CH7, SMH to pay $50k after identifying minor

Channel 7 and the Herald and Weekly Times have been ordered to each donate $50,000 to charity for identifying a child in a Children's Court proceeding.

The media organisations were prosecuted for identifying a teenage boy in reports aired and published in 2004.

Today the Court of Appeal dismissed their applications to appeal against conviction.

Channel 7 news director Steve Carey must also pay $2,000 to the Make A Wish Foundation.

Rudd to raise China Olympic censorship

China's human rights worse: Amnesty

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he will raise concerns with the Chinese Government about internet censorship during the Olympics.

Chinese authorities are blocking sensitive websites used by the international media and are using spyware to monitor internet use in hotels used by journalists and other visitors to the Games.

The chairman of the International Olympic Committee's media commission, Kevan Gosper, has complained that he was not informed of the decision and says his reputation has been damaged over the issue.

Mr Rudd has said he will discuss the issue when he visits Beijing for the Games.

"I'm quite concerned by them, I saw the reports, also the comments by Kevan Gosper," he said.

"My attitude to our friends in China is very simple, they should have nothing to fear by open digital links with the rest of the world during this important international celebration of sport."

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates meanwhile agrees that the controversy has "damaged" Mr Gosper.

"He clearly at some stage has been under the impression, and you showed me the bit of paper saying there would be restrictions," he said.

"He didn't know that, he's apologised.

"Others in the IOC say there are no restrictions. So we'll see. I'm finding it a little confusing."

Related:

China's human rights worse: Amnesty
Human rights group Amnesty International has released a scathing assessment of China's human rights record since it was awarded the right to host next month's Olympic Games seven years ago.

Dalai Lama arrives in Sydney
The president of the NSW Tibetan Community, Tenzin Gaden said he hoped the Dalai Lama's visit would raise awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people, who are under Chinese rule.

Thousands flock to Canberra ahead of torch relay
"Among all the communities, including the Chinese and Tibetan, those who live in Australia, I personally have had to deal with them in many, many years, they are strongly supportive of peace and harmony, because we are a great multicultural nation here."

China's human rights worse: Amnesty

Human rights group Amnesty International has released a scathing assessment of China's human rights record since it was awarded the right to host next month's Olympic Games seven years ago.

The report says that far from improving, China's human rights record has actually worsened.

Amnesty says when it won the right to host the games, the Chinese Government promised better human rights and greater freedom for the media.

But Amnesty's China researcher Mark Allison says this has not happened.

"We want China to live up to its promise of complete media freedom and allow full access to foreign journalists who are reporting in China," he said.

"We want them to release all the journalists, Chinese journalists, who've been imprisoned in violation of their human rights and also to stop its censorship of the domestic media, particularly the internet."

There has not been a reaction to the Amnesty report from China so far.

Related:

Beijing 2008: how much will you be allowed to see?



The spectacle of the opening ceremony. The competition in the pool. The drama in the glamorous stadium. All of this and more will be broadcast around Australia and the world when the Beijing Olympics get underway in just a few weeks time.

But what about the executions still being carried out by the Chinese Government? Or the ‘Re-education through Labour’ camps where hundreds of thousands of people are detained without charge or trial? What about the torture that is frequently reported? The repression of free speech?

Ye Guozhu was tried in secret and sentenced to four years in jail for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble”. His ‘crime’ was to apply for permission to protest after his home and restaurant were demolished to make way for the Olympics.

People like Ye Guozhu are silenced. You are not. Use your freedom to speak up for those who can’t and become a Human Rights Defender.

Human rights in China have actually deteriorated because of the Games. The authorities have locked up and forcibly removed people they think will threaten the image of stability and harmony.

This is the China the authorities do not want you to see. Please don’t let them pull the wool over your eyes. Get the full picture on China.

Help monitor China's internet censorship now!

China operates a sophisticated internet censorship regime and it is difficult to know exactly what information Chinese citizens can and can't access. The lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics has seen some previously inaccessible websites in China become wholly or partly accessible.

We have developed a method to test, monitor and report on changes in levels of censorship, to assist in pressuring the Chinese Government to not revert old ways once the Games are over. If you are travelling to China during 2008 you can register to become a Chinese Internet Censorship Index (CICI) tester. This simply involves testing access to specific websites. The sites chosen for testing are ones that a tourist or journalist might access, such as BBC news and flickr. We believe that participating in these tests presents no risk to visitors to China.

Those not travelling to China can also participate by displaying a CICI badge on their Facebook, MySpace, blog or website to help us spread the word.

Join global day of protest

To mark the 10-day countdown to the Beijing Olympics on 30 July, we will be holding a global, online day of protest against internet censorship in China. All registered websites will display a censorship simulation which will momentarily censor random words on webpages.

Join the protest by registering now

Updated 30 July 11:36am (AEST)

China to censor Internet during Games: official

China will censor the Internet used by foreign media during the Olympics, an organising committee official confirmed Wednesday, reversing a pledge to offer complete media freedom at the games.

