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The domain name news is supported by auDA

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ICANN Issues Advice to IT Professionals on Name Collision Identification and Mitigation
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06dec13-en.htm>

Managing Name Collision Occurrences by Dave Piscitello
<http://blog.icann.org/2013/12/name-collision-mitigation/>

How violent porn site operators disappear behind Internet privacy protections
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/how-violent-porn-sites-manage-to-hide-information-that-should-be-public/2013/12/06/e0861378-3773-11e3-ae46-e4248e75c8ea_story.html>

Outcomes of the Independent Review into the Governance of .au - Further Information
<http://www.auda.org.au/news/outcomes-of-the-independent-review-into-the-governance-of-.au-further-information/>
 
Brand TLDs Become Official by St?phane Van Gelder
<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20131208_brand_tlds_become_official/>

The Grapes of Wrath? An Insight Into .WINE, the Most Hotly Debated TLD in Government Circles by Jean Guillon
<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20131205_insight_into_dot_wine_the_most_hotly_debated_tld_in_gov_circles/>


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GOVERNANCE
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FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Leadership on International Human Rights ... Internet Freedom
With over 120 million in Internet freedom grants since 2008, the United States has made Internet freedom a central program and foreign policy priority. Programs focus on supporting the development of technology tools to assist activists in highly repressive environments; advocacy programs; training and rapid response to keep activists from harm or advocate for them if in danger; and applied research to help develop strategic responses to Internet repression.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/12/04/fact-sheet-obama-administration-leadership-international-human-rights>

EU challenges US hegemony in global internet governance
French lawmakers, supported by the EU's Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes, are pressing the European Union to stand up more firmly against American domination in cyberspace.
<http://www.euractiv.com/infosociety/eu-challenges-us-hegemony-global-news-532137>

Europe at a tipping point: Leaked EC Document Stirs Internet Governance Controversy by Milton Mueller
The European Commission is preparing a policy statement on Internet governance that elevates state power and multi-lateralism over the civil society-based open and participatory governance that has characterized the native Internet governance institutions.
<http://www.internetgovernance.org/2013/12/06/europe-at-a-tipping-point-leaked-ec-document-stirs-internet-governance-controversy/>

India for UN body to resolve internet governance issues
Multi-stakeholder or multi-lateral - two words encapsulating diametrically opposite views on internet governance stands at the heart of a raging debate across the globe. At the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation (WGEC) meeting in Geneva last month, India suggested forming a multi-lateral UN body to co-ordinate on internet governance issues. And several activists feel that is not the right way forward.
<http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-05/internet/44806628_1_critical-internet-resources-enhanced-cooperation-internet-governance-issues>

India to push for freeing Internet from U.S. control
In view of its growing cyber security concerns, India has decided to challenge the U.S. government?s control over the Internet and ensure that the trio of the U.S., Russia and China does not ignore India?s concerns while developing an international regime for Internet governance.
<http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/india-to-push-for-freeing-internet-from-us-control/article5434095.ece>

Rewiring Internet Governance: Choice and Control (Part 2) by Frederick Harris
It is tempting to write off ICANN as a U.S. foreign policy lackey and that's all there is to say about ICANN. However, if the mantra for rewiring governance means "lets get ICANN" we risk missing forest for trees. ICANN is merely the symptom of a dysfunctional governance predicament that somehow (despite best efforts) skews oversight. Shapiro, for example, regards oversight as a "game" (1994). His "delegation dilemma" or "agency problem" stems from two options, neither of which are attractive vis-?-vis governance.
<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20131207_rewiring_internet_governance_choice_and_control_part_2/>

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - ICANN
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ICANN Issues Advice to IT Professionals on Name Collision Identification and Mitigation
ICANN today issued comprehensive advice to IT professionals worldwide on how to proactively identify and manage private name space leakage into the public Domain Name System (DNS) and thus, eliminate the causes of name collisions as new TLDs are added to the DNS. In a report titled Name Collision Identification and Mitigation for IT Professionals, ICANN explains the nature and causes of name collision and proposes a range of possible solutions.
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06dec13-en.htm>
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/releases/release-06dec13-en>

Proposal for a Specification 13 to the ICANN Registry Agreement to Contractually Reflect Certain Limited Aspects of ".Brand" New gTLDs
ICANN is posting today for public comment a proposal requested by the Brand Registry Group to incorporate a new Specification 13 to the new gTLD Registry Agreement, which would be available to a Registry Operator that operates a TLD that ICANN determines qualifies as a ".Brand TLD".
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-06dec13-en.htm>

