vigilant.tv

freedom and technology

archive : 2002-08

rockymountainnews: Feds eye 'spy files'
Excerpt: A new twist in the Denver police spy files case: amongst the dossiers kept on innocent citizens are 22 files involving secret federal investigations. The contested records have been...

wired: Did FBI Bungle E-Mail Evidence?
Excerpt: Wired provides some more detail about yesterday's news that the FBI was apparently unable to obtain email records from Zacarias Moussaoui's Hotmail account. The FBI has openly...

bloomberg: AOL, Airline Customer Records Being Sought by IRS
Excerpt: The US Internal Revenue Service has issued subpoenas requesting customer records from a long list of online retailers and service providers, as part of a fishing expedition for information...

msnbc: Who's spying on my Hotmail?
Excerpt: MSNBC reports on eBlaster , a new product that - according to the marketing - allows employers to monitor email sent by employees using external email accounts, including web-based systems...

cnet: Electronic evidence anchors porn case
Excerpt: Former Xerox engineer Larry Benedict has been sentenced to 4 years in prison on child pornography charges , despite documentation showing that the evidence against him was tampered with in...

reuters: British police may destroy Diana bodyguard's book
Excerpt: British police are reportedly considering legal action to destroy copies of a book written by Princess Diana's former bodyguard. Ken Wharfe's tell-all book "Diana: Closely Guarded...

nytimes: Groups Seek Exemptions From Curbs on Political Ads
Excerpt: Several US political organisations have asked the government for exemptions to the forthcoming campaign finance law , which will place restrictions on political advertising. Lawmakers say...

cnn: Harare radio station bombed
Excerpt: An independent Zimbabwean radio station has been bombed by unknown assailants. See also this January article on SW Radio Africa , which began broadcasting to Zimbabwe from London after...

washingtonpost: Lack of E-Mail Trail Irks Moussaoui Judge
Excerpt: The judge hearing the case against Zacarias Moussaoui has ordered the goverment to explain why it was unable to obtain records from Moussaoui's Hotmail email account. Prosecutors say they...

aap: Nigerian lovers face death
Excerpt: A Nigerian couple have been sentenced to death by a Sharia court for adultery. They were initially sentenced to 5 years in prison, but were condemned to death after appealing for leniency....

theage: Fear for missing AIDS critic
Excerpt: Wan Yanhai, a Chinese AIDS campaigner who was fired from the Ministry of Health after discovering widespread use of HIV-tainted blood transfusions, has disappeared. He was under 24-hour...

eetimes: Root technology protects CD-ROMs from illegal copying
Excerpt: JVC has announced a new CD copy protection system, that it says will be ready in October. Encryption keys are hidden on the CD in hard to read locations, presumably error correction codes or...

haaretz: A-G will check all citizenship revocations
Excerpt: The Attorney General has announced a new procedure for revoking the citizenship of Israelis involved in terrorism. Decisions will not be made in court, but will be examined by a committee....

bbc: Three top dissidents jailed in Syria
Excerpt: Three Syrian dissidents have been sentenced on charges of sedition and propogating lies. The trials were conducted in closed courts. They were the last of 10 men arrested a year ago,...

bbc: Basque party to fight ban
Excerpt: Basque separatist party Batasuna says it plans to appeal to the EU human rights court over Tuesday's decision to ban the party . Meanwhile, police trying to shut down Batasuna offices...

theage: Why the ASIO bill is rotten to the core
Excerpt: Via Tim Dunlop , an opinion piece by George Williams at The Age provides some analysis of the Australian government's proposed ASIO bill . The Attorney General has issued a press release...

raisethefist: Feds to Indict Raisethefist.com Webmaster
Excerpt: According to an article on Raise The Fist , webmaster Sherman Austin has been indicted on charges of distributing information about explosives and destructive devices. Via NWD . Austin's...

ap: China Dissidents Thwarted on Net
Excerpt: A Rand report claims Chinese dissidents have been relatively unsuccesful in using the internet to avoid government censorship. "There was a lot of very loose talk about how the Internet...

cnet: Will Canada's ISPs become spies?
Excerpt: Declan McCullagh reports on a Canadian proposal that would require ISP data retention and allow for broader wiretapping powers. If the discussion draft were to become law, it would...

