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archive : 2004-03

Syria censors two Kurdish web sites
Excerpt: The Syrian government has blocked access to two Kurdish news web sites, amude.com and qamislo.com , according to RSF. The two websites, run from Germany and blocked for Syrian Internet...

Australia proposes ban on arbitrary groups, terrorist publications
Excerpt: Proposed new Australian anti-terrorism laws, approved by the cabinet, include two troubling provisions, besides the usual extensions of detention powers. The first criminalizes membership, not...

Coalition shuts Iraqi newspaper
Excerpt: Coalition forces have shut down an Iraqi newspaper for 60 days, for publishing articles allegedly inciting violence. AP's report doesn't say who ordered the closure. Dozens of U.S....

US preparing bills to criminalize P2P
Excerpt: Wired News says two US draft bills are proposing increasing penalties and lowering the burden of proof against the users of file sharing networks. One would allow the US DoJ to take civil action...

US Supreme Court to hear Hicks challenge
Excerpt: David Hicks will challenge his detention as an unlawful combatant before the US Supreme Court in April. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the matter of jurisdiction on April 20,...

Ouyang Yi sentenced for internet publishing
Excerpt: Pro-democracy activist Ouyang Yi has been sentenced to two years in prison for publishing an open letter on the internet. Ouyang, who was sentenced by Chengdu's intermediate people's court...

China blocks access to Typepad, Blogs.com
Excerpt:The Chinese government has blocked access to all Typepad and blogs.com sites, according to this article. Last week the government blocked access to two Chinese blog sites . All...

RIAA to subpoena university
Excerpt: The RIAA plans to issue subpoenas demanding the identities of alleged file sharers at the University of Michigan. If the subpoenas are “substantively and procedurally valid,” the...

Germany seizes computers from Neo Nazi file sharers
Excerpt: German police have seized CDs and computers from 342 people accused of publishing Neo Nazi music on file sharing networks. Police sources said the raids were part of their ongoing...

25 years for homosexuality in Zanzibar
Excerpt: Zanzibar's government has increased the penalties for gay sex to life in prison. The proposed law bans same-sex marriages and sanctions a 25-year jail term for sex between men and a...

More on EU terror policies: data retention, detention powers
Excerpt: Statewatch has an analysis of the new EU anti-terrorism policies, which were accepted yesterday by the Justice Council . Quoting here from the Statewatch summary: 2. However, the analysis...

Legislative engineering
Excerpt: Three examples today of attempts to legislate technology. First, the EU antitrust decision against Microsoft, which levies a record fine for including a media player in Windows: Reuters, EU...

Italy proposes regulation of mosques
Excerpt: A new Italian bill proposes government regulation of Mosques, describing them as terrorist recruitment centers. Under the law, requests to build or open mosques and their method of finance...

US plans to screen rail passengers
Excerpt: The US government is planning to screen rail passengers and luggage, according to Fox News. The government this spring will begin testing a way to screen rail passengers and their luggage...

RIAA sues 532 more customers
Excerpt: The RIAA has launched 532 new lawsuits against as-yet unidentified users of file sharing networks. The trade association said Tuesday that it sued an additional 532 anonymous individuals,...

Australia proposes new police surveillance powers
Excerpt: AAP reports on a new Australian bill that would increase law enforcement surveillance powers to include data interception, video surveillance and the use of tracking devices. The powers would...

South Korea wants to ban suicide from search engines
Excerpt: This Guardian article says South Korean police have vowed to block web searches for the word "suicide", following an apparent online suicide pact. They don't elaborate on how - or why. The...

EU accepts UK anti-terrorism surveillance plans
Excerpt: 10 Downing St says the EU Justice Council has agreed to all UK anti-terrorism proposals , including communications data retention standards. The Council: agreed to establish new common...

US Supreme Court sees little problem with ID stops
Excerpt: Dahlia Lithwick at Slate reports on the Hiibel Nevada ID case . It appears that the Supreme Court judges see little problem with the idea that non-criminals can be arrested for refusing to...

AOL blocks access to spam web sites
Excerpt: AOL is blocking access to the web sites of businesses that send spam to its subscribers, according to the Washington Post. The blocks are based on subscriber complaints. They say it's already...

Saudi government blocks access to gay web sites
Excerpt: RSF says Saudi government internet censors have blocked access to two gay news web sites, gaymiddleeast.com and 365gay.com . "Officially filtering is only supposed to be applied to...

UK pushes fast track to ID cards, surveillance
Excerpt:The Guardian says the UK plans not just to make national ID cards mandatory, but to record all use in an audit trail. Unspecified "safeguards" are mentioned to brush off privacy concerns. Mr...