New Contracting Statistics Released
Below are the key Contracting statistics, as of 06 December 2013:
<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-2-06dec13-en>

Managing Name Collision Occurrences by Dave Piscitello
The topic of name collisions has received considerable attention in the DNS and Internet communities over the past several months. A name collision occurs when an attempt to resolve a name that is used in a private name space (e.g., a non-delegated TLD, or a short, unqualified name) results in a DNS query to the public DNS and there is matching name in the public DNS.
<http://blog.icann.org/2013/12/name-collision-mitigation/>

Meeting Minds at Carnegie Mellon University by Joe Catapano, Coordinator, ICANN Global Stakeholder Engagement for North America and Riccardo Ruffolo, Analyst, ICANN Global Stakeholder Engagement
In the first of many planned presentations to institutions of higher learning across North America, we paid a visit this week to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to meet with faculty and students to raise awareness about ICANN and discuss what will be an important year in Internet Governance beginning in January 2014. We were honored by the spirit with which CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute Director Professor Justine Cassell and Computer Science Department Assistant Dean Catherine Copetas welcomed us and supported us in organizing the event.
<http://blog.icann.org/2013/12/meeting-minds-at-carnegie-mellon-university/>

Richard Phillips, President | Intellectual Property Owners Association, to Fadi Chehad?
New gTLD Registry Agreement 	 
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/phillips-to-chehade-02dec13-en>

Heather Dryden, Chair | Governmental Advisory Committee, to Dr. Stephen Crocker
GAC Advice Regarding the New gTLD Applications for .islam and .halal 	 
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/dryden-to-crocker-29nov13-en>

Jonathan Zuck et al., President | Association for Competitive Technologies, to Stephen D. Crocker, Fadi Chehad?, and Cherine Chalaby
Name Collision Mitigation
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/zuck-et-al-to-crocker-et-al-21nov13-en>

How violent porn site operators disappear behind Internet privacy protections
Researcher Garth Bruen long has investigated the seamier corners of the Internet, but even he was shocked to discover Rapetube.org, a site urging users to share what it called ?fantasy? videos of sexual attacks.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/how-violent-porn-sites-manage-to-hide-information-that-should-be-public/2013/12/06/e0861378-3773-11e3-ae46-e4248e75c8ea_story.html>

Small Kiwi registrar loses accreditation
ICANN has terminated the registrar accreditation of Pacnames, a small New Zealand registrar.
<http://domainincite.com/15243-small-kiwi-registrar-loses-accreditation>

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 - ccTLD & gTLD NEWS
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Outcomes of the Independent Review into the Governance of .au - Further Information
In December 2010, the auDA Board decided that, after 11 years of operation, it would be appropriate, timely, and of benefit to the organisation to consider possible refinements to ensure auDA remains transparent, effective and accountable to its stakeholders.
<http://www.auda.org.au/news/outcomes-of-the-independent-review-into-the-governance-of-.au-further-information/>

Important changes to .eu legal documents from 8 January 2014
As .eu will extend to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway from 8 January 2014, we have had to update the Registration Policy to change the definition of who is eligible to register a .eu domain name.
<http://www.eurid.eu/en/news/dec-2013/important-changes-eu-legal-documents-8-january-2014>

Soon available: .EU Domains in the European Economic Area
EURid, the .EU registry, announced that residents, companies and organizations based in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries will have the opportunity to register .EU domains from January 8, 2014. The EEA includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
<http://brandshelter.com/english/News/Current News.html#20>

.eu extends to EEA countries from 8 January 2014
Residents, companies and organisations based in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries of Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway will also be eligible to register domain names under the .eu top-level domain from 8 January 2014.
<http://centr.org/news/12-04-2013/3149/eu-extends-eea-countries-8-january-2014>

.NZ: Renewal for third level domains is recommended for second level registrations in 2014
The .NZ registry reports that currently registrants are releasing their third level domains because they would like to register the domain name at the second level as soon as possible.
<http://brandshelter.com/english/News/Current News.html#21>

Romania plans to introduce yearly renewal fee for .ro Internet domain names
Owners of Romanian internet domains .ro are likely to pay an annual fee starting next year, to renew ownership of their domain, should a recent Government proposal be enforced. Currently owners of Romanian domain names only pay a one time registration fee, which is of around EUR 50.
<http://www.romania-insider.com/romania-plans-to-introduce-yearly-renewal-fee-for-ro-internet-domain-names/110923/>

