For individual websites with any form of participation, whether it has comments or full social media elements, the ethical limits users are allowed to cross should be made clear. For anyone who uses a dedicated server to host other websites, the same is also true, especially if you have a small reseller hosting company with limited access to legal counsel.

Issues like tobacco, firearms, alcohol, gambling, pornography, and racially offensive terminology are legal in many countries but may or may not be what you want to allow on your sites. As a private individual or company with ownership over your web space, you have every right to place limits on what can and cannot be done or said by users on your sites. This may even be solely for the protection of your commercial interests rather than political or moral motivation. Certain controversial elements can put your site or server in danger of malware attacks and negative media. Whatever standards you set, make them clear and be firm.

But if you are an individual or someone running a controversial website, having your name out there for everyone to see, might make you uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Internet rules govern that the contact information on your domain be current (i.e. your present address, reachable phone number, etc.).

There are some companies, including many registrars that offer domain privacy for an additional fee. It is, however, unclear how much privacy they actually provide. Some of these companies have been known to hand over contact information of registrants with little persuasion from law enforcement or other government entities in various countries. If you absolutely need privacy and have no other options, the best thing you can do is not use your home address, phone number, or your primary email address.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

One strand of thinking would say that there is really no reason to bother with such formalities on a small website and that only big businesses that collect a lot of user data need to be concerned with it. On the other hand, many small websites still collect user data, particularly small online stores, and those stores are as vulnerable to lawsuits as any major corporation.

There are many websites and free services that offer privacy policy generators and terms of service templates. If for no other reason, having those statements on your website provides clarify if a user is ever unsure about your purpose and what you do with their information.

Photo: Flickr

Fortunately, Google isn’t in the habit yet of collecting and analyzing all our personal data. But in my opinion, we should be wary.

Photo | Flickr

David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated in a letter to the government agency:

…the ability of cloud computing services to collect and centrally store increasing amounts of consumer data, combined with the ease with which such centrally stored data may be shared with others, create a risk that larger amounts of data may be used by entities in ways not originally intended or understood by consumers.

The discussion is slated for January 28. The security and reliability of cloud computing have been under consumer scrutiny for some time. The FTC is also concerned about the wide amount of data social networking sites have access to and how it might pose a threat to consumer privacy.

Source | Data Center Knowledge

WHOIS is essentially a giant phonebook for the web. Enter any domain, and it will report the name of its owner as well his/her address, telephone number, and email. This publicly available data makes it easy to contact a website owner, but also opens the door for unwanted solicitation.

In my case, I receive at least two pieces of junk mail per week in my mailbox related to one of my domain names. I’ve also received phone calls from advertisers asking if I would like to buy their products for my business, using a domain as my company name.

To avoid this hassle, nearly all registrars offer WHOIS privacy protection for a nominal fee. This useful service hides your name and phone number, but includes a special email address where people can contact you if they need to. For me, the added cost to my yearly domain registration fee is worth the peace of mind privacy protection provides.

Photo | melodi2

The law was enacted with the goal of protecting Internet users and to fight child pornography online. To help support their case, the bill’s sponsors gave the example of John Zuccarini, a notorious typosquatter who faced several lawsuits for his cyber crime. However, those behind the lawsuits were unsure if the name– obtained from the WHOIS database– was even accurate.

A number of organizations, including the ACLU, have criticized the law for being over ambiguous and violating civil liberties, most notably the right to privacy. While I think it is important to keep the Internet honest, I don’t see how this law is doing much good. It does nothing to impose regulation at the registrar level and is designed to be enforced after the fact. As in the case of Zuccarini, even if false contact data is provided, how can the authorities track down the real registrant?

According to one estimate, 10% of all domain registrations are under false names. That seems like an awfully high number. My guess is most of these people do not know about WHOIS privacy services and are simply trying to protect their identities. Perhaps this situation would be better handled by registrars. A much more effective deterrent would be to force registrars to verify domain contact data and then purge registrations if the details do not match up. But of course, nothing will ever be that easy.

Sources | JCIL & iBLIS

The new video site, aptly called The Video Bay, will rely on HTML 5 video technology. It is currently in “beta extreme” and only hosts a handful of videos. Users wishing to view the videos will need versions of the latest web browsers, such as Firefox 3.5, that support the new video embedding. Once installed, a user can view the videos without the need for third-party plugins, such as Adobe Flash Player.

A Swedish court ruled that the Founders of The Pirate Bay were guilty of copyright violation, fined them $3.6 million dollars and sentenced them to a year in prison. The case is currently under appeal. In response to this, The Pirate Bay, which is still up and running, created a privacy service that allows subscribers to share files anonymously through security encryption.

Source: Information Week
Photo: Flickr

Ultimately, if a year passes without a cease of pirating activities, Ofcom would have the authority to order ISPs to cap the user’s Internet usage. The film and music industries around the world has long called for stricter measures to stop piracy, particularly with the advent of BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing system without any centralized servers. The law still has to pass through Parliament, and there will undoubtedly be serious concerns about privacy.

This move is part of a larger £200 million plan being initiated to connect everyone in the UK to high-speed Internet access by 2012. In the United States, bandwidth capping has been met with staunch opposition, forcing service providers to change their planned restrictions. A law is now moving through U.S. Congress that would place regulations on capping. France has announced plans to completely ban Internet pirates from access after three offenses. In Sweeden, owners of the popular torrent sharing site The Pirate Bay were convicted of copyright infringement and sentenced to prison, pending appeal.

Source: Wall Street Journal
Photo: Flickr

With this new website, the EFF gives users the ability to see changes in policies via a real-time feed, including side-by-side comparisons of the agreements with the changes highlighted.

‘Terms of Service’ policies on websites define how Internet businesses interact with you and use your personal information,” the EFF said in a statement. “But most web users don’t read these policies–or understand that the terms are constantly changing.”

Usually, a website will send mass emails to their users whenever a policy change takes effect, but most users do not bother to read the often complicated and lengthy documents. Earlier this year, Facebook made a change to its policy that allowed it to use deleted user content whenever and for as long as it wanted. When users protested, the company backed down from the change. The EFF hopes to put other major Internet services under the same scrutiny to ensure user rights are protected.

Source: CNET
Photo: Flickr