: The Scotsman reports on a new lie detector system that works by measuring facial expressions. Claims of "80% accuracy" are meaningless; the technology is new, but otherwise this is no different...

Gait recognition develops slowly
Excerpt: BBC reports on several efforts to develop gait recognition systems . There's not much news here, but some useful information as to the accuracy of the current technology: the systems are fairly...

Columbia debris auctions cancelled
Excerpt: When burning debris rains from the sky and lands uninvited in your back yard, who does it belong to? NASA says it's still theirs, and they want it back. EBay agrees. "People should not be...

Students banned from studying forbidden word
Excerpt: The Guardian reports on the trouble that results from legislating language: a US teacher is unable to educate her students as to the origins of the word "nigger". Campaigner Lessie James...

Stores face anti-porn crusade in Utah
Excerpt: The NY Times reports an interesting phenomenon in Utah, where a retired schoolteacher has taken up the anti-pornography crusade following the scrapping of the state's "porn czar". The interesting...

GEWIS monitors the internet
Excerpt: WaPo reports on "GEWIS", a US government monitoring system designed to detect Internet attacks. The monitoring center receives real-time data from major ISPs and backbones for analysis....

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