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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/ ********************************************************** Fiji Military no longer bothered by critical blogs http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22216 th: Web censorship draws rising global concern http://asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southeastasia.asp?parentid=70620 Bloggers beat Great Firewall http://australianit.news.com.au/story/1,24897,21794347-5013044,00.html G8 Nations Will Intensify Fight Against Child Pornography http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2557495,00.html au: Filter foils senator's porn demo http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21788164-5007133,00.html au: States may face new net porn rules http://australianit.news.com.au/story/1,24897,21786501-15306,00.html nz: Teachers in high-tech text traps http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10442052 NZ schools ban bebo site http://stuff.co.nz/4074708a11.html Google is watching you: 'Big Brother' row over plans for personal database http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article2578479.ece How Google wants to know everything about you http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1829351.ece Google may be violating EU privacy laws on user search data http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/technology/25google.php Google bristles over EU data probe http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/12436/1023/ Have you got Google under your skin? We’re giving too much personal information away http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1842688.ece They know everything about you and didn’t even have to ask http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1843030.ece Search me? There is a growing tension between knowledge and privacy as Google give us more but wants to know more about us first: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1845283.ece eu: ICO questions Google's privacy policy http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1841867.ece au: One in three porn viewers are women http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/25/1179601669066.html *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** Internet Gambling Regulation Present and Future: Technology Outpaces Legislation as the MMORPG Problem Emerges by MARK METHENITIS (Vernon Goordich, LLP; Law of the Game) This paper's central thesis is that current gambling regulations do not adequately account for the issue of gambling within Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games. Rather, these gambling transactions fall into shades of gray between what is and what is not legal. The paper proceeds in three parts. First is an overview of gambling regulation. Second, an explanation of the MMO games themselves. From these two elements, the third portion of the paper poses a potential regulatory scheme which could be applied to MMO games to address the issue of MMO gambling more thoroughly than it is presently addressed by any regulation. http://ssrn.com/abstract=987056 >From Sterne and Borges to Lost Storytellers: Cyberspace, Narrative, and Law by >Shulamit Almog (Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law >Journal) Abstract: The Internet represents some essential and far-advanced cultural shifts, as well as transformations in some of our social and cultural practices. Such transformations inevitably influence many institutions. This essay attempts to suggest that one aspect of the Internet experience or the Internet culture is relevant to our narrative competence, cognizance, and ability to become storytellers and story listeners. The Internet initiates and continuously induces important shifts in our storytelling practices and narrative cognizance. These shifts carry significant implications in the domain of law. They influence the way we practice law and the way we perceive it. They affect our comprehension of law and the range of anticipations, hopes, and emotions related to it. http://ssrn.com/abstract=983904 Virtual Realities and Virtual Welters: A Note on the Commerce Clause Implications of Regulating Cyberporn by GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS (Virginia Law Review) Abstract: This Essay draws an analogy between interstate catalog taxation cases such as Quill and National Bellas Hess, and the impact of disparate state obscenity laws on Internet porn. It suggests that the burden of complaying with disparate state obscenity standards could be, like the burden on catalog sellers of complying with disparate sales taxes and classifications, a burden on interstate commerce sufficient to trigger dormant commerce clause scrutiny. It also suggests that First Amendment doctrine should take account of similar concerns and chilling effects. http://ssrn.com/abstract=988172 Thinking Seriously About Cable & Satellite Censorship: An Informal Analysis of S. 616, the Rockefeller-Hutchison Bill by ADAM THIERER (Progress & Freedom Foundation Progress on Point Paper) Abstract: Senate legislation introduced recently that aims to extend broadcast indecency regulations to cable and satellite providers, if passed, would represent the most significant congressional effort to regulate speech since the Communications Decency Act of 1996, and likely form the precursor to regulation of content on the Internet. ... Worth assessing is the findings section's pervasiveness rationale, which has never been applied to newspapers and the Internet, and would be constitutionally suspect for cable and satellite. Meanwhile mandates imposed on warning systems and filters deployed voluntarily by programmers might best be grouped under the theme hanging the industry with its own rope. Ratings systems are subjective, and government shouldn't have any say over them. Section 11 would exempt premium and pay-per-view channels, but what happens if S-616 forces popular content onto these networks and viewers follow? Would