Incredibly, despite widespread public opposition, reasoned technical and policy arguments, and international condemnation by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation and others, the Australian government looks set to proceed with its misguided plan to censor prohibited internet content. In December, the government released details of how the censorship (euphemism of choice: ‘filtering’) scheme will work. It’s not pretty, but there are a couple of consolations tucked away in this announcement:

The Government will introduce legislative amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act to require all ISPs to block RC-rated material hosted on overseas servers.

This is good news for industry (given that there’s to be a filter at all). Because the scheme will be implemented by way of legislative change, ISPs will probably be able to rely on ‘compliance with law’ clauses in customer contracts to restrict their services, and also save face in comparison to a self-regulated industry scheme. This is also good news for democracy: subjecting the bill to proper parliamentary scrutiny is appropriate for a measure of this magnitude (it would arguably be improper — and would probably breach convention — to enact the measure through delegated legislation), making it more likely that the inefficacy and fundamental problems with this policy will be seen and corrected. Of course, given the ALP’s numbers in the Senate and House of Representatives, this may be of purely symbolic value.  Read more »

It seems that the Australian government is finally considering the introduction of a restricted classification (R18+) for computer games. Last week, the Attorney–General’s department released a discussion paper calling for submissions on whether the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 (Cth) (Act) should be amended to permit the Office of Film and Literature Classification to rate a computer game as ‘restricted’, meaning that it is ‘unsuitable for those under 18’ and ‘may offend some sections of the adult community’.

Currently, the Act requires that any computer game unsuitable for a minor to see must be classified ‘Refused Classification’ (RC), which prevents it from being sold, hired, exhibited, displayed, demonstrated or advertised in Australia. We saw last year that this affected relatively mainstream titles, such as Fallout 3 (which originally encouraged in-game morphine use, and simulated effects of addiction) and Grand Theft Auto IV (which featured prostitution and realistic depictions of violence), ultimately forcing the developers to censor their worldwide release versions.

The current position is bad for numerous reasons. Most importantly, it doesn’t prevent any demonstrable harm to vulnerable persons in our community (notably children):  Read more »

The Victorian Government has rejected the state Opposition's call for it to stop running taxpayer-funded advertisements two months before the November state election.

Originally by ABC News: Politics, 9:15 PM

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Researchers have welcomed moves towards a conscience vote in federal Parliament on the use of stem cells.

Originally by ABC News: Science and Technology, 4:15 PM

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The United States Department of Justice has extended by two years an oversight period provided for in its antirust settlement with Microsoft:  Read more »

Anything with 'Intel' on it will do

AMD vs Intel AMD this week served Microsoft with a subpoena, seeking documents that may relate to its ongoing anti-trust case against Intel.…

Originally by The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs, 10:50 AM

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Or not…

On a sunny afternoon in Luxembourg we enter the final lap of this five day case - discussion on the size of the €500m fine and other impositions of the remedy.…

Originally by The Register - Software, 10:48 AM

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Plus ça change

EU vs MS Comment European Court justice Cooke gave Microsoft's lawyers a tonic yesterday, by raising concerns about the transfer of Microsoft's intellectual property.…

Originally by The Register - Software, 10:47 AM

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Microsoft continues to battle European regulators over antitrust allegations, nearly five years after the software giant reached a settlement with the US.

Originally by WSJ.com: What's News Technology, 10:44 AM

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A blind university student has filed a class action lawsuit against Target Corp. The plaintiff alleges that the website discriminates against visually impaired users of its services because the website is inaccessible using screen reader software.

Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, an advocacy group that’s also a plaintiff in the suit, said today that the complaint is based on the theory that online portals of ‘brick-and-mortar stores’, or actual physical places, must be equally accessible.  Read more »