Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for a more recent edition of the complete domain news, including an RSS feed - already online!
And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for regular updates in between postings. ********************************************************** Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre Nanyang Technological University, Singapore http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/ ********************************************************** Google urges shareholders to permit censorship http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9018439 ca: Lawsuits put online free speech at risk by Michael Geist http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/208639 When bloggers are silenced, the world must speak for them http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-05-01-opcom_N.htm E-Gold founder fires back at indictments http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-6180552.html au: Teacher fury at rating website http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/02/1177788228075.html Google rejects liability in $1 billion Viacom suit http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/01/news/google.php Google: Viacom Suit Endangers Net Freedom http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57178.html au: E-mail Wiretap is Permissible…For now http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1749 Australian call for internet copyright laws http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4045862a28.html Enough! The Briton who is challenging the web's endless cacophony http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2068107,00.html Firefox claws more users from Microsoft http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4044480a28.html GodTube - where the rightwing Christians surf http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2068355,00.html The unique genius that is Google http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2068260,00.html Jobs pledges 'a greener Apple' http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Jobs-pledges-a-greener-Apple-/0,130061702,339275232,00.htm au: Broadband war in Australia gets vicious http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Broadband-war-in-Australia-gets-vicious-/0,130061791,339275226,00.htm *********** CENSORSHIP *********** Google urges shareholders to permit censorship Google Inc.'s board of directors has recommended shareholders next week vote down a proposal that would require the company to legally resist government censorship efforts and to notify users when the company is required by governments to censor search results. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9018439 http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/02/google-urges-censorship_1.html ca: Lawsuits put online free speech at risk by Michael Geist Despite garnering only limited media attention, two recently filed defamation lawsuits in British Columbia have the potential to reshape free speech on the Internet in Canada. The suits pit Wayne Crookes, a B.C.-based businessman, against a who's who of the Internet, including Yahoo!, MySpace and Wikipedia. Those companies are accused of defaming Crookes not by virtue of anything they have said, but rather by permitting their users to post or link to articles that are allegedly defamatory. http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/208639 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1907/135/ When bloggers are silenced, the world must speak for them Democracy and the hunger for free speech are creeping across repressive societies, and the revolutionaries leading this charge are often the unlikeliest of soldiers — lone thinkers with minds for change and keyboards as their weapons. Linked to other warriors via the Internet, bloggers are finding that their views from politics to religion to pop culture share a unifying battle cry: a desire to speak freely. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-05-01-opcom_N.htm http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/05/when_bloggers_a.html Ethiopia blocks opposition Web sites (Reuters) Internet watchdog OpenNet Initiative accused Ethiopia of blocking scores of anti-government Web sites and millions of blogs in one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cases of cyber-censorship. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL015309620070501 Google, Yahoo urged to boost rights policies in restrictive nations Google and Yahoo should adopt policies to protect privacy and human rights in countries with authoritarian governments, New York City's comptroller said. http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_5798720 cn: China's Muckrakers for Hire Deliver Exposés With Impact Xu Xiang, a 37-year-old reporter, showed up in this Sichuan province town in December, tasked with investigating allegations that officials had forced residents off their farmland. Over two days, he interviewed farmers and local authorities, taking time to view the gleaming white chemical factory and the long rows of unoccupied stores that have replaced many of Qinglong's rich green rice paddies. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050102072.html Digg Users Revolt Against 'Censorship' The rules of the road were fairly clear to Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, until this week. Users generally were given free rein, except when they violated the site's terms of use -- for example, by linking to porn or racial hate sites, or to illegal downloads. Recent events have thrown Rose off his stride, though. Digg received a cease-and-desist letter from an unnamed source requesting that it remove stories containing a single code that provided a way to crack HD DVD encryption. At first, Digg complied -- at least, it tried to. