INTERNET 2 - The Imminent Privatization of the World Wide Web / Censorship

[KiwiClare]

 NZ: Rodney Hide, MP calls for repeal of internet copyright law
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10561679
1:15PM Saturday Mar 14, 2009

The Government has stalled until March 27 a proposed law to enforce copyright on the internet after a 'web roots' protest blacked out many sites last month. Photo / Richard Robinson
Your Views Should ISPs be responsible for cutting internet service to suspected pirates?

ACT leader Rodney Hide wants the controversial internet copyright law repealed and says he will recommend that to the Government.

"It's one of the stupidest new laws imposed by Labour and I am taking steps to get rid of it," he said at his party's annual conference in Auckland today.

"It should be repealed . . . it is fundamentally flawed because it breaches the principles of natural justice. It makes people guilty without trial and that is wrong."

Section 92A of the new Copyright Amendment Act has upset the internet community, which says it could force the closure of websites following any accusation of breach of copyright, even if it was not proven.

The Government said last month it would delay implementation of Section 92A until March 27 to give the community time to come up with a workable code of practice.

It said if agreement could not be reached it would suspend the section.

TelstraClear decided this week to pull out of the code of conduct that was being drafted, and Labour's communications spokeswoman, Clare Curran, said the deal had effectively been scuttled.

Ms Curran raised the issue in Parliament on Thursday but Mr Power said he was not going to pre-judge the negotiations and would wait for the deadline.

Ms Curran said the Government should intervene to broker an agreement that all parties would have to be part of.

- NZPA

[mr anderson]

Net filter blocks cyber bullying

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25199810-29277,00.html

AAP
March 17, 2009 01:04pm

CYBER bullies are set to have the plug pulled on their pranks with the introduction of new software that blocks virtual assaults.

A spike in cyber bullying had prompted calls for software firm NetBox Blue to add the feature to its internet program already being used by many private schools, chairman John Fison said.

 The Cyber Bullying Prevention Engine can block, quarantine or report offensive emails.

"A lot of the schools were saying to us they needed to lock down the use of email, for the students, trying to prevent them from receiving inappropriate content and anything related to bullying,'' Mr Fison said.

Schools can implement a dictionary of words that are frequently used by cyber bullies and the email is intercepted before it reaches the intended victim.

"You can imagine some of the words that might be in that,'' he said.

"It (the program) can quarantine it, it can reject it, forward a copy to administrators, it depends on how the schools are setting it up.''

Most schools are blocking the emails or sending a reply back to the sender to say the language was inappropriate, Mr Fison said.

Christian Schools Australia, Queensland executive officer, Lynne Donelley, says bullying has been on the rise over the past few years and the introduction of software was another tool to combat the problem.

"It (bullying) hinders the learner from being able to focus and it creates emotional and psychological distress that can be quite harmful,'' Ms Donelley said.

Children who were being bullied should talk to their parents, a teacher or someone who they trust so it didn't get out of control, she said.

"They shouldn't try to cope with it themselves, that's the last thing they should do,'' she said.

Bullying via text message was also on the rise, Ms Donelley said.

Ways to avoid bullying via SMS include children giving their number only to trusted friends and not allowing others to access their phone, she said.

[KiwiClare]

Censorship news
Major Opposition to New Swedish Copyright Law
Written by enigmax on March 17, 2009
http://torrentfreak.com/major-opposition-to-new-swedish-copyright-law-090317/
A new law designed to make it easier for copyright holders to go after illicit file-sharers will come into force April 1st in Sweden. The IPRED legislation will also increase penalties and ultimately criminalize large scale infringement but according to a new poll, the majority of Swedes are against it.

Due to come into force in just two weeks, the controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) law will make it easier for copyright holders to get their hands on the personal details of suspected illicit file-sharers.

The law has been controversial from the start, with over 50,000 people signing up to the “Stop IPRED” group on Facebook. Swedish Pirate Party Chairman Rick Falkvinge has been most vocal on the issue.

“These laws are written by digital illiterates who behave like blindfolded, drunken elephants trumpeting about in an egg packaging facility,” he told TorrentFreak. “They have no idea how much damage they’re causing, because they lack today’s literacy: an understanding of how the Internet is reshaping the power structures at their core.”

Nevertheless, Sweden will go ahead with the introduction of the law and, as we predicted back in October last year, the objections to it continue. E24.se reports that a new poll from Sifo indicates that nearly half of all Swedes (48% of those questioned) believe that the IPRED law is wrong.

The group showing the strongest opposition are the typical file-sharers - 15-29 year old men - with a huge 79 percent of those rejecting the new law. In Sweden, 56 percent of men aged between 26 and 35 engage in file-sharing.

From the over 65 years old group, who will generally have less interest in the Internet, 27 percent of them were against IPRED, while 34 percent demonstrated support. The narrow 50-54 year olds group showed a 45 percent opposition to the law.

Overall, just 32 per cent of respondents were in favor of the legislation.

In response to the new law and the heated copyright debate, the National Library of Sweden has closed its open Wi-Fi network. They have thereby disabled online access to a lot of research material, which can now only be accessed upon request -just like in the olden days.

IPRED will come into effect April 1st 2009.

[mr anderson]

Activists use Wikipedia to bait blacklist regulator

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/98964,activists-use-wikipedia-to-bait-blacklist-regulator.aspx

By Brett Winterford
18 March 2009

The Wikipedia page for the Australian Communications and Media Authority holds a link to a site on the authority's blacklist in a further test to the regulator's ability to censor the internet.

Within days, a loose coalition of Australian activists hope to prove that filtering the internet by a blacklist is flawed.

In the middle of last month, an anti-filtering activist who spoke to iTnews on condition of anonymity, made official complaints to ACMA against sites that test the grey areas of the authority's classification guidelines.

One was an anti-abortion site that had pictures of aborted foetuses. The authority added it to its blacklist.

Under the authority's guidelines, a page that links to prohibited content is also considered prohibited. The activists tested the legal boundaries by posting a link to the abortion site in a forum entry on broadband user group site Whirlpool.

The authority served Whirlpool's host, Bulletproof Networks, with a "link deletion notice", threatening the provider with an $11,000 fine if the link was not removed by 6pm the next business day.

In documents seen by iTnews, an article on Wikileaks that lists sites censored by Danish ISPs was this week added to the blacklist.

In an attempt to check the authority's boundaries, activists are linking to these blacklisted sites from legitimate pages in Australia and overseas by big and reputable organisations.

They have linked directly to the anti-abortion page from ACMA's own Wikipedia entry under the "Internet Censorship and Criticism" section.

The activist who spoke to iTnews, a Sydney student, said some Wikipedia users were attempting to remove the link.

At the time of publication, the link still exists (see picture below).

ACMA is now placed in a sticky situation, the activist said.

"It can't issue a removal order to Whirlpool for linking to an anti-abortion site, but not take equivalent action against Wikipedia," the activist told iTnews.

"If ACMA blacklists their own Wikipedia page, well that says it all doesn't it? If they don't, that is a very, very strong reason to call them hypocrites for making vastly different responses to two sites linking to the very same material."

[Freeski]

"Within days, a loose coalition of Australian activists hope to prove that filtering the internet by a blacklist is flawed."

It's not flawed, it's immoral. They don't have the right to decide what we may or may not infect our minds with.

[mr anderson]

Australia secretly censors Wikileaks press release and Danish Internet censorship list

http://www.prisonplanet.com/australia-secretly-censors-wikileaks-press-release-and-danish-internet-censorship-list.html

Wikileaks

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Summary

The first rule of censorship is that you cannot talk about censorship.

In late 2008, Wikileaks released the secret Internet censorship list for Denmark, together with a press release condemning the practice for lack of public or judicial oversight. Here’s an extract from the press release:

    The list is generated without judicial or public oversight and is kept secret by the ISPs using it. Unaccountability is intrinsic to such a secret censorship system.

    Most sites on the list are still censored (i.e must be on the current list), even though many have clearly changed owners or were possibly even wrongly placed on the list, for example the Dutch transport company Vanbokhorst.

    The list has been leaked because cases such as Thailand and Finland demonstrate that once a secret censorship system is established for pornographic content the same system can rapidly expand to cover other material, including political material, at the worst possible moment — when government needs reform.

    Two days ago Wikileaks released the secret Internet censorship list for Thailand. Of the 1,203 sites censored this year, all have the internally noted reason of “lese majeste” — criticizing the Royal family. Like Denmark, the Thai censorship system was originally promoted as a mechanism to prevent the flow of child pornography.

 
An Australian anti-censorship activist submitted the page to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), requesting that they censor it, under their internal guidelines. The activist wished to expose the “slippery scope” of the proposed Mandatory Internet Censorship scheme.

