Interesting People mailing list archives

IP: International update: Germany, Switzerland, France, China, Canada


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 16:13:40 -0400


From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>

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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 10:39:48 +0200
From: Thomas Roessler <roessler () does-not-exist org>
To: Axel H Horns <horns () ipjur com>
Cc: debate () lists fitug de, declan () well com
Subject: Re: [FYI] (Fwd) FC: German state moves to block "illegal" sites including

On Wed, Oct 17, 2001 at 09:13:22AM +0200, Axel H Horns wrote:

[Rotten.com is certainly in poor taste, which I believe is the point,
but illegal? Heavens. Now some Germans will no longer be able to get
their daily dose of Bonsai Kittens, hosted at rotten.com.

Just for the record, I can access rotten.com right now from within Nordrhein-Westfalen. It doesn't seem like the blocking effort is terribly successful.

--
Thomas Roessler                      <roessler () does-not-exist org>

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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 09:26:43 +0200
From: Matthias Leisi <matthias () astrum ch>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: FC: German state moves to block "illegal" sites including rotten.com In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20011016193919.00ab6da0 () mail well com>; from declan () well com on Tue, Oct 16, 2001 at 07:51:41PM -0700

(Context: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02662.html)

Swiss authorities have tried similar approaches in the (not-so-distant) past.

In January/Februar 2001, under the pressure of a group which calls itself
"Aktion Kinder des Holocaust" (Action of Holocaust Children) swiss ISPs were
asked to block traffic to a yet unkown number of (nazi propaganda) sites.

SIUG (Swiss Internet Users Group) asked ISPs directly as to what sites they
were blocking, but only few responded (mainly those who said they were not
blocking anything). But two large backbone providers (Sunrise.ch and
IP/Plus, subsidiary of former monopolist Swisscom) were blocking access to
at least some sites. See SIUG Press Release at

http://www.siug.ch/presse/Presse.20010629.html

Already in 1998, Swiss authorities requested that ISPs shut down
connectivity to a number of sites (a transcript of this letter is available
at http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&selm=an_374548192 ).

There is no sound legal base for those attempts at censorship _yet_. There
are some provision in terms of laws on anti-hate speech already in place,
and two parliamentary initiatives to clarify the situation for ISPs are
underway:

http://www.parlament.ch/ab/frameset/d/n/4609/35656/d_n_4609_35656_35784.htm

Matthias
(Disclaimer: Member of SIUG)

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From: "Thomas Leavitt" <thomasleavitt () hotmail com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: German state moves to block "illegal" sites including rotten.com
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 05:55:15 -0700

Germany's big ISP, T-Online blocked us (I think at the direction of the government) but backed down in the face of massively bad pr.

Switzerland blocked us due to zundelsite at core routers for years, and we couldn't do anything about it.

Egypt blocked us for years due to porn, I think.

Hazard of running a free speech oriented shared hosting service.

Thomas

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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 10:44:14 +0200
From: Alexander Svensson <alexander () svensson de>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: German state moves to block "illegal" sites including
 rotten.com

Hi Declan!

Some additional info:
> [Rotten.com is certainly in poor taste, which I believe is the point, but
> illegal? Heavens.

http://www.bonnanwalt.de/entscheidungen/NRWBezReg-Duesseldorf21-xxxx.html
This is the text of the Nordrhein-Westfalen decision,
with the site names xxx'ed out. d) clearly refers
to rotten.com:

  Angebote im Internet sind unzulässig, wenn sie
  1. gegen Bestimmungen des Strafgesetzbuches verstoßen
  (§ 8 Abt 1 Nr. 1 MdStV),
  2. den Krieg verherrlichen (§ 8 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 MdStV),
  3. offensichtlich geeignet sind, Kinder oder Jugendliche
  sittlich schwer zu gefährden (§ 8 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 MdStV),
  4. Menschen, die sterben oder schweren körperlichen oder
  seelischen Leiden ausgesetzt sind oder waren, in einer
  die Menschenwürde verletzenden Weise darstellen und
  ein tatsachliches Geschehen wiedergeben, ohne dass
  ein überwiegendes berechtigtes Interesse gerade an
  dieser Form der Berichterstattung vorliegt; eine
  Einwilligung ist unbeachtlich (§ 8 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 MdStV),
[...]
  d) http://www.xxxxx.com
  Auf der Seite dieses amerikanischen Content-Provider, der
  gleichzeitig sein Angebot hostet, wird auf zynische Art
  und Weise Gewalt- und Kriegsverherrlichung betrieben.
  Weiterhin werden in unzähligen Bildern Unfall- und
  Gewaltopfer unter Nichtbeachtung der Menschenwürde
  gezeigt. Eine Unzulässigkeit dieser Angebote ergibt sich
  nicht nur aus dem Verstoß gegen die o.g. Rechtsvorschriften
  unter den Nrn. 1 und 2 ( § 130, 130a und 86 StGB) sowie
  Nr. 3 (sittliche Gefährdung von Kindern und Jugendlichen),
  sondern insbesondere gegen die Nrn. 4 und 5 - Menschen
  werden in einer die Menschenwürde verletzenden Weise
  dargestellt -.

