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And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au - for updates in between the news postings. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ uk: Nominet wins EGM votes by a whisker http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/22/nominet_wins_egm/ uk: Nominet puts its future on the line http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/22/nominet_egm_two/ Initial reports on the process to register .eu domain names http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1615 ICANN Opens Consultation on Latin America and the Caribbean Regional At Large Organisation Organising Instruments http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-22nov06.htm za: Regulations to manage domain name disputes (news release) http://www.buanews.gov.za/view.php?ID=06112215151001 Green IT: Do it for the money, if nothing else http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6137822.html *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** On international trademark and the internet: the Lanham Act’s long arms by Joshua Clowers Trademarks tie a face to a product. The face is often a name or symbol, but it can also be something like a sound, a smell or even a “look.”1 They exist for the benefit of both the trademark owner/producer and the consumer. The purpose of a trademark, traditionally, has been to protect against the confusion of consumers when selecting products or services. Yet, a trademark’s functionality is not limited to preventing confusion. Other uses include both preserving the goodwill of the consumer for the mark owner and preventing the “diversion of trade through commercial misrepresentations.”3 Trademark is a system by http://law.richmond.edu/jolt/v13i1/article4.pdf ***************** GOVERNANCE ***************** 3 Jolting Statements at the IGF by Assoc Prof Ang Peng Hwa In his third report on the recent IGF A/P Ang Peng Hwa writes of 3 jolting statements by US Ambassador David Gross, Lynn St Amour President, ISOC, and Vint Cerf. The first by David Gross, Ang Peng Hwa says there are concerns that the US is developing a system of content regulation with the reason being the War on Terror. http://internetinasia.typepad.com/blog/2006/11/3_jolting_state.html Internet Governance Forum Report 2: Why The Need for IG A/P Ang Peng Hwa is surprised at those who continue to say that (i) the internet is working fine, (ii) that therefore it needs no governance and (iii) that the phrase “internet governance” should not exist. On the first point, he raises the point that many governments feel uneasy that the internet to any one particular country could be cut off by a decision of the US government. Second, that “governance” is not “government” and the differences between them. And third, the US dominance of the internet may not be such a good thing. Point 2, raised by Lynn St Amour President, ISOC, who says in part that the discussion needs to go back to the “national level, local level, participation in the forms that are available to you, that are important to you as an individual” while Ang Peng Hwa who says in part “Taking away the Forum and moving such meetings to the national and local levels would only reduce the quality of the discussion when was is needed is higher, not lower quality.” And third, Vint Cerf who Ang Peng Hwa says “there cannot be competition at the root zone, that ICANN is a “natural monopoly” not in the strict economic sense but because of the requirements of the system—there can only be one root.” Further, “Cerf, however, misses a major point—in the good old USA as well as significant portions of the civilised world, there is only on way to handle monopolies—regulate them. This is precisely the issue of internet governance. If ICANN is indeed an inevitable monopoly, then it inevitably invites regulation. Anything less would not be transparent or fair.” http://internetinasia.typepad.com/blog/2006/11/internet_govern_1.html How engineers tamed the internet's Tower of Babel At the IGF last month, a bespectacled Swede made a small, barely noticed announcement that nevertheless represented a pivotal moment in the history of the internet. "Regarding the technical implementation for the world wide web, we are done," Patrik Fältström told the Internet Governance Forum. By "we are done", he meant that following a decade of hard work by a global consortium of engineers and linguists, they had finally decided on a document that will enable all the world's languages to be fully represented on the internet. People will be able to type in addresses in their own language, search in their own language and move around the internet in their own language. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1954159,00.html The end of the web as we know it? Vint Cerf, chairman of Icann and co-creator of the TCP/IP standard, talks about the future of the internet and warns against creating a two-tier web system http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2006/11/23/220129/The+end+of+the+web+as+we+know+it.htm ITU Conference signals enhanced international cooperation in ICT: Plenipotentiary Conference endorses expanded mandate for ITU The 17th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference wound up Friday evening by setting out a road map for the Union to chart its future course as the pre-eminent world body for telecommunications and state-of-the-art information and communication technologies (ICT). It endorsed ITU’s essential role in Bridging the Digital Divide and ensuring the continued expansion of global communication networks. The Conference renewed focus on implementing the outcomes of the WSIS. Over 2000 participants from 164 countries, including more than one hundred ministers attended the Plenipotentiary Conference, the supreme organ of ITU which meets every four years, and lent their support to the future work of the Union. The conference focused on a number of key issues: ITU’s role in Implementing the outcomes and action lines of WSIS; Enhanced cooperation among the membership on international public policy issues related to the internet, such as internationalized domain names, to build bridges within the internet community and in the intergovernmental process. http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2006/27.html Forward the online revolution We all have the power to shape the networked world, argues regular BBC commentator Bill Thompson. Over the last 20 years the global economy has been shaped and reshaped by computers and the growing reach of the internet as a public communications network. