November 23rd, 2009

Internet: A threat to government or the other way around? (Part 4)

Posted by Doug Hanchard @ November 23, 2009 @ 10:51 AM

Categories: Antitrust, Blogs, Censorship, China, Commerce, Congress, Copyright, Courts, Cyber Security, Cybercrime, Cyberwar, Defense, Disaster recovery, E-government, Elections, European Parliament, European Union, FCC, FTC, Government 2.0, Government technology, Green Dam, Homeland security, Intellectual Property, Intelligence, International, Journalism, Justice, Law enforcement, Open government, Regulations, Security, Senate, Social networks, Spam, Standards, State & Local Govt, Telecom, UK, United Kingdom, United Nations, Web, politics

Tags: Law, Court, Counter Point, Internet, Government, Doug Hanchard

Justice systems around the world had their entire world turned upside down over the past several years because of the Internet. The basic sets of laws, often founded on a nation’s constitution are being used in ways that many forefathers never anticipated or envisioned. Republic, Dominion and Socialist government institutions around the world are all facing the same issues - often without any clear path of legal precedent.

One of the challenges facing courts is jurisdiction. Because of the very nature of the Internet, legal systems are now faced with new roadblocks that did not exist 10 years ago. Traditional methods of law enforcement and legal treaties do work and continue to be the basis of process and dealing with prosecution and trials. Interpretation of existing laws and applying them to Internet-related cases has not been a significant challenge in many cases. But there are some new aspects of what is admitted into court.

Evidence

What has shocked the system is how Internet-based materials are now used in the courts as evidence. Everything from ISP logs, website blogs, and social media sites (among others) are now being used in ways that prosecutors and jurists have never had to deal with in the past. It is also becoming a battle ground for several areas of law, particularly the integrity of evidence. This has many in the legal world concerned. It’s becoming clear that this will be an area of significant debate and will have far-reaching consequences. Internet evidence does not have look and feel of traditional evidence and, in many cases, has yet to be challenged as to its validity. Prosecutors are faced with a dilemma that impacts how and what they prosecute. This in turn has created a new source of political initiatives that are not only questionable, but in some parts of the world viewed as extreme.

Don’t have a Law yet? We’ll make one

The evolution of law and how it is created has traditionally been a slow and low priority part of the political system. No longer is that the case. Government ministers and cabinet officials appear to be fast-tracking new laws, specifically because of the Internet at a rapid pace of late. Politicians are practically tripping over themselves drafting new bills that claim that they know how to fix the problems of cybercrime and abuse. These ideas are moving at such a rapid pace that often few people actually have read the fine print. What concerns many is the advice politicians are getting on how Internet law should be created. Governments all over the world will have significant impact on such issues as free speech, Net neutrality, news, crime and governance of institutions.

Prosecution

There is not much sympathy for the courts in many parts of the world. That may soon change as news travels across the multimedia world of the Internet. Attorneys general throughout the United States are political and create their own priorities and thus control what is heard before the courts. This may have significant consequences as to the timing of how the Internet evolves and impact the economics of the service that potentially influences it’s usage for decades. In the United Kingdom, the courts will have to take into account European treaties and the European Parliament. Canada’s magistrates may strike down or uphold newly created laws that may wind up creating in-balance that could take years to reverse.

Rules await the Internet

Regulators such as the CRTC, FCC, OfCom are charting new territory in communication rules and regulations. Lawmakers are beginning to micro-manage this process. No one yet knows what the impact these new elements will have on the judicial system. It will take years before this is known and goes through several rigorous tests of the court system. Case law may take a decade or more before any true outcomes are known. By that time, a nation will have changed political administration and have new agendas that reset the cycle before some true outcomes are known. Net Neutrality will be debated and wind up before the courts in jurisdictions around the world. The results will vary like your bandwidth speed and access to content.

Global perspective

Laws of a nation are now being combined in many parts of the world. The very essence of a sovereign nation set of laws is slowly being merged into a single set by which it will adhere to. This is particularly true in Europe where the European Parliament is attempting to create laws specifically surrounding the Internet. This has the potential to create political and legal challenges for courts in how they make decisions. The consequences have significant long term impacts on how courts operate and what order of Appeals and jurisdiction as they enter cyber space with profound outcomes yet to be decided.

