[DNS] FW: The Filter, No. 3.8

[DNS] FW: The Filter, No. 3.8

From: <David.Goldstein§sbg.nic.at>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:51:30 +0100
Hi all

A newsletter I have received my first copy of from the Harvard Law School,
that this issue at least, looks has a number of domain name stories.
Subscription info is at the end of the newsletter for anyone interested in
subscribing.

Cheers
David

-----Original Message-----
From: filter-editor&#167;cyber.law.harvard.edu
[mailto:filter-editor&#167;cyber.law.harvard.edu]
Sent: Dienstag, 14. November 2000 04:23
To: David Goldstein
Subject: The Filter, No. 3.8


		No. 3.8 <--The Filter--> 11.13.00
     
        Your regular dose of public-interest Internet news and commentary
                from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
                            H a r v a r d  L a w  S c h o o l		
   
        CONTENTS:
   
        [1] In the News
        [2] Dispatches
        [3] Berkman News
        [4] Bookmarks
        [5] Quotable
        [6] Talk Back
        [7] Subscription Info
        [8] About us
        [9] Not a Copyright
   
        -----------------------------------------
   
             [1]  IN THE NEWS
             ================
 
 * Vote-Swapping Sites Suffer (Free) Speech Impediment: If netizens were
 by-and-large amused by the appearance in the weeks prior to the election
 of sites to enable voters in so-called swing states to "swap" votes for
 candidates Al Gore and Ralph Nader, the matter has since become more
 serious. The sites, which include NaderTrader.org and Votexchange2000.com,
 served as a vehicle through which voters in different states could pair up
 in order to vote strategically--thereby bypassing the traditional
 constraints of the Electoral College. Votexchange2000.com folded, however,
 when California Secretary of State Bill Jones sent a letter to the site's
 operators alleging that it violated California's Election Code, which
 prohibits offering payment or any other "valuable consideration" to people
 so that they will or will not vote. The ACLU subsequently requested that
 the California District Court issue a temporary restraining order against
 Jones, asserting that Votexchange2000.com and other similar sites carry a
 "clear political message," and therefore qualify for the highest level of
 protection under the First Amendment. That request was denied. The judge
 "obviously agreed that votes are not to be bought, sold or traded for
 money, jobs or other votes," said Jones' spokesman Alfie Charles. The ACLU
 has pledged to continue its fight.
 
 <http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3416533.html> 
 
 <http://www.newsbytes.com/news/00/157814.html>
 
 * ICANN--Damned if It Does?: The eagerly-awaited decision on which new
 top-level domains (TLDs) will be added to the Internet's existing
 structure may be just around the corner. The Internet Corporation for
 Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for technical
 administration of the domain name system and related functions, meets this
 week in Marina del Rey, CA for an annual meeting at which it will discuss
 topics ranging from UDRP review to new TLDs. ICANN released a staff report
 Friday recommending that the board choose from among only 17 of the 44 new
 TLDs proposed for adoption--a recommendation certain to be controversial.
 While ICANN has frequently been criticized for moving too slowly in
 reaching consensus on the issues that fall under its purview, each
 decision it makes has met with resistance by various constituencies in the
 Internet community. "The week will be very busy, with lots of intense
 discussions," said ICANN chair Esther Dyson. "I'm sure there are people
 who are going to be unhappy."
 
 <http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40126,00.html>
 
 <http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40129,00.html>
 
 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5805-2000Nov12.html>
 
 What's at stake at the Marina del Rey meetings? The Berkman Center this
 weekend presented "Pressing Issues II: Understanding and Critiquing
 ICANN's Policy Agenda," a series of panel discussions focusing on UDRP
 review, At-large membership, and new TLDs. Follow the link below to access
 the complete multimedia archive.
 
 <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/pressingissues2000/>
 
 * ICANN...Resign?: In other ICANN news, the organization is grappling with
 an accusation by its critics of "boardsquatting"--a term coined by
 University of Miami law professor A. Michael Froomkin to describe ICANN's
 action in allowing four board members to retain their seats past their
 original terms of service. Nine members of the board were to have been
 replaced via the organization's recent open online election, but ICANN
 modified that plan when public interest groups raised concerns that the
 still-evolving election process carried substantial risk of board capture.
 Rather than derail the election entirely, the board voted to reduce the
 number of open seats from nine to five, planning to open the four
 remaining seats after completing a review of the process. Froomkin, who
 advocates immediate resignation by the four directors who have yet to be
 replaced, suggests that the decision to allow them to remain is motivated
 by desire on the part of the existing ICANN board to entrench its power.
 Not so, says ICANN senior policy officer Andrew McLaughlin. "None of the
 four remaining directors is anxious to stay on the ICANN Board--they're
 doing so out of a public-spirited commitment to the ICANN process."
 
 <http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,19804,00.html>
 
 <http://www.thecrimson.com/news/article.asp?ref=9505>
 
 ***EXTRA: What does Karl Auerbach, the self-described ICANN critic
 recently selected by its At-Large membership to serve on the governing
 board, make of Froomkin's critique? For Auerbach's answer, check out our
 exclusive, in-depth interview, linked below from DISPATCHES.
 