Israel bars dual citizen reporters from Gaza
Excerpt: AP says the Israeli government has barred reporters with dual Israeli and foreign citizenships from accessing Gaza to cover the death of Sheik Ahmed Yassin. The Government Press Office says it's...

Zimbabwe mercenary cases to be heard in jail
Excerpt: A Zimbabwe court has refused to allow 70 accused mercenaries to be tried in court, ordering their cases to be heard in jail. High Court Judge Tedius Karwi threw out an application by the...

ID theft fears spur shredder sales?
Excerpt: This Reuters piece says shredder sales have increased over fears of identity theft. That's a good sign if it's true: people are learning that they need to manage their own security. Last...

Anti-terror race slows down in court
Excerpt: This AP piece says terrorism cases, initially encouraged by investigators' anti-terrorism powers, are gradually being set back by appeal court decisions around the world. Spanish...

AFP says wiretap warrants threaten spam, virus security
Excerpt: The Australian Federal Police have come up with a novel argument against restrictions on phone and email wiretapping. They claim that warrant requirements could prevent them from filtering spam,...

Nevada ID law challenge
Excerpt: CSM follows Larry Hiibel's Supreme Court challenge to a Nevada law that allows police to demand identification from non-criminals. Under Nevada law, a citizen must reveal his or her name to...

Belgian police arrest journalist, seize files
Excerpt: The Telegraph says a journalist investigating EU corruption was detained by Belgian police. His notes, including a computer, were seized after he refused to reveal his sources. Hans-Martin...

Wired vigilantes
Excerpt:Wired reports on an interesting application of free speech: Perverted Justice , a collection of vigilantes who troll chat rooms posing as young girls, then publishing transcripts and images of...

Why terrorists don't encrypt
Excerpt: Australia's ABC has a lengthy piece on internet use by radical Islamists, primarly Al Qaeda. The article suggests terrorists aren't making use of encryption or sophisticated technical measures...

French PM wants centralized web filtering, monitoring
Excerpt: Reuters suggests the French government is planning a new program for monitoring and censoring racist web sites. The article initially talks about an centralized web censoring proxy for state...

US to begin Registered Traveller program
Excerpt: AP says the US government wants to begin testings its Registered Traveller program in June, allowing pre-approved travellers to skip increased security checks at airports. Under the...

China shuts down blogs
Excerpt: RSF says the Chinese government has shut down two blog hosting sites, for allowing bloggers to post articles critical of the government. At least 15,000 weblogs have been shut down as a result....

Australian bill prohibits associating with terrorists
Excerpt: ABC reports on a proposed new Australian law that would prohibit "consorting with terrorists". Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says the laws would be loosely based on some state laws, which...

DoJ wants internet wiretapping, ISPs to pay
Excerpt:The Washington Post says the US DoJ is seeking further expansions to its wiretapping and surveillance powers to include internet traffic. Under their proposal, ISPs would be forced to purchase and...

Tell a lie, go to jail
Excerpt: Samuel Blumenfeld reports in WorldNetDaily on the case against Martha Stewart: convicted for failing to answer government investigators' questions correctly. Stewart was acting on...

Students beaten, detained by Beirut police
Excerpt: AFP says three student protesters were beaten by police, and at least two others detained, following a political demonstration at a Beirut university. A joint force of anti-riot police and...

French music industry demands iPod protection money
Excerpt:Wired says the French music industry is suing Apple for refusing to pay royalties for the blank hard drive in its iPod music player. The argument centers on a fee levied in France on sales of...

Australian government buries censorship reports
Excerpt: The Australian government has not produced a report on its internet censorship activities since 2001, despite a Senate motion requiring 6-monthly reports, according to this article. The...

Campaign ads draw calls for censorship
Excerpt:CNN reports a Republican committee is arguing that recent Democrat advertisements violate "soft money" campaign contribution laws. Democrats, meanwhile, insist the Bush administration should stop...

EU antitrust action against Microsoft misses the point?
Excerpt: CNet suggests EU antitrust action against Microsoft is missing the point, focussing on issues that are no longer relevant. Indeed, it's difficult to take seriously a monopoly argument about...

Syrian rights protest broken up by police
Excerpt: AP says Syrian police arrested an unknown number of human rights activists who were taking part in a protest for political reform. Journalists and photographers were amongst those detained....

Zimbabwe report details violence against opposition
Excerpt: More reports from Zimbabwe on violence and intimidation against government opponents. Opposition members say the violence is intended to frighten people into re-electing Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF....

