May 15, 2000 New Thinking:
The ungovernable Internet?

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• A new treaty was circulated among over 40 nations, which if enacted, would give new powers to American and European police agencies to investigate and prosecute computer crimes
• The New York Times reported that, “many governments around the world are doing a pretty good job of censoring or restricting speech online. That is the conclusion of a report on world press freedom released this week by Freedom House, a respected New York-based human rights organization.”
• Wired Magazine reported that Britain was building a system to track all Internet traffic. Russia had announced a similar plan a few weeks earlier
• The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI announced the joint establishment of an Internet Fraud Complaint Center
• An American federal judge ordered Napster, a system for swapping music files over the Internet, to stand trial for copyright infringement
• U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff stated that MP3.com was using "indefensible" and "frivolous" arguments in its defense against charges of copyright violations
• The FBI arrested 17 people on charges of being involved with Internet sites selling illegal software or “warez”. "This is the most significant investigation of copyright infringement involving the use of the Internet conducted to date by the FBI," a spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal. "It demonstrates the FBI's ability to successfully investigate very sophisticated online criminal activity."
• A wrongful-death suit was brought in New Hampshire against an Internet company, claiming that the stalker and killer of Amy Boyer, found information that allowed him to track her from that company’s website. On the killer’s own website he made the following statement: "I found an Internet site to do that, and to my surprize everything else under the Sun. Most importantly: her current employment. It's accually obsene what you can find out about a person on the Internet."
• Wired Magazine reported that there is an “epidemic” of cyberstalking. (The Stalking Prevention and Victim Protection Act of 2000 is currently before the American Senate.)
• CNN reported that, “The misuse of Social Security numbers has skyrocketed, setting off alarms on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are considering ways to protect consumers from fraud.” Critics point out that the Internet is a perfect environment for identity fraud
• USA Today reported that technology such as the Internet and mobile phones is said to a driver behind the 20 percent increase in American government wiretaps in the last year
• It was reported that the latest generation of email scanners makes it much easier for an organization to monitor large quantities of email traffic
• It was reported that certain websites were closing down or scaling back activities because of the costs attached to adhering to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which obliges websites to obtain verifiable parental consent before children under 13 can give any personal information to that website
• Business Week reported that, “Companies are now using the courts to track their cyber-critics down, even if they're in their own homes”
• It was reported that Sierra Leone had become “ungovernable”

Gerry McGovern


 

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