CooperMills

Archive for July, 2009

We had previously written about the conviction of The Pirate Bay operators and the controversy over the trial and the website, now the new owners of The Pirate Bay, one of the world’s largest file sharing websites, is planning to legalise the site.

A spokesperson for the new owners – Global Gaming Factory X – Chief Executive Hans Pandeya, said the site will not become a pure pay site. “For the great majority it will be free of charge, for a minority it will actually make them money, and for a small portion it will cost them,” he said.

Mr Pandeya claims the site will fully address the legal issues that troubled it before because income will be distributed between file sharers, copyright holders and others involved.

In April 2009, four men connected to The Pirate Bay site were sentenced to one-year prison terms and ordered to pay fines totalling US$3.8 million for violations of copyright law. These judgements again highlight the controvery over peer to peer file sharing. Closer to home iiNet is still battling the copyright owners over alleged peer to peer copyright infringement by users of its network.

Tags: file sharing, internet law, IT Law, IT Lawyers
Posted in IT Law | Comments Off

A new website has been launched by the Federal Government’s Australian Communications and Media Authority to help children and teenagers to have safe and positive experiences online.

The site – www.cybersmart.gov.au – provides comprehensive and practical advice for parents and interactive learning activities and information for children. Cybersmart also features guidance and a range of resources for libraries and schools.

The Acting Chairman of ACMA, Chris Cheah, said the Cybersmart site is about empowering Australian children and young people to be smart online and to become good digital citizens.

“Understanding how to navigate the online world safely is an important element in the development of digital literacy. By providing teachers and parents with clear, current and credible information about cyber safety, we assist them to develop in young people, the critical skills needed to stay safe online and get the most from their online encounters,” Mr Cheah added.

The website also includes an online helpline for young people who have had negative experiences online, such as cyber bullying. The helpline offers confidential advice and support from counsellors who are trained in listening to children and have expertise in cyber safety. Best of all the website has something for parents and teenagers, which are critical to effectively achieve the goals of the website.

The launch of the website raises the question of whether this website is a pre-cursor to the Government considering dropping its hugely unpopular internet filtering plans. Website like this one provide for a more considered solution to protecting children on the internet.

Tags: internet filtering, internet law, isp law, ISP lawyer, online safety, telecommunications lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | Comments Off

Following the conclusion of the most recent ICANN meeting held in Sydney, Rod Beckstrom was announced as the new ICANN CEO, replacing Paul Twomey.

“Beckstrom is the former Director of the U.S. National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC), where he formed an effective working group of leaders from the nation’s top six cybersecurity centers spanning the civilian, military and intelligence communities.”

In addition to his formal military / intelligence rolls, Beckstrom has also been active in the not for profit sector, as a board member of trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Jamii Bora Trust, a micro-lending group based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Beckstrom takes the helm at a time when ICANN is in the process of rolling out one its biggest projects yet, the introduction of new GTLDs.

Tags: domain law, domain names, ICANN, Rod Beckstrom
Posted in Domain law and domaining | Comments Off