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Below are some clips from an excellent collection of stories and links from the Global Internet Liberty Campaign. Also, if you didn't hear about the report from RAND about the use/non-use of the Internet/communications for dissent in China, check out: http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1543/ Also, see this resources about Internet filtering in China: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/resources.html You can also get news about the unblocking of Google from: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=google+china This link make you wonder what Yahoo! agreed to do to keep on China's good side: http://www.telecom.paper.nl/site/news_ta.asp?type=abstract&id=19975&NR=552 You can get the full GILC Alert from here: http://www.gilc.org/alert/ Steven Clift Democracies Online ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 11:59:28 -0400 From: Chris Chiu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: GILC Alert GILC Alert Volume 6, Issue 6 12 September 2002 Welcome to the Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter. Welcome to GILC Alert, the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign. We are an international organization of groups working for cyber-liberties, who are determined to preserve civil liberties and human rights on the Internet. ... clip ... =============================================== Free expression [1] China blocks Google, Altavista search engines [2] Greek court throws out game ban case [3] BT weblinks patent suit fizzles [4] Vietnam pushes harsh Internet restrictions [5] Chinese & Korean Net music sites face legal woes [6] Britain ponders tough new Net copyright rules [7] Protest site decries weblink bans [8] Egyptian Net poster faces jail time [9] Corporate parody website hit with trademark threats [10] Anti-DMCA lawsuit centers on Net blocking software [11] Internet becomes key free speech outlet in Iran Privacy [12] Canadian plan to make Internet spy-friendly [13] Recording giants seek Net provider's help to spy on customer [14] War of words over Euro data retention plans [15] Microsoft settles Passport privacy case with U.S. gov't [16] New Bulgarian telecom law may have privacy implications [17] Surprise US spy court ruling criticizes gov't officials [18] Ukrainian Net provider license plan worries privacy advocates [19] DoubleClick settles U.S. multistate privacy probe [20] US university official job-shifted over web break-in [21] New reports document erosion of online privacy [22] US gov't refuses to issue new mobile phone privacy rules [23] New GILC member: Reporters Sans Frontieres ================================================== [1] China blocks Google, Altavista search engines ================================================== Beijing has apparently launched a new wave of repression online, by banning web portals and jailing dissidents. Chinese officials have blocked two popular Internet search engines, Google and Altavista. While the Chinese government had already denied access to many sites (such as the BBC) that contain political discussions or other material it deemed taboo, this is believed to be the first time Beijing has barred portals, which merely provide weblinks to such information. Chinese users who tried to access Google or Altavista were diverted to other sites. Robert Menard of Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF-a GILC member) noted that Chinese authorities "were already in the habit of using surveillance, censorship or the outright elimination of overly critical web sites, but the blocking of a search engine sets a surprising and very worrying precedent." Similar concerns have been expressed by other groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW-a GILC member), which wrote a letter urging both companies "to continue to resist the Chinese government's censorship pressure as a violation of internationally recognized rights of free expression." Some experts worry that Google or Altavista will follow in the footsteps of Internet giant Yahoo, which signed a self-censorship agreement that has been derided by free speech advocates. Meanwhile, at least one mirror website of Google, elgooG, has been created to help circumvent the new ban. In the latest development, Chinese officials have apparently removed blocks on Google, but the ban on Altavista remains in place. Meanwhile, fears are growing over the fate of 2 Internet dissidents. Chinese authorities have confirmed that they have detained Wan Yanhai, who ran the Chinese AIDS Action Project website and had written numerous online articles about China's HIV victims. One of his articles documented a scandal involving government-supported health clinics in the northern province of Henan, where many peasants became infected with the virus after selling their blood. These and other newsitems drew the ire of the Chinese government censors, who have discouraged reports on HIV-related subjects in the past. In addition, the Chinese government sentenced Li Dawei to 11-years in prison for downloading "counterrevolutionary" essays from the Web, storing them on his computer and printing them into books. He also used e-mail and other methods to communicate with associates abroad. These events come as a new report suggests that mainland Chinese officials so far "have been relatively successful" in their efforts to suppress Internet speech. The study (entitled "You've Got Dissent!") analyzes "the political use of the Internet by Chinese dissidents ... and the counterstrategies that Beijing has employed to prevent or minimize its impact." The report goes on to state that "[n]o credible challenges to the regime exist at present, despite the introduction of a massive modern telecommunications infrastructure." For the latest details on the Google and Altavista bans, visit the Digital Freedom Network (DFN-a GILC member) website under http://dfn.org/news/china/google2.htm To read the HRW letter concerning the Google and Altavista bans, click http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/09/china0907.htm For RSF comments on the Chinese Google ban, click http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=3621 Read Peter S. Goodman and Mike Musgrove, "China Blocks Web Search Engines," Washington Post, 12 September 2002, page E1 at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5510-2002Sep11.html See "Altavista tries to