Porn and gaming sites common destinations for city workers: study The Local
Surfing for porn, illegal file sharing, and online gambling are common activities for users of municipality-owned computers in Jönköping in central Sweden, a recent analysis shows. Over the period of one month, officials measured how employees and students in Jönköping used the municipality’s 8,000 computers.
The results, which were presented on Wednesday, took city officials by surprise. At times, up to 80 percent of the municipality’s internet capacity was used for file sharing, an activity which is oftentimes illegal. In addition, employees and students spent an unexpectedly large amount of time visiting websites featuring pornography, weapons, racist messages, games, and online gambling.

New Program Offers Bloggers Free Legal Help MediaPost
The Citizen Media Law Project is launching a new program that will provide free legal help to small news sites and bloggers. The initiative, Online Media Legal Network, aims to assist Web publishers with a broad array of legal issues, ranging from handling complaints about copyright to dealing with threatened defamation lawsuits to filing incorporation papers. A large roster of lawyers, including First Amendment specialists like Marc Randazza and firms like Baker & McKenzie, Davis Wright Tremaine, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal has already signed on. In addition, nine law school clinics have agreed to participate. The Citizen Media Law Project is jointly affiliated with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Arizona State University’s Center for Citizen Media; the Knight Foundation is funding the new initiative. The new program is designed for independent journalists who write about matters of public interest. People who engage in original reporting (or “use traditional news sources in new and innovative ways”) and adhere to standards of “truth, fairness and transparency,” will receive first priority, according to the program’s FAQ.

College students arrested for not paying tip Philly.com
It was an evening out that college students Leslie Pope and John Wagner will long remember. Not only did they get what they called lousy service, they got handcuffed and arrested. All over a $16.35 tip. They were with a half-dozen friends at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem last month, so the establishment tacked what it called a mandatory 18 percent gratuity onto the bill of about $73, according to reports. Pope and Wagner refused to pay.

UK police make 2 Trojan computer virus arrests Associated Press
A couple suspected of helping spread some of the Internet’s most aggressive computer viruses has been arrested in the English city of Manchester, police said Wednesday. Scotland Yard’s electronic crimes unit said a man and a woman, both 20, were arrested Nov. 3 on suspicion of helping spread malicious Trojan computer programs sometimes known as “Zbot” or “ZeuS.” Police said the viruses are thought to have infected tens of thousands of computers worldwide, and one technology consultant described them as the “most notorious pieces of malware of recent times.”

EU ombudsman rebukes EU over errors in Intel case Reuters
The European Ombudsman rebuked European Union regulators on Wednesday for procedural errors in their antitrust probe of Intel but the censure will not affect a 1.06 billion euro ($1.58 billion) fine against the U.S. chipmaker. The European Commission levied the record fine in May for illegally shutting out rival AMD. The ombudsman’s decision is non-binding but it could help the world’s No. 1 chipmaker in its appeal against the ruling to Europe’s second-highest court.

James Murdoch sees smaller role for newspapers Reuters
Newspapers will play a smaller role in News Corp’s operations in future as the group focuses on more profitable pay-TV operations in western Europe and India, the group’s head of Europe and Asia said. James Murdoch, son of News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch, also said the company would remain conservative in its use of capital. “We do not feel, looking at the overall environment, that we are out of the woods yet,” he said. “We have got to continue to be pretty cautious.” James Murdoch, told an investor conference that News Corp, the world’s biggest news company, expected to have smaller audiences for online news when it starts charging readers next spring, but journalism would still play a part in the group.

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

More radical than disconnecting people if they fail to toe the corporate entertainment cartel party line?

Yup.

Head slap, who told us about this in a Reader’s Write, wonders if it isn’t some kind of joke, quoting a cut from the post, to wit »»»

Secretary of State Peter Mandelson is planning to introduce changes to the Digital Economy Bill now under debate in Parliament. These changes will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson — or his successor in the next government) the power to make “secondary legislation” (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).

What that means is that an unelected official would have the power to do anything without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was done in the name of protecting copyright.

But it’s no joke, no more than is the Three Strikes entertainment industry business plan that’ll soon become law in the UK, if Mandelson and his Big Music and Hollywood pals have their way.

