Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the most recent edition
of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online! Headline from today's news include:
".cn" becomes third largest national domain name | Domain Name Industry
Threatened, says Internet Commerce Association | What Prevents IPv6
Deployment in Europe by Patrick Vande Walle | CitizenHawk TypoAlert:
Cybersquatting Continues to Plague Online Kids? Sites | DotAsia
start-up now set for September 2007


The domain name news is supported by auDA.


Don't forget to check out my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings.


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".cn" becomes third largest national domain name | Domain Name Industry Threatened, says Internet Commerce Association | What Prevents IPv6 Deployment in Europe by Patrick Vande Walle | CitizenHawk TypoAlert: Cybersquatting Continues to Plague Online Kids? Sites | DotAsia start-up now set for September 2007

The Domains Of The Day - making millions from names
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/b4040059.htm

za: Domain name rules ?are working?
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A491768

European concerns grow over IPv6 migration
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39287566,00.htm

More IPv6 Warnings on Why Organizations Must Plan Transition Now
http://www.circleid.com/posts/ipv6_warnings_organizations_transition_now/

Preparing for the next generation - IPv6
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/netw/99FE35D716136F33CC2572FA00832426
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200706181133/upgrade_of_web_addresses_to_handle_more_domain_names

IPv6 network-management tools still lacking
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/netw/C79BD94BE9BFEF07CC2572FA00834D2A

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RESEARCH PAPERS
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Domain Names, Trademarks, and the First Amendment: Searching for Meaningful Boundaries by Margreth Barrett (University of California, San Francisco - Hastings College of the Law)
This article argues that domain names for forum web sites are comparable to the titles of expressive works, and points out how existing principles defining and governing the regulation of non-commercial speech should apply when mark owners challenge incorporation of their marks into domain names for gripe sites and other forum sites that target the mark owner. Unfortunately, courts have generally ignored the Supreme Court's definition of noncommercial speech in this context, and the First Amendment implications of prohibiting the defendants' use. In particular, courts are equating commercial speech with the Lanham Act's recently expanded commercial use requirement. While the commercial use requirement has served in the past to ensure that Lanham Act protection is consistent with First Amendment principles, its recent expansion has seriously undermined its effectiveness to do so.
The article also examines the interface of First Amendment protection with the Anticybersquatter Consumer Protection Act, focusing particularly on how the courts are construing and applying the forth and fifth factors that the Act lays out for determining whether a defendant has the requisite bad faith intent to profit from the plaintiff's mark. The article notes several concerns, including a tendency of courts to undermine the purpose of the fourth factor's safe harbor for noncommercial fair use by: 1) relying on recent expansion of the Lanham Act's commercial use requirement in infringement and dilution cases to find that the defendant's forum site use was commercial; 2) focusing on the defendant's intent to harm the plaintiff, rather than his intent to profit; and 3) defining profit to include non-financial interests, such as the defendant's personal satisfaction from airing his criticism of the plaintiff. The article also points out pitfalls in the courts' construction
 of the fifth factor, and suggests alternative constructions that are more consistent with First Amendment precedent.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=928261

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GOVERNANCE
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US to China: we will win the cyberwars
China is making a bid to become the dominant player in cyberspace, forcing the United States to increase its capabilities in the area of network attack, the US military has said. A senior US Air Force commander charged with heading up a new 'cyber command' unit told reporters: "They're the only nation that has been quite that blatant about saying, 'We're looking to do that.'"
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1932053.ece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/15/wcyber115.xml

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DOMAIN NAMES
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The Domains Of The Day
How two Boston entrepreneurs are making millions from names as simple as chocolate.com: Through their company, Internet Real Estate Group, Andrew Miller and Michael Zapolin have made a career of buying underappreciated domain names on the cheap and turning them into multimillion-dollar properties. Instead of flooding a site with pay-per-click ads and flipping the domain for a quick profit, they're trying to develop real businesses that will sell for much more. They own 17 domains, ranging from software.com to relationship.com, with a closely guarded list of several others they would like to buy?if the price is right.
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/b4040059.htm

za: Domain name rules ?are working? 
The inflexibility of two companies which were fighting over the brand name Mr Plastic has been resolved in the first verdict handed down under new rules for quelling local internet address disputes. A clash for the cyber address mrplastic.co.za had reached melting point between Mr Plastic and Mr Plastic Mining & Promotional Goods, but was resolved in less than two months under the new arbitration.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A491768
http://allafrica.com/stories/200706140172.html