5 March 2014: .uk Registrar Conference ?The changing UK internet landscape?
We are pleased to announce our next .uk Registrar Conference will take place on Wednesday 5th March at the Royal College of General Practitioners in London.
<http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/5-march-2014-uk-registrar-conference-?-changing-uk-internet-landscape?>

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 - NEW TLDS
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ICANN posts guidelines to avoid gTLD mix-ups
ICANN has issued a set of resources to help administrators avoid potentially costly mix-ups ahead of the gTLD rollout.
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/07/icann_posts_guidelines_to_avoid_gtld_mixups/>

Donuts? portfolio swells as ICANN signs 31 new gTLD contracts
ICANN signed 31 new gTLD Registry Agreements yesterday, 24 of which were with Donuts subsidiaries.
<http://domainincite.com/15245-donuts-portfolio-swells-as-icann-signs-31-new-gtld-contracts>

gTLD update ? WIPO rules on entitlement to gTLDs where ownership of a brand is split across territories
WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Centre has issued a number of rulings which demonstrate the circumstances in which WIPO is or is not likely to uphold an objection to a gTLD application where ownership of a brand is split across territories.
<http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7075c26d-913b-4785-a01a-3920aafeaac3>

Oh no! Cement company withdraws dot-brand bid
FLSmidth, a Danish cement company, has withdrawn its application for the new gTLD .fls.
<http://domainincite.com/15253-oh-no-cement-company-withdraws-dot-brand-bid>

TLDH ditches .roma bid after GAC trouble
Top Level Domain Holdings has withdrawn its bid for the .roma gTLD, after apparently running afoul of the Italian government.
<http://domainincite.com/15247-tldh-ditches-roma-bid-after-gac-trouble>

New Domain Names Are in the Works. Would Your Business Benefit?
Question: I heard that a bunch of new website addresses?besides .com?will become available in 2014. How should a small business like mine take advantage of these new domain names?
<http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-06/new-domain-names-are-in-the-works-dot-would-your-business-benefit>

Brand TLDs Become Official by St?phane Van Gelder
It seems that pigs can, after all, fly. From the start of its new gTLD program, ICANN ignored what was obvious to pretty much everyone else: corporations might wish to apply for their brands and run them as closed ecosystem TLDs servicing only the brands in question. No longer. By releasing a proposed addendum to its registry contract, called Specification 13, ICANN has done two things it has always said it would never do: acknowledged that "brand TLDs" should be considered in the new gTLD program, and created a new category of TLD for this specific class of application.
<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20131208_brand_tlds_become_official/>

Daniel Negari Lays Out His Vision For .XYZ & Chats About The Controversial NameJet.com Auctions
While at was at ICANN chatting with Applicants and others in the domain space the question I found myself being asked the most was about .XYZ.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/12/07/daniel-negari-lays-out-his-vision-for-xyz-chats-about-the-controversial-namejet-com-auctions/>

?Cloud? is not a community, new TLD panelist rules
Cloud Industry ForumCloud Industry Forum Limited has lost its community objections against three applications for the .cloud TLD.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/12/05/cloud-is-not-a-community-new-tld-panelist-rules/>

How much will Domainers and Defensive Registrations matter for new TLD operators?
New TLD registries will need to count on domainers and defensive registrations if they hope to amass a large registration base.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/12/05/how-much-will-domainers-and-defensive-registrations-matter-for-new-tld-operators/>

The Grapes of Wrath? An Insight Into .WINE, the Most Hotly Debated TLD in Government Circles by Jean Guillon
Everybody agrees, all .WINE applicants want to find where the buck is going to stop, as far as the strange stalemate we have been in for so many months. Situation? "What situation?" I hear you asking. In July 2012, when applications and the name of their applicants were released to the public, it appeared that 3 applicants had the same idea, when they applied for a .WINE TLD.
<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20131205_insight_into_dot_wine_the_most_hotly_debated_tld_in_gov_circles/>

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 - DNS SECURITY
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Mitigating attacks on Industrial Control Systems (ICS); the new Guide from EU Agency ENISA [news release]
The EU?s cyber security agency ENISA has provided a new manual for better mitigating attacks on Industrial Control Systems (ICS), supporting vital industrial processes primarily in the area of critical information infrastructure (such as the energy and chemical transportation industries) where sufficient knowledge is often lacking.
<http://www.enisa.europa.eu/media/press-releases/mitigating-attacks-on-industrial-control-systems-the-new-guide-from-enisa>

