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Privacy has been a hot button issue since 9/11, but now it would appear that government surveillance is being joined by another twist on snooping: parents aggressively monitoring their kids’ activities on the Web. This article in today’s WSJ details how parents are using sophisticated new software applications to remotely track how their kids are …
The National Intellectual Property Researchers Association (NIPRA), whose members “serve as the world’s main concentration point for IP information disseminated by the USPTO,” have sued the USPTO in District Court for the ED of Virginia. Their action was precipitated by the USPTO’s project to transition from a paper document collection to an online access system. …
The FTC announced the launch of a new website on cross-border fraud. The site states, “This website has information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid cross-border fraud. You also can review the Federal Trade Commissions recent law enforcement actions against cross-border scam artists, and learn how the agency is working with law enforcement agencies …
Poynteronline’s two part review of the new HotBot is worth noting. Part I is here, and Part II is here. The author praised the new engine’s capabilities, and feedback from readers championed Google as far superior.
On January 7, teenager Jon Lech Johansen was acquitted by a Norweigan criminal court of charges related to creating a utility (DeCSS) that descrambled the code for DVD players, and publishing it on the Web. For other articles on this decision, see CNN, The Register, BBC, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
ICANN announced that effective January 3, 2003, the non-profit Public Interest Registry (PIR) is now the registry operator for the important .org domain.
Rep. Boucher of Virginia was the first to introduce a tech-related bill in the 108th Congress. The bill, called the Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act (H.R. 107), is a twin to H.R. 5544, which he introduced on October 3, 2002. See my previous posting for a section-by-section description of H.R. 5544. H.R. 107 amends sections …
According to this AP report, via ABCNews.com, there is a new draft of the White House National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace (first draft from September 18, 2002 is here) circulating among a group of government officials and “industry executives,” and of course AP has a copy too. Apparently, it was ‘leaked’ by the administration to …
A new California law, SB 1386, that takes effect July 1, 2003 (highlighted in my previous posting here), reaches beyond the state of California. According to this SecurityFocus article, the ABA Cybersecurity Task Force and industry groups discussed the ramifications of the law that requires businesses maintaining personal data on California citizens to report security …
The UK Home Office is recommending, not requiring, the adoption of model guidelines by ISPs to protect children who use web applications that include chat and instant messaging, according to this article.
A new Harris Interactive poll indicates that 80% of those surveyed dislike spam so much that they would like to see it banned. A new report, from Ferris Research, a San Francisco based market research company, ($1,995 fee) assesses the cost of spam to American corporations in 2003 at more than $10 billion, due to …
Released today, a new Pew Internet Project report, The Internet and campaign 2002, indicates that there was a growth in the use of websites by Americans seeking news about elections, and candidate information. See also this related article by Marc Glaser, Blogs Go Highbrow and Lowbrow; Net Playing Growing Role in U.S. Elections.
