it has begun - from Hack the Planet
Free Speech
12/14/2000; 5:15:56 PM

'Richard Stallman, The Right to Read (1997): "Frank was in prison, not for pirate reading, but for possessing a debugger."

'Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader: "If you are a software programmer, you should note that the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader's security implementation does not allow program debuggers to be executed on the machine while the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader is running."'

Slashdot - MAPS RBL Is Now Censorware
Censorship
12/14/2000; 3:00:33 PM

'I don't like spam any more than the next person. But I also don't like censorship, and I take a content-neutral view of these things. If someone delivers a product to be used by Alice to block Bob from seeing website because she doesn't like its content, that product is censorware.'

Hey, somebody at Slashdot took off the rose-colored glasses. Of course MAPS is censorware! It's a pity they had to wait until one of their pet sites (Peacefire.org, a site full of useful info but exudes a bit too much teenaged-angst sometimes) was hit to see that. There may yet be hope for Slashdot...

Anti-WalMart domain win falsely claimed as sea-change
Free Speech
12/14/2000; 2:52:44 PM

'WIPO has ruled against a huge conglomerate! We know, unbelievable as it may seem, it's true. Kenneth J. Harvey is officially entitled not to have his www.wallmartcanadasucks.com taken off him and given to a faceless organisation.... This decision was immediately claimed as an enormous victory... Unfortunately, it is nothing of the sort.

'You'll note that Ken kept the URL www.wallmartcanadasucks.com - that's "wall" with two "l"s - i.e. it has nothing whatsoever to do with Wal-Mart's trademark.... The reason why even WIPO couldn't decide in Wal-Mart's favour is because if it had, it would effectively be saying that any site that criticised any trademark company should be handed over to the company in question.'

Banned Artists Move Online
Free Speech
12/13/2000; 1:27:52 PM

'Literature and artworks snipped and banned by Singapore's censors may soon be archived online in their full glory by a group of local artists....

'Singapore typically censors publications, films and art work deemed to have excessive amounts of sex and violence, references to drug use and subjects which could cause religious or racial intolerance between the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities.

Records of toysrus.com subpoenaed in privacy probe
Privacy from Companies
12/13/2000; 11:40:49 AM 'Records from Toys ''R'' Us Inc.'s Internet division have been subpoenaed in an investigation of its privacy practices, a spokeswoman for the toy retailer said yesterday.

'The inquiry by New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs, which is overseen by the state attorney general's office, partially stems from lawsuits that accuse toysrus.com of illegally sharing personal information about its Internet customers with market researchers, spokeswoman Jeanne Meyer said.'

Google tracker raises privacy issues - sorta
Privacy from Companies
12/13/2000; 11:03:05 AM

'"By using the Advanced Features version of the Google Toolbar, you may be sending information about the sites you visit to Google," the company warns during the Toolbar installation process. "In order to show you more information about a site, the Google Toolbar has to tell us what site you're visiting which it does by sending us the URL."

Where Did They Go: CallTheShots.com
Misc.
12/12/2000; 5:18:12 PM It seems that Akamai ate CallTheShots.com, a service that chopped up various websites and re-combined the pieces, probably illegally as it did it without any permission from the website owners. I don't know why Akamai would want them. *shrug*

Judge Blocks Whois Spam
Misc.
12/12/2000; 1:06:45 PM

'In a ruling in U.S. District Court in New York City, Judge Barbara Jones ordered Verio to stop using customer contact information housed in Register.com's Whois database to carry out a massive telephone and e-mail market campaign.

'In issuing the preliminary injunction, Jones determined that Register.com (RCOM) had a significant likelihood of prevailing on its claims that Verio violated usage policies, made unauthorized references to Register.com in marketing messages, and improperly used robotic search devices to obtain information on company servers.'

Webcasters Get Copyright Relief
Administrative
12/11/2000; 2:03:53 PM

'The copyright office ruled that terrestrial radio stations that simulcast their content on the Web are subject to paying the same licensing fees as Internet-only broadcast businesses. Previously, only webcasters were forced to sign up for compulsory licenses.

'"This was a very good day for webcasters," said Jonathan Potter, the executive director of the Digital Media Association (DiMA).'

SmartFilter - I've Got A Little List
Free Speech
12/8/2000; 11:34:29 AM

'Censorware blacklists provide one of the best validations ever seen, regarding the slippery slope theory of censorship. Consider the preceding examination of the Extreme or Obscene category. The words certainly sound scary. Extreme ... Obscene ... Child Pornography ... Excessive Violence ... Mutilation. Only upon very careful and precise reading does one realize that the category definition is akin to Mother rapers ... Father stabbers ... and creating a nuisance. They have mixed in very severe and legally-meaningful First Amendment terms such as Obscene and Child Pornography, with vague and broad phrases such as push the limits of acceptability and may be related to sex, bodily functions, obscenity, or perverse activities. This allows them to start the electronic book-burning with a claim of Constitutional justification. But then it reaches everything from Jerry Springer to punk rockers to difficult artists. Or even gay and lesbian Mormons.'