Australian wiretapping rises 22%
Excerpt: An Australian government report says law enforcement wiretapping rose 22% last year. That figure doesn't include surveillance by intelligence agencies not subject to the usual warrant...

RIAA must sue file sharers one at a time
Excerpt: A US federal judge has thrown out yet another music industry legal tactic: suing many file sharers in one lawsuit. The Recording Industry Association of America grouped 203 so-called "John...

Spanish reporter killed, apparently by Aristide supporters
Excerpt: Reuters reports eyewitness claims that Aristide supporters fired on anti-government celebrations outside Haiti's National Palace on Sunday. A Spanish journalist was killed, and four others...

Student webmaster charged with terrorist conspiracy
Excerpt: AP says a Saudi student, living in the US, faces terrorism charges for allegedly helping to run web sites associated with Hamas. His lawyer points out that, as with many of the conspiracy and...

NY bans DVD copying software
Excerpt: A New York court has issued an injunction ordering 321 Studios to stop selling their DVD copying software. A similar decision was made in California last month. Federal Judge Richard...

3 guilty of paintball, attempted travel
Excerpt: Three more Virginia Muslims have been found guilty of supporting terrorism by playing paintball games and attempting to travel to Afghanistan. Several others pleaded guilty to similar charges...

Child porn fiction charge dismissed
Excerpt: Brian Dalton, the Ohio man sentenced to 10 years in prison over the contents of his fictional, unpublished journal , has had the charges overturned. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge...

NZ wants harsher penalties for publishers
Excerpt: Scoop says the New Zealand government wants to increase penalties for publishing objectional material. The bill is aimed at child pornography, but if the article is accurate its wording would...

Ukraine radio station owner killed
Excerpt: Yurify Chechyk, the owner of the Ukraine radio station that was yesterday raided and shut down by police, has been killed in a car crash. Government opponents suggest it was not an accident; a...

Australian music industry raids ruled acceptable
Excerpt:An Australian judge has refused to dismiss evidence from raids conducted by the Australian music industry against Sharman Networks. A number of third parties, including Telstra , were searched...

US increases indecency penalty 18-fold
Excerpt: A US House committee has voted to increase the penalties for broadcasting indecent material from $US 27,000 to $500,000. The abridgement of free speech rights is explained away as...

Ukraine police shut down radio station, seize equipment
Excerpt: Following up on yesterday's story about the apparent jamming of Radio Liberty broadcasts in the Ukraine, it seems police have now raided the station, arresting employees and confiscating...

Aus-US free trade agreement details available
Excerpt: Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has released copies of FTA documentation on its web site . We'll be examining the intellectual property and telecommunications over the...

Online journalist banned from flying?
Excerpt: Frank Ney, an editor for The Libertarian Enterprise, says he's been placed on a US no-fly-list. Interestingly, Frank suggests some web-based ticket purchasing systems have the capability to...

French Senate passes religious symbol ban
Excerpt: The French Senate has voted 276-20 in favour of the ban on religious apparel and symbols in schools. The overwhelming vote mirrored similar wide support by the National Assembly, the...

Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act
Excerpt: Wired reports on the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act, a US bill that proposes copyright-like ownership of facts in perpetuity. Ostensibly, the Database and...

RIAA pitches copyright filter for file sharing networks
Excerpt: CNet reports on Audible Magic, a startup that claims to have software capable of detecting illegally copied music. They're pitching it to US legislators as something that should be included in...

Ukraine jams Radio Liberty broadcasts?
Excerpt: AP says Radio Liberty re-broadcasts by a private Ukraine station are being jammed. Another private station, Radio Kontinent, began broadcasting Radio Liberty Saturday on FM - more widely...

US pushes net porn ban, again
Excerpt: AP reports on yet another push by the Bush administration for a prohibition on online pornography, via the COPA act. Supreme Court judges don't seem to be buying government arguments that the...

UK schools ban camera phones
Excerpt: UK officials have banned cellphone cameras at all West Lothian schools over pedophile fears, despite there being no evidence of misuse. The article doesn't say whether the ban is on possession...

Aust opposition supports power to ban groups
Excerpt: Australia's Labor opposition has agreed to support a bill allowing the Attorney General to proscribe terrorist groups without parliamentary approval. Labor has struck a deal with the...

QLD High Court considers indefinite detention challenge
Excerpt: ABC reports on a challenge to a QLD law allowing indefinite detention based on the possibility that a crime might be committed in the future. The High Court Justice Michael Kirby has warned...

Catching up: 50 headlines that almost made it
Excerpt: More headlines than one overworked Humble Editor can handle: Case dropped against British intelligence leak: AP . Dudley Hiibel's fight against law enforcement demand to present ID: Wired...

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