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57196.html ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ au: Teacher fury at rating website Teachers are trying to sue and shut down a website that names and shames them and gives them a mark out of five. The website names individual schools and teachers, scoring their performance, and in many cases defaming them. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/02/1177788228075.html nz: Net Risks Highlighted Awatapu College students will team up with Internet Safety Group education manager Richard Beach to demonstrate some of the benefits and risks of internet use at a public meeting on Thursday night at the college. The producers of the NetSafe programme and Keeping Kiwi Kids Safer in Cyberspace are in Palmerston North primarily to support teachers from Awatapu, Freyberg and St Peter's with their professional development. http://redorbit.com/news/technology/922659/net_risks_highlighted/ British invention defends children online Global Security One (GSEC1) is warning parents that they need to remain vigilant with regards to their children's online activities, following the recent news that reports of websites featuring child abuse have gone up since 2005. "Members of the public are to be congratulated on being sufficiently conscientious to report sites containing images of child abuse to the Internet Watch Foundation and the IWF is to be praised for raising awareness of the issues and its very worthwhile role," says Mark Brooks, International Technology Manager of Manchester-based GSEC1. http://net4now.com/isp_news/news_article.asp?News_ID=3873 *************************************** CYBERCRIME, CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY *************************************** E-Gold founder fires back at indictments In a lengthy rebuke, the founder of online-payment system provider E-Gold and its parent company disputed a four-count indictment that accused the company of turning a blind eye to child pornography and stolen credit card numbers. http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-6180552.html Why doesn't the US government like online gold? Because in its view E-Gold, a company offering an online money transfer system, "has been a highly favoured method of payment by operators of investment scams, credit card and identity fraud, and sellers of online child pornography". Now it has charged E-Gold and its parent company, Gold & Silver Reserve, along with their three owners, with money laundering and unlicensed money transmission. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2070573,00.html Google rejects liability in $1 billion Viacom suit Responding to Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement suit over video clips on YouTube, Google says it will not back off, declaring that the law is on its side. "We are not going to let this lawsuit distract us," Michael Kwun, managing counsel for litigation at Google, told reporters Monday. http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/01/news/google.php http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1736454.ece Google: Viacom Suit Endangers Net Freedom Google filed documents with the U.S. District Court Monday, addressing the $1 billion lawsuit it faces from Viacom. In the response, filed in the Southern District of New York, Google contends that it has not violated the rights of the media conglomerate based on a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, enacted in 1998. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57178.html nz: NZ Post worker stalks customer A NZ Postshop worker bombarded a South Auckland woman with more than 30 text messages after he copied her contact details from a parcel she had mailed earlier that day. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10437510 il: The Haifa District Court defines the criteria for ordering an ISP to disclose the identity of internet end users The Haifa District Court gave an important decision explaining the criteria for ordering an ISP to disclose the identity of an end user who published dafamatory statements in talkbacks and forums. http://www.copyright.co.il/site/flash/flashDetail.asp?flash_id=98760 uk: Hacking the online ballot box Today, some councils will offer voting via the internet. But exactly how accountable, secure, and desirable are the online polling systems? http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2070609,00.html Data tsar attacks surveillance UK The increasing use of electronic surveillance to track everything from a person's sexuality to their spent criminal convictions is eroding trust in society, according to the man charged with protecting the public's privacy. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,2068155,00.html uk: Your chance to tell politicians: it's we who are watching you In an article in The Observer, Henry Porter says in part, "For the voters next Thursday, here are some of the liberties and rights you've lost or are in the process of losing: Your communications are no longer private. Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 500,000 emails and pieces of mail are intercepted every year." http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2068009,00.html uk: Call for curbs on who’s watching you The information watchdog will demand sweeping new powers today to prevent the drift towards a surveillance society. