p2pnet World Headlines – Aug 10, 2009
China`s Response To the Internet Addiction Death *SlashDot*
Last week, news broke of a tragic incident that resulted in the death of a 16 year old boy at one of China’s internet addiction camps. Details were scarce except for reports that the camp remained open. New reports are now coming in from China Daily that report 13 arrested and the camp closed down on Friday with 122 participants being sent home. The vice-chief of the district has stated that the authorities are working on the case to identify and punish the criminals involved in the death. Xinhua is reporting that the camp was unlicensed. This is directly in conflict with what the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter is saying, ‘When the reporter arrived outside the rear wall of the school, children on the third and fourth floors started to stick notes into aluminum cans, drink bottles, and slippers, and others folded notes into paper planes. They tried to throw them over the wall, but owing to the distance, none of them succeeded. Some children had papers bearing the messages “SOS” and “beating” which they waved out the windows. Some wrote calls for help on their clothing, which they displayed to the reporter.
Internet providers fight over high-speed claims *The Star*
As two of Canada`s biggest Internet service providers, Bell Canada and Rogers Communications are fierce rivals that frequently battle for the same customers. That marketplace fight rarely spills into the courtroom, yet last month a Rogers advertising campaign prompted Bell to file a $50 million dollar lawsuit. The result was an end to the campaign and evidence both companies over-promise the speed of their Internet services.
U.S. government will not get secret company Internet data *Reuters*
Telecommunications providers will not have to give the government sensitive revenue and Internet speed data for a program to map broadband use in U.S. homes and bring high-speed Internet service to more people. The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday that companies such as Verizon Communications Inc, Comcast Corp and AT&T Inc do not have to share how much money they make from each Internet subscriber. Nor must they say how fast their Internet connections typically run But failing to make it public allows the companies to advertise â and charge for â something that they often cannot deliver, said Joel Kelsey, a telecom policy analyst at Consumers Union, a watchdog group.
[Canadian] Shaw Cable Blocks IEEE1394 (Firewire) on Set-top Cable Boxes (Again) *West Coast Success*
A year and a half ago, Canada`s Shaw Cable began encrypting channels with the 0Ã02? flag. This flag has the effect of making the IEEE1394 (firewire) output useless to customers who use third party PVRs (such as the excellent MythTV, for example). After complaints to the CRTC and Industry Canada about this practice, the encryption flag was dropped on most channels and the firewire connection again functioned. Until last night, that is. Once again, Shaw Cable has implemented 0Ã02? encryption. No reason was given for the change, and an inquiry requesting an explanation received the response contained in the letter to below. Unlike the US, Canada does not yet mandate that firewire ports must remain functional. Herewith, a copy of our letter to the Minister of Industry (with copies to the Minister of Culture, the CRTC, and Shaw):
Get angry: AT&T changes contract to prevent class action lawsuits *Mobile Crunch*
When was the last time you read your AT&T contract? If you answered never, then may I suggest you take two minutes to look this over. That`s right, unbeknownst to you, you just lost the ability to enter into a class action lawsuit against the mobile phone carrier. High five! Right, so the language in question is: Any arbitration under this Agreement will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted. [Comment: Bell Canada usually follows AT&T's ToS's, Betcha they add this as well 
See: http://www.wireless.att.com/support/knowledgeBase.do?content=KB50041.html
Exetel plans to ban P2P during off-peak period *AU IT News*
Internet Service Provider Exetel is considering a ban on peer-to-peer network traffic during the first two hours of its 'off-peak' period, should users continue to set their P2P downloads to go off at the very second the provider's off-peak period starts.
3 arrested in YouTube duck killings *The Star*
Three young Saskatchewan men were arrested Saturday in connection with a recent YouTube video that showed three males using rifles to shoot ducks on a prairie pond, footage that has caused widespread public outrage. A spokesman for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment said all three suspects, whose names have not been released, were arrested Saturday morning in a small Saskatoon-area community. Search warrants were also carried out at two of the individuals' residences.
YouTube duck poacher offers apology *Canoe*
He's really, really sorry. Really. "Not that it's any excuse, but we honestly didn't know it was crime -- if we did we wouldn't have uploaded it to the internet and we never would have done it in the first place.
Rogers Users To Pay New LPIF Fee *DSL Reports*
A letter is being sent out to Rogers TV customers informing them that CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommuncations Commision) requires that a new 1.5% service fee for "The Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF)" to be added to the bill starting on August 31 2009. This new percent based fee is suppose to help "local" programming stay alive in markets that have less than 1 million views. The "LPIF" is not a flat fee, so people with higher cable television bills will be paying more.
US appeals court cans CAN-SPAM suit *The Register*
In a decision that could make it harder for internet users to take spammers to court, a federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against a company that sent a man more than 13,000 unsolicited emails. A three-judge panel from the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower-court judge that under a federal law that went into effect in 2004, plaintiff James S. Gordon Jr. lacked standing to sue online marketing business Virtumundo. The panel ruled that under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing, or CAN-SPAM, act, lawsuits can only be brought by select law-enforcement agencies and providers of an IAS, or "internet access service."
