Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for today's edition of the complete domain news, including an RSS feed - already online! Headlines from the 19 July edition of the news include: Scam targets domain name holders | The Fragility of DNS | us: Government, contractors hit in targeted attack | DNS Security Problems Widespread and Poorly Understood: Study | Australia should lead way on IPv6 by Philip Argy | Scarcity of IPv4 Addresses by Patrik F?ltstr?m | Chinese Internet Population Reaches Higher | Chinese users flood the Internet | A Domain Name Worth $100 Million | in: Put some farmland and Internet domain names in your investment portfolio | New gold rush: Internet domains snagging huge amounts of money And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. The domain name news is supported by auDA. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ICANN - What are the risks to domain owners of new proposal to protect IGOs? by Michael Collins http://internetcommerce.org/advocacy_policy/icann_what_are_the_risks_to_domain_owners_of_new_proposal_to_protect_igos Possible German parliamentary support for .BERLIN http://domainesinfo.fr/english/75/possible-parliamentary-support-for-berlin.php The Commission reports to the European Parliament on the .eu success http://eurid.eu/content/view/221/33/lang,en/ Requirements Panel launched for .EU http://domainesinfo.fr/english/76/requirements-panel-launched-for-eu.php 10 Laws Every American Domainer Needs to Know http://avivadirectory.com/domain-law/ ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** Money and Advice for the Internet Governance Forum: The structure of the MAG and financing the IGF Secretariat by John Mathiason The Internet Governance Forum is now moving through its second year and two institutional issues have emerged in the open-ended consultations and in the discussions among stakeholders: how is the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group that is supposed to provide advice on management of the IGF to be structured and how is stable, long-term financing of the IGF Secretariat to be arranged. http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/7/10/3083236.html Consultation meeting on Parliaments in the Information Age A meeting on Parliaments in the Information Age: mobilizing stakeholders around concrete initiatives was held on 24 May, at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva, as part of a cluster of events related to the implementation of WSIS. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together stakeholders undertaking activities in the area of ICT and Parliaments to exchange experiences, create synergies and facilitate collaboration. Special attention was placed on Open Source in Parliament and on Africa, as well as on the preparation of a Global Report on ICT in Parliament. A final session was dedicated to presentations of ongoing initiatives and technical assistance programmes. Presentations are available. http://www.ictparliament.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=121&Itemid=1010 IGP Proposal Highlights Global Nature of Digital Security The Internet Governance Project has worked since 2004 to advance the discussion of global internet governance. Its work took a public turn in May when the IGP released a proposal to decentralize authority over DNS authority. http://econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=36784 ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Netcraft July 2007 Web Server Survey In the July 2007 survey we received responses from 125,626,329 sites, an increase of 3.62 million sites from the June survey. Recent trends hold steady this month, with the Internet's strong growth continuing apace and Microsoft making additional inroads into Apache's leadership in web server market share. The web has grown by 20.4 million sites thus far this year, slightly behind the growth rate from 2006, when the survey added a record 30.9 million sites. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/07/09/july_2007_web_server_survey.html ********************** - DOMAIN SECURITY ********************** EURid takes down .EU slammer The real .EU registry has taken prompt action to block a fake EU registry calling itself 'EU ID' from tricking .COM owners into registering the equivalent .EU domain. http://domainesinfo.fr/english/79/eurid-takes-down-eu-slammer.php us: B&C brings Web site fight back to court Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. is going back to federal court to reclaim its online identity from a so-called cyber squatter who hijacked the company's Internet domain name and four other Web sites associated with the Myrtle Beach developer. http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/125913.html ********************** - ICANN ********************** ICANN - What are the risks to domain owners of new proposal to protect IGOs? by Michael Collins There were several issues discussed by the ICANN board, the GNSO, and by many other constituencies meeting in San Juan in late June. One old issue that returned is the question of who has the right to register the names of countries and names "of national or geographic significance", including names and abbreviations of International Intergovernmental Organizations. http://internetcommerce.org/advocacy_policy/icann_what_are_the_risks_to_domain_owners_of_new_proposal_to_protect_igos ********************** - (cc)TLD NEWS ********************** Possible parliamentary support for .BERLIN Proposed CityTLD .BERLIN is facing opposition from the German city's senate but may yet rally support from its parliament. http://domainesinfo.fr/english/75/possible-parliamentary-support-for-berlin.php EURid wins court case regarding Sunrise names with ampersands and special characters (news release) During the Sunrise period last year there were some comments questioning that EURid accepted domain names based on a prior right to a name including an ampersand or other special characters. When that name was made into a domain name (without the ampersand) it became a word for which others also showed an interest. Now a Belgian court has decided that EURid?s interpretation of the Sunrise rules (to accept ampersand names) indeed was correct. http://eurid.eu/content/view/220/33/lang,en/ The Commission reports to the European Parliament on the .eu success In the EC regulation for .eu (EC 733/2002) it says that the European Commission shall report to the European Parliament and Council on the ?implementation, functioning and effectiveness of the .eu?. This was done on July 6, 2007. In the report the European Commission states: ?It can be concluded that the launch of the ?.eu? TLD has been a successful and effective exercise, which meets real demand among the European citizens, industry and other organizations.? http://eurid.eu/content/view/221/33/lang,en/ Requirements Panel launched for .EU European registry EURid calls upon registrar