According to this posting, the Chinese government is blocking user access to blogs created with Blogspot. This source also provides links to a range of information concerning the ongoing, systematic campaign by the Chinese government to censor and restrict citizen access to the Web. Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: January 2003
Spam Attacks on the Rise
BrightMail Inc., a provider of anti-spam techology, has been tracking spam attacks against their network. The results of their survey, with a coverage period of June 1, 2002 to November 1, 2002, is available via ServerWatch, here. Needless to say, their information indicates that attacks have tripled during this period. The ServerWatch article also provides… Continue Reading
Net Libel Cases
The current issue of the ABA Journal eReport has a noteworthy article, Where in the World Wide Web to Fight, that weighs in on the growing concerns about jurisdiction and Internet libel cases. See my posting on the recent Australian case and the two U.S. cases here. Continue Reading
EFF’s New Survey on DMCA
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched a redesigned website, and also published a new report, Unintended Consequences: Four Years under the DMCA. The conclusion of the report states, “Four years of experience with the ‘anti-circumvention’ provisions of the DMCA demonstrate that the statute reaches too far, chilling a wide variety of legitimate activities in… Continue Reading
Americans Willing to Accept Biometrics
According to a January 7, 2003 press release from Privacy & American Business (P&AB), “A majority (56%-91%) of the U.S. public believes it is acceptable for the private sector to use biometric technologies.” The study was funded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The full-text of the survey is available to P&AB members in the… Continue Reading
Web Radio Signals Fading?
For all of us who stream music from radio stations around the country (and may I add, support them with donations), times are bleak. The Net Radio Act that stipulated a new webcasting royalty rate has not secured the future of music webcasts. This Wired article indicates that humdreds of stations are dropping the feeds… Continue Reading
USPS and Privacy Guidelines
Federal Computer Week reports on efforts underway by the United States Postal Service to create and implement uniform customer data collection activities to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 as it applies to website transactions. Continue Reading
Online Law School Graduates First Class
Concord Law School, the online law school program in Los Angeles, has its first class of graduates, but the school has no ABA accreditation. The school is owned by Kaplan Higher Education, the ubiquitous test prep company. Continue Reading
New E-Book Software Piracy Issue
The source code for the Microsoft Reader e-book as been hacked and posted online by UK programmer Dan Jackson. The program is aptly named Convert Lit (for the .lit format), and removes Microsoft copy protections from files, thus allowing them to be read on competitiors’ devices. Here is a link to the EU Copyright Commission… Continue Reading
New Blog on Statutory-Construction
Appellate attorney Gary O’Connor, with the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., e-mailed to announce his new blog, Statutory Construction Zone, the only one to focus on recent federal statutory-construction cases. Continue Reading
New Missouri Law Requires Filtering
A new Missouri law went into effect on January 1, 2003 that “requires public (elementary and secondary) schools and public libraries that provide access to the Internet to either: use filtering software; purchase Internet service through a provider that provides filter services; or otherwise restrict minors’ access to the Internet by local rule.” Continue Reading
Google News Gets Good Rating
According to a survey conducted by online news monitoring service Newsknife, owned by Industry Standard Computing Ltd of New Zealand, Google News is faring well again its competition – “human” powered news sites. Newsknife gave the nod for best news sites for 2002 to CNN, BBC, and Yahoo. Continue Reading