 * All the News That's Fit to (Re) Print?: In a case that will be argued
 before the U.S. Supreme Court, several major publishers including The New
 York Times, Co., Newsday and Reed Elsevier (owner of Lexis-Nexis) are set
 to contest a 1999 ruling obliging them to obtain permission from authors
 before including copyrighted works in online databases. The suit was
 brought in 1993 by a group of freelance writers who objected when the
 publishers to whom they had sold rights to their work for print
 publication then made them available online--without asking permission or
 offering further compensation. Copyright law presently allows publishers
 who have already secured rights to an author's work to republish it
 without permission, provided that the work appears in a revised version of
 the original publication. In 1997, a federal district court found for the
 publishers in the case, ruling that databases such as the one Lexis-Nexis
 compiles do indeed qualify as revised versions of the publications from
 which they are drawn; two years later, the ruling was reversed. The case,
 Tasini v. The New York Times, Co., is scheduled for a hearing next year,
 with a decision expected by June.  
 
 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27808-2000Nov6.html>
 
 <http://www.thestandard.net/article/display/0,1151,19961,00.html>
 
   
             [2]  DISPATCHES
             ================
   
 At the conclusion of this week's ICANN meetings in Marina del Rey, CA,
 five new At-Large directors will take their seats on its governing board.
 Among them will be Karl Auerbach, who was selected as the North American
 representative in ICANN's recent open election.
 
 Intrepid Filter reporter Cedar Pruitt recently caught up with him in
 cyberspace to discuss his adjustment to the media spotlight, his
 interaction thus far with fellow board members and electees, and his take
 on the "boardsquatting" controversy.   
   
 <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter/auerbach.html>
   
   
            [3] BERKMAN NEWS
            ================
   
 * Napster and Its Siblings--the Harvard Response: The Berkman Center,
 Harvard's Institute of Politics, and the Harvard Political Union invite
 Filter readers to "The Day the Music Died? Harvard's Policy on Napster and
 Its Siblings--Past, Present and Future," taking place this Wednesday,
 November 15 at 4:00 p.m. in Lecture Hall D at the Science Center here on
 the Harvard University campus. 
 
 Harvard recently refused a request by attorneys representing Metallica in
 the Napster case to block student access to the MP3 file-trading service,
 asserting that to do so would be inconsistent with "the values of broad
 inquiry and the exploration of ideas that Harvard, like other
 universities, has traditionally sought to protect." However, the DMCA
 requires as a condition for ISP protection from liability for contributory
 copyright infringement that a university must implement a policy of
 terminating its ISP services for "repeat infringers" of copyright law.
 Further, Harvard has been reported to have slowed down some "Napster
 packets" for reasons of network integrity. 
 
 "The Day the Music Died?" will ask at what point a user becomes a repeat
 infringer, and explore the possible ramifications of a decision by Harvard
 to suspend such an infringer's network privileges, as well as possible
 future policies constricting network use as the controversy evolves. 
 
 Moderated by Berkman Center faculty co-director Professor Jonathan
 Zittrain, the discussion features panelists Dan Moriarty, Assistant
 Provost, Harvard University; Berkman Center faculty co-director Professor
 William W. Fisher III, Harvard Law School; Frank Steen, Director, Computer
 Services, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and Eva Holtz, Harvard
 student, Class of 2002. 
 
 Questions about the event should be directed to the Berkman Center at
 cyber&#167;law.harvard.edu.	
 
    
             [4]  BOOKMARKS
             ================
   
 * PerpetualElection.com
 
      <http://www.perpetualelection.com/>
 
 A nonpartisan news outlet offering "the latest information on the first
 perpetual election the United States has seen."
 
 * Opensecrets.org 
   
      <http://www.opensecrets.org/>
   
 Site operated by the Center for Responsive Politics, tracking money in
 politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
   
   
              [5]  QUOTABLE
             ================
   
 "Our democracy, our constitutional framework is really a kind of software
 for harnessing the creativity and political imagination for all of our
 people...Good decisions do not result from simply consuming data and
 spitting out conclusions. You would still want representatives to be
 chosen who have time to reflect and make considered judgments."
   
 --Vice President Al Gore, pre-election, on Napster, democracy, and the
 wisdom of making tough judgment calls slowly.
 
      <http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2634692,00.html>
  
   
             [6]  TALK BACK
             ================
   
 Comments? Questions? Opinions? Submissions?
 Send a letter to the editor at filter-editor&#167;cyber.law.harvard.edu
   
   
             [7]  SUBSCRIPTION INFO
             ================
   
 You are receiving this email because someone (perhaps you) requested that
 your name be added to our mailing list. Follow this link to unsubscribe
 from the list:
   
      <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter/subscribe>
   
   
             [8]  ABOUT US
             ================
   
 Read The Filter online at <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter/>
   
 Who we are: <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter/about.html>
   
   
             [9]  NOT A COPYRIGHT
             ================
   
 A publication of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law
 School <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu>
   
 You may--and please do--forward or copy this newsletter to friends and
 colleagues.
   
 [cc] <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cc/cc.html>
Received on Tue Nov 14 2000 - 16:52:52 UTC

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