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6180666.stm ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** uk: Nominet wins EGM votes by a whisker UK registry Nominet has won two crucial votes at its extraordinary general meeting this morning - but only just. In what the company's CEO Lesley Cowley called "a bit of a test", the request that the company be allowed to expand its business beyond running the .uk registry passed by just 0.97 per cent - a margin that may have come down to literally one or two of Nominet's 3,000 members voting. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/22/nominet_wins_egm/ http://www.techworld.com/networking/news/index.cfm?newsID=7406 uk: Nominet puts its future on the line UK registry owner Nominet is this morning holding its second extraordinary general meeting in a year in Oxford in an effort to expand its business and modernise its processes. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/22/nominet_egm_two/ Initial reports on the process to register .eu domain names More than two million .eu domain names have been registered in nine months, showing the great success of this European electronic identity. To regulate registrations, regulation (EC) N° 733/2002 of 22 April 2002 on the implementation of the .eu Top Level Domain has been adopted by the European Parliament and the Council (the "Regulation"), providing that holders of prior rights recognised or established would benefit from an exclusive period of time (from December 7, 2005 until April 6, 2006), the sunrise period, to register their domain names. To register during the sunrise period, applicants needed to prove a prior right entitling them to claim the corresponding domain name. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1615 ICANN Opens Consultation on Latin America and the Caribbean Regional At Large Organisation Organising Instruments As provided in the ICANN Bylaws, Article XI, Section 2, part 4, an advisory process has been created to allow the interests of individual Internet users to be represented in the ICANN community. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-22nov06.htm ICANN Launches Public Comments on Whois Task Force Report ICANN is launching a public comments period on the Preliminary Task Force Report on Whois Services. This report forms part of the GNSO policy development process (PDP) on Whois which seeks to build consensus on policy issues in the generic top level domain (gTLD) space. The public comment period will last from 24th November, 2006 to 15 January, 2007. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-24nov06.htm us: Cyber squatting all the rage for 2008 Squatters hope domain names of a presidential candidate pays big: This time they’re buying up domain names of potential presidential candidates. Buying them like mad. There are about 50 registered sites for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. None of them belong to him, and, by the way, he hasn’t even said he’ll run. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15843850/ za: Regulations to Manage Domain Name Disputes The Department of Communications has published regulations to deal with disputes regarding the .za domain name, in the Government Gazette. http://allafrica.com/stories/200611220500.html http://allafrica.com/stories/200611260038.html http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=4958 za: Regulations to manage domain name disputes (news release) The South African Department of Communications has published regulations to deal with disputes regarding the .za domain name, in the Government Gazette. The Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations that have been signed by Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri provide guidelines, rules and procedures and also set out fee structures for the adjudication of such disputes. http://www.buanews.gov.za/view.php?ID=06112215151001 uk: UK ISP mislays domains beginning with 'C' UK ISP Legend Communications has been suffering an alphabetical technical problem over the past couple of days apparently affecting its Designer Servers customers, with domains beginning with the letter C unable to be resolved. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/23/legendary_mishap/ PIR launches campain to help .ORG Domain Name holders protect the value of their .ORG Domains (news release) The Public Interest Registry (PIR) has announced a new international public awareness campaign aimed at protecting .ORG domain name holders from the potentially damaging consequences of allowing their .ORG domain names to expire. The campaign, called "protectyour.ORG: Preserving the Value of Your .ORG Domain", seeks to educate registrants about the value of .ORG domains - even those that are not currently being used as Web sites. It offers steps for locating, managing, consolidating, and securing domain names in order to reduce the potential for problems that may occur when domain names lapse either intentionally or because the registrant was unaware that a name had expired. http://www.isoc.org/isoc/media/releases/061121pr.shtml PIR Protects .org Domain Name Holders General, Hana Staff The PIR campaign is intended to educate and empower the non-commercial community on how to most effectively utilize the Internet. Chief executive of PIR, Mr. Edward G. Viltz while announcing