Window of exposure? a real problem for SCADA systems?
Much of Europe?s critical infrastructure which resides in sectors such as energy, transportation,water supply is largely managed and controlled by SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, a subgroup of Industrial Control Systems (ICS).
<http://www.enisa.europa.eu/activities/Resilience-and-CIIP/critical-infrastructure-and-services/scada-industrial-control-systems/window-of-exposure-a-real-problem-for-scada-systems>

Microsoft disrupts web fraud botnet ZeroAccess
ZeroAccess, one of the world's largest botnets - a network of computers infected with malware to trigger online fraud - has been disrupted by Microsoft and law enforcement agencies. ZeroAccess hijacks web search results and redirects users to potentially dangerous sites to steal their details.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25227592>

Inside the Effort to Kill a Web Fraud 'Botnet' - Working With Law Enforcement, Team Cuts Off Servers for Zombie Computers
For months, investigators at Microsoft Corp. hunkered down in front of their computer monitors, patiently stalking the shadowy figures behind what the company says is a major Web ad-fraud machine.
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303722104579240151385337672>

Microsoft and Friends Take Down ZeroAccess Botnet
Microsoft?s crusade against botnets raged on yesterday as the Redmond, Wash., computer giant and a coalition of law enforcement agencies and Internet security companies disrupted the notorious ZeroAccess botnet.
<http://threatpost.com/microsoft-and-friends-take-down-zeroaccess-botnet/103122>

Microsoft, Europol claim victory in taking down ZeroAccess botnet
Microsoft said late Thursday that it executed a concerted action with Europol against the servers and domains controlled by the Sirefef or ZeroAccess botnet.
<http://www.pcworld.com/article/2069880/microsoft-europol-claim-victory-in-taking-down-zeroaccess-botnet.html>

Microsoft leads disruption of largest infected global PC network
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it had disrupted the largest network of compromised personal computers, involving some 2 million machines around the world, since it stepped up its battle against organized online criminals three years ago.
<http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/06/uk-microsoft-cybercrime-idUKBRE9B503F20131206>
<http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/06/microsoft-cybercrime-idINDEE9B501Y20131206>

ZeroAccess Botnet Down, But Not Out
Authorities in Europe joined Microsoft Corp. this week in disrupting ?ZeroAccess,? a vast botnet that has enslaved more than two million PCs with malicious software in an elaborate and lucrative scheme to defraud online advertisers.
<http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/12/zeroaccess-botnet-down-but-not-out/>

How Many Zero-Days Hit You Today?
On any given day, nation-states and criminal hackers have access to an entire arsenal of zero-day vulnerabilities ? undocumented and unpatched software flaws that can be used to silently slip past most organizations? digital defenses, new research suggests. That sobering conclusion comes amid mounting evidence that thieves and cyberspies are ramping up spending to acquire and stockpile these digital armaments.
<http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/12/how-many-zero-days-hit-you-today/>

uk: RBS says NatWest website hit by cyber-attack
Natwest and RBS Royal Bank of Scotland said its systems had been deliberately targeted
<http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/06/rbs-natwest-website-cyber-attack>

PayPal DDoS attackers plead guilty, some may walk free
Anonymous members, charged with a distributed denial-of-service attack on PayPal, entered a plea Thursday that could see some of them walk free at sentencing next December.
<http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244592/PayPal_DDoS_attackers_plead_guilty_some_may_walk_free>

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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Ninth Circuit says Anticybersquatting Act was Separated at Birth from Lanham Act by Philip Corwin
On December 4th the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision that will reverberate for years to come in cybersquatting cases brought under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).
<http://internetcommerce.org/Un-Common_ACPA>

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 - IPv4/IPv6
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IPv6, SDN: When worlds collide ... in a good way
What do IPv6 and software-defined networking have in common? Not a lot, but then again, oh so much. Both IPv6 and SDN stand to radically change the way we build networks, and if implemented correctly, both play a role in making the cloud and IT as a Service more of a reality.
<http://searchsdn.techtarget.com/feature/IPv6-SDN-When-worlds-collide-in-a-good-way>

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 - MISCELLANEOUS
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New Study Reveals How Internet Exchange Points Spur Internet Growth in Latin America
The Internet Society recently published the results of a study that demonstrates the far-reaching economic and societal benefits of establishing Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in emerging markets.
<http://www.internetsociety.org/news/new-study-reveals-how-internet-exchange-points-spur-internet-growth-latin-america>

uk: CJEU rules that the use of domain names and metatags (although not registration of a domain name per se) constitutes "advertising" under the terms of the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive
In Case C-657/11 Belgian Electronic Sorting Technology NV v Bert Peelayers and Visys NV, the CJEU has ruled that the use of domain names and the use of metatags, but not the mere registration of a domain name, constitute "advertising" under the terms of the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive (Directive 2006/114/EC).
<http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2c788479-67af-4862-ab15-4c3c13a04653>