‘Unworkable and unlawful … ‘

Beau Bo D’Or (from whence came the pic) says Petey is trying to “set up biggest copyright sting in history,” linking to a Guardian article which states »»»

In a letter to Harriet Harman, the leader of the house and head of the committee responsible for determining changes to such legislation, Mandelson says he is “writing to seek your urgent agreement” to changes to the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act “for the purposes of facilitating prevention or reduction of online copyright infringement”.

By writing to Harman, the business secretary is seeking to get the change made through a “statutory instrument” – in effect, an update to the existing bill that the government can push through using its parliamentary majority.

That can be done with the minimum of parliamentary time, which is already at a premium.

The letter, which is circulating inside the government, comes as ministers prepare to publish the digital economy bill at 7.30am tomorrow. That is expected to set out a “three strikes” policy under which people who are found to be illicitly downloading copyrighted material have their internet connections withdrawn after three warnings.

Internet service providers have warned that the scheme is unworkable and unlawful.

The proposed alteration to the Copyright Act would create a new offence of downloading material that infringes copyright laws, as well as giving new powers or rights to “protect” rights holders such as record companies and movie studios – and, controversially, conferring powers on “any person as may be specified” to help cut down online infringement of copyright.

The changes proposed seem small – but are enormously wideranging, given both the breadth of even minor copyright infringement online, where photographs and text are copied with little regard to ownership, and the complexity of ownership.

Mandelson says in his letter that he is concerned about “cyberlockers” – websites that offer users private storage spaces whose contents can be shared by passing a web link via email.

“These can be used entirely legitimately, but recently rights holders have pointed to them as being used for illegal use,” Mandelson writes in the letter.

But the proposal to alter the Copyright Act in this way has caused alarm within government, where some fear that an incoming Tory administration could use it to curry favour with Murdoch, head of the News International publishing group.

“They’ve seen that file-sharing is essentially unpoliceable, but the net effect is that a future secretary of state could change copyright law as they see fit,” said one Labour insider.

In his letter, Mandelson sets out the expected reaction from the three groups who would be affected by the changes: rights holders such as record companies, internet service providers (ISPs), and consumers.

“I expect rights holders to welcome this and to support it. ISPs are likely to be neutral until it is clear what effect it will have on them in terms of costs.” Consumer groups “are likely to oppose [the move] but will see it may lead to further unquantifiable measures against infringing consumers.”

“He also expects “a great deal of scrutiny” of the idea in parliament, says the story.

But not worry, eh Pete? Your mates — Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music and Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures — will be busily greasing wheels behind closed doors.

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Boingboing – Leaked UK government plan to create “Pirate Finder General” with power to appoint militias, create laws, November 19, 2009
Guardian – Mandelson seeks to amend copyright law in new crackdown on filesharing, November 19, 2009
entertainment cartel party line – Britain changes 3 strikes to 2 strikes, November 18, 2009

—- a Cult of Scientology computer.

“In January 2008, online hackers launched a massive attack on the Church of Scientology’s websites, forcing the church to hire computer security experts to reinstate its online presence,” says nj.com.

In the end, only one Guzner, from Verona, New Jersey, “caught the attention of federal authorities after a YouTube video of a protest of the Church of Scientology in New York City identified one of the participants — the individual in the center — as ‘Aendy,’ which is also Guzner’s online handle,”says the story, going on:

“According to the Anonymous website whyweprotest.net, the group was upset by the church’s attempts to suppress a leaked promotional video featuring actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise, who made enthusiastic claims about the religion.”

“I think they were relying on a very simple premise, that the number of people arrested and convicted of these kinds of attacks is very low,” said Jose Nazario, manager of security research at Arbor Networks, which helps companies keep their websites secure.

The FBI and US Secret Service, as part of the Electronic Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles, “worked together to identify Aendy as Guzner,”says nj.com, continuing, “They searched his home in Brooklyn and turned up a Guy Fawkes mask.”

Prosecutors “have recommended Guzner be sentenced to 12 months to 18 months with no chance of parole, followed by two to three years of probation,” says nj.com adding:

“Three weeks ago, a second man was charged in connection with the DDoS attack. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Brian Thomas Mettenbrink on charges of conspiracy and transmission of a code, information, program or command to a protected computer. The 20-year-old is accused of participating in the attack from his Iowa State University dorm room, according to the indictment.