The press release and the list itself have now been placed into the secret Australian government blacklist of “Prohibited Online Content”.

The content on the blacklist is illegal to publish or link to in Australia, with fines of upto $11,000 a day for contraventions.

The ACMA blacklist is proposed to become the list with which the Australian Government will mandatory block all Australians Internet requests. Presently censorship of access attempts by ISPs is voluntary. The Australian government has faced strong opposition over the scheme, with the Liberal (conservative) and Green (liberal left) opposition parties stating they will vote against it.

See also:

    * http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Denmark:_3863_sites_on_censorship_list,_Feb_2008 (the censored URL)
    * Whirlpool forum discussion[1] - http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1158941&p=44#r873
    * http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/
    * Australian Government censorship of US anti-abortion site abortiontv.com, 21 Jan 2009

The downloadable file contains a PDF of the request. What follows is the emailed reply from ACMA, agreeing to the censorship request. At no stage did the Australian government contact Wikileaks.

ACMA reply received today 16/3/09 at 2:49 pm Australian time:

Complaint Reference: 2009000154 / ACMA-1303474585
Dear *******

I refer to the complaint that you lodged with the Australian
Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on 19 February 2009 about
certain online content.

Following investigation of your complaint, ACMA is satisfied that
the Internet content specified in your complaint is hosted outside
Australia, and that the content is prohibited content or potential
prohibited content as defined by Schedule 7 to the Broadcasting
Services Act 1992.

The Internet Industry Association (IIA) has a code of practice
(http://www.iia.net.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=415&Itemid=33)
for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which, among other things,
sets out arrangements for dealing with such content. In accordance
with the code, ACMA has notified the above content to the makers
of IIA approved filters, for their attention and appropriate action.
The code requires ISPs to make available to customers an IIA approved
filter.

On this occasion ACMA has also referred the matter to the appropriate
law enforcement agency.

Information about ACMA's role in regulating online content (including
internet and mobile content), including what is prohibited or
potentially prohibited content is available at ACMA's website at
www.acma.gov.au/hotline

Thank you for bringing this matter to ACMA's attention. Please
contact the Content Assessment Section at online@acma.gov.au if you
have any further questions about this matter.

Yours faithfully
Content Assessment Section
Australian Communications and Media Authority

[mr anderson]

http://news.google.com.au/news?pz=1&ncl=1315911385&topic=h

Leaked blacklist irresponsible, inaccurate: Conroy



http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/19/2520929.htm?section=australia

Nic MacBean
March 19, 2009

Broadband and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says a list claiming to be the communication regulator's blacklist for a proposed internet filtering system is not the real blacklist.

He has condemned Wikileaks, the website that published the list, as "grossly irresponsible".

This morning Wikileaks published what it says is the Australian Communication and Media Authority's (ACMA) blacklist of banned websites that is being used in trials of a proposed mandatory internet filtering system.

The filter is designed to protect children from accessing child pornography and other criminal content.

As well as child pornography, the published list of 2,395 pages also includes online gambling sites, YouTube links, regular porn and fetish sites, and websites of a tour operator, Queensland boarding kennel and a Queensland dentist. It also includes the Wikileaks website.

"The leak and publication of prohibited URLs is grossly irresponsible. It undermines efforts to improve cyber-safety and create a safe online environment for children," Senator Conroy said.

"Under existing laws the ACMA blacklist includes URLs relating to child sexual abuse, rape, incest, bestiality, sexual violence and detailed instruction in crime.

"I am aware of reports that a list of URLs has been placed on a website. This is not the ACMA blacklist."

He says the published list purports to be current at August 6 2008 and apparently contains approximately 2,400 URLs, whereas the ACMA blacklist for the same date contained 1,061 URLs.

"There are some common URLs to those on the ACMA blacklist. However, ACMA advises that there are URLs on the published list that have never been the subject of a complaint or ACMA investigation, and have never been included on the ACMA blacklist," he said.

"ACMA is investigating this matter and is considering a range of possible actions it may take including referral to the Australian Federal Police. Any Australian involved in making this content publicly available would be at serious risk of criminal prosecution."

His comments were backed up by one of the internet service providers (ISPs) involved with the trial of internet filtering.

The managing director of Tech 2U, one of six ISPs involved in a trial of filtering technology, told ABC News Online the list bore little resemblance to the official ACMA version.

"The list released on Wikileaks does not agree with the list which was provided to us earlier this year," Andrew Robson said.

"I don't know where this list came from, but our copy is kept very securely and only one person in the organisation has access to it."

Senator Conroy says his department will continue to work with vendors of filtering software to develop technology to filter out websites that have been deemed prohibited under the Broadcasting Services Act.

Internet freedom advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Association (EFA) earlier said the leaking of the list has confirmed their fears that the Government was creating a quick and easy database for dangerous sites.

"This was bound to happen, especially as mandatory filtering would require the list to be distributed to ISPs all around the country," EFA vice-chair Colin Jacobs said.

"The Government is now in the unenviable business of compiling and distributing a list which includes salacious and illegal material and publicising those very sites to the world."

[mr anderson]

Millions may have visited popular websites on 'leaked blacklist'

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25210163-5014239,00.html

Andrew Ramadge, Technology Reporter
March 19, 2009

    * Blacklist of "banned websites" leaked
    * Includes popular porn website
    * Conroy: 'Leaked list was fake'

A SECRET list of websites purporting to be from the communications watchdog has been leaked to the public, and includes one of the most popular sites in the country.

The pornography site, which news.com.au cannot name, is the 38th most popular site in Australia, according to web ranking service Alexa.

It is more popular than sites like White Pages, Yellow Pages, Optus, Career One and the official sites of the NSW, Victoria and Queensland state governments.

However the Communicationed Minister has denied this "leaked list" is the original from the watchdog.

The secret blacklist of illegal sites, maintained by the Australian Communications And Media Authority (ACMA), is the basis of the Federal Government's web filtering plan.

Under the plan, all internet service providers will be forced to block access to sites on the blacklist.

The list was published on a public website without any age verification or warnings.

It contains 2395 sites, which is what identified it as a fake, says Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.

"The published list purports to be current at 6 August 2008 and apparently contains approximately 2400 URLs whereas the ACMA blacklist for the same date contained 1061 URLs," Senator Conroy said in a statement.

Last November the media watchdog said the list contained 1370 sites.

“The leaking of the list has confirmed some of our worst fears,” said vice-chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) Jacobs.

“This was bound to happen, especially as mandatory filtering would require the list to be distributed to ISPs all around the country."

As well as sites suspected of publishing child pornography the list includes pages on Wikipedia, YouTube and Wikileaks as well as online gambling sites.

ACMA has warned that anyone who republishes the list or attempts to access child pornography sites on it could face up to 10 years in prison.

It has also warned that linking to sites on the list could incur fines of up to $11,000 a day.

ACMA is preparing a statement.

UPDATE: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has denied the list was from ACMA. Story to follow. Link: http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25210931-5014239,00.html

[mr anderson]

Dentist, animal carer websites blacklisted in internet censorship debacle

http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2009/03/19/Governments_internet_censorship_blacklist_leaked

March 19, 2009

Australia’s upcoming internet censorship regime has been exposed – with the top-secret blacklist of proposed banned websites published by whistleblowers.

The list has been made available on wikileaks, a document repository maintained by popular internet encyclopedia website Wikipedia, which allows whistleblowers to anonymously upload potentially sensitive text files.

Wikileaks previously published blacklisted sites by Thailand, Denmark and Norway.

The list contains 2395 links which the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) secretly blacklisted.

It details a plethora of pedophilia and abusive pornography websites, but interestingly also includes Wikipedia and Myspace links, online poker sites, regular gay and straight porn sites, euthanasia sites, satanic sites and fetish sites.

There has also been outcry after websites for a Queensland dentist, a tuckshop management company and Maroochydore animal carer were included on the list.

Wikileaks also state that ACMA now threatens fines of up to $11,000 a day for linking to sites on the list.

Wikileaks complain that the list is "un-reviewable", and that "most of the sites on the Australian list have no obvious connection to child pornography."

They also claim that "blacklists are dangerous to "above ground" activities such as political discourse, they have little effect on the production of child pornography, and by diverting resources and attention from traditional policing actions, may even be counter-productive."

Comparing Australia to communist and morally restrictive countries, it said that "this week saw Australia joining China and the United Arab Emirates as the only countries censoring Wikileaks."

It is believed the leaked list was obtained from an internet filtering software maker.

ACMA said that distribution of the list, or accessing material on the list, could lead to criminal charges and up to 10 years in prison.

