Small donations to candidates in the last presidential race surged mainly due to the Internet, and especially among Democrats, said George Washington U.’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI). The study, unveiled as IPDI was to hold its annual conference, analyzed 2004’s place in campaign funding history and chronicle the Internet’s a vehicle for campaigns to inform, organize and raise money.
Internet stakeholders gathered in Geneva this week to begin talks on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), an entity authorized at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) last Nov. Several groups, including the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), submitted comments hoping to steer the group’s development. The forum is a unique opportunity, but one that poses “a difficult but worthwhile challenge,” CDT said. Implemented wisely it could help to break down barriers to Internet expansion, while at the same time addressing the concerns of those who feel left out of the Internet management process, the group said. Extra care must be taken at the onset to ensure that the body is “representative, inclusive and forward thinking.” Since IGF isn’t a treaty body and won’t have the authority to alter the existing Internet management structure, the forum risks becoming “little more than a platform from which to continue the narrow debate over DNS management,” CDT said. It’s important that the IGF tackle key issues that have taken a backseat in the WSIS process -- like spam, spyware and electronic crime -- the group said.
SAN JOSE -- FBI Dir. Robert Mueller promised his agency would use kid gloves with firms breaking what Mueller termed a “code of silence” against reporting network security breaches. Speaking at the RSA Conference here, Mueller said most intrusions go unreported due to fears of bad press, loss of competitive advantage or infringing privacy.
A Global Internet Freedom Task Force will tackle foreign policy aspects of Internet freedom, the State Dept. said Mon. The new body will study use of technology to curb access to political content and that censorship’s impact on U.S. firms. Members will review Internet governance and use of technology to track and repress dissidents. The task force’s creation was announced on the eve of a House international human rights subcommittee hearing on China’s extensive Internet filtering regime (WID Feb 14 p1).
The debate over network neutrality delved into bits, bandwidth and Korean gamers Wed. The Bells and consumer and tech groups argued over whether commercial agreements between network providers and content and VoIP firms would build on baseline service or degrade service for others. Speaking at the State of the Net conference in D.C., the Bells said they can’t make service faster on the strength of consumer subscriptions alone. They emphasized they would be transparent with potential customers about hypothetical -- an oft-repeated word -- commercial agreements with Internet companies to provide value-added services. Their opponents accused the Bells of creating scarcity at a time when much of the world has faster, cheaper connections than the U.S.
The difference between “dangerous” and “suspicious” is big enough for 180solutions that the adware firm dropped a lawsuit against antispyware vendor Zone Labs on claims of mislabeling its search assistant software. 180 said Mon. it had dropped the case Jan. 20 because Zone Lab’s ZoneAlarm software “downgraded” a warning displayed when 180’s software tried to perform various functions with other online programs or to the user’s computer settings. Affected 180 programs include Zango and Seekmo, which direct users to advertisers whose keywords match the user’s entered search terms. The suit was filed in Nov. in King County (Wash.) Superior Court, but Zone Labs successfully moved the cast to U.S. Dist. Court, Seattle, where 180 filed its dismissal.
After 2 years of trying to negotiate with 180solutions, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) abandoned its campaign to reform the adware firm and filed a hefty complaint Mon. with the FTC. The high-tech consumer watchdog asked the agency to crack down on what it called deceptive and illegal practices by one of the world’s largest Internet advertising software developers.
The House unanimously extended the Patriot Act until Feb. 3. The Senate Wed. evening approved a 6-month extension of the antiterror law. The temporary renewal (S-2167), which prevents certain high-tech sections of the law from expiring Dec. 31, passed on a voice vote.
Time has run out to submit proposals for exemption of noninfringing activities otherwise squelched by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) DRM restrictions. Several major high-tech groups that sounded off in 2 prior rulemakings didn’t make their voices heard this year. Some said they'd given up because their efforts had been ignored. But the content industry welcomed the start of the triennial rulemaking.
“Watch Pat [PBS Pres. Pat Mitchell], she is slick as grease [sic] lightning,” former CPB Chmn. Kenneth Tomlinson wrote in one of a series of e-mails to Wall St. Journal Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot as Tomlinson was pushing for a conservative program in the PBS line-up as a balance against Now With Bill Moyers. The newspaper released e-mail exchanges from Dec. 2003 to May 2005 that shed light on how Journal Editorial Report entered the PBS line-up. PBS Vp Lea Sloan called the personal e-mails about Mitchell “inappropriate.”