"During the Olympic Games we will provide sufficient access to the Internet for reporters," said Sun Weide, spokesman for the organising committee.

He confirmed, however, that journalists would not be able to access information or websites connected to the Falungong spiritual movement which is banned in China.

Other sites were also unavailable to journalists, he said, without specifying which ones.

Journalists working at the main press centre for the Olympics also complained that they were unable to access Internet sites belonging to rights group Amnesty International, the BBC, Germany's Deutsche Welle, Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, and Taiwan newspaper Liberty Times.

"Our promise was that journalists would be able to use the Internet for their work during the Olympic Games," said Sun.

"So we have given them sufficient access to do that."

However, in the runup to the Games the Beijing Olympic organising committee, under pressure from the International Olympic Committee, has promised full access to the Internet for thousands of reporters expected here to cover the August 8-24 Games.

Falungong is a spiritual group banned by China as an "evil cult," and many of its members have been detained, amid claims that hundreds have died in custody due to torture, abuse and neglect.

Dalai Lama arrives in Sydney
The president of the NSW Tibetan Community, Tenzin Gaden said he hoped the Dalai Lama's visit would raise awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people, who are under Chinese rule.

Thousands flock to Canberra ahead of torch relay
"Among all the communities, including the Chinese and Tibetan, those who live in Australia, I personally have had to deal with them in many, many years, they are strongly supportive of peace and harmony, because we are a great multicultural nation here."

FOI review changes cautiously welcomed

Premier Anna Bligh and Attorney-General Kerry Shine release the FOI review report yesterday.

A State Government-commissioned review released yesterday makes 140 recommendations on how to improve public access to information.

The review recommended sweeping changes to FOI laws so more information is made available more quickly and cheaply.

Keeping Cabinet documents secret for 10 years, rather than 30, is one of the recommendations that Premier Anna Bligh will consider.

Ms Bligh says she is comfortable with the suggestions and supports the findings, but will hold further consultation before new laws are drafted later this year.

The Australian Press Council (APC) says media freedom in Queensland will only improve if there is a complete change of attitude towards FOI.

APC chairman Professor Ken McKinnon says the State Government's promise to be more open will be tested when it comes under pressure from journalists.

"When there's some potential scandal and the hungry dogs in the media are chasing and trying to get the information and they're not to be deterred very readily then we'll see whether a new culture will last or not," he said.

Lead the world

Michael Cope from the Council for Civil Liberties says it is up to MPs to lead a cultural shift.

"Politicians have to have the courage to implement these recommendations even though they may suffer some harm or embarrassment as a result," Mr Cope said.

Professor McKinnon agrees, saying it would be a big change for the Government.

"Given that it has a notorious reputation for wheeling things through Cabinet," he said.

University of Tasmania law lecturer Rick Snell says Queensland would lead the world in its approach to freedom of information if new recommendations are implemented.

"It will move Queensland to the forefront of freedom of information legislation in Australia," he said.

"It would also move to the forefront of freedom of information within the world, because these proposals give us a blueprint of how to move freedom of information into the next generation."

Net starts to overtake TV

A new survey of internet consumer trends has revealed that people with broadband connections spend more time on the net than watching television.

The survey compared the entertainment and information consumption patterns of 864 Australian broadband users with those of more than 3,600 users worldwide.

It found that Australians with broadband spend an average of 22 hours per week on the web. They spend 14 hours in front of the TV and only three hours playing computer games.

The survey was conducted for technology company Cisco and the report was written by Jay Shutter, managing director of research firm Illuminas.

Mr Shutter said the figures show the increasing importance of the net to get access to entertainment and information content, even if some of this access is at work.

"Twenty-two hours on the internet, if somebody's doing online gaming, if they're downloading, I mean whatever they're doing, they're spending a lot of time," Mr Shutter said.

"That really doesn't surprise me.

"When you add it up, it seems like 47 hours doing all this stuff during the week, that seems like a lot of time.

"But you know what, we are, globally, a media-driven society; we spend time watching news."

Mr Shutter also said multi-tasking adds to the amount of time people spend on the web and using technology.

"People will always have a web browser open at the same time that they're in their email application," he said.

"People definitely do multi-task, if they happen to be writing in a word processing document or spreadsheet or whatever they might to be doing, they're most definitely also probably surfing the web at the same time."

The survey also revealed that online videos (whether that be feature length movies or user-generated clips) and music were the two most popular types of content on the net, with nearly half of Australian broadband users surveyed using this type of content.

However, the survey did not ask respondents whether they were using web mail, social networking sites or written content.

According to the survey, the two main reasons people gave for using online content were that it was free and available when they want it.

Web still 'in its infancy' on 15th birthday

Tim Berners-Lee, the British inventor of the world wide web, says the web is still only in its infancy on the 15th anniversary of its effective launch.

