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         A digest devoted to alerting Netizens about the issues of

                            Freedom of Speech

                          The Right to Privacy

                          & Freedom of Thought

  Distributed by FACTNet (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, Inc.)

                     <http://www.factnet.org/>

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Vol I, Issue #2                                         February 1,1997

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

In this issue:

	(1) SCOTTISH RIGHTS: THE SHETLAND WWW COPYRIGHT BATTLE

	(2) HALLMARK CARDS IN TRADEMARK DISPUTE OVER "E-GREETINGS" 

	(3) THE GATEWAY TO INTERNET TRADEMARK LITIGATION

	(4) BERNSTEIN WINS: ENCRYPTION RESTRICTIONS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

	(5) US DOD RECOMMENDS "INFORMATION WARFARE" TACTICS

	(6) NEW YORK STATE SUED OVER INTERNET LAW

	(7) GET YOUR FBI FILES BY E-MAIL FOR $2! NOT!

	(8) WEB COPYRIGHT FIGHT DOWN UNDER: THE NIGHT THE MUSIC DIED

	(9) AUSTRALIA GETS NEW FEDERAL PRIVACY COMMISSIONER 

	(10) US GOVERNMENT NOT IN ACCORD RE CRYPTO POLICY

	(11) LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF CDA AVAILABLE ON THE WEB

	(12) EFF HOSTS DEFENSE FUND FOR PENET.FI

	(13) FEEDBACK ON COURT DECISION TO REVIEW CDA 

	(14) WHAT'S NEW ON THE FACTNET WEB SITE

		INTERVIEW WITH PEACEFIRE FOUNDER HASELTON

 		NEW PRIVACY GROUPS ADDED

=======================================================================

(1) SCOTTISH RIGHTS: THE SHETLAND WWW COPYRIGHT BATTLE

A unique copyright battle is being waged in Scotland between the Shetland

News and the Shetland Times over the issue of WWW access. 

Both newspapers have web sites but the Times has obtained a preliminary

interdict (or injunction) that prevents the News from linking to the web

site of the Times. The News claims that such blockage could have a

chilling effect on the Web. The Times says that it took the action because

the News was using the exact wording of headlines in its stories for the

link to the Times' story, thereby possibly giving the impression that the

story was actually on the News' site. The News denies this. 

On 24Oct96, Lord Hamilton, sitting in the Outer House of the Court of

Session in Edinburgh, granted the Times its preliminary interdict and

said:, "The inclusion of the headlines of one newspaper in the internet

website of another newspaper was, prima facie, infringement of the

copyright belonging to the original newspaper." 

The court also noted a possibile financial loss, saying, "Such access was

gained without the caller requiring at any stage to gain access to the

[Times'] front page. Thus access to the [Times'] items could be obtained

by by-passing the [Times'] front page and accordingly missing any

advertising material which might appear on it."

The News has vocally taken the battle to its web site and included an

extensive pack of information that viewers can download. The Times has

kept the fight out of its site and representatives are reluctant to speak.

Robert Wishart, managing director of The Shetland Times Ltd, issued a

statement on 6Dec97, saying that the Times regretted having to take the

action and insisting that it has no effect on anyone linking to any page.

It is, Wishart told FACTNews, "a storm in a teacup and a total waste of

time and money."

No date has been set for the trial but the rest of the Internet will be

watching eagerly.

WWW references:

Shetland News http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/ 

Shetland Times  http://www.shetland-times.co.uk/      

The (London) Times http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/97/01/21/

Ariadne Magazine - Copyright Battles: The Shetlands

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ariadne/issue6/copyright/

Shetland News Fact-Pack www.factnet.org/shetlnd2.htm

Shetland Times Statement www.factnet.org/shetlnd1.htm

=======================================================================

(2) HALLMARK CARDS IN TRADEMARK DISPUTE OVER "E-GREETINGS" 

Hallmark Cards got a surprise when it received notice of a trademark

violation from Greet Street because of its use of "E-Greetings," as a term

for electronic cards marketed off Hallmark's Web site at

http://www.hallmark.com. A spokeswoman for Hallmark told Media Daily the

company stopped using "E-Greetings" in November after receiving

notification from Greet Street. But Hallmark has filed a formal complaint

with the U.S. Trademark Office to cancel Greet Street's trademark because

the company contends the term "E-Greetings"-or anything else prefaced with

the letter "e"-can't be trademarked.

