Group items tagged

The article looks at the growing global trend for net regulation. Our interest is where Australia, as a result of our drafted internet filtering system, fits in this global picture of regulation. Reporters Without Borders has drawn up lists which groups nations in terms of their level of regulation. Appropriately as a democracy Australia is not listed under "Enemies of the Internet" which names China, North Korea, Egypt and Cuba. Yet disconcertingly we are given the label of "Under Surveillance" which lists us alongside Turkey, Russia, South Korea and the UAE.

The US government is being encouraged by various committees and "experts" to increase regulation of the Internet. The Internet is compared industry to the car industry before regulation was introduced to make cars safer. Apparently the "Internet Wild West" is over!

This article introduces another 'body' called auDA the Australian domain name administrator. The article discusses a complaint from the president of the Australian Web Site Developers Association after 500 sites he had set up, and $100K later were just switched off by the auDA bases on their assessment of use. Perhaps the auDA needs its own audit and regulation over policy approval!

This article cogently describes the current US govt approach to policy and call for an Internet Policy 3.0. Also clarifies points and describes the issues in regulation and governance that are raised in response.

"When ICANN last considered ".xxx," board members also expressed worries that the suffix would leave the agency in the business of regulating content, or the type of material that would find itself there." Aside from all the ways, this is unworkable and unlikely to bring the results anticipated, let's not make ICANN or TLD administrators responsible for regulating anything... else.

"When ICANN last considered ".xxx," board members also expressed worries that the suffix would leave the agency in the business of regulating content, or the type of material that would find itself there." Aside from all the ways, this is unworkable and unlikely to bring the results anticipated, let's not make ICANN or TLD administrators responsible for regulating anything... else.

International network, local lawsuit and regulation. The Australian Government is asked to justify the business deal with Google for it's privacy issue. Since google revealed to mistakenly capture private information from it's street scanning.

This article discusses how cyberbullying is on the rise in Asia. Cyberbullying is so great in South Korea, that students are in favour of government regulation that requires Internet users to supply their names, through a "real name system." One has to wonder, how great the harassment has to be, that the population is in favour of government regulation.

The US regulator for the communications industry is expected to announce it will extend the rules currently governing telephone service provision to apply to ISPs in a bid to set net-neutrality rules that would bar companies from favoring their own Web content and services.

Yes, I know you love this - we all do. The regulations have been released! We'll never know if they are a best-seller, as they are free for download by anyone (a little ironic, actually), but the Ofcom, the ACMA of the UK, has released the regulations for the Digital Economies Act. What this does is fills in the details of what the ISPs will be doing exactly, what the processes will be - basically just the fussy details that are too specific for an act. Also, it will have information that may need to be updated regularly (like lists of prohibited sites). Regulations can be made and changed without consulting the government, so Ofcom basically has free rein from hereon in ...

In Mexico and other Latin American countries there have been some questions raised on how kidnappers can get precise information of potential victims and their spending power: friends, lifestyle, travels. If social networks like Facebook are a potential tool for criminals, should they be regulated by the government? Is it the media or the government's fault if such a use is being made? I am looking for references in English regarding this problem. 

The increasing use of 'free' webmail services, and indeed full office suites, from online providers by business and governments means an increasing amount of funding for encryption and ad free internets. This potentially leads to a new digital divide. The corporate or private internet of the wealthy, and the hyper surveilled commercial internet of the many.

Bog entry: Chinese clone iPad, iPed. The product of censored infortation and trict internet regulation in China.

Twitter feeds that reported the results of the recent UK election could serve as a starting point on election coverage. I would not be surprised if preliminary reports eventually leak ahead of the polls closing. Do you think twitter will be regulated in elections? Maybe not all electoral officials are discrete... 

Good article on the social and political uses of social media (sic.) in Indonesia. There have been attempts to filter/censor content, but so far they have been avoided. Uses of Twitter, Facebook by politicians is also described. 

The US Federal Communications Commission has been dealt a major blow in asserting its right to regulate net neutrality with a district court ruling the FCC had "failed to demonstrate" its authority to interfer with activity undertaken by internet service provider Commcast. Comcast had been moving to restrict the internet access of customers using peer-to-peer sharing software, which uses large amounts of bandwidth and is a common mode of illegal video and music piracy.

A plan to create an internet domain specifically for adult websites will be resurrected three years after it was rejected by internet regulators. The net's governing body ICANN will reconsider the .xxx scheme on 12 March.

Canada, alongside France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom have issued a warning to Google on the grounds that the company is ignoring privacy and legislation with respect to launching their products (Google Buzz). This is a clear example of when a company, may appear to attempt to protect their users (Google vs. China) while, in the company's own interest, these rules and regulations may be ignored. How much trust should we put into any company that offers services free to the public, and exactly what liberties do we give up when we sign up for that service?

The Australian Government under the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has released a draft Form of a new copyright protection/regulation which affects the internet providers to be under a more strict copyright laws.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is really into his digital persona. Now he has a blog. Interesting how he has taken social media communications seriously. 

This report typically reflect the western view of China Internet censoship. Even though the regulation is difficult for foreign companies to accept, they have to follow the guideline of Chinese government to ensure the market share in China.