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Come Join Us Next Spring - Via Freedom to Tinker:
It’s been an exciting summer here at the Center for Information Technology Policy. On Friday, we’ll be moving into a brand new building. We’ll be roughly doubling our level of campus activity—lectures, symposia and other events—from last year. You’ll also see some changes to our online activities, including a new, expanded Freedom to Tinker that will be hosted by the Center and will feature an expanded roster of contributors.
One of our key goals is to recruit visiting scholars who can enrich, and benefit from, our community. We’ve already lined up several visitors for the coming year, and will welcome them soon. But we also have space for several more. With the generous support of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, we are able to offer limited support for visitors to join us on a semester basis in spring 2009. The announcement, available here, reads as follows: read more »
Online scammers prep for Gustav, say researchers - Via :
August 31, 2008 (Computerworld) Nearly 100 domains related to Hurricane Gustav have been registered in the past 48 hours, security experts said Sunday, some of which may be used by bogus charity and relief scams after the storm strikes the U.S. Gulf Coast.
According to television station KTAL in Shreveport, La., the office of Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has warned residents of Gustav phishing attacks already in progress.
On Saturday, Marcus Sachs, director of the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC), noted that numerous domains containing the word "gustav," "charity," "hurricane" and "relief" had been recently registered.
"On the day [Hurricane] Katrina hit New Orleans [in 2005] hundreds of donation sites appeared online, many if not most were scam sites," said Sachs in a post yesterday to the ISC research blog. "Well, this time around, it looks like the people who like to register domain names in anticipation of a storm's arrival have already started registering them for Gustav." read more »
Computers Seized from Berkeley Activist Space - Via EFF.org Updates:
Yesterday, the FBI, UC Berkeley police, and Alameda County Sheriff's deputies conducted a raid on the Long Haul Infoshop, a community space that is home to a number of leftist and anarchist groups, including a newspaper and a radio station. Armed with a warrant (PDF), authorities entered and quickly removed every computer in the Long Haul space.
According to the Associated Press, a UC Berkeley spokesman said that the raid was part of an investigation into threatening e-mails tracked to computers there. Among the computers seized were computers belonging to the Slingshot newspaper, and the Berkeley Daily Planet reports that police "got [Berkeley Liberation Radio's] hard drive."
Even with a warrant, the authorities may have acted in violation of federal law when they seized the computers. read more »
Nonprofit Distributes File Sharing Propaganda to 50,000 U.S. Students - Via Threat Level:
Editor: Interesting graphics removed. Go to original site for them [...]
Propaganda is probably too light of a term to describe this piece of propaganda.
We're referring to an educational comic strip (fat .pdf) on unlawful file sharing of music developed by judges and professors to teach students about the law and the courtroom experience.
It was produced by the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit describing itself as an "organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and service to court systems in the United States."
But the story line here is a miscarriage of justice at best -- even erroneously describing file sharing as a city crime punishable by up to two years in prison. read more »
This doesn't have anything to do with privacy, but since I just finished the upgrade to my server I wanted to test one of the new function that I can now do. The software that I use to support Sunflower Children (the non-profit I work with) has a few new capabilities now that we are on a current version o PHP.
Instead of just running a banner on a remote site, we can now display a widget that will be dynamically updated as the donation campaign receives money. I am testing it here before inserting it in my sidebar and on the sites of others that support us. If you like the organiztion and would like to donate, please do. The widget is Live and all donations go directly to Sunflower Children. They of course do NOT keep your credit card number on file. It is just used to process the transaction and then forgotten. read more »
Pirate Bay Renamed Beijing Bay After Olympics Tracking - Via Threat Level:
The Pirate Bay has a new logo, at least temporarily.
The world's most notorious torrent-tracking site has temporarily renamed itself The Beijing Bay after the International Olympic Committee sought the assistance of the Swedish government to stop it from tracking clips from the ongoing Olympics in Beijing. read more »
Aligning Words and Deed With Human Rights - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
The Olympics are well into their second week. Although we’ve seem some inspiring performances from athletes like swimmer Michael Phelps and gymnast Nastia Liukin, it’s sad that these games have been mired in controversy from the beginning: the IOC’s lack of will or ability to hold China to its promise to improve its human rights record as a condition of winning the Olympic bid, China’s violent crackdown on Tibetan demonstrators, ugly protests during the global Olympic torch relay, the apparently underage Chinese gymnasts, and – “dear” to CDT’s heart – the surveillance of Beijing hotel guests’ communications and the Chinese government’s unwillingness to make the Internet totally free of censorship for foreign journalists. read more »
Video: IOC backs off DMCA take-down for Tibet protest | The Industry Standard - Via The Industry Standard:
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has backed away from a DMCA take-down request to remove a YouTube video of a Tibetan protest at the Chinese consulate in New York.
