The blog
Writing & notes
Essays, notes and reflections on technology, law and life.
-
Google wins online defamation case: not a ‘publisher’ of website content
In an eminently sensible decision, Eady J has held that Google is not liable for defamatory material that appears in the extract displayed underneath search results. Stated more precisely, Metropolitan International Schools Ltd v DesignTechnica Corporation [2009] EWHC 1765 (QB) now stands for the proposition that the facilitator of a defamatory imputation who, without human… Read more →
-
Senator Conroy criticises ongoing iiNet defence
Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, has issued a stinging attack on iiNet’s position in Roadshow Films Pty Ltd & Ors v iiNet Ltd. Speaking at the CommsDay summit in Sydney yesterday, Senator Conroy described iiNet’s defence as something which ‘belongs in a Yes Minister episode’ — ironic, given that… Read more →
-
Facebook as service intermediary: Australian Court allows online service
In the first example of its kind, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory allowed notice of default judgment to be served on a number of defendants via Facebook. According to court reports, Master Harper made an order for substituted service via Facebook, ordering that the defendants could be validly served by sending a… Read more →
-
UK internet disconnection scheme unlikely to proceed
According to an interview in The Times with David Lammy MP, the United Kingdom government is retreating from an earlier plan to sever the internet connection of those who repeatedly share or access copyright materials on P2P networks. Instead, rumour has it that the government is considering a download levy — perhaps similar to the… Read more →
-
Internet censorship and the politics of control
Harry Lewis, professor of computer science at Harvard University, has authored an interesting opinion piece on the current state of internet censorship. Broadly, Lewis identifies three sources of censorhip: State censorship: public agents filter bits for state purposes as they cross national borders (see, eg, the Great Firewall of China, pro-royalist censorship in Thailand, religious… Read more →
-
Largest ever securities fraud rocks Indian outsourcing goliath
This week’s high-tech crime is a new twist on an old favourite: securities fraud. It recently emerged that one of India’s largest outsourcing firms, Satyam Computer, had ‘overestimated’ its cash reserves and asset values by around 50 billion rupees (AUD $1.38bn). According to the company founder and chairman, this was ‘purely on account of inflated… Read more →
-
Mobile phone spam targeted by ACMA
The quantity of mobile phone spam never ceases to amaze me. Considering that the medium isn’t free like email, conversion rates must be particularly high given the number of commercial text messages, SMS bait schemes and pre-recorded VoIP calls that seem to be plaguing Australian mobile networks. Now it looks as if the Australian Communications… Read more →
-
Cyberspace Battleground in Gaza
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has reportedly hacked into a Hamas television station as part of an ongoing war of information in Gaza. According to local media reports, the IDF took over the Al-Aqsa television station last weekend, and is using it to broadcast pro-Israeli content in Arabic: ‘AFP reports, a “broadcast on Al-Aqsa television… Read more →
-
2008 Cybersecurity Year in Review — Part I: Data Security
It should come as no surprise that 2008 was an eventful year for online security pundits. Record instances of data breaches, identity theft, vulnerability disclosures and hotfixes were seen throughout the year. Both state and non-state actors were involved — on the public side, cyberwar in Georgia and alleged Chinese cyber-espionage; in the private sector,… Read more →