CyberLaw Blog

Archive for May 18th, 2008

Law.com Practice Center – Article: “Pa. Justices Hear Arguments Over ‘Control’ of Images in Child Porn Case

Authorities found the images in the cache file of man’s Web browser

Peter Hall, The Legal Intelligencer, 05-19-2008

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court justices considered whether a person looking at a book in a library is analogous to a person downloading files from the Internet and whether, in either circumstance, the person is in ‘control’ of the material.

The comparison came during arguments in Commonwealth v. Diodoro, in which a Delaware County man is challenging his conviction of sexual abuse of children by possession and control of child pornography. The arguments were held in Harrisburg on Wednesday.

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Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case: A Missouri woman is accused of using a phony online identity to taunt a girl, who then committed suicide.

In a highly unusual use of a federal law generally employed in computer fraud cases, a federal grand jury here on Thursday indicted a Missouri woman accused of using a phony online identity to trick and taunt a 13-year-old girl, who committed suicide in response to the cyberbaiting.

The woman, Lori Drew, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing a computer without authorization and via interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

(Via NYT > Technology.)

Interesting to find out about this initiative through a US source. I have not seen any media coverage elsewhere yet. Sounds like a Private Members Bill which probably will not lead into anything concrete. However, I shall dig further to see if there is any support for this.

U.K. Lawmakers Push for Online Age Verification: “Internet retailers may soon face hefty fines or prison sentences if they fail to implement age verification procedures that will ensure their customers are of a legal age to purchase a wide variety of products and services.”

The new bill, which would mandate online age verification in the U.K., is being sponsored by MP Margaret Moran, as the result of concern over children’s access to adult materials that go beyond sexually explicit items to include knives and other weapons, alcohol, tobacco and more.

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Syria: Three-Year Sentence for Blogger Tariq Baiasi:

On Sunday 11-5-2008 the State Security Court in Damascus stated its verdict on the Syrian blogger Tariq Baiasi who was held in detention since 7-7-2007. Tariq was detained for leaving a comment on websites disfavored by the Syrian government. Free Tariq Campaign condemned the State’s verdict and asks for freedom to the Syrian blogger:

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Syria Blocks the Arabic Wikipedia:

According to anasonline blog, access to Wikipedia Arabic, the Arabic language version of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is now blocked by all ISPs in Syria.

(Via Global Voices Advocacy.)

Senators OK $1 billion for online child porn fight | Tech news blog – CNET News.com: “Senators OK $1 billion for online child porn fight (Article by Anne Broache)

A U.S. Senate panel has unanimously approved a bill that would encourage federal, state, and local police to use and create special software designed to nab child pornography swappers on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to send an amended version of the Combating Child Exploitation Act, chiefly sponsored by Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), to the full slate of politicians for a vote.”

Spain arrests ‘prolific’ hackers: “Spanish police arrest five hackers they describe as being among the most active on the internet.”

(Via BBC News.)

Frederick Lane Releases ‘The Court and the Cross’: “Author, long-time adult industry analyst and free speech advocate Frederick Lane has released his fourth book, ‘The Court and the Cross: The Religious Right’s Crusade to Reshape the Supreme Court.’”

(Via XBIZ.com | News & Articles.)

This is an article from: TorrentFreak

Danish Copyright Censorship Proposal Revealed:

Back in February TorrentFreak reported on the IFPI forcing, via the Danish courts, an ISP to block its subscribers from accessing The Pirate Bay. This case was the third occasion where an industry lobby group had flexed its muscles to block a website, a similar measure was used to block allofmp3.com and mp3sparks.com. However, the legality of these actions under European law, specifically the Infosoc directive, is dubious at best.

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Censoring Free Speech in Thailand:

Thailand’s military junta’s fifth order following its coup d’etat September 19, 2006 was to appoint an Official Censor of the Military Coup. The overthrown elected government had publicly stated that it intended to block 800,000 websites.

Thailand’s Official Censor never got that far but he did manage to block 17,793 sites before a general election. In addition the Royal Thai Police claim to block a further 32,500. The junta obviously considered the Internet a dangerous place as its ICT Ministry introduced a Computer-Related Crimes Act to the military-appointed parliament as its first law.

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