CyberLaw Blog
A news resource for CyberLaw and Cyber-Rights issues from around the globe
Yahoo adjusts data retention time
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008Yahoo adjusts data retention time
This article has been published at RLSLOG.net
In an attempt to bolster trust with its users, Yahoo has revamped its global data retention policy, promising to anonymise user log data within 90 days, half the period stipulated by the EU. The company added that the new policy will apply to page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks as well as search log data, but also said that there would be exceptions when forced to keep the information for fraud, security or legal reasons. Recently Microsoft announced that it would fall in line with EU regulation and reduce the retention time of search information to just six months, while Google still holds on to the data for nine months. According to Yahoo, the move follows a comprehensive review of its data practices across the globe working with privacy and data governance teams to examine the data needs for global products and services.
The company reckons the new limit will still allow it to provide the same level of service to users and advertisers while maintaining the ability to fight fraud, secure systems, and meet legal obligations. ‘This policy represents Yahoo’s assessment of the minimum amount of time we need to retain data in order to respond to the needs of our business while deepening our trusted relationship with users,’ added Toth. However, there are a few provisos added to this new policy. In the case of potential fraud and system security issues, Yahoo will retain system specific data in identifiable form for no more than six months, and the search engine admits it may have to retain some data for longer periods to meet other legal obligations.
Source: Vnunet
(Via Releaselog | RLSLOG.net.)
See also the Wired coverage of the same story:
Yahoo to Shorten Logs of User Activity to 3 Months: “Yahoo says it will shorten the amount of time that it retains data about its users’ online behavior – including Internet search records – to three months from 13 months and expand the range of data that it ‘anonymizes’ after that period. The move is likely aimed at reducing regulator concerns, and could ratchet up the pressure on Google and Microsoft to follow its lead.
(Via Wired News.)
BREIN Takes out ‘Largest Illegal Top Site Ever’
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008BREIN Takes out ‘Largest Illegal Top Site Ever’: “It seems that BREIN, the Dutch anti-piracy organization, is on a roll as it has announced the take down of Sparta. In November of this year, BREIN announced the shut down of a large Top Site named TV Land. BREIN accused TV Land of providing 45 terabytes of copyrighted material, and working in conjunction with the BitTorrent site SceneTorrents.org – an unusual act of cooperation between the scene and BitTorrent.”
China defends latest web censorship
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008CN – China defends latest web censorship: “(Guardian)
Chinese government officials have defended their decision to block several foreign news websites, including the BBC, as the country moves away from its pledge for uncensored internet access during the Beijing Olympics. The BBC, Voice of America, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao News and Asiaweek have all had their websites blocked in China since early December. Restrictions had previously been lifted in August, when foreign journalists demanded full access during the Olympics. China’s foreign ministry said today that it was within its rights to block sites that showed content illegal under the country’s law.”
(Via QuickLinks Update.)
China Is Said to Restore Blocks on Web Sites
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008More on the Chinese back to back basics… Enough of that openness!
China Is Said to Restore Blocks on Web Sites: “The Chinese government has quietly begun preventing access again to Internet sites that it had stopped blocking during the Olympic Games.
(Via NYT > Technology.)
Aussie protests over Great Firewall
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008Aussie protests over Great Firewall: “
World+dingo objects
Hundreds of Aussies turned out to protest against government plans to filter web content.…
“
(Via The Register – Public Sector.)
China ‘bans’ BBC’s Chinese website (again!)
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008China ‘bans’ BBC’s Chinese website: “
No Auntie for you, comrade
The Chinese authorities appear to have reverted to their pre-Olympic position of denying access to ’sensitive’ websites – including the BBC’s Chinese language tentacle.…
“
(Via The Register – Public Sector.)
Virgin Media to Throttle BitTorrent Users
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008Virgin Media to dump neutrality and target BitTorrent users:
It’s deep packet inspection, but it’s not for Phorm…
Exclusive The UK’s second largest ISP, Virgin Media, will next year introduce network monitoring technology to specifically target and restrict BitTorrent traffic, its boss has told The Register.…
Note also the TorrentFreak coverage.
Virgin Media to Throttle BitTorrent Users
In the US, Comcast has been ordered to stop slowing down BitTorrent users, because this violates Net Neutrality. Across the pond, this does not seem to be an issue, as several ISPs have installed hardware to slow down BitTorrent users.
There haven’t been many reports of British ISPs throttling BitTorrent traffic, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t. Pipex, one of the largest ISPs in the UK, is notorious for its anti-BitTorrent measures. They actively throttle BitTorrent traffic, especially during peak times, and also throttle all encrypted traffic. Other UK ISPs that throttle BitTorrent traffic are BT Broadband, Eclipse, Plusnet, Freedom2Surf and TalkTalk. Virgin Media has not (openly) targeted BitTorrent traffic, but they will now follow suit.
Virgin Media’s CEO Neil Berkett told The Register that the company will start limiting BitTorrent traffic for all its customers. To some this might not really come as a surprise, as earlier this year Berkett said ‘This net neutrality thing is a load of bollocks.’ Virgin’s BitTorrent throttling plans seem to back up this earlier statement. Which throttling methods Virgin will use has not been announced, but Berkett said that they will be implemented mid 2009.
ISPs have been messing with BitTorrent traffic for years, even when the traffic generated was just a tiny fraction of what it is today. When the first ISPs began throttling BitTorrent traffic, Azureus (now Vuze), BitComet and uTorrent introduced a countermeasure, namely, protocol header encryption. This worked well initially, but soon after encryption was introduced, ISPs started to use hardware that could detect encrypted traffic.
The degree of traffic shaping varies a lot between different ISPs. Some only limit BitTorrent traffic during certain times of the day or throttle in specific regions, others take a more aggressive approach and prevent their customers from seeding or even downloading .torrent files. The most used argument to justify their actions, is that all the BitTorrent traffic on their network slows down other customers’ connections.
Whether this is indeed the case can be debated. Nevertheless, instead of investing in their own network to solve these potential congestion issues, ISPs prefer to slow down customers who just happen to use the ‘wrong’ protocol, claiming problems with capacity. Which is interesting, since Virgin started offering an unlimited 50Mbit/s package this week, up from their old limit of 20Mbit/s. Maybe BitTorrent throttling helps make room for this new service.
