Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for today's edition of the complete domain news, including an RSS feed - already online!
And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. ********************************************************** Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre Nanyang Technological University, Singapore http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/ ********************************************************** Another “technical incident” shuts down Internet again http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24183 Australian free speech being whittled away http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/05/1194117939539.html Report reveals Australia's slide to secrecy, censorship http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22704124-5013456,00.html Press freedom declining: audit http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081787.htm Publishers See a Way to Track Their Content Across the Net http://nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05paper.html Most consumers clueless about online tracking, behavior profiling http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045159 us: Don't track Internet surfers by default, says FTC official http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9809093-7.html Online privacy policies need work, advocates say [IDG] http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1526265266;fp;2;fpid;1 us: F.T.C. Member Vows Tighter Controls of Online Ads http://nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/001cnd-ftc.html http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/02adco.html http://iht.com/articles/2007/11/01/technology/privacy.php North Korea an Internet Abyss, no Grid Exists to Support Web http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1900 Australia now in broadband speed top ten http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Australia-now-in-broadband-speed-top-ten/0,130061791,339283563,00.htm Room for improvement in NZ's OECD ranking [news release] http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/mediareleases/oecd61107 Britons sending 1bn texts weekly http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7075005.stm http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL0541656420071105 AP Chief: Newspapers Must Get Over Themselves [AP] http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60158.html Surge in South African internet usage http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=4114841 JupiterResearch Finds that One-Third of European Online Advertisers Plan Social Networking Profiles in the Next Year http://jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/press:press_release/2007/id=07.10.29-social-marketing-europe.html/ MySpace, Facebook Hone Their Advertising Aim http://ecommercetimes.com/story/MySpace-Facebook-Hone-Their-Advertising-Aim-60162.html Google reveals mobile plans http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/05/google.mobilephones Sorry, no Gphone, just an Open Handset Alliance http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/11/05/sorry_no_gphone_just_an_open_handset_alliance.html Rivals dismiss threat of Google mobile platform [Reuters] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10474340 Why VoIP is the next target for spammers http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/01/news.hacking ICT Summit Emphasizes Information Technology Age http://allafrica.com/stories/200711050515.html Africa: Do Everything to Ensure We Have a Digital Miracle http://allafrica.com/stories/200711050449.html Africa to get multi-billion dollar Internet injection http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2884&iArticleId=5022154 The Era of Bottom-Up Brands: Google's Dominance Is Changing the Rules By Which Brands Win Consumer Loyalty http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119393895627879318.html Europe child porn probe nets 92 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7079716.stm Men held in Euro child porn probe http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7079803.stm ********************** CENSORSHIP ********************** Another “technical incident” shuts down Internet again Reporters Without Borders condemns the resumption of Internet censorship by the Burmese military government. Internet connections have been cut again since yesterday. One of the main ISPs, the state-controlled Myanmar Teleport (BaganNet), has again referred to a “technical incident.” http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24183 Myanmar internet link with outside world fails for second day Myanmar's internet link with the outside world continued to fail on Friday, the second day since Thursday without web access internationally. http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90781/90877/6295938.html Australian free speech being whittled away Free speech in Australia is being whittled away by legal restrictions and a secretive culture among public officials, according to a new report on press freedom. Author of the report, former NSW ombudsman Irene Moss, says there are grounds for concern about the state of free speech in Australia. Her audit, commissioned by a coalition of major media groups, says there are 500 pieces of legislation and at least 1,000 court suppression orders still in force that restrict media reporting in Australia. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/05/1194117939539.html Report reveals Australia's slide to secrecy, censorship Australians are the victims of a secretive culture that makes public officials too frightened to release vital information, a damning report on the state of free speech in the nation has found. The study of how information is kept hidden from the public has found that governments and judges are denying access to “vital information” through secrecy legislation, “flimsy” suppression orders and million dollar fees for individual Freedom of Information requests. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22704124-5013456,00.html Press freedom declining: audit An independent audit by former New South Wales ombudsman Irene Moss has found a general "subtle shift" towards secrecy in Australia. The audit reviewed legislation and practices related to free speech issues affecting the media in Australia. Ms Moss says Australians should not be complacent about declining media freedom. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081787.htm The Report of the Independent Audit into the State of Free Speech in Australia is available from: http://www.news.com.au/files/freespeechinaustralia.pdf US House committee chairman criticizes Yahoo over role in arrest of Chinese dissident [AP] A U.S. House committee chairman is angrily rejecting Yahoo Inc.'s explanation for why it provided incomplete information to Congress about its role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/06/1194118014366.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/06/1194118014366.html ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ us: Child porn cops stress sessions [AFP] IN a normal working day, US criminal investigator Flint Waters will surf the internet, chat online with someone whose acquaintance he made a few weeks earlier, and exchange photos and videos. Every so often, Mr Waters goes for stress counselling to try to get some of the images he has seen in a day's work out of his head, because the reality of his work is in sharp contrast with the attractive job description. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22667546-15322,00.html au: Internet bullying warning to parents MORE than one-third of teenage girls in Australia have been sexually harassed via the internet, and more than a quarter admit to cyber-bullying other girls, according to a survey released yesterday. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/04/1194117913362.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/04/1194117913362.html http://stuff.co.nz/4262496a12.html http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/11/04/1194117913362.html au: Cyber-sex fans flames of porn by Barbara Biggs WHILE the Federal Government is spending more than $100 million on efforts to protect Australian families from internet porn, associated problems are popping up like spot fires in a hot wind. We've already seen that tech-savvy teenagers can bust the Government's online porn filters. That knowledge will no doubt spread like a virus, like other information forbidden to teenagers online. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22711456-5007146,00.html au: Teen hacker helps govt block porn Downloads of the government's Internet filtering software have hit six figures, according to the Communications Minister -- with the Coalition now turning to a schoolboy for help in improving the software. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Teen-hacker-helps-govt-block-porn/0,130061733,339283512,00.htm ************************** ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL ************************** Publishers See a Way to Track Their Content Across the Net Copyrighted work like a news article or a picture can hop between Web sites as easily as a cut-and-paste command. But more than ever, as that material finds new audiences, the original sources might not get the direct financial benefit — in fact, they might have little idea where their work has spread. A young company called Attributor says it has an answer, and a number of big publishers of copyrighted material say Attributor just might be right. http://nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05paper.html Dutch pedophile Web site cannot show royal photos [Reuters] A Dutch court has banned a Web site sympathetic to pedophiles from showing photographs of child members of the royal family, including the three-year-old heiress to the throne Princess Amalia. http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0181830520071101 au: IDs hijacked in website trickery ONLINE identity theft has reached catastrophic levels with millions of personal passwords being stolen in internet scams. Known as phishing, internet scammers set up pages designed to look like familiar pages such as Facebook or MySpace and trick users into volunteering their personal details. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22687438-11869,00.html Wikipedia cleared in French defamation case [Reuters] A French judge has dismissed a defamation and privacy case against Wikipedia after ruling the free online encyclopedia was not responsible for information introduced onto its Web site. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6216797.html FBI: the 24-Hour Case: Anatomy of a Cyber Investigation Ever wonder how the FBI runs a cyber investigation? Here's a good example...a potentially deadly threat that we ran to ground in short order with the help of our partners. Setting the stage. On April 17, a day after the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, the FBI learned that a message had been posted on the Internet threatening a similar attack at San Diego State University in Southern California. http://www.fbi.gov/page2/oct07/cybercase103107.html ************************** PRIVACY ************************** Most consumers clueless about online tracking, behavior profiling Every single move you make online can, and often is, tracked by online marketers and advertising networks that gather and use the information for serving up targeted advertisements. But the average American consumer is largely unaware that such tracking goes on, the extent to which it is happening or how exactly information is being used. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045159 http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139212-page,1/article.html us: Don't track Internet surfers by default, says FTC official A Federal Trade Commission official on Thursday issued a warning of sorts to Internet companies: stop collecting information about your users by default, and give them shorter, more conspicuous details about what's going on with their data. http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9809093-7.html us: Support for ad-tracking opt out US privacy advocates and consumer bodies are seeking the creation of an opt-out list for internet users who do not want to be tracked by advertisers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7072653.stm Online privacy policies need work, advocates say [IDG] Online privacy policies need to be easier to understand and more conspicuous because few people now actually read them, said panelists at a U.S. Federal Trade Commission workshop on targeted online advertising. http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1526265266;fp;2;fpid;1 ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** us: F.T.C. Member Vows Tighter Controls of Online Ads A member of the Federal Trade Commission said yesterday that the agency would be exerting a tighter grip over online advertising, partly because of increased tracking by marketing companies of people’s activity on the Internet. http://nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/001cnd-ftc.html http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/02adco.html http://iht.com/articles/2007/11/01/technology/privacy.php FTC reviewing Google ad deal "expeditiously" [Reuters] U.S. antitrust authorities are reviewing Google Inc's purchase of advertising company DoubleClick as quickly as possible, Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said on Thursday. http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN0154130420071101 au: Internet the battleground for Australia's election [Reuters] Australia's election has become a war of bytes, with Labor challenger Kevin Rudd swooping on the Internet's high ground to build an army of young supporters and a Facebook fanclub on a promise of "fresh thinking". http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKSYD13371020071101 au: Family First candidate downloaded web porn FAMILY First has been caught in a new morals controversy with one of its candidates who questioned whether a rival was a lesbian now admitting having downloaded internet porn. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22690376-5005941,00.html North Korea an Internet Abyss, no Grid Exists to Support Web A height-challenged, platform shoe wearing dictator sporting Elton John-styled glasses, with a billowing pompadour, spouting empty socialist clichés who also claims bragging rights to the world's largest Daffy Duck collection might seem to be the creation of a zany Hollywood spy comedy. Yet, when you add that the same leader is building a secret nuclear weapons cache from the ground up, while overseeing an economically stunted and almost totally impoverished country, while simultaneously presiding over an accidentally-hilarious Stalin-like cult of personality, then you can only be talking about Kim Jong-il, the notorious "Dear Leader" of North Korea. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1900 ********************** INTERNET USE ********************** comScore Ranks Top Web Sites in Germany for September [news release] ... Google was the most visited property in Germany with 23.2 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 70 percent of the total German Internet audience. Google was followed by eBay, which last month overtook Microsoft Sites to become the second most visited property from within Germany. The online marketplace served 17.7 million unique visitors in September, having grown 2.1 percent from the previous month. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1864 comScore Ranks Top Web Sites in U.K. For September ... Google was the most visited property in September, with 28.6 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 89 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience. It was followed by Microsoft Sites, which attracted 26.9 million unique visitors, an 83 percent reach. Wikipedia, a site whose growth had leveled off over the summer, was the fastest growing property in the top ten in September, increasing by 15 percent to attract its highest ever U.K. audience of 13.3 million unique visitors. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1851 Australia now in broadband speed top ten According to new research from the OECD, Australia is now ranked within the top ten countries for average advertised broadband speeds. In the statistics for October 2007, Australia is ranked ninth for average advertised speed and 23rd on average price per MB out of the OECD's 30 member countries. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Australia-now-in-broadband-speed-top-ten/0,130061791,339283563,00.htm Room for improvement in NZ's OECD ranking [news release] New Zealand’s climb in the latest OECD broadband table is positive but the country is still playing catch up with most of the rest of developed world, warns InternetNZ. The statistics for the half year to June 2007 show New Zealand now ranks 20th of 30 OECD countries, with 683,500 broadband subscribers (16.5 broadband subscribers per 100 people). http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/mediareleases/oecd61107 Britons sending 1bn texts weekly Britons are now sending more than one billion text messages per week according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association. The figure is 25% higher than a year ago and is set to shatter forecasts for how many text messages have been sent to and from handsets this year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7075005.stm http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL0541656420071105 AP Chief: Newspapers Must Get Over Themselves [AP] Newspaper publishers have been seeing declining ad revenues as more readers and advertisers migrate to the Web. Their own revenues from online ads have also been growing, but not fast enough to make up for the declines in print. "The first thing that has to go is the attitude," said Tom Curley, CEO of the Associated Press. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60158.html Surge in South African internet usage Internet usage in South Africa is rapidly increasing, according to statistics released by the Online Publishers Association recently. The latest figures reflect Internet usage over July, August and September this year, and reveal that the number of online users has increased by roughly 3 million. In 2006, 4,8 million unique online users were recorded. 