[mr anderson]

Internet filter list of porn exposed

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25213542-2702,00.html

Mitchell Bingemann | March 20, 2009

THE Rudd Government's plans for a nationwide internet filter are in jeopardy after its top-secret blacklist of banned web pages was leaked.

The list, published on the internet, reads like a White Pages of porn and its release has provided a handy guide for young people to access the very material the Government wishes to banish from their eyes.

The secret blacklist, which was leaked to the whistle-blower website Wikileaks, is purportedly the same list the Australian Communications and Media Authority distributes to vendors of approved internet filters to ban offensive material -- such as child pornography, bestiality and violence.

ACMA and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy yesterday attempted to hose down concerns about the published blacklist, saying it was not the official list used by the communications regulator.

Of the 2395 web pages on the leaked list, approximately half relate to child porn -- one of the key targets of the federal Government's planned mandatory internet filter.

Many more web pages relate to online poker sites, YouTube links, pornography sites, Wikipedia entries and even links to a Queensland boarding kennel and a Queensland dentist.

"While Wikileaks is used to exposing secret government censorship in developing countries, we now find Australia acting like a democratic backwater," the website notes.

"History shows that secret censorship systems, whatever their original intent, are invariably corrupted into anti-democratic behaviour."

The content of the list of illegal, prohibited and potentially prohibited web pages is supposed to be strictly confidential and is being used as the backbone of the Government's internet censorship plan, which is undergoing trials with a number of internet service providers.

Senator Conroy has said he plans to use parts of the ACMA blacklist to block Australian internet users from accessing pornographic and violent material. Now the secret list has been made public, it is more likely it will be used by interested parties as a pornography database of unheralded proportions.

Child protection group Child Wise said whoever published the blacklist had opened up a Pandora's box of porn.

"Every 15-year-old boy in the country is going to be after this porn list," said Child Wise chief executive Bernadette McMenamin.

"The person who's done this should be prosecuted and jailed for effectively disseminating and promoting child pornography."

Yesterday's disclosure of the blacklist could also jeopardise efforts to block access to offensive material as the perpetrators will now know they were tagged by the secret list.

"The leak and publication of prohibited URLs is grossly irresponsible," Senator Conroy said. "It undermines efforts to improve cyber-safety and create a safe online environment for children."

ACMA and Senator Conroy attempted to cast doubt on the authenticity of the leaked list by highlighting discrepancies in the blacklist's size.

While the leaked list contains 2395 banned web pages, ACMA says its blacklist as of August last year contained 1061 links.

ACMA would not say how many of the 1061 links on its list also appeared on the leaked Wikileaks blacklist.

"I am aware of reports that a list of URLs has been placed on a website; this is not the ACMA blacklist," Senator Conroy said.

"There are some common URLs to those on the ACMA blacklist. However, ACMA advises that there are URLs on the published list that have never been the subject of a complaint or ACMA investigation, and have never been included on the ACMA blacklist."

Wikileaks said the disparity in the reported figure was probably due to the fact that the list contained several duplicates and variations of the same URL that stem from a single complaint.

ACMA is investigating the leak and is considering a range of possible actions it may take, including referral to the Australian Federal Police.

ACMA threatens fines of up to $11,000 a day for linking to sites on its secret censorship blacklist and said Australians caught distributing the list or accessing child pornography sites on the list could face criminal charges and up to 10 years in prison.

A line they parrot in each and every article

[mr anderson]

Lateline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OylQor4QuMY

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2521213.htm

[mr anderson]

WIKILEAKS PRESS RELEASE (for immediate release)
Thu Mar 19 23:07:20 EDT 2009

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks_to_Conroy:_Go_after_our_source_and_we_will_go_after_you

The Stockholm based publisher of Wikileaks today issued a warning to the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Steven Conroy, who is responsible for Australian internet censorship.

Senator Conroy, in an official media release yesterday, claimed, in response to the release of the Australian internet censorship list by Wikileaks, that his department, "is investigating this matter and is considering a range of possible actions it may take including referral to the Australian Federal Police. Any Australian involved in making this content publicly available would be at serious risk of criminal prosecution."

Sunshine Press Legal Adviser Jay Lim stated:

"Under the Swedish Constitution's Press Freedom Act, the right of a confidential press source to anonymity is protected, and criminal penalties apply to anyone acting to breach that right.

Source documents are received in Sweden and published from Sweden so as to derive maximum benefit from this legal protection. Should the Senator or anyone else attempt to discover our source we will refer the matter to the Constitutional Police for prosecution, and if necessary, ask that the Senator and anyone else involved be extradited to face justice for breaching fundamental rights."

Senator Conroy may wish to consider the position of the South African Competition Commission, which decided to cancel its own high profile leak investigation in January after being advised of the legal ramifications of interfering with Sunshine Press sources.

See:

* Australian government secret ACMA internet censorship blacklist, 6 Aug 2008
* There is no bigger issue than net censorship
* Bank Fees: Banking on silence

* In depth background detail on Australia's proposed internet censorship system
* Sydney Morning Herald: Leaked Australian blacklist reveals banned sites
* Sydney Morning Herald: Dentist's website on leaked blacklist
* 278+ other press references

Contact: http://sunshinepress.org/wiki/Wikileaks:Contact

[KiwiClare]

Some good news.  Section 92A could have been used to take people off the Internet without even proving they were guilty of anything in NZ.  This came this morning.  The government had a meeting about it yesterday.

S92A has been scrapped.
 
 The Creative Freedom Foundation are celebrating tonight after National's announcement this afternoon that Section 92A will be scrapped, and that they will work towards finding an alternative.
 
 Chris Keall at the NBR reports: "Prime Minister John Key has announced that the government will throw out the controversial Section 92A of the Copyright Amendment Act and start again. Section 92A has been scrapped.". This is fantastic news, and it's great that Prime Minister John Key has taken a stand on this important issue. This draconian and naive law was originally championed by former-MP Labour's Judith Tizard. Now we need to help make some sensible copyright law that will protects artists and well as New Zealanders. The CFF are preparing to take part in this process.
 
 Today is a victory for New Zealanders - artists and non-artists alike. The CFF thanks everyone of you who supported this movement: we couldn't have done it without you!

[Brocke]

IBM leads techs in seeking open "cloud" computing

Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:44pm EDT
By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - IBM led dozens of tech companies in calling on Monday for open standards to promote "cloud" computing, a fledgling technology the industry hopes will drive growth over the coming decade.

But rival Microsoft Corp dismissed the effort, accusing International Business Machines Corp of seeking to exert control of the field, while cloud-computing pioneers Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc, Salesforce.com Inc were conspicuously absent from a list of companies endorsing it.

"Cloud computing" -- one of the hottest buzz words in Silicon Valley -- refers to a variety of ways in which technology companies offer services over the Web from remote data centers, seemingly from the cloud of the Internet.

The IBM-led resolution -- dubbed the Open Cloud Manifesto -- calls for making cloud computing products compatible with each other to boost their appeal to businesses.

Companies are generally reluctant to adopt proprietary new technologies where they feel locked into one provider out of concern they won't have the option to switch to another vendor if things go sour or better options arise.

"It's not that everything is going to be perfectly compatible, but it is going to be somewhat similar so that you can move from one vendor to another. It gives businesses the comfort level they need to buy," said Stephen O'Grady, an analyst with technology research firm RedMonk.

The tech industry is under pressure to encourage businesses to adopt cloud computing technologies, which could help them save money by outsourcing part of their IT operations to mega-data centers that can achieve huge economies of scale.

Besides issues of compatibility, companies worry about the security implications of storing information at remote computer centers and moving it across the Internet.

Tech researcher Gartner Inc estimates that the market for cloud-based business software, computing services and storage from companies including Salesforce.com Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft and IBM will total about $10 billion this year. That's just a fraction of the $223 billion that Gartner is projecting for the business software market alone.

IBM sees the manifesto as a first step toward establishing specific standards so customers can confidently switch between cloud-computing providers, said Irving Wladawski-Berger, chairman emeritus of the IBM Academy of Technology.

O'Grady of RedMonk expects that some of the standards would focus on security areas such as data protection and identity verification, alleviating some of the biggest concerns.

Backers of the manifesto include AT&T Corp., Cisco Systems Inc, EMC Corp, Novell Inc, Red Hat Inc, Sun Microsystems Inc and VMware Inc.

A spokeswoman for Amazon said her company was reviewing the document. A Google spokesman said his company decided not to support the manifesto, but did not give a reason. A spokesman for Salesforce.com could not be reached for comment.

But Microsoft vocally criticized IBM's role in drafting the manifesto, saying Microsoft was only asked to sign on at the last minute.