nytimes: Court Comes to Life Over Ruling on Post-9/11 Police Powers
Excerpt: The NY Times points out that last week's FISA decision is a remarkable event, the first time in 24 years the court has issued a ruling. According to the article, the court has never turned...

ap: U.S. clears six entities of al Qaeda links
Excerpt: The US treasury department has removed three individuals and three groups from its list of accused terrorist financiers. Those on the list have had their assets frozen since last September....

washingtonpost: Psychiatric Group Plans Investigation in China
Excerpt: The World Psychiatric Association has agreed to investigate allegations of psychological abuse of political prisoners in China. Human rights activists had called on the association to...

bbc: Police storm Basque separatists' offices
Excerpt: Spanish police have stormed Batasuna offices in Bilbao, following yesterday's ban on the party . Police dragged away protesters and smashed down a reinforced door after sawing through...

guardian: US court rules against secret deportation hearings
Excerpt: A US federal appeals court has ruled against the Justice Department over its use of secret deportation hearings. The court ruled that the justice department had engaged in...

crownegold: The $7 million hack
Excerpt: Transfer and payment company Crowne Gold describes a recent attack on their servers, during which hackers almost managed to steal $7 million in electronic gold accounts. HavenCo gets an...

delawareonline: Wilmington police photo policy under fire
Excerpt: Delaware Online reports on a local police practice of detaining, photographing and releasing innocent people, and using their photographs to build a database of "potential suspects". Via...

ap: Bloomberg LP Apologizes To Singapore Govt.
Excerpt: Bloomberg has issued an apology and paid unspecified damages to Singapore's Prime Minister, after he launched legal action over an article published August 4. Singapore's ruling party has...

ap: Palestinian press organization bans journalists from taking pictures of armed children
Excerpt: The Palestinian journalists union has banned reporters from photographing armed Palestinian children. The union apparently intends to extend sanctions not only to its own members who violate...

aap: Nigeria ignores stoning outcry
Excerpt: The Katsina state government has refused to intervene in the stoning of Amina Lawal for adultery by a Sharia court. Sharia law was declared unconstitutional by the Nigerian federal...

abc: UK police warn media over coverage of girl murders
Excerpt: UK police have warned the media to reduce coverage of the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, or face possible charges for prejudicing the trial. Police and the Government's top...

ap: Judge shuts down Basque party
Excerpt: A Spanish judge has issued an order banning the Batasuna party, for alleged links to the armed separatist group ETA. The party will be barred from holding rallies or running in elections....

ap: Palestinian Says Confession False
Excerpt: AP reports on the first known execution by Palestinian militia of a female accused of collaborating with Israel, after confessions made under torture by herself and her 17-year old son....

reuters: Lawyer to challenge FBI in Russian sting
Excerpt: A Seattle lawyer has launched a challenge over a sting operation by the FBI that led to the arrest last year of two Russian hackers . The FBI apparently broke Russian laws by breaking into...

ap: Ashcroft Decries Wiretap Decision
Excerpt: The US Department of Justice has appealed the recent ruling by the FISA surveillance court that some wiretaps are not covered by the PATRIOT Act. In the appeal, Attorney General John...

nytimes: Russian Novelist Scoffs at Post-Soviet Leaders
Excerpt: The NY Times reports on the modest success of a new Russian novel by anti-Semitic, anti-capitalist newspaper editor Aleksandr Projhanov. The book is particularly popular amongst anti-Western...

bbc: FBI targets senators in leak probe
Excerpt: The FBI has asked members of US Senate intelligence committee to hand over phone records and schedules, as part of its investigation into leaked information about the September 11 terrorist...

guardian: Via TV and the net, Iran's youth plot social revolution
Excerpt: Another report on the growth of free speech in Iran, similar to this Reuters report from earlier in the month. This time the Guardian suggests illegal satellite TV provides a significant...

dailytelegraph: Australia 'spied on' Norway claim
Excerpt: The Daily Telegraph reports on a new book about Australia's DSD intercepting phone calls to the Norwegian freighter Tampa . Both the book and the article appear to have very little new...

smh: Copy-proof CDs soon, claims Israeli company
Excerpt: The SMH reports on a new active CD-ROM copy protection scheme from OpSecure , that uses a smart card and LED on the disk. The smart card receives requests from the CD/DVD drive via an opto...

washingtonpost: Secret Court Rebuffs Ashcroft
Excerpt: The US FISA court has refused to grant additional powers to the Justice Department, citing misleading warrant applications and the potential for abuse. Via How Appealing . The ruling...

