The American Civil Liberties Union, which vigilantly monitors attacks on free expression, does not oppose AOL's right to censor material provided through its service because AOL is a private company. Education National Crime Authority tracks down Australian paedophiles The Australian Federal Attorney General confirmed that the National Crime Authority has prepared a report on networks of paedophiles who are using the Internet as a means of communication and trafficking in child pornography. The report identifies networks of up to 5000 members, many of which are operating outside Australia. The report will be sent to State police ministers for further action to track down and prosecute paedophiles in Australia. The competition is open to children from 14 participating countries, including Australia.
Entrants have to draw a picture of somebody they admire taking part in the Winter Olympics.
The twenty-four winners will win a trip for themselves and a guardian to the 1998 Winter Olympics. The report also suggested that there are over 50 million American Internet users, a large increase over the estimated 36 million twelve months ago. In an effort to increase its market share at the expense of Netscape, Microsoft has struck deals with major PC manufacturers and Internet Service Providers to supply Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the default Internet browser for users. Since the first release of its browser, Microsoft has embarked on a massive marketing drive to break Netscape's dominance of the market. Despite cable providers and telecommunications companies like Telstra trying to woo customers with fast cable modem access, a new report suggests that simple analogue modems will remain the most popular form of Internet connection for most users.