"It appears to us that one company or just a few companies would prefer to control the evolution of cloud computing, as opposed to reaching a consensus across key stakeholders (including cloud users) through an 'open' process," Microsoft executive Steven Martin said in a blog posting.

Wladawski-Berger at IBM said his company was one of the key leaders of the project, but that other organizers included Google. He added that he was surprised Google decided not to sign the document.

He said that he believed Microsoft and IBM would eventually work out their differences over the emerging standards.

"I've been around for a long time. There are always food fights at the beginning," he said. "This will get worked out."

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Jason Szep)

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE52T6ZU20090330

[mr anderson]

Conroy backtracks on internet censorship policy

Asher Moses
April 1, 2009 - 11:53AM

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/conroy-backtracks-on-internet-censorship-policy/2009/04/01/1238261622790.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has begun distancing himself from his controversial internet censorship policy in what one internet industry engineer has dubbed "the great walkback of 2009".

Senator Conroy has long said his policy would introduce compulsory ISP-level filters of the Australian Communications and Media Authority's blacklist of prohibited websites. But last night, he said the mandatory filters would be restricted to content that has been "refused classification" (RC).

When the ACMA blacklist was leaked last month, it caused great controversy, partly because it included a slew of R18+ and X18+ sites, including regular gay and straight pornography and other legal content.

But on SBS' Insight program last night, Senator Conroy said "it's mandatory refused classification, and then parents - if the trial says that it is possible to go down this path ... have the option to block other material".

This about-turn has done little to assuage the concerns of online rights groups, the Federal Opposition and the internet industry, as the RC category includes not just child pornography but anti-abortion sites, fetish sites and sites containing pro-euthanasia material such as The Peaceful Pill Handbook by Dr Philip Nitschke.

Sites added to the blacklist in error were also classified as RC, such as one containing PG-rated photographs by Bill Henson.

And the websites of several Australian businesses - such as those of a Queensland dentist - were classified RC and blacklisted after they were hacked by, as Senator Conroy described, "the Russian mob". They were on the blacklist even though they changed hosting providers and cleaned up their sites several years ago.

"The guidelines are so broad that RC can't help but hoover up political speech even if only as collateral damage," said Internode network engineer Mark Newton, describing Senator Conroy's comments last night as "the great walkback of 2009".

Senator Conroy conceded many of the decisions regarding what sites appeared on the blacklist were made by "faceless bureaucrats". He said he was working to build in "further safeguards", but would not abolish the policy because some sites were found to be put on the blacklist in error.

"I don't think Senator Conroy really even knows what his own policy in relation to filtering is. It seems to change on an almost daily basis; it is vague and contradictory and there is little public confidence in his ability to implement it," said Opposition communications spokesman Nick Minchin.

"RC can apply to a range of different subjects, not just sexually explicit, but also the controversial, which under Labor's proposal would all be filtered."

Colin Jacobs, spokesman for the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, said he was pleased the Government was "distancing themselves from the current flawed blacklist, which as we have seen is chock full of legal and harmless sites".

But Jacobs was not convinced that a new "RC only" list would be a big improvement.

"Swapping one secret list for another doesn't mean that fewer mistakes will occur or that everything on the new list will be uncontroversial," he said.

"Not all RC material is illegal, so we'd probably still see euthanasia sites and the like on the list."

Others sites confirmed by ACMA as being included on the blacklist include a YouTube clip showing an excerpt from a horror movie and an astrology website.

ACMA said the horror movie clip was added because it is classified as R18+ but "not subject to a restricted access system that prevents access by children".

"At the time of investigation, access to the YouTube content required only a declaration of an age of 18 years or older which was not verified by evidence of proof of age," ACMA spokesman Donald Robertson said.

On the astrology website, ACMA said it was blacklisted because, at the time it was being investigated, it had been defaced with "an image which depicted an adult female posed naked and implicitly defecating on herself".

This image has since been removed and ACMA said it was in the process of removing the astrology site from the blacklist.

ACMA conceded innocent sites could be blacklisted if they are defaced with content not usually associated with the site. Robertson acknowledged this material was often only visible for a short period before being removed by the site owner.

"To deal with the transient nature of online content, ACMA undertakes regular reviews of the list of URLs notified to filter makers to remove those which no longer lead to prohibited content," he said.

[Brocke]

Sneaky YouTube, Facebook peeks point to better productivity

AAP
April 02, 2009 09:55am

INTERNET-SURFING workers relax: employees who regularly sneak a peek at Facebook or shop online during office hours could actually be boosting their productivity.

Melbourne University's Dr Brent Coker says workers who surf the internet for leisure, known as 'Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing' (WILB), are more productive than those who don't.

A study of 300 employees found 70 per cent of people who used the internet at work engaged in WILB.

"People who do surf the internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office - are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't,'' said Dr Coker, from the university's Department of Management and Marketing.

"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity. However that's not always the case.''

Reading online news sites and searching for product information were rated among the most popular WILB activities, while playing online games and watching YouTube movies also ranked high.

And if workers need an excuse for the lapse, they can put it down to a lack of concentration.

"People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration. Think back to when you were in class listening to a lecture - after about 20 minutes your concentration probably went right down, yet after a break your concentration was restored,'' Dr Coker said.

"It's the same in the workplace.

"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a day's work, and as a result, increased productivity.''

But he warned excessive time spent surfing the internet could have the reverse effect.

"Approximately 14 per cent of internet users in Australia show signs of internet addiction - they don't take breaks at appropriate times, they spend more than a 'normal' amount of time online, and can get irritable if they are interrupted while surfing.

"WILB is not as helpful for this group of people - those who behave with internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without.''

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25278257-29277,00.html

[Brocke]

Report: Google in talks to buy Twitter

Friday, April 3, 2009, 8:33am EDT
Orlando Business Journal

The Web search giant Google is in talks to buy the microblogging service Twitter, according to TechCrunch, a well-known technology blog.

TechCrunch cites multiple sources in its report that the two companies are talking. The blog said the purchase of Twitter -- which allows users to post 140-character updates and see what others are posting as well -- would give Google a leg up in real-time search.

A deal for Twitter has long been rumored. Potential suitors have included the social networking site Facebook, which reportedly made a serious offer in late 2008.

As TechCrunch mentions, Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone are familiar with Google. They sold a previous company, the blogging service Blogger, to Google earlier this decade.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/03/30/daily40.html

[Brocke]

Internet Ads Say Goodbye to Glory Days

By ERIC PFANNER
Published: April 5, 2009

PARIS — Now even the Internet is heading into recession.

Growth in online advertising largely ground to a halt in the final months of last year in major markets like the United States and Britain, according to several reports published last week. And forecasters say it may have gone into reverse since then, as the economic downturn has deepened and marketers have continued to pare their budgets.

In the United States, online ad spending eked out only a tiny gain in the fourth quarter, rising to $6.1 billion from $6 billion a year earlier, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

In Britain, which is seen as a bellwether because nearly a fifth of ad spending there occurs online, Internet advertising actually fell slightly in the second half of the year, according to the British Internet Advertising Bureau.

Aside from a slow quarter here and there, Internet advertising previously had not declined outright since the dot-com bust, when the business was in its infancy.

O.K., the current slowdown hardly constitutes a bust, at least not yet. And the outlook for the Web still isn’t as dire as it is for traditional media.

GroupM, the media buying division of the advertising company WPP Group, said last week that it expected ad spending on the Internet to rise by 6.7 percent globally this year. That compares with an expected 4.4 percent plunge in overall ad spending.

But a lot of the growth on the Internet is expected to occur in relatively underdeveloped markets, which are playing catch-up with more digitally advanced countries like Britain. There, said Adam Smith, the London-based futures director at GroupM, online ad spending is likely to be flat, at best, this year.

And he sees no return to the spending increases of 30 percent or more that were the norm a few years back.

“When we emerge from this crisis, we will not have anything like the growth rates we had been seeing,” Smith said of online advertising. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes just an average performer.”

This wasn’t how things were supposed to play out. When the recession began, many experts said the economic crisis would accelerate a shift to the Internet, as cost-conscious marketing managers looked for measurable results. On the Internet, after all, it is easy to track which ads generate clicks and which don’t.

Some advertising executives say that shift is indeed under way. [INTERNET2]

“What you see in every recession is some kind of discontinuity in marketing behavior, and this time will be no different,” said Jerry Buhlmann, chief executive of the media-buying arm of Aegis Group, a marketing company based in London. As more and more ad campaigns include search advertising, social networking and other online components, spending will accelerate, he said.

But Smith said the very effectiveness of Internet advertising was keeping spending in check. In a slack market, advertisers have more places to turn, and that puts downward pressure on prices.