“In March 2008, before his arrest, Guzner posted on an online message board a link to a site he created for a class. Instead of using filler text for one sample page, he included a narrative that spoofs the Tom Cruise video, based on Cruise’s claim that Scientologists are the only ones who can help in a car crash.”

Cruise is “depicted rescuing a woman from a four-car pileup on the freeway: ‘Stand back, emergency workers,’ Cruise says in the story, which is widely copied on Anonymous websites. ‘Put down your jaws-of-life and crowbars. I am a Scientologist’.”

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

nj.com – Verona man admits role in attack on Church of Scientology’s websites, November 16, 2009
leaked promotional video – It’s wild, it’s wooly! Tom Cruise video transcribed, January 18, 2008

I was invited because I appear on Digital Planet each week to think out loud about the impact of technology on our lives, but this was an internal BBC meeting rather than an open seminar, and the discussion was never intended to be made public.

That didn’t stop one of the other attendees, technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, from recording a segment of the introductory remarks that Ben Hammersley, the associate editor of Wired UK, made and posting it online via AudioBoo. And it didn’t stop several of us tweeting about our presence, or me posting a photo of the Rory at his end of the table on yfrog.

None of us revealed the substance of the debate, and the online activity was in some ways just a good way of making the point that the world has changed, but we could easily have crossed the line with an ill-considered tweet.

It wasn’t the only time that week that I broke the implicit social rules at an event.

On Tuesday I was one of the fortunate few to have acquired a ticket for Boffoonery, a benefit event for Bletchley Park that featured great comics like Robin Ince and Robert Llewellyn performing for a cause that’s dear to my heart.

During the show I was taking photos, updating my Facebook status and twittering away in a manner that would have got me kicked out of the National Theatre but seemed entirely appropriate for an event that began with geek pinup Simon Singh showing us a real enigma machine.

I did it again the very next day when I spoke conference organised by Nominet, the company that runs the .uk domain name registry. During a lively panel session I tweeted about the event, posted a photo of the ‘panel-eye view’ and even used Google to look up the details of the ENUM service that translates a VOIP telephone number into a domain name so I could answer a question.

At the end of our session the chair, broadcaster Sarah Montague, expressed her surprise that we been checking our mobile phones so openly, and Wendy Hall, Michele Neylon and I all loudly protested that we hadn’t been reading emails but engaging in debate with the audience, although I’m not convinced we persuaded her that we weren’t just being impolite.

Thanks to the easy connectivity provided by smartphones and the growing number of people connecting online through social media sites it is now possible to reach out to the audience at an event or people anywhere in the world while talking on a panel, speaking on stage or sitting in an audience.

The shift in the boundaries was in the news this week for much more serious and sombre reasons. On Friday Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, shot dead 13 people and wounded many others at Fort Hood army base in Texas.  Once the military authorities realised what was happening the base was locked down and information was provided through a US Army spokesperson but one of the soldiers caught inside Fort Hood, Tearah Moore, used her cameraphone to tweet and upload photographs throughout the incident.

Tearah Moore has been widely criticised for doing this. Much of what she said was incorrect, as although she was present she did not actually see much of what was happening, and she seems to have posted without any consideration for the feelings or privacy of those affected.

[ ... ]

One of the most trenchant criticisms of this ’social reporting’ came from Paul Carr [who] notes that: ‘For all the sound and fury, citizen journalism once again did nothing but spread misinformation… and breach the privacy of those who had been killed or wounded. We learned not a single new fact, nor was a single life saved.’

The contrast between me tweeting from a conference panel and the tragic events at Fort Hood is of course enormous, but it shows the range of situations now being affected by the new social media. The challenge posed by easy access to online tools and services affects everything.

Paul Carr doesn’t believe we can or should try to stop this or censor what is published, but thinks that ‘we need to get back to a point as a society where – without thinking – we put our humanity before our ego’. It’s a point echoed by Kathryn Corrick, one of the shrewder observers of the social media scene. In a typically eloquent blog post on ‘the ethics of real-time social reporting’ she points out that ‘gossip and news has always travelled quickly. What’s different is the reach and speed now possible and the wider and deeper impact.’

Our social rules seem to have been overloaded by our mobile phones, netbooks and laptops, because behaviours developed for the industrial age simply cannot cope with the new possibilities for information sharing. We are clearly going to see a lot more inappropriate use of social media before new rules emerge.