See: 

   Cowles/SIMBA Media Daily

   http://www.mediacentral.com

   http://www.simbanet.com

   (Reprinted from SPJ Press Notes 29Jan97 with the permission of the

Society of Professional Journalists <www.spj.org>.) 

=======================================================================

(3) THE GATEWAY TO INTERNET TRADEMARK LITIGATION

The Internet seems to generate David and Goliath battles and another is

raging in North Carolina, USA. 

The newest David is Gateway.com, a thriving one-man ISP in Raleigh,

started by Alan Clegg back in 1988. He's managed to snare some good

clients, including MCI Advanced Business Services and Sprint Mid-Atlantic.

His Goliath is Gateway 2000, a $3.5 billion company that was started in

1985. Goliath wants to own the "gateway" name and has filed a trademark

suit to take it, even though the word was computer lingo before the world

found the Internet.

Clegg was offered a new computer in exchange for the name but he declined.

Gateway 2000 has requested an injunction to prevent him from using the

name. A one-hour hearing was conducted on 29Jan97, with the judge saying

he would hand down a decision later. 

Gateway 2000 sued Tucows.com last year for using black and white cows on

its website saying it infringed on their black-and-white packaging. The

suit was settled early in 1997 with no one discussing the outcome.

Clegg (abc@gateway.com) keeps updates at his site (www.gateway.com) as

well as a mailing list to keep Netizens appraised. 

WWW References: 

Raleigh News and Observer (28Jan97) at

www.nando.net/newsroom/nao/biz/012897/biz03_988.html

Wired stories at www.wired.com/news/business/story/1684.html and

www.wired.com/news/business/story/1585.html

Gateway 2000 is at www.gateway2000.com
=======================================================================

(4) BERNSTEIN WINS: ENCRYPTION RESTRICTIONS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

A federal district judge in San Francisco has ruled that the U.S.

government's attempt to prevent Illinois math professor David J. Bernstein

from exporting an encryption program he created is an unconstitutional

restriction of his right to freedom of expression. Bernstein had wanted to

share his program with researchers around the world.  

The Clinton Administration has insisted that tough restriction on

exportation of encryption software is necessary to foil criminals and

terrorists.  The decision of Judge Marilyn Hall Patel was based on the

fact that the law fails to provide for prompt judicial review of export

restrictions and thus acts as "unconstitutional prior restraint in

violation of the First Amendment." (Washington Post 19 Dec 96 A1) 

[From Edupage 19Dec96, with permission. Edupage archive at

<http://www.educom.edu/web/pubs/edupage.html>.]) 

=======================================================================

(5) US DOD RECOMMENDS "INFORMATION WARFARE" TACTICS

The U.S. Department of Defense has recommended establishing a new

"information-warfare" czar in the Defense Department and an

"information-warfare" center within U.S. intelligence agencies.  

A report released by a task force appointed by the Defense Science Board

calls for spending $580 million in R&D over the coming years, mainly in

the private sector, to develop new software and hardware to provide

security, such as a system for automatically tracing cracker attacks back

to their source.

The task force also recommends changing the laws so that the Pentagon can

legally pursue and repel those who attempt to hack into DoD computer

systems, injecting their computers with "a polymorphic virus that wipes

out the system, takes it down for weeks."

A Defense Department spokesman notes that the Advanced Research Projects

Agency is working on an "electronic immune system" that could detect

invaders and mobilize against them. (Wall Street Journal 6 Jan 97 B2) 

[From EDUPAGE 7Jan97 with permission. Edupage archive at

<http://www.educom.edu/web/pubs/edupage.html>.]

=======================================================================

(6) NEW YORK STATE SUED OVER INTERNET LAW

The American Civil Liberties Union said it filed a complaint in federal

court in Manhattan against New York State, charging that its new law,

which prohibits indecent material over the Internet, restricts free

speech on the basis of content by reducing adult communications to levels

acceptable for six-year-olds.

See: Cowles/SIMBA Media Daily

http://www.mediacentral.com

(Reprinted from SPJ Press Notes 29Jan97 with the permission of the Society

of Professional Journalists <www.spj.org>.) 

=======================================================================

(7) GET YOUR FBI FILES BY E-MAIL FOR $2! NOT!

Liz Tompkins was perhaps the first to put out the alert that a web site

(http://members.tripod.com/~fonline/Online.htm) was adveristing itself as

"FBI Online" and could provide anyone their FBI file via e-mail for a mere

two dollars. 

The item was included in her excellent "NBNews Journal"  of 27Jan97 with

the remark, "If it looks and smells fishy..." She was right. 