bbc: Author sued over Islam 'insult'
Excerpt: Four Islamic groups have launched legal action against French novelist Michel Houellebecq for allegedly insulting comments about Islam made during an interview. He could face up to a year in...

cybercrime: Computer Crime News Update: DOJ Manual
Excerpt: Orin Kerr provides a helpful summary of a new US DoJ manual on computer search and seizure. Amongst other things, the manual covers the conditions under which a warrant is required for...

activedayton: Big Brother hiding inside cars' airbags
Excerpt: The Dayton Daily News reports on law enforcement attempts to obtain crash data recorded by diagnostic modules in recent model cars. There are few recorded instances of such data being used...

drudge: Ozzy issues legal threat; demands Fox News pull interview
Excerpt: According to the Drudge Report, lawyers for Ozzy Osbourne have launched legal action in a bid to prevent Fox News from broadcasting an interview. Osbourne's Fifth Avenue lawyers have...

reuters: Paris Prosecutor Probes Jewish Web Site's Hate Call
Excerpt: A French court is considering banning a web site that accuses celebrities of anti-semitism. The site, which is presently unavailable, appears to be hosted in the US. The Web site...

ap: Calif. Court Lets Gag Orders Stand
Excerpt: AP reports on a California Supreme Court decision to uphold gag orders on two murder cases. Media lawyers argued that the orders are becoming a routine method of unconstitutional prior...

wired: Bracing for the Digital Crackdown
Excerpt: Wired suggests the US DoJ's threatened crackdown on file sharing may rival the scale of the raids on hacker networks in the 1980s and early 1990s. The fear and loathing focused at the...

nytimes: F.B.I. Alerted to Saudi Man by Photo on Computer Disc
Excerpt: Yet another example of terrorists not using crypto: the FBI has been handed CD-ROM containing photos of the September 11 hijackers, along with a previously unknown Saudi man, apparently a...

fork: the underground software vulnerability marketplace and its hazards
Excerpt: A message by Kragen Sitaker sent to the fork list, also seen on cypherpunks and various other places, warns of the dangers of a recent proposal describing an anonymous marketplace for...

jpost: Interior Minister: No need for trial before striping citizenship
Excerpt: According to this brief article from the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai has said in a radio interview that trials are unnecessary before revoking the citizenship of...

uip: ACLU demands DoJ unveil surveillance data
Excerpt: The ACLU, EPIC and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression have filed a FOI request demanding that the US DoJ release information about its use of PATRIOT Act powers for...

reuters: Music Trade Group Sues Verizon in Copyright Case
Excerpt: The RIAA has dropped one lawsuit, and filed another. Their attempt to force US ISPs to block access to a Chinese-based web site has been halted after the site was apparently taken down....

philly: Deciding when a slur is a crime
Excerpt: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a Pennsylvania man charged and sentenced to 30 days prison for using the word "nigger". Via Unknown News . In July, Warren Ronald Overly, 76, a...

washingtonpost: Shock Jocks Muzzled in Sex Incident
Excerpt: A New York radio station may have its license revoked by the FCC for broadcasting a live description of a couple having sex in a church. Opie and Anthony, co-hosts of WNEW-FM's popular...

ap: U.S. to Deport Palestinian Held on Secret Evidence
Excerpt: A Palestinian man held in the US since November without charge or trial on suspicion of links to terrorism will be deported for immigration violations. The Palestinian, Mazen Al-Najjar,...

cnet: DOJ to swappers: Law's not on your side
Excerpt: The US Department of Justice has warned the users of file sharing networks it will soon begin prosecuting copyright infringers under criminal law. [Deputy assistant attorney general John...

bbc: Privacy fears over EU snooping plans
Excerpt: The BBC reports on the EU data retention plans revealed yesterday by Statewatch . The disparity between the data retention law and EU privacy requirements has still not been resolved....

statewatch: EU: data retention to be "compulsory" for 12-24 months
Excerpt: A series of documents and analysis from Statewatch suggests EU directives requiring data retention by telecommunications companies - previously thought to be optional - are in fact binding....

washingtonpost: Belarus Chief Responds to Critics With Crackdown
Excerpt: The Washington Post reports on violence and censorship against political opponents of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. In recent months, Lukashenko has taken on a dizzying number...