How did Verisign meet its 100% SLA on .com Whois in June?
Each month Verisign and the other domain name registries submit reports to ICANN that include their uptime and performance numbers.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/12/06/verisign-sla-contract/>

Cyber Safety on Cyber Monday
Last year on cyber Monday consumers spent $1.98 billion shopping online, topping Thanksgiving online sales by 17 percent. That?s a serious amount of electronic traffic, which provides ample opportunities for bad actors to sneak their scams and fraudulent offers in among the deals. The best way to stay safe as you shop online this weekend is to be alert and aware of the realities of the Internet.
<http://cadna.org/blog/2013/12/2/cyber-safety-on-cyber-monday>

INTA calls on consumers to shop carefully online this holiday season
The International Trademark Association (INTA) is asking consumers to watch out for counterfeit goods when shopping online this holiday season.
<http://www.inta.org/Press/Pages/2013Holidays.aspx>

Companies Making News: Archeo, InterNetX's New Domain Game, Turkey.com & Igloo.com
Buying domains from the vast ArcheoDomains.com inventory just got a lot easier. As most you know, Archeo, recently spun off from Marchex, now administers their famous portfolio of over 200,000 domains (most of which were assembled by legendary domain investor Yun Ye). Though the selection has always been great, wading through that many domains and gong through back and forth negotiations in an effort to buy one could be very time consuming. Archeo just addressed that by setting fixed Buy It Now prices (under $10,000) on more than 30,000 domains.
<http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20131205.htm>

Play The InterNetX DomainGame & You Can Be Crowned The DomainKing (Mr, Schwartz Is Not Going To Be Happy)
InterNetX just announced the DomainGame which is intended to help convey some basic knowledge about the complex topic of ?domains?. ?You know what .CX is? And you know where the Christmas Islands are?
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/12/05/play-the-internetx-domaingame-you-can-be-crowned-the-domainking-mr-schwartz-is-not-going-to-be-happy/>

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 - WEBHOSTING
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Netcraft: December 2013 Web Server Survey
In the December 2013 survey we received responses from 861,023,217 sites, an increase of 75.7M since last month.
<http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2013/12/06/december-2013-web-server-survey.html>

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 - DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET
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Dealing With Baggage ? When Acquiring Domains, Be Sure to Check for Surprises
What does it take to build a strong domain name portfolio? Obviously a company must consider domain names that match its trademarks and slogans. It should also consider leveraging generic-term domain names to demonstrate leadership in its industry. Search terms used to find the company and its products can be used as domain names. And country code extensions will help a company with a strong customer base in foreign countries.
<http://domainnamestrategy.com/2013/12/05/dealing-with-baggage-when-acquiring-domains-be-sure-to-check-for-surprises/>

uk: Could latest trademark battle put AdWord disputes back on the litigation agenda? [registration]
AdWords returned as a trademark battleground this week with UK cosmetics company Lush taking Amazon to the High Court of England and Wales, claiming trademark infringement. Following the Interflora ruling earlier this year, the issue of keyword use remains a live topic in the UK courts.
<http://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/daily/detail.aspx?g=058ef69d-958c-4b87-a7a1-aa637ef437ec>

John Quail's Claim to Fame: How a Young Irish Entrepreneur Used Domains to Build a Booming Business 
28-year-old John Quail has had a lot of success buying and selling high end generic domain names including Inside.com, Diseases.com, Vaccination.com, Laptop.net and several highly coveted 2-letter .coms.
<http://dnjournal.com/cover/2013/september-october.htm>

88888.com Changes Hands in One of the Year's 20 Biggest Transactions to Top This Week's Domain Sales Chart
When you first see 88888.com you might think someone has a button stuck on their keyboard, but there is gold in those numbers - and a lot of it. $245,000 worth to be exact, the figure DomainNameSales.com was able to get in the biggest sale reported this past week. It also ranks among the 20 biggest sales reported so far this year.
<http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2013/20131204.htm>

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SPAM
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We?re winning the fight against spam, say Gmail researchers
Smart filtering and identification techniques are squeezing out the threat of spam and phishing emails, according to figures released by a couple of Google security researchers. In an official Google blog post, Elie Bursztein and Vijay Eranti describe how 91.4 percent of genuine emails now use some form of authentication standard to verify their credentials.
<http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/winning-fight-spam-say-gmail-researchers/>

