[Sigifp-l] Information Policy Post 6/03

[Terrence Maxwell]

INFORMATION POLICY POST
28 May 2003

ACCESS

Women & The Internet.
<http://www.dfn.org/focus/internet/internet-quiz.htm>
"There is much talk these days about narrowing the digital divide between 
developed and underdeveloped countries. However, there is also a digital 
divide between sexes in many countries, with women's access to the Internet 
severely restricted." To see how much you know about women's access to the 
Internet throughout the world try the DFN quiz.

PRIVACY

Excuse Me, Are You Human?
<http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/garfinkel0603.asp>
"Anti-spam schemes that force people to prove they aren't machines won't 
work."

Vigilantes Give Spammers a Dose of Their Own Medicine.
<http://www.politechbot.com/p-04762.html>
"When all 24 office phones at Scott Richter's e-mail marketing company 
started ringing at once, with nobody at the other end of the line, employees 
knew they were under attack again."

Harvard Wrestles With Gator.
<http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1008954.html>
"A Harvard University researcher has completed an investigation of the Gator 
advertising utility, offering a glimpse into the workings of one of the 
Web's most controversial pop-up networks."

Judge: State Silenced Dissent.
<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/123525_info24.html>
A federal judge has struck down a new state law that banned the publication 
of such personal information about police, corrections and court officers as 
their home addresses and Social Security numbers without their permission.
Copy of the Decision: 
<http://www.justicefiles.org/Coughenour%20Decision/CoughenourDecision.htm>

Reduction in Distribution of Spam Act.
<http://news.com.com/2100-1025-1009467.html>
"Antispam sentiment on Capitol Hill is growing, with a new proposal in the 
House of Representatives promising to slap the worst bulk e-mailers with 
prison terms and millions of dollars in fines."
A Response: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04770.html

SPEECH AND PRESS

CDT Appeal Denied by Penn Attorney General.
<http://www.cdt.org/>
"The Pennsylvania Attorney General has denied an administrative appeal that 
CDT filed challenging the AG's refusal to disclose the Internet web sites 
that he has blocked under a controversial state law. Since mid-2002, the 
Attorney General has issued over 300 secret censorship orders, with no 
judicial oversight or public review whatsoever."

Phoenix Project Documents Online.
<http://www.thememoryhole.org/phoenix>
"Created by the CIA in Saigon in 1967, Phoenix was a program aimed at
"neutralizing"--through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic
torture--the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong
insurgency in South Vietnam. It was a terrifying "final solution"
that violated the Geneva Conventions and traditional American ideas
of human morality.  [The documents] have never previously been published, 
online or in print."

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

"Super DMCA" Bills.
<http://www.cei.org/gencon/016,03492.cfm>
"Cable companies could control consumer choices."  Analyzes the state level 
DMCA bills that are currently in effect.

SECURITY

Total Information Awareness Is Now Terrorist Information Awareness.
<http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2780754>
"Responding to concerns that its Total Information Awareness program would 
allow unfettered surveillance, the Pentagon said in a report to Congress 
that the program would have built-in mechanisms to ensure that it did not 
intrude on Americans' privacy."
See Also: <http://www.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/20030523_tia_report_review.php>

Managing Antiterror Databases.
<http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/innovation20603.asp>
"Software tricks borrowed from the world of particle physics are helping law 
enforcement agencies sift through mountains of information."

Lawmakers Wary of New Terrorist Threat Center.
<http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0503/052303td1.htm>
"Several key lawmakers have warned an independent commission assembled to 
study the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that the CIA should not oversee 
a new anti-terrorism center designed to integrate domestic and foreign 
intelligence data."

MISCELLANEOUS

Epic Alert
Volume 10.10 - 23 May 2003
<http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_10.10.html>
Contents:
[1] Pentagon Submits Report on Info Awareness Project
[2] EPIC Testifies at Senate Spam Hearing
[3] Justice Department Reports on PATRIOT Act Implementation
[4] FTC Workshop on Technologies for Protecting Personal Information
[5] EPIC Obtains ChoicePoint Documents in FOIA Suit
[6] News in Brief

INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY

Trust & Security in the Ambient Intelligence Space.
<http://www.opengroup.org/sfo2003/proceedings/plenary_monday/servida.pdf>
A very visual report on where the EU stands on information security based 
issues and efforts to preserve various freedoms.

European Data Protection.
<http://www.privacyinternational.org/intl_orgs/eu/delgado-release-503.html>
"The global civil liberties watchdog Privacy International has strongly 
criticised the European Parliament over its decision to recommend the 
appointment of an "unknown" Spanish magistrate for the influential post of 
European Data Protection chief."

Finnish Opposition to EU Copyrights and Patents Proposal.
<http://www.effi.org/julkaisut/lausunnot/ipr_enforcement_lausunto.en.html>
EFFI considers the proposed directive mainly unnecessary since the current 
legislation on intellectual property rights requires already that 
sufficiently efficient judicial protection is incorporated into national 
legislations (e.g. TRIPS).

COMPILED BY DYLAN THOMARIE
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