ICANN's Plans for New Top Level Domains

See ICANN’s announcement on recommendations for new Top Level Domains (TLDs) as well as a comment period which will end December 10. According to this related Washington Post article, ICANN is in favor of creating three new top level domains that target specific users, rather than the current dot-com grab-bag approach.

Subjects: Domain Names, E-Commerce

DVD Copying Software

According to this article in digitalMass, a father-son programming team is marketing a software application that allows users to copy DVDs onto CDs. Hollywood is none too pleased with consumers copying their films, and is commited to battling against the creation and distribution of applications that allow them to do so. See also this related …

Subjects: Copyright

Tech Law and Public Policy

The Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at Boalt Hall is actively involved in educational efforts focused on privacy law, digital rights management and copyright issues. The site maintains a BriefBank, to which public interest groups and legal scholars contribute briefs on law, technology and public policy. The site has a basic search engine …

Subjects: Copyright, Digital Rights, Privacy

Survey of State Doctor Disciplinary Data

The non-profit citizen advocacy group Public Citizen conducted a state-by-state survey of disciplinary data, and the information is current as of April 3, 2002. It may be viewed in an oveall quick chart format here. Specific information provided includes the direct, state sponsored e-gov address where doctor data is located, whether the state provides disciplinary …

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information

Council of Europe and Internet Hate Speech

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers issued a press release on November 7 stating their adoption of a supplemental protocal to the Convention on Cybercrime. It is titled, Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime Concerning the Criminalisation of Acts of a Racist and Xenophobic Nature Committed Through Computer Systems. See also their Explanatory …

Subjects: Freedom of Information

Gov't Database of Personal Data

This New York Times article details plans for a Pentagon database currently under development that would be used to mine, collect and analyze personal data collected from the Web, e-mail, telecommunications, government documents and online transactions. The stated purpose of this unprecedented effort: homeland security. This program has the support of the executive director of …

Subjects: Privacy

E-Government Report

E-government information, reports and related documents are certainly in the news as of late. The Performance Institute released a new study on October 30, in PDF: Creating a Performance-Based Electronic Government, Fiscal Year 2002 Progress. The report is subtitled, “The State-of-the-Practice on How e-Government Initiatives in Federal Agencies are Progressing Toward Achieving Cost Efficiencies and …

Subjects: E-Government

UK E-Gov Sites Panned

UK government web sites have a poor track record with users, and the Prime Minister’s site is at the top of the failure list of the 20 sites reviewed. This is according to “A Report Into Key Government Web Sites,” which is reviewed here, but can only be obtained in full-text via purchase. In a …

Subjects: E-Government