European concerns grow over IPv6 migration
European businesses are being held back from migrating to IPv6 due to the way IP addresses are being allocated, according to the director of IT at Nominet. ... However, concerns have been raised about the way IPv6 addresses are currently allocated by RIPE and it appears that this situation will not change for at least four months. Nominet's IT director Jay Daley indicated that, unlike ARIN, RIPE was allowing only ISPs access to IPv6 addresses, leaving enterprises out in the cold. "We, for example, have our own IPv4 address allocation from RIPE, but we are unable to get an IPv6 allocation because their current allocation policy means we must be an ISP who gives addresses out to at least 200 customers. We don't give addresses to customers ? we are an enterprise, in the same way that a large enterprise might want their own address space for local management of internet connectivity."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39287566,00.htm

More IPv6 Warnings on Why Organizations Must Plan Transition Now
The IPv6 Portal reports on a paper titled "The Choice: IPV4 Exhaustion or Transition to IPv6", written by Jordi Palet, warning that organizations must start planning for IPv6 now or "be aware that some already have, and you are beginning to be at a disadvantage." From the report: "This is going to affect the business of existing ISPs and to a greater extent, at a certain point in time, the creation of new ISPs. As a consequence if may have a deeper impact in developing regions (Africa, Asia and Latin America/Caribbean) where the penetration of the Internet is not yet so widespread."
http://www.circleid.com/posts/ipv6_warnings_organizations_transition_now/

Preparing for the next generation - IPv6
The new IPv6 is a long-anticipated upgrade to the internet?s primary protocol, IPv4. It has a 128-bit addressing scheme that lets it support an order-of-magnitude more devices connected directly to the internet than IPv4?s 32-bit addressing. It also boasts autoconfiguration, end-to-end security and other enhancements. Computerworld contacted several leading network-management vendors, and here?s what they had to say about their efforts to meet a mid-2008 US federal government deadline to support the new protocol.
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/netw/99FE35D716136F33CC2572FA00832426
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200706181133/upgrade_of_web_addresses_to_handle_more_domain_names

IPv6 network-management tools still lacking
When it comes to network management software that supports IPv6, buyers should be wary. An increasing number of network monitoring and management tools support IPv6, but these products often don?t include the full set of features available in IPv4. And few commercial offerings provide the extra capabilities needed for IPv6, an upgrade to the internet?s primary protocol that has a new addressing scheme, built-in autoconfiguration and end-to-end security, among other features.
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/netw/C79BD94BE9BFEF07CC2572FA00834D2A

Countries worldwide turn to Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention (news release)
To fight ICT-based crimes like child pornography, money laundering, fraud and terrorism through the internet, countries worldwide are turning to the Council of Europe?s innovative Cybercrime Convention, which includes provisions for a 24 hours per day, 7 days per week online crime-fighting network and facilitates public-private partnerships.
https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1150107
http://egovmonitor.com/node/11886

NATO says urgent need to tackle cyber attack
NATO defense ministers agreed on Thursday that fast action was needed to tackle the threat of "cyber attacks" on key Internet sites after Estonia suffered a wave of assaults on its computer networks last month.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKJOH45001020070614
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/15/cyber_war_screaming_fist/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070614.wgtnato0614/BNStory/

us: Homeland Security to detail IT attacks
Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will hold a hearing on Capitol Hill on June 20 to discuss the findings of an investigation into the agency's own problems in battling electronic attacks and IT systems intrusions. In a hearing labeled "Hacking the Homeland: Investigating Cyber-security Vulnerabilities at the Department of Homeland Security," officials including DHS chief information officer Scott Charbo and Gregory Wilshusen, director of information security issues at the Government Accountability Office are scheduled to detail their findings in response to requests from Congress to test the agency's IT security defenses.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/15/Homeland-Security-on-the-hot-seat_1.html

Cyberattack Fools You Once, Evades Detection
Cyberattackers have adapted the ability of Web sites to analyse the demographics of site visitors in order to create a new breed of drive-by malware downloads that defy detection. These so-called "evasive attacks," as labeled by Web security appliance maker and security researcher Finjan in its most recent Web security trends report, are especially sneaky because they infect visitors only once before fading into obscurity.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199904381