Bill Thompson – andfinally.com
[Thompson is a UK-based writer and broadcaster. He has a weekly column on the BBC WebWise site, and contributes both on and off-line to The Guardian, The Register and The New Statesman, among others. His "inappropriately-titled 'billblog' "appears weekly on BBC News Online in the technology news section.]

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

It’s on GooTube and, “It’s just insane, here,” says the voiceover.

“About 30 students stormed UCLA’s Campbell Hall and barricaded the doors with chains and bike locks early this morning to protest a student fee increase that is expected to be endorsed by the University of California’s Board of Regents today,” says the Los Angeles Times, going on »»»

[Updated at 8:39 a.m.: The UC Regents have started to meet, and hundreds of students have surrounded the building, protesting the proposed fee hike.]

Students who spent the night were sprawled outside Campbell Hall in sleeping bags. They carried posters and signs that read, “Don’t take our education away” and “Don’t privatize, democratize.” Many wore bandannas over their faces.

Dozens of other students spent the night camped out in tents on top of Parking Structure 4. Hundreds of other students are expected to join the protesters and demonstrate at the UC Regents meeting that will take place later today.

“The proposed two-step student fee increase would raise UC undergraduate education costs more than $2,500, or 32%.The annual cost of a UC education, not including campus-based fees would rise to $10,302. says the story.

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

Los Angeles Times – Students storm UCLA building to protest expected UC system fee increase [Updated], November 19, 2009

Kurt Greenbaum (right) asked that on the St Louis Post-Dispatch web page under the headline ‘What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten? And did you like it?’

No surprise, he got all kinds of interesting responses.

But, “The headline was practically asking for a juvenile response and, thanks to the anonymity of the internet, that’s exactly what happened.,” says ReadWriteWeb, going on:

“In the comments section of the article, one user posted a single word response referring to a part of a woman’s anatomy. Of course, the site’s moderators quickly deleted the comment but it soon reappeared – obviously this juvenile was intent on having their say.”

I know how that goes.

But this time, the site’s ‘director of social media,’ Greenbaum, “did a little sleuthing,” says the story, going on, “and that’s where this story starts to get interesting”.

Greenbaum tracked down the poster’s IP address and told the school, ReadWriteWeb  says, continuing, “In his defense, he probably thought he was simply tattle-telling on a naughty student who would learn a valuable lesson about internet anonymity and would have to sit through a week’s detention or something of the like.”

But this wasn’t a kid. It was a school employee who, as a direct consequence of Greenbaum’s initiative, lost his job.

This kind of thing can’t happen on p2pnet, though. Even if we wanted to rat someone out, which we’d never do under any circumstance, we couldn’t.

We’ve always treasured freedom of speech and for that reason, we’ve never logged IP addresses.

In other words, anonymous comments on p2pnet really are anonymous.

Was Greenbaum doing the right thing? No way.

I see this kind of thing every now and then.

I just delete it.

End of story.

Jon Newton – p2pnet

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

St Louis Post-Dispatch – What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten? And did you like it, November 13, 2009
ReadWriteWeb – Leaving a Vulgar Comment Online Might Cost You Your Job, November 18, 2009

I have a lot of stuff happening in the background (as well as being hit by this bug that’s going around) so from today until next week,  sometime,  I’ll mainly be posting headline roundups, although they’ll be interspersed with stories, if and when I can manage it.

But normal service WILL be resumed, and as soon as possible.

If  you want to help out in the meanwhile, please send submissions (anonymous or named) to p2pnet @ shaw dot ca.

Cheers! And thanks …
Jon

_______________

Composers and lyricists make pitch to join Teamsters New York Times
David Carbonara has a gig many of his peers would covet: He writes music for the critically acclaimed AMC show “Mad Men.” A former jazz trombonist, Carbonara loves his job and is grateful for the work. Yet even after he labors on 13 episodes for a full year, he says he won’t earn enough to support his family. A one-hour basic cable TV show like “Mad Men” pays $7,000 to $13,000 an episode, but at least half of that goes toward hiring musicians, paying for studio time, copying music and other costs that composers like Carbonara increasingly absorb as studios look to lower their expenses. “You have to work 26 shows in a year to earn a living,” said Carbonara, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston who recently began work on an ABC drama without any idea as to when, or how much, he would be paid. “People don’t understand what we go through.” Unlike most other workers in Hollywood, Carbonara can’t complain to a union about his pay rate or working conditions. That’s because he doesn’t have one. In a heavily unionized industry, composers and lyricists are an anomaly in Hollywood. Along with production assistants, theirs are among the few remaining crafts not covered by a union contract.