nai: PGP Corporation Acquires PGP Desktop and Wireless Encryption
Excerpt: Network Associates has issued a press release announcing the sale of its PGP products to a new company, the PGP Corporation. PGP development was halted in March by NAI. Under the...

bbc: Border controls crumble in DVD land
Excerpt: The BBC reports that DVD distributors are on the verge of abandoning region coding, because almost all players are capable of defeating the restrictions. The article mentions the 'enhanced'...

theage: Chee Soon Juan faces ruinous bill
Excerpt: Singapore opposition leader Chee Soon Juan faces bankruptcy after a summary judgement pronouncing him guilty of defamation against Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. He was denied the opportunity...

washingtontimes: NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports
Excerpt: The Washington Times reports on a NASA project, uncovered by EPIC , that proposes a non-invasive polygraph-like system that will supposedly identify terrorists. The privacy issues are...

reuters: Record Labels Sue Internet Providers over Site
Excerpt: US record labels have launched a lawsuit against the major backbone service providers in an attempt to force them to block access to a Chinese-based web site that offers unauthorized music...

reuters: Military Computers Easily Cracked, Experts Say
Excerpt: An internet security firm claims sensitive US military information is stored on poorly protected web servers. They may well be right, but their announcement is clearly a PR stunt....

newscientist: Crypto lockdown secures lost laptop data
Excerpt: New Scientist reports on a prototype system from the University of Michigan that locks or unlocks disk encryption when a wristwatch transmitter is nearby. The same effect can be achieved by...

ap: President of human rights group detained in Niger
Excerpt: Bagnou Bonkoukou, the president of Niger's Leage for the Defense of Human Rights, has been arrested for allegedly spreading false information over a radio interview in which he discussed a...

guardian: Call to ban film of Mitterrand's last feast
Excerpt: The Guardian reports on a French campaign to stop a film, based on a book by Georges-Marc Benamou, about former president Mitterand. Friends have called on Mitterand family members to...

bbc: CCTV 'not a crime deterrent'
Excerpt: A study commissioned by the British Home Office has concluded that improved street lighting is a more effective crime prevention measure than Closed Circuit TV cameras. This is not the...

wired: Disputed Air ID Law May Not Exist
Excerpt: Paul Boutin follows up John Gilmore's legal challenge against the rule requiring US air passengers to present ID before flying. Boutin points out that there's no evidence the rule is...

nytimes: Justice Dept. Balks at Effort to Study Antiterror Powers
Excerpt: The US Justice department has refused to cooperate with a House Judiciary Committee on the use of new antiterrorism powers, insisting it will answer only to the Intelligence Committee....

ap: Judge Issues Stay on Detainees' Names Case
Excerpt: A US federal judge has suspended her earlier ruling that the government must release the names of detainees held in connection with the September 11 attacks. The decision will now be...

guardian: Zimbabwean reporter escapes mob after farm siege
Excerpt: A journalist for Zimbabwe's Daily News, an opposition paper, narrowly escaped a lynch mob during the eviction of a family of white farmers, according to the Guardian. Precious Shumba, a...

bbc: Hong Kong convicts Falun Gong members
Excerpt: 16 Falun Gong members have been convicted in Hong Kong on public obstruction charges, over a protest in March. Human rights groups say the case is indicative of the erosion of freedom...

bbc: US expands dirty money investigation
Excerpt: The US Treasury department has announced it will step up investigations into Hawala and other informal financial transaction networks, moving away from its traditional focus on drug money...

infoworld: Open with caution
Excerpt: Infoworld's Ed Foster reports sightings of shrink-wrap licenses on books. It looks like specialist medical publishers are distributing unsolicited material with shrinkwrap licenses of the...

cbc: The War We Couldn't Report
Excerpt: Canadian journalist Mike Vernon reports on military censorship in Afghanistan. The article includes the full Ground Rules Agreement that journalists are asked to sign. Via Daily Rotten ....

ap: Official: Two journalists detained for alleged insults
Excerpt: Two Jordanian journalists have been detained for insuling the emir of Qatar and his foreign minister. The two are being held without bail. This follows last week's closure of al-Jazeera's...

washingtonpost: Judge Skewers U.S. Curbs on Detainee
Excerpt: The Washington Post reports on the Yaser Esam Hamdi proceedings, where Judge Doumar has reacted skeptically to the prosecution's argument for keeping Hamdi detained without access to a...

