6 Jul, 2008: Public’ online spaces don’t carry speech, rights (Associated Press)
First Amendment protections generally do not extend to private property in the physical world, allowing a shopping mall to legally kick out a customer wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a smoking child. With online services becoming greater conduits than shopping malls for public communications, however, some advocacy groups believe the federal government needs to guarantee open access ...

6 Jul, 2008: ICAAN – Preventing Hatred v. Censorship of TLD Applications (Digital Journal)
With all the excitement over expansion of IP addresses to be expanded from 4-string to 6-string format, little has been reported on the current and proposed regulations to restrict new domain registration. Watchdogs are deeply concerned over censorship. ....

1 Jul, 2008: Work Remains For ICANN’s New Top Level Internet Domains (IP-Watch)
Internet Technical Body an Authority on Morality? ICANN announced the "biggest extension of the DNS [domain name system] in 40 years" after its decision last week to finish implementation of a new policy for introducing new top-level domains (TLDs). According to the timeline presented at the ICANN meeting in Paris, new TLDs to compete against the existing .com, .biz ...

26 Jun, 2008: ICANN Board Approves Censorship Policy for Domain Names Based on Morality: 2 Board Members Speak Against It
Today in Paris the ICANN Board passed the GNSO's controversial recommendations to censor top level domains based on notions of "morality and public order", and broadly defined "community" wishes. However, 2 ICANN board members, law professors Wendy Seltzer (on behalf of the At-Large Internet Users) and Susan Crawford, made very powerful and compelling statements to protect free expression on ...

21 Jun, 2008: 2008 USTR Special 301 Report Summary from IP Justice

6 Jun, 2008: Der Zoll hört mit (dradio.de)
EU-Kommission debattiert vertraulich über Anti-Piraterie-Abkommen. Vertreter aus 13 Nationen haben in Genf am Montag und Dienstag dieser Woche über ein internationales Abkommen zur Abwehr von Urheberrechtsverletzungen diskutiert. Nichtregierungsorganisationen warnen, dass unter Ausschluss kritischer Vertreter der Entwicklungsländer Fakten geschaffen werden sollen. Im Bereich von Computer und Medien würden vor allem die Interessen der großen Medienkonzerne und nicht die der ...

5 Jun, 2008: Speculation Persists On ACTA As First Official Meeting Concludes (IP-Watch)
European Parliament Study Draws Some Critical Conclusions on ACTA... Dordi agrees with NGOs like Knowledge Ecology International and IP Justice with regard to a certain “vagueness” in definitions and forum shopping. It was unclear from the use of the terms ‘counterfeit’ and ‘piracy’ what the new treaty would actually cover, he wrote.

30 May, 2008: Will Proposed Treaty Make Border Agents Copyright Cops? (Computerworld)
An Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under quiet negotiation by several countries including the U.S and Canada is raising concern in some quarters after a leaked document, purportedly offering more details on the nascent agreement, was posted on the Internet. The document, titled "Discussion Paper on a Possible Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" (download PDF), was posted last week by the Wikileaks ...

30 May, 2008: Embattled ACTA Negotiations Next Week In Geneva; US Sees Signing This Year (IP-Watch)
Formal negotiations on an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) are expected to commence next week in Geneva, according to a European Commission official, even as a leaked United States trade office paper is drawing criticism of the proposed pact. The publication of a US Trade Representative’s office discussion paper on ACTA leaked last week on Wikileaks has spurred criticism of the ...

17 Apr, 2008: Internet Bill of Rights Coalition on “Search Engine” (CBC Radio)
Radio interview (.mp3) of Robin Gross and Robert Guerra discuss the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Dynamic Coalition for an Internet Bill of Rights on CBC's "Search Engine" with host Jesse Brown.

25 Mar, 2008: IP Justice White Paper on the Proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
In 2007 a select handful of the wealthiest countries began a treaty-making process to create a new global standard for intellectual property rights enforcement, the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ACTA is spearheaded by the United States, the European Commission, Japan, and Switzerland -- those countries with the largest intellectual property industries. Other countries invited to participate in ...

25 Mar, 2008: IP Justice White Paper on the Proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
Anti-Consumer and Anti-Public Interest Treaty Proposed by Intellectual Property Industry, US, Europe, Switzerland, and Japan

21 Mar, 2008: ACTA’s Misguided Effort to Increase Govt Spying and Ratchet-Up IPR Enforcement at Public Expense
IP Justice Comments to the U.S.T.R. on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). IP Justice firmly believes that ACTA’s costs to the public far outweigh any public benefit it might provide. The financial expense to tax-payers to fund ACTA would be enormous and steal scarce resources away from programs that deal with genuine public needs like providing education ...

4 Mar, 2008: Business, Governments See Momentum For ACTA, But EU Snags (IP-Watch)
"Critics Raise Doubts on Narrow ACTA Process. But some ACTA critics say that is not enough, and that developing countries and civil society groups not part of the inter-governmental discussions are at a disadvantage from the outset. "These talks have all been going on between a select handful of countries that will basically decide what the parameters of ...

19 Nov, 2007: IP Justice Report on 2007 Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
Links to Audio, Video, and Photos of IGF-Rio. Where 2007 IGF Excelled: High Quality of Independently Organized Workshops, World-Class Technical Capabilities, Offline Interactions & Networking Opportunities; But: Human Rights & Controversy Avoided, Glaring Lack of Gender Balance & Youth Voices, Last' Year's Speakers ...