“We’re finding better and better ways of doing it for less and less money,” Smith said. “If Google gets too expensive, then we do something different.” [HMM, GOOGLE WILL NOT LIKE THAT...]

Of course, Google is still doing fine, and search advertising continues to gain. In the second half of 2008, nearly 60 percent of online ad spending in Britain went to search engines, and spending on search continued to rise slightly, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau’s report. In the United States, search also gained market share, according to the U.S. trade group.

But in the tail end of last year, display ads, classifieds and other kinds of Internet advertising — the kind sold by mere mortal companies, rather than Google — declined at rates comparable to those for traditional advertising, according to the British report.

The Internet, in other words, is looking more like a mature advertising medium — kind of like television, magazines or newspapers. Welcome to the club. [OH GREAT!!!]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/technology/internet/06iht-media06.html?ref=global-home

[Brocke]

Swedish traffic halves, no more pirating



Posted on 05.04.2009 at 11:31 in Tech News by Martin

Internet traffic in Sweden has plummeted after a tough new anti-piracy law was enacted in the country earlier this week, casting interesting new light on the extent to which illegal file-sharing occurs. The new law makes copyright holders such as record and entertainment companies to go through the courts to determine the identities of those suspected of piracy, via their IP addresses. The anonymity illegal file sharers have has hitherto made the practice widespread, although figures vary as to exactly how commonplace it is in various countries. However, traffic to Netnod Internet Exchange AB, a Swedish firm which manages many of the country’s key internet exchanges reported a drop of around half since Wednesday, when the law took effect. Throughput has yet to pick up.

Data transmission rates have slumped from a peak of around 190/200 Gbit/sec to daily highs since Wednesday of about 100 Gbit/sec. At the time of writing, the figure was around 80Gbit/sec. Along with its Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden has one of the most mature internet industries in the world, with a highly developed fibre-optic network broadband infrastructure. The figures will be a shock to many, pointing as they do to a potentially high prevalence of illegal file sharing. France yesterday showed its commitment to eradicate illegal file-sharing after passing a “three strikes law” which decrees that persistent offenders can be suspended from using the internet for a period of time. However, moves to get the law enacted at a European level have met with more opposition.

http://www.rlslog.net/swedish-traffic-halves-no-more-pirating/

[jeremiahshine]

Self Sufficiency Youtubes censored!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K6zxB5hHoQ&feature=related

[Brocke]

Self Sufficiency Youtubes censored!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K6zxB5hHoQ&feature=related

I've been trying to post this text comment on johnjayrambo11111's page and YouTube won't let me post it!

Anything repulsive?! If that is in their T&Cs then what about these vids!

SURGERY VIDEOS
beating heart surgery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxqj1BcBpIg
Fish Hook Eye Surgery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MluccXl8Ykw

ANIMAL SLAUGHTER VIDEOS
Slaughterhouse- From Pig To Pork
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtu9vX1hLHM
Cattle Slaughter 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FEUfkmJQuA

These videos are quite repulsive and they are allowed on YouTube!

[jeremiahshine]

It's because "they" don't want us empowered enough to survive on our own. They want dependent serfs.

[Brocke]

Student Philip Markoff charged as 'Craigslist killer'

From correspondents in Boston
Agence France-Presse
April 22, 2009 01:18am

A YOUNG medical student is due to appear in court on charges of murdering a woman who had posted an ad on the Craigslist website offering massages.
The case has stirred a media frenzy amid the hunt for the so-called "Craigslist killer" named after the popular website which advertises everything from houses to babysitters to furniture for sale.

For 10 days the case has riveted this northeastern city with Craigslist being the"go to" site for anything you might need.

On Monday, police arrested Philip Markoff, 22, for the murder of Julissa Brisman, 26, who offered visiting massage services and was found shot dead on April 14 in her hotel room at the Boston Marriott.

The first victim was said to be a 29-year-old woman, who advertised on Craigslist as an exotic dancer. She was robbed of her credit card and $US800 ($1130) cash on April 10 from a room at a different hotel.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley told reporters that Mr Markoff, who is in his second year of medical school at Boston University, was "a predator who may have attacked other women he met through similar Craigslist ads".

"There may be other victims out there with a similar m.o. (modus operandi), and if there are we want to help you," he added.

The arrest came after police released surveillance footage of a "person of interest" leaving the hotels which drew hundreds of tips.

Mr Markoff's fiancee, Megan McAllister, however told the Boston Herald that she was standing by him.

"Philip is a beautiful man inside and out," Ms McAllister said in an email to a Boston Herald reporter.

"He is intelligent, loyal, and the best fiance a woman could ask for. He would not hurt a fly."

The couple, who apparently met while working as volunteers in a hospital emergency room, are due to marry in August.

ABC television reported police had found guns and plastic ties in a search of Mr Markoff's house and believe his motive may have been to pay off some gambling debts.

But Ms McAllister said in an email to the broadcaster that the police had arrested the wrong man and asked to be left alone.

"We expect to marry in August and share and wonderful, meaningful life together," she wrote.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25368897-23109,00.html

[Brocke]

Facebook checking private messages for internet nasties

 
Andrew Ramadge
Friday, May 08, 2009 at 03:27pm
 

FACEBOOK has started censoring private messages sent between users to block out internet nasties.

If links to certain websites are detected in a private message, the user is shown a warning:

“This message contains blocked content. Some content in this message has been reported as abusive by Facebook users.”

Their message is then scrapped.



It was first reported the block applied to The Pirate Bay, one of the world’s largest file-sharing websites that recently came out on the wrong side of a legal battle with music and movie industry groups.

Links to The Pirate Bay’s homepage were reportedly accepted, but links to specific pages within the site were blocked.

When we tested it today, that was still happening. However links to other file-sharing sites were fine:

The Pirate Bay – BLOCKED
Mininova – OK
Demonoid – OK
BTJunkie – OK

Links to at least one major pornography site were also blocked.

Wired reported that the censorship may place Facebook in breach of US wiretapping laws.

However Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly said the site had a legal right to censor messages, because users had agreed not to send “spammy, illegal, threatening or harassing” content in accepting the site’s terms of use.

Check TorrentFreak and Wired for more info.

http://blogs.news.com.au/techblog/index.php/news/comments/facebook_checking_private_messages_for_internet_nasties/

[Brocke]

ISPs escape copyright trap

Andrew Colley | May 08, 2009

THE NSW Federal Court will no longer be called to test a contentious legal claim that ISPs directly infringe copyright laws by providing services to individuals who illegally share files on peer-to-peer networks.
A group of copyright holders pursuing iiNet for copyright breaches put the claim before the court last month as part of a case against the ISP.
 
However lawyers representing the group dropped the component from its claim in an unscheduled hearing early today.
 
iiNet was awarded legal costs for any legal fees it  incurred addressing parts of the claim AFACT has withdrawn.
 
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), which is coordinating the legal action on behalf of the copyright holders, had claimed that by providing "the intermediate and transient storage of, or further or alternatively, the caching of copyright material", iiNet was the primary copyright infringer rather than just encouraging illegal activity.
 
If it had been successful, the claim could have set a precedent allowing content owners to argue that ISPs using similar network technology to iiNet directly breach copyright laws just by maintaining the network and internet services that carry illegally shared content.
 
The claim which has been described by some industry observers as “exotic” relied on a common law concept of conversion which makes illegal the alteration of property in a manner detrimental to its owner

It departed from the legal strategy that AFACT had adopted to pursue iiNet to protect intellectual property rights. This was based on proving that the ISP encouraged and aided copyright infringements, as was successfully proved in the 2005 case against Sharman Networks.
 
A spokeswoman for AFACT said that the claim was dropped to stop any further delays in progressing the matter to a full hearing.
 
“Just for expediency and ensuring that the case went ahead on the scheduled date, we dropped it,” the spokeswoman said.
 
iiNet managing director Michael Malone said he was frustrated that AFACT had taken almost six months to finalise its claim.
 
He also revealed that iiNet was seeking mediation with AFACT outside the court process.
 
"We will keep trying to meet with AFACT as we think that a frank discussion of the issues raised by this proceeding is in everyone's best interest," Mr Malone said.
 
AFACT said it would leave the rest of its claims intact but it has allowed iiNet to delay filing its defence until May 15.
 
The case is expected to go ahead as scheduled in October.

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25448224-15306,00.html

[Brocke]

Google fail gridlocks worldwide traffic

'Planes piling up' excuse for Googlefail

By staff writers
NEWS.com.au
May 15, 2009 08:35am

INTERNET users worldwide were given a short taste of life without Google overnight.