Sir Tim said that the web, which started life in the CERN physics laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border in the early 1990s, could develop in unimaginable directions but above all should be a force for good.

"What's exciting is that people are building new social systems, new systems of review, new systems of governance," he said.

"My hope is that those will produce... new ways of working together effectively and fairly which we can use globally to manage ourselves as a planet."

The comments come on the anniversary of the announcement by CERN on April 30, 1993 that the world wide web could be used by everyone, after Sir Tim and a colleague persuaded their bosses to provide the program code for free.

The web is now the most commonly used network via which information is shared on the internet.

An estimated 165 million websites now exist.

"The web has been a tremendous tool for people to do a lot of good even though you can find bad stuff out there," said Sir Tim, adding that one day the web will put "all the data in the world" at the fingertips of every user.

But "we have only started to explore the possibilities," he said, adding that it was "still in its infancy".

Robert Cailliau, who worked with Sir Tim to open up the web, stressed that not all the bosses at CERN were in favour of making the web universally accessible.

"We had to convince them that this was going to take off and it was a really big thing. And therefore CERN couldn't hold on to it and the best thing to do was to give it away," he said.

He says competing technologies - such as Gopher developed at the University of Minnesota in the United States - were also offering a way of connecting documents on the internet.

"If we had put a price on it like the University of Minnesota had done with Gopher then it would not have expanded into what it is now," said Mr Cailliau.

"We would have had some sort of market share alongside services like AOL and Compuserve, but we would not have flattened the world."

Planned ASIO surveillance laws under fire

A Senate Inquiry has been told proposed amendments to electronic surveillance laws will allow ASIO and police to further intrude on people's privacy.

The inquiry sitting in Sydney today is looking at proposed changes to the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Bill.

This morning the secretary of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, Stephen Blanks, said the changes would allow police and security agencies to monitor communication equipment that had not been identified in a warrant.

"The police will be able to add devices to warrants without any independent scrutiny so that they can intercept telephone calls and other telecommunications without any independent oversight," he said.

Greens leader Bob Brown has slammed the proposed electronic surveillance laws.

Senator Brown says the bill allows surveillance authorities to spy on people who are not even being investigated.

"There shouldn't be a blank cheque which allows the agency to pick and choose which devices it's going to listen in to, and inevitably the surveillance of completely innocent people," he said.

Related:

Email spy powers 'a licence for witch hunts'
Mr O'Gorman says the existing legal framework provides enough protection against terrorism."We have passed so many laws in the name of fighting terrorism that we're at ... serious risk of losing the balance between giving the intelligence services sufficient powers to fight terrorism while at the same time keeping longstanding and cherished civil liberties," he said.

Push for overhaul of laws on terrorism
Anti-terrorism laws are just 'state sanctioned terrorism' aimed at 'innocent people' and using them as 'scapegoats' for Australia's 'alleged war on terror'. These laws were meant to project 'fear' in the community that we somehow need to be protected so that the government can wage war on innocent people for resources around the world unchallenged.

Email spy powers 'a licence for witch hunts'

Employers would be able to read their staff's emails under proposed new national security laws being considered by the Federal Government.

The new laws would give companies extra powers to monitor their computer networks to prevent cyber-attacks.

They would be allowed to check their staff's emails and internet communications without their consent.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the proposed changes would step up national security of Australia's computer networks.

"We want to make sure that they are safe from terrorist attack," she said.

"Part of doing that is making sure we've got the right powers to ensure that we can tell if there's something unusual going on in the system.

"So it's a national security move, not a move about an unseemly interest in people's private emails."

A spokesman for the Attorney-General says cyber-threats are growing and that privacy experts and unions will be consulted about the proposed laws.

Dale Clapperton, from the internet-rights watchdog Electronic Frontiers Australia, says it is an over-reaction.

"Our concern is, that if given these powers, they're more likely to be used for eavesdropping and corporate witch hunts rather than protecting Australia from some kind of cyber attack."

The head of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, Terry O'Gorman, says tighter laws to protect Australia against cyber terrorism threats are not needed.

Mr O'Gorman says the existing legal framework provides enough protection against terrorism.

"We have passed so many laws in the name of fighting terrorism that we're at ... serious risk of losing the balance between giving the intelligence services sufficient powers to fight terrorism while at the same time keeping longstanding and cherished civil liberties," he said.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis says he is concerned about giving companies the power "to act in effect as a quasi-law enforcement or investigative authority."

Quote: This is definitely a move about an unseemly interest in people's private emails. Any person who wants to look at another persons mail is invading that persons personal privacy. Any law that intends to give another person that right is draconian and an invasion of that persons privacy. Shame on you Gillard.

Push for overhaul of laws on terrorism
[However anti-terrorism laws are just 'state sanctioned terrorism' aimed at 'innocent people' and using them as 'scapegoats' for Australia's 'alleged war on terror'. These laws were meant to project 'fear' in the community that we somehow need to be protected so that the government can wage war on innocent people for resources around the world unchallenged.]