My translation:
  Internet presentations are inadmissible, if they
  1. contravene penal code regulations
  (§ 8 section 1 nr. 1 interstate treaty on media services)
  2. glorify war (§ 8 section 1 nr. 2)
  3. are obviously capable of morally endangering children
  or young people seriously (§ 8 section 1 nr. 3),
  4. depict people that are dying or are exposed to
  severe physical or mental suffering in a way violating
  human dignity and portray an actual event without
  there being an overwhelming legitimate interest in
  exactly this form of reporting; a consent is not
  to be considered (§ 8 section 1 nr. 4),
[...]

  d) http://www.xxxxx.com
  On the page of this American content provider, which at
  the same time is hosting its presentation, there is
  glorification of violence and war in a cyncial way. Furthermore,
  victims of accidents and violence are shown in countless
  picture failing to observe human dignity. The inadmissibility
  of these presentations does not only follow from the
  regulations mentioned above under nr. 1 and 2 (§130, 130a
  and 86 criminal code) and nr. 3 (moral threat to children
  and young people), but especially against nr. 4 and 5
  -- people are depicted in a manner violating human dignity.

> Now some Germans will no longer be able to get their
> daily dose of Bonsai Kittens, hosted at rotten.com.

Not all of Germany is subject to this, only a number
of Nordrhein-Westfalen access providers. And sites /hosted/
at rotten.com are, IIUC, not subject to this ban, only
the website at www.rotten.com, so Bonsai Kittens should
not be concerned.

Best regards,
/// Alexander

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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 11:30:37 +0100
To: declan () well com
From: Yaman Akdeniz <lawya () cyber-rights org>
Subject: Case Analysis of the Yahoo case
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Declan,

I have written a case analysis of (the Yahoo case) League Against Racism and Antisemitism (LICRA), French Union of Jewish Students, v Yahoo! Inc. (USA), Yahoo France, Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris (The County Court of Paris), Interim Court Order, 20 November, 2000.

This has been now published in [2001] Electronic Business Law Reports, 1(3) 110-120 and a pdf version is available at:

http://www.cyber-rights.org/documents/yahoo_ya.pdf

It may be of interest to your readers.

All the best,

Yaman


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Yaman Akdeniz,
Director, Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK)
URL: http://www.cyber-rights.org
E-mail: lawya () cyber-rights org
Tel: +44 (0)7798 865116

Use Free Secure Web based e-mail through
http://www.cyber-rights.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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From: jamyang () openflows org
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 09:33:20 -0000
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: china (un)blocks sites

They're down, they're up, they're down ... and now, websites based in the
West are up again in China as the government lifts its blocks....or are they?

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Hi Declan,

Reuters team in Shanghai for the APEC summit reports that China has unblocked
certain news sites

http://wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47622,00.html

a reverse trace route suggests that while these website's are now going
through the international gateway in Shanghai, the Beijing gateway is again
blocking them. (it was briefly available via beijing gateway on tuesday).

this would seem to suggest to me that these major media outlets are
available purely for the benefit of the media assembled for the summit, and
does not represent a siginificant policy change on the part of the Chinese
government.

I have been watching this process closely recently, particularly since i am
releasing a report on the impact of the internet on human rights in china on
thursday, 18 october, 1100 (EST).

Amongst other systems, the report analyses the tracking capability of the hi-
speed metro area network that has been installed in the international media
centre for the 3000+ journalists to use to file their stories from the summit
this week. the report is accompanied by a cd-rom that provides people in
china with a range of tools for circumventing censorship and surveillance
software.

if you would be interested in recieving a copy of my report, or have any
futher questions, please don't hesitate to get in contact.


best,

greg walton

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From: Sonia Arrison <sarrison () pacificresearch org>
To: "'canucks () canadiansintheus com'" <canucks () canadiansintheus com>
Subject: CANUCKS: More on Cdn anti-terrorism bill
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 12:36:38 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-URL: Canucks is at http://www.canadiansintheus.com/

Below is the Canadian government's press release as well as a CBC link.
-Sonia

http://www.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/10/15/terror_law0110
15

http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/news/nr/2001/doc_27785.html


GOVERNMENT OF CANADA INTRODUCES ANTI-TERRORISM ACT
OTTAWA, October 15, 2001 - The Government of Canada today introduced in the
House of Commons a new package of anti-terrorism measures as part of its
Anti-Terrorism Plan. This package takes aim at terrorist organizations and
strengthens investigation, prosecution and prevention of terrorist
activities at home and abroad.

The Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of
Canada, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Solicitor General of Canada, and
the Honourable John Manley, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced the
details of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act.

"The horrific events of September 11 remind us that we must continue to work
with other nations to confront terrorism and ensure the full force of
Canadian law is brought to bear against those who support, plan and carry
out acts of terror - we will cut off their money, find them and punish
them," said Minister McLellan. "

The Government of Canada Anti-Terrorism Plan has four objectives:


stop terrorists from getting into Canada and protect Canadians from
terrorist acts;


bring forward tools to identify, prosecute, convict and punish terrorists;


prevent the Canada-US border from being held hostage by terrorists and
impacting on the Canadian economy; and


work with the international community to bring terrorists to justice and
address the root causes of such hatred.

"As a nation, we must be prepared to ensure our safety and security. This
legislation will provide our law enforcement and national security agencies
with additional tools to identify and dismantle terrorist organizations and
prevent terrorist acts," said Minister MacAulay.

"These measures are in keeping with the actions of our allies," said
Minister Manley. "They are an important element in Canada's commitment to
join its international partners in confronting and stamping out terrorism
around the world."

The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act includes measures to identify, prosecute,
convict and punish terrorists, such as:


defining and designating terrorist groups and activities to make it easier
to prosecute terrorists and those who support them;


making it an offence to knowingly participate in, contribute to or
facilitate the activities of a terrorist group or to instruct anyone to
carry out a terrorist activity or an activity on behalf of a terrorist
group;


making it an offence to knowingly harbour a terrorist;


creating tougher sentences and parole provisions for terrorist offences;


cutting off financial support for terrorists by making it a crime to
knowingly collect or give funds, either directly or indirectly, in order to
carry out terrorism, denying or removing charitable status from those who
support terrorist groups, and by making it easier to freeze and seize their
assets; and


ratifying two UN anti-terrorism conventions, the International Convention
for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International
Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, as well as the Safety
of United Nations and Associated Personnel Convention.

The bill will give law enforcement and national security agencies new
investigative tools to gather knowledge about and prosecute terrorists and
terrorist groups, as well as protect Canadians from terrorist acts,
including:


making it easier to use electronic surveillance against terrorist groups;


creating new offences targeting unlawful disclosure of certain information
of national interest;


amending the Canada Evidence Act to guard certain information of national
interest from disclosure during courtroom or other judicial proceedings;


amending the National Defence Act to continue and clarify the mandate of the
Communications Security Establishment (CSE) to collect foreign
communications;


within carefully defined limits, allowing the arrest, detention and
imposition of conditions of release on suspected terrorists to prevent
terrorist acts and save lives;


requiring individuals who have information related to a terrorist group or
offence to appear before a judge to provide that information; and


extending the DNA warrant scheme and data bank to include terrorist crimes.

These necessary measures target people and activities that pose a threat to
the security and well being of Canadians. This is a struggle against
terrorism, and not against any one community, group or faith. Diversity is
one of Canada's greatest strengths, and the Government of Canada is taking
steps to protect it. Measures will be included in the bill to address the
root causes of hatred and to ensure Canadian values of equality, tolerance
and fairness are affirmed in the wake of the September 11 attacks. These
include:


amending the Criminal Code to eliminate online hate propaganda and create a
new offence of mischief against places of religious worship or religious
property; and


amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to extend the prohibition against
hate messages beyond telephone messages to include all telecommunications
technologies.

The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act includes rigorous checks and balances in
order to uphold the rights and freedoms of Canadians. For example, the scope
of Criminal Code provisions is clearly defined to ensure that they only
apply to terrorists and terrorist groups. The Act will also be subject to a
Parliamentary review in three years.

The scope of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act is consistent with Canada's
legal framework, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the
requirement for due process, and the consent of the Attorney General and
judicial review where appropriate. These measures are also in keeping with
actions taken by Canada's international partners against terrorism.

"The measures we are introducing strike the right balance between civil
liberties and national security, and signal our resolve to ensure that
Canadians will not be paralyzed by acts of terrorism," said Minister
McLellan.

The Act builds on Canada's longstanding and continuing contribution to the
global campaign against terrorism. Under the Criminal Code, terrorists can
already be prosecuted for hijacking, murder and other acts of violence.
Canadian courts also have the jurisdiction to try a number of terrorist
crimes committed abroad to ensure that terrorists are brought to justice,
regardless of where the offence was committed. Canada has already ratified
10 of 12 United Nations counter-terrorism conventions and, with this bill,
will be able to ratify the remaining two. The proposed legislation also
builds on regulations introduced by the Government of Canada on October 3,
2001 following a UN Security Council resolution, to cut terrorists off from
their financial support.

- 30 -

Ref:

Farah Mohamed
Minister McLellan's Office
(613) 992-4621

Dan Brien
Minister MacAulay's Office
(613) 991-2924

Sanjeev Chowdhury
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
(613) 995-1851

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