Is streaming a kind of "broadcasting"? Country Watch: Australia7/14/2000; 10:32:50 AM "The [Australian] Government is to commission an Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) review into Internet streaming, the process of putting audio and video on the web."The inquiry would consider whether Internet streaming should come under the definition of broadcasting, which could lead to broadcast licence payments."More importent then license payments...'"The Government has decided, and it's in law, that no further broadcasting licences can be issued until 2006." [says Peter Coroneos, from the Internet Industry Association.]"So therefore we're looking at a situation where ... there are people that are building a lot of interactive, very rich content [and] have invested millions and millions of dollars in this material, perhaps only now to find that they wonít be able to provide it because they wonít have a broadcasting licence," he said.So... what is broadcasting, anyhow?(Also of note if you read the article are the inane reasons the government gives for the review...)

EBay Asks U.S. Court to Ban User for Bad Language Censorship7/13/2000; 10:18:59 AM 'Internet "trading community" eBay Inc. (EBAY) said that it had asked a federal judge to bar a Chicago man from its Web site for using foul language and flouting its own attempts to ban him.''Although the company has "terminated 40 to 45 of his accounts in the last three months alone," Anderson has circumvented the company's moves by re-registering under other identities, Pursglove said.'I think this news article can help illustrate why we still need laws covering these issues. Some people think that if we just put the technology together and make everyone use it, we won't need laws convering privacy, or laws covering speech issues (like this one), or laws for much of anything online.But the fact of the matter is at some point all technical measures fail. The guy re-registers and you can't catch him. It turns out that thing you digitally signed wasn't from you, it's from someone who stole your digital key sequence. That anti-piracy measurement was circumvented and now people all over Asia are getting expensive software for free.Are we to let the guy on the system anyhow, or will we have recourse to the courts, as eBay seeks, as has been the civil court's purpose for hundreds of years, or does eBay have to leave the guy on the system because the technology is insufficient to keep him off? Are you still bound to the contract, despite the fact you did not truly sign it, because the technology says you are? Are we obligated to let piracy proliferate just because the tech doesn't exist to prevent it?Those particular issues are just illustration; the real question is one of reliance on technology, not a particular bit of technology. While I don't think anybody blatently comes out and says this, a lot of tech-savvy people think that technology will make the problem go away if we just wait long enough for the tech to develop... but that necessarily implies a dependance on technology that is too strong. We need laws to back the tech up so we can take recourse in human courts to deal with our human problems in human (and humane) ways.It's a delicate (and scary!) balance, but a necessary one.

Websites Facing 'Privacy Storm'
Privacy from Companies
7/13/2000; 10:07:48 AM "The message: People are worried, politicians are aware of it, and laws are coming. So, be ready."

ACLU: Law Needs 'Carnivore' Fix
Surveillance and Privacy from Government
7/13/2000; 10:05:56 AM 'The American Civil Liberties Union, on Tuesday, urged Congress to amend outdated electronic privacy laws following news of an FBI system capable of large-scale email interception and analysis.

"There's no clear law that authorizes Carnivore," said ACLU associate director Barry Steinhardt. "But the FBI and the Justice Department ... will argue that there's no clear law that prohibits it. And Congress needs to put some real limits on what law enforcement can do."'

Just Say No To Reading About Drugs
Free Speech
7/13/2000; 9:00:56 AM Slashdot links to a lot of articles regarding the House "Bankruptcy Reform Act"... which has a rider that looks an awful lot like Senate bill 486 this year, covered here by this site. Lots of good info. Ignore the user comments unless you want to read about why drugs should be made legal.

Disney offers to buy Toysmart's customer list
Privacy from Companies
7/12/2000; 1:40:31 PM '"If the bankruptcy court...allows us to purchase the list, we will do so and retire the list," Disney said. "If we are not allowed to purchase the list, we will urge the court, as the Federal Trade Commission has, to permit a sale only to a purchaser of all the assets of Toysmart who will maintain the confidentiality of the information contained in the list."'

Interesting.

FBI system, "Carnivore", covertly searches e-mail
Surveillance and Privacy from Government
7/12/2000; 1:38:56 PM "Essentially a personal computer stuffed with specialized software, Carnivore represents a new twist in the federal government's fight to sustain its snooping powers in the Internet age. But in employing the system, which can scan millions of e-mails a second, the FBI has upset privacy advocates and some in the computer industry. Experts say the system opens a thicket of unresolved legal issues and privacy concerns."

Draconian cyber-surveillance near in Britain
Country Watch: Britain
7/12/2000; 1:37:33 PM "The legislation is called the Regulation of Investigatory Powers bill, or RIP, and its passage in Parliament may be imminent. Growing recognition of the bill's potentially disastrous impact has triggered some second thoughts. But the government is pressing ahead, and foes of the legislation say their chances of heading it off remain, at best, 50-50."

Dan Gillmore links to the government's opinion (see the links "below the fold" for responses to people's concerns) and the opposition's opinion.

U.N. Calls on G8 Nations to Address Digital Divide
Digital Divide
7/12/2000; 1:31:57 PM '"I urge you to commit yourselves to the goal of making IT accessible to all the world's people and to make a major commitment of resources for that purpose," said [United Nations Secretary General] Annan in a letter addressed to the Group of Eight (G8) Summit, which has already begun in western Japan.'

The real digital divide.

Metallica, Napster Go to Washington Music & MP37/12/2000; 1:26:03 PM I've held off on posting this until I could just post a good summary, because there wasn't really much new about this. Still, it worth knowing that Senate Judiciary Committee has been holding meetings with people from both sides of the Great Digital Music debate, and they told their sides.The only truly interesting anecdote I've seen was the the committee apparently downloaded a song on Gnutella during the hearings, joining the rest of us as "copyright infringers", which is an interesting turn of events.In other news, an artists coalition has formed protesting 'piracy', kicking off a national add campaign in major newspapers. Says the Wired article, "The coalition was created to advocate artists' choice in determining how their music is presented, distributed, and marketed online." Well then, they're fighting on the wrong side... or do they not realize that the label controls presentation, distribution, and marketing? Hey, three for three?Lar's testimony (wherein he proves that he still doesn't fully understand Napster... you just can't blame them 100% and not assign blame to the users too),