community to help suggest and enact improvements to the .EU registration and management system. http://domainesinfo.fr/english/76/requirements-panel-launched-for-eu.php .MOBI city names won't be given away As part of its drive to strengthen .MOBI awareness, registry dotMobi is releasing some 650 previously reserved city names. But it's not giving them away. http://domainesinfo.fr/english/77/mobi-city-names-won-t-be-given-away.php ********************** - DOMAIN DISPUTES ********************** za: Telkom Media first to win domain name dispute In a decision published by the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL) on Friday afternoon, adjudicator Andre van der Merwe ordered that the domain name telkommedia.co.za be transferred to Telkom. http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/635.html ********************** - MISCELLANEOUS ********************** NetNames? group expands into online security Group NBT, the parent company of NetNames, which manages the domain name portfolios for over a third of the FTSE 100, has acquired Envisional Solutions, a provider of online brand protection services for ?4m. http://www.netimperative.com/2007/07/09/NetNames Search-engine spiders are simple creatures and easily confused Changing domain names can make sense for many businesses but, like switching telephone numbers or e-mail addresses, it comes with a potential downside: Some people might not know how to find your new site. Even a significant site redesign can create problems if, for instance, your new site isn't optimized for search engines. http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=59406 Night of the Living RegisterFly: Randy Travis concert in jeopardy A reviled domain registrar given up for dead has allegedly risen from its ethereous hell to devour a church website selling tickets to this Sunday's Randy Travis concert in Mandeville, Louisiana, according to The North Shore View. Smote down by ICANN, and stripped of its accreditation, the domain registrar had largely faded from view after a California court ordered a mass data transfer to GoDaddy.com. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/15/registerfly_randy_travis_website/ http://blog.nola.com/northshoreview/2007/07/ticket_portal_hijack_treatens.html VeriSign restates results for stock options mishandling, CFO resigns (AP) VeriSign Inc. said Thursday that its chief financial officer has resigned and that the company has recorded $160 million in additional compensation expenses because of mishandled stock options grants. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/07/13/1183833729789.html http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/13/business/NA-FIN-COM-US-VeriSign-Restatement.php VeriSign Restates Results, Replaces CFO Hoping to put its run-in with the options backdating scandal to rest, VeriSign said Thursday its chief financial officer would be replaced and said it would restate results for four full years. VeriSign will take a charge of around $160 million to account for the restatement of results from 2002 to 2005, the company said. The $160 million restatement was well below the $250 million in charges the company said earlier in the year it could incur as it its revised filings. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/58314.html VeriSign Files Restatement of Financial Statements (news release) VeriSign announced it has filed with the SEC its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 as well as its previously delayed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the second and third quarters of 2006. These reports contain financial statements that were restated as a result of an independent review by an ad hoc group of independent Directors of VeriSign?s Board of Directors into VeriSign?s historical stock option grant practices and include adjustments to consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002. http://www.verisign.com/press_releases/pr/page_042487.html Dotster in trouble? Rumors that domain registrar Dotster is for sale have been around for several years now in the market. Now new rumors have surfaced on ThreadWatch saying that Dotster is in financial trouble and has started laying off high paid staff. Maybe it?s just the sign of a restructuring though. http://domainnamenews.com/news/dotster/232 Nicline partners with Sedo to improve its portfolio with new features for selling domains Nicline, an ICANN accredited registrar for domain name resellers, today announced its partnership with Sedo, offering secondary domain market applications to its clients. http://www.prleap.com/pr/85243/ Online Marketing Service Provider Network Solutions Releases ?Guide to Getting Found Online? In their new whitepaper ?Guide to Getting Found Online,? Network Solutions? experts give helpful hints on the dos and don?ts of online marketing. This guide covers topics that can help small business owners get their websites listed in the top rankings of search engines such as Google and Yahoo! http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=NetworkSolutions&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=196393&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True&Merge= ********************** - DOMAIN MONETISATION ********************** 10 Laws Every American Domainer Needs to Know The Aviva Directory has published a guide for US domainers titled "10 US Laws Every Domainer Needs to Know". With the rapid growth in domaining, and domain names appreciating by up to 94% per year according to some estimates, Aviva Directory tries "to sort through the legal and accounting mumbo-jumbo to explain ten of the most important US laws when it comes to domaining and provide some simple and straightforward tips for safely navigating them." http://avivadirectory.com/domain-law/ Domain Tasting, Finally Getting ICANN?s Attention by Philip Greene ... Trademark owners have cried foul, as many ?tasted? domains infringe third-party trademarks. I further noted that ICANN might well take action on the issue as part of or prior to the June meeting in San Juan. Well, it looks like we?re finally seeing some action. http://cyberlaw.org.nz/?p=12 The Law Of PPC Advertising: Are you being ripped off? Many of the legal issues existing today have little, or no, clear legal authority to guide us. This is because many of the abuses are: Not discovered; When they are discovered by the advertiser, they are settled confidentially; When litigated it can take years to get a decision that is confusing, inconsistent and contradictory. http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/517/The-Law-Of-PPC-Advertising/ Domainers Can't Get Any Respect Last week the second part of my ?Domaining & Subdomaining in the Local Space? published on Search Engine Land, and I?m particularly pleased with it, although my friends can deservedly kick me around a bit for writing articles too long. I did quite a lot of research for the two-part series, most particularly for this second segment which was focused entirely on Local Domaining. http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/07/12/domainers-cant-get-any-respect ********************** OTHER INTERNET NEWS ********************** Internet Prevention Messages by Michele Ybarra; Kimberly J. Mitchell; David Finkelhor & Janis Wolak (rchives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine) Talking with people known only online ("strangers") under some conditions is related to online interpersonal victimization, but sharing personal information is not. Engaging in a pattern of different kinds of online risky behaviors is more influential in explaining victimization than many specific behaviors alone. Pediatricians should help parents assess their child's online behaviors globally in addition to focusing on specific types of behaviors. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/161/2/138 It's like MySpace, but with training wheels (AP) ... Drawing preteens as young as 6 or 7, sites like Club Penguin and Webkinz are forcing parents to decide at what age they are willing to let their children roam about and interact with friends online. They, along with schools, are having to teach earlier lessons on safety, etiquette and balance with offline activities. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/13/1183833731361.html http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOCIAL_NETWORKING_TWEENS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-13-01-32-41 Net threats result of kids' online behavior (AP) Almost every lesson on Internet safety warns against posting personal information such as phone numbers and school names. Researchers are now suggesting, though, that such advice, however well-intentioned, doesn't necessarily make children safer from predators and related threats. In a recent study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, researchers found no evidence that sharing personal information increases the chances of online victimization, such as unwanted sexual solicitation and harassment. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2007-07-12-kids-behavior-online_N.htm The fight against net crime The recent high profile investigation into a UK-based internet paedophile ring has served to highlight the dark side of the web. Images of child abuse are shared across closed chatrooms and underground peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. The sites hosting the content are generally set up to last for a few days at a time, often jumping servers, making them difficult for the authorities to track. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6897121.stm War on phishing to last 20 years Cybercrime experts believe we are in for the long haul fighting phishing attacks as criminals change tack. The fight against phishing gangs could last 20 years, according to an expert. http://www.itpro.co.uk/news/119834/war-on-phishing-to-last-20-years.html URLs with 'crimeware' spreading, but war on phishing gains ground The number of phishing URLs used to spread "crimeware" among consumer PCs rose to an all-time record in May, according to a report from an industry association that works to eliminate identity theft and fraud caused by phishing and email spoofing. http://scmagazine.com/us/news/article/671230/urls-crimeware-spreading-war-phishing-gains-ground/ nz: Auckland graduate warns over possible 'cyber-jihad' attack New Zealand companies and government face a small but growing risk of ?cyber terrorism,? and IT managers must prepare for it, warns Auckland-educated information security expert Andrew Colarik. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/146450CACF6D47B9CC2573170010008D nz: Internet banking: carrots for Aussies, stick for Kiwis Australian banks are taking a carrot and stick approach to combating Internet fraud on the two side of the Tasman, indemnifying Australian customers from losses and in some cases offering them cheap security software, while their offshoots in New Zealand ratified a code of practice that can mean Kiwi fraud victims may lose all the money in their accounts. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4129604a28.html us: Ruling Endangers Privacy in Email and IP Addresses The Ninth Circuit recently held in US v. Forrester that the Fourth Amendment does not protect against government surveillance of the to/from addresses of one's email messages, the IP addresses of websites one has visited, and the total volume of information transmitted to or from one's ISP account. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005358.php YouTube Embedding and Copyright There seems to be a considerable amount of interest in, and confusion about, the copyright law consequences of embedding a YouTube video in your blog. In fact, the Blog Herald just ran a story suggesting that bloggers could be on the hook for copyright infringement if they embed a video that turns out to be infringing. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005350.php The War Against Google Fearful of the growing dominance of Google, some of the country's most powerful media companies are seeking to rein in the digital giant. Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against Google's YouTube and the recent deal between NBC Universal and News Corp./Fox to establish a rival online video site have made the headlines. But this is just the beginning of a larger effort designed to weaken and undermine Google. The stakes are high, not only for Google and the other media conglomerates but for the future of the broadband medium and the public interest. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/chester au: ACCC alleges misleading and deceptive conduct by Trading Post and Google (news release) The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted legal proceedings in the Federal Court, Sydney, against Trading Post Australia Pty Ltd, Google Inc, Google Ireland Limited and Google Australia Pty Ltd alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to sponsored links that appeared on the Google website. http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/792088/fromItemId/142 au: Google in court over on-screen ads THE consumer watchdog has accused Google of deceiving its users by blurring the lines between paid and unpaid search results in favour of one of its main advertisers. In what is believed to be the first lawsuit of its kind in the world, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has started proceedings in the Federal Court against the ubiquitous internet search engine, its Australian subsidiary and one of its clients, the Trading Post. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/12/1183833688060.html http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/13478/53/ http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1155744670;fp;2;fpid;1 Google in court for 'misleading its users' on paid links to advertisers Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, is being taken to court for allegedly deceiving millions of users over links that are paid for by its advertisers. In the first legal action of its kind, Australia's competition watchdog is seeking an injunction to stop Google from displaying search results that did not "expressly distinguish" advertisements. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2067509.ece Google faces landmark lawsuit An Australian government agency has filed what is thought to be the first trading standards lawsuit against Google, adding to a lengthening list of legal actions around the world http://www.ft.com/cms/s/67b1ef44-30cc-11dc-9a81-0000779fd2ac.html http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fc7b4c04-3178-11dc-891f-0000779fd2ac.html http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201001187 http://out-law.com/page-8280 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/12/accc_sues_google/ Cheeky China company says to sue Google over name (Reuters) A Chinese company is suing Google Inc.'s China subsidiary for copying its name, saying the U.S. search engine's registered Chinese name is too similar to its own and has harmed its operations. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKPEK11144620070713 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39288024,00.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071300066.html Mounting scrutiny for Google security Much as the ubiquity of Microsoft's Windows operating system and Office productivity tools has made the software giant a focal point of security research, search giant Google is facing new scrutiny as it diversifies its products and moves further into the business environment. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/12/Mounting-scrutiny-for-Google-security_1.html ca: Giving the Internet a Sporting Chance The Victoria Park Racing and Recreation Grounds was a popular racecourse in Sydney, Australia in the 1930s. Built in an open fairground, the owners erected a fence around the track to ensure that only ticket buyers could watch the action or place bets on the races. In response, a neighbour built a tower that was used by an Australian broadcaster to peer over the fence and broadcast descriptions of the races on its radio stations. Victoria Park Racing sued both the neighbour and the broadcaster on nuisance and property rights grounds. The Australian High Court dismissed the suit in 1937, but the case marked the arrival of an ongoing fight over the rights of sports leagues and teams to control coverage of their events that continues to this day. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2091/135/ The computer virus turns 25 The computer virus turns 25 years old this year. It's been a rocky quarter-century, but according to Richard Ford and Eugene Spafford, two computer scientists writing in this week's issue of the journal Science, viruses can look forward to a long, fruitful life. The researchers say that in today's hyper-connected world, when everything's got a chip in it and is running software, stopping malware is basically an impossible task. http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/07/12/virus_birthday/index.html us: First Amendment Claim in Cockfight Suit The owners of a Web site that shows cockfights says that though cockfighting is illegal in most states, it is legal in Puerto Rico, where the Web casts are from. Cockfighting is illegal in 49 states, and last month the Legislature in Louisiana, where the practice is still allowed, passed a bill that would outlaw it there next year. ... But the question of whether the First Amendment allows the government to ban depictions of illegal conduct, as opposed to the conduct itself, is a difficult one, legal experts said. In the Florida suit, moreover, the company says it broadcasts cockfights from Puerto Rico, where they are legal. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/us/11roosters.html us: Royalty fee 'to damage net radio' Hundreds of US net radio stations face potential closure from Monday when they will be expected to comply with a new royalties ruling for playing music. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6896152.stm us: Takeover at risk from Whole Food boss's web rants On the cynical forums of Yahoo's finance website, a user called "rahodeb" stood out. Fiercely argumentative and passionately partisan, the shadowy tipster stuck rigidly to one topic - the strengths of the supermarket chain Whole Foods. Whole Foods, according to hundreds of "rahodeb" posts between 1999 and 2006, was easily the US's top organic retailer. Its rival, Wild Oats, was overvalued, "floundering around" and lacking in any coherent strategy. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2125377,00.html us: The Hand That Controls the Sock Puppet Could Get Slapped On the Internet nobody knows you?re a dog ? or the chief executive of a Fortune 500 company. John Mackey, chief executive of Whole Foods Market, used a fake online identity. Or so thought John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods Market, who used a fictional identity on the Yahoo message boards for nearly eight years to assail competition and promote his supermarket chain?s stock, according to documents released last week by the Federal Trade Commission. http://nytimes.com/2007/07/16/technology/16blog.html FTC Issues Administrative Complaint Seeking to Block Whole Foods Market's Acquisition of Wild Oats Markets The Federal Trade Commission has issued an administrative complaint challenging Whole Foods Market Inc."s approximately $670 million acquisition of Wild Oats Markets Inc. The administrative complaint preserves the Commission?s legal option to pursue an administrative remedy following the federal district court proceeding. According to the complaint, the transaction would violate federal antitrust laws by eliminating the substantial competition between these two uniquely close competitors in the operation of premium natural and organic supermarkets nationwide. The FTC contends that if the transaction goes forward Whole Foods would have the ability to raise prices and reduce quality and services. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1805 us: Couple accused of starving children while on the Internet (AP) A couple authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-14-internet-neglect_N.htm The US and Japan provide the strongest environments for IT competitiveness, finds the Economist Intelligence Unit (news release) Relatively few countries possess all the factors necessary to support a thriving information technology sector, but the United States, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom provide the strongest environments for IT competitiveness, a new study concludes. http://eiuresources.com/mediadir/default.asp?PR=2007071101 us: The iPhone hearing by Susan Crawford This morning the House Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Markey (D-MA), is holding a hearing about a range of wireless issues: the role of states in providing consumer protection in this market, and the role of Congress and the FCC in protecting innovation. Markey's focused in particular on early termination fees and portability generally. He's also concerned that the carriers are exerting too much control over the features and functions of wireless devices. He's aware that Carterphone broke Ma Bell's stranglehold over devices for the wireline marketplace, and says the FCC could do the same thing for wireless. Markey urges the FCC to seize the opportunity to require open access for wireless services in the upcoming auction, and welcomes Chairman Martin's suggestion that this may happen for a portion of the auctioned spectrum. http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/7/11/3085640.html au: Kevin, 49, seeks friends he can count Kevin Rudd, 49, is a Hogan's Heroes fan. Joe Hockey, a Leo from Sydney, likes the song Who Let the Dogs Out? Bob Brown, 62, was on duty in a London casualty ward the night Jimi Hendrix died. And if you want a meaningful relationship, all three are anxiously seeking friends on MySpace. The Opposition Leader, the federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Greens leader were among 20 politicians and candidates whose profiles yesterday launched a local channel of the social networking website that has become a political force in the US. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/12/1183833688066.html au: MPs cast cyber net for votes The 2007 federal election will see a new breed of politician on the hustings - the e-MP, a generation of candidate who will use online tools like MySpace and Facebook as much as the more traditional mediums of radio, television and print. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22064963-16123,00.html Commission approves public funding of ?2 million for high-speed network in France Under the Community state aid rules the Commission has approved the funding by Sicoval (an association of municipalities on the south-east side of Toulouse) of a very high-speed telecommunications network exclusively serving businesses and public organisations on its territory. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1070 eu: Sat-nav rival could crash and burn European system taking on US military's GPS faces collapse over multi-billion-pound deficit: For the past 18 months, a small box-shaped satellite has been circling Earth, beaming down information from its radiation detectors and atomic clocks. The British-built probe is modest by modern space technology standards. Yet great hopes are riding with Giove-A, for it is intended to be the forerunner of a fleet of 30 satellites that will provide Europe with an alternative to reliance on American technology. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2126734,00.html uk: Texting and traffic lights are the perils of a former PM ... Speaking to a star-studded audience at Wembley Stadium, Mr Blair revealed that after a decade in office he needed to be taught how to use a mobile phone. When the former Prime Minister finally managed to fire off a text message, he was somewhat bemused to receive one back that said: ?Who are you?? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2072453.ece se: Sigbritt, 75, has world's fastest broadband A 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust into the IT history books - with the world's fastest internet connection. Sigbritt L?thberg's home has been supplied with a blistering 40 Gigabits per second connection, many thousands of times faster than the average residential link and the first time ever that a home user has experienced such a high speed. http://www.thelocal.se/7869/20070712/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/12/swedish_woman_has_fastest_internet_connection/ Removing anonymity won't stop the online flame wars Why do people attack each other via blogs and online forums? Researchers now think they know: Again and again we hear the suggestion that if only people would use their "real" names when commenting on blogs and sites such as the Guardian's, everything would be sweetness and light. Wouldn't it? New research suggests not, says psychology lecturer Dr Ros Dyer, who researched computer mediated communication for her PhD at Staffordshire University. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2123669,00.html Mobile Broadband Jump Expected Mobile broadband connections are expected to reach 40 million worldwide by the end of 2008, according to figures released Thursday by Wireless Intelligence. By 2010, WCDMA HSDPA is expected to represent around 45 percent of total WCDMA cellular connections, exceeding GSM connections by the end of this decade. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134429-c,wirelesstechnologyservices/article.html Web 2.0 to lift productivity, says Cisco The introduction of consumer-driven Web 2.0 technologies into businesses is set to usher in a new phase of productivity growth that could surpass that achieved during the late-1990s internet boom http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6db36b5e-32fa-11dc-a9e8-0000779fd2ac.html comScore Releases Worldwide Rankings of Top Web Properties (news release) comScore released a study of global Internet traffic for the month of May, revealing the latest worldwide rankings of top Web properties from the comScore World Metrix service. There were 772 million people online worldwide in May (defined as those individuals age 15 or older who accessed the Internet from a home or work location in the last 30 days), an increase from 766 million in April, representing a 16 percent penetration of the worldwide population of individuals age 15 or older. Google continues to lead as the most popular property, reaching almost 70 percent of Internet users. Both Google and the second-leading property, Microsoft, increased their number of unique visitors by two percent from April to May. The top three properties each boasted more than 20 average visits per visitor in May: Google with 27, Microsoft with 23, and Yahoo! with 22. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1524 Worldwide Online Gaming Community Reaches 217 Million People (news release) comScore released the results of a global study into online gaming, showing the number of unique visitors to these sites to have reached almost 217 million worldwide ? a year-on-year growth of 17 percent. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1521 China's Online Population Explosion There are now an estimated 137 million internet users in China, second in number only to the United States, where estimates of the current internet population range from 165 million to 210 million. The growth rate of China's internet user population has been outpacing that of the U.S., and China is projected to overtake the U.S. in the total number of users within a few years. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/218/report_display.asp Number Of Online Chinese Poised To Surpass U.S. Internet Users The number of Internet users in China has reached 137 million, and with double-digit annual growth projected, the country is poised to overtake the United States in total number of users within a few years, a researcher said. Based on figures supplied by the China Network Information Center, the country's Internet population grew by 18% in 2004 and 2005, and 23% in 2006, the Pew Internet & American Life Project said in a recent report. Those numbers translate into 26 million new users in 2006, and 57 million over the last three years. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201001379 Commercial broadband service is available in 170 countries worldwide The ITU has monitored trends in broadband subscribers and the price of broadband services around the world since 2002. By early 2007, broadband was commercially available in 170 countries, with the latest country to launch commercial ADSL services being Lesotho in early 2007. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Commercial+Broadband+Service+Is+Available+In+170+Countries+Worldwide.aspx The Next Small Thing - widgets Bits of code called widgets open the door to viral marketing across social networks. Silicon Valley sees them as a Web revolution in the making http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_30/b4043071.htm Living in a Widgetized World With widgets, any page on the Web can be your point of sale. Marketers met at a conference to figure out how to spread them far and wide http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_30/b4043075.htm Firefox now a serious threat to IE in Europe: report Mozilla's Firefox browser has made dramatic gains on Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) throughout Europe in the past year with a marked upturn in FF use compared to IE over the past four months, according to French web monitoring service XiTiMonitor. A study of nearly 96,000 websites carried out during the week of July 2 to July 8 found that FF had 27.8% market share across Eastern and Western Europe, IE had 66.5%, with other browsers including Safari and Opera making up the remaining 5.7%. The July market share represents a massive 3.7% rise since a similar survey in March. http://itwire.com.au/content/view/13517/53/ Barom?tre des navigateurs Lire l'?tude... Le duel tourne ? l?avantage de FF2 : 23.1% des visites en moyenne pour un pays europ?en contre 22.6% pour IE7. http://xitimonitor.com/fr-fr/barometre-des-navigateurs/ie7-et-ff2-juillet-2007/index-1-1-3-103.html Web Rankings Shakeup: It's About Time It was the statistic heard around the World Wide Web. Late in 2006, Web-traffic researcher comScore announced that News Corp.'s MySpace social networking site had received more monthly page views than Yahoo!, long considered the Web's most popular destination site. Suddenly, the media and blogosphere heralded an online sea change. Portals like Yahoo that pull together content from around the Web were on the way out. Social networks were in -- and where both people and advertisers needed to be. http://businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2007/tc20070711_451666.htm in: Islamic school sanctions online Muslim weddings (Reuters) An influential and conservative Islamic theological school in India said on Thursday marriages of Muslim couples using Internet Web cameras were acceptable and legal. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKDEL3841520070712 http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4126705a28.html Spending on European internet advertising 'to double' Spending on internet advertising in Europe will more than double over the next five years and represent almost a fifth of total media budgets by 2012, according to forecasts from American research group Forrester. Its analysts predict that spending on online advertising will rise from ?7.5bn last year to more than ?16bn (?11bn) in 2012. This means 18% of total media budgets will go to email, search, display and other online advertising. http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2125415,00.html Forrester: European Online Marketing To Top ?16 Billion In 2012 (news release) Spending on online marketing in Europe will double in the next five years, from around ?7.5 billion in 2006 to more than ?16 billion in 2012, according to a new report by Forrester Research. In five years, online marketing ? including email, search, and display advertising ? will represent 18 per cent of total media budgets. The forecast is based on data from Forrester?s Consumer Technographics? surveys of more than 25,000 consumers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK and interviews with 24 major European marketers. http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Release/0,1769,1156,00.html Making Blogging Pay As bloggers become some of the progressive movement's most effective voices, the left still has not figured out how to provide them with the resources they need to keep going. Although philanthropists like George Soros have shown that they aren't scared of the Internet--Soros gave $5 million to MoveOn in 2004-- bloggers still are not on the radar of most grant-making foundations. ... "When blogs understand the power that they have--when they all start talking about the same story, they can break through into mainstream media news," observes Joel Silberman, a communications consultant who has trained bloggers for network television appearances. "But how do we fund these people? This is the big overwhelming question." http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070416/watson In Russia's Blogosphere, Anything Goes Walk into a typical Moscow newsroom and chances are good that half the people in your field of vision will be logged on to Zhivoi Zhurnal, the Russian incarnation of the American blog-hosting service LiveJournal. But these journalists aren't just slacking off. In a country still searching, sometimes desperately, for the trappings of a civil society, they are navigating what promises to be its launchpad. In Western media, blogs in developing countries are often portrayed as a counterweight to state censorship. Not here. From organizing flash mobs that poke fun at the rudeness of Moscow's babushkas to making or breaking political pundits' careers, bloggers are becoming a lively alternative to mainstream media. The question is whether the site represents an electronic upgrade of the traditional political discourse that once flourished in Soviet-era kitchens or an entirely new platform for grassroots organizing. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070312/arutunyan It's no secret: Facebook's allure is its privacy (Reuters) The secret of Facebook's success, and its future viability, hinges on how the social network site protects privacy, taming the anything-goes intrusiveness of what might as well be known as the World Wild Web. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6196740.html http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-6196740.html http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN1529632920070715 The Revolution Will Be You-Tubed With top-ranked titles like Dancing Hamster Man, The Shining: Trailer Mash Up and Monsters Are Waiting--Ha-Ha, you'd think YouTube is all spoofs and stupid pet tricks. But things can get serious fast at the video-sharing website. Consider Give Peace a Chance--Tacoma Police Riot, a raw and dramatic documentary of recent clashes between police and antiwar activists in Washington State. Viewed by more than 100,000 people to date, this and other protest videos from Tacoma are proof that YouTube is good for more than pranks and soft porn. Peace activists are leveraging the site to reach new audiences and counter bias of their actions in mainstream media. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/enzinna In Your Face: How Facebook could crush MySpace, Yahoo!, and Google. There comes a time in every young person's life?soon after teething, usually?when she must make a momentous decision: MySpace or Facebook? One's preference is a matter of taste. MySpace, if you ask me, is a spam-infested state of nature. The average user page comes with a crapload of embedded music and video players, some seizure-inducing wallpaper, and a bunch of friend requests from "models" who want to "get to know you." (It also happens to be nearly three times the size of Facebook.) Facebook, on the other hand, is much less customizable but also a lot more reassuring. The interface is comfy, sturdy, and attractive without being showy?the kind of social network you'd bring home to Mom. Think of it as the Volvo of social networking. http://slate.com/id/2168872/ Virtual marketers have second thoughts about Second Life Second Life should be a marketer's paradise. But it turns out that plugging products is as problematic in the virtual world as it is anywhere else. At http://www.secondlife.com ? where the cost is $6 a month for premium citizenship ? shopping, at least for real-world products, isn't a main activity. Four years after Second Life debuted, some marketers are second-guessing the money and time they've put into it. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-secondlife14jul14,1,5037271.story us: Campgrounds, RV parks tout Wi-Fi If you happen to drive past campgrounds or recreational vehicle parks this summer, chances are you'll see the signs that advertise Wi-Fi access right up there with showers and propane. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-consumerbriefs15.5jul15,1,1428298.story Why I returned my iPhone by Farhad Manjoo ... So if Farhad Manjoo is so hot for it, why is he giving the iPhone back? There are loads of reasons: As a phone, it's middling (or it's fantastic and stuck on a middling network, which amounts to the same thing); it's missing some key features; and even though many of these features could be added by third-party developers, Apple has locked it up. I listed the main missing features here; of these, the one that rankles most is 3G networking. The iPhone's portable Web, as great as it is, runs on EDGE, and thus is too damned slow. I'm hoping that when Apple puts out a phone that can take advantage of the 3G networking standard, it'll be appreciably faster. http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/07/13/return_iphone/index.html Why Apple's new cell phone isn't really revolutionary by Tim Wu When the word iPhone appears in Apple press releases, the word revolutionary is rarely far behind. But what counts as revolutionary? In Apple's case, the bar is high. Since the 1970s, the firm has changed both the personal computer and music industries. Will the iPhone fundamentally alter the structure of the wireless world as well? Not yet. The iPhone's style and user interface are pathbreaking, and (as the iPod proved) aesthetics do matter. But the iPhone is?so far?not a product that will turn any industry inside out. http://slate.com/id/2169352/fr/flyout Experts warn of lightning-strike injuries with electronic devices (AP) Emergency physicians report patients with burns from freak accidents while using personal electronic devices such as beepers, music players and laptop computers outdoors during storms. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/13/business/ipod.php A PC That Uses Less Energy, but Charges a Monthly Fee Subscription-based personal computers are not a new idea ? and never popular ? but Gr?goire Gentil and Alain Rossmann have devised a green twist. This summer the pair will begin selling a simplified Linux-based PC for $99 and a $12.95 monthly subscription charge. They say that the deal is better than it looks because the 15-watt PC can save up to $10 a month in electricity compared with a standard 200-watt PC. http://nytimes.com/2007/07/16/technology/16cheap.html us: FBI: Expect more spam prosecutions U.S. Internet users should expect a growing number of prosecutions for sending spam and related activities, such as creating botnets, officials with two U.S. law enforcement organizations said Thursday. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/12/Expect-more-spam-prosecutions_1.html Image spam declining, PDF spam set to take its place Security vendors and users agree that image spam is finally on the decline, but at the same time a new kind of spam is emerging that uses an attached PDF file to trick recipients into buying stock in a company. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/12/new-kind-of-spam_1.html us: Overzealous Spam Filter Proves Costly for Lawyers A law firm in Colorado has been fined by federal court after a spam filter intercepted an important court notice. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134460-pg,1/article.html http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/12/Spam-filter-costs-lawyers_1.html Open Source Filtering Solutions and the Spam Problem by Dinko Korunic Let us face it, modern e-mail communication relying on SMTP is fundamentally broken - there is no sender authentication. There are lot of countermeasures in form of filtering and add-on authentication, but neither of them are proved to be 100% successful (that is 100% hit ratio with 0% of false positives). Spammers always find new ways of confusing filters with random noise, bad grammar, hidden HTML code, padding, bitmap-rendered messages etc. Our world is becoming an overloaded and unusable mailbox of spam. This article will nevertheless try to cover some of the spam problems and possible solutions, but bare in mind that all of these are just no more than a temporary fix. http://www.net-security.org/article.php?id=1035 ITU publishes latest evaluation of the digital divide In this year's edition of the World Information Society Report 2007, ITU includes the very latest statistics monitoring the evolution of the digital divide, using a variety of statistical techniques. The digital divide is narrowing most rapidly in mobile telephony, with one in two people in the world expected to have access to a mobile phone by the end of this year. Low-income countries are making important gains in mobile telephony, with mobile phones outnumbering fixed lines by seven to one in LDCs and by as much as nine to one in Sub-Saharan Africa. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/ITU+Publishes+Latest+Evaluation+Of+The+Digital+Divide.aspx ITU measures the age digital divide in Singapore Using age-disaggregated data from the most recent 2006 Infocomm Survey of the Singapore Infocomm Development Agency (IDA), ITU has calculated the age divide for Singapore using the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI). The Digital Opportunity Index is calculated on the basis of eleven indicators (grouped in three clusters of Opportunity, Infrastucture and Utilization) which can be disaggregated by age, gender, area or region to investigate different aspects of the digital divide. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/ITU+Measures+The+Age+Digital+Divide+In+Singapore.aspx UN Summit to Address Africa' Digital Gap Africa's need for infrastructure and communication technology to develop and bridge the digital divide is to be addressed at a UN summit in October. General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the ITU have endorsed the "Connect Africa Summit", to be held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 29 to 30 October. http://allafrica.com/stories/200707120480.html us: No signs the digital divide is closing The digital divide is alive and well in California and may get worse unless policymakers take steps to address it, according to a new report. Whether Californians have a high-speed connection to the Internet depends a lot on where they live and who they are, according to the report, which was issued earlier this week by the Public Policy Institute of California. Perhaps most strikingly, the report suggests that many Californians still can't even sign up for broadband connections because they're simply not available. http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6360216 Intel and $100 laptop join forces Intel and the One Laptop per Child foundation bury their differences and agree to work together on the project. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6897950.stm be: Belgacom urged to block illegal music file sharing (Reuters) Belgian music copyright group SABAM has written to Belgium's dominant telecoms group Belgacom, urging it to commit to blocking or filtering illegal music file sharing, Belgian daily Le Soir reported on Saturday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL1448081220070714 Will ISPs begin to filter their networks for illicit music? They might after a ruling in Belgium, where the local ISP, Scarlet (which was once part of Tiscali) has been given six months to begin filtering out infringing peer-to-peer content on its network. The court recommended that the ISP investigate Audible Magic, an audio fingerprinting application which dips into files as they are being transferred and tries to determine whether they are in fact copyrighted music; it can then block their transfer. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2123663,00.html se: Is the Pirate Bay going to be shut down again? Swedish anti-copyright website the Pirate Bay has been targeted by police before - most notably last year when it was shut down for three days. But this week it survived a different sort of challenge, after reports emerged suggesting that officials in Stockholm were considering whether to add it to the country's internet child abuse blacklist. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2123664,00.html Why TV on demand insists you use its chosen browser Attracted by Channel 4's repeated imprecations to watch missed or old episodes of TV shows on your computer using its 4oD service? Then you'd better make sure that you're using Windows XP and Internet Explorer - not Firefox or any other browser, not Vista, the version of Windows that has now been available to businesses for nine months, and not at all on Apple computers. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2123679,00.html Broadcasters looking to make online programming pay Broadcasters from tiny countries like Slovakia to European heavyweights like Germany, France and Britain are offering dramas, sports and news that can be streamed or downloaded. A major sticking point of the new online offerings is that profits remain illusive. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/15/business/video16.php EU seeks single standard for sending video to cellphones On Wednesday, the European Commission is expected to take action to put pressure on industry to come up with a single standard that all 27 countries would use. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/15/business/wireless16.php A TV remote control that displays only Internet video The software presents full-length television shows and popular clips from the Web's largest video sites, like NBC.com and YouTube. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/15/business/ideas.php nz: Telecom places TV revolution on pause A revolution in the broadcasting industry that will mean people will be able to order up programmes over the Internet to view on their televisions may be delayed for more than a year, because of the Government's reforms of the telecommunications industry. http://stuff.co.nz/4129603a28.html 'Free The iPhone' Campaign Calls For Open Internet A consumer advocacy organization is using the popularity of Apple's new iPhone as an opportunity to urge Americans to demand an open mobile Internet. The organization, known as Free Press, launched a campaign on Friday called FreetheiPhone.org. As part of the campaign, Americans are asked to sign a petition addressed to the Federal Communications Commission and Congress so they can free up the mobile Internet. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201001360 uk: Wi-Fi backlash: Councils urge caution on networks in schools Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors issue call for embargo in response to parents' concerns over children's exposure to radiation in the classroom http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2771019.ece +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (c) David Goldstein 2007 --------- David Goldstein address: 4/3 Abbott Street COOGEE NSW 2034 AUSTRALIA email: Goldstein_David §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 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.cynosure.com.au/mailman/private/dns/attachments/20070719/9fdfe640/attachment-0001.htmReceived on Thu Jul 19 2007 - 07:46:37 UTC
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