lambda 2.13 contents ... * Parental control abuses * Crypto Soap Opera : new leaked documents in France and at the OECD * Short-circuits : - U2's hacked: Big Lie in Cyberspace - Serbia's fight for democracy reach digital age - Radikal censorship (sorry for langage mistakes, the text has not been reviewed by an English third party) * * * * * Peacefire vs Cybersitter Parental control abuses * * * * * An insider quarrel between blocking-software CyberSitter and one of the Web site blocked has emerged recently. A US youth association against Net censorship, Peacefire (wwww.peacefire.org), claimed on December 7 : "Sometime today or yesterday, CYBERsitter put www.Peacefire.org on its list of blocked sites. Next time users of the program update their "filter file", they will see our web page blocked along with Playboy.com, Penthouse.com etc. (not to mention NOW.org, Members.GNN.com, and C2.org). Apparently, the company president read our page about CYBERsitter at: http://www.peacefire.org/censorware/CYBERsitter.html and didn't like it." Solid Oak Software (www.solidoak.com), owner of the blocking program, claims Peacefire put online some advices or tips to abort CyberSitter efficiency for teenagers; claimed one time of "copyright infringements"; and decided to urge Peacefire's IAP to block its account. Remember that these softwares were designed to allow parents to control their child's access to the Internet. "Parental control", as it is called, was suppose to give ways for parents to self-censor Internet content. But when people trust the technology and give too much faith to black-listed sites maintained by other individuals' moral standards, parents don't really keep on their "parental control" anymore. They even fail to tackle their own responsability towards their childs. On December 27 the CPSR (www.cpsr.org) wrote a protest letter to Solid Oak. Abstracts: "Your own description of your product provides a fairly concise description of CYBERSitter's restrictions: "any site that focuses on topics such as adult or issues, illegal activities, bigotry, racism, drugs or pornography". Using this list", the CPSR went on, "any determined individuals with web browsers might easily build a profile of sites that are blocked by CYBERSitter. Several members of our group dowloaded your demo, and quickly verified that your software completely or partially blocks access to sites such as the National Organization of Women (http://www.now.org), and the Yahoo search engine (http://www.yahoo.com). Since CYBERSitter's behavior can be easily categorized, Peacefire's publishing of a list of blocked sites does not justify blocking Peacefire's site, or any similar unsavory activities. ... By blocking sites that focus on topics such as [sex] and drug use, SolidOak may filter potentially educational materials regarding AIDS and drug abuse prevention." As Haselton wrote later, "Most letters to the president, Brian Milburn, at bmilburn@solidoak.com, or to their support staff at support@solidoak.com, are now being bounced with the message, "this account has been configured to reject all messages on this topic..." i would guess that their mail software at those accounts is rejecting all messages with the word "Peacefire" in the subject line, so remember to leave it out if you decide to write to them about this. (And thanks for your support if you do!)" P.S.- The European Commission has submitted draft guidelines to member States concerning the Internet's content regulations. They were quite reserved about the real efficacy of content control specifications like PICS, but nonetheless approved it: http://www.echo.lu/best_use/best_use.html * * * * * French Crypto Sop Opera : other leaked documents * * * * * If you're an encryption addict and fluent in French, jump to the document published by Planete Internet magazine : http://www.planete-internet.com/crypto/decret It is a draft decree prepared by the SCSSI, the security agency, which draws a preliminary picture of future French "trusted third party" agencies (TTPs), or "key recovery agents". A brief summary of what the French electronic notary will look like: The government - The SCSSI * Will say which encryption product will be concerned; all crypto systems will be OK if a key recovery scheme is scheduled; (PGP and the like are not on the list of "approved" products); * Will decide which firm is OK to become a TTP; but no justification will be needed for negative requests; The TTP, "le notaire" * All commercial firms or entities (SA, SARL, consortiums...) will be concerned; * But all its members, CEOs or associates must be "French": like the majority of its finantial assets; * Will be submitted to "professionnal secret" and obliged to keep third party encryption keys away from illegal wiretapping activities; The (commercial) user * Will be obliged to use authorised encryption products; * Will engage itself to fully cooperate with the TTP; The (basic) user * Even if the sheme will not be mandatory, using encryption without the backing of a TTP will be considered illegal; * Huge finantial and logistical procedures will discourage NGO's, small companies and the citizen to protect legally its electronic communications. The new and fully complete policy is scheduled in France in the comming weeks. * * * * * PS - Leaked document from the OECD's crypto hearings Australians cryptographers at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~firstpr/crypto/oecd_dr2.htm published the draft paper that were on the agenda of the Dec. 16-20 closed-door meeting in Paris, revealing the broad and detailed policy toward an international cooperation for "lawfull access" to encrypted communications. * * * Short-circuits * * * U2 hacked? Big Lie in Cyberspace --------------- You surely read numerous stories about the U2 rock band that were "robbed" in Cyberspace by hackers that traveled through cables of a digital camera that broadcasted on the Internet views of their Dublin studio. Hackers put 2 new songs online from a site in Hungary, the story went on. Strange hacking, hey??! The story, which broke in the London's Sunday Times on November 17 (follomed by a naive Le Monde in Paris) was just dope -- a fake, phoney and bull story. Read, for example, what a fan from the Nederland says -> www.universal.nl/users/mirrorbal/u2.htm Number 1 : he told the real story to the Times which didn't even publish a word of it. What's the story? A videotape with 45 sec abstracts from both songs were released by Island Records-Hungary in November (it was the scheduled date for U2's upcomming album, but now scheduled in March!). And a guy simply put a microphone besides his TV and put the digital stuff online. Where's the hack? The Hungarian explains also the story, but didn't erase the songs from his server: w3.datanet.hu/~karpati/ Serbia's fight for democracy reach digital age --------------- Read David S. Bennahum's last MEME bulletin about Serbia's democratric fight: http://www.reach.com/matrix/. Bennahum spent one week in Belgrade and met democrats willign to create cyber-rights organisations like the EPIC or the CDT. Follow their fight daily on the Internet : http://eurasianews.com/erc/serbopp1.htm Radikal censorship --------------- A magazine banned in Germany, the leftist Radikal, available online in the Nederlands, was the target of German policemen on Dec. 11. After failing to urge Nederlands authorities to block the Web site last September, German police decided to act as usually, with the help of their Dutch counterpart and raided a house in Vaals. It turns out that they acted to block Radikal at the source : its paper version. Read the news on: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/radikal http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/germany.html * * * * lambda 2.13 - www.freenix.fr/netizen * * * * Jerome Thorel =-= Journaliste / Reporter =-= Paris, France lambda bulletin =-= Planete Internet Editor