RIPE Community Requests that ICANN Signs DNS Root
During the RIPE 54 Meeting in Tallinn, Estonia on 7 -11 May, the RIPE DNS Working Group agreed that a formal request should be made to ICANN for it to sign the DNS root as soon as possible.
http://ripe.net/news/icann-root-signing.html
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/6/15/3022582.html

Combating Cyber-Squatting And Other Domain Name Maladies: An Overview Of UDRP Proceedings
Businesses that are working to establish an easily identifiable Internet presence oftentimes utilize their trademarks in their domain names in order to better direct customers to their website venues. Unfortunately, disputes many times occur when a business learns that some other individual or entity is using that enterprise's trademark or something very similar in such a way so as to confuse consumers. Moreover, some businesses have ended up having to deal with so-called cyber-squatters, individuals or businesses who register domain names with hopes of reselling them at a premium price. There are protocols and procedures in place through which some of these disputes can be resolved in a more timely manner.
http://www.article-warehouse.com/Article/Combating-Cyber-Squatting-And-Other-Domain-Name-Maladies--An-Overview-Of-UDRP-Proceedings/122451

NATO says urgent need to tackle cyber attack
NATO defense ministers agreed on Thursday that fast action was needed to tackle the threat of "cyber attacks" on key Internet sites after Estonia suffered a wave of assaults on its computer networks last month.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKJOH45001020070614
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/15/cyber_war_screaming_fist/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070614.wgtnato0614/BNStory/

us: Homeland Security to detail IT attacks
Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will hold a hearing on Capitol Hill on June 20 to discuss the findings of an investigation into the agency's own problems in battling electronic attacks and IT systems intrusions. In a hearing labeled "Hacking the Homeland: Investigating Cyber-security Vulnerabilities at the Department of Homeland Security," officials including DHS chief information officer Scott Charbo and Gregory Wilshusen, director of information security issues at the Government Accountability Office are scheduled to detail their findings in response to requests from Congress to test the agency's IT security defenses.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/15/Homeland-Security-on-the-hot-seat_1.html

Rethinking Domain Name Searches
Over the past year, Tucows has given a lot of thought to how customers search for domain names. The rising popularity of domains, combined with the proliferation of the domain name ?aftermarket?, has made the task of finding the right name much more difficult than, say, four or five years ago. And to be honest, it doesn?t look like finding the right name is going to get any less challenging any time soon. In response, Tucows introduced a couple of features late last year designed to improve the quality of search results returned to customers. They unveiled their Name Suggestion feature, which uses technology from domain search gurus DomainsBot, to display available domain names related to a query based on keyword popularity, domain extension, word relevance and more.
http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/11/3013937.html

A new domain portfolio and monetization management tool
At the targeted TRAFFIC conference, which starts on Tuesday in New York City, Modern Gigabyte (the makers of the hosting billing software ModernBill), will be announcing the launch of their dnZoom tool. The system is a full hosted solution for domain monetization and management.
http://www.domaineditorial.com/archives/2007/06/17/a-new-domain-portfolio-and-monetization-management-tool/

How Cameroon Auctioned Its Internet Namespace
Early in August 2006, the Internet was awash with reports of a ?typo-squatting? scheme involving Cameroon. According to these reports, ?Internet authorities in in the West African nation that owns the .cm top level domain (TLD) have been accused of authorizing a DNS wildcard that has the effect of redirecting all accidental .cm traffic instead of returning an error.? In layman?s terms, Cameroon Internet authorities were redirecting all misspelled .com addressed (e.g. www.dibussi.cm instead of www.dibussi.com ) to an advert-based website (agoga.com), where they were making millions of dollars in pay-per-click advert revenue (Pay-per-click is an advertising system where advertisers pay an agreed amount for each click delivered to their site).
http://www.africanpath.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogEntryID=1060

NameDrive Opens Park & Sell to All Members
NameDrive has always been more than a domain parking service. It offers a number of ways for domain owners to monetize, develop, and sell their domains. When the service launched it offered ?Park & Sell?, which allowed domainers to park domains and then receive offers to purchase the domains for up to 96x monthly revenue. But the service wasn?t streamlined and there were limited buyers. When I inquired about becoming a buyer NameDrive said they weren?t accepting new buyers. I speculated that this was so they would have less competition when buying. But now NameDrive is opening up the Park & Sell service to let any NameDrive member buy domains ? and it?s free.
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/15/namedrive-opens-park-sell-to-all-members/

