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Russia poised to restrict Net activities - Tech News - CNET.com
(CNET News.com, June 24, 2002)
Russia's parliament may give final approval this week to sweeping restrictions on using the Internet to oppose the government. . . . At the request of President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Duma voted 272 to 126 last week in favor of the offline and online restrictions as an immediate response to what Putin called a spate of pro-Nazi and anti-religious extremist activities. . . . Russia's actions come as U.S. law enforcement is seeking expanded powers to monitor Web activity. . . . The Russian measure, which could receive final approval in the Duma as early as this week, pitted Putin and his supporters against the members of Russia's nascent human rights community who decried the anti-extremism bill as a perilous expansion of police power. Also opposed to the Draft on Contravention of Extremist Activities were members of the Communist Party, who feared they could be targeted as illegal extremists. . . . "What we see is an attack on the Internet. This part of the draft was withdrawn. But it doesn't mean that the bill has become better," said Lev Levinson, an activist at the Moscow-based Institute for Human Rights who tracks legislation in the Duma. . . . Human rights activists predict the broad definition of extremist behavior will imperil legitimate activities such as Greenpeace protesters or anti-war Web sites.

posted by Lorenzo 4:45 PM

 

Spies at liberty in your PC
(The Guardian, June 27, 2002)
Have things moved even slower than usual when you've been online recently? Has your computer crashed more often? Have those pop-up ads seemed even more intrusive? Just the way the web is, you may think. But there could be another reason for the hassles you're experiencing. You may have downloaded software that is secretly taking liberties with your computer power, bandwidth and personal information. . . . How bad can spyware get? By general agreement, the worst offender is the VX2/ Transponder. "This thing is horrendous," says Healan. "It installs with no disclosure. There is no user interface. There is no privacy statement or any documentation. It integrates with Internet Explorer and is able to read every keyword the user types, every website they visit. Then it uses their bandwidth to download ads." Webb points out that it collects the user's name and email address too, adding that "one of the companies involved, Mindset Interactive, was recently sued after selling the collected email addresses to marketers." . . . "Several file-sharing companies, including Grokster, Bearshare, LimeWire and KaZaA, bundled a product called ClickTillUWin, which several anti-virus manufacturers classified as a trojan horse. . . . For privacy activists, the worst file-sharing company is probably KaZaA. . . . If you downloaded KaZaA this year, you may also have installed software used to create a kind of private peer to peer network (with other KaZaA users) called Altnet, which is run by Brilliant Digital, a partner of Sharman Networks (who now owns KaZaA). . . . "These use the computer's modem to quietly dial an expensive pay-per-call number." You need to take care online. Check in regularly with anti-spyware sites such as Counterexploitation and SpywareInfo. Look out for sites that keep tabs on what software installs what adware/spyware.

posted by Lorenzo 12:29 PM

 

No Subscription for Spam Relief
(Joanna Glasner, Wired.com, April 5, 2002)
In the annals of Internet folk wisdom, "Don't reply to spammers" is right up there with "Don't e-mail your credit card numbers to strangers" . . . The logic, at least where spam is concerned, has long been that replying to a spammer merely indicates that your e-mail address is valid. . . . However, in a recent experiment carried out by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, researchers found that replying to spammers may not be as dangerous as previously thought. . . . "There is no evidence that submitting a remove request resulted in us getting more spam," said Charles Harwood, the FTC's Northwest regional director. Rather, nearly two-thirds of the replies actually went nowhere, routed to e-mail addresses that had either never existed or had already been shut down. . . . In response, the FTC sent letters informing junk mailers that including ineffective "unsubscribe" addresses in their mailings violated truthfulness in advertising laws. . . . Nonetheless, the risks of responding to spammers are far from illusory, said Jeff Richards, vice president of the consulting firm ePrivacy Group. . . . Richards said he has never had a problem removing himself from the online mailing lists of established companies, which generally have an interest in not irritating prospective customers. . . . However, when he sent removal requests to spammers of the more obvious con artist variety, in particular for messages emanating from exotic locales in Eastern Europe and Asia, Richards said he frequently wound up receiving more e-mail.

posted by Lorenzo 11:22 AM

 

Break the Chain: Stop Junk E-Mail and Misinformation
The Mission of Break the Chain is to educate people about the e-mail chain letters circulating on the 'net, share the facts, give interpretations, and provide the tools and information people will need to determine for themselves the validity of a message. . . . The Goal of Break the Chain is to reduce junk being distributed on the Internet by well-meaning individuals in the form of e-mail chain letters. We encourage e-mail users to look not only at the facts presented in the messages they receive and send, but also to pay attention to how those facts are presented, the implications and limitations of e-mail as an information tool, the motives of the original sender and the impact the continued circulation of the letter can have.

posted by Lorenzo 11:02 AM

 

