CyberLaw Blog

Archive for October 25th, 2008

Media News – European Journalism Centre: “EU lawmakers approve crackdown on Internet violence

Cyber-bullying and child pornography will be targeted in a EUR 55m scheme agreed by European Union lawmakers on Wednesday. The European Commission’s ‘Safer Internet’ proposal from 2009 to 2013 aims to improve safety for children surfing the Internet, promote public awareness and create national centres for reporting illegal online content. European politicians are under increasing pressure to prevent the Internet becoming a haven for crime. German police said in August they were investigating around 1,000 people suspected of having downloaded child pornography after they discovered a website showing the sexual abuse of two young girls. And last month, a game in which players kill school students was pulled from a Finnish children’s gaming site, one week after 10 were gunned down in the country’s worst school shooting. Sogor cited a Eurobarometer survey that he said showed 74 percent of children aged 12 to 15 surfed the Internet for at least three hours a day, and nearly all had viewed pornography. EU lawmakers backed an amended version of the Commission’s proposal with increased emphasis on some new problems on the world wide web, such as harassment and the distribution of violent video clips. (Reuters) “

Man sued for libel over comments on eBay – Telegraph

A man is being threatened with a libel action after posting critical comments on the internet about an eBay user who sold him a mobile phone.

By Jon Swaine, Last Updated: 6:14PM BST 23 Oct 2008″

Chris Read used the auction website’s feedback facility to claim that the device he was sold by Joel Jones, a 26-year-old businessman from Suffolk, did not live up to its billing.
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Filtering out the fury: how government tried to gag web censor critics – BizTech

Asher Moses, October 24, 2008

The Federal Government in Australia is attempting to silence critics of its controversial plan to censor the internet, which experts say will break the internet while doing little to stop people from accessing illegal material such as child pornography.

Internet providers and the government’s own tests have found that presently available filters are not capable of adequately distinguishing between legal and illegal content and can degrade internet speeds by up to 86 per cent.

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Spy Fears: Twitter Terrorists, Cell Phone Jihadists | Danger Room from Wired.com

By Noah Shachtman EmailOctober 24, 2008 | 10:32:00 AM

Could Twitter become terrorists’ newest killer app? A draft Army intelligence report, making its way through spy circles, thinks the miniature messaging software could be used as an effective tool for coordinating militant attacks.

For years, American analysts have been concerned that militants would take advantage of commercial hardware and software to help plan and carry out their strikes. Everything from online games to remote-controlled toys to social network sites to garage door openers has been fingered as possible tools for mayhem.
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Muslim cartoon case fails to reach Denmark’s top court: “Muslim cartoon case fails to reach Denmark’s top court
AFP
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008

COPENHAGEN – Denmark’s justice ministry rejected Tuesday a bid by seven Muslim lobby groups to take the Jyllands-Posten to the Supreme Court for publishing controversial cartoons of Prophet Muhammed.

The Danish newspaper caused a furore in September 2005 when it published the cartoons, triggering anti-Danish protests in several Muslim countries.

One of the 12 cartoons portrayed Muhammed as a terrorist wearing a bomb-shaped turban.”

The judicial commission, which decides if cases can be heard by the Supreme Court, rejected the groups’ claim without giving reasons. It was the third attempt by the group to take the case to the Supreme Court.

The case had already been defeated in Denmark’s Court of Appeal in June this year, which upheld a lower court ruling from October 2006.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal said the caricatures did not aim to insult followers of Islam, as the claimants alleged.

The court emphasized that “terrorist acts have been committed in the name of Islam, and it is not illegal for these acts to be made the object of satirical representation.”

The seven groups say they will continue their legal action by pursuing the case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.