guardian: A criminal justice system
Excerpt: The Guardian reports on Stefano Surace, a 69-year-old retired journalist who faces prison in Italy for libel, after he was tried in absentia - and without his knowledge - in the 1970s....

theage: Smart card plan for trains, trams
Excerpt: The Victorian government is considering the introduction of smart-card ticketing for Melbourne's public transport system. Some proposals include the possibility of linking tickets to road...

aap: Framed man sues FBI for $560m
Excerpt: Joseph Salvati, who was wrongly imprisoned for 30 years for murder, is suing the FBI for $US300 million, for withholding evidence that could have cleared his name. Calling 69-year-old...

abc: Magazine sued for rubbishing Sept 11 conspiracy book
Excerpt: Thierry Meyssan, author of September 11: The Appaling Deception , has filed a defamation suit against Paris Match , after it published a report disproving Meyssan's claims that the...

gazeta: Election boss wants PR firms licensed
Excerpt: The head of Russia's electoral council has proposed the introduction of licences for PR companies, and restrictions on campaigning. Critics say the idea is unworkable. The first to...

cnet: U.K. enters digital copyright debate
Excerpt: CNet reports on a proposed UK copyright law amendment that would implement DMCA-like prohibitions on circumvention devices. Responses to the U.K.'s proposed law are due Oct. 31....

afp: 12 held in child porn swoop
Excerpt: British police have boasted of cooperation between police and ISPs in tracking down "anonymous" internet users, after 12 people - including a 15-year-old boy - were arrested on suspicion of...

bbc: Customs deny defying High Court
Excerpt: A cross-Channel ferry operator has accused British Customs officials of breaching a High Court order that prohibits them from randomly searching cars. Legally, travellers are allowed to...

bbc: Burma to launch e-passport
Excerpt: The Burmese military government has announced an electronic passport system, to be launched this week. Human rights groups are concerned the system will be used to track political opponents....

theregister: SSL defeated in IE and Konqueror
Excerpt: The Register reports on an apparently catastrophic bug in IE and Konqueror's SSL certificate handling, that allows trust verification to be defeated entirely. If it's true, this means that...

wired: An IM Chat Imbroglio in India
Excerpt: Wired reports on a spat between ISPs and instant messanger services in India, where service providers are trying to use telecommunications regulations to force Yahoo and MSN out of the voice...

cnet: PGP defect reveals encrypted messages
Excerpt: Bruce Schneier has announced a new chosen ciphertext attack on PGP , which he says has been successfully used against PGP and GnuPG implementations under limited circumstances. The attack...

latimes: Speaking Out Has High Cost
Excerpt: The LA Times reports on Japanese efforts to implement whistleblower protection laws, in an effort to counter corporate and cultural disapproval. The article lists a number of cases where...

washingtonpost: Small Scams Probed for Terror Ties
Excerpt: US authorities have reportedly diverted data mining and analysis systems away from large scale drug trade money laundering in order to investigate small scams such as interstate cigarette...

bbc: Spot fines 'infringement of rights'
Excerpt: Civil rights groups have criticized a new UK plan to issue spot fines for anti-social behaviour. The plan is intended to reduce the load on the courts, but some groups claim it will lead to...

gulfnews: Cleric seeks death penalty for journalist
Excerpt: Iran's Great Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, head of the Assembly of Experts, has called for the death penalty for pro-reform journalist Hashem Aghajari, who stands accused of insulting the Prophet...

reuters: Britain Denies Hacking Into BBC to Spy on Reporters
Excerpt: The British government has ridiculed claims by a BBC editor that government officials hacked into journalists' computers. John Simpson, world affairs editor of the British Broadcasting...

cnet: Cybercafe ordinance put on hold
Excerpt: A Californian judge has issued a temporary order barring the enforcement of a Garden Grove ordinance that places restrictions on internet cafes . Orange County Superior Court Judge...

cnet: Prime efforts may boost encryption
Excerpt:CNet speculates on the possible cryptographic implications of Agarwal, Saxena and Kayal's new paper Primes is in P , which proposes a deterministic test for prime numbers in polynomial time. A...

reuters: Lawmakers sic Ashcroft on file swappers
Excerpt: 19 US lawmakers have written to Attorney General John Ashcroft, asking him to prosecute users of file sharing networks who download copyrighted material. The RIAA has issued a press release...