Telus sues Rogers over ad claims Globe &Mail
The wireless phone company with the cute and cuddly animals is baring its fangs. Telus Corp., whose advertisements are known for colourful goats and frogs, is suing its rival Rogers Communications Inc. for what it claims are false and misleading advertisements that suggest the latter’s cellphone and data network is faster and more reliable than Telus’s own network. The dispute stems from the fact that Telus launched a new high-speed network two weeks ago, which it says brings it up to speed with the Rogers service, and thus blunts long-held claims of superiority made by Rogers. Telus says Rogers spurned requests made two weeks ago to remove its ads, prompting the Vancouver-based cellphone company to file a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia seeking damages.

Hulu lands first music label deal CNetNews
Hulu, the Web’s No. 2 video service attracting viewers by offering full-length films and TV shows, now wants to become a video jukebox. Singer Norah Jones will be the first EMI artist to appear on Hulu as part of a new agreement between the companies. EMI Music, one of the four largest recording companies, struck a deal to offer its artists’ select concert footage and music videos on Hulu. Music videos have appeared at Hulu before but this is the site’s first wide-ranging agreement with a major label, EMI said in a statement. Exclusive material from singer Norah Jones will help kick off the deal. The partnership with EMI means Hulu, formed by News Corp. and NBC Universal, will compete more with YouTube for music fans.

China military site draws hackers BBC
The Chinese military defence website was subjected to 2.3 million hacking attempts in its first month online according to officials. “When there were major events taking place related to the military and national defense, the number of (cyber) attacks rose,” said editor Ji Guilin.

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

“The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has already announced that the next round of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations will take place in January — with the aim of concluding the deal ‘as soon as possible in 2010′,” h says, continuing »»»

For the rest of us, with access to only leaks and whispers of what ACTA is about, there are many troubling questions. How can such a radical proposal legally be kept so secret from the millions of Net users and companies whose rights and freedoms stand to be affected? Who decides what becomes the law of the land and by what influence? Where is the public oversight for an agreement that would set the legal rules for the knowledge economy? And what can be done to fix this runaway process?

We wrestle with these questions in an essay on “The Impact of ACTA on the Knowledge Economy”(PDF here) in the Yale Journal of International Law (November 2009 edition). We explain how ACTA got this far, in this form, and propose four mechanisms for USTR transparency reforms, that will give the public a voice in ACTA, if U.S. citizens — and their elected officials — speak loudly and quickly enough.

In brief, the ACTA process has been deliberately more secretive than customary practices in international decision-making bodies to evade the debates about intellectual property (IP) at established multilateral institutions. The Office of the USTR has chosen to negotiate ACTA as a sole executive agreement. Because of a loophole in democratic accountability on sole executive agreements, the Office of the USTR can sign off on an IP Enforcement agenda without any formal congressional involvement at all. But the negotiations do not have to be secret, and the sole executive agreement process does have mechanisms for oversight: they have not been used in ACTA, but can and should be.

The excuse for using sole executive agreements is that ACTA will be fully respectful of U.S. law. But the constraint of coloring within the lines of US law, as one anonymous trade official described it, is a fragile linchpin upon which the weight of public trust and democratic legitimacy is bearing down. In an interview with “Inside U.S. Trade”, for their June 19, 2009 edition (paywall link here), the USTR was far less confident:

When pressed whether the U.S. would be open to any negotiated difference from U.S. law in the ACTA, the official said that the goal of the U.S. “is to stick as closely to U.S. law as possible.”

How can the USTR negotiate an international agreement that sets new global IP enforcement norms requiring changes to U.S. law and policy as an Executive Agreement, without the knowledge or involvement of Congress? Having failed to get similar proposal adopted via the World Customs Organization, the USTR conceived ACTA as a plurilateral agreement, avoiding the checks and balances of existing multilateral norm-setting bodies. After the announcement of ACTA but prior to commencing formal negotiations, the USTR had prepared a confidentiality agreement that it asked all negotiating countries to accept, which explicitly binds the negotiating partners from public disclosure.