they then be regulated as well? http://ssrn.com/abstract=985169 MySpace.Com and Other Social Networking Sites: Ideas for Keeping Children Safe by SUSAN HANLEY KOSSE (University of Louisville- Louis D. Brandeis School of Law) Abstract: A growing number of disturbing incidents involving minors as victims of sexual solicitation, assault and even murder have been traced to a fairly new type of Internet communication, social networking sites. These sites, hugely popular with teens, provide unique and largely independent and unsupervised channels of self expression and socialization for children. Yet the sites also present real dangers to today's youth, the most serious being child victimization by sexual predators. ... The Article concludes by offering additional solutions for keeping children safe based on current research. A multi-faceted approach is necessary based on different causes of risk taking. Social networking sites should be encouraged to segregate different age groups but the burden should not be theirs alone. To further promote segregating age groups, children and adults should be punished for misrepresenting their age when registering on social networking sites. Record companies used a fear of punishment strategy when deciding to sue individual file sharers for copyright infringement. Only when the risk of punishment outweighed the benefits of the peer-to-peer sharing option did behavior change. These results offer hope that a similar strategy with social networking sites may be effective in changing teens' behavior. http://ssrn.com/abstract=989042 The Problem of Spam Law: A Comment on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's Discussion Paper on Regulating Unsolicited Commercial Messages by DENNIS W. K. KHONG (Computer Law & Security Report) Abstract: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission published a discussion paper on Regulating Unsolicited Commercial Messages in early August 2003. It was undertaken as a precursor to a law to control the problem of junk mails or spam on the Internet and other electronic media. In this paper, I intend to explore the problem of regulating spam from an economic point of view, and to discuss the Commission's findings. http://ssrn.com/abstract=986309 Seeking Symmetry on the Information Front: Confronting Global Jihad on the Internet by K. A. TAIPALE (National Strategy Forum Review) This essay provides a brief overview of the 'information battlefront' in the confrontation with militant Islamic extremism. In particular, this essay outlines how terror networks are increasingly using advanced information technology and the global communications network to expand their capacity and capability to wage a global insurgency against U.S. interests and surveys what counter-strategies might be employed in response. It is beyond the scope of this essay to address the broader political or policy issues relating more generally to the global "war on terrorism," or to address the legal or ethical implications of employing the counter-strategies discussed below in any specific context. Rather, this essay focuses simply on surveying some of the information operations strategies that might be used to counter certain online activities of insurgents. http://ssrn.com/abstract=987040 Who Controls the Internet? A Book Review by Deborah J. Salons Ms. Salons reviews Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, Oxford University Press, 2006. Authored by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, the book provides a history of the Internet and analyzes the nexus between globalization and government coercion. The book focuses on how these agents have shaped and developed the Internet as we are familiar with it today. http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v59/no3/13-BookReview.pdf A Soldier's Blog: Balancing Service Members' Personal Rights vs. National Security Interests by Tatum H. Lytle This Note examines the competing interests between ensuring military personnel's freedom of speech while protecting national security interests. The Author recognizes the necessity of protecting national security interests but emphasizes that military personnel's rights to free speech must be protected as long as such speech poses no threat to military security. In conclusion, clearer protections must be implemented to protect military personnel's right to free speech. http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v59/no3/12-Lytle.pdf Exploit Derivatives & National Security by Micah Schwalb (Yale Journal of Law & Technology) Critical infrastructures remain vulnerable to cyber attack despite a raft of post-9/11 legislation focused on cyber security in critical infrastructures. An emerging discipline known as the "economics of information security" may provide a partial solution in the form of a hypothetical market that trades "exploit derivatives," a modified futures contract tied to cyber security events. This paper argues that such a market could serve to predict and prevent cyber attacks through the operation of the efficient capital market hypothesis, but only after changes to the present regulatory environment. Specifically, I argue that a statutory safe harbor would allow the creation of a pilot market focused on vulnerabilities in Internet protocol version six, an emerging communications standard that China hopes to deploy throughout its national network before the 2008 Olympics. Indeed, such a safe harbor would align the interests of military and civilian policymakers on the common goal of protecting critical infrastructure from a computer network attack originating in China, whether instigating by the People's Liberation Army or so-called "black-hat" hackers. http://research.yale.edu/9/spring/schwalb-162 *********** CENSORSHIP *********** us: Wireless Carriers Set Strict Decency Standards for Content As music and video programming becomes widely available for cell phones, major U.S. wireless carriers are quietly setting strict decency standards for their content partners in an effort to stave off criticism from customers and regulators, according to the Adult Freedom Foundation (AFF) Monitor. Many of the rules go far beyond those set by federal regulators for television and radio, according to a story by Amol Sharma. http://freespeechcoalition.com/mobileratings.htm tr: Bill censoring online content that insults Atatürk is signed into law Reporters Without Borders regrets that a bill passed by parliament on 4 May allowing the authorities to block websites with content deemed to have insulted the memory of the Turkish republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was signed into law by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on 22 May. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22273 Fiji Military no longer bothered by critical blogs After blocking access to several blogs on 17 May, a spokesman for the army yesterday said it would no longer crack down on blogs “critical of the army and members of the government.” Col. Pita Driti said the military authorities “no longer felt concerned by comments published in these blogs.” He said the military had a “thick skin” and was “no longer offended by criticism.” http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22216 th: Cyber clampdown ripped by foreign watchdog Human Rights Watch has joined local and international netizens in criticising the interim government's censorship of the Internet, saying the move has undermined free political debate and delayed the return to democracy. http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=118959 th: Web censorship draws rising global concern Human Rights Watch has joined local and international "netizens" in criticising the interim government's censorship of the internet, saying the move has undermined free political debate and delayed the return to democracy. The New York-based Human Rights Watch yesterday issued a statement critical of the Thai authorities who have been active in silencing cyber critics and dissidents, in stark contradiction of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's pledges to create an atmosphere conducive to democratisation and political reform. http://asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southeastasia.asp?parentid=70620 Bloggers beat Great Firewall China's 20 million bloggers have scored their first big win against the country's 40,000-odd internet police. Two years ago, the Government launched a drive to require internet service providers to register the identities of all bloggers, even if they used pseudonyms online, and to provide the names to the authorities if required. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/1,24897,21794347-5013044,00.html ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ G8 Nations Will Intensify Fight Against Child Pornography The Group of Eight highly industrialized nations pledged to re-double their efforts to fight child pornography and are calling on Internet service providers to help stop the exploitation of children. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2557495,00.html http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2885&iArticleId=3849611 http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSCHA43660820070524 Internet wird immer krimineller EU will koordiniertes Vorgehen - Von Phishing über Computereinbrüche und Kinderpornographie http://derstandard.at/?id=2891253 au: Internet access concerns after alleged threats New concerns have emerged about teenagers' use of the internet following alleged online threats and plots against students and staff at two NSW schools. Three 15-year-old boys have been charged with making online threats to staff and fellow students of a high school at Ambarvale in Sydney's southwest earlier this month, police say. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21780121-1242,00.html au: MySpace calls for Australian sex-offender database MySpace is pressing Australian authorities to establish a system that would allow it to share information about sex offenders using the social networking site. The company has already created a similar system in the US, where attorneys general from eight states recently demanded the company provide data on how many registered sex offenders were using the site and where they lived. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/24/1179601539117.html au: Filter foils senator's porn demo Filtering software has prevented Family First senator Steve Fielding from showing Communications Minister Helen Coonan internet pornography on her Parliament House office computer. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21788164-5007133,00.html http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1932573.htm au: States may face new net porn rules THE federal Government has considered using Commonwealth powers to force states and territories to introduce porn filters in government institutions such as libraries. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/1,24897,21786501-15306,00.html nz: Teachers in high-tech text traps New complaints against teachers investigated by the Teachers Council show that technology is getting educators into trouble - with three of the five cases being triggered by inappropriate text messages and emails between teachers and students. One teacher was struck off, and two were censured for serious misconduct but were allowed to keep their registration with no conditions imposed, following email or text contact with students. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10442052 NZ schools ban bebo site More than 2000 schools across the country have taken steps to limit student access to the web as concern grows over social networking sites like bebo.com. http://stuff.co.nz/4074708a11.html Parents turn to kids for tech support Children are helping Mom and Dad complete online purchases and other Internet tasks, potentially altering family dynamics. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0524/p17s02-lifp.html ca: Canada Labeled a "Pedophile Haven" by Michael Geist Fresh off unsubstantiated claims that Canada is a piracy haven, the media is now reporting that Canada is also a "pedophile haven." At least two groups are quoted in a CTV article claiming that Canada has lax laws and should require Internet service providers to take stronger action against pedophile and child porn sites. Moreover, Conservative MP Art Hanger infers that the law should be changed to require ISPs to report sites, even if they are not illegal. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1978/125/ News from the Czech Safer Internet Awarenod/Helpline Safety Line Association implements a crisis intervention line to protect children against internet deliquency within the partnership project CZESICON (CZEch Safer Internet COmbined Node) – Safer Internet Plus. http://saferinternet.org/ww/en/pub/insafe/news/articles/0507/cz1.htm uk: Internet Watch Foundation Seeks New Board Members (news release) The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the self-regulatory body that combats illegal content online, today announced it is recruiting four Non-Executive Directors. These new Board members, who will also be trustees, will join the current non-executive directors to help drive the strategic focus of the IWF’s fight against illegal content. http://iwf.org.uk/media/news.198.htm us: Let's keep Net safety in perspective No doubt children face grave danger online. If you read the newspaper or watch TV, you've heard about cyber-stalking, Internet bullying, identity theft and other baffling threats unheard of a few years ago. Experts encourage parents to confront these dangers by talking to their kids about being smart online. Sites like wiredsafety.org, ikeepsafe.org and safekids.com are a good place to start, because these threats cannot be ignored. But they can be put in perspective. http://www.charlotte.com/business/moneywise/story/137261.html *************************************** CYBERCRIME, CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY *************************************** Google is watching you: 'Big Brother' row over plans for personal database Google is setting out to create the most comprehensive database of personal information ever assembled, one with the ability to tell people how to run their lives. In a mission statement that raises the spectre of an internet Big Brother to rival Orwellian visions of the state, Google has revealed details of how it intends to organise and control the world's information. The company's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said during a visit to Britain this week: "The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as 'What shall I do tomorrow?' and 'What job shall I take?'." http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article2578479.ece How Google wants to know everything about you Google says it does not yet “know enough about you” and is stepping up its efforts to collect personal information on the web. Eric Schmidt, the Google chief executive, said yesterday that the world’s biggest internet search engine is still at a “very early” stage when it comes to gathering your personal data through the web. “This is the most important aspect of Google's expansion,” he added. He envisaged a day when Google would be able to advise its users on everything from their career moves to how they should spend their free time, based on the collected queries they tap into Google.com. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1829351.ece Google may be violating EU privacy laws on user search data Google may be violating the European Union's privacy laws by storing information on customer queries for as long as two years, advisers to EU regulators told the company. Google's privacy counsel in Paris, Peter Fleischer, said the company received a letter this month from the EU's data-protection advisory agency asking it to explain why records of user searches are retained. http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/technology/25google.php http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/26/business/26google.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6692063.stm http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_5986759 (AP) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/25/1179601745294.html (AP) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/25/google_privacy/ http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6186840.html Google defends data policy after EU warning (Reuters) Google will tell Brussels it needs to hold on to users' search data for up to two years for security and commercial reasons after being warned it could be violating European privacy laws by doing so. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2529344720070525 Google bristles over EU data probe The EU's data privacy watchdog has launched an investigation into the personal data retention policies of Google, querying whether the search leader is breaking privacy laws. In its defence, Google has fired back a salvo defending its policies and asking whether the other main search players Yahoo and Microsoft are being similarly scrutinized. http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/12436/1023/ Have you got Google under your skin? We’re giving too much personal information away Welcome to Googletown, where, as you sip your skinny decaf, a cup-embedded chip instantaneously analyses your salivary DNA, allowing café staff to greet you personally as their screens retrieve your online profile. Stroll down the street, and an eye-scanning digital billboard reminds you to buy a birthday present for your mother, helpfully suggesting the perfume brand she e-mailed a friend about last week. Then, just as your internet-enabled Nikes are offering to guide you to the nearest discount perfumier, your phone buzzes with the message that will change your life. As your marriage seems to be going nowhere, it suggests, you might like to know that a woman shopping two streets away offers you an extraordinary 96 per cent compatibility rating. Simply click “Yes” and leave it to Google’s algorithms to play Cupid. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1842688.ece They know everything about you and didn’t even have to ask Big Brother really is watching you. Of course, there’s nothing sinister about this because it’s all being done to make life easier. But for whom? How would you feel if your supermarket knew that you were getting married before you did? Or if your DNA was trawled by drugs companies that then could offer preventative treatments for illnesses likely to strike you in the future, but also share their findings with the lender debating whether to give you a mortgage? Welcome to Big Brother Britain, version 2.0, a surveillance society where every imaginable piece of digital data – web-browsing histories, e-mails, even genetic records –is gathered and processed by organisations determined to know you better than you know yourself. At the vanguard stands Google. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1843030.ece Search me? There is a growing tension between knowledge and privacy as Google give us more but wants to know more about us first: Like Microsoft before it, Google is starting to suffer a little blowback. It is still wildly popular for its search engine and expanding range of free internet services, but a paranoia, variously described as Fog (Fear of Google) and Dog (Disdain of Google), is beginning to set in. Not least of critics’ concerns was that mysterious investment in Mrs Brin’s genetics firm, which Google proved curiously reluctant to explain. Was this just a corporate wedding present, as some bloggers wondered? Or is Google plotting some sinister link between computers and the human brain? http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1845283.ece eu: ICO questions Google's privacy policy The Information Commissioner has asked Google to justify its policy of keeping users' search histories for two years The Information Comissioner's Office (ICO) has expressed concern that Google may be breaching privacy laws by keeping information about its users' internet searches for too long. The ICO is a member of a European working party that has sent Google a letter asking that the company justify its policy of keeping data relating to searches for two years. The letter, sent by a group that advises the European Union on privacy, demanded that Google reveal "the full facts" about how it stored personal information in order to establish whether the company is complying with data protection legislation. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1841867.ece NATO nations send cyber reinforcements to Estonia NATO nations have sent experts to Estonia to help it combat a wave of cyberattacks this month, a spokesperson for the military allies said on Wednesday, but he could shed no light on who the culprits were. http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2885&iArticleId=3847846 Germany passes controversial antihacking law Hackers may want to avoid Germany, after the approval of a law that makes their activity a punishable crime. The legislation, which the German government proposed earlier last year and approved Friday with no changes, aims to crack down on the sharp rise in computer attacks in the public and private sectors. Although Germany already has a comprehensive penal law against attacks on IT systems, the new legislation looks to close any remaining loopholes. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9021401 A decade of online banking - and online fraud Ten years ago, people in the UK could be forgiven for thinking that their relationships with their bank were predominantly about one thing. Queuing. Whether at the branch, at the cash machine, or listening to canned music on a phone line, dealing with your bank was by definition a time-consuming, often inconvenient hassle. Then came banking over the internet - and for those with access to the web, managing your money became a whole lot easier. But customers are not the only ones to benefit. Crooks, too, were handed a glorious new opportunity to rip people off. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6693121.stm NZ second most favoured target for cyber-vandalism New Zealand websites are among the most likely to be targeted by cyber vandalism, according to a new report. Security company TippingPoint has found UK websites are most likely to be attacked by hackers, with an attack ratio of one attack per every 479 internet users. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/07656129728F5A20CC2572E600144653 au: Turkish hackers target Aussie websites (AAP) Many of the cyber vandalism attacks reported in Australia appear to stem from individuals or groups based in Turkey, a report has found. The documented attacks were typically only surface-level intrusions, but such breaches were often a pre-cursor to more insidious penetrations of networks, according to Ken Low from network security group TippingPoint, which conducted the survey. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/24/1179601567960.html http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Turkish-hackers-target-Australian-Web-sites/0,130061744,339277868,00.htm TippingPoint: .gov.au sites frequently hacked TippingPoint: .gov.au sites frequently hackedHacks on Queensland government sites increased by 104 percent in two years. Targeted cyber-criminal activity towards Australian State Government websites has dramatically increased over the last two years, according to security vendor, TippingPoint. http://www.crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=82039 http://securecomputing.net.au/news/52859,tippingpoint-govau-sites-frequently-hacked.aspx uk: No charges over 'suicide' on web Chatroom users who watched a man apparently commit suicide over the internet will not face charges, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/6695197.stm uk: University warns students over Facebook libel A British university has warned its students that they face disciplinary