Needless to say, they didn't like it.

The internet giant experienced technical problems which brought down its own homepage and virtually ground to a halt services such as its search site, email, YouTube and Google News performing sluggishly or unavailable to some users.

The slowdown peaked around midafternoon in Europe and morning in the US, affecting millions of users.

Micro-blogging service Twitter lit up throughout the morning with comments and complaints about the outage at the company which controls more than 60 percent of the US online search market alone.

"We're aware some users are having trouble accessing some Google services,'' a Google spokesperson said at the time.

"We're looking into it, and we'll update everyone soon.''

The Mountain View, California-based search giant did not provide any more details about the partial outage, but on their "official" blog, Google staff used the analogy of "planes piling up over Asia" to explain the meltdown.

Related Coverage

    * Google pulls Youtube users in Perth Now, 8 May 2009
    * Google into online telephony Australian IT, 17 Mar 2009
    * Google turns voicemail into email Australian IT, 13 Mar 2009
    * Business weighs online services Australian IT, 3 Mar 2009
    * Gmail outage boosts porn sites Herald Sun, 25 Feb 2009

"Imagine if you were trying to fly from New York to San Francisco, but your plane was routed through an airport in Asia.

"And a bunch of other planes were sent that way too, so your flight was backed up and your journey took much longer than expected.

"That's basically what happened to some of our users today for about an hour."

The company was being notoriously coy about how many users were affected and for how long the service was affected.

It claimed "about 14 per cent of our users experienced slow services", but a graph of worldwide internet use posted by Wired magazine pointed to a much different story.

The graph shows traffic through the top 10 ISPs in the US and shows traffic slid to a virtual halt for two hours.

Given that roughly 60 per cent of all internet traffic is sent through Google's network, its claim of "14 per cent of users" affected is likely to be a hot topic of debate in online forums today.

There may even be a financial fallout for Google from the slowdown, with Twitterers following the #googlefail thread complaining about losing advertising revenue during the collapse.

As much as 60 per cent of internet advertising revenue is raised on commission through Google's Adsense and DoubleClick programs.

The final word from Google's blog once traffic was under way again was headed:

"This is your pilot speaking. Now, about that holding pattern..."

"We've been working hard to make our services ultrafast and 'always on,' so it's especially embarrassing when a glitch like this one happens," Google said.

"We're very sorry that it happened, and you can be sure that we'll be working even harder to make sure that a similar problem won't happen again."

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25486648-5014239,00.html

[Brocke]

Spread the Word over internet - Pope

From correspondents in Vatican City
Agence France-Presse
May 21, 2009 05:45am

CYBERSPACE offers a good forum for spreading Christian teachings, Pope Benedict XVI said today ahead of the Roman Catholic Church's World Communications Day.

"Young people in particular, I appeal to you (to) bear witness to your faith through the digital world," the pope said at his weekly general audience.

"Employ these new technologies to make the Gospel known, so that the Good News of God's infinite love for all people will resound in new ways across our increasingly technological world."

The Church established World Communications Day in 1963 to draw attention to problems of social communication and extend a hand to the media.

From tomorrow, a Vatican website, www.pope2you.net, will be linked to the social network Facebook so that young people can send the pope's message to their friends.

The pope's message for World Communications Day, which falls on Sunday, is also to be carried on a site dubbed "Wikicath" which is fashioned after the grassroots online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25515634-23109,00.html

[Brocke]

Sol Trujillo's postcard from paradise calls broadband plan a bluff

EXCLUSIVE: Geoff Elliott in San Diego | May 21, 2009
Article from:  The Australian

SOL Trujillo was in a typically combative mood yesterday, saying he left Australia with no regrets and cynically suggesting the Rudd Government's $43 billion fibre-optic network plan was little more than a political stunt.

At San Diego's exclusive Coronado Hotel resort, looking relaxed in an open-neck shirt and blazer, the recently departed Telstra chief executive was at first reluctant to talk, but was soon displaying his pugnacious style and defending his record. Mr Trujillo, who took an unexpected early exit from Telstra and slipped out of the country with little fanfare last week, is back in a city he calls "paradise". He said he left Telstra with his head held high. "We did a massive turnaround and the company is in a lot better shape than when we got there," he said.

Mr Trujillo, who picked up more than $30 million over his nearly four years at the company as its shares slumped almost 38per cent, argued that during his time Telstra had outperformed a falling stock market. "I don't know if you noticed that there is a global recession going on and we have outperformed the ASX in total shareholder return," Mr Trujillo told The Australian. "So everybody's share price is lower than that same point in time, so you might want to look at facts and then draw your conclusions."

From the day Mr Trujillo started on July 1, 2005, to the day of his departure last Thursday, Telstra shares have fallen 37.8 per cent compared with a 13 per cent fall by the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index. Based on total shareholder returns, which takes into account dividend payments, Telstra shares have underperformed the wider market by 18 per cent, according to Bloomberg data.

Since the peak of the stock market in late 2007, the S&P/ASX 200 is off about 44 per cent, while Telstra shares are down just 32 per cent. Still, Telstra shares never moved more than a few cents past the $5.06 mark when Mr Trujillo joined the company and closed yesterday at $3.21. Asked why he left earlier than the expected June 30 departure date, Mr Trujillo, speaking in the historic wood-panelled lobby of the Coronado hotel, said "that is pretty simple".

"An internal candidate was appointed," he said, referring to new chief David Thodey. "So he knows the business. There is no co-ordination needed, no real handoffs. He has been part of the strategy, so he is going forward."

Asked if his legendary battles with the federal Government regarding regulation went too far, and prompted the Rudd Government to announce a taxpayer-funded $43 billion broadband network, Mr Trujillo implied it was all a bluff from Canberra.

"I haven't (commented on the proposal) and I won't," he said.

"I'll comment in four or five years. Let's see if it ever happens. We'll draw a conclusion if it happens."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,25515014-36418,00.html
Mr Trujillo said he didn't know what his next move would be.

Last month, he used an interview with the Financial Times newspaper to tout his expertise to potential employers in the US as a fixer of broken companies.

The ex-Telstra chief earlier attended a lecture in the hotel by global warming expert Ram Ramanathan from the University of California, San Diego, as part of the Future in Review conference, one of the world's leading technology forums. Mr Trujillo was expected to take the floor of the conference overnight Australian time to be quizzed by UCSD physicist and internet pioneer Larry Smarr.

[Brocke]

Thai website to protect the king

The government in Thailand has set up a special website urging people to inform on anyone criticising the monarchy.

It has also established an internet security centre to co-ordinate the blocking of websites deemed offensive to the monarchy.

On its first day of operation the centre banned nearly 5,000 websites.

The Ministry of Information had already blocked many thousands of sites, but that work is now being accelerated by the new centre.

Loyalty to the king

For all the many other challenges confronting the new government in Thailand, it has made protecting the image of the monarchy one of its highest priorities, according to the BBC correspondent in Bangkok, Jonathan Head.

Internet users are being urged to show their loyalty to the king by contributing to a new website called protecttheking.net, which has been set up by a parliamentary committee.

On the site's front page it is described as a means for Thai people to show their loyalty to the king by protecting him from what it calls misunderstandings about him.

It calls on all citizens to inform on anyone suspected of insulting or criticising the monarchy.

The site has managed to block 4,818 websites in its first 24 hours of operation.

Sources in the military have told the BBC that top generals are concerned about growing anti-monarchy sentiment, particularly among supporters of the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, many of whom believe that members of the royal family have backed anti-Thaksin movements.

The new website appears to be part of a concerted effort by the government and its conservative supporters to stifle any debate on the future of the monarchy, before it can gather momentum, our correspondent says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7871748.stm

[Brocke]

China Requires Censorship Software on New PCs

By ANDREW JACOBS
June 9, 2009

BEIJING — China has issued a sweeping directive requiring all personal computers sold in the country to include sophisticated software that can filter out pornography and other “unhealthy information” from the Internet.

The software, which manufacturers must install on all new PCs starting July 1, would allow the government to regularly update computers with an ever-changing list of banned Web sites.

The rules, issued last month, ratchet up Internet restrictions that are already among the most stringent in the world. China regularly blocks Web sites that discuss the Dalai Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters, and the Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement.

But free-speech advocates say they fear the new software could make it even more difficult for China’s 300 million Internet users to obtain uncensored news and information.

“This is a very bad thing,” said Charles Mok, chairman of the Hong Kong chapter of the Internet Society, an international advisory group on Internet standards. “It’s like downloading spyware onto your computer, but the government is the spy.”