EPIC Digital Rights Management and Privacy
Linking personally-identifiable information to content may result in "price discrimination." Price discrimination is the practice of selling an item at different costs to different consumers. It can be facilitated where the seller knows the consumer's identity, and can associate the identity with a profile that includes financial information on the consumer. DRM systems may enable content owners to control access to content, but also to adjust the price of content based on the consumer's identity. . . . Alternatives exist that would provide copy protection and at the same time protect privacy. For instance, token and password systems could be used to authorize a download of digital content. Alternative, non-privacy invasive solutions have not been explored adequately. . . . DRM systems that have been designed impinge on users' control and use of content. Many DRM systems will not allow a user to transfer content to portable devices, such as MP3 players. In addition, many DRM systems work only with Windows operating systems to the exclusion of Linux and Macintosh users. . . . DRM systems may also be designed to actually harm a user's system. One product in particular, InTether Point-to-Point, can impose "penalties" for "illegal" uses of files. The program can force a reboot of the user's computer or destroy the file that the user was attempting to access. A Celine Dion album released in 2002 by EPIC and Sony records can crash a users' computer if the disc is inserted in a CD-ROM drive. . . . The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) can interfere with a user's ability to access content. The DMCA is a 1998 law designed to increase copyright holders' rights. The DMCA created civil and criminal penalties for the creation or distribution of DRM circumvention tools. As a result, a user attempting to circumvent copyright protection, even for legitimate reasons, may violate federal law. The DMCA was the American version of implementing legislation for a World Intellectual Property Organization treaty. . . . DRM is a Threat to Open Source Software.

posted by Lorenzo 1:53 PM

 

Supreme Court Upholds Anonymity, Free Speech
The Supreme Court ruled that an ordinance requiring door-to-door petitioners to obtain a permit and identify themselves upon demand violates the right of anonymity inherent in the First Amendment freedom of speech. In November 2001, EPIC, the ACLU, and 14 legal scholars filed an amicus curiae brief, arguing that the ordinance implicates privacy, as well as the First Amendment rights of anonymity, expression, and freedom of association. (June 17) . . .

posted by Lorenzo 1:50 PM

 

Gagged by Google - censored by search engine
(Laura Flanders, WorkingForChange.com, May 30, 2002)
It began when Roddick posted a short comment on her site about actor John Malkovich's public threat to shoot Scottish Member of Parliament George Galloway and Independent reporter Robert Fisk. . . . "Vomitous worm" didn't go down well with Google. Shortly after Roddick made the comment, she got word that the advertising staff at the search engine were suspending her ad campaign. "They said that my ad violated their editorial policy against 'sites that advocate against groups or individuals,'" writes Roddick. . . . By this logic, points out Roddick, "no one could advertise who maligned any human being, be it Stalin, Hitler or even Bin Laden." She could have added "George W. Bush" to the list. . . . [Google] told her they do not accept ads for sites with any political content that could be perceived as "anti" anything. . . . Big media are happy to sell their critics the crumbs that fall from the corporate table. Blog away, be happy, they tell the activists. But far from a free-speech paradise, the Internet is fast becoming the next corporate-controlled universe, going the way of cable TV or publishing. As long as censors operate as gatekeepers, dissenters can speak all they like � but they won't be heard.

posted by Lorenzo 12:41 PM

 

Experts warn of cyber security holes
(CNN, June 19, 2002)
At a town hall meeting on cyber security, experts warned that the risks of going online have become especially prevalent as hackers find new ways to poke holes in Internet security systems. . . . Risks include identity fraud and intellectual property and credit card theft. . . . Pate said many people don't know that when they log onto the Internet, they're open to attack -- even if they have anti-virus protection and a firewall. He recommends an anti-intrusion device.
[Hagerty comment: I absolutely agree that if you use the Net you should be running anti-virus, firewall, and anti-intrusion detection software. However, this should not prevent people from using the Net. We use seat belts in our autos. So we use software protection on the Net. My suspicion is that the power elite are trying to scare people away from the Internet, where the truth about world events is more readily available.

posted by Lorenzo 3:14 PM

 

'Snoop' climbdown by Blunkett
(BBC News, June 18, 2002)
Home Secretary David Blunkett has admitted he blundered over plans dubbed a "snooper's charter" to give a raft of public bodies access to private e-mail and mobile phone records. . . . The extension of the powers to seven Whitehall departments, as well as local authorities and other public bodies will now not be discussed in the Commons before the next session of Parliament, which starts in November. . . . "It's difficult to understand how intrusive and privacy-intruding powers should be given to local councils, the Food Standards Agency and bodies like that," . . . The powers - contained in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) - were introduced to combat serious crime and terrorism. But the government wanted to extend access to a wide range of organisations including local councils and bodies such as the Food Standards Agency.
[Hagerty comment: It looks like the UK is following the lead of the US in privacy matters.]

posted by Lorenzo 9:25 AM

 

Supreme Court rejects law on doorstep sales, proselytizing
(CNN, June 17, 2002)
The Constitution protects the right of missionaries, politicians and others to knock on doors without first getting permission from local authorities, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. . . . The mere fact that the ordinance covers so much speech raises constitutional concerns," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote . . . "It is offensive, not only to the values protected by the First Amendment, but to the very notion of a free society, that in the context of everyday public discourse a citizen must first inform the government of her desire to speak to her neighbors and then obtain a permit to do so." . . . The court also rejected the town's claim that the law helped prevent crime. There is no evidence that a criminal casing a neighborhood would be deterred by the need to get a permit, the court said. . . . The court already has held that the Constitution gives people the right to anonymously distribute campaign literature. Monday's ruling extends that right to door-to-door soliciting for other causes.