action if they post messages attacking staff on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace. http://out-law.com/page-8095 The plot thickens as crime writer Patricia Cornwell takes 'cyberstalker' to court The point of her work, the best-selling writer Patricia Cornwell recently told an interviewer, is to speak up for victims of crime. This week a Virginia courtroom heard the 50-year-old writer speak up for herself, as she described how another, less celebrated author, had stalked her on the internet, causing emotional distress and damaging her reputation. Cornwell was testifying in the libel suit she brought against Leslie Sachs, who alleged on his website that the author of the Kay Scarpetta series of crime novels was a "Jew hater" and "neo Nazi". http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2086748,00.html gh: The State of Internet Fraud What is gradually becoming the cheapest way of enriching people, particularly the youth is the involvement in the Internet fraud business. Visit an internet café in Accra or Kumasi where this fraudulent acts are on the ascendancy and listen to the music at the background 'oyibo man I go chop your dollar, I go take your money disappear, 419 be the game, I am a winner, you are the loser'. This is a common song at a visit to most of the cafés where people practice this illegal business with impunity, perhaps as a stimulant to those engaging in the fraudulent act. http://allafrica.com/stories/200705250704.html ***** SPAM ***** New antiphishing, antispam specifications unveiled Specifications for a new e-mail authentication tool to help fight against phishing and spam were published yesterday by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), opening the way for software vendors and e-mail service providers to find better ways to protect e-mail recipients. The specifications were announced for DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), a new technology that combines several existing antiphishing and antispam methods to create an improved way to sort and identify legitimate e-mail. The specifications provide details that independent software vendors and e-mail service providers can use to build the protections into their products and services immediately. http://computerworld.com.sg/ShowPage.aspx?pagetype=2&articleid=5208&pubid=3&tab=Home&issueid=112 If you're tagged as a spammer, it's hard to get off the blacklist About a year ago, Scott Madlener, a marketing executive, e-mailed a client several times but his messages were not getting through. "It raised a red flag immediately," said Madlener, executive vice president for interactive strategies at the Performance Communications Group of Chicago. "We asked our system administrator to look at what was happening, and he came back to me with some bad news: We had been blacklisted." http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/24/news/spam.php Internet users unfazed by spam: study The volume of spam arriving in Americans' personal and workplace inboxes is rising, but email users are less bothered by it than they once were. That's according to a new study from the Pew Internet Project, which reveals that American internet users have become more sophisticated at dealing with unsolicited emails. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/25/email_spam_study/ nz: ISPs to help more with spam ISPs would have to warn customers and help them if they found out their computers had been hijacked and were being used to send out spam, under a voluntary code being put to ISPs by InternetNZ. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4075684a28.html ***************************** INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE ***************************** au: One in three porn viewers are women Record numbers of Australians are visiting pornographic websites, including sexually explicit dating sites - and one in three of them is a woman. Surprising new figures show more than one-third of internet users visited an adult website at least once in the first three months of this year. Almost one in five was under 18, and 5 per cent were 65 or over. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/25/1179601669066.html http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2883&iArticleId=5016614 au: How porn is wrecking relationships The Herald spent two months charting a social phenomenon that is poisoning couples and destroying families. Adele Horin reports: The internet has brought an explosion of pornography into the home and workplace of virtually every Australian. Just a mouse-click away are images that exceed the bounds of fantasy or imagination. In 1961 the introduction of the pill helped usher in a sexual revolution. It had a profound effect on sexual attitudes, practices and relationships. It brought worry-free sex first to married couples, then to singles. And now there are experts - psychiatrists, sociologists and relationship counsellors among them - who argue that the social and psychological impact of internet pornography is potentially as huge. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/25/1179601669144.html au: Teacher, mind expander, spice of life: porn's multiple positions Nothing in 30 years of research about pornography has ever suggested it has a positive side. But that, says Alan McKee, is because the wrong people were being asked. No researcher had ever asked Australian consumers of pornography why they liked it - even though there is no shortage of them. In the first three months of this year, 4.3 million Australians visited an adult website, said Nielsen/NetRatings NetView, a world leader in internet analysis. Tens of thousands regularly watch pornographic DVDs. When consumers are asked their opinion, the results are unexpected. "To find out that overwhelmingly people who use pornography experience it as good was surprising," says Dr McKee, "given everything you hear is negative." http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/27/1180205079602.html au: Ethics of porn are in the eye of the beholder by Kath Albury My interest in pornography is not so much moral, as ethical. Many requests for media comment from me and my colleagues on the Understanding Pornography in Australia project have come from male journalists who express ambivalence, if not shame, about their own pornography consumption. Like many men (and men are still pornography's primary audience), they are afraid that their use of pornography harms women. They worry about addiction, and are concerned that increased access to online pornography is impeding their ability to form relationships. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/27/1180205070043.html Web shopping offers lifeline in Zimbabwe Exiles log on to help relatives beat shortages and soaring inflation in a starving country: Like millions of people across Britain, Tracy Mavuka does most of her grocery shopping online. Each week the 27-year-old care worker sets aside £20 and orders items such as rice, cooking oil, salt, chicken and soap. But no van draws up outside her flat in Southend, Essex. Instead, the box will arrive two days later at her mother’s shack in Chitungwiza township, just outside Harare. Without it, Mavuka fears that her mother and five younger brothers and sisters would starve. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article1845279.ece ph: E-commerce in RP remains low – PIDS study According to a study by Dr. Gloria Pasadilla, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and her associate April Lacson, the Philippines has been left behind by its Asian neighbors in e-commerce activity, ranking even lower in a number of areas than Thailand and Indonesia, which started using the Internet at around the same time or even much later than the Philippines. http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p070524.htm&no=21 Podcasts often skipped by users More than a third of podcast users do not bother to listen to the recordings they download and just under a third fail to listen to the entire show, according to a survey. The study by the downloads division of Chrysalis Radio produced mixed results for advertisers. Despite the apparently short attention span of listeners, 80% of those surveyed said they would be more likely to seek out products and services after hearing about them. http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2088334,00.html comScore Releases April U.S. Search Engine Rankings (news release) comScore released its monthly qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines. In April 2007, Google Sites captured 49.7 percent of the U.S. search market, gaining 1.4 share points from the previous month. Yahoo! Sites maintained its second place ranking with 26.8 percent of U.S. searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (10.3 percent), Ask Network (5.1 percent) and Time Warner Network (5.0 percent). http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1447 *************** DIGITAL DIVIDE *************** British digital divide is closing, Ofcom survey finds The divide between the digital haves and have-nots has narrowed, according to the second annual survey of the UK's communications market by Ofcom. The take-up of broadband in England extended to 45% of households last year - three percentage points above that of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland at 42%. This represented a narrowing of the "digital divide" of 2005, when only 24% of households in Northern Ireland had adopted broadband while the UK region with the highest take-up scored 36%. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2087921,00.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39287237,00.htm http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?id=2451 ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* Shaping the Future Worldchanging ally Charlie Stross is not only a science fiction writer of some reknown, but one of our best thinkers about technology and the future as well. Recently he published the following speech on his blog. It's a sharp piece of thinking, which informs in new ways all sorts of subjects we've covered here before, and he's graciously given us permission to post it here as well. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/006759.html GPL author: Google must share code GPLv3 doesn't compel companies like Google and Yahoo to give back Linux code, but community pressure could drive contributions http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/23/Google-must-share-code_1.html The 100 Best Products of 2007 PC World's editors rank the best PCs, HDTVs, components, sites, and services. Plus: the products we're looking forward to next year, and which technologies are rising and falling. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131935-page,1/article.html Polling goes online, with a recruited panel To traditional pollsters, a random survey adjusted to reflect the general population is the only way to properly measure public opinion. First developed in the 1940s by George Gallup, the father of modern polling, this requires hours of costly on-the-ground work by an army of specially trained pollsters. http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/27/bloomberg/poll28.php ******************* TELECOMMUNICATIONS ******************* nz: Looming fight for the airwaves The Government has a hard call to make on how it will manage the upcoming auction of radio spectrum suitable for delivering WiMax wireless phone and broadband services. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10442213 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 ___________________________________________________________________________________ How would you spend $50,000 to create a more sustainable environment in Australia? Go to Yahoo!7 Answers and share your idea. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/aunz/lifestyle/answers/y7ans-babp_reg.html _______________________________________________ APPLe mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/apple