The USTR has exploited this as the justification for classifying all correspondence between negotiating countries in the interest of national security under Executive Order 12958. The Mexican IP Office, which is hosting the next ACTA negotiations, still gave indications that the documents will not be made available to the public. The Internet Chapter was reportedly delivered to negotiating partners in physical, watermarked copies designed to guard against leaks. If the traditional justification for secrecy in trade negotiations is to safeguard details of sensitive US positions in negotiations for diplomatic advantage over other foreign governments, then why is this confidentiality agreement being used to prevent disclosure of ACTA texts to its own citizens?

Upon the expiration of Trade Promotion Authority in 2007, the USTR chose to negotiate ACTA as a sole executive agreement. As a result, ACTA will not require congressional advice and approval, which is integral to the constitution’s delicate balance of executive and legislative powers. As staunch a defender of executive privilege as John Yoo once convincingly argued that the limits of executive power to negotiate foreign agreements on intellectual property matters unchecked would deprive the House of its constitutional function.

From early on, civil society has protested ACTA’s secrecy, and despite continued public pressure, the USTR’s transparency theater rehearsals of internal review have concluded that showing a selective few Washington insiders the Internet provisions under non-disclosure agreements would satisfy the demands of openness, transparency, and oversight.

Sole executive agreements are not meant to be unaccountable. There are in fact systems in place to stop our executive (and private interests) from having untrammeled power to change the law. We’ve outlined four ways that Congress, or an Administration sincere about transparency, could put their house in order.

Reform trade advisory committees for more diverse representation

Input to U.S. trade negotiators on IP needs to reflect the views of all stakeholders in the U.S. knowledge economyreform of the current trade advisory committee system to include civil society and technology industry participation in the tier 3 industry trade advisory committee on intellectual property, ITAC-15, or the creation of new equivalent level advisory committees. Public interest values such as health and consumer protection should play an important role in the new bipartisan trade policy for the knowledge economy. to counterbalance the disproportionate influence of lobbyists for incumbent industries. This requires

Strengthen congressional oversight and negotiating objectives

Congressional oversight of foreign trade negotiations, especially agreements affecting areas of non-trade domestic policy, should require the USTR to comply with negotiating objectives that reflect the interests of all stakeholders in the U.S. economy. In addition to the labor and environmental standards articulated in proposed bills like the TRADE Act (H.R. 3012), IP enforcement provisions in agreements must not undermine internationally agreed upon commitments on public health, and flexibilities that protect citizens’ access to knowledge, nor obstruct IP exceptions and limitations appropriate for the digital age. In addition, the Congressional Oversight Group, a statutory supervisory group comprising members of the House and the Senate designed to liaise with the Trade Representative could conduct a thorough review and certify that the new negotiating objectives have been met before a trade agreement could be brought for a congressional vote.

Institutionalize transparency guidelines for trade negotiations

Given the significance of the substantive provisions being debated to Internet users, the ACTA process especially should enable citizens to participate and provide input on the public policy impacts like in other negotiations, where it is customary practice to make documents available. The Office of the USTR incorporating these reforms should heed the Attorney General’s instruction to adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure to usher in the President’s new era of open Government. At a minimum, negotiating texts, when distributed to all negotiating countries should be made public.

Implement the State Department’s Circular 175 procedure.

Finally, the State Department plays an important role in checking the unfettered power of the USTR through its Circular 175 Procedure. These are the regulations that “ensure the proper exercise of the treaty-making power.” The State Department Foreign Affairs Manual goes into great detail on the Legal Advisor’s criteria for review of international agreements. There are multiple procedures on hand, including formal congressional consultation, when there is a serious question regarding the type of agreement being negotiated. [11 FAM 723.4(b)] It is also made clear that the approval of authorization to negotiate does not constitute advance approval of the text or authorization to enter into the agreement. [11 FAM 724.2] The State Department investigates whether the proposed agreement is “in conflict with other international agreements or U.S. law” [11 FAM 722(2)] and whether it follows the “general international practice as to similar agreements.” [11 FAM 723.3(8)] Most significantly for the public’s stake in Internet freedom, the Circular 175 declares that:

