Sue Spammers! Cute, but Practical?

So, tired of spam? Well, the ones doing it might have legal action taken against them sometime..someday..in the future..hm...yea. Well, basically, the people who are collecting emails to spam with various programs can be "tracked" theoretically and tied to their computers so that action may be taken, but in a world of ever growing technology and the "bad guys" always staying a step ahead of our slow moving legal system, will they really be caught? And how long will it be before they surmount this system if it ever gets implemented and find a way to stealth past it?

Seems like people should be focusing more on how to block spam rather than persecute it because trying to stop spam is like trying to stop drugs, prostitution, or bad fashion. It will always happen. And until you can go to jail for wearing a skirt that is too short, you will not be catching anyone in jail for spamming or fined for that matter.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_5757621?nclick_check=1

File Sharers: Beware!

So it seems that with simply a seal of approval, you can be sued for downloading music. In UW-Madison 53 students will certainly be pursued for copying what I only have to assume was a large amount of copyrighted music and then distributed it. This case is nothing new, but what is certainly pertains to the number of people who are file-sharing copyrighted information like never before. The numbers are up and going up. Can lawsuits have much longer before judges will turn a deaf ear to them and the jurt go in favor of our younger crowd saving money by trying to grab free mp3?

It should be up to the company to find a way to compete with the competition in my opinion.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=131102

A Hackers Playground: The Federal Government?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201010.html

How would you feel if you know that your government was receiving mostly failing grades or C-'s in regards to protecting what is supposedly the most important information in the nation? Well, I'd be amazed. And amazed I am. The Washington Post revealed that the government is one of the least protected from hackers and other forms of online criminilization, receiving many failing grades or sub-par grades in several of their agencies.

Although I am not sure what this could mean for us, but it sounds like a big turn for the worse if people in their homes are smarter than the people running the nation and making sure it works.

A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs

That's what someone in the new york times seems to think is being done. Specifically reporter Brad Stone. He explains how certain people are taking it upon themselves to find a way to place limitations upon what people can and cannot put into their blogs. A code of conduct that is no longer the basic legal standards but is aimed at what is considerate and polite and what is not.

He was explain how popular demand wants to discontinue anonymous comments left by those who read blogs. When people feel no name can be attached to what they say, people are more likely to say exactly what they want. Now who is to say that's a bad thing...

The problem with such a system, which Brad pointed out though he did not constitute it as a bad thing, is that it would rely on the users to enforce it. People who make their blogs to say what people can and cannot do. And for a community to take it upon itself to stop people from abusing these rules. Will it work? Will anyone care? I have my doubts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/technology/09blog.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

IWONT

So, it seems ICANN is deciding after a 7 year stretch of no answers to ban the possibility of a .xxx domain name for pornographic websites. People were outraged. Yet, is it any surprise when it comes to a topic as damning as pornography? The one's who were most angered by the decision argued that there was no just reasoning in ICANN's decision and that it was simply a ridiculous display of ICANN's ability to ignore its own rules and regulations. But people are on the ICANN board and those that propose for things dealing with pornopgrahy, because porn is such a hot topic that any hope for it to be more mainstreamed even giving its own domain would certainly result in a now. What does this mean for ICANN however? Are we forever to be subjected to the biases of a board that can do as it wants if enough people on it agree to it? That's just a one question some people are asking.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/tech/D8O6EUJ00.htm

Hello Officer YouTube

So police now have recruited YouTube to aid in investigations? I guess everything really does make it online. A police officer used YouTube to find two men who were using stolen credit cards at Home Depot. The officer was depending solely on the information passed from those watching the video taken from the store to identify those men involved.

His reasoning was that it was not hard for anyone to click a button and watch a video. It seems strange at first but actually several police departments use YouTube to catch criminals. Is YouTube being recruited alongside the Law? The idea is already scrutinized. A few problems such as misidentification, false tips, privacy infringment, misleads, deadends, and how to make one single video seem important amongst the hundreds and thousands that are uploaded throughout the week are just the first of many more things experts are questioning relying more heavily on such a thing as YouTube. Will YouTube make a new catergory all for law enforcement specifically...hmm who knows what is next.

The officer involved in catching the two criminals with the credit cards would give the congragulations all to old fashioned police work rather than the site despite its reaching many.

Internet Drugs and the FDA

The FDA is currently trying to combat the newly growing threat of internet drugs. Not the kinds of drugs one would normally think of such as weed, crack, or other illegal substances but trying to fight legally how people obtain their legal perscriptions.

Recently many consumers who had purchased things such as sleeping aids, antidepressants, and some over-the-counter type drugs were instead shipped a very power antipsychotic that landed many into the emergency room in hospitals. The schizophrenia drug, haloperidol, was coming from highly commercial websites that were fairly well known but they were not from the USA. The majority of the packages that had the drug had greek postage stamps.

Right now the Food and Drag Administration can only investigate for suspects and try to list websites that should not be trusted on their FDA website, but apart from that little in legal action can be taken against the sites to assure no one else falls for their snare. Another pitfall it seems to the world of the internet versus legality.

Childpornography Needs Worldwide Intervention?

In a news report made February 7th, the New York Times stated that a worldwide hunt is being prompted against childpornography. The use of the internet has made all forms of media, knowledge, and entertainment more accessible to individuals across the globe, and has also made those who break the law equally widespread and much more elusive. So it was decided that without a worldwide force striving to counter one of the internet's greatest legal issues, childpornography, it would be impossible to make those guilty of the crimes associated with those acts, to be held accountable.

Currently there have been no arrests made but 2360 indviduals linked to a specific russian website could be targeted. The problem that comes with any international change is the laws that change within each nation in regards to the topic. Many countries deal with childpornography differently. About 95 countries have no laws at all in regards to child pornography according to this article and so to impose laws from others upon them about the topic would be near to impossible or at least very drawn out.

The next problem is the availability of places to put child pornography. Putting your server in a different country if a website is shut down easily allows you to start another and would create much legal issues as to how to prosecute you if you would get caught if your site was in another country than your own, whose laws would be the one to be followed. Once more the internet proves to be more shades of gray than black and white.