Nija
04-21-2002, 09:22 PM
Stolen from Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51975,00.html
By Declan McCullagh
2:00 a.m. April 20, 2002 PDT
Sen. Mary Landrieu wants "dot-sex."
Or "dot-prn" or "dot-xxx." Her bill introduced this week doesn't say which new top-level domain should be the future repository for all naughty material.
But it would make using the domain mandatory for anyone in the United States with any text, video or photos that the government believes to be "harmful to minors."
Landrieu's (D-Louisiana) "Family Privacy Protection Act of 2002" (PDF) says that websites with "material that is harmful to minors shall register such website or online service with the new domain and operate such website or online service under the new domain."
That would segregate those omnipresent dot-com sex sites, not to mention other publishers with far less explicit material. A federal court has said, when ruling against a law using a similar definiton of "harmful to minors," that legitimate sites like PlanetOUT and Salon magazine could be imperiled.
Landrieu's bill orders the Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to decide which domain name suffix would be best for the job.
It also would require that a "sexually oriented advertisement" sent by e-mail to anyone under 18 sport a warning to be defined by the feds. If you violate the sex-ad prohibition, you can go to jail for up to 10 years.
A "sexually oriented advertisement" is defined, by the way, as anything that mentions "human genitalia, any act of natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism, or any other erotic subject." Landrieu does not elaborate on the distinction between "natural and unnatural."
- - -
Big Bro: Attorney General John Ashcroft joined Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison this week as recipients of the notorious "Big Brother" awards.
At the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in San Francisco, privacy activists handed out this year's not-very-coveted awards -- a golden statue of a jackboot crushing a human head.
Ashcroft, who once likened criticism of the Bush administration to treason and lobbied for more wiretapping authority with no expiration date, received "Worst Government Official."
The "Worst Corporate Invader" award went to Ellison for his enthusiastic support of a centralized, Oracle-run database that could be used as a national identification system.
- - -
Closed books: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has replied to a suit brought last month by one of its directors.
Karl Auerbach, a veteran Internet denizen elected to represent North America on ICANN's board, sued after being repeatedly rebuffed in his attempts to review the financial records. Under California law, which applies to ICANN, Auerbach has an "absolute" right to do so.
In its response, the Internet governance group says: "ICANN has never refused to permit Auerbach to inspect its corporate records. Rather, the sole reason that Auerbach has not inspected ICANN's corporate records has been Auerbach's refusal to comply with ICANN's procedures."
ICANN is asking that Auerbach's lawsuit be dismissed, saying he is a "self-described radical" out to harm the organization who campaigned for election "on a platform based on criticism of ICANN and its staff and existing directors."
- - -
Privacy regulations: Copy-protection standards aren't the only thing that Sen. Fritz Hollings hopes to regulate.
The South Carolina Democrat, who chairs the Commerce committee and is championing a controversial copyright bill, introduced a proposal this week that promises to revive a long-simmering debate over privacy.
It would mimic rules enacted by European bureaucrats, which require explicit customer permission before sensitive information such as political or religious beliefs could be collected or shared. Other data would be controlled by an "opt-out" standard.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51975,00.html
By Declan McCullagh
2:00 a.m. April 20, 2002 PDT
Sen. Mary Landrieu wants "dot-sex."
Or "dot-prn" or "dot-xxx." Her bill introduced this week doesn't say which new top-level domain should be the future repository for all naughty material.
But it would make using the domain mandatory for anyone in the United States with any text, video or photos that the government believes to be "harmful to minors."
Landrieu's (D-Louisiana) "Family Privacy Protection Act of 2002" (PDF) says that websites with "material that is harmful to minors shall register such website or online service with the new domain and operate such website or online service under the new domain."
That would segregate those omnipresent dot-com sex sites, not to mention other publishers with far less explicit material. A federal court has said, when ruling against a law using a similar definiton of "harmful to minors," that legitimate sites like PlanetOUT and Salon magazine could be imperiled.
Landrieu's bill orders the Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to decide which domain name suffix would be best for the job.
It also would require that a "sexually oriented advertisement" sent by e-mail to anyone under 18 sport a warning to be defined by the feds. If you violate the sex-ad prohibition, you can go to jail for up to 10 years.
A "sexually oriented advertisement" is defined, by the way, as anything that mentions "human genitalia, any act of natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism, or any other erotic subject." Landrieu does not elaborate on the distinction between "natural and unnatural."
- - -
Big Bro: Attorney General John Ashcroft joined Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison this week as recipients of the notorious "Big Brother" awards.
At the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in San Francisco, privacy activists handed out this year's not-very-coveted awards -- a golden statue of a jackboot crushing a human head.
Ashcroft, who once likened criticism of the Bush administration to treason and lobbied for more wiretapping authority with no expiration date, received "Worst Government Official."
The "Worst Corporate Invader" award went to Ellison for his enthusiastic support of a centralized, Oracle-run database that could be used as a national identification system.
- - -
Closed books: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has replied to a suit brought last month by one of its directors.
Karl Auerbach, a veteran Internet denizen elected to represent North America on ICANN's board, sued after being repeatedly rebuffed in his attempts to review the financial records. Under California law, which applies to ICANN, Auerbach has an "absolute" right to do so.
In its response, the Internet governance group says: "ICANN has never refused to permit Auerbach to inspect its corporate records. Rather, the sole reason that Auerbach has not inspected ICANN's corporate records has been Auerbach's refusal to comply with ICANN's procedures."
ICANN is asking that Auerbach's lawsuit be dismissed, saying he is a "self-described radical" out to harm the organization who campaigned for election "on a platform based on criticism of ICANN and its staff and existing directors."
- - -
Privacy regulations: Copy-protection standards aren't the only thing that Sen. Fritz Hollings hopes to regulate.
The South Carolina Democrat, who chairs the Commerce committee and is championing a controversial copyright bill, introduced a proposal this week that promises to revive a long-simmering debate over privacy.
It would mimic rules enacted by European bureaucrats, which require explicit customer permission before sensitive information such as political or religious beliefs could be collected or shared. Other data would be controlled by an "opt-out" standard.