latimes: Japanese Fear New ID System Is a Shoji Screen for Big Brother
Excerpt: The LA Times reports on growing opposition to Japan's new national ID system . On Monday, one citizens group is planning a rip-up-your-ID rally. That will follow anonymous threats sent...

nytimes: In the Secret-Detentions Club
Excerpt: The NY Times reviews US use of secret detention in its terrorism investigation. "The detentions of Haitian asylum seekers weren't secret," said Elisa Massimino, director of the...

cnn: Spain moves closer to Batasuna ban
Excerpt: The Spanish government has scheduled parliamentary sessions to discuss a proposed ban on the Batasuna party . The government has been pushing towards a ban on the party since June ;...

bbc: Syria frees dissident after 27 years
Excerpt: Syrian dissident Haitham Naal has been released after 27 years in prison on sabotage charges. Haitham Naal, 51, is the country's longest serving political prisoner. He received a...

theage: Police power fears for new crime body
Excerpt: The former chairman of Australia's National Crime Authority has warned that the NCA's replacement with the new Australian Crime Commission will lead to unprecedented coercive powers....

wired: Smile, You're on In-Store Camera
Excerpt: Wired speculates breathlessly on the privacy implications of possible - but as-yet unavailable - video analysis and face recognition vapourware being marketed to department stores....

nytimes: Judge Suspends Proceedings in Standoff on War Prisoner
Excerpt: The US federal judge who issued an order requiring the DoJ to hand over information on detainee Yasser Esam Hamdi has suspended all proceedings, in an apparent attempt to allow an...

bbc: Jordan carpets Qatar over TV
Excerpt: The BBC follows up yesterday's closure of Al-Jazeera in Jordan. RSF has issued a press release condemning the move. The Jordanian media has savaged both the TV channel and the...

bbc: French far-right website shut down
Excerpt: According to the BBC, a French court has ordered the closure of the Radical Unity web site [ English ], two days after voting to disband the group because of links to the attempted...

jpost: Execution in Arafat's compound - an eye-witness account
Excerpt: The Jerusalem Post reports on the summary execution by Palestinian Authority police of an accused murderer - a man later described as mentally retarded - in full view of journalists....

wired: Feds Open 'Total' Tech Spy System
Excerpt: DARPA has announced it will begin awarding contracts for a "Total Information Awareness" system, an all-encompassing citizen database and data mining program intended to detect terrorists....

reuters: Vietnam Cracks Down on 'Harmful' Internet Use
Excerpt: The Vietnamese government has begun monitoring internet usage in an attempt to stamp out "harmful information". Plans were announced last month to order internet cafes and ISPs to monitor...

haaretz: Arabs, lawyers ask Yishai to drop his citizenship annulment plans
Excerpt: Ha'aretz reports on opposition to the Israeli Interior Minister's plans to revoke the citizenship of Arabs linked to terrorist attacks. The article seems to confirm that the Minister has...

ap: Indian Journalist Arrested
Excerpt: Indian web journalist Aniruddha Bahal, of Tehelka.com , has been arrested on charges of assaulting a federal investigator. This is just one in a series of attacks against Tehelka and its...

bbc: Move to ban small arms in Africa
Excerpt: A conference on arms trading , prompted by various UN reports , has heard propsals for disarming the citizens of East and Central African countries, and increasing the firepower of police...

bbc: Jordan bans 'insulting' TV channel
Excerpt: Jordan's Information Minister has shut down Al-Jazeera and ordered its correspondents out of the country, for broadcasting criticism of King Abdullah's policies. The Satellite broadcaster...

guardian: Terror in China
Excerpt: The Guardian interviews Zhizhen Dai, a Chinese-born Australian citizen and falun gong follower whose husband was allegedly tortured and killed by Chinese authorities Still, they...

theage: DNA testing for all 'not Orwellian'
Excerpt: An Australian research scientist has proposed compulsory DNA testing of all citizens, saying that with the appropriate laws in place the measure would be safe. Civil libertarians point out...

australian: War command computers missing
Excerpt: Two laptop computers, one containing classified information, have been reported missing from the US military command centre in Afghanistan. The article doesn't say whether the contents were...

times: Rude French pupils face prison
Excerpt: The French National Assembly has approved a new law that threatens jail terms for children who show disrespect towards their teachers and other authorities. Via The Edge of England's Sword...