Called Green Dam — a reference to slogans that describe a smut-free Internet as “green” — the software is designed to filter out sexually explicit images and words, according to the company that designed it. Computer experts, however, warn that once installed, the software could be directed to block all manner of content or allow the government to monitor Internet use and collect personal information.

Details of the new regulations, which were posted Monday on a government Web site, were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

PC makers that serve the Chinese market, among them Dell, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard, said they were studying the new rules and declined to comment. But privately, industry executives in the United States said they were unnerved by the new rules, which were issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology with no consultation and no advance warning.

Beyond the nettlesome issue of abetting government censorship, they said six weeks was not enough time to shift production on such a large scale. “Many of us are going to take it in the neck with this mandate,” said one executive. “It has put people into five-alarm mode.”

This is not the first time that foreign companies have been enlisted in government efforts to police the Internet. Google already removes politically forbidden results yielded by its popular search engine, Microsoft allows censors to block content on its blog service, and Yahoo was widely criticized for turning over information that was used to jail a journalist.

“I would advise dissidents to buy computers before July 1,” said Clothilde Le Coz, the head of the Internet freedom desk of Reporters Without Borders.

More than 40 million personal computers were sold last year in China, one of the fastest growing markets. Despite the slowing economy, industry analysts expect that figure to rise by 3 percent this year.

A group of industry representatives met with American officials Monday to express their displeasure with the new rules, said Susan N. Stevenson, a spokeswoman for the United States Embassy in Beijing. “We view any attempt to restrict the free flow of information with great concern,” she said.

Zhang Chenming, general manager of Jinhui Computer System Engineering, a company that helped create Green Dam, said worries that the software could be used to censor a broad range of content or monitor Internet use were overblown. He insisted that the software, which neutralizes programs designed to override China’s so-called Great Firewall, could simply be deleted or temporarily turned off by the user. “A parent can still use this computer to go to porn,” he said.

Although the directive is somewhat imprecise and suggests that manufacturers can provide the software as a compact disc, it also says that it must be installed on computer hard drives as a backup file. The five-point circular uses the word “preinstall” repeatedly and the first clause unequivocally states: “Imported computers shall preinstall the latest available version of the ‘Green Dam’ software before they are sold in China.”

Manufacturers complain that they have had been given little guidance by Chinese authorities. “The wording may be intentionally vague, but the message is clear: we have no choice in the matter,” said one computer executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because some companies are hoping they can persuade the government to ease the requirements.

Industry experts and civil libertarians say they are worried the software may simply be a Trojan horse for greater Internet control. The software developers have ties to China’s military and public security agencies, they point out, and Green Dam’s backers say the effort is supported by Li Changchun, the country’s chief propaganda official and a member of the decision-making body of the Communist Party, the Politburo Standing Committee.

The software will be provided free, paid for by the government, and according to the official Green Dam Web site, it has already been downloaded 3.2 million times. That figure includes thousands of schools that were required to install the software by the end of May. The site claims that Chinese manufacturers, including Lenovo, Inspur and Hedy, have already agreed to install 52 million copies of the software on new computers.

In recent months China has tightened its Internet restrictions, including an “antivulgarity” campaign that has closed down thousands of pornographic sites but also nonsexual sites, including some of the most popular bulletin boards and blog hosts. China already employs more than 30,000 censors and thousands who “guide public opinion” by flooding bulletin boards with comments favorable to the Communist Party.

Last week, as the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests approached, the government blocked a host of Internet services, including Twitter, Microsoft’s live.com and Flickr, a photo-sharing site, though by Monday evening, these sites had become available again. YouTube has been inaccessible in China outside Hong Kong since March.

Even beyond ethical concerns, those who have tested the new software describe it as technically flawed. An American software engineer said it led machines to crash frequently. Others worry that it could leave tens of millions of computers vulnerable to hackers. So far, at least, there is no version for the Linux operating system and for Apple’s Macintosh system.

The directive makes no mention of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, but one industry association executive said companies had been told that these areas are exempt from the new rules.

On Monday, Green Dam’s own Web site offered a hint of discontent over the filtering software. On the bulletin board section of the site, one writer described it as a “Web devil” and several users complained that pornographic images slipped through or that their computers had become painfully slow. “It seems pretty lousy so far,” one posting said. “It’s not very powerful; I can’t surf the Internet normally and it’s affecting the operation of other software.”

By Monday night, however, most of the comments had been deleted.

Zhang Jing and Xiyun Yang contributed research.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/world/asia/09china.html?_r=1&ref=world

[Brocke]

Blogger Wove a Tangled Web

June 12, 2009, 8:38 am
By Liz Robbins

The doll was the giveaway.

For the last two months an anonymous blogger from the Chicago area known as “April’s Mom” told the Internet community nightly about her pregnancy of a terminally ill child. The unmarried woman with staunch anti-abortion views, who wished to carry the baby to term, drew hundreds of thousands of followers and well-wishers.

People sent cards. Bought T-shirts. Prayed. Posted inspirational quotes. Some even sent money.

“April’s Mom” said she delivered the baby this past Sunday in a home birth, claiming that the newborn, “April Rose,” died a few hours later. She put up a picture accompanying the post of a baby swaddled in blankets. But the picture was of a doll that one reader actually owned, and the blogger’s supposed true pregnancy story soon unraveled — to the outrage of readers. The Web site is now disbanded.

The Chicago Tribune posted a long profile of the woman, Beccah Beushausen, whom it identified as a 26-year-old social worker from Mokena, Ill. Who knows whether Ms. Beushausen is telling the truth even now. She did get a somewhat glamorous photograph out of the deal.

As e-mail scams and fictional MySpace accounts have become prevalent in a social networking culture that is expanding rapidly and largely unchecked — sometimes dangerously so — Ms. Beushausen’s hoax capitalized on the polarizing, political issue of abortion. She turned a medical situation into an emotional one, offering what could be a potentially perilous example.

At its core, her blog seemed to be grounded in the need for attention that the Internet stokes. Ms. Beushausen told the Tribune:

    I’ve always liked writing. It was addictive to find out I had a voice that people wanted to hear.

    Soon I was getting 100,000 hits a week, and it just got out of hand. I didn’t know how to stop … One lie led to another.

The Tribune spoke with Jennifer McKinney, a Minnesota mother who runs a Christian parenting Web site, mycharmingkids.net. She posted on the site about the anguish the community shared over being duped:

    It isn’t insignificant to any of us that some of you sent the last bit of money you had, or spent hours sewing gowns for a baby that didn’t exist. We have heard from many of you that have lost babies and went to her site as a place of solace, only to be stung by the fact it wasn’t real.

After reading Ms. Beushausen’s account on Friday, Dr. Robert Klitzman, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia University Medical Center, was disturbed by several points.

“There is a huge issue going on about the role of the Internet and the quality of health information that’s available,” Dr. Klitzman said in a telephone interview. He is also the co-founder of the Columbia University Center for Bioethics. “People are posting about medical problems, and treatments, but, especially because the Internet provides anonymity, one can never gauge the quality of the information.”

Dr. Klitzman said that patients do lie about health conditions to their doctors, under-reporting conditions whether out of embarrassment, or, in the case of Munchausen’s disease, lying for a secondary gain, such as attention.

The ego-indulging phenomenon has been explored — and exploited — in the literary world, in the genre of memoir. From James Frey’s embellished life, to Margaret Seltzer’s account of growing up in a gang in Los Angeles, to Herman Rosenblat’s falsifying his love story brought on by surviving the Holocaust, nonfiction has wandered into murky territory lately.

“If you call it fiction, then people dismiss it,” Dr. Klitzman said. “If we think it’s true, it has that much more gravitas. It grips us more.”

And it also tends to anger more of those who are sucked into the fabrication.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/blogger-wove-a-tangled-web/

[Brocke]

China urged to drop internet filter rule

From correspondents in Washington
Agence France-Presse
June 25, 2009 04:25am

TOP US trade officials have written to the Chinese government urging it to drop a new rule requiring all computers to be fitted with internet filtering software.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said China may be violating its World Trade Organisation obligations by requiring all computers sold in the country from July 1 to carry the "Green Dam" program.

"China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-install software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues," Mr Locke said.

Mr Locke and Mr Kirk sent letters to their counterparts at China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Commerce, they said.

Beijing says the Chinese-made Green Dam software will filter out pornography, ensuring that more young people can use the internet in the nation with the world's largest online population.

But trade and rights groups fear that Green Dam is another attempt by China to control access to the internet and filter out politically sensitive topics and opposing views.

"Protecting children from inappropriate content is a legitimate objective, but this is an inappropriate means and is likely to have a broader scope," Mr Kirk said.