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, will emphasise that action is needed urgently for privacy safeguards to ensure that new technologies will not accelerate surveillance by the State and private sector on people’s lives. Mr Thomas wants to be given powers to carry out unannounced inspections and audits of the way that organisations, including banks and building societies, handle the private information on their customers. At present he must seek a search warrant and can carry out an audit only with the agreement of the organisation concerned. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1728913.ece http://out-law.com/page-8011 uk: Internet Association advises ISPs how to help police The Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA UK) has published its latest best current practice (BCP) document on dealing with requests from law enforcement agencies (LEAs). http://net4now.com/isp_news/news_article.asp?News_ID=3867 us: 12 Nations Put on Copyright Piracy List China, Russia and 10 other nations were targeted by the Bush administration for failing to sufficiently protect American producers of music, movies and other copyrighted material from widespread piracy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043000501.html ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** au: E-mail Wiretap is Permissible…For now An amendment to the Australian Telecommunications (Interception) Act makes it easier for the police and state authorities to read citizens’ e-mails and text messages. The Australian House of Representatives passed the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment (Stored Communications) Act 2004 which amends the Australian Telecommunications (Interception) Act of 1979, with regard to electronic messages (e-mail) and text messages (SMS). This law, the Australian government’s third attempt to amend the said Telecommunications (Interception) Act, enables the police, several Federal and State authorities, private investigators, Internet service providers and other business owners – to access e-mail messages, SMS messages, and voice messages which are temporarily stored during transfer – without a telecommunications interception warrant, even in cases the suspected offence is not grave in nature. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1749 us: How Tax Authorities Audit E-businesses? Let's talk e-commerce numbers. According to the United States Census Bureau ("USCB"), e-commerce sales in the U.S. for the year 2006 were estimated at $108.7 billion; an increase of 23.5% from US e-commerce sales in 2005. Just during the last quarter of 2006, e-commerce retail sales were calculated at $990.835 millions. The USCB"s comparison chart on e-commerce sales for the last quarter of each year beginning on 1999 and ending on 2006 shows a steady and rapidly increase on e-commerce sales in the U.S. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1745 Australian call for internet copyright laws Australian laws must be drastically updated to protect consumers' rights to access information on the internet, says a legal expert. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4045862a28.html ***** SPAM ***** Oklahoma Spammer Fighter Loses Even Worse by John Levine Last December I wrote about Mark Mumma, who runs a small web hosting company in Oklahoma City and his battle with Omega World Travel a/k/a cruise.com. Mumma lost his CAN SPAM suit agains them in December, but Omega’s countersuit for defamation went to trial last week, and I hear that the jury awarded Omega $2.5 million in damages, which Mumma is not likely to be able to pay. This may be painted in some circles as a huge defeat for anti-spam activists, but it’s not. http://www.circleid.com/posts/oklahoma_spammer_fighter_loses/ ***************************** INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE ***************************** Enough! The Briton who is challenging the web's endless cacophony Andrew Keen finds himself in the eye of a storm. The author and entrepreneur has stunned his adopted country with a book, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy, that accuses bloggers and other evangelists for the web of destroying culture, ruining livelihoods and threatening to make consumers of new media regress into 'digital narcissism'. Keen questions the euphoria surrounding the rise of citizen journalism, online communities such as MySpace and user-generated websites including online encyclopedia Wikipedia and video-sharing site YouTube. On his own blog last week, Keen noted growing support for his views: 'It's game on. Now the fun begins.' Oliver Kamm, an author and columnist, has accused bloggers of 'poisoning debate'. Blogger Kathy Sierra called for an end to the culture of online abuse after going into hiding because of death threats on other blogs. Tim O'Reilly, who coined the phrase 'Web 2.0', and Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, proposed a code of conduct including a stipulation that people not say anything online 'that we wouldn't say in person'. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2068107,00.html Firefox claws more users from Microsoft When the Firefox web browser was launched in 2004, the then head of Microsoft Australia Steve Vamos was quoted as saying he did not believe it would pose a real threat to Internet Explorer's market share. ... Firefox continues to claw users away from IE - the most recent measure by web analyst NetApplications shows Firefox has a worldwide market share of 15 per cent, compared with 78 per cent for IE. Recent measures from another firm, XiTi Monitor, say Firefox enjoys an almost 25 per cent share of the market in Oceania - larger than its share in Europe, Asia and America. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/02/1177788202450.html http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4044480a28.html Lonelygirl15 honoured with Webby New Zealand internet star Jessica Lee Rose is set to be honoured with a special Webby award for best actress for her performance in her globally popular video blog, "lonely girl 15". http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1095467 YouTube, eBay win internet Oscars Video sharing website YouTube, the eBay online auction community and rock icon David Bowie were among the winners announced today of this year's Webby Awards, the so-called "Oscars of the internet". http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/02/1177788189431.html http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN3044864720070501 US newspapers hit as web lures readers US newspapers again suffered declines in their measured print readership, with the average daily circulation for 745 US newspapers falling by 2.1 per cent between October and March. The appetite for print versions of the biggest US newspapers, which are distributed across the country, is proving stronger than that for those focused on some large cities. The Dallas Morning News had its daily circulation fall by 14.2 per cent, for example, and other sharp declines were at The San Diego Union-Tribune (6.5 per cent) and the Miami Herald (5.5 per cent). Although the New York Times lost 1.9 per cent of its daily circulation, to 1.12m per day, USA Today increased its tally by 0.2 per cent to 2.28m per day and the Wall Street Journal grew by 0.6 per cent to 2.06m. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/76e3927c-f762-11db-86b0-000b5df10621.html Muslim, traditional, but finding love on the Web (Reuters) When "Sweetgal", a 29-year-old British Muslim from central England, began looking for a new husband last year, at first she didn't know where to turn. The answer, it turned out, was on the Internet. She'd been married once -- a union arranged by her parents -- to a man from Pakistan. It lasted seven years and produced children but broke down due to cultural differences and she didn't want to go through a similar trauma again. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKL2673274020070501 X-Rated Internet Addiction Mark Searles is a family man, an insurance inspector, a devout Christian and a recovering Internet porn addict. “It's just you and the computer, there's no one to tell you no.” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/01/eveningnews/eyeontech/main2749788.shtml uk: So who is winning the online newspaper [EMAIL PROTECTED]@nda [EMAIL PROTECTED] In terms of monetising eyeballs, metrics matter. As we all know. So the advent of the "ABCe" figures, providing audited data on unique users and page impressions on a monthly basis ... No, come back, please. You have not stumbled into anorak's corner by mistake. No more jargon, except in quotes. Promise. Now a number of these website people do talk like this, but many don't. These are usually the journalists. But what they lose in cyber jargon, they make up for in sledging competitors - just as they did in newspapers and at awards dinners. The news websites are now tremendously important, the life-saver in an age of declining newspaper sales. Or so some think, and all hope. http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2494126.ece BBC ups the stakes with downloads The BBC will face criticism tomorrow if it goes ahead with an internet service that will broadcast the corporation's television output to computers. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2068019,00.html uk: ITV unveils Internet TV (Reuters) ITV unveiled plans for the 20 million pound re-launch of its ITV.com service, which will provide live programmes, a 30-day catch-up service and access to its archive via the Internet. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL019614220070501 The Joy of Text Couples talk less than ever but text and e-mail with increasing frequency. Our correspondent charts the ups and downs of broadband love. http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article1720309.ece GodTube - where the rightwing Christians surf Imagine for a moment a parallel universe where everything looks familiar, but where everyone is a rightwing fundamentalist Christian and Darwinism is widely seen as a crackpot fairytale. Well, now you can visit such a world any time you want: GodTube, Christianity's answer to the heathen YouTube, is a clearing house for Christian music videos, user-generated sermons, evangelical short films and anti-evolution cranks. One of the most popular videos is an excruciating four-part parody of those Mac v PC adverts - Christ-follower v Christian; another features a preacher with a microphone berating a street performer dressed as Gene Simmons from Kiss. http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2068355,00.html *************** DIGITAL DIVIDE *************** Vista: Too Pricey for Emerging Asia? Microsoft has to do more if it wants to boost Windows Vista sales in Asia's emerging markets as affordability is still an issue, an analyst says. http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/may2007/gb20070501_494488.htm http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,62009740,00.htm "$100 Laptop" Project May be Coming to America (Reuters) A project that aims to deliver low-priced laptops with string pulleys to the world's poorest children may have a new market: U.S. schools. http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1397,2123792,00.asp ************ FILE SHARING ************ uk: Album giveaway could ignite music revolution An acclaimed indie band will next month leap into the unknown by becoming the first established act to give away an entire album for nothing in a move which could spark a music industry revolution. Convinced that changes in the industry and the spread of digital piracy have made it ever more difficult to make money from selling records, the