Two stories from government today on the Internet, with conflicting standards between EU nations on filtering and violations by none other than a United Nations agency towards the UN blocks on tech trade with Iran and North Korea.
Germany ruled this week 'Notice and Stay Down' means Internet service providers must block the materials appearing on their websites if one is received. Thus, in Germany, it is the ISP's responsibility to block the offending materials. France, however, took a different view weeks ago, saying it was the content's owners, not the ISP, who bears the responsibility of removing the offending materials. France determined an ISP would have to spent a disproportionate amount of time tracking down files which may have been uploaded to the systems involved. Google won that suit in France due to this ruling. For more information, check out http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120719/07482519760/french-german-courts-disagree-whether-internet-companies-need-to-filter.shtml
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization has been caught transfering technology to both Iran and North Korea, despite bans against doing so. The United States is now investigating how the agency, which claims its rules have changed, could get away with trying to transfer computers to North Korea. The US is also investigating breaches with Iran's tech trade ban implemented due to their refusal to allow inspections of their centrifuges refining uranium. Again, 'standard computer information technology' was transferred to Iran despite a specific ban against such a transfer. For more information, check out http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-04/u-s-probes-un-s-wipo-over-projects-with-sanctioned-iran.html