"Mandating technically flawed Green Dam software and denying manufacturers and consumers freedom to select filtering software is an unnecessary and unjustified means to achieve that objective, and poses a serious barrier to trade," Mr Kirk said.

US embassy officials already met Chinese authorities last week to voice "concern" about the software, without publicly demanding that Beijing drop the rule.

But Chinese state media said yesterday that Beijing would not back away from the new rule.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25687390-23109,00.html

[TimeLady]

Blogger Wove a Tangled Web

I don't get it, why is this in this topic?

[kushfiend]

has anyone posted about the new Cyber division, created toay, June 24 2009, at the pentagon? 

I just saw a CNN news flash about it.

Wow - I am going to be really scared when they block prisonplanet

internet 2 - is there a projected date yet for its release?

[Brocke]

I don't get it, why is this in this topic?

I have also been posting stories as examples of internet behavior that will be used as reasons for shutting down and privatizing the web.

When they finally crackdown and go to internet 2 they will give reasons like:

Cyber-terrorism
Cyber-bullying
Cyber-crime
Copyright infringement
Hate speech
Lying (this is a new one)

I have been posting stories that I think are examples of the media spinning the internet as "dangerous".

[TimeLady]

I have also been posting stories as examples of internet behavior that will be used as reasons for shutting down and privatizing the web.

When they finally crackdown and go to internet 2 they will give reasons like:

Cyber-terrorism
Cyber-bullying
Cyber-crime
Copyright infringement
Hate speech
Lying (this is a new one)

I have been posting stories that I think are examples of the media spinning the internet as "dangerous".

Makes sense.

I think this might apply then: http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Megan_Meier

[Brocke]

Ouch! German Court Slams Rapidshare With $34 Million Fine (Updated)

60 Comments
by Robin Wauters on June 24, 2009

The Regional Court in Hamburg, Germany, has fined file-hosting service Rapidshare a hefty €24 million ($34 million) and has ruled that the company must start proactively filtering certain content. The case was brought on by copyright protection association GEMA, which claims it represent over 65,000 composers, authors and music publishers across the globe.

Update: looks like we jumped the gun on this one. The cited amount of €24 million is actually the value of the subject matter of this injunction verdict as determined by court, not the actual fine (although it could become that much).

Following a request made by the organization, the Hamburg court ruled that Rapidshare is forbidden from making any of 5,000 music tracks from GEMA’s collection available on the Internet. To comply, the company needs to make sure all of those tracks are removed from its servers and also ensure that they are not uploaded again by users. How the company is expected to do the latter, especially since many users upload files in ZIP format and password-protect them, is a mystery to me.

Rapidshare is wildly popular, with an Alexa rank of 14 and millions of unique visitors per month (Compete).



Late April, Ars Technica reported that the company had begun handing over user information to record labels looking to pursue illegal file-sharers. It’s also not the first time Rapidshare finds itself in court because of GEMA’s persistent attacks: it had already lost a similar case back in January 2008.

For this case, Rapidshare will appeal to higher courts and most likely restrict the scope of the decisions made by the Regional Court in Hamburg. Rapishare COO Bobby Chang, according to TorrentFreak, said “it would make more sense to offer music fans the right products and services at the right price to open up a new source of income for music-markets on the Internet.”

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/24/ouch-german-court-slams-rapidshare-with-34-million-fine/

[Brocke]

China vows clean online games within five years

Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:48pm EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China plans to implement a five year program advocating clean online games, starting next year, an official from the General Administration of Press and Publication told an industry conference on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, GAPP issued a notice warning against the illegal release of online games and declaring stricter control over the approval process.

The notice criticized the release of pornographic and violent games by some companies on the Internet.

The "China Green Online Games Publishing Program" will be launched this year and the implementation begun next year, the Xinhua news agency said, citing remarks by Sun Shoushan, vice director of the GAPP, at an industry conference in Shanghai.

"Some companies provide unhealthy and persuasive contents in online games for players, especially the young ones, so as to attract players and make unlawful profits," Sun was quoted as saying.

The online game industry in China is expected to grow by between 30 percent and 50 percent this year, with a sales revenue of 24 billion to 27 billion yuan ($3.51 billion-$3.95 billion), according to the official.

China has about 200 million online game players.

The Chinese government has closed hundreds of websites in an ongoing crackdown on online porn and "vulgar content" that in some cases has netted dissident sites. The government backed down on a plan to require that Green Dam filter software be pre-installed on all new computers.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby)

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE56L4JZ20090722

[Brocke]

Regulatory Czar may target internet for "fairness"

July 20, 3:27 PM · Michael Schaus - Jefferson County Conservative Examiner

What Orwellian world have we fallen into, where appointed Czars demand compliance with arbitrary regulations; and control seems to be the main objective of governmental policy? Barack Obama’s regulatory Czar, Cass Sunstein, is in support of a form of internet fairness doctrine. –Read: Censorship. This administration seems to be compulsively seeking more and more control of the private sector in venues ranging from financial industries, to information. Proposed as emergency initiatives, consider for a moment what level of control the current administration has over the American public: GM, financial sectors, executive pay, soon the energy industry, and soon even your healthcare. When examining and investigating the expanding nature of government in the last several years, it no longer seems implausible for the government to take control of your first amendment rights.

According to Sunstein, he believes “a system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self government.” Why not? Is it because he doesn’t trust people to reach the same world views? Limitless choices are essential to freedom. By the consideration of censorship Sunstein demonstrates his desire to diminish, if not eliminate, self governance. If the government restricts choices, it can hardly be called a government of ‘we the people.’

Sunstein has illustrated a number of ways in which he would like to alter the way the World Wide Web is viewed in America. He has proposed, among other things, a “notice and take down” law. -Essentially a provision that would require websites to take down “falsehoods” upon notice from the federal government. And what is considered a “falsehood,” and who determines what falls into this category? Of course that task would be charged to the Federal Government. But one wonders what exactly would constitute a “falsehood.” Would information representing a Public official (Say, maybe a Czar) in bad lighting be considered a “falsehood?” Sunstein has claimed the notion that Barack Obama ‘paled around with terrorists’ is a lie, despite the documented connection between Bill Ayers and the President. The term “falsehood” could easily be used as a tool to silence politically inconvenient reports.

So, would his evaluation of what determines a “falsehood” be directed at limiting the choices or opinions on the internet? Most assuredly. It does not take a conspiratorial mind to think the man appointed with creating regulations and implementing new regulations would be a supporter of more regulations. The Czars so far appointed, seem aimed at limiting the freedom of many individuals for the common “good.” Executive pay czars, a Czar for science, a regulation Czar, and auto Industry Czar, etc. And what actual authority do these Czars have over your life? Legally, none. They are an intimidation tactic (as they always have been) used to manipulate the public into compliance with the world view of the President's administration. It is within the legal power of a private citizen or private business to dismiss any order given to them by a Presidential aid or Czar; but they will face the full fury and wrath of one of the most powerful offices in the free world.

So where do we stand today? We stand on the sidelines watching government dismantle capitalism, freedom, and individual prosperity. Watch closely, and be prepared to stand up for your rights. Men like Sunstein despise the “limitless choices” one faces on the internet because it places within the citizenry the need for independent evaluation. With Limitless choice, it is quite possible people will find an oppositional point of view. With all freedom comes the responsibility to preserve it with diligence and knowledge. The internet is no different. Falsehoods, lies and misrepresentations exist all over the web, but the responsibility to evaluate the information obtained on the internet rests in the people. Placing confidence in the government to adequately, or without bias, ensure the accuracy of the internet is dangerous and in contradiction to our freedom as Americans.

http://www.examiner.com/x-11748-Jefferson-County-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m7d20-Regulatory-Czar-target-internet-for-fairness

[Brocke]

Student Forced to Pay $675,000 to RIAA for Sharing 30 Songs

By Dan Nosowitz, 6:00 PM on Sat Aug 1 2009

Joel Tenenbaum admitted to sharing 30 songs with Kazaa back in 2004 (Kazaa! So quaint!) and was originally fined $150,000 per song. He worked that down to "only" $22,500 per song, but that's still $675,000 in total.

This is the second big victory for the RIAA this month, after the even-more-ridiculous decision that filesharer Jammie Thomas should pay $80,000 per song. But unlike Thomas, Tenenbaum hasn't come out and said he will outright refuse to pay the fine, and it looks like this is a more concrete win for the RIAA dirtbags.

The RIAA specified to TorrentFreak that the money won will go to more lawsuits, not to the artists the RIAA supposedly represents. It looks like yet another episode in this long public relations attack in which the organization mercilessly kills any sympathy for their cause that might have existed.

http://gizmodo.com/5327995/student-forced-to-pay-675000-to-riaa-for-sharing-30-songs