posted by Lorenzo 9:13 AM

 

Police to spy on all emails
(Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, June 9, 2002)
Plans being drawn up by Europol, the police and intelligence arm of the European Union, propose that telephone and internet firms retain millions of pieces of data - including details of visits to internet chat rooms, and of calls made on mobile phones and text messages. . . . Companies that run internet sites will be required to retain passwords used by individuals, record which website addresses are visited, and keep details of webpages looked at and any credit card or bank details used for subscriptions. . . . It is believed that Britain will push for the data to be kept for up to five years. . . . The document, headed 'Expert Meeting on Cyber Crime: Data Retention', suggests mobile phones records could be used by police and the intelligence services to track the geographical location of people making calls.

posted by Lorenzo 2:46 PM

 

Air Force Officer Suspended Criticizing Bush
(Reuters, June 4, 2002)
A U.S. Air Force officer has been suspended from duty after he wrote a letter to a California newspaper accusing President Bush of allowing the Sept. 11 attacks to happen . . . ``Of course Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama,'' Butler's letter said. . . . ``His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative Supreme Court...the economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something to hang his presidency on.'' . . . Butler's suspension was apparently based on Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which says that any commissioned officer who uses ``contemptuous words'' against the president or other senior officials may be punished by a court-martial.

posted by Lorenzo 7:34 PM

 

Spying and Lying: The FBI's Dirty Secrets
(Mark Weisbrot, Alternet.org, June 6, 2002)
Attorney General John Ashcroft has announced that the FBI is changing its rules so that it can spy on domestic organizations, even where there is no evidence of specific criminal activity. . . It is doubtful that the Administration could get away with these changes if the real functioning of the FBI as a political police force were better known. . . . COINTELPRO was a massive operation to infiltrate, disrupt, harass, and otherwise interfere with the lawful activities of civil rights advocates, peace activists, religious organizations, and others. One of the FBI's most famous and hated targets was the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In a covert operation that now reads like a B-grade movie script, the FBI actually made a serious effort to blackmail Dr. King into committing suicide. . . . documents released to our local group showed that their spying in Ann Arbor continued well beyond that date. But the press accepted that the FBI had changed its ways, and today the whole story of their illicit activities in the 1980s has disappeared into the memory hole. . . . there is no evidence that the FBI ever reformed itself, and now we have two new reasons to worry about it. One is the blank check that Ashcroft has handed to the FBI, which threatens our civil liberties. The second is that after decades of crying "wolf" to justify its function as an American KGB, the FBI is now charged with protecting us from real terrorist threats.

posted by Lorenzo 7:15 PM

 

Electronic Privacy Information CenterDistrict Court Finds Library Filtering Law Unconstitutional
(EPIC, June 5, 2002)
A three-judge panel in Philadelphia ruled today that the government's latest attempt to censor the internet violates the First Amendment because it would restrict substantial amounts of protected speech "whose suppression serves no legitimate government interest." The Childrens Internet Protection Act, which requires the installation of filtering software on computers in libraries that receive federal support, was challenged by a coalition of libraries and patrons. EPIC is acting as co-counsel in the lawsuit. Today's decision also notes that the law infringes upon the First Amendment right to anonymity because it forces patrons to reveal their identity in order to get certain cites unblocked. The statute provides for an automatic right of review to the Supreme Court. EPIC's recent publication, Filters & Freedom 2.0, details the free expression implications of filtering technologies. For more background about the proceedings, see EPIC's CIPA Page.

posted by Lorenzo 9:29 PM

 

Pro-Israel groups take aim at U.S. news media
(Tim Jones, Chicago Tribune, May 26, 2002)
The campaigns are motivated by the desire in Jewish communities that the United States maintain its traditional support of Israel and by a concern that media coverage of the Mideast, especially articles deemed sympathetic to Palestinians, could weaken public backing for Israel and ultimately alter U.S. policy. . . . The ad hoc campaigns among Jewish organizations stretch from coast to coast. They are directed at both large and small news operations, some with their own correspondents in the Mideast and some that rely solely on The Associated Press or other international news services. Organizers employ word of mouth and the Internet to expand their campaigns. The result is a cascade of e-mails, letters and phone calls to editors and ombudsmen at newspapers, broadcast outlets and cable news channels. . . . Subscription boycotts have been launched against The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. . . . No one has ever seen pressure like this before," said Jeffrey Dvorkin, the ombudsman for Washington-based NPR. . . . The Jewish community does not speak with a single voice. . . . Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of the San Francisco-based Tikkun magazine, said the pressure campaigns are a form of "McCarthyism that is attempting to prevent the American media from telling any part of the story from the perspective of what is happening to Palestinians." . . . "In the long run this will produce more anti-Semitism and less security for Jews," Lerner said. "This is counterproductive."

posted by Lorenzo 8:42 PM