Originating out of San Diego, the site offered screen after screen of

official FBI information about such diversse topics as the fatal TWA

Flight 800, the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park bombing, FBI Congressional

Affairs, FBI Crime Reports and FBI Crime Statistics. However all were

merely links to the official FBI site (http://www.fbi.gov). At the end,

the offer was made, with a link back to tripod.com. For a mere two

dollars, they would offer up your FBI file. All the visitor had to do was

give them their name, address and a credit card number...

A few days later, the site disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared. One

wonders how many credit card numbers they acquired. 

(For a free subscription to Lis Tompkins NBNews, send an Email to

nbnews@juno.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.) 

=======================================================================

(8) WEB COPYRIGHT FIGHT DOWN UNDER: THE NIGHT THE MUSIC DIED

Web sites at two Australian universities have been stripped of song lyrics

and music as part of the newest Internet copyright crackdown. 

Attorneys for the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS)

and the Australian Music Publishers Association Limited (AMPAL) forced

Monash University and the University of Western Sydney to remove the

material from sites at those schools. 

The sites contained lyrics and music of  popular songs and MIDI (musical

isntrument digital interface) files that allowed computers to play the

songs by reproducing the musical sounds of various instruments. 

WWW Refernces: 

Australian Online at http://www.australian.aust.com/computer/

AMCOS home page is at http://wwwapmcos.com.au/

AMPAL shares the site at http://www.amcos.com.au/amcos/ampal.html

=======================================================================

(9) AUSTRALIA GETS NEW FEDERAL PRIVACY COMMISSIONER 

Moira Scollay will become the new Federal Privacy Commissioner for the

Australian Commonwealth on February 6, 1997. The commissioner's functions

include investigating complaints about interference with privacy of

personal information in some specific areas of activity. The Privacy

Commission is part of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

(HREOC) and is based in Sydney. 

One of Scollay's priorities will be to extend the government's Privacy Act

to cover the rest of the private sector. 

Scollay has extensive experience as a senior Commonwealth public servant,

for the last 9 years in various change management roles at the Australian

Taxation Office.  Most recently she had responsibility, as a Second

Commissioner of Taxation, for implementation of a Taxpayers' Service

Charter including setting up a complaints mechanism. 

WWW Referencs: 

HREOC at www.hreoc.gov.au

Privacy Commission at www.hreoc.gov.au/hreoc/privacy

Privacy Act discusson papers at

www.agps.gov.au/customer/agd/clrc/privacy.htm

=======================================================================

(10) US GOVERNMENT NOT IN ACCORD RE CRYPTO POLICY

TechWire reports (30Jan97) that the US Director of Counterintelligence

Programs at the National Security Council expressed reservations about the

Clinton cryptography policy. Speaking at the annual RSA Data Security

Conference in San Francisco, Edward J. Appel said the policy "doesn't have

the ring of credibility" after the Clipper Chip disaster and that the

policy should lean more toward protecting privacy. 

Story at http://www.techweb.com/wire/news/0129crypto.html

=======================================================================

(11) LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF CDA AVAILABLE ON THE WEB

A massive analysis and legislative history of the controversial

Communications Decency Act has been released and is available on the Web.

Subtitled "Regulating Barbarians on the Information Superhighway," the

history was written by Robert Cannon for the Federal Communications Law

Journal (Nov.96). 

Cannon is an attorney with the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the

Federal Communications Commission. He is also the Webmaster of the Federal

Communications Bar Association's World Wide Web site

<http://www.fcba.org/>. Robert Cannon's website can be found at

<http://www.cais.net/cannon/>.

The document has nearly 200 footnotes and is about 153k in size. It can be

found at <http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/v49/no1/cannon.html>.  

=======================================================================

(12) EFF HOSTS DEFENSE FUND FOR PENET.FI

In the last issue of FACTNEws, Johan Helsingius, operator of the (former)

pseudonymous remailer anon.penet.fi, said a defense fund was being

planned. We're happy to announce that it has been set up with the

Electronic Frontier Foundation.

DO NOT MAKE CHECKS OUT TO PENET.FI BUT TO EFF ONLY. Mark on the check it is

for the "Penet Fund". Please realize small amounts ($5-10) will be chewed

up by currency conversion so try to make it generous or combine your gift

with others. Send US contributions to: 

		Electronic Frontier Foundation

			Attn: Penet Fund

		1550 Bryant St., Suite 725

		San Francisco CA 94103

For non-US contributions. contact www.penet.fi for information. EFF is at

www.eff.org.

