@eLaw.com.hk 葉謝鄧律師行

Internet2

Internet2® is a consortium being led by 200 worldwide universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia, industry and government that fostered today's Internet in its infancy. The primary goals of Internet2 are to:

Create a leading edge network capability for the research community

Enable revolutionary Internet applications

Ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the broader Internet community

The JUCC (Joint Universities Computer Centre) has established a 45 Mbps Internet2 connection through HARNET (Hong Kong Academic and Research Network) to the United States. This Internet2 link is shared by all the 8 JUCC member institutions. After thorough testing, the connection was finally established in late Oct 2002.

The academics and researchers from the tertiary institutions in Hong Kong have alreadystarted many Internet2 collaborative research activities with their overseas peers. Examples include

Atmospheric research

Distance learning projects using videoconferencing technology

Bioinformatics databases

Grid Computing

Telemedicine

In addition, the HARNET Internet2 connection has been enhanced to support advanced networking features. For example, the next generation network protocol, IPv6, is currently supported together with IPv4. HARNET has also been enhanced to support IP multicast, which allows effective point-to-multipoint network communications.

More information on Internet2 can be found at: http://www.jucc.edu.hk/Internet2

Experimenting the use of Internet2 by academia

Internet2 is a consortium being led by 200 worldwide universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia, industry and government that fostered today's Internet in its infancy. The primary goals of Internet2 are to:

Create a leading edge network capability for the research community

Enable revolutionary Internet applications

Ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the broader Internet community

The JUCC (Joint Universities Computer Centre) has established a 45 Mbps Internet2 connection through HARNET (Hong Kong Academic and Research Network) to the United States. This Internet2 link is shared by all the 8 JUCC member institutions. After thorough testing, the connection was finally established in late Oct 2002.

The academics and researchers from the tertiary institutions in Hong Kong have alreadystarted many Internet2 collaborative research activities with their overseas peers. Examples include

Atmospheric research

Distance learning projects using videoconferencing technology

Bioinformatics databases

Grid Computing

Telemedicine

In addition, the HARNET Internet2 connection has been enhanced to support advanced networking features. For example, the next generation network protocol, IPv6, is currently supported together with IPv4. HARNET has also been enhanced to support IP multicast, which allows effective point-to-multipoint network communications.

More information on Internet2 can be found at: http://www.jucc.edu.hk/Internet2

Telephone message in grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character

A stalker may harass the victim by making persistent telephone calls. Such conduct amounts to harassment regardless of the content of the calls. If the content is obscene, threatening or objectionable, the harassment is all the greater. Harassment by oral or written communications may be caught by the following statutory offences:

a) sending any telephone message which is “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”(section 20 of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap 228);

b) sending any telephone message, which he knows to be false, for the purpose of “causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any other person”(section 20 of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap 228);

c) persistently making telephone calls without reasonable cause and for the purpose of “causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any other person”(section 20 of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap 228);

d) transmitting a “false distress, urgency, safety or identification signal” knowing it to be false or with intent to deceive(Telecommunication Ordinance (Cap 106), section 28);

Comments by the Law Reform Commission

These provisions are of assistance to a stalking victim because the stalker may not threaten him or her but may merely be obscene or vulgar, or merely cause him or her annoyance or inconvenience. Prosecuting under such provisions may deter non-violent stalkers from future harassing behaviour or defuse a stalking situation because the stalker now knows that his behaviour is illegal and the police are aware of his existence.

However, the penalty under the telephone statutes is inadequate to reflect the culpability of a persistent offender where his conduct has impaired the victim's health. All three offences in (a) to (c) above are summary offences carrying a maximum custodial sentence of only 2 months’ imprisonment.

The offences in (b) and (c) require the prosecution to prove that the accused made the calls “for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety” to any other person. Obsessional stalkers who harass their victims by making telephone calls may lack the requisite purpose; they may simply seek to negotiate with the victim or to force the victim to recommence a prior relationship. In any event, the offences fail to catch stalkers who harass their victims by sending a large volume of unwanted faxes and e-mail. Likewise, a stalker, who harasses his victim by sending messages to one or more Internet newsgroups revealing the victim's telephone numbers and residential address and at the same time soliciting sexual service in the name of the victim, would not be caught by these offences.