beat Chinese ban," BBC News Online, 12 September 2002 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2251533.stm Read Stefanie Olsen, "China blocks search engine AltaVista," 9 September 2002 at http://news.com.com/2100-1023-957154.html See also "China criticised for ban on Google," BBC News Online, 5 September 2002 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2238236.stm Read Will Knight, "Google mirror beats Great Firewall of China," NewScientist.com, 6 September 2002 at http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992768 For more on the Yahoo self-censorship controversy, read Jim Hu, "Yahoo yields to Chinese web laws," CNet News, 13 August 2002 at http://news.com.com/2102-1023-949643.html For information in German (Deutsch), see "Yahoo! Wird Aussenstelle der China- Stasi," Spiegel Online, 11 August 2002 at http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/politik/0,1518,209065,00.html For RSF's criticism of the Yahoo self-censorship agreement, click http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=2959 The Chinese AIDS Action Project website is located at http://www.aizhi.org/ For further information about the Wan Yanhai case, visit the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ-a GILC member) website under http://www.cpj.org/news/2002/China05sept02na.html For more on the Li Dawei case, visit the DFN website under http://dfn.org/news/china/lidawei.htm The report "You've Got Dissent!" is available (in PDF format) via http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1543/ Read "China Dissidents Thwarted on Net," Associated Press, 27 August 2002 at http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54789,00.html ... clip ... =============================================== [4] Vietnam pushes harsh Internet restrictions =============================================== Vietnamese officials have unveiled a multi-faceted plan that may significantly restrict online free speech. The Vietnamese ministry of culture and information is considering a proposal that could force cybercafes to meet more stringent licensing requirements. Heavy penalties apparently would be imposed on the proprietors of such establishments if their customers visited various taboo Internet sites, including webpages with anti-government material. The scheme also calls for the ministry of public security to draw up a list of websites to be blocked by state-owned Vietnam Data Communications, the country's sole Internet gateway. The plan is just the latest in a series of moves by Vietnamese authorities to stifle criticism along the Information Superhighway. During the past year, the Vietnamese government has thrown several online dissidents behind bars, including Le Chi Quang, Son Hong Pham and Tran Khue. Officials in the Southeast Asian country recently confirmed that Le, who wrote an essay that described the political environment in which several Chinese-Vietnamese treaties were signed, will soon be tried on charges that he violated national security. See "Vietnam to crack down on net access," Guardian Unlimited, 16 August 2002 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,775745,00.html For further background information, visit the Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF-a GILC member) website under http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=1288 ... clip ... =============================================== [7] Protest site decries deep weblink bans =============================================== A new Internet site has been created to protest restrictions on the creation on a certain type of weblinks. Dontlink.com is the brainchild of David Sorkin, an associate professor at Chicago's John Marshall Law School. It documents numerous organizations that have attempted to ban Internet links to underlying webpages (instead forcing users to go through the front page of a given site). Dontlink.com includes many so-called deep links to the websites of these organizations, notably the International Trademark Association, Disney, United States National Public Radio, Matsushita and Motorola. Sorkin says he created the site "in part as a reaction to Newsbooster and similar cases. But I've really focused more on sites that don't seem to have any plausible reason for wanting to restrict links in other words, that are doing so out of mere ignorance." Sorkin was referring to a Danish court ruling that barred Newsbooster from providing deep links to individual Danish newspaper articles. In a separate legal battle, German court likewise has ruled that Newsclub, a German news search service, had violated the EU Database Directive by including deep weblinks to a German newspaper site. Read "Web site flouts linking bans," CNet News, 21 August 2002 at http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954612.html See Michelle Delio, "Deep Linking Takes Another Blow," Wired News, 25 July 2002 at http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,54083,00.html =============================================== [8] Egyptian Net poster faces jail time =============================================== The fate of an Internet activist who republished a politically charged poem on the World Wide Web remains in doubt. Shohdy Naguib Surur was webmaster and writer for an Egyptian English-language newspaper, Al-Ahram Weekly. His father had written a sexually-tinged poem (entitled "Ummiyyat") that heavily criticized the Egyptian government in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel. Shohdy later posted Ummiyyat on a website (www.wadada.net) hosted in the United States. He was then arrested and convicted of having "immoral booklets and prints;" barring a successful appeal, he could spend a year in jail. The case has drawn the attention of free speech advocates worldwide, including Russia, where Shohdy was born and lived for many years. One Russian cyberlibertarian, Nastik Gryzunova, noted that the case "brings up the issue of the international laws and the Internet, because the server where the poem is published is the hosted in the U.S. These problems are topical not just for Russia or Egypt, and we hope the international Internet community will support Shohdy Naguib." The text of the poem is available via http://www.wadada.net/surur/ummiyyat/index.html See Hani Shukrallah, "Phantoms of liberty," Al-Ahram Weekly, 4 September 2002 issue at http://web1.