Flipping Domains For Insane Profits ? The 'where' And The 'how'
This is a quick way to make money online easily and quickly, if you are desperate for cash. It is like buying a piece of real estate and reselling it for a profit, only on a smaller scale of course. But the concept is similar and it is called flipping domains. You should take some time to think about which domain you want to flip, then head over to a domain registrar to register the domain. Some reputable registrars include GoDaddy and Namecheap. You need to go with a domain name that has value and that people are willing to pay for. Look for rising trends on the Internet and see if you can tap into the craze by flipping a domain name.
http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Flipping-Domains-For-Insane-Profits---The--Where--And-The--How-/235004

UTube.com Trespass Claims Against YouTube Dismissed
You've got to feel sorry for the folks at Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, whose Web site is hosted at www.utube.com. Prior to October 2005, they got a few thousands visits a month to their site. After YouTube came on line at www.YouTube.com, that number started to climb, and now the pipe company's site gets 70,000 visitors a day. Apparently most of the visitors are looking for online videos, not used tube and pipe equipment. The increase in traffic has caused the utube.com site to crash, and the company's Web hosting costs have gone from less than $100 a month to more than $2,500 a month.
http://brownraysman.typepad.com/technology_law_update/2007/06/utubecom_trespa.html

au: Short Guide to au-domains
More than 700,000 au-domains are registered. How can a company or private person register an au-domain? Since July 1 2002 there are new rules for au-domains: The net.au and com.au-domains are still restricted to Australian Companies, but also a foreign company licenced to trade in Australia, an owner or applicant of a Trade Mark are entiteled to com.au-domains. The foreign company must not have an Australian Trade Mark: an international trade mark valid in Australia is sufficient.
http://verivox.de/News/ArticleDetails.asp?aid=53761&pm=1
http://www.pressebox.de/pressemeldungen/secura/boxid-111011.html

Lesley Cowley, CEO of Nominet Awarded First Woman of Technology in the 2007 First Women Awards
Judges acknowledge contribution in helping shape the global debate surrounding Internet standards and her active support of women within her own organisation.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/digitalAssets/20247_First_Women_Award.pdf
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=4107

Register.com Launches Fully-Integrated Custom Web Design Service for Small Businesses (news release)
Register.com announced its new, end-to-end web design service called ?Build My Website-Custom?.
http://domaininformer.com/news/press/070614Registercom.html

Oversee.net Completes Acquisition of SnapNames (news release)
Oversee.net, a leading technology-driven online marketing solutions company, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of SnapNames, the operator of the largest available source of expired and deleting domain names.
http://domaininformer.com/news/press/070615Oversee.html

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OTHER INTERNET NEWS
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The Germans get their Flickrs in a twist over 'censorship'
Initially, there were few overt signs of Flickr's change of status following its takeover by Yahoo. Yahoo closed its own photo-hosting service. Then Flickr users were required to acquire a Yahoo ID to access their accounts. But, overall, things continued as before; until a few days ago, when Flickr users in Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong and Korea noted that they were unable to alter one of their account settings: the 'safe search' option, which allows them to specify whether they want searches for images to filter out certain types of content. Under the new dispensation, Flickr users in these territories could only find images that had been flagged as 'safe' - which meant, as one disgruntled protester put it, 'only flowers and landscapes for Germans'. Nothing irritates internet users like censorship, whether real or apparent, and a revolt spread through the Flickr community.
... The Flickr firestorm is just the latest refutation of the enduring myth that the internet is uncontrollable. While technologically adept users can usually find anything they're looking for, the vast majority of the internet's 1.1 billion users are at the mercy of local laws, ordinances and customs. Flickr users in Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong and Korea are finding themselves at the sharp end of this, because Yahoo needs to conform to local laws if it is to continue to trade in those jurisdictions. The same forces explain why Google provides only a restricted search service to its Chinese users. Libertarianism is all very well when you're a hacker. But business is business.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2104594,00.html

