[LINK] Conroy abandons mandatory ISP filtering

[rene]

On Fri, 9 Nov 2012 13:52:49 +1000, rene wrote:
....
> On Fri, 9 Nov 2012 13:24:34 +1100, Michael Skeggs mike at bystander.net
> wrote: [...]
>>...
>> Do you know what happens practically, if a picture is uploaded to
>> mySpace (for example) and added to the list?
>> Presumably there must be some notification to hostmasters as we
>> aren't seeing the big social networking and image hosting sites
>> flicker in and out of the DNS system?

> I don't know, but my guess is... [etc]...

Since then, my further research has turned up web pages/documents that I 
hadn't found in the past. Now, it appears *almost* certain that some types 
of sites do not get added to the Interpol blacklist, and in some particular 
circumstances (e.g. obviously hacked sites), hostmasters are notified of 
blacklisting at pretty much the same time as their sites are added to the 
Interpol blacklist.

I say "almost certain" because the above is not said on the Interpol pages 
about their "worst of" list. However, such statements are made on pages 
hosted on the CIRCAMP Project site, but are not findable from the CIRCAMP 
home page ( http://circamp.eu/ ), only via search engines (possibly due to 
a scripting error on the CIRCAMP site, see later herein).

The relevance of CIRCAMP is that I've become 99% sure that the Interpol 
organisation does not itself add any domains to the list, it merely 
compiles and distributes the Interpol "worst of" list, from a list of 
"worst of" sites that are sent to Interpol by about 5 EU police agency 
participants in the EU CIRCAMP blocking list project.

Re what types of sites are put on the blacklist, an undated page, titled 
"CIRCAMP overview", found via search engine, says:
	"In cases where a hosting company has been taken advantage of, like free 
photo hosting companies – CIRCAMP members will inform the 
owner/administrator of that domain that they are hosting child sexual abuse 
material. In most cases this will result in the removal of the files very 
quickly. Such services are not blocked as the implications for legal users 
and services would be substantial. If the domain containing child abuse 
material appears to be a legal domain or home page/company page of some 
sort, and is hosting this material without the knowledge of the responsible 
owner, the contact person of the domain is contacted and made aware of the 
hacking or abuse they have been victims of. The domain will normally be 
blocked until the contact person of that domain answers or contacts us, 
informing that the child abuse content has been removed. Our experience is 
that old domains that are no longer being updated and/or maintained are 
abused, due to the fact that the software or methods used to produce them 
are old and insecure, making it possible to hack and abuse them into 
hosting illegal material."
http://circamp.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11:circamp-o
verview&catid=1:project&Itemid=2

I *think* that the above undated CIRCAMP page is *probably* current and  
supposed to be linked from a horizontal menu near the the top of:
http://circamp.eu/ 
However, in Firefox and Opera, what I see in a probable menu position is an 
error message: "Warning: Parameter 1 to modMainMenuHelper::buildXML() 
expected to be a reference, value given in 
/home/circamp1/public_html/libraries/joomla/cache/handler/callback.php on 
line 99"

I'd be interested to know whether persons using e.g. MS IE see that error 
message or something else, such as a menu (although it looks to me like a 
php scripting error rather than a browser related problem).

There is also an undated CIRCAMP FAQ page, that is probably supposed to be 
linked from e.g. a menu on the CIRCAMP home page, 
http://www.circamp.eu/index.php?view=category&cid=1:general&option=com_quic
kfaq&Itemid=9

The last Q&A in the 3 page FAQ states that: 
"...Well known domains, like yahoo.com, google.com, flickr.com and others 
are not put on any access blocking lists. ..." 
http://www.circamp.eu/index.php?view=items&cid=1%3Ageneral&id=25%3AWould+no
t+blocking+yahoo.com+or+flickr.com+because+of+one+image+have+huge+consequen
ces%3F&option=com_quickfaq&Itemid=9

In conclusion, imo, Interpol and Circamp ought, in terms of provision of 
information to the public, "get their act together" much better, such that 
it would become much easier for concerned members of public to find 
out/know what roles Interpol and Circamp play in the production of the 
"Interpol" list, make 100% clear on the Interpol site whether or not 
Circamp policy and procedures re adding domains absolutely always apply to 
adding to the Interpol list, and Circamp should fix apparent scripting 
errors on the site.

Failing that, DBCDE or AFP should produce and publish pages that explain 
which overseas agencies are responsible for what in relation to how the 
Interpol list is produced and distributed and whose policies apply in 
relation to additions (although one wonders whether they actually know, but 
if not they should find out).

More clarity/transparency seems to me very likely to reduce some, 
potentially many, people's concerns about use of the so-called Interpol 
list by AU ISPs.

Irene