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And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. *************************************************** The domain name news is supported by auDA *************************************************** More Europeans Are Going Online [AP] http://news.smh.com.au/more-europeans-are-going-online/20071204-1eoc.html Young Europeans prefer Internet to TV: poll [AFP] http://news.smh.com.au/young-europeans-prefer-internet-to-tv-poll/20071206-1f9i.html Men are from Mars, women from Venus when it comes to online shopping http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052078 Indian internet users increase by 40%, reach 46 million http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG5_sub.asp?ccode=ENG5&newscode=9537 Internet Society CEO sets sights on next 'Net users http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1813103607 Net dumbs us down says Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/10/1197135340009.html Web access and e-mail for some U.S. airlines http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/07/technology/07air.php Real and virtual worlds - Better together: The internet, supposedly a new realm, is most useful when coupled to the real world http://economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251972 No slowdown seen in ad spending on the Internet http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/09/technology/ad10.php US traffic goes coast-to-coast at 40 gigabits http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10481671 Spam Tidal Wave Hits UK http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140420-c,spam/article.html German politician pulls Nazi symbol charges against Wikipedia [Reuters] http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0616923220071207 Porn producer sues YouTube knockoff http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-vivid11dec11,1,7976985.story Web warning on flirty Russian robot http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3030066.ece Ask search engine guarantees privacy http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/dec/11/ask.privacy Syria blocks Facebook access, citing Israeli 'infiltration' [AP] http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/07/news/Syria-Facebook.php us: New Bill Demands ISPs Report Online Child Exploitation http://www.internetnews.com/wireless/article.php/3715481 us: Child Porn Bill Could Turn Net Access Into Compliance Minefield http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Child-Porn-Bill-Could-Turn-Net-Access-Into-Compliance-Minefield-60649.html Mobile Gaming To Hit $6 Billion By 2011 http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204801067 WiMax tipped for 80 million subscribers http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single9834 ********************** INTERNET USE ********************** eu: Internet usage in 2007 Households and individuals in the EU http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-QA-07-023/EN/KS-QA-07-023-EN.PDF More Europeans Are Going Online [AP] More than half of European homes went online this year as the number using a hi-speed broadband connection to connect to the Internet rose sharply, the EU statistical agency Eurostat said Monday. One in two people use an Internet search engine while 15 percent of individuals use the net to make phone calls and 13 percent use peer-to-peer file sharing software to swap movies and music, according to the survey based on national figures for the first three months of 2007. http://news.theage.com.au/more-europeans-are-going-online/20071204-1eoc.html http://news.smh.com.au/more-europeans-are-going-online/20071204-1eoc.html Young Europeans prefer Internet to TV: poll [AFP] Young Europeans prefer the Internet over television, and nearly half say they watch less TV because of surfing the web, a poll of 10 European countries showed Wednesday. More than 7,000 people were questioned as part of the survey released by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). http://news.theage.com.au/young-europeans-prefer-internet-to-tv-poll/20071206-1f9i.html http://news.smh.com.au/young-europeans-prefer-internet-to-tv-poll/20071206-1f9i.html Mobile Gaming To Hit $6 Billion By 2011 Mobile gaming is expected to outpace console and handheld gaming to reach $6 billion in sales by 2011, nearly doubling the $3.6 billion the market is expected to take in globally this year, according to Understanding & Solutions, a British consulting company said Tuesday. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204801067 Men are from Mars, women from Venus when it comes to online shopping When it comes to making impulse purchases online this holiday season, men and women in the U.S. act differently, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. for GSI Commerce Inc. Women are more likely to make impulse online purchases during the holidays based on limited-time offers, according to the survey. The Online Holiday Shopping survey was conducted online between Oct. 19 and 23 among 2,818 adults 18 and over. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052078 Indian internet users increase by 40%, reach 46 million The number of internet users in India in the ever-user or claimed-user category touched 46 million in September, up 40 per cent from 32.2 million in September 2006, a study said. During the same period, the number of active internet users reached 32 million,according to a report published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International,a pioneer in market research. http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG5_sub.asp?ccode=ENG5&newscode=9537 Internet Society CEO sets sights on next 'Net users The Internet has 1.3 billion users, but that's not enough for Lynn St. Amour. As CEO of the Internet Society, she is expanding the nonprofit group, which promotes development of the Internet globally. St. Amour doubled the group's staff in 2007 and beefed up its outreach activities in Africa, South America and Asia in her bid to add another billion Internet users worldwide. National Correspondent Carolyn Duffy Marsan sat down with St. Amour this week at a meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force, an ISOC-funded standards group. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1813103607 http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1813103607 http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;1813103607;fp;4194304;fpid;1 Net dumbs us down says Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing New Nobel laureate Doris Lessing has used her acceptance speech to rail against the internet, saying it has "seduced a whole generation into its inanities" and created a world where people know nothing. ... "We are in a fragmenting culture, where our certainties of even a few decades ago are questioned and where it is common for young men and women, who have had years of education, to know nothing of the world, to have read nothing, knowing only some speciality or other, for instance, computers," she said in the speech read out by Lessing's British publisher as she was too ill to travel to Sweden for the Nobel festivities. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/12/10/1197135340009.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/10/1197135340009.html Web access and e-mail for some U.S. airlines Passengers may soon hear a new in-flight announcement: "You can now log on." Starting next week and over the next few months, several United States airlines will test Internet service on their planes. On Tuesday, JetBlue Airways will begin offering a free e-mail and instant messaging service on one of its planes, while American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer broader Web access in coming months, probably at a cost around $10 a flight. http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/07/technology/07air.php How Four Airlines Plan to Connect Fliers to the Web In this overview of in-flight Internet capabilities, we take a look at what various airlines say they'll be offering to their customers, which companies are building networks, and when we can expect to get full Web connections on planes. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140416/article.html British Court Restricts Teen's Net Use An English court has banned a teenage boy from posting abusive or insulting comments on a social networking website after judging his participation in the network to be anti-social. Norwich Youth Court in eastern England issued an Anti-Social Behavior Order (Asbo) against a local 17-year-old implicated in petty criminal boasting on the online community Bebo. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1692339,00.html Youth seduced by internet's 'inanities', says Lessing The winner of this year's Nobel prize for literature, Doris Lessing, has warned of the dangers of the internet, and defended the continued importance of books. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/08/2113445.htm uk: Child porn addict's web ban AN engineering student with a "compulsive addiction" to child porn has been banned from using the internet. Edward Kiernan, 39, was found with indecent pictures and videos of children on his computer during a raid at his home. http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1917222007 Real and virtual worlds - Better together: The internet, supposedly a new realm, is most useful when coupled to the real world In the early days of the internet, the idea that it represented an entirely new and separate realm, distinct from the real world, was seized upon by both advocates and critics of the new technology. Advocates liked the idea that the virtual world was a placeless datasphere, liberated from constraints and restrictions of the real world, and an opportunity for a fresh start. This view was expressed most clearly in the “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” issued by John Perry Barlow, an internet activist, in February 1996. “Governments of the industrial world, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from cyberspace, the new home of mind,” he thundered. “Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Our world is different. We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.” http://economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251972 No slowdown seen in ad spending on the Internet For Internet companies, or nearly any media owner in a developing country, the outlook for advertising spending for 2008 looks rosy, with several leading forecasters predicting a strong acceleration. http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/09/technology/ad10.php ********************** SOCIAL NETWORKING ********************** Facebook Doesn't Budge on Beacon's Broad User Tracking Facebook's CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg has profusely apologized for missteps in the design and deployment of the Beacon ad system, but he remains unrepentant about what privacy advocates consider a particularly egregious feature. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140385/article.html Nielsen, Digimarc in Web venture The Nielsen Co. and digital rights management company Digimarc Corp. are launching a new service that will monitor and manage media content across the Web. The service, called Nielsen Digital Media Manager, will enable media companies to track their content throughout the Internet using digital watermarking and fingerprinting technology. In addition, it will allow content companies, peer-to-peer services, social networks and user generated content sites to manage and monetize online media streams. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i1dd5aa717be94419d4755f484efdaf5b nz: Social networking scares Kiwis New Zealanders are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with posting personal information online. That is the conclusion of a new survey by Unisys examining our internet habits. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/1498702 ********************** NEW TECHNOLOGIES ********************** Five Tech Trends to Watch in 2008 As 2008 approaches, WiMax is at a crossroads. Will it become the most popular next-generation wireless WAN transport that supporters envisioned, or will it wither on the vine? "WiMax will gain a great deal of acceptance in underserved countries, but will not be as popular in industrialized nations like the U.S. and Europe," analyst Craig Mathias told TechNewsWorld. http://technewsworld.com/story/Five-Tech-Trends-to-Watch-in-2008-60697.html http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60697.html?welcome=1197383025 US traffic goes coast-to-coast at 40 gigabits AT&T has switched on its high-speed backbone network, which is designed to ferry data traffic across the US four times faster. AT&T has begun placing traffic on its so-called "ultra-long haul" network, which boasts a capacity of 40 gigabits per second, meaning consumers will be able to download large files quicker and more easily stream online videos to their computers. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10481671 ********************** SPAM ********************** Taking down spammers: Successful spam fighting via legalization, regulation and economics by Gadi Evron Working in the Israeli city of Netanya, next door to our offices was a spam operation with roughly 30 employees. One day they weren’t there anymore. They were blog comment spammers, but officially were doing Search Engine Optimization or SEO. Instead of optimizing content, they posted illicit comments on many blogs with commercial or misleading messages leading to their clients’ web sites, mainly for the purpose of increasing their clients’ web sites visibility in search engines such as Google. They would do this using an illegal tool such as botnets, and make quite a bit of money. http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=720 Spam Tidal Wave Hits UK British e-mail correspondents are drowning in 20 billion spam messages daily, a filtering firm says. The U.K. now receives 20 billion spam emails a day, roughly one sixth of the daily global total, filtering company IronPort has said. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140420-c,spam/article.html ********************** DIGITAL DIVIDE ********************** Digital gap concerns Malaysia PM [reg req'd] A lack of local content for developing countries and the dominant use of the English on the Internet are key factors widening the global digital divide. These are concerns raised by the Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in a speech read on his behalf by deputy, Dato Najib Tun Razak. The conference theme Emerging People, Emerging Markets, EmergingTechnologies focuses on issues related to knowledge for development (K4D) and Information Communication Technology for Development (ICTD4) within the context of our evolving societies, economies and technologies worldwide. http://hana.ru.ac.za/article.cfm?articleID=1807 ************************** ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL ************************** German Wikipedia accused of promoting Nazism A German politician who filed charges against Wikipedia accusing it of promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols has bowed to pressure and withdrawn her claims against the online encyclopaedia. Katrina Schubert, deputy leader of the Left Party, had encouraged police in Berlin to press charges against the German-language version of Wikipedia, saying that the site's operators allowed too much Nazi-related imagery and content to appear on the site. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3017069.ece German politician pulls Nazi symbol charges against Wikipedia [Reuters] A left-wing German politician withdrew charges against online encyclopedia Wikipedia on Friday for promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols in Germany. Katina Schubert, a deputy leader of the far-left Left party, had filed the charges with Berlin police on Thursday. He argued that Wikipedia's German language site contained too much Nazi symbolism, particularly an article on the Hitler Youth movement. http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0616923220071207 http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKL0616923220071207 http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4317153a28.html German Politician files Wikipedia charge over Nazi symbols [Reuters] A left-wing German politician has filed charges against online encyclopedia Wikipedia for promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols in Germany. Katina Schubert, a deputy leader of the Left party, said she had filed the charge with Berlin police on the grounds that Wikipedia's German language site contained too much Nazi symbolism, particularly an article on the Hitler Youth movement. http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0616923220071206 Porn producer sues YouTube knockoff A major porn producer filed a lawsuit Monday against an X-rated knockoff of YouTube, alleging that it profited from piracy by allowing its users to post videos that include copyrighted material. Vivid Entertainment Group filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court against PornoTube and its parent, Data Conversions Inc., which does business in Charlotte, N.C., as AEBN Inc. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-vivid11dec11,1,7976985.story Web warning on flirty Russian robot Be careful next time you get accosted by a flirty stranger in an internet chatroom: it could just be a Russian chat-up bot out to steal your identity. Internet security experts say that Russian programmers have created a piece of software known as CyberLover that can infiltrate dating sites and chatrooms and patiently seduce its victims. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3030066.ece au: Queensland Net connection 'hijacked' A MAN who allegedly tried to extort money by hijacking the internet connections of unsuspecting users to send threatening emails has been arrested in an undercover police sting. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22899063-16123,00.html Report: Cybercrime Stormed the Net in 2007 Security researchers say 2007 was the year online criminals showed off how smart and dangerous they can be. Anti-virus vendor F-Secure added 250,000 new signatures to its malware database this year -- as many as the company added in its first 20 years combined. "The driving force is that the malware is being done at a professional level," according to Patrik Runald, security response manager for F-Secure, speaking about the company's end-of-the-year report, released this week. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/12/2007_security au: Net shooting threat: Australian man held AN AUSTRALIAN has been arrested in Melbourne for allegedly posting a threat on the internet warning that a shooting would occur at a shopping centre in the US. Victorian police arrested the man, identified by authorities in Los Angeles, as Jarrad Willis, 20, on Friday night. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/08/1196813079398.html us: Adult-Oriented Online Social Networking Operation Settles FTC Charges; Unwitting Consumers Pelted With Sexually Graphic Pop-Ups [news release] An operation that foisted sexually explicit online pop-up ads on unwitting consumers has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the practice violated federal law. The settlement bars the defendant from displaying sexually explicit online ads to consumers who are not seeking out sexually explicit content. According to the FTC, AdultFriendFinder.com, which touts itself as “The World’s Largest Sex & Swingers Personal Community,” and its affiliates use pop-up ads to drive traffic to its Web sites. Some of the ads have included graphic depictions of sexual behavior, exposing consumers, including children, to sexually explicit images. Such ads were displayed to consumers who were searching online using terms such as “flowers,” “travel,” and “vacations.” In some cases, defendant’s sexually explicit ads were distributed using spyware and adware. http://ftc.gov/opa/2007/12/afriendfinder.shtm ************************** PRIVACY ************************** Web Leaders Seek More Searchable Government These days you can Google just about anything, from your favorite celebrity's pet to your boss's middle name. But using the biggest search engine to get information about the government often falls short. That's what leaders from Google and Wikipedia plan to tell the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today, urging Congress to require federal agencies to make their Web sites, records and databases more searchable. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/10/AR2007121001663.html uk: Privacy watchdog to push data safeguards Organisations and individuals must take step up the fight against identity fraud, the Information Commissioner's Office will say on Tuesday. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will say that the data-security problems at Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) were a watershed and call for organisations to implement new safeguards to help protect individuals' privacy. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39291433,00.htm Ask rolls out search privacy tool Search engine Ask has launched a feature that it hopes will prove a selling point for consumers concerned about their online privacy. AskEraser allows users to immediately delete search queries stored on Ask's servers, in contrast to rivals such as Google which stores data for 18 months. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7138260.stm Ask search engine guarantees privacy Search engine Ask has come up with a new weapon in its battle to win more users: privacy. The search website, which is owned by media mogul Barry Diller's InterActive Corp, today announced the launch of a new online tool that helps surfers keep their internet search history private. The system, called AskEraser, allows users delete any record of the searches they have made using the Ask site – including removing the information from the company's servers. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/dec/11/ask.privacy Ask.com places a bet on online privacy Will privacy sell? Ask.com is betting it will. The fourth-largest search-engine company was starting a service Tuesday called AskEraser, which allows users to make their searches more private. http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/11/business/privacy.php http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/technology/11ask.html ********************** CENSORSHIP ********************** Syria blocks Facebook access, citing Israeli 'infiltration' [AP] Syrian authorities have blocked Facebook, the popular Internet hangout, over what seems to be fears of Israeli "infiltration" of Syrian social networks on the Net, according to residents and media reports. Residents of Damascus said that they have not been able to enter Facebook for more than two weeks. An Associated Press reporter got a blank page when he tried to open Facebook's home page Friday from the Syrian capital. http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/07/news/Syria-Facebook.php http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Syria-Facebook.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_7661229 More than 100 websites blocked in growing wave of online censorship Reporters Without Borders is concerned that the number of websites to which access is blocked in Syria has been growing steadily for the past month. More than 100 websites, including the video-sharing site YouTube, the blog platform Blogspot and the email service Hotmail, are now inaccessible. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24671 World views on free press mixed World opinion is divided on the importance of having a free press, according to a poll conducted for the BBC World Service. Of those interviewed, 56% thought that freedom of the press was very important to ensure a free society. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7134918.stm US free speech group wants to end China's Internet censorship [AP] A California free-speech group wants to force China to end Internet censorship and remove barriers to American e-commerce companies hoping to do business in China. In a presentation Monday to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington, the San Rafael, California-based California First Amendment Coalition argued that China's blatant and sophisticated censorship of the Internet violates China's obligations under the World Trade organisation. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/11/1197135426221.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/12/11/1197135426221.html us: Groups to Press FCC To Prohibit Blocking Of Text Messages A consortium of consumer groups is planning to urge federal regulators to clarify how much control cellphone companies can have over the messages and services delivered over their networks. In a petition to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission today, these groups say the agency should prohibit wireless carriers from blocking text messages sent by any company, nonprofit group or political campaign. These groups -- including Public Knowledge, Free Press, Media Access Project, Consumers Union and the New America Foundation -- also say carriers should deliver all text messages to their customers, including those sent by competing phone services. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/10/AR2007121001634.html ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ nz: Kiwi cyber safety advances on show New Zealand's innovative advances in cyber safety are being presented to the world at an international technology conference in Malaysia next week. Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker, InternetNZ executive director Keith Davidson, Westpac New Zealand's manager of e-business Stu Wollett, and Douglas Harre, senior ICT adviser at the Education Ministry, are on a panel presenting to the Global Knowledge Partnership's (GKP) GK3 conference in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/waikatotimes/4315715a6415.html au: IIA ready for new censor battle Australia's peak internet industry group will this week launch its bid to force Labor to rethink its internet filtering policy. Internet Industry Association's Peter Coroneos said the organisation would meet Labor's new Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy this week to brief the federal Government on mandatory ISP-level internet filtering. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22902114-16123,00.html us: Wi-Fi 'illegal images' politician defends legislation The Democratic sponsor of a bill forcing anyone with an open Wi-Fi connection to report illegal images--or pay fines of up to $300,000--says a recent Internet outcry over the legislation misses the point. Rep. Nick Lampson of Texas, who drafted the bill that the House of Representatives approved this week, said through a spokesman on Thursday that he didn't actually mean to target Americans who happen to have Wi-Fi access points at home. The legislation also covers social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail. http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9830648-38.html us: New Bill Demands ISPs Report Online Child Exploitation The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a new bill putting ISPs on notice they face big penalties for not reporting child pornography and other illegal exploitation of children online. The Securing Adolescents From Exploitation Online (SAFE) Act carries a maximum fine of $150,000 for first-time offenders found guilty of "knowing and willful failure to make a report." Repeat offenders can fines of up to $300,000. http://www.internetnews.com/wireless/article.php/3715481 us: Child Porn Bill Could Turn Net Access Into Compliance Minefield The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday rushed through a bill that puts increased responsibility on the shoulders of Internet service providers to police the Internet for child pornography. H.R. 3791, also known as the SAFE Act, requires that anyone providing Internet access -- apparently including coffee shops, hotels and others offering WiFi service -- report illegal online images involving children. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Child-Porn-Bill-Could-Turn-Net-Access-Into-Compliance-Minefield-60649.html us: House Triples Fines for Online Child Porn Legislation passed by the House Dec. 5 would triple the penalties for ISPs that knowingly fail to report child pornography on their service and expand the reporting requirements to cover all communications providers, including Wi-Fi operators that offer open connections to the public. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2229324,00.asp Texas AG Files Complaint Against Web Sites Aimed at Children [AP] Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed two civil complaints in federal district court Dec. 5 accusing two Web sites aimed at children of failing to protect their users' privacy and safety. According to Abbott, Texas is the first state to file complaints under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a 1998 federal law intended to prevent Web sites from unnecessarily collecting personal information from children under 13. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1196935472235 us: Video game 'report card' cites 'backwards' steps [AP] Graphic scenes of gunshot victims spurting blood and a jailer urinating into a prisoner's cell are included among the 10 video games that a media watchdog group warns should be avoided by kids and teens under 17. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-12-04-video-games-report-card_N.htm US kids find it easy to buy adult-rated videogames: survey [AFP] The video-game rating system restricting the sale of violent games to minors has not been applied correctly in the United States, where teenagers can easily buy them in stores, a family group said Tuesday. In its annual survey, the National Institute on Media and the Family reported that only 55 percent of retailers efectivaly banned the sale of mature, or "M" rated videogames to children under 17. http://news.smh.com.au/us-kids-find-it-easy-to-buy-adultrated-videogames-survey/20071205-1f52.html http://news.theage.com.au/us-kids-find-it-easy-to-buy-adultrated-videogames-survey/20071205-1f52.html ********************** FILE SHARING ********************** Mobile Gaming To Hit $6 Billion By 2011 New developments will allow consumers' gaming behavior to evolve and create new business models, says Understanding & Solutions, a British consulting firm. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204801067 ********************** TELECOMMUNICATIONS ********************** Broadcasters meet for DTV roadmap review Several broadcasting chiefs from Asia have gathered in Kuala Lumpur for a three-day meeting to review their progress in adopting digital television (DTV) technology and preparing for analogue transmission switch-off in their respective countries. http://www.abu.org.my/public/dsp_page.cfm?articleid=3283&urlsectionid=1061&specialsection=ART_FULL&pageid=247&PSID=3372 WiMax tipped for 80 million subscribers Global adoption of mobile WiMax broadband services are tipped to reach five million subscribers in the next five years, with 2010 suggested as the year the technology will really begin to take off. According to Juniper Research, the value of mobile WiMax service revenues globally will grow to over US$23bn a year by 2013. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single9834 http://www.juniperresearch.com/shop/viewreport.php?id=97 [report] Twenty thousand WiMAX subscribers in Africa at the end of 2007 WiMAX Counts.Com reports that WiMAX has expanded rapidly in Africa over 2006-2007. At the beginning of 2006, the WiMAX subscribers in Africa numbered just a few thousand. But by the end of 2007, Africa accounts for more than 20,000 WiMAX subscribers. Users are mostly business customers, who have access to 10’s or 100’s of internal users, in contrast to residential access. Over this year, the subscriber numbers have grown at an average rate of 28% per quarter, and the growth from Q2 to Q3 2007 alone was 36%. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Twenty+Thousand+WiMAX+Subscribers+In+Africa+At+The+End+Of+2007.aspx ********************** VoIP ********************** uk: Ofcom rules that VoIP must do emergency calls The UK telecoms regulator has, as expected, ruled that customers must be able to call the emergency services using voice over IP (VoIP). http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?NewsID=10872 ********************************** ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN ********************************** au: Child porn charges after Surry Hills raid A woman has been charged with child porn and drug offences after a raid in inner Sydney, police say. The woman was arrested at a house in Denham Street, Surry Hills, at about 6pm (AEDT) yesterday after police were given a tip-off. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/07/1196812959170.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 Make the switch to the world's best email. Get the new Yahoo!7 Mail now. www.yahoo7.com.au/worldsbestemail _______________________________________________ APPLe mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/apple