Yahoo! defends its record on human rights in China
Yahoo! has defended its record on human rights in China, and said it was asking the US government to challenge censorship in the communist country. In remarks that damped down a potential shareholder revolt over the company's policies in China, the Yahoo! founder, Jerry Yang, said it was working with human rights groups to draw up some principles on freedom of expression, and had been actively lobbying the US government for help in fighting censorship.
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2656170.ece

au: Net savvy school children should be left to teach themselves
Regional schoolchildren are to going to be among those to benefit the most from a new education paradigm being explored by teachers across Western Australia. Marc Prensky is a computer programmer and author who has been speaking to Western Australian teachers about the impact of digital communications on school education. He says there's "a huge opportunity for kids to get world culture through the internet".
http://abc.net.au/greatsouthern/stories/s1950564.htm

au: Three-year-old children 'copying pornography'
There was child sex abuse in every Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory visited by a high-profile inquiry, involving children as young as three. Releasing the inquiry report in Darwin today, co-chair Pat Anderson said young children were being exposed to pornography and then later imitating the actions with each other. They were also sexually abused by both indigenous and non-indigenous adults, she said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21910717-2,00.html

au: No money available to chase internet pedophiles
Pedophiles preying on children over the internet are going unpunished because state and federal police do not have the resources to investigate. The Daily Telegraph has obtained a series of letters from Federal Police agents asking NSW Police to take over cases because they do not have the staff to investigate pedophiles.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21923386-662,00.html

us: Get out of my Facebook, parents told
For decades, American parents have made their children cringe by performing arrhythmic gyrations on the dance floor at weddings, or by vain attempts to deploy teenagers' slang. Now they are embarrassing their offspring in cyberspace as well, thanks to an internet invasion which has seen adults taking over the social websites which their children once called their own.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/17/wface117.xml

Facebook - a thoroughly modern addiction
'Matthew d'Ancona," the email said, "added you as a friend on Facebook. We need you to confirm that you are, in fact, friends with Matthew." ROTFLMAO, as we say on the internet. Even the editor of The Spectator has now joined Facebook. Like many adult crazes, Facebook is for children: a "social networking" website where you post photos, big up your fave pop stars, and, through the links to other people's pages, snoop around stalking your exes and spying on your friends.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/06/16/do1604.xml

us: Who's afraid of bloggers? Scooter Libby, apparently by Gal Beckerman
The lawyers for Scooter Libby made a bizarre argument - at least to my ears - for why the letters attesting to Libby's character, written to the judge in his perjury case, should be kept out of the public eye: "the real possibility that these letters, once released, would be published on the Internet and their authors discussed, even mocked, by bloggers."
http://cjr.org/the_kicker/whos_afraid_of_bloggers.php

Dealing With Unlawful Content by Michael Geist
Michael Geist spoke recently on an exceptionally challenging panel on Illegal Content and Lawful Access at the 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit.  The panel, which included passionate (and disturbing) presentations on child exploitation and online hate, was bookended by Pam Dinsmore from Rogers (presenting the ISP perspective) and himself. The slides from his brief presentation are posted on his site, available from the link below. The gist is that these issues are complicated and one size does not fit all.  He tried to identify some core principles that cut across all issues that include: where possible offline=online; judge made decisions/oversight; transparency; accountability and err on the side of free speech. Admittedly, no real solutions, but a better sense from the panel of how difficult it is to find the right solution.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2019/125/

Aussie piracy 'mastermind' facing sentence
A NSW man will be sentenced in the US this week for his role as mastermind of a global software piracy gang.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/16/1182018928123.html

Chinese Internet addict kills mother over cybercafe money
A teenage boy in southern China, "heavily addicted" to the Internet, killed his mother and severely injured his father with a kitchen knife after he was refused money to go to a cybercafe, state media said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10445851
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/14/net_addict_murder/

uk: Calls mount for probe into Google's dominance
The former deputy chairman of the Competition Commission has called for UK regulators to probe Google?s ?huge commercial power? to arrest a ?dangerously imbalance? in the online advertising market. The move comes amid growing pressure from rivals, including WPP, the advertising group, and Microsoft, the software giant, for regulators to curb Google's expansion. Baroness Kingsmill, widely seen as a cheerleader for intervention during her six years on the Competition Commission, said in today?s Financial Times that the ?concentration of power? created by Google?s dominance of the internet search market ?creates risks for businesses and consumers that ought to be the subject of a market inquiry in the UK?.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1926595.ece

?1bn in digital technologies for Europeans to age well
Responding to the needs of Europe's growing ageing population, the Commission has today adopted a European Action Plan for "Ageing Well in the Information Society". This Action Plan is accompanied by a new joint European research programme raising to over EUR 1bn the research investment on information and communications technologies (ICT) targeted at improving the life of older people at home, in the workplace and in society in general. These new EU initiatives will contribute to allowing older Europeans to stay active for longer and live independently. Together they promise a triple win for Europe: improved quality of life and social participation for older people in Europe, new business opportunities for Europe's industries and more efficient and more personalised health and social services.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=3457