=======================================================================

(13) FEEDBACK re Court decision to review CDA ignores on-line media

In FACTNews #1, we remarked that Joe Shea's suit against the CDA had been

passed over by the Supreme Court in favor of the ACLU's suit and noted

that She's suit involved issues about the new Internet media that might

get missed. 

Stanton McCandlish of EFF responded: 

Any arguments raised by Shea's legal team not raised by the ACLU & ALA

[American Library Assn.] legal teams (now merged) can (and I'm sure will)

be raised by the ACLU & ALA legal teams in the Supreme Court case. In

general though, any ruling about free speech will extend to the free

press.

Shea responded: 

I think the benefit that hearing Shea v Reno would bring is that it would

specifically extend the rights enjoyed by the print press in America to

the Internet-based free press; the ACLU and ALA case may do that by

extension, but it will not recognize the place of the press as an

institution, as the First Amendment does.  A newspaper, you know, can

shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater -- via its headline -- where a person

cannot.  In some states, a reporter for a publication cannot be forced to

reveal his sources, where an ordinary person who is the source of a

non-published "report" may be forced to do so.  None of the ACLU or ALA

case will specifically protect these free press rights, and they must then

be adjudicated in the future.  You may circulate this response as you

wish.

Joe Shea (joeshea@netcom.com) is the Editor-in-Chief of The American

Reporter at http://www.newshare.com:9999

=======================================================================

(14) WHAT'S NEW ON THE FACTNET WEB SITE <http://www.factnet.org>

	-----------------------------------------------------

		INTERVIEW WITH PEACEFIRE FOUNDER HASELTON

Peacefire.org founder Bennett Haselton found himself in the national

spotlight when he revealed how CYBERsitter works. (See FACTNews #1)

CYBERsitter, made by Solid Oak Software, is one of the new filtering

softwares being offered to parents who want to regulate what their

children can access via the home computer. 

Haselton agreed to an e-mail inteviw with FACTNews and chatted about the

current activities of Peacefire and how they are helping to fight the New

York CDA law. The interview is at <www.factnet.org/haselton.htm >

		-----------------------------------

			NEW PRIVACY LINKS ADDED 

The following have been added to FACTNet's growing list of international

links of groups (government = *) concerned with privacy and free speech at

www.factnet.org/orgs.html. 

Austria

TU Graz: Datenschutz-Dokumentation (Graz University of Technology)

      gopher://hyperg.tu-graz.ac.at/11Datenschutz

Germany

Landesbeauftragter f|r Datenschutz, Rheinland-Pfalz

     http://radbruch.jura.uni-mainz.de/~baab/rudolf/datenschutz.html

New Zealand 

*Office of the Privacy Commissioner

     http://www.knowledge-basket.co.nz/privacy/welcome.htm

Switzerland

*Swiss Federal Datenschutzbeauftragter  (U. of Zurich) 

     http://is.eunet.ch/edsb/

United States

Georgia - Electronic Frontiers Georgia

     http://www.efga.org/

     EFGA is not affiliated with EFF. EFGA is currently battling a

     Georgia Internet police bill with a suit against the state

     Attorney General. Briefs and other material are at the site.    
If you know of a group or agency that should be listed, send it to

manage@factnet.org.

=======================================================================

FACTNews is a free publication from FACTNet, Inc. Permission is granted

to redistribute this newsletter providing it is distributed intact.

Copies are kept at <http://www.factnet.org/archives.html>.

FACTNet, Inc. is a non-profit, tax-exempt (501[c]3) organization

consisting of a digest, library, archive and dialogue center devoted

to the defense of free speech, free thought and privacy rights

internationally.

SUPPORT: If you wish to support FACTNet, contributions are welcome

and are tax-deductible. Checks should be made out to FACTNet and when you contact manage@factnet.org we will send you our donation address.

We want to hear from you. FACTNet can also be reached at:

        manage@factnet.org

If you would like to subscribe to our free 
FACTNews newsletter please go to 
http://lists.factnet.org/mailman/listinfo/factnet-news

------------------------------------------------------------------------

DISCLAIMER: Because the information provided is obtained from other

locations, FACTNet, Inc. cannot verify the accuracy of the statements

made by others but provide it and links to those soures as part of

the vital dialogue concerning free speech, free thought and the right

to privacy. Those links were active when provided but URLs may change

or the content may change. Users should make use of search engines such as Google.com or Yahoo.com to fully research the issue or to find active links.

=======================================================================

end FACTNews #2 

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