The Supreme Court

Supreme Court decisions have not had an impact on the Internet - but likely will. Major court decisions at local, state, and provincial levels are being appealed and many will eventually be argued before the Supreme Court. That draws concern because of how many governments nominate and select jurists to be a part of the Supreme Court framework. In general terms, the institution is politically driven and has the potential to create decisions that may in fact be contrary to the very principles that many of us take for granted. It also works in the other direction. Many a government has had policies and laws overturned by the courts. Key segments will be privacy, Internet access and tracking - along with content management tangled with identity security. It could be argued that elected government officials are not a threat to the Internet, the courts are. The counter point is that will force parliamentarians to change the law, a task far easier said than done. Compounding the problem is that the highest courts around the world have (almost) unlimited tenure until death.  Jurists that will have profound impacts on the stance of governments surrounding Internet issues are in China, Pakistan, India, Russia, and the Middle East. China is unique in that it will have to eventually deal with treaties in which it is a signatory to, but no one has yet to appeal any government policies. It may soon have to. If WTO treaties are before their court system, the Internet could be next.

The court system in most democratic nations has dynamics rarely resulting in quick decisions. It may take years before government’s leaders and the lawmakers truly understand what they are dealing with. Some will fail in creating new laws that are considered extreme by many; others may actually pass the litmus test of a Supreme Court decision. History awaits the outcome.

Epilogue - it will never have an ending

So here we are; some of the files are out in the open, more need further decryption, understanding and updating. The pace of the discussion is increasing and appears to be moving along with few delays. 2010 promises to be the start of a new decade that has a few fundamental issues to resolve. The debate has begun and could be a pivotal point in how society uses and government manages the Internet.

Go back to:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 in this series

November 17th, 2009

Internet Governance Forum goes to Egypt and hits a few snags

Posted by Doug Hanchard @ November 17, 2009 @ 9:42 AM

Categories: Censorship, China, Copyright, E-government, Green Dam, International, Internet Governance Forum, Journalism, Justice, Net neutrality, State & Local Govt, United Nations, politics

Tags: Internet Governance, U.N., Egypt, Internet Governance Forum, Internet, Doug Hanchard

It seems that no matter where, when and why, somebody has to make sure a political statement is made. Now it seems that the United Nations is also getting into the Internet debate and dipping its toes into the Net Neutrality debate. The Internet Governance Forum is no different. Funded by the United Nations, its political firestorms are no different than those occurring daily at the World Headquarters in New York.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee delivered a keynote speech, launching the World Wide Web Foundation at the Internet Governance Forum sponsored by the United Nations being held in Egypt.  A most unique place in which to hold the event some suggest. That in turn raised some eyebrows of another group, Reporters without Borders suggesting that the Government of Egypt is ‘hostile’ to the very concept of the Internet.

Then not even a day into the conference, Egypt announces that it’s launching a Arabic domain .masr to abbreviate Egypt name. And then somebody lit the fuse.

The BBC reported that the United Nations requested that certain posters and flyers stop being handed out during the conference with respects to a film about ‘Free Tibet’. From there it has been all downhill. This is the headline story instead of one of the key topics of the event, Security Openness and Privacy.

And the conference isn’t even over yet.

October 18th, 2009

UK envisions zero waste: What about computers?

Posted by Doug Hanchard @ October 18, 2009 @ 7:57 PM

Categories: China, Energy, IT Management, Public health, Regulations, Standards, State & Local Govt, UK

Tags: Landfill, Computer, Productivity, Government, Monitors & Displays, Vertical Industries, Hardware, Components, Doug Hanchard

Recycling is part of our daily lives. We do it everyday with plastics, newspapers and other general household things. Cars are now recycled throughout North America and Europe at high efficiency rates.

Everything seems to be covered, right? Computers and batteries face recycling problems. We already know that a lot of high tech materials wind up in China and the Far East for disassembly and “recycling” with serious health consequences for the local populations. And then there’s the energy required to recycle. It’s more than most of us realize.

Computers are a nightmare. Yet governments around the world are now passing laws that will require the development of  new techniques that are efficient, safe and capable of mass quantity capabilities. And it’s not just your household PC anymore that needs unique recycling capabilities. PDAs, smartphones and the wide range of batteries used are areas of concern that require unique technologies. The average cell phone is used for 18 months or less. That creates a huge landfill problem.

In a press release by the Minister of Environment for the U.K. Hilary Benn:

“We need to rethink how we view and treat waste in the UK.  Why do we send valuable items like aluminium and food waste to landfill when we can turn them into new cans and renewable energy?  Why use more resources than we need to in manufacturing?  We must now work together to build a zero waste nation - where we reduce the resources we use, reuse and recycle all that we can and only landfill things that have absolutely no other use.

“To do this all of us - government, local authorities, businesses and consumers - must do our bit.  And we must make this moment the turning point on our journey to eliminate wasteful waste.”

“Using new technologies will help us to re-use things, for example anaerobic digestion that creates energy from food and farm waste.  And businesses can apply the technology at their fingertips to design innovative products that use less resources or contain recycled materials.

“In ten years time 75 per cent of household waste will either be recycled or used for energy, and over time this figure will increase even further.  Aiming for zero waste is the way we have to think to get us to where we need to be.”