Queen goes online with first email address
The Queen?s latest foray into the world of modern technology has led her to setting up her own email account, it has emerged. But, in true majesterial fashion, she does not actually type her emails herself - rather she dictates them. The 81-year-old monarch, already the proud owner of a mobile phone and an iPod mini, revealed her aquisition of an email address at a recent Buckingham Palace garden party.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/15/nqueen115.xml

Change vs. Stability in Web Usability Guidelines - Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox
Summary: A remarkable 80% of findings from the Web usability studies in the 1990s continue to hold today.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/guidelines-change.html

Jakob Nielsen says: I was right by Jack Schofield 
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/06/15/jakob_nielsen_says_i_was_right.html

China overtaking US for fast internet access as Africa gets left behind
Almost 300 million people worldwide are now accessing the internet using fast broadband connections, fuelling the growth of social networking services such as MySpace and generating thousands of hours of video through websites such as YouTube. There are more than 1.1 billion of the world's estimated 6.6 billion people online and almost a third of them are now accessing the internet on high-speed lines. According to the internet consultancy Point Topic, 298 million people had broadband at the end of March and that is already estimated to have shot over 300 million. The statistics, however, paint a picture of a divided digital world. While there are high levels of broadband penetration in western Europe, North America and hi-tech economies such as South Korea, usage in developing countries, and especially in Africa, is pitiful. Many of these emerging economies lack telephone services, let alone the sort of broadband internet access that has become available to every household
 in Europe.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2102652,00.html

Warnings of 'internet overload'
As the flood of data across the internet continues to increase, there are those that say sometime soon it is going to collapse under its own weight. But that is what they said last year: Back in the early 90s, those of us that were online were just sending text e-mails of a few bytes each, traffic across the main US data lines was estimated at a few terabytes a month, steadily doubling every year. ... But since 2003, we have seen another change in the way we use the net. The YouTube generation want to stream video, and download gigabytes of data in one go. "In one day YouTube sends data equivalent to 75 billion e-mails, so it's clearly very different," said Phil Smith, head of technology and corporate marketing at Cisco Systems. "The network is growing up, is starting to get more capacity than it ever had, but it is a challenge.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6756899.stm

Overdoing it? Will Joost overload the internet?
Internet-service providers are worried that new online-video services, such as Joost, will overload their networks
http://economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9249193

Forrester: One Billion PCs In Use By The End Of 2008 (news release)
By the end of 2008, there will be more than one billion personal computers in use worldwide, according to a new report from Forrester Research. With PC use growing rapidly in emerging markets and high-profile programs in place to reach previously untapped markets, Forrester predicts that there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, representing more than 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2003 and 2015.
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Release/0,1769,1151,00.html

It started with a click
From online personals for 'friends with benefits' to illicit blogs and even an electronic 'poke' ... the digital age has created a technosexual generation hooked on no-strings casual sex. Hephzibah Anderson meets the people who aren't looking for love ... 'There are an awful lot of walls between us. Most of us need a bit of help,' says BT futurologist, Ian Pearson. He forecasts that in the next 10 or 15 years, urban positioning technologies will have enhanced messaging services to the extent that you'll be able to text the attractive stranger at the bar simply by pointing your phone at them. His other predictions include 'ego badges', jewellery-like devices on to which you'll be able to upload key data about yourself - your likes, dislikes, desires, effectively your personality. The badge will then transmit that information directly to passers-by, swapping it for theirs and processing it all within moments in order to alert you to that perfect partner whom you might
 otherwise have missed. ... According to futurologist Ian Pearson, research shows the average teenager now communicates on five or six platforms and has literally hundreds of instant messaging 'friends'.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2101234,00.html

100Gbps Internet2 link spans US
A 100Gbps link between the east and west coasts of the US has been established for the first time by the Internet2 project. The network is already providing high-speed networking resources for the US research and academic community.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/16/internet2_spans_us/

