CNN - Let Cyber Sentinel spy for you. In the past 15 minutes you received three messages on your pager. The first was from a client. The second was from your mother. And the third was from a software program, informing you that your child is up to no good on the Internet.

CBC News: Forget spy case, where's briefcase?. There are reports Canada's spy agency is appealing for the return of a top-secret document stolen from an agent's car parked outside a hockey arena in downtown Toronto.

ZDNet: News - Internet wiretapping still a threat.

Despite a motion tabled by Internet standards setter, the wiretapping issue won't disappear.

'We are still in somewhat of an ambiguous area. There is clearly not strong support for doing it, but there is not strong enough support to definitively block wiretapping from future standards.' -- Scott Bradner, IETF

Salon Technology | Direct mail double cross?. In recent days, the DMA has praised the potential of spam and lauded the success of the Net's self-regulation. The activists, meanwhile, admit that this may be the moment to give in to something they never wanted -- government regulation. No one is eager to invite Uncle Sam to oversee the Net, but anti-spammers -- angered by what they consider to be an about-face by the DMA -- concede they don't know how else to stem the flow of unsolicited e-mail.

Business News from Wired News - Strange Corporate Hacking Saga.

Moore charges that, among other things, Steptoe employees cracked into Dig Dirt and other Moore Publishing sites some 750 times, posted defamatory messages about Moore on Usenet, and tried to cover it all up by doing their evil deeds under an e-identity swiped from an Alexandria, Virginia, furniture store owner.

You may be wondering what the privacy angle is here. If you read the artcile you will notice that the site that was supposedly hacked , Dig Dirt, fronts an enormous database of personal data gleaned from public records. Dig Dirt sells the data to private investigators, lawyers, and law enforcement agencies.

CNET.com - News - Communications - NetZero paves a path in free ISP market. The company has also increased its ability to target its ads to specific consumers, through technology that can track a Web surfer's path online, click by click. For example, it now sells "ad missiles," which allow a company like eBay to buy advertisements that appear anytime a user goes to a competing auction site, executives say.

New York Times - free registration required Internet Engineers Reject Wiretap Proposal.

Some press reports indicated that the request came from the FBI. But Fred Baker, chairman of the IETF, and speakers at Wednesday night's meeting said the initial proposals came from companies that make equipment used in telephone networks. Those companies are concerned that if their products do not comply with federal wiretap laws, they could be hit with fines up to $10,000 a day for being unable to answer subpoenas.

Whether or not it is the law is part of the debate. Congress, when it passed the Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act requiring wiretapping capabilities in new telephone, cellular and satellite technologies specifically rejected the inclusion of computer networks. But how that applies to telephone calls over the Internet and computer communications over differing mediums such as digital lines, cable and satellite remains the subject of much contention.

New York Times - free registration required Free-Speech Issues Surround Computer Bulletin Board Use. The case illustrates the legal questions now arising as more information is distributed via computer networks or from data banks. It is unclear, for instance, whether electronic distributors are entitled to the same rights of free speech - and subject to the same responsibilities for accuracy - as newspaper and magazine publishers.