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government John Denham added:

“If we continue to send recyclable or compostable waste to landfill we are missing a major opportunity to generate heat and energy and missing an opportunity to turn that waste into money. We can save planet whilst keeping money in resident’s pockets.

·         England should more than halve the amount of waste going to landfill in the next 10 years – early next year we will consult on what recyclable and compostable items should be banned from landfill and how a ban will work.

·         In ten years time 75 per cent of household waste will either be recycled or used for energy, and over time this figure will increase even further.

·  New research out today shows it is possible to divert 500,000 tonnes of household waste per year through re-using it.

Nations around the world have such goals and laws becoming enforceable. Shredding has been a classic way to recycle some components. The problem is the heavy metals and toxins that are left behind.

Wikipedia lists most of the components such as:

dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), cadmium, chromium, radioactive isotopes, and mercury. A typical computer monitor may contain more than 6% lead by weight, much of which is in the lead glass of the cathode ray tube (CRT). A typical 15-inch computer monitor may contain 1.5 pounds of lead, but other monitors have been estimated as having up to 8 pounds of lead. Circuit boards contain considerable quantities of lead-tin solders and are even more likely to leach into groundwater or to create air pollution via incineration. Additionally, the processing required to reclaim the precious substances (including incineration and acid treatments) may release, generate, and synthesize further toxic byproducts.

CRT’s are becoming obsolete and the amount of lead being used in a computer is significantly less than it was five years ago.

Let’s hope that of the 25% of waste Mr. Benn says will still go to landfills, are not the gadgets we just mentioned, because today, it’s probably close to 90% that do.

August 14th, 2009

China explodes Green Dam

Posted by Richard Koman @ August 14, 2009 @ 4:12 PM

Categories: Censorship, China

Tags: Software, China, Computer Company, Computer, Productivity, Government, Tools & Techniques, Regulations, Management, Richard Koman

In a rare retreat, it now looks like the Chinese government has given up on Green Dam-Youth Escort.

The New York Times reports that the information technology and industry minister, Li Yizhong, said the idea that the program would be required to be installed on all computers sold in the country was a “misunderstanding” created by poor drafting.

The Thursday statement by Mr. Li appeared to make that suspension permanent. Mr. Li said the government would neither require the program to come pre-installed on new computers or force computer makers to include the program on a CD with optional software.

Even so, the software is still mandatory in Internet cafes and schools. Writing for the Atlantic, Daniel Indiviglio writes:

That must have been quite a misunderstanding. U.S. computer companies were pretty sure the regulation required the software on all computers they would sell in China. So sure that their complaints led to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk sending a joint letter to China demanding that the regulation be altered, or else they would formally lodge their grievance to the World Trade Organization.

June 30th, 2009

Exclusive: Proof that Green Dam ripped off Solid Oak in 2006

Posted by Richard Koman @ June 30, 2009 @ 7:03 AM

Categories: Censorship, China

Tags: Software, File, Datapth.exe, Datapth06, Tools & Techniques, Management, Richard Koman

Yesterday, I pointed out that China’s Green Dam Youth Escort software purloins a 2006 version of Solid Oak’s CyberSitter net-nanny software and that the developer - Jinhui- was involved in drafting specifications for “parental control software” also in 2006. It seems that this software has been around since ‘06.

(This morning, the Chinese news agency Xinhua issued a two-line statement that the July 1 deadline has been delayed.)

Solid Oak CEO Brian Milburn wrote with further proof that the software lifts from the 2006 version. He’s obtained from Jinhui servers two .exe files that prove the current software was purloined from Solid Oak in 2005 and files added in 2006. You can download a zip of the files here. Here are screen shots of the files in 7zip:

CyberSitter files in Green Dam build, circa Dec. 2005



Additional files added to CyberSitter files in Green Dam build from 2006

Brian explains:

This contains 2 files, datapth.exe and datapth06.exe. You can extract these files safely. They are executable archives. I used 7zip to open the exe files and look at the contents.

Datapth.exe shows all our files in the Green Dam encrypted format. It dates to December 2005.

Datapth06 has the same files, plus 6 Green Dam specific files. These files date from January to September 2006.

Both of these are original untouched Green Dam files from the period. They were obtained from the Green Dam makers servers at www.zzjinhui.com. These have since been removed from their servers.

These are the real thing and even better proof of the time period involved. It looks like they were real active on this portion of the program around 12/2005 to 1/2006.

June 30th, 2009

Breaking news: Green Dam Day delayed

Posted by Richard Koman @ June 30, 2009 @ 6:39 AM

Categories: Censorship, China

Tags:

On the eve of destruction, China has delayed Green Dam Day.