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ONLINE CRIME & LEGAL
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In the Murky World of Bitcoin, Fraud Is Quicker Than the Law
The call went out on Twitter: ?For insane profits come and join the pump.? It was an invitation to a penny stock-style pump-and-dump scheme ? only this one involved Bitcoin, the soaring, slightly scary virtual currency that has beckoned and bewildered people around the world.
<http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/in-the-murky-world-of-bitcoin-fraud-is-quicker-than-the-law/>

How to find out if your password has been stolen
The announcement yesterday's of the discovery of a botnet command and control database of user credentials for Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, ADP and others is just the latest in a trend going back several years. You can't trust Internet services to protect your passwords; you have to protect them yourself.
<http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-find-out-if-your-password-has-been-stolen-7000023990/>
<http://haveibeenpwned.com/>

Facebook, Google, and other social network credentials need update after theft [CSO]
Users are again reminded to select strong passwords and update often, as almost 2 million stolen website and email login credentials were found on a botnet command-and-control server. Most of the compromised accounts belong to Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, LinkedIn and other popular services.
<http://www.pcworld.com/article/2070667/facebook-google-and-other-social-network-credentials-need-update-after-theft.html>

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PRIVACY & SURVEILLANCE
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NSA considered spying on Australians 'unilaterally', leaked paper reveals
The US National Security Agency has considered spying on Australian citizens without the knowledge or consent of the Australian intelligence organisations it partners with, according to a draft 2005 NSA directive kept secret from other countries.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/nsa-considered-spying-on-australians-unilaterally-leaked-paper-reveals>

NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show
The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals ? and map their relationships ? in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tracking-cellphone-locations-worldwide-snowden-documents-show/2013/12/04/5492873a-5cf2-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html>

Documents Say Phones Outside U.S. Are Tracked
The National Security Agency is tracking the location and movements of hundreds of millions of cellphones outside the United States in an effort to find suspicious travel patterns or coordinated activities by intelligence targets, according to secret documents leaked by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/us/politics/documents-say-phones-outside-us-are-tracked.html>

Internet Firms Step Up Efforts to Stop Spying
When Marissa Mayer, Yahoo?s chief executive, recently announced the company?s biggest security overhaul in more than a decade, she did not exactly receive a standing ovation.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/technology/internet-firms-step-up-efforts-to-stop-spying.html>

The NSA says it ?obviously? can track locations without a warrant. That?s not so obvious.
In conversations with The Washington Post over Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani's recent story on cellphone location tracking, an intelligence agency lawyer told Gellman, "obviously there is no Fourth Amendment expectation in communications metadata.? But some experts say it's far from obvious that the 1979 Supreme Court case on which the administration bases this view gives the government unfettered power to scoop up Americans' cellphone location data.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/04/the-nsa-says-it-obviously-can-track-locations-without-a-warrant-thats-not-so-obvious/?tid=hpModule_88854bf0-8691-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394>

Microsoft: U.S. government is a potential security threat
Microsoft is trying to change the terms of the NSA debate ? literally. The company is labeling any government effort to spy on its online communications as evidence of an "advanced persistent threat," a term that's so far been reserved to describe foreign espionage units such as the one allegedly operated by the Chinese military.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/05/microsoft-u-s-government-is-a-potential-security-threat/>

Microsoft assures international business customers on spying
Microsoft Corp pledged late Wednesday to fight in court any attempt by U.S. intelligence agencies to seize its foreign business customers' data under American surveillance laws, one of a series of steps aimed at reassuring nervous users abroad.
<http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/05/usa-security-microsoft-idINDEE9B40KQ20131205>

On snooping disclosures, AT&T and Internet companies are like night and day
AT&T wants to silence a shareholder proposal that it disclose the government requests it receives for customer information, rejecting a step that Google, Microsoft and other Internet companies have already taken.
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/120713-on-snooping-disclosures-atampt-and-276714.html>

AT&T aims to sidestep shareholder request on surveillance data
AT&T has asked regulators to let it ignore a shareholder request for details of its customer-information sharing with government agencies, a move that could forestall a heated debate at the telecommunications giant's annual meeting.
<http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/07/att-surveillance-idINDEE9B604Q20131207>

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David Goldstein

 email: david at goldsteinreport.com

 web:   http://goldsteinreport.com/ / http://davidgoldstein.tel/
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