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********************************************************** Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre Nanyang Technological University, Singapore http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/ ********************************************************** Sex, porn and a discreet taste for the bizarre (but in 1857) http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article1882267.ece The terrible growth of internet repression by Kate Allen, UK Director of Amnesty International http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2617406.ece Censorship 'changes face of net' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6724531.stm http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,,2096719,00.html au: Fear drives a bid for censorship by Professor Tony Coady http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/31/1180205422224.html Second Life is for adults-only http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5016949 McAfee: Search results can be dangerous http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/04/Search-results-can-be-dangerous_1.html Study: Music, Tech Search Terms Riskiest (AP) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809405098.html Google's Street View could be unlawful in Europe http://out-law.com/page-8116 Does Virtual Reality Need a Sheriff? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102671.html au: Identity theft over the internet and Australian legislations http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=133C0AAD-EF79-4D46-B7FF-CC8803923BDA Terrorists also find Google useful http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809491547.html BOOK: The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy by Andrew Keen http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2007/06/the_cult_of_the_amateur_by_andrew_keen.html "Amateur" charge infuriates blogosphere (Reuters) http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN0423182220070605 Europe online '24 hours a month' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6720135.stm Brits are Busiest Surfers http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132524-c,researchreports/article.html comScore Releases First Comprehensive Review of Pan-European (news release) http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1459 Purveyors of porn scramble to keep up with Internet http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2007-06-05-internet-porn_N.htm Porn Addiction Flooding Culture, Church http://www.christiantoday.com/article/porn.addiction.flooding.culture.church/11029.htm 200 million people worldwide use DSL http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06/dsl_usage_worldwide/ Microsoft and Apple, bitter rivals, try to save the desktop operating system http://iht.com/articles/2007/06/04/business/compute.php Search is history, says Yahoo! http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1883175.ece Asian ministers vow to narrow digital divide http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809485214.html French sports groups join suit against YouTube http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6188948.html nz: Blog: Will farmers go for VoIP? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10443925 *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** The State of Search Engine Safety Abstract: One year after releasing The Safety of Search Engines in May 2006, we reassess the state of search engine safety and evaluate changes in search engine safety levels over time. This report also follows our second study, The Safety of Search Engines - Revisited, released in December 2006. In this study, we compare the safety of leading search engines, using McAfee SiteAdvisor’s automated Web site ratings. We find that AOL returns the safest search results, while Yahoo! returns the greatest percentage of risky results. Since May 2006, search engine results have become safer, primarily due to improved safety of sponsored results on Google, AOL, and Ask. Despite this improvement, dangerous sites are found in search results of all of the top five search engines, and sponsored results continue to be significantly less safe than search engines’ organic results. http://www.siteadvisor.com/studies/search_safety_may2007.html Beware the Unauthorized Practice of Law in Cyberspace by Shari Claire Lewis (New York Law Journal) The explosive growth of the Internet allows people to instantaneously access information about the law and their legal rights from Web sites created by both lawyers and non-lawyers without ever leaving their homes or offices. As a result, issues relating to the unauthorized practice of law by lawyers and laypeople are arising with increasing frequency. Depending on the nature of the Web activities at issue, it could be determined either that an unlicensed layperson is practicing law, or that a licensed lawyer is intentionally or unintentionally practicing law in jurisdictions in which the lawyer is not admitted. Consider the recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in In re Reynoso. http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1181034328636 *********** CENSORSHIP *********** Sex, porn and a discreet taste for the bizarre With 6,000 brothels and 80,000 prostitutes in London, sex was an 1857 obsession. John Sutherland charts expression and repression of the dirty-book trade of the day http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article1882267.ece The terrible growth of internet repression by Kate Allen, UK Director of Amnesty International The Great Firewall of China prevents thousands of sites reaching people inside the country http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2617406.ece Censorship 'changes face of net' Amnesty International has warned that the internet "could change beyond all recognition" unless action is taken against the erosion of online freedoms. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6724531.stm http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,,2096719,00.html China's internet censorship spreads Dozens of countries are copying China's methods of censoring of the internet, Amnesty International has warned. In advance of a live webcast to discuss internet freedom, Amnesty warned that censorship was a “virus” that was infecting countries round the world. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/06/wchina206.xml Online porn merchants dodge Internet dragnet (Reuters) China's Internet police have claimed tangible results in the "people's war" against online pornography with the help of tip-offs, but they only scratched the surface, state media reported on Tuesday. A month-long crackdown against online porn sponsored by 10 ministries had shut down 300 Web sites and deleted 10,200 links to pornographic Web sites and 10,000 online "porn games", the China Daily said, citing the Ministry of Public Security. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKPEK31477620070605 China Bars New Internet Cafes (AP) China will license no new Internet cafes this year while regulators carry out an industry-wide inspection, the government says, amid official concern that online material is harming young people. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809405090.html http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHINA_INTERNET_CAFES?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-04-10-18-23 Russia monitors Internet to dampen ethnic violence (Reuters) Russian authorities for the first time blocked nationalists from using a popular Internet blog to organise anti-migrant demonstrations, one of the leaders of a nationalist group told Reuters on Wednesday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL0671273620070606 ir: YouTube: The Battle of Technology vs. Censorship Although authorities in Iran filter thousands of websites including YouTube, it is increasingly used by many Iranians who manage to by-pass the censorship; they regularly place their home made or semi-professional controversial videos on the web, to challenge the Islamic government's social and political restrictions. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omid-memarian/youtube-the-battle-of-t_b_51044.html Iran's big brother for bloggers Want to start a blog in Iran? Then you'll have to register it with the government - which has recently begun to require that all bloggers register at samandehi.ir, a site established by the ministry of culture of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government. All you need do is give your personal information, including your blog's username and password - otherwise it will be filtered and blocked so that nobody in Iran, and perhaps outside too, will be able to access it. This has led to an outcry among many Iranian bloggers who consider the net an independent and free forum for expression. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2096632,00.html us: Internet Censorship During a Time of War: Soldiers Denied Access to the Internet Currently we are in a war fighting against the violation of human rights. We are fighting for democracy and freedom of all mankind. In a world where the internet is the portal of communication, by limiting our U.S. soldiers access to the internet, are we not in turn violating are own U.S. soldiers human rights? Are we not stifling the freedom and democracy we are supposedly fighting for by limiting our soldiers’ access to certain websites on the Internet? This article will discuss the recent policy enacted by the Department of Defense preventing soldiers from accessing several social networking, video and photo sharing, and other popular websites — including MySpace and YouTube — via the Department’s computers and network. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1774 au: Fear drives a bid for censorship by Professor Tony Coady All governments have a tendency to control and censor, and the climate of the "war on terror" strengthens this tendency in alarming ways. A new government discussion paper — "Material that Advocates Terrorist Acts" — is a case in point, being designed to placate alleged public disquiet about publications that might help turn people into terrorists. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/31/1180205422224.html ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ MySpace to seek court help to release predator emails (Reuters) Social networking website MySpace today filed a request in a US state court to seek guidance on how it can legally provide local authorities with the private emails of convicted sex offenders who had lurked on its service. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10443654 http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0326070020070604 Erneut Kinderpornografie in Second Life http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/90614 Second Life is for adults-only Linden Lab has said Monday that its popular virtual world Second Life where activities include sex and gambling is strictly adults-only. The statement by the creator of an Internet world where people live vicariously via customised three-dimensional animated figures came after L'association Familles de France accused it of letting children cavort in a virtual land rife with grown-up vices. http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5016949 Doll Web Sites Drive Girls to Stay Home and Play Millions of girls are fueling the growth of interactive sites which offer virtual versions of traditional play activities. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/technology/06doll.html ca: Cyber-bullying covered in Ontario safe schools policy Cyber-bullying by students could result in suspension or expulsion in the future after changes to Ontario's Safe Schools Act passed unanimously in the provincial legislature late Monday. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/06/05/bullying-safe-schools.html us: Kids' Internet Safety Starts At Home If you're a parent who feels like your kids' Internet browsing habits take place in another world, you're not alone. Children's familiarity with the Internet can leave some parents feeling helpless to police what their tech-savvy children are seeing on the computer. But studies show that American kids are now spending up to an average of 40 hours per week using electronic media, with up to half that time on computers. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/05/health/webmd/main2890206.shtml *************************************** CYBERCRIME, CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY *************************************** McAfee: Search results can be dangerous A study by the security company finds that 4 percent of search results send users to 'risky' Web pages; AOL's search results are the safest, while Yahoo's are the riskiest The odds of a search engine directing you to a risky Web site are getting slimmer, but some companies are better at filtering out bad links than others, McAfee reported. Google has improved over the past year, but AOL has the safest search results on the Web right now, McAfee said. The riskiest? Yahoo. Overall, a significant percentage of Web links are still risky, McAfee said. In its latest study, published Monday, about 4 percent of search results were found to be risky. A year ago, that number was 5 percent. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/04/Search-results-can-be-dangerous_1.html Study: Music, Tech Search Terms Riskiest (AP) Search terms related to music and technology are most likely to return sites with spyware and other malicious code, a new study finds. Some 42 percent of the results using the term "screensavers," for example, led to sites flagged with a "red" warning or a cautionary "yellow" by McAfee Inc.'s SiteAdvisor service. Other keywords McAfee deemed risky include names of file-sharing software - "BearShare," "LimeWire" and "Kazaa." http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809405098.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6057100 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/04/AR2007060400403.html http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RISKY_SEARCH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-04-21-20-22 Google's Street View could be unlawful in Europe Out-Law.com EDITORIAL: Like a trigger-happy tourist, Google has shot almost every street in five US cities and added its pics to what might be the world's biggest holiday album. But if Google ever starts shooting the streets of Europe, courts here could fire back. http://out-law.com/page-8116 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/05/google_street_view_legality_in_europe/ Does Virtual Reality Need a Sheriff? Earlier this year, one animated character in Second Life, a popular online fantasy world, allegedly raped another character. Then last month, authorities in Germany announced that they were looking into a separate incident involving virtual abuse in Second Life after receiving pictures of an animated child character engaging in simulated sex with an animated adult figure. Though both characters were created by adults, the activity could run afoul of German laws against child pornography, prosecutors said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102671.html au: Identity theft over the internet and Australian legislations In order to protect individuals’ personal information from unnecessary intrusion or misuse, many countries have enacted data protection laws. In Australia, there is the Federal Privacy Act of 1988, which is complemented by privacy laws in certain Australian states. Increasingly, laws are being proposed and/or enacted and they intend to deal with identity theft crime that unfairly infringe or threaten Internet users' privacy and other civil liberties. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=133C0AAD-EF79-4D46-B7FF-CC8803923BDA Estonia asks Russia to help hunt for Web criminals (Reuters) Estonia is seeking help from Russia to find the culprits behind a massive wave of attacks on the country's Internet infrastructure, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said Wednesday. http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6189085.html us: MySpace seeks advice in sex offender investigation MySpace.com filed a request Monday in a Pennsylvania state court asking for guidance as the social-networking service responds to demands for information about convicted sex offenders using the site. In the request, which was filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Dauphin County, home to the state capital of Harrisburg, MySpace said it is actively seeking advice on how it can legally provide authorities with registered sex offenders' contact information. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6188497.html http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6188497.html Terrorists also find Google useful Revelations that four terror suspects used Google Earth to allegedly plot an attack on an American airport have raised fresh concerns over the amount of sensitive information freely accessible on the internet. Abdul Kadir, one of the men accused of plotting to blow up fuel pipelines, fuel tanks, and buildings at John F. Kennedy International Airport, instructed his cohorts to use Google's online mapping software to obtain more detailed images of the airport, court documents say. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809491547.html Swiss to try 2 Muslims accused of supporting terrorism via Web sites Two Muslims suspected of running websites that showed the slaying of hostages and gave details of how to make bombs and carry out attacks have been named as defendants in Switzerland's first Internet terrorism trial later this month. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/06/1180809534942.html uk: Gun laws 'by-passed on internet' A dealer got around gun laws by advertising antique weapons for sale on the internet, a court has heard. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6727817.stm uk: Porn not this student's dream A 17-year-old Staffordshire student is taking legal action after finding her photograph on the front cover of a porn film. http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol1181119517949P650 ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** us: F.C.C. Rebuffed by Court on Indecency Fines If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts. http://nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/media/05decency.html Senior Chinese official promotes "web culture with Chinese characteristics" As China battles with Internet pornography, the country's top propaganda official Liu Yunshan has put forward the idea of "building a web culture with Chinese characteristics". Addressing a national meeting on Internet culture on Monday, Liu called for the molding of the Internet into "the new means of promoting a culture of advanced socialism, the new platform for public cultural services, the new area for spiritual fulfillment and a new channel for China to present itself to the outside world. http://en.ce.cn/National/culture/200706/06/t20070606_11619871.shtml Expert Input Sought on Belarusian Information Law The Government of Belarus is in the process of adopting a law on information, informatization and protection of information in that Eastern European country. Belarus intends to combine national and self-regulation to guarantee the right to receive and exchange information, including governmental data, while protecting individual privacy and national security. Think tank E-Belarus is seeking expert advice on the matter to measure the impact of the law; identify positive or negative aspects of it; and determine whether any provisions are missing from the text. Please click on “Discuss” to post an expert comment on the proposed law at the IBLS Speaker’s Corner, our legal blog. Your input is most appreciated by the parties working on this initiative. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1776 Beijing Rolls Out New E-commerce Policy At the recent 36th session of the 12th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the Beijing Municipal government submitted the "Beijing Information Promotion Rule (Draft)" for approval. This is the city's first piece of legislation regarding e-commerce and it is said to pose a strict requirement for e-commerce service providers. The draft regulation stipulates that firms and individuals must apply for a business license and undergo the relevant registry procedures before they can be engaged in e-commerce activities in the Beijing area. Firms must also must publicize their basic information and service rules on the homepage of their website. http://www.chinatechnews.com/2007/06/04/5471-beijing-rolls-out-new-e-commerce-policy/ ***** SPAM ***** Will Arrest Stem Tide of Spam? by Bill Nussey Legitimate email marketers, anti-spam groups and beleaguered recipients got a bit of good news with the arrest last week of a man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers. Robert Alan Soloway, 27, dubbed "the Seattle Spammer" by federal officials, was indicted on 35 charges related to fraudulent Internet activities. Soloway pleaded not guilty to all charges at his May 30 arraignment. You can read more here. Although it's always great when a notorious spammer gets put out of business, such actions probably won't result in a drop in the amount of spam that gets sent. http://www.circleid.com/posts/will_arrest_stem_tide_of_spam/ ***************************** INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE ***************************** BOOK: The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy by Andrew Keen Andrew Keen's latest book has gained some notoriety. The book is BBC's Newsnight book club's latest addition and is discussed at length, including an extract from chapter 1. Newsnight's Gavin Esler asks "has the internet become a medium of mediocity?" And Newsnight says Keen "expresses his concern for the profligacy of online amateurism, spawned by the digital revolution. This, he feels, has had a destructive impact on our culture, economy and values." There's way too much to reproduce here, but part of the extract republished says "call it the great seduction. The Web 2.0 revolution has peddled the promise of bringing more truth to more people—more depth of information, more global perspective, more unbiased opinion from dispassionate observers. But this is all a smokescreen. What the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment. The information business is being transformed by the Internet into the sheer noise of a hundred million bloggers all simultaneously talking about themselves." Join the debate, and while the Newsnight story is still available, watch it! http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2007/06/the_cult_of_the_amateur_by_andrew_keen.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm "Amateur" charge infuriates blogosphere (Reuters) Internet culture, often portrayed as the vanguard of progress, is actually a jungle peopled by intellectual yahoos and digital thieves, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-dissenter. ..."Millions and millions of exuberant monkeys... are creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity," Keen writes in a book published on Tuesday. His views have infuriated bloggers and others, especially in Silicon Valley, who argue he is an elitist intellectual, a conservative pining for a return to old ways, and a writer who cannot keep his facts straight. The villains in Keen's narrative are a "pajama army" of mostly anonymous writers who spread gossip and scandal, "intellectual kleptomaniacs," who search Google to copy others' work and the "digital thieves" of media content in the post-Napster era. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN0423182220070605 http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5016964 Europe online '24 hours a month' More than 122m Europeans aged 15 and above use the internet each day at home, school or in work, says a report. The average European accesses the net 16.5 days in a month, and spends 24 hours viewing 2,662 web pages, according to tracking firm comScore. The Netherlands has the highest net penetration, with 83% of the country online, the firm reported. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6720135.stm Brits are Busiest Surfers Web surfers in the U.K. spend more time online than those in the rest of Europe or the U.S., according to results from a study released on Monday. The average U.K. Internet user spends 34.4 hours on the Web each month -- or almost a day and a half -- followed by the Swedes with 31.7 hours and the Spanish with 30.6 hours, according to the figures, from comScore's World Metrix study. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132524-c,researchreports/article.html http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/04/Brit-Web-surfers_1.html Google is Europe's most visited site, while America prefers Yahoo! A survey of internet usage across Europe reveals that Google is the region's most popular website in every country except Sweden and Norway. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/05/comscore_internet_use_figures/ comScore Releases First Comprehensive Review of Pan-European (news release) comScore released the first comprehensive review of European Internet activity. The comScore World Metrix study reveals that on an average day in April 2007, there were 122 million Europeans age 15 or older online, versus 114 million in the U.S. The average European accessed the Internet from either a home or a work computer an average of 16.5 days in the month and spent a total of 24 hours viewing 2,662 Web pages. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1459 To Appeal to Women, Too, Gadgets Go Beyond ‘Cute’ and ‘Pink’ Only a few years ago, feminizing a consumer electronic product meant little more than creating a pink or pastel version of the same black or silvery item coveted by men. And, some retailers note, that kind of marketing still goes on. But feminizing technology is more about a product’s fundamentals, often expressed in its ease of use. It is not always aimed exclusively at women, but it is female friendly. Shoppers see it throughout electronics store from the rising popularity of digital picture frames to flat-panel televisions that are designed to fit into the cabinets and armoires that once housed smaller-screened traditional televisions by moving the TV speakers from the sides to the top or bottom of the TV. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/technology/07women.html Traditional Korean Marriage Meets Match on the Internet Sitting in his office crammed with files and boxes, Lee Woong-jin, a 42-year-old entrepreneur, talks enthusiastically about his latest moneymaking plan: merging the age-old Korean matchmaking tradition with the vibrant South Korean Internet culture. His company — which allows subscribers to search for mates online — is one of a growing number of matchmaking services in South Korea, where families still arrange many marriages. Many of the services, like Mr. Lee’s company, rely heavily on the Internet and bill themselves as being more scientific than one-person shops that use social connections to make matches. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/world/asia/06korea.html Second Life Not Immune to Bullying, Study Says Not even the virtual world is safe anymore. Researchers from the University of Nottingham have discovered in a recent study on cyber-bullying that griefing may have negative consequences for users in both Second Life and the real world. According to the study's leader, Dr Thomas Chesney, griefing is "intentional, persistent, unacceptable behavior which disrupts a resident's ability to enjoy Second Life". http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132632-c,games/article.html Purveyors of porn scramble to keep up with Internet Major players in the adult-entertainment industry, long in the vanguard of technology use, now find themselves playing catch-up. Overall sales and rentals of X-rated DVDs have plunged 15% in the last year and up to 30% over the past two years because video and photos on the Internet — much of it created by amateurs — are available at a fraction of the cost or for free. PornoTube.com and YouPorn.com are piping user-generated naughty content straight to the PCs, cellphones and Internet-connected TVs of consumers. Internet-based porn sales, by contrast, grew 14%, to $2.8 billion, last year. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2007-06-05-internet-porn_N.htm http://upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2007/06/06/porn_industry_playing_internet_catchup/2052/ http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=36666 http://movie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/51407/ Porn Addiction Flooding Culture, Church In a culture where sexuality and porn is now a part of everyday life, porn addiction in the church is escalating, according to a new survey. In a poll of 1,000 respondents, 50 percent of Christian men and 20 percent of Christian women were found to be addicted to pornography. Conducted by ChristaNet.com, a popular Christian marketplace website, the poll asked visitors about their personal sexual conduct. http://www.christiantoday.com/article/porn.addiction.flooding.culture.church/11029.htm http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070605/27799_Porn_Addiction_Flooding_Culture,_Church.htm 200 million people worldwide use DSL Over 200 million people worldwide use DSL technology to access the internet, according to figures released yesterday at Broadband World Forum Asia in Beijing. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06/dsl_usage_worldwide/ Only 17 Percent of Rwandans Use Internet Only 17 percent of Rwanda's population (which is approximately 1,530,000) access internet. This is in spite of ICT being the government's master card to transform into a knowledge-based economy. http://allafrica.com/stories/200706041243.html Newspapers must embrace digital future to survive, conference told (AFP) Newspapers hoping to retain their readers and survive in the technological age must venture into the online and mobile phone spheres, a World Association of Newspapers meeting heard Tuesday. Speakers at a workshop said the newspaper was a dying breed but could avoid extinction by modernising its approach and extending its digital reach. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/06/1180809543797.html au: Company laptops used for porn Almost one in 10 Australian workers will download porn on the company laptop, and blokes use them to gossip nearly as much as women, a report reveals. The report – which studied habits in Australia, the US, UK, Singapore and the Netherlands – has revealed laptop users are far more cavalier in their approach to web-surfing on work equipment than those using desktop PCs. http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,21851369-462,00.html http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1166657 E-Mail Senders Can Pay to Bypass Filters (AP) Four more Internet service providers will start charging banks, e-commerce sites and other large e-mail senders for guaranteed delivery. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TECHBIT_E_MAIL_FEE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-06-10-11-25 Microsoft and Apple, bitter rivals, try to save the desktop operating system Can two bitter rivals save the desktop operating system? In the battle between Apple and Microsoft, Bertrand Serlet and Steven Sinofsky are the field generals in charge of competing efforts to insure that the personal computer's basic software stays relevant in an increasingly Web-centric world. The two men are marshaling their software engineers for the next encounter, sometime in 2009, when a new generation of Macintosh and Windows systems is due. Their challenge will be to avoid refighting the last war - and finding themselves outflanked by new competitors. http://iht.com/articles/2007/06/04/business/compute.php Search is history, says Yahoo! Yahoo!, one of the two names most synonymous with search on the internet, has surprised Silicon Valley by suggesting that the future of the web is not about search. The comments, interpreted as an admission that Yahoo! cannot keep pace with Google, came during a conference at which many participants said that the traditional model for getting information from the internet – using a browser to visit web pages – was outdated. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1883175.ece uk: TV ads sound too loud and rules should change, says regulator Television adverts sometimes sound much louder than surrounding programme material because existing rules on sound levels are ambiguous. The rules should change to minimise annoyance to viewers, says an industry watchdog, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice http://out-law.com/page-8114 BBC celebrates three Webby awards The BBC News website has picked up two awards at the internet's most glamorous night of the year. The site won Webbys for Best News Website and the People's Choice Award for online news sites for the third year running. The BBC's Radio 1 website also won an award for Best Radio Website. Other winners included singer David Bowie and auction site eBay, who both received Lifetime Achievement Awards at the glittering ceremony in New York. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6725369.stm uk: Karate chops and meatballs is YouTube hit A retired Cypriot couple bickering in their kitchen have become internet stars http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1890317.ece Mobile phone Internet usage soon to join television in Nielsen ratings world More than 33 million people have used mobile phones to access the Internet this year, according to Nielsen Media Research, which on Wednesday announced its new effort to measure such use. http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6076563 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5dcdb914-1447-11dc-88cb-000b5df10621.html *************** DIGITAL DIVIDE *************** Asian ministers vow to narrow digital divide Thirty Asian and Middle Eastern nations agreed Tuesday to try to bridge the IT divide between rich and poor countries through shared expertise and joint research projects. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809485214.html http://www.todayonline.com/articles/192595.asp http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=265690 my: Sarawak village libraries to narrow digital divide The urban and rural digital divide in Sarawak will be narrowed when another 92 village libraries are hooked up to the Internet by September. http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2007/6/4/technology/20070604124727&sec=technology Intel targets developing world with basic laptop for children Intel is planning to mass market a $199 (£99.70) notebook computer. It has teamed up with Asustek Computer, the Taiwanese circuit board maker, as it competes with the One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) to gain a foothold in a potentially huge market. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1890168.ece uk: Wireless power limit doubled to bridge digital divide Ofcom has allowed fixed broadband internet providers to double the power of their signals in a move the UK telecoms regulator says will help bridge the digital divide. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06/wireless_power_limit_raised/ ************ FILE SHARING ************ French sports groups join suit against YouTube France's top soccer league and its national tennis organization are the latest to join legal action against YouTube. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6188948.html Warner goes Lala with free music Warner Music is making its back catalogue available for free previews online through Lala.com, an internet start-up http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article1893149.ece ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* Google Keeps Tweaking Its Search Engine These days, Google seems to be doing everything, everywhere. It takes pictures of your house from outer space, copies rare Sanskrit books in India, charms its way onto Madison Avenue, picks fights with Hollywood and tries to undercut Microsoft’s software dominance. But at its core, Google remains a search engine. And its search pages, blue hyperlinks set against a bland, white background, have made it the most visited, most profitable and arguably the most powerful company on the Internet. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03google.html Yahoo opens Panama search ad platform Yahoo announced Monday that its Panama search advertising platform is now open to third parties. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6188457.html 855,000 new phones end up in the bog New research from SimplySwitch reveals that while we buy 18 million handsets ever year, we're throwing 855,000 of them down the toilet and leaving 810,000 in the pub - contributing to the 4.1 million we lose or break every year. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/05/phones_down_the_pan/ ******************* TELECOMMUNICATIONS ******************* au: Fibre announcement soon - Coonan FEDERAL communications minister Senator Helen Coonan says the government will make an announcement about its plans for the construction of a national high speed broadband network very shortly. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21859201-16123,00.html au: High-speed broadband to woo voters The roll-out of a multibillion-dollar high-speed broadband network in the cities could be rushed through as the Federal Government tries to seize the upper hand in the debate before the election. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809462421.html Broadand needs to reach all Australians: Labor Australia deserves better than a quick-fix broadband plan designed to cover only five capital cities, Labor said. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Broadand-needs-to-reach-all-Australians-Labor/0,130061791,339278190,00.htm au: Internode ponders P2P filters ADELAIDE-BASED ISP Internode is considering using filtering systems to contain rampant growth in peer-to-peer internet traffic across its network. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21853338-15306,00.html uk: BT declares ceasefire in broadband speed wars BT is aiming to push access speed down the broadband agenda as the copper wires which carry data into homes swiftly approach their technological limits. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/bt_speed_wars_over/ ******* MOBILE ******* uk: City wi-fi plans under scrutiny More and more cities are cutting their wires and going wireless. But as councils offer public wi-fi, questions are being asked about how much citizens will use them and how sustainable they are. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6722977.stm Cities swap public Wi-Fi secrets Despite the tribulations of launching a regional wireless Internet network, some cities are making progress by sharing their hard-won lessons. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/05/Cities-swap-public-wifi-secrets_1.html Bringing public Wi-Fi to small town America When it comes to building the infrastructure that makes public high-speed Internet access possible, companies are keen to take on projects for large cities. However, smaller cities are another story. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6188911.html http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6188911.html Killer Wi-Fi panics London's chattering classes Recent revelations that Wi-Fi may provoke spontaneous abortions in cattle, raise storms and tempests, curdle milk and fry children's brains have had the desired effect among London's chattering classes, with panicked parents mobilising to contain the wireless menace. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/wi_fi_panic/ im: Wi-Manx launches WiMAX...nearly The Isle of Man has got Europe's first commercial WiMAX network - or, at least, a wireless network using WiMAX equipment, even if it's not actually on a WiMAX frequency. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06/wi_manx_wi_max/ ***** VoIP ***** Court says Internet phones must pay into fund (Reuters) A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld an order by U.S. regulators requiring Internet telephone services like Vonage Holdings Corp. to contribute part of their revenues into a federal subsidy fund. http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0131832820070601 VoIP: Beyond Digital POTS by Brough Turner I've been involved with VoIP technology since 1996. I've been a public advocate for wideband audio at least since 1997. And I've admired and supported a variety of companies using VoIP to provide innovative services and new user interfaces. But reflecting on the past decade, the only globally significant impact of VoIP has been on prices (by fostering arbitrage). Most VoIP telephony services are just digital POTS. http://www.circleid.com/posts/voip_beyond_digital_pots/ nz: Blog: Will farmers go for VoIP? Internet providers WorldxChange and BayCity Communications are going to make a big push to get voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services out to rural areas using the Extend wireless network of state-owned broadcaster Kordia. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10443925 ********************************** ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN ********************************** uk/us: Paedophile ex-Marine deported A former US Marine who spent a year grooming a 12-year-old English girl over the internet for sex has been deported to America after serving a jail sentence. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1884157.ece +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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