'Spam King' to Stay in Slammer Until Trial
A man accused of defrauding people through tens of millions of spam e-mail messages sent around the world was denied bail Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue said Robert Soloway, 27, of Seattle, should remain in jail until his trial scheduled for Aug. 6 because he has minimal ties to Washington state and has family in Sweden.
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57842.html

nz: Codes of Practice: No Requirements to enforce them
The ISP Spam Code of Practice is insufficient in its present form and is cosmetic only. There will be no visible improvement of services and ISPs will be allowed to ignore the problems as they will not be required to do anything material.
http://scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0706/S00150.htm

TorrentSpy ruling a 'weapon of mass discovery'
CNet news analysis It was a pro-copyright ruling that stunned nearly everyone dealing with the issue of online piracy.
In a decision reported late Friday by CNET News.com, a federal judge in Los Angeles found (PDF) that a computer server's RAM, or random-access memory, is a tangible document that can be stored and must be turned over in a lawsuit. If allowed to stand, the groundbreaking ruling may mean that anyone defending themselves in a civil suit could be required to turn over information in their computer's RAM hardware, which could force companies and individuals to store vast amounts of data, say technology experts. Roaming the Web anonymously was already nearly impossible. This ruling, which brings up serious privacy issues, could make it a lot harder.
http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6190900.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6190900.html

AT&T Moves to Take Over the Internet
Remember how the big phone companies tried to dismiss Net Neutrality as a "solution in search of a problem"? Well, here's the problem. In an interview this week with the Los Angeles Times, AT&T Senior Vice President James Cicconi revealed that AT&T is developing technology designed to detect and block "pirated" films, music and other media on its Internet networks. The announcement is a savvy way to start taking away your Internet freedom. Why savvy? Because by putting the focus on blocking "piracy" of movies, music and other copyrighted content, AT&T can win the support of powerful allies: movie studios, record labels and publishers. And hey, who supports pirates?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/att-moves-to-take-over-t_b_52241.html

Lewis Black (Back in Black) on Google, on The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
In his most recent Daily Show segment, Lewis Black (Back in Black) discusses Google and other technologies. Lewis says "technology used to be about making life easier, now it's about making it creepier. Take Google, at first it was nothing more than a fun way to stalk your ex-girlfriend." Lewis describes Google as the "worldwide leader in freaking people out", and then discusses StreetView. Lewis also says "Big Brother is watching, but only because he's bored at work. To see the hilarious and topical segment, as is everything about The Daily Show, click on the link and search for Lewis Black and StreetView.
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/lewis_black/index.jhtml?playVideo=88240

Safari for Windows: All About the Money?
The debate is still on about why Apple decided to develop a version of its Safari browser for Windows.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132981-page,1/article.html

au: Broadband plan 'a quick fix'
The Labor Party has dismissed the Federal Government's broadband package as a "quick fix'' after Prime Minister John Howard confirmed it would spend almost $1 billion improving speeds and access in regional areas. The Government announced Opel, a joint venture between Optus and Elders, had been awarded $958 million from the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program to build a wireless internet network in regional Australia. In addition, Opel will contribute about $900 million of its own funds to the network.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/18/1182018977106.html
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/18/1954279.htm

au: Opel team wins broadband rollout deal
Federal Communications Communications Minister Helen Coonan says 99 per cent of Australians will have access to fast affordable broadband internet by June 2009. Senator Coonan today announced Opel, a joint venture between Optus and Elders, had been awarded $958 million from the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program to build a wireless internet network in regional Australia.
http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21922708-601,00.html

au: Broadband going to the bush
The Federal Government will today unveil its long-awaited broadband package, including almost $1 billion of new funding for Telstra's biggest rival, Optus, to improve access and speeds in regional areas.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/17/1182018939232.html

au: Bush net deadline missed
THE federal Government has missed another deadline as it scrambles to launch the final phases of its rural broadband subsidy program at the beginning of next month. The federal Communications Department gave rural internet providers until last Friday to apply for funding under its $162.5 million Australian Broadband Guarantee, which is due to launch on July 1.
http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21888700-5013041,00.html

nz: Broadband for all on agenda
New Zealanders are likely to get a legal entitlement to broadband under a proposal for a new, contestable Kiwi Share agreement that Communications Minister David Cunliffe expects to put in front of the Cabinet by the end of the year.
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4097567a28.html


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Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>.

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(c) David Goldstein 2007

 
--------- 
David Goldstein
 address: 4/3 Abbott Street
           COOGEE NSW 2034
           AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David &#167;yahoo.com.au
 phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home)
 
"Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery





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