The European Court of Justice has ruled that content owners cannot ask ISPs to filter out illegal content. The ruling could have implications for the creative industries as they attempt to crack down on piracy. The court said that while content providers can ask ISPs to block specific sites, wider filtering was in breach of the E-Commerce Directive. more»
Democracy Now has a video discussion on the recent reports about telecoms in Europe aiding the Iranian government develop highly sophisticated Internet censorship mechanisms or deep packet inspection. The WSJ recently reported that the Iranian monitoring capabilities where "at least in part [provided] by a joint venture of Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, and Nokia Corp., the Finish cellphone compnay, in second half of 2008." (also see previous report: Iran's Internet Censorship Most Sophisticated in the World) more»
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Andy Burnham says he believes that new standards of decency need to be applied to the web. He is planning to negotiate with Barack Obama's incoming American administration to draw up new international rules for English language websites. The Cabinet minister describes the internet as "quite a dangerous place" and says he wants internet-service providers (ISPs) to offer parents "child-safe" web services. more»
The controversial copyright enforcement bill the Protect IP Act, or PIPA, may be amended on the Senate floor later this month in response to ongoing concerns about its provisions affecting ISPs and the domain-name system, the bill's chief sponsor said. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chief sponsor of the Protect IP Act said Thursday he plans to offer an amendment that would require a study of the impact of the ISP provisions in the bill before they are implemented. more»
The Council of Europe plans to establish an Internet user charter to guarantee the rights of consumers in an era of increasing government attempts to seize control of the Web, its deputy secretary general said on Tuesday. "We want to emphasize the development, perhaps in the form of a charter on the rights of Internet users so they can claim openness, universality, access and affordability and possibly to know who to turn to if these principles are not respected," Maud de Boer-Buquicchio said. more»
First the Los Angeles Times, now the New York Times have both printed editorials critical of the PROTECT-IP bill. Both the LAT and NYT support copyright - and announce as much in their opening sentences. That doesn't mean we should sacrifice Internet security and stability for legitimate DNS users, nor the transparency of the rule of law. more»
A joint venture of Siemens AG and Nokia Corp., two large European technology firms, is denying reports that Iran uses its Web-monitoring technology to censor and spy on its citizens' online activities. Nokia Siemens Networks said Monday that it has sold telecommunications systems to the Iranian government but that any built-in monitoring technology was for voice communications and not the Internet. more»
China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused Google's English language search engine of spreading vulgar content that violated the nation's law. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang did not directly answer a question about whether government action was responsible for recent disruptions in access to Google sites from within China. more»
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa today announced that the Full Committee will hold a hearing on January 18 to examine the potential impact of Domain Name Service (DNS) and search engine blocking on security, jobs and the Internet community. The Committee will hear testimony from cybersecurity experts and others from the technology community. more»
Top US trade officials said Wednesday they have written to the Chinese government urging it to drop a new rule requiring all computers to be fitted with Internet filtering software [related]. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said China may be violating its World Trade Organization obligations by requiring all computers sold in the country from July 1 to carry the "Green Dam" program... more»
In a blog post today, Michael Geist writes: "The reverberations from the SOPA fight continue to be felt in the U.S. and elsewhere (mounting Canadian concern that Bill C-11 could be amended to adopt SOPA-like rules), but it is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that has captured increasing attention this week. Several months after the majority of ACTA participants signed the agreement, most European Union countries formally signed the agreement yesterday (notable exclusions include Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia). This has generated a flurry of furious protest..." more»
Even as we increasingly discover that every facet of our modern lives now revolve around, and are dependent on the Internet, for which reason its availability, functionality, safety, stability and security are now of great and continuing concern to all of us. These issues have a profound impact on its overall governance. To most of us, during the past three decades, the Internet has always been available, stable, affordable and open; and it should continue this way even as it is controlled and administered in a secure manner... more»
China's authoritarian government has backed away from an order [related] that Internet-filtering software be loaded onto every new computer after an outcry by citizens accustomed to the relative freedom of online life. Legal challenges, petitions, and satirical cartoons had been part of a grass-roots effort to scuttle the initiative, announced earlier this month... more»
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its defeat call attention to a delicious irony in public discourse on Internet governance. Even those who don't want the Internet to be an exception from traditional forms of regulation and law are forced to admit that something new and exceptional must be done to bring it under control, such as massive departures from traditional concepts of territorially bounded sovereignty through the use of in rem jurisdiction. more»
Britain's High Court - not the highest, but well up the ladder - has officially ordered Internet service providers to block Sweden-based file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. That means top British ISPs must shut off access to the site as soon as possible. ISPs Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media have said they will, while a sixth, BT, has asked for a few weeks to mull over whether it will comply or not. The Pirate Bay hosts "torrent" files that let users connect with each other to download or share information -- in principle, a legitimate activity. more»