ap: U.S. Defies Judge's Order on Detainee
Excerpt: The US government has apparently refused to comply with a federal judge's order to hand over information about the interrogation of Yaser Esam Hamdi . Note the claim that "courts must bow...

nytimes: F.B.I. Faces Inquiry on a False Confession From an Egyptian Student
Excerpt: A US federal judge has ordered an investigation into how the FBI obtained a false confession from an Egyptian man who was accused of links to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The...

nytimes: Japan in an Uproar as 'Big Brother' Computer File Kicks In
Excerpt: The NY Times provides some more detail on the new Japanese national ID system . Under the system, all citizens, from babies in hospital nurseries to elderly in nursing homes, have been...

cnn: France to ban far-right party
Excerpt: The French government has announced it will go ahead with plans to ban the Radical Unity group , after one of its members attempted to shoot President Jacques Chirac. The decision now rests...

cnn: Spain moves against Basque party
Excerpt: The Spanish government is considering a ban on the Batasuna party after it failed to publicly condemn a car bombing. The government passed a law in June that gives the supreme court the...

nzpa: Computer gear seized in child-porn operation
Excerpt: New Zealand and Austrlaian police have seized computers and disks in a child pornography raid. The raid was apparently conducted by the Department of Internal Affairs , which amongst other...

theage: Israel to strip Arabs with terror links of citizenship
Excerpt: Israel's Interior Minister has proposed revoking the citizenship of arabs linked to terrorist attacks. The article does not describe what kind of "link" would be necessary. Interior...

australian: Internet providers foil attack
Excerpt:An unsuccessful denial of service attack has been launched against US ISPs and web sites, probably origninating from Western Europe. The FBI's NIPC issued a vague warning based on information...

ap: Dozen to face French wiretapping trial
Excerpt: Twelve former and present French government officials will stand trial for illegally wiretapping lawyers, politicians and journalists. Via Privacy Digest . The long-standing case was...

cnet: Is privacy the next casualty?
Excerpt: Declan McCullagh reports on a new US proposal to remove the probable cause requirement from FISA surveillance capabilities, and allow wiretapping of visitors and legal immigrants based on...

telegraph: New censor chief wants stronger laws against porn
Excerpt: Britain's new chief censor has called for stronger censorship laws, arguing that the obligation to produce evidence undermines the Classification Board's power. Via Unknown News . Sir...

bbc: Online paedophiles traced by police
Excerpt: This BBC article about child pornography 'sting' sites claims police are able to trace the home addresses of users accessing their web sites. There's no technical explanation. The dummy...

reuters: Iran's Reformers Skirt Press Bans with Online News
Excerpt: Iranian journalists are turning to web sites as the conservative government continues to ban newspapers. Internet cafes are becoming increasingly popular as readers switch to the web....

cnet: "Spider-Man" can alter Times Square
Excerpt: A US federal judge has rejected a claim that the makers of the Spider-Man movie infringed trademarks by digitally editing images of Times Square to alter advertising billboards. Several...

ap: Glitches in Japanese ID System
Excerpt: AP reports on opposition to the Japanese govenment's new national ID system. As the system got up and running, several municipalities -- including ones in the western prefecture of...

ap: Fed Lax With Laptops
Excerpt: According to AP, the FBI has lost 400 laptop computers, 200 of which may have contained sensitive information. The figures are approximate because there are no reliable records. Before...

wired: Father's Poem, Son's Conviction
Excerpt: Wired reports on an Egyptian man sentenced to a year in prison for posting a poem, written by his father, on a US-based web site . Shohdy, 40, was sentenced in June to one year in a...

ap: Nepalese Police Release Journalists
Excerpt: Two newspaper editors were detained for 24 hours under Nepalese emergency laws, after they published allegations of police corruption and extortion. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists...

latimes: A Deadly Place for Blasphemy
Excerpt: The LA Times reports on blasphemy laws in Pakistan, prompted by the recent death sentence against Anwar Kenneth . According to the article, the death sentence is rarely carried out in such...

guardian: Italy aims to extinguish stars' smoky mystique
Excerpt: The Italian health minister has proposed warning subtitles for films during scenes that show characters smoking. The health minister has come up with a novel way of combating nicotine...

