CyberLaw Blog

Archive for October 7th, 2008

Holocaust denier David Irving compares British justice to Nazi Germany in court outburst | Mail Online

By Rebecca Camber, Last updated at 12:58 AM on 04th October 2008

Disgraced historian David Irving yesterday compared British justice to that of the Third Reich.

The Holocaust revisionist launched his outburst as he attended court to support his friend Gerald Toben, 64, who was arrested on a German extradition warrant during a stopover at Heathrow.

Toben is accused of publishing internet material between 2000 and 2004 that ‘denies, approves or plays down’ the Holocaust, which is illegal in Germany.

Outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Irving, 70, said: ‘This type of procedure demeans our society in that the Germans and Austrians can dictate to us what we feel and can say and what we read and write. They lost that right in 1939.

‘If the British soldiers in Normandy who went to the beaches in 1944 could see what happened today, they would not have gone 40 yards up the beach.’

Irving, who was jailed in Austria in 2006 for denying the Holocaust, plans to invite Toben to stay at his home in Windsor if he is granted bail next week.

He went on: ‘I disapprove of some of his views but he has the right to express them, just as people disapprove of my views but my books and views are suppressed.

‘It’s like living in Nazi Germany. What we have seen here today is like Nazi Germany, but in pinstripe suits.’

Last night D-Day veteran Roland Jefferson, 83, who landed on Juno Beach in June 4, 1944, said: ‘Irving is a lunatic and I’m not happy with his comments that are bound to make a lot of veterans angry.

‘The Holocaust was dreadful and everyone who bravely fought on D-Day recognises that.’

Giganews Boosts Aid to Fight Exploitation of Minors: “The Internet can be a tough place for lesser known protocols such as BitTorrent and the newsgroups. They are often times the target of all types of political rhetoric and agendas, and frequently the target of copyright enforcement claims – because after all, the World Wide Web is a sacred place. Lately, the newsgroups came under fire from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and were a focal point of his campaign to rid internet of the exploitation of minors.”

His campaign was targeted largely at consumer ISPs such as Cablevision, Comcast, RoadRunner, Sprint, and AT&T. These large companies agreed to work with the attorney general’s office, and by that we mean they, in varying degrees, discontinued their customer’s access to the newsgroups. While the effort to rid the internet of child abuse images is noble, taking a Gatling gun to an entire protocol of the Internet was seen as a bit extreme.

The newsgroups are a historic part of the Internet that predates the World Wide Web by over a dozen years. This medium was initially used in a similar manner as today’s community forums, where people would gather and discuss a wide range of topics. The newsgroups were eventually used to distribute files as well, mostly common nonsense like movies, MP3s, videos, and so on. However, like many protocols of the Internet, the newsgroups were exploited to trade images of child abuse.

Although Cuomo’s campaign has successfully exterminated the newsgroups from many ISPs, the problem still remains. Unfortunately, ISP news servers are typically designed for discussion, not trading files. The result of Cuomo’s actions resulted largely in the inconveniencing of legitimate customers who are looking to talk about their hobbies, computer issues, and so on. It’s unknown if Cuomo succeeded or simply forced his targets onto third party newsgroup providers. But if the latter is true, third party providers aren’t about to make things easy for them.

Giganews, one of the largest newsgroup providers, announced their intentions to increase funding to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), an organization committed to eradicating child abuse images from the net. Giganews took the attorney general’s words seriously, and conducted a self evaluation on their own server network. The study revealed two interesting points:

“First, by using the New York Attorney General’s information, 99.9997% of Usenet has been found to be free of child sexual abuse images,” the latest blog post on Giganews reads. “It is clear that Usenet is not the haven for child sexual abuse that some have recently attempted to claim. Regardless of the small percentage, Giganews has never and will never turn a blind eye to the problem.”

“Second, the Internet Watch Foundation is the most effective agency fighting the spread of this filth. Unlike any US based organization, the IWF actively monitors suspected and known newsgroups as well as any specific images reported to them by Internet users. After they verify the materials are, in fact, child sexual abuse, they transmit takedown notices to all member Usenet providers.”

Giganews’ move is significant. As the largest provider of the newsgroups, Giganews’ action will likely send the message that just because consumer ISPs may be on the decline, third party providers won’t be home for abusive images.

(Via Slyck.com File-Sharing News And Information.)

Spy chiefs plot £12bn IT spree for comms überdatabase: “

Black boxes to keep Black’s firm in the black

Billions of pounds of public money will soon be up for grabs for private IT contractors ready to serve the Interception Modernisation Programme – UK spy chiefs’ plan to store details of every call, email, text and web browsing session.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

T-Mobile joins data loss elite: “

17m customer records

T-Mobile has admitted losing 17m customer records including names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

The Obscene Publications Act rides again: “

Girls Aloud case heads for court – net holds its breath

The legal world is buzzing at the announcement last week of the prosecution of 35-year-old civil servant Darryn Walker for the online publication of material that Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) believe to be obscene.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)