Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The decision by Spamhaus not to appear in court to fight against the email marketer e360insight was a disappointment to all of us that detest the unsolicited email junk that devalues the email system that the online world has come to rely upon for communications.
Spamhaus is a non-profit organization that
performs a valuable service in helping to fight spam. However, in the
free world at least, no-one is above the law.
By thumbing its nose at the US court system, Spamhaus conveys the
impression that the organization believes it is above the law and
answerable to no-one. By not appearing in court to fight the charges
levelled by e360insight, Spamhaus has not only given a victory to an
organization it believes is a spammer, it has put other good
organizations in a difficult position.
Faced with a no-show, no-contest from Spamhaus, the US District Court
judge had no option but to grant in favour of e360insight. Spamhaus may
think, as is fashionable in some sections of Europe and UK society,
that it is justified in thumbing its nose at US authority. However, in
so doing it has placed ICANN, which is still answerable to the US
Government, and its Canadian-based ISP Tucows in difficult positions.
Anticipating that it may at some stage receive a US judicial order to
shut down the Spamhaus domain, ICANN has issued a statement claiming
that it does not have such powers. If push came to shove, however, that
claim in itself could end up getting tested in a court. Then of course
the last thing ISP Tucows needs is to find itself in a legal wrangle.
All that aside, Spamhaus has missed an opportunity to prove that its
characterization of e360insight as a spammer was correct and, if so,
put the organization out of business.
Finally, there is of course the irony that Spamhaus in ignoring the US
judicial system is employing the same argument as many of the world's
illegal internet offenders who claim to be outside the jurisdiction of
the nation that comprises their target audience.
The internet cannot afford to do without Spamhaus. It is one of the
good guys fighting the good fight. So it should start behaving like
one, appeal the US court's decision and have its day in
court.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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