aap: Vodafone sorry for streak stunt
Excerpt: Vodafone Australia may face incitement charges for encouraging a streaker at a rugby match on the weekend. A man was charged with indecent exposure after running naked onto the field with...

techreview: The Chinese Columbine
Excerpt: MIT Technology Review reports on the effect of June's net cafe fire on the attitude towards youth internet access in China. Parents worry that their kids stay out all night at the local...

cnet: Politicians renew fight for anti-porn law
Excerpt: Three US politicians have asked a federal appeals court to reverse an earlier ruling that the COPA censorship act is unconstitutional. They argue that the 1998 law is carefully "tailored...

chronicle: Logging In With Benjamin G. Edelman
Excerpt: The Chronicle of Higher Education interviews Ben Edelman , the researcher behind the ACLU's "lawsuit" against censorware vendor N2H2. I've already released the results of similar work...

nytimes: . . . And Click Here For China
Excerpt: The NY Times makes some new claims about internet censorship in China, suggesting the government has tried blocking emailed news reports. CERTAINLY, the authorities still show signs of...

nytimes: After Sept. 11, a Legal Battle Over Limits of Civil Liberty
Excerpt: The NY Times reports on the current state of civil liberties battles in the US. The current struggle centers on three sets of issues. People held simply for immigration violations have...

ap: Dancer appeals ban from leaving Iran
Excerpt: Mohammad Khordadian, an American dancer sentenced by an Iranian court for running dance classes in the US, will stay in Iran while he appeals. Khordadian, however, will stay in Iran...

bbc: Britons face 'terror group' trial
Excerpt: 26 people have been charged by Egyptian prosecutors with membership in a banned Islamic group. 3 of the accused are from Britain, where the group is apparently legal. They were arrested...

washingtonpost: FBI Leak Probe Irks Lawmakers
Excerpt: The FBI have asked many US lawmakers to take lie detector tests, in an effort to discover the source of leaked information about an NSA communications interception. Many have refused, citing...

sacbee: Cameras to help keep south Los Angeles alleys clean
Excerpt: New motion-sensor cameras will photograph and audibly warn loiterers in Los Angeles alleys and abandoned buildings. A power-pole mounted camera in Watts is designed to snap a picture of...

nytimes: Cybercafe Crackdown May Trip Up Leering Boys
Excerpt: The NY Times reports on forthcoming internet regulations in Pakistan, which will require net cafe users to supply ID. Under the rules, Pakistan's thousands of unregulated cybercafes --...

ap: Egyptian editor summoned for anti-Semitic article
Excerpt: The editor of Egypt's Al-Ahram daily newspaper has received a summons from a French court on incitement and hate charges over an anti-Semitic article published on the Al-Ahram web site....

ap: Ugandan rebels threaten journalist
Excerpt: The leader of Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army has reportedly issued a death threat against journalist Els De Temmerman, author of a book on the group's abduction of hundreds of...

washingtonpost: Judge Denies Detainees in Cuba Access to U.S. Courts
Excerpt: The Washington Post follows up yesterday's ruling that non-US citizens detained as unlawful combatants in Guantanamo Bay will not be allowed access to lawyers or courts. Australian Foreign...

ispa.org.za: ISPA Raises Concerns on the Interception and Monitoring
Excerpt: South Africa's Internet Service Proviers Association has issued a press release condemning the forthcoming Interception and Monitoring Bill . In addition to wiretapping provisions, the...

foxnews: Store Customer Cards a Source for FBI?
Excerpt: Fox news follows up claims that the customer database from a supermarket loyalty card - listing members' buying habits - was handed to the FBI following the September 11 attacks....

bbc: Saudis block 2,000 websites
Excerpt: The BBC reports on the Harvard study , first mentioned last month by Wired, on Saudi internet censorship. There are some comments here from the researchers that weren't in the Wired story....

abcnews: S/M Photographer Challenges Internet Decency Standards
Excerpt: ABC News reports on the progess of a challenge by photographer Barbara Nitke and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom against the almost-forgotten Communications Decency Act....

cnn: Military imposes limits on wireless devices
Excerpt: The US Defense Department has placed limits on employees use of wireless devices, in an attempt to cut down on security risks. Presidential cybersecurity advisor Richard Clarke criticized...

ap: Judge denies Hicks right to trial
Excerpt: Australian David Hicks and Britons Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, captured by US forces in Afghanistan and detained as unlawful combatants, have been denied a request for a trial. They had...

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