CooperMills

Posts Tagged ‘technology lawyer’

13 December 2011 saw the Prime Minister reshuffle her cabinet, but in amongst the reshuffle was a one line comment which carried great significance, that is, Cyber Security Policy is now the responsibility of the Prime Minister and no longer that of the Attorney General’s Department.

In her speech the Prime Minister said: ‘Responsibility for cyber security policy will move from the Attorney-General’s portfolio to my portfolio.‘.

This marks an escalation in the importance of cyber security, especially in light of the compromise of the parliamentary email system in March this year.

While responsibility for the area has moved, it is not clear what impact this will have on Cyber Security Policy and whether a shift in focus is planned.

Tags: Cyber Security, Internet Security, IT Lawyer, technology law, technology lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Cooper Mills was recently quoted in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, IT Pro section 11 October 2011, some quotes from the article entitled ‘Is it legal to send your data overseas’:

Despite their determination to keep hold of their data, however, many companies are still being less than careful with their cloud diligence, says lawyer Erhan Karabardak, director of IT specialist firm Cooper Mills Lawyers.

“It’s amazing how little due diligence people do with cloud services,” he explains.

“People say ‘our data is in the cloud’ but if you ask them where, and in which country, and whether it’s encrypted, they just don’t know. Companies really just need to ask some of the basic questions.”

Such questions become more complicated, Karabardak adds, when a particular cloud service distributes data between servers in different countries to boost the redundancy of data storage;

The full text of the article is viewable here.

Tags: cloud computing, Erhan Karabardak, IT Law, Privacy Law, Sydney Morning Herald, technology lawyer, The Age
Posted in General, IT Law | Comments Off

Daniel Goncalves a Union County man has been sentenced to a term of 5 years imprisonment for the theft and sale of the domain name P2P.com, in what is believed to be the first domain name theft case of its kind.

It was alleged that in 2006 Goncalves gained unauthorised access to an AOL email account operated by the registrant of P2P.com, in order to authorise a transfer of the domain name. Once the name was transferred Goncalves apparently sold the domain name on Ebay for $111,000. He was later arrested on 30 July 2009 and was indited for a range of offences including computer theft. He plead guilty to those charges in 2010 and was this week sentenced.

The domain name has been returned to its rightful owners and the Court ordered that Goncalves pay an amount in restitution to the victims.

Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain name lawyer, technology lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, IT Law, Uncategorized | Comments Off

The ICANN Board meeting in Singapore, today approved the expansion of top level domain names.

The vote means that applicants may now seek to create their own domain name extension, for example .sport, .music and .bank.

In announcing the result of the vote, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN, Rod Beckstrom said:

“ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind“

The board vote was 13 vote for, 1 against, with 2 abstentions.

People or organisations wishing to create their own top level extension will need to comply with the Applicant Guide Book, which includes a requirement for the payment of a $185,000 application fee.

It is expected that there will be hot competition for generic extensions such as .food.

Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, ICANN, new GTLDS, technology lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, IT Law | Comments Off

National Cyber Security Awareness Week starts today and runs to 3 June. It is an initiative of the Australian Government, with a number of government agencies and business becoming involved in partnership.

This year it has added significance with internet security breaches increasing, including high profile security breaches involving Sony and Vodafone customers.

The aim of  National Cyber Security Awareness Week is to protect online security and online privacy. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has published a summary of some simple things that everyone can do to improve online security:

• Install and renew your security software and set it to scan regularly .

• Turn on automatic updates on all your software, including your operating system and other applications.

• Think carefully before you click on links and attachments, particularly in emails and on social networking sites.

• Regularly adjust your privacy settings on social networking sites.

• Report or talk to someone about anything online that makes you uncomfortable or threatened – download the government’s Cybersafety Help Button.

• Stop and think before you post any photos or financial or personal information about yourself, your friends or family.

• Use strong passwords and change them at least twice a year.

• Talk within your family about good online safety.

Tags: Internet Security, IT Law, National Cyber Security Awareness Week, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Privacy Law, Privacy Lawyer, technology lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Privacy | Comments Off

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA), the peak body representing domain name investors and developers, has filed its letter of comment to ICANN concerning the revised Verisign contract for the operation of the .Net registry.

As part of the contract review process, ICANN is being lobbied by intellectual property owners to implement a draconian Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system in the .Net space.

The URS has been proposed for new GTLDs, and there are now moves to introduce it into the .Net space by intellectual property holders.