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2002/601/op9.htm Read Sergei Kuznetzov, "Father's Poem, Son's Conviction," Wired News, 5 August 2002 at http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,54027,00.html Further information is available from the Independent Media Center under http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=201371&group=webcast ... clip ... ===================================================== [11] Internet becomes key free speech outlet in Iran ===================================================== Opposition leaders in Iranian have turned to the Internet in the hopes of getting their message across without government interference. For years, the country's rulers have practiced censorship for years to help maintain their grip on power, banning many newspapers and jailing dozens of reporters. These efforts have intensified since 1997, especially after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called pro-reform journals "bases of the enemy." However, a number of publications that have been banned in paper form, such as Bonyan and Norouz, have now been made available through the World Wide Web. Iranian lawyer, Ahmad Akhlaghi, explained: "Having a news-based Web site is much easier than opening a newspaper, the Internet is vaguely mentioned in the press law, but opening a site does not require official permission." A journalist further added: "Hard-liners normally closed the reformist sites on their 100th publication to put more economic pressure on the publisher. But the sites don't have such problems and most of the jobless journalists now work for them." Unfortunately, there are signs from state-run media that censorship of the Information Superhighway may not be long in coming. One of these publications called for harsh restrictions on Internet reporting, complaining that independent news sites "spread lies and it seems there is no control over them." See "Iran reformers use Net to fight press ban," Reuters, 5 August 2002 at http://news.com.com/2102-1023-948403.html ... clip ... ==================================================== [22] New reports document erosion of online privacy ==================================================== Several recent studies suggest that privacy rights along the Information Superhighway are being severely undermined worldwide. One of these studies, commissioned by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF-a GILC member), charged that many nations have become "predators of digital freedoms." In particular, the report, entitled "The Internet on probation," notes how "Western democracies ... have adopted laws, measures and actions that are poised to put the Internet under the tutelage of security services," resulting in an erosion of "basic cyber-freedoms." Meanwhile, "countries usually criticised for not respecting human rights and freedom of expression-such as China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia-have become schizophrenic about the Internet. They have encouraged its growth as a tool of state propaganda or economic interests, but at the same time moved to control it and clamp down on criticism, argument and hopes for democracy expressed online." Another report, jointly written by GILC members the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International, similarly documents an apparent trend toward "increased communications surveillance and search and seizure powers; weakening of data protection regimes; increased data sharing; and increased profiling and identification. While none of the above trends are necessarily new; the novelty is the speed in which these policies gained acceptance, and in many cases, became law." The 392-page survey describes how "specific anti-terrorism measures have been introduced in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States." The RSF report is posted (in PDF format) at http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/doc-1259.pdf The EPIC/PI privacy report is available under http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2002/ Read Ciar Byrne, "Anti-terrorism measures 'threaten web freedom,'" Guardian Unlimited, 6 September 2002 at http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,7496,786913,00.html See "Predators of Digital Freedoms," Associated Press, 5 September 2002 at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/05/tech/main520928.shtml See also "Terror laws 'eat away at privacy,'" BBC News Online, 6 September 2002 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2237050.stm ================================================= [23] New GILC member: Reporters Sans Frontieres ================================================= The Global Internet Liberty Campaign has welcomed a new member into the fold: Reporters Sans Frontieres. Founded in 1985, RSF has worked intensively over the past several years to defend press freedom throughout the world, including online journalism. They have launched several projects to document attacks on the press, including "Enemies of the Internet," which contains country-by-country descriptions of how governments in many parts of the world have tried to limit free speech along the Information Superhighway. In addition, RSF has fought against censorship of journalists through such methods as sending protest letters, systematically reproducing censored articles, and hosting banned newspapers. Visit the RSF homepage at http://www.rsf.fr ========================================================= ABOUT THE GILC NEWS ALERT: ========================================================= The GILC News Alert is the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign, an international coalition of organizations working to protect and enhance online civil liberties and human rights. Organizations are invited to join GILC by contacting us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] To alert members about threats to cyber liberties, please contact members from your country or send a message to the general GILC address. To submit information about upcoming events, new activist tools and news stories, contact: Christopher Chiu GILC Coordinator American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 17th Floor New York, New York 10004 USA Or email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information about GILC members and news is available at http://www.gilc.org You may re-print or redistribute the GILC NEWS ALERT freely. 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