The video in question (see below) was clearly not an example of copyright infringement. YouTube and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) both pushed back against the IOC, which then withdrew their complaint. As the EFF notes, however, the inaccurate title of the video was "Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony," so in all likelihood, the IOC was filing DMCA notices for Olympics content, which has been springing up on YouTube faster than they can take it down. read more »
YouTube Stands Up To IOC Over Free Tibet Video - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Ian Lamont writes "The International Olympic Committee has withdrawn a DCMA takedown notice that targeted a two-minute long YouTube video of a Students for a Free Tibet protest at the Chinese consulate in New York. The video shows protesters gathering outside the building at night and projecting images of the Olympic symbol, 'tank man,' Tibetan riot footage and clips of victims of the Chinese police crackdown in Tibet. After receiving the request, YouTube contacted the IOC and asked if it really planned to pursue a claim. The IOC retracted the notice and the video was reposted within hours. Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society praised YouTube for 'going out of its way to do more than it's required to do under the law to protect free expression.'"
Olympics, YouTube, Protest, Copyright - Via Wendy's Blog: Legal Tags:
Students for a Free Tibet posted video of a Free Tibet protest to YouTube. YouTube pulled it, in response to a copyright complaint from the International Olympic Committee. From the
copy posted to vimeo (and thence re-posted to YouTube, it appears), it’s hard to see a colorable copyright infringement claim. Sure, the image of the Olympics’ (trademarked) interlocking rings and (copyrightable) mascot showed up, but those uses would be fair and non-infringing.
We see once again that the DMCA’s unbalanced takedown scheme encourages overzealous claiming of copyright, as an easy route to removal of unflattering content. With those already inclined toward enforcement zealotry, that pushes them far overboard.
Olympic Committee Takedown Shows Risks of Ill-Timed Take-Downs - Via EFF.org Updates:
It’s never OK to use improper copyright claims to take down legitimate, non-infringing content, but such takedowns are particularly galling when they are timed to directly interfere with the impact of a political message. That’s what happened this week to the Free Tibet movement, and the situation illustrates the risks of a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to copyright policing.
The 2008 Olympic Games have been marked by controversy relating to the human rights record of its host, China. Two days ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) added to the debate by demanding that YouTube block a video of a protest by Students For A Free Tibet. The demand appeared to be based on a bogus copyright infringement claim: the protesters had projected various images on the wall of the Chinese consulate in New York, and the video of the protest was titled “Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.”
This is not the first time the IOC has used an intellectual property claim to stomp on speech. Nor is it the first time a content owner has caught a dolphin in its DMCA takedown driftnet. But the political and time-sensitive nature of this video made this “mistake” particularly appalling. read more »
YouTube Yanks Free Tibet Video After IOC Pressure - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
RevWaldo writes "The International Olympic Committee filed a copyright infringement claim yesterday against YouTube for hosting video of a Free Tibet protest at the Chinese Consulate in Manhattan Thursday night. The video depicts demonstrators conducting a candlelight vigil and projecting a protest video onto the consulate building; the projection features recent footage of Tibetan monks being arrested and riffs on the Olympic logo of the five interlocking rings, turning them into handcuffs. YouTube dutifully yanked the video, but it can still be seen on Vimeo. (Be advised; there is some brief footage of bloody, injured monks.)"
IOC admits Internet censorship deal with China - Via reuters:
China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.
"I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on website access during Games time," IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said, referring to Beijing's Olympic organizers.
"I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related," he said.
Attempts at the main press centre to access the website of Amnesty International, which released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honor its Olympic human rights pledges, continued to prove fruitless by mid-week. read more »
IOC Admits Internet Censorship Deal With China - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Dave writes "BEIJING (Reuters) — Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted on Wednesday. Persistent pollution fears and China's concerns about security in Tibet also remained problems for organizers nine days before the Games begin. China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked. 'I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on website access during Games time,' IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said, referring to Beijing's Olympic organizers. 'I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related,' he said." But yet somehow the mainstream media will ignore this because the Olympics are patriotic or something.
Watchdog warns against posting signatures online - Via Computerworld - NZ:
Charities Commission under fire for revealing signatures
The Privacy Commissioner says the posting of signatures in online registers is a matter of concern, after an Auckland-based IT contractor found his published and available to anyone at the Charities Commission website.
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff says signatures posted online present some concerns. She encourages agencies to obscure, suppress or pixelate them wherever possible.
“There are risks of identity fraud or other security-related issues if a signature and supporting information is publicly available and can then be copied,” she says. “In the case of scanned documents that are added to websites, it would seem a straightforward measure to obscure the signature before the document is scanned.”
A member and charity officer of a school trust board, IT contractor Berend de Boer, discovered his signature was on the site from the school’s secretary. read more »
Canadian Domain Name Registrants To Get More Privacy - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which manages the dot-ca domain, plans to change its WHOIS policy to better protect domain name registrants. Quoting the Canadian Press: '[Law Professor Michael] Geist said the changes have raised the ire of law enforcement and intellectual property lawyers, who have used the Whois search to track down sexual predators and copyright violators.' Despite this, the organization seems committed to following through with the reforms."
Geist also gave a talk recently about digital advocacy; the effectiveness of using modern technology to raise concerns and share ideas about issues such as privacy and copyright law.
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