Reuters reports that China will delay an order that all PCs sold in the country come equipped with Green Dam-Youth Escort. The government had set July 1 as the day.

[Add 1] But the Ministry of Information and Industry Technology says it will supply schools and Internet cafes with the software after July 1, the official news agency Xinhua announced. The agency will “keep on soliciting opinions to perfect the pre-installation plan,” Xinhua added.

The move comes under heavy pressure from the U.S. government, an international collection of hardware manufacturers, and anti-censorship activities.

California-based Solid Oak claims the software rips off its CyberSitter software and has threatened action in China and the U.S.

June 29th, 2009

PC makers ask China Premier to stop Green Dam

Posted by Richard Koman @ June 29, 2009 @ 10:24 AM

Categories: Censorship, China

Tags:

Tech business organizations around the world have signed onto an extraordinary letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, asking for executive clemency from China’s Green Dam-Youth Escort software, The Wall Street Journal reports. The letter says in part:

[Green Dam] raises serious concerns for us and seems to run counter to China’s important goal of becoming a vibrant and dynamic information-based society. … The Green Dam mandate raises significant questions of security, privacy, system reliability, the free flow of information and user choice.

Sony appears to be shipping the software and Taiwan-based Acer said it will. “We have no choice,” a spokesman said.

It’s unusual for so many manufacturers - from the U.S. to Europe to Japan to Taiwan - to sign onto a direct letter to the premier, but one source said Green Dam is that important.

Given the seriousness we attach to the myriad concerns involving the Green Dam mandate and with the deadline looming, we felt we needed to direct those concerns to the highest levels of the Chinese government.

Still, no large company is refusing to comply — which likely puts them at risk from a suit by CyberSitter developer, Solid Oak, whose proprietary code clearly was stolen by Green Dam developers. The government has yet to deal with this legal issue, but if they grant immunity to the developer, Jinjui, it could leave foreign PC makers exposed to liability in both Chinese and U.S. courts.

June 29th, 2009

Green Dam Watch: Software dates from '06, Sony is shipping, vendors will uninstall.

Posted by Richard Koman @ June 29, 2009 @ 7:29 AM

Categories: Censorship, China

Tags: Software, Sony Corp., McKinnon, Tools & Techniques, Management, Richard Koman

Item: Green Dam Youth Escort - the Chinese net nanny software that must be installed on PCs sold in China starting Wednesday - is largely stolen from a 2006 version of Solid Oak’s CyberSitter software. For proof, see this post.

Item: Rebecca MacKinnon posts two documents that purport to show that specifications for “Internet Parental Control Software Based on PC” were drafted in 2006 by a group including Jinhui System Engineering Co., the developers of Green Dam.

Is it a fair inference that Jinhui built the software in 2006? I think yes. But the question remains, why the order to install it now?

Read the rest of this entry »

June 27th, 2009

Confirmed: Developer of software stolen for Green Dam is under attack

Posted by Richard Koman @ June 27, 2009 @ 11:30 AM

Categories: Censorship, China

Tags: Software, Developer, Attack, Solid Oak, E-mail, Online Communications, Richard Koman

Yesterday I posted that staff at Solid Oak were targeted with attack emails by sources unknown. Solid Oak is the maker of CyberSitter — which was clearly purloined by the developers of Green Dam.

At that point it wasn’t clear that the questionable emails were definitely targeted at the company, but now marketing director Jenna DiPasquale writes to confirm that the emails are an direct attack on Solid Oak.

We worked with Microsoft to analyze them, and they were able to confirm that the attachments were attacks that were specifically designed for us. We found several other emails caught in our filters that were similar, yet individualized. It’s obvious someone sent these by hand. We are not definitively certain but there is evidence that they are Chinese in origin.

The FBI has been contacted.

June 26th, 2009

China's porn obsession not just a coverup for political repression

Posted by Richard Koman @ June 26, 2009 @ 6:42 AM

Categories: Censorship, China

Tags:

The thing that stinks - to Western noses - about this whole Green Dam story is the idea that China wants to go to all this trouble, to the point of having a serious showdown with the U.S. over it, over porn. I mean, porn … if people want it, they’ll get it. And who cares if they want it, really? So you think, this is really about political repression, about imprisoning dissidents, that sort of thing.

But then you read this New York Times article and realize, for the Chinese government there really is no difference. Political dissent and pornography are two sides of the same coin — negative forces that disrupt “wholesome society.” That’s why the same ministry deals with pornography and political speech.

The same public security agencies charged with fighting pornography are responsible for suppressing illegal political activity, said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher in Hong Kong for Human Rights Watch. The government’s statistics for seizures of illegal publications tend to include both pornographic and political documents, he noted.

“The two are closely associated,” Mr. Bequelin said. “These campaigns work hand in hand.”

Read the rest of this entry »