The interest of the public be taken into account and, where in the opinion of the Secretary of State or his or her designee the circumstances permit, the public be given an opportunity to comment. [11 FAM 725.1(6)]

The Office of the USTR transparency practices must be reformed, and they have failed at reforming themselves. Now that the leaked documents confirm everything we feared, it is time to take a look at how we might hold USTR Ambassador Kirk and Assistant McCoy, the lead ACTA negotiator, to account for their promises:

• On diverse representation for advice on trade: “I can assure you that I am committed to working very closely with Congress and all interested stakeholders on all of our trade
  agreements and negotiations, including ACTA.” (Ronald Kirk Confirmation Hearings, March 9, 2009)
• On congressional oversight and legislative power: “Q: Will the ACTA rewrite U.S. law? A: No. Only the U.S. Congress can change U.S. law.” (ACTA Fact Sheet, August 4, 2008)
• On transparency practices: President Obama’s trade officials met with several civil society groups and promised a thorough review of the USTR policies regarding transparency. The review is expected to be completed within a few months. The process will include a meeting within a month to discuss initial specific proposals for openness and transparency. Citizens and NGOs are encouraged to think about the specific areas where openness and transparency can be enhanced and how. (USTR Transparency Review KEI Report, March 19, 2009 – as reviewed by Daniel Sepulveda, Assistant USTR for Congressional Affairs)
• On public participation: The ACTA negotiations “[p]articipants also discussed the importance of transparency including the availability of opportunities for stakeholders and the public in general to provide meaningful input into the negotiating process.” (USTR Press Release, November 6, 2009)

“Such accountability is available in the U.S. system, but it cannot come from the Office of the USTR alone,” says the EFF’s Katz, adding:

“If ACTA is going to regulate the global Internet, we believe that should warrant the opportunity for public comment.”

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Deep Links – Stopping the ACTA Juggernaut, November 19, 2009

Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php

Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.

]]> http://www.officialares.com/news/Stopping-the-ACTA-juggernaut/feed/ 0 http://www.officialares.com/news/Billy-Bragg-Charlie-Angus-on-digital-culture/ http://www.officialares.com/news/Billy-Bragg-Charlie-Angus-on-digital-culture/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:46:20 +0000 admin http://www.officialares.com/news/Billy-Bragg-Charlie-Angus-on-digital-culture p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- The outgoing British Labour government wants to leave as its legacy a law to victimise members of the P2P communities, including children, who share with each other online.

“Initially the Government will aim to educate and those identified as downloading unlawfully, will be sent letters,” says the Telegraph. “If this proves insufficient, technical measures will be introduced — including the powers to disconnect pirates.”

The ‘graduated response’ Three Strikes plan, touted as separate ‘initiatives’ by individual governments such as Britain’s, is  in fact a major component of a massive global entertainment industry scheme to acquire the net as an exclusive corporate marketing and distribution vehicle.

Big Music is in the forefront and the first effect of the adoption of any such plan will be to drive a huge wedge between online music fans and musicians. However, anyone accused by the cartels of being copyright infringers of corporate ‘product’ will utimately become targets as well.

With that the background, UK recording artist Billy Bragg (left) will join New Democrat Charlie Angus, himself a musician, to “talk about how artists, not corporate lawyers, are taking the lead on establishing basic rules for the development of digital culture online,” says an NDP statement.

“The internet brings fans and artists closer together than ever before and brings great benefits to both,” Bragg, a co-founder of the new artists-to-fans-to-artsts site, a2f2a.com, told p2pnet.

“Let’s not allow the record industry to keep us apart in order to protect their old broken business model.”

Hearings on digital culture and new media are set to start at the heritage committee, says Angus, adding he and Bragg will be joined by the Songwriters Association of Canada’s Don Quarles, and Wide Mouth Mason’s Safwan Javad, who’ll represent the Canadian Music Creators Coalition.

The meeting will be tomorrow at the National Press Theatre, 150 Wellington, Ottawa, at 10:00 am.

Stay tuned.