The ICA is opposed to the implementation of the URS. In the ICA’s letter to ICANN it argues that (in relation to the URS):

The .Net registry is far too important to be a “guinea pig” for these incomplete, controversial, and thoroughly untested mechanisms.

Among its submissions the ICA also says:

It is not yet clear what the final form of the URS will be. In particular, it remains unclear whether the URS will be further amended to reduce the burden of proof on a complainant, and to provide a complainant with first option to acquire a suspended domain. The transfer option in particular would make this proposed $300, 500-word complaint, single examiner URS procedure the functional equivalent of the UDRP – which, despite its flaws, offers a far higher level of procedural and substantive due process to domain registrants.

To view a full copy of the ICA submissions click here.

Tags: domain lawyer, domain name lawyers, ICA, IT Law, lawyers, technology law, technology lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, IT Law | Comments Off

In one of the largest acquisitions in recent history Microsoft is set to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion.

Microsoft hopes to use the acquisition to bolster its real time communications strategy to supplement Lync, Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE

In 2010 Skype was reported to have ’170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations’.

According to Microsoft, ‘Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms‘.

While Microsoft has pledged to continue supporting non Microsoft platforms, critics have claimed that the acquisition could eventually lead to Skype only being supported on Microsoft platforms.

Tags: IT Law, IT Lawyer, Microsoft, Skype, technology law, technology lawyer, telecommunications law
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | Comments Off

.au name space to become more secure with the rollout of DNSSEC

Details of the rollout of Domain Names System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in the .au domain name space have recently been released by the au Domain Administration (auDA).

Developed in conjunction with the .au registry operator, AusRegistry, the plan consists of a five stage process to introduce DNSSEC into the .au Top Level Domain (TLD) and second –level zones, including com.au, net.au, org.au and asn.au.

DNSSEC is a security extension that facilitates the digital signing of internet communications. Implementation of the plan hopes to see additional protection against a range of vulnerabilities.  AuDA CEO, Chris Disspain has said in an auDA announcement that “DNSSEC can provide an extra level of security to help ensure that Australian internet users will be directed to the website or service they expect to enter when they enter a domain name into their browser.”

Implementation is scheduled to commence next month and allows for:

-          Experimentation and testing of core systems

-          The gradual signing of second level .au domains and the .au TLD

-          A trail implementation for .au domain registrants, and

-          Full protection rollout to registrants

A review to be undertaken by auDA’s independent Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), chaired by professor Bill Caelli from the Queensland University of Technology, will be conducted at the end of each stage.

The fifth, and vital stage of the implementation plan will be the active encouragement of Australian ISPs and domain registrants to adopt DNSSEC. auDA believes that the Australian Government will play a significant role in delivering to the ISPs, the message about the importance of DNSSEC for the security of Australia’s internet infrastructure.

We will keep you updated as the implementation process rolls out.

Tags: auDA, DNSSEC, domain law, domain lawyer, domain name, domain name lawyer, domainers, domains, IT Law, technology law, technology lawyer
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | Comments Off

A recent YouTube video campaign targeting Logie award winner and Home and Away Star Ray Meagher, has raised questions about free speech and internet law.

Cooper Mills Director Erhan Karabardak and IT Lawyer was interviewed by Channel 9′s ‘A Current Affair’ about his expert legal opinion on internet regulation of online media, and in particular his views on the so called comedy videos.

Tags: A Current Affair, Erhan Karabardak, internet law, IT Law, IT Lawyer, online media law, technology law, technology lawyer
Posted in General, IT Law, Podcasts | Comments Off

Google has given undertakings to the Australian Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis, after the completion of her investigations into Google’s inadvertent collection of unsecured Wi-Fi data from private residencies around Australia, whilst collecting images for Google Street View.

Google has given the following undertakings:

-          That it will publish an apology to Australians for its collection of unsecured WiFi data in its official Australian Blog

-          That it will provide a privacy impact assessment (PIA) on any new Street View data collection activities its undertakes in Australia

-          This is will provide a copy of these PIAs to the Commoners Office

-          That it will regularly consult with the Privacy Commissioner about personal data collection activities arising from significant product launches in Australia.

The undertakings come after the Commissioner was satisfied that the information collected by Google breached the Privacy Act 1988.

The Commissioner was unable to impose a sanction on Google due to having already initiated an investigation. This has prompted the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to make an inquiry into Australian privacy laws. This may prompt the government into taking action to strengthen the enforcement regime.

Tags: IT Law, Privacy, Privacy Law, Privacy Lawyer, technology law, technology lawyer
Posted in General, Privacy | Comments Off