2007 has seen a growth of nearly 163%, with 7,8 million online users recorded. http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=4114841 Poll finds nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults go online [Reuters] ... Four out of five U.S. adults go online now, according to a new Harris Poll. The survey, which polled 2,062 adults in July and October, found that 79 percent of adults -- about 178 million -- go online, spending an average 11 hours a week on the Internet. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0559828420071106 Spain's blogging gran a hit with surfers Age is no barrier for 95-year-old Maria Amelia Lopez, whose blog attracts 60,000 readers worldwide. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081738.htm http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5022265 WSJ.com hits 1 million subscribers [Reuters] The Wall Street Journal said on Sunday that its Web site now has 1 million subscribers, a milestone for a site that charges for access even as other sites are throwing themselves open for free. It also comes as News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch, who is buying the Journal's parent company Dow Jones & Company, contemplates scrapping the Journal's subscription model in favor of free access supported by advertising. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTON51576020071105 http://www.news.com/2110-1038_3-6216913.html ********************** SOCIAL NETWORKING ********************** JupiterResearch Finds that One-Third of European Online Advertisers Plan Social Networking Profiles in the Next Year JupiterResearch finds that 33 percent of European online advertisers plan to launch their own profiles on social networking sites in the next year. However, just 24 percent of advertisers using such "engagement" tactics measure whether users interact with their online ads. In a new report, "Social Marketing in Europe: Creating and Measuring User Engagement," JupiterResearch recommends a framework that will allow advertisers to easily and effectively measure their success in engaging users. http://jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/press:press_release/2007/id=07.10.29-social-marketing-europe.html/ Why Google Turned Into a Social Butterfly Facebook is an island. A most convivial island, with one’s classmates, friends, workmates and family members close at hand. An island that since May has been enlivened with entertaining fauna and flora in the form of minisoftware applications. But it’s still an island. http://nytimes.com/2007/11/04/technology/04digi.html MySpace and Bebo join Google's love-in Google ramped up the pressure on Facebook last night, announcing that MySpace and Bebo had joined the broad alliance of social networking sites it has assembled that will offer a cross-site platform for software developers. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2793615.ece Confirmed: MySpace Joining Google's OpenSocial Now, it's getting interesting: News Corp.'s MySpace is joining Google's just-announced OpenSocial program. That's Google's shot at one-upping Facebook in the race to get outside software developers to create programs for social networks. The program allows developers of social applications, such as Slide, RockYou, and Flixster--which in turn have helped make Facebook the hot company of the year--to write programs once and have them run largely unchanged on any social site that signs on to OpenSocial. http://businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2007/11/confirmed_myspa.html MySpace, Facebook Hone Their Advertising Aim The two leading social networking sites -- Facebook and News Corp.'s MySpace -- are both launching advertising programs this week aimed at allowing marketers to tightly target their audiences by using information from user profiles and other data. MySpace announced the pending launch of "SelfServe by MySpace," an advertising-ordering, creation and serving platform on Monday at the annual Ad:Tech conference in New York City, and said it has been quietly testing its HyperTargeting by MySpace technology since July. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/MySpace-Facebook-Hone-Their-Advertising-Aim-60162.html ********************** NEW TECHNOLOGIES ********************** Google reveals mobile plans Google today took another step in its quest to become the most powerful company in the world as it finally confirmed plans to enter the mobile phone industry. The company is introducing a new mobile system called Android, which it hopes will bring internet access to the masses – and help it sell more advertising. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/05/google.mobilephones Sorry, no Gphone, just an Open Handset Alliance ... Bottom line: Google is trying to use its market power to get a subsection of the mobile phone industry to line up behind a Google-sponsored Linux-based platform, so they can all produce the same sort of phone only cheaper. Presumably they'll all be running Google apps, so will these be open source and free as well? http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/11/05/sorry_no_gphone_just_an_open_handset_alliance.html Rivals dismiss threat of Google mobile platform [Reuters] Rivals of Google cast the web search leader as a late entrant to the cell phone market, saying its planned mobile phone software may boost web use on handsets but without threatening entrenched players. Analysts, however, said Google could have the means to disrupt the status quo in the wireless industry, which is dominated by a handful of large phone makers and regional service providers that often tightly control customer choices. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10474340 Google's Android platform seen as leading to market fragmentation The announcement of the Android open mobile platform by Google Inc. and dozens of other companies could provoke the kinds of industry battles seen with other Linux-based initiatives, where incumbent, established players fight newcomers. If that is going to play out, though, it wasn't obvious today. Some of the more established mobile players, including Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Verizon Wireless and AT&T Corp., offered low-key reactions to Google's plans. None of the four companies is a member of the new Open Handset Alliance (OHA), the group of 34 wireless carriers, handset makers and others that have created Android. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045626 http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139274/article.html FAQ: Google's Android Platform for Mobile Phones When will you be able to buy a Google phone? We'll answer your questions about everything surrounding Android, the Google phone, and the Open Handset Alliance in this continually evolving FAQ. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139293-c,pdacellphonehybrids/article.html Mobile Developers Get to Tinker With Google's Android Google, in conjunction with 34 technology and mobile industry leaders, is launching an open source platform called "Android" for mobile devices. The platform will be available under a progressive open source license, giving mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom to design products, according to Google. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60161.html Google's Dream Phone Google likes software, particularly the kind that puts ads on Web pages, making Google rich. The realities of a phone business--running a supply chain, keeping inventory and managing distribution--were never something Google wanted from its phone initiative. But it has built about five prototype phones based on the Open Handset Alliance software kit that it has used to demonstrate what an open-source phone could do--and to woo companies to join its team. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/11/05/gphone-google-phone-tech-cz_qh_1105gphone2.html Google's Android adds to mobile complexity While Google may be pitching its new mobile software platform as a way to unify the mobile market, even members of the new alliance think differently. ... But handset makers and operators are regarding Android, the new Linux-based mobile phone software announced Monday, as one more of many platforms that they already use. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/05/Google-Android-add-mobile-complexity_1.html Google android steals march on mobile rivals Google unveiled its long-awaited cell phone strategy yesterday as it sought to transplant the model that shook up the internet to the mobile sector. The plan, to be known as “Android”, involves an international alliance of more than 30 handset makers and communications companies and could prove a disruptive force to the economics of the mobile industry in the long-term, according to analysts. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e9c2da4-8bbf-11dc-af4d-0000779fd2ac.html I, Robot: The Man Behind the Google Phone A retinal scanner emitting a blue glow monitors the entrance to Andy Rubin’s home in the foothills overlooking Silicon Valley. If the scanner recognizes you, the door unlocks automatically. (The system makes it easier to deal with former girlfriends, Mr. Rubin likes to joke. No messy scenes retrieving keys — it’s just a simple database update.) http://nytimes.com/2007/11/04/technology/04google.html Google introduces software for mobile phones Google took its long-awaited plunge into the wireless world Monday, announcing that it was leading a broad industry alliance to transform mobile phones into powerful mobile computers that could accelerate the convergence of computing and communications. The technology is expected to provide cellphone manufacturers and wireless operators with capabilities that match and potentially surpass those using smartphone software made by Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, Research In Motion and others. In contrast with that of its competitors, Google's software will be offered freely under "open source" licensing terms, meaning that cellphone manufacturers will be able to use it at no cost and be free to add new features to differentiate their products. http://nytimes.com/2007/11/05/technology/05cnd-gphone.html http://iht.com/articles/2007/11/05/technology/google.php iCame, iSaw, iPhoned - British iPhone review ... After months of waiting for Apple's flagship to land in the UK, we're finally going to get it this Friday. In the meantime, the hype cycle seems to have gone full circle: first excitement at the US launch, then disappointment with the lack of third-party support, a backlash from some quarters, and finally tentative excitement again. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/05/gadgets.apple ********************** SPAM ********************** Why VoIP is the next target for spammers In what looks like a highly developed piece of irony, hackers have proven that Voice over internet Telephony (VoIP) accounts are prone to the nuisance of voice spam - by attacking the university where the co-author of the protocol that VoIP runs on is professor of computer science. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/01/news.hacking ********************** DIGITAL DIVIDE ********************** ICT Summit Emphasizes Information Technology Age The Information Technology Age has changed man's 'nature and nurture' in the world today and this week, it took the Connect Africa Summit to emphasize this. President Paul Kagame who hosted the meeting said, "In just ten years, what was once an object of luxury and privilege, the mobile phone has become a basic necessity in urban and rural Africa." http://allafrica.com/stories/200711050515.html Africa: Do Everything to Ensure We Have a Digital Miracle Africa is alive with possibility. The speed with which Africans have embraced mobile telephones provides an opportunity for rapid transformation and the potential of bridging the so-called digital divide. http://allafrica.com/stories/200711050449.html Africa to get multi-billion dollar Internet injection Africa will receive investment worth US$55-billion to boost its goal of securing universal Internet access by 2012, the International Telecommunication Union said on Wednesday. The international commitments were made at the two-day "Connect Africa" summit that ended in Rwandan capital on Tuesday, with a pledge to speed up technology in the continent, the ITU said in a statement. http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2884&iArticleId=5022154 Bridging Africa's digital divide Intel's chairman Craig Barrett is in Africa to talk about initiatives designed to end the digital divide. He tells BBC News of the challenges the continent faces as it attempts to reap the benefits of the technological revolution. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7071289.stm Africa: ITU And Microsoft Unite The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Microsoft have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 'Connect Africa Summit' outlining how they will work together to build a safe, inclusive and networked information society. http://allafrica.com/stories/200711020796.html RWANDA: Bridging the digital divide to reduce the dependence on aid More than US$50 billion of largely private sector investment has been pledged to develop Africa's burgeoning ICT sector at a summit attended by African heads of state and more than 1,000 representatives from the industry. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/47c2fb2b5e80c484c609816f779a6375.htm ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* The Era of Bottom-Up Brands: Google's Dominance Is Changing the Rules By Which Brands Win Consumer Loyalty One of my favorite stories in the history of Web business -- a chronicle by turns heroic and tragic, ambitious and doomed, shrewd and really, really dumb -- is that of Pathfinder, Time Warner's attempt to dominate the Web by building a common home for its various print titles. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119393895627879318.html Google hits US$219bn in success search Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, has joined the corporate super-league with a market value that ranks among America's top five companies. Ten years after its creation in a Stanford University dormitory, the Silicon Valley firm's capitalisation reached $219bn (£105bn) on Tuesday - overtaking healthcare titan Procter & Gamble to place it in fifth place on the US stockmarket. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/01/news.google Apple's Microsoft-Devouring Jungle Cat: How Leopard demolishes Vista. Steve Jobs may be the undisputed grand master of technology hype, but when it comes to numbering operating systems, he's oddly self-effacing. With Leopard, the new version of OS X, Apple has nudged the version number forward from 10.4 to 10.5. Most companies would assign such a teensy increment to an update with a few minor bug fixes, but Leopard includes more than 300 new features by Apple's count. Even after you weed out several dozen pieces of ephemera such as Kerberized NFS—if you don't know what that is, you'll never need it—the $129 Leopard is a big deal with plenty of meaningful enhancements over its predecessor Tiger. http://www.slate.com/id/2177073/ ********************** VoIP ********************** Legislation enacted to protect triple zero calls via VoIP Emergency triple zero calls from VoIP services are covered under legislation that formally came into effect today. Amendments to the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2002 Act confirm the obligation to provide free-of-charge access calls to Triple Zero from VoIP services with both dial-in and dial-out functionality. http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1661091834 http://infoworld.nl/idgns/bericht.phtml?id=002570DE00740E18002573890083D2FA http://webwereld.nl/articles/48550/legislation-enacted-to-protect-emergency-calls-via-voip.html http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/110507-legislation-enacted-to-protect-emergency.html http://itwire.com/content/view/15186/127/ [IT Wire] Emergency calls from VoIP now mandatory in Australia In Australia, the communications authority has implemented new rules to provide greater certainty for consumers about access to police, fire and ambulance assistance. http://www.voip-news.co.uk/2007/11/05/emergency-calls-from-voip-now-mandatory-in-australia/ ********************************** ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN ********************************** Europe child porn probe nets 92 An investigation into a Europe-wide child pornography network has led to 92 arrests across eight countries, prosecutors say. The network made videos of children being abused and sold them to 2,500 customers in 19 countries, says the European police force, Europol. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7079716.stm Men held in Euro child porn probe Nine men were arrested in London and the Thames Valley during a Europe-wide inquiry into child porn that has led to 92 arrests across eight countries. Raids took place in Newbury, Berkshire; Oxfordshire; and Amersham and Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in September. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7079803.stm http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_2871280,00.html http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_2871592,00.html au: Child sex network uncovered Nine Queensland men are facing 188 charges after a major child pornography network was smashed by a police operation across 28 countries. The men, aged between 29 and 64 and hailing from Cairns to the Gold Coast, were arrested and charged after a breakthrough in a national offensive dubbed Pariah, and enforced by Queensland Police's child protection unit, Taskforce Argos. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,22711625-952,00.html http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22711625-3102,00.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 National Bingo Night. Play along for the chance to win $10,000 every week. Download your gamecard now at Yahoo!7 TV. http://au.blogs.yahoo.com/national-bingo-night/ _______________________________________________ APPLe mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/apple