Crimea plan to turn the economics on their head by giving away downloads of their self-financed second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2068618,00.html ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* Internet advertising Google is hardly an inflationary force in the world. That is unless you are sitting at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale headquarters. Not content with upping the stakes in Silicon Valley’s war for talent, the search giant has helped ratchet up the price of key internet assets. Take Yahoo’s acquisition of Right Media. In October, Yahoo spent about $40m on 20 per cent of the company, which auctions non-premium advertising inventory. It is now buying full control at a valuation more than four times higher. That can in part be justified by the synergy opportunities that come with full control. But the sneaking suspicion is that Yahoo was bounced into action at such a high price by Google’s recent $3.1bn purchase of DoubleClick. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6adea562-f748-11db-86b0-000b5df10621.html The unique genius that is Google "Last week, in a new research report, Google was named the world's number one brand. If it had still been called BackRub, would it have topped the list?" ... Sergey Brin and Larry Page began looking for a way to pull sharper data from an ever-sprawling bundle of information called the internet. Their breakthrough was when they realised they could rank sites according to the amount of sites that linked back to them, so they called their search engine BackRub. Last week, in a new research report, Google was named the world's number one brand. If it had still been called BackRub, would it have topped the list? http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2068260,00.html iGoogle more than eye candy Already synonymous with looking things up on the internet, Google is creating a new name for stamping a personal touch on its website - iGoogle. Google plans to debut the new iGoogle logo on 3 May when it will also introduce a new set of customisation tools designed to encourage more people to log in to its internet-leading search engine more frequently. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/01/1177788104033.html Jobs pledges 'a greener Apple' After years of being tight-lipped about the company's environmental efforts, Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted an 1,880 word open letter online Wednesday about the computer maker's work to be green. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Jobs-pledges-a-greener-Apple-/0,130061702,339275232,00.htm http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_5802599 ******************* TELECOMMUNICATIONS ******************* nz: Internet society welcomes Telecom separation InternetNZ has welcomed Telecom's proposed operational split, but says the Government's approach has been too narrow. But the internet Society of NZ said the path set out by the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) was generally a good one. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10437012 nz: Public comment sought on Telecom separation The Government is allowing two weeks for people to make submissions on Telecom's proposal to split off its network into a structurally separate company. http://stuff.co.nz/4044426a28.html http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10437151 au: Broadband war in Australia gets vicious Telstra's threatened advertising blitz against broadband regulatory policy shows it is trying to hold the federal government to ransom, the telco's rivals say. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Broadband-war-in-Australia-gets-vicious-/0,130061791,339275226,00.htm au: Telstra not necessarily broadband partner: Rudd Labor will not give telecommunications giant Telstra carte blanche to build a national broadband network if it wins government, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Telstra-not-necessarily-broadband-partner-Rudd/0,130061791,339275238,00.htm http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/02/1177788192704.html EU gives Germany deadline over changing telecommunications law The European Commission said Wednesday that it would send Germany a final warning before suing over a law allowing Deutsche Telekom to keep rivals off its high-speed broadband network. http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/02/news/telekom.php http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL0250253020070502 ********************************** ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN ********************************** us: Child porn investigations keep FBI agents busy A Virginia man has pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography using peer-to-peer software provided by iMesh. David Leroy Knellinger Sr, 59, faces five to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and supervised release for an indefinite term after being released from prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for Aug. 17, 2007. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/30/imesh_guilty_plea/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the most recent edition of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online! The domain name news is supported by auDA. For information on subscriptions to the domain name and/or general internet news please contact me. For archives of postings to the list, see http://lists.technewsreview.com.au/pipermail/technewsreview/. Also see http://technewsreview.com.au/ for recent updates. 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 Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ APPLe mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/apple