Kennett blocks TV segment on teen suicide at Geelong school *The Australian*
Beyond Blue chairman Jeff Kennett won an eleventh-hour injunction in the Victorian Supreme Court to block the current affairs program 60 Minutes from airing a segment on teen suicide at a Geelong high school. In an affidavit filed last night, the former Victorian Premier alleges that Nine Network head David Gyngell reneged on an earlier undertaking to have the segment withdrawn. In his affidavit, that is to be sworn by 4pm today according to court orders, Mr Kennett said he was concerned the potential for another suicide at the Geelong high school - where four teenagers have taken their own lives in the past six months - was very high. [Comment: P2P?]
Greek woman sets fire to British tourist`s genitals *News AU*
A drunken British tourist had his testicles and penis set alight for allegedly attempting to sexually assault a woman. A 26-year old Greek woman is said to have poured an alcoholic drink on his genitals and set him on fire after he assaulted her in a crowded bar in Crete . However, the Greek woman has become an overnight national hero A small crowd is reported to have shouted bravo, bravo, as she was led away by police.
Public spied on 1,500 times a day in UK, study finds *Reuters*
Police, councils and the intelligence services made more than 500,000 requests to access private emails and telephone records in the UK last year, according to an annual surveillance report. The figures, compiled by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, Paul Kennedy, found that about 1,500 surveillance requests were made every day in Britain. That is the annual equivalent to one in every 78 people being targeted. It included 1,500 approved applications from local councils . It cannot be a justified response to the problems we face in this country that the state is spying on half a million people a year, Huhne said. The government forgets that George Orwell`s 1984 was a warning and not a blueprint, he said . But the report found that some were granted to council officials investigating trivial offences like dog fouling, fuelling concern that the act is being misused. [Comment: The UK sure have a lot of terrorists, why not just invade them and get it over with?]
Docs wire up world`s first internet-connected pacemaker *The Register*
Beware the Ping O` Death – A New York woman has became the first person to receive a pacemaker wirelessly connected to her doctor, enabling monitoring and checkups without all that mucking about examining people. [Also see, http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5790AK20090810]
Court filings are protected by copyright, says lawyer *The Register*
Knickers in a twist over briefs – A US lawyer has claimed that copyright is violated when courts pass legal submissions on to a commercial publisher. The lawyer claims that the US courts’ behaviour undermines the hundreds of hours of work put into submissions.
U.S. military monitors Twitter, YouTube *CTV*
As the Pentagon warns of the security risks posed by social networking sites, newly released government documents show the military also uses these Internet tools to monitor and react to coverage of high-profile events. The U.S. Air Force tracked the instant messaging service Twitter, video carrier YouTube and various blogs to assess the public backlash to the Air Force One flyover of the Statue of Liberty this spring, according to the documents.
Submission to interceptions network security admendments *Electronic Frontier Australia*
This proposed changed threatens to radically alter the ability of network operators to intercept, store, and disclose information passing over their networks. There are no safeguards to prevent disclosure to law enforcement agencies or third parties. It is entirely possible for these new provisions to be used to examine P2P filesharing data for copyright violations, for example, and to disclose any captured information to copyright owners.
Facing Five Years In Prison For Posting A Photo On MySpace Wearing Gang Colors *TechDirt*
Last year, Florida passed a new anti-gang law that banned using electronic communications “for the purpose of benefiting, promoting, or furthering the interests of a criminal gang” and that included “advertis[ing] his or her presence in the community via an online image or video. Apparently, authorities in Florida have now arrested 15 people under this law based on their MySpace profiles, including one 14-year-old who posted pictures of himself dressed in gang colors and displaying gang hand signals. For this, all of those arrested now face up to 5 years in prison.
DRM and the Demise of Textbooks? *Excess Copyright*
Here`s a provocative article in today`s New York Times, showing that classic printed text books may be on route to extinction sooner rather than later, and there is a lot of money to be saved in this evolution:
Members Of Human Rights Expert Committee At UN Question Patents On Food *IP-Watch*
A group of experts working as a think-tank for the United Nations Human Rights Council raised the issue of patents and food at a meeting this week. Meanwhile, a new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food expected to be available at the end of August will focus on the intersection between intellectual property and the human right to food.
China`s Internet a major concern to officials *CanWest*
The Internet in China has become a major concern for officials, who are increasingly being scrutinised by the general public, a government adviser said Monday. The Internet has become the most powerful media in every government official`s daily life, said Steven Dong, an adviser to the State Council â China`s Cabinet â on publicity and crisis communications . I would say we need a law to regulate the Internet, otherwise we will soon realise that normal people can be affected, Dong said. This is not the right way to help democracy, to help the majority of people`s interests, it will just create more turbulence in politics.
Cubans get ahold of Celerons *The Inquirer*
CNET has got its paws on a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to Intel in which it is miffed that Celeron processors have apparently been showing up in PCs in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.
The iPhone SMS Hack Explained *SlashDot*
Tom`s Hardware just interviewed Charlie Miller, the man behind the iPhone remote exploit hack and winner of Pwn2Own 2009. He explains the (now patched) bug in the iPhone which allowed him to remotely exploit the iPhone in detail, explaining how the string concatenation code was flawed. The most surprising thing was that the bug could be traced back to several previous generation of the iPhone OS (he stopped testing at version 2.2). He also talks about the failures of other devices, such as crashing HTC`s Touch by sending a SMS with `%n` in the text.
Marc – p2pnet
August, 2009
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