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

share with each other – Britain changes 3 strikes to 2 strikes, November 18, 2009
Telegraph – Powers to disconnect pirates in Digital Economy Bill, November 18, 2009

Spain Codifies ‘The Right to Broadband’ Reuters
Spanish citizens will have a legal right from 2011 to be able to buy broadband internet of at least one megabyte per second at a regulated price wherever they live, the country’s industry minister said on Tuesday. The telecoms operator holding the so-called “universal service” contract would have to guarantee it could offer “reasonably” priced broadband throughout Spain, said Miguel Sebastian in a statement sent to media. Former state monopoly Telefonica has always held the universal contract aimed at protecting consumers in poorly populated areas from being cut off in cases where operators would otherwise consider providing the service unprofitable. The service also subsidises telecoms to disabled users. Until now, the “universal service” has only guaranteed internet via telephone line, fixed telephone, directory service and telephone booths.

Apple Macs no safer than PCs from computer phishing attacks USA today
Mac users get victimized by a certain, very active segment of the cyber underground — phishers — just as often as PC users, says Randy Abrams, director of technical education at antivirus firm Eset. And Macs that are allowed to tie into Windows-centric company networks can help elite phishers spread malicious attacks, adds Timothy Armstrong, security analyst at Kaspersky Lab. No doubt many Mac loyalists will take umbrage: Eset this week released results of a phone survey of 1,003 U.S. consumers that shows 57% of Mac users feel it is safe to use their computers with no antivirus protection, while only 27% of Windows PC users feel that way. That dichotomy is vividly reflected in this Apple TV commercial, in which a composed young man, representing a Mac, talks to a flustered geek wearing a biohazard suit, representing a virus-plagued Windows PC.

New Web Site Makes Internet Time Traveling Easier Wired Campus
A new Web site called Memento Web will allow anyone curious about what the Internet used to look like to plug in a date and then browse the World Wide Web as it was on that day. The site is already live with limited use. Users can enter a URL and the date on which they wish to see a version of the page the URL once called up. That doesn’t mean they’ll get exactly what they were looking for. For example, a search for nytimes.com on November 17, 2006, returned a Web page dated December 8, 2007. Some searches don’t work at all.

House lawmakers push ban on peer-to-peer software Associated Press
Stung by an embarrassing electronic leak last month revealing ethics investigations into dozens of lawmakers, Congress moved Tuesday to prohibit federal employees from using the same type of Internet file-sharing software blamed for the disclosure. The Secure Federal File Sharing Act, introduced in the House, would bar government employees and contractors from downloading, installing or using so-called peer-to-peer file sharing software such as Limewire without official approval. The bill also would require the White House to develop rules for employees and contractors working on home or personal computers.

Feds: Top e-tailers profit from billion-dollar Web scam CNet News
Words like “scam,” “fraud,” and “arrest” filled the air during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that focused on the controversial marketing companies that allegedly dupe consumers into paying monthly fees to join online loyalty programs. Ray France, a U.S. Army veteran, testifies at a Senate hearing about how consumers are duped into paying monthly fees to join online loyalty programs. Vertrue, Webloyalty, and Affinion generated more than $1.4 billion by “misleading” Web shoppers, said members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which called the hearing. Lawmakers saved their harshest rebuke for Web retailers that accepted big money–a combined sum of $792 million–to share their customers’ credit-card information with the marketers. Senate investigators launched their six-month inquiry by examining complaints from people who discovered mysterious charges on their credit card bill. For years, Web shoppers have complained that they were signed up to some Web loyalty program without their knowledge and were charged fees until they discovered the problem and complained. Some paid fees for years.

64-bit Windows safer, claims Microsoft Computerworld

Windows users running 64-bit versions of the operating system are less likely to get infected by attack code, Microsoft’s security team said yesterday. But that doesn’t mean they won’t, countered an outside security researcher. “64-bit Windows has some of the lowest reported malware infection rates in the first half of 2009,” said Joe Faulhaber of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center in a post to the group’s blog yesterday. “64-bit malware is still exceedingly rare in the wild.”

T-Mobile admits employee sold private data Reuters
A [sic] employee of mobile phone operator T-Mobile is facing prosecution after selling personal details of thousands of British customers to rival companies in an alleged major breach of data protection laws. In a statement, T-Mobile UK, part of Deutsche Telekom AG, said it had contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after discovering an employee was passing on the information and it believed the investigation would result in a prosecution. “While it is deeply regrettable that cus

Follow p2pnet on Twitter.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009