this development, said it is an international public awareness campaign aimed at protecting .org domain name holders from the potentially damaging consequences of allowing their domain names to expire. http://allafrica.com/stories/200611250003.html http://webhosting.info/news/1/pir-launches-campaign-to-help-.org-domain-name-holders_1122062731.htm What's in a name? A small Australian business established a strong local presence in Melbourne, and unbeknownst to them, a competitor had set up operations in Melbourne using a phonetically identical name. The story describes this as a "deliberate business identity theft". A representative of a Sydney-based law firm as one of its recommendations in the story suggests the government should "Crack down on domain name regulators to control parties trying to profit from registering questionable domain names". http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20759160-5000920,00.html General-use JP Domain Names Exceed 500,000 - In Just 5 Years since Launch On November 2, 2006 JPRS announced that the cumulative number of registered General-use JP domain names (EXAMPLE.JP) as of November 1, 2006 had reached 505,615, within 5 years and 9 months since the service was launched in February 2001. http://jprs.co.jp/en/topics/061102.html Tractors.com Pulls $153,500 Load to Top Spot on New DN Journal Domain Sales Chart Tractors.com sold for US$153,500 going to the top of Domain Journal's weekly charts for this week. Other notable sales were Mortgage.net ($149,000) and University.org ($100,000). http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2006/domainsales11_28_06.htm DotMobi aims to be mobile dot com The chief executive officer of the recently launched top-level domain tells Reuters TV why he sees a big future for dotMobi. http://today.reuters.com/tv/videoStory.aspx?isSummitStory=false&storyId=0d7b3e04cd30182a5e01a00e7586e94214f97102 Is long-term domain registration a search ranking factor? Webmaster World forums recently hosted a discussion on whether or not a site’s search engine ranking is affected by the length of time a domain name is registered for. The theory is that registering a domain name for ten years indicates to Google that the domain’s owners’ have made a long term commitment and therefore the site is less likely to be spam. http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/362192/is-long--term-domain-registration-a-search-ranking-factor.html World Wildlife Fund Fails To Obtain Transfer Of WWF.Com (reg req'd) A WIPO panel has rejected a complaint made by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature which had sought to obtain a transfer of the disputed domain name wwf.com under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). In reaching its decision, the panel considered that the current owner of the wwf.com domain name had purchased it in good faith to use for a "Web Wrestling Forum" website and so refused to order the transfer of the domain name. The panel stated that, in cases where it was one party's word against the other, and where an injunction is necessary, the proper forum for the dispute was the courts. http://www.mondaq.com/news.asp?e=1&a=44392 Who's Afraid of Bob Parsons? 1&1 CEO Andreas Gauger is, apparently. According to an article in the December issue of Business 2.0 Magazine (pages 126-132), Andreas says everyone fears Bob: "If he doesn't do anything wrong, nobody in the domain business can touch him." I disagree, and I'll tell you why later in this post. http://thewhir.com/blogs/Isabel-Wang/index.cfm/2006/11/22/Whos-Afraid-of-Bob-Parsons +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (c) David Goldstein 2006 ********************** OTHER RESEARCH PAPERS ********************** Podcast Downloading (Pew Internet & American Life Project) Some 12% of internet users say they have downloaded a podcast so they can listen to it or view it at a later time. However, few internet users are downloading podcasts with great frequency; just 1% report downloading a podcast on a typical day. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/193/report_display.asp Gifting technologies: A BitTorrent case study Giving is not motivated by a direct, immediate, or obvious benefit. This paper examines six BitTorrent communities. BitTorrent chunk trading mechanisms are efficient in discouraging freeriding and ensuring a minimal level of participation from each peer. BitTorrent communities have significantly lower levels of freeriding compared to other communities that have similar content and user demographics. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_11/ripeanu/index.html An empirical examination of Wikipedia's credibility by Thomas Chesney Abstract: This short study examines Wikipedia’s credibility by asking 258 research staff with a response rate of 21 percent, to read an article and assess its credibility, the credibility of its author and the credibility of Wikipedia as a whole. Staff were either given an article in their own expert domain or a random article. No difference was found between the two group in terms of their perceived credibility of Wikipedia or of the articles’ authors, but a difference was found in the credibility of the articles — the experts found Wikipedia’s articles to be more credible than the non–experts. This suggests that the accuracy of Wikipedia is high. However, the results should not be seen as support for Wikipedia as a totally reliable resource as, according to the experts, 13 percent of the articles contain mistakes. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_11/chesney/index.html Enforcing Law Online by ORIN S. KERR (GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper) Abstract: This is a book review of an entertaining and engaging new book by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World. Professors Goldsmith and Wu have written a short and accessible work that makes a straightforward and persuasive argument about the enforceability of law over the Internet. The book's brevity and anecdotal approach means that it overlooks a lot of detail; the dynamics of Internet regulation are more complicated than this short volume suggests. Whether this is a blessing or a curse depends on the reader's taste. It makes the book a fun read, but it also keeps the authors from grappling fully with the dynamics of the topics they cover. Either way, Who Controls the Internet is an important addition to the literature that deserves to be widely read. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=942859 Defamatory Internet Speech: A Defense of the Status Quo by ANTHONY MICHAEL CIOLLI (University of Pennsylvania - School of Law) Abstract: This brief essay is a critique of Glenn Reynold's paper "Libel in the Blogosphere: Some Preliminary Thoughts." I conclude that Reynolds's proposal to treat defamatory internet and blog speech as slander, while well-intentioned, would have a devastating impact on defamation victim' ability to recover due to the interplay between Reynold's proposal and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=946852 us: Slouching Towards Mediocrity: Unintended Consequences of Net Neutrality Regulation by ROBERT E. LITAN (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies) and HAL J. SINGER (Criterion Economics) Abstract: This paper examines one particular aspect of the “net neutrality” proposals: “non-discrimination” requirements relating to the provision of network quality of service (QoS) to content providers. The paper concludes that such requirements, however innocuous they may seem, actually would be detrimental to the objectives that all Americans seemingly should want — namely, the accelerated construction of next-generation networks, and benefits of lower prices, broader consumer choices, and innovations these networks would bring. The paper also concludes that under the best of circumstances, even if networks are significantly upgraded in the presence of net neutrality rules (a doubtful circumstance), the proposed non-discrimination provisions would provide incentives for those who would build and operate networks to offer “blended” QoS levels that are “too high” for some applications and “too low” for others. Mediocrity in broadband service is hardly an objective that policymakers in the United States — which presumably has aspirations to remain a technology leader for the rest of the world — should be trying to achieve. us: The Economics of Net Neutrality by ROBERT W. HAHN and SCOTT J. WALLSTEN (AEI-Brookings Joint Center Working Paper) Abstract: This essay examines the economics of “net neutrality” and broadband Internet access. We argue that mandating net neutrality would be likely to reduce economic welfare. Instead, the government should focus on creating competition in the broadband market by liberalizing more spectrum and reducing entry barriers created by certain local regulations. In cases where a broadband provider can exercise market power the government should use its antitrust enforcement authority to police anticompetitive behavior. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=943757 The 'Unsettled Paradox': The Internet, The State, and The Consent of the Governed by DAVID G. POST (Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies) The settlement of the new domain of cyberspace may enable us to take more seriously than ever before the possibility that individuals in the ordinary course of their affairs can create governmental entities that lack territorial status, a-territorial consensual associations with no geographical referents whatsoever onto which a portion of their 'sovereignty' devolves. This paper explores some of the implications this may have for evolving normative theories of statehood and for related questions of the extraterritorial assertion of jurisdiction by existing territorial states. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=943453 Cybersmear II: Blogging and the Corporate Rematch Against John Doe Version 2.006 by CHARLES B VINCENT (Delaware Journal of Corporate Law) Abstract: When a company has been cybersmeared, e-defamed, or virtually abused by someone through a blog, decisions have to be made to determine the most effective way of countering the attack. Where the attack comes from an anonymous source, the company must first tackle the problem of determining who smeared them. This note explains the standards a court may apply when a cybersmeared company seeks to discover the identity of a John Doe. This note also suggests that the summary judgment standard, recently imposed by the Delaware Supreme Court in such cases, clearly, adequately, and most fairly balances the corporation's interest in obtaining relief against John Doe's First Amendment rights. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=946027 The Evolution of High-Speed Internet Access: 1995-2001 by GREGORY L. ROSSTON (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research SIEPR Discussion Paper) Abstract: While Internet usage blossomed during the entire 1995-2001 time period, there was a large change in the nature of the high-speed Internet access business. Cable companies initially teamed with a third party provider, @Home, to create their high-speed access offering. Telephone companies resisted working with third party providers for their high-speed access product. In the end, both cable and telephone providers moved toward a more integrated approach to the sale of high-speed access. Changes in the marketplace help to explain why the cable companies moved toward the telephone company approach. The recent announcement by AOL that intends to move away from access provision toward a content-based model is consistent with the economic forces that were at play in the earlier time periods. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=943570 Anarchy State and the Internet by DAVID G. POST (Temple University School of Law/Journal of Online Law) Abstract: Who will make and enforce the rules of 'cyberspace'? In this paper, I look at the question by positing various 'controllers,' or points from which rules can issue, ranging from the technical protocols defining the inter-network at one end of the spectrum to Congressional statutes on the other. These controllers vary in their ability to enforce whatever rules they choose to adopt, depending on the existence of conflicting higher-level controllers, and on the possibility that those who are subject to the rules can change jurisdictions to seek a more favorable rule set. The Internet allows a relatively easy change of jurisdiction, or exit, from any given controller, leading to the unprecedented-and unpredictable-situation of a free. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=943456 OECD: Ask the economists: Grappling with the world's new IT giants Can China and India maintain their impressive IT growth rate? What can developed economies do to meet these challenges? Click to see the questions and answers from the online debate on this issue. http://www.oecd.org/document/1/0,2340,en_2649_37441_37668033_1_1_1_37441,00.html OECD: UNCTAD Expert Meeting: Using ICTs to Achieve Growth and Development Jointly organised by UNCTAD, OECD and ILO, this meeting will examine the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on economic and social development and growth with a view to encouraging action at the national, regional and global levels to implement outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The sessions will examine how ICTs can enable growth and development; the impact of ICTs on producitvity, growth and business sectors; and ICTs' impact on trade, labour markets and employment. http://www.oecd.org/document/24/0,2340,en_2649_37441_37695576_1_1_1_37441,00.html ******************* OTHER INTERNET NEWS ******************* Just how much pornography is there online? Not so much as some people might want you to think. According to a study carried out for the US Department of Justice, about 1.1% of the sites indexed by Google and Microsoft are "sexually explicit". Though interestingly, about 6% of searches yield at least one "explicit" site, and the most popular searches yield at least one explicit site in almost 40% of cases, says the study by Philip Stark, a professor of statistics at the University of California at Berkeley. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1954148,00.html ca: ISPs start ‘Project Cleanfeed Canada’ against child porn Canada’s biggest Internet service providers have teamed up with Cybertip.ca, country’s National Tipline that battles against Internet child sexual exploitation, in order to block child pornography sites from intentional as well as accidental access by Canadians. http://themoneytimes.com/articles/20061125/isps_start_project_cleanfeed_canada_against_child_porn-id-102222.html http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7432/52/ Project Cleanfeed Canada by Michael Geist Yesterday Canada's largest ISPs, including Bell, Bell Aliant, MTS Allstream, Rogers, Shaw, SaskTel, Telus, and Videotron, announced the launch of Project Cleanfeed Canada in partnership with cybertip.ca. The project will allow the ISPs to block access to hundreds of child pornography sites. The list of sites will be generated by cybertip.ca. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1548/125/ Google Reaches Copyright Deal With Belgians (BLOOMBERG NEWS) Google reached a settlement with Belgian photographers and journalists yesterday in a copyright dispute over how Google’s news service links to newspaper content. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/technology/25google.html Google settles copyright dispute with 2 groups in Belgium (Bloomberg/AP) Google said Friday that it had settled with two Belgian groups representing photographers and journalists in a copyright dispute. http://iht.com/articles/2006/11/24/business/google.php Belgian court: No Google verdict until 2007 (Reuters) A Belgian court said Friday that it would wait until after the new year to decide whether to cancel an injunction forbidding Google from reproducing extracts from Belgian press reports. http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6138166.html http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=14047565 Court to Hear Google-Newspaper Fight (AP) A Belgian court on Friday will hear Google's defense against local newspaper complaints that it stole content from their Web sites without paying them or asking their permission. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-11-23-google-belgium_x.htm http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GOOGLE_VS_NEWSPAPERS French film producer sues Google France (Reuters) The producer of "The World According to Bush" has taken legal action against Google for distributing the film for free, becoming the latest media company to seek compensation for lost business on the Internet. http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=14043410 Italy investigating Google over bullying video (Reuters) Italian prosecutors on Friday put two Google Italy representatives under investigation as part of an inquiry into how a video of teenagers harassing an autistic classmate surfaced on its video site, a judicial source said. http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6138243.html http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=14047456 Trouble clicks: “Click fraud” could undermine the boom in online advertising INTERNET advertising is booming. The industry has gone from $9.6 billion in revenue in 2001 to $27 billion this year, according to Piper Jaffray, an investment bank. And it is still early days. The internet accounts for only 5% of total spending on advertising, but that figure is expected to reach at least 20% in the next few years. The single largest category within this flourishing industry, accounting for nearly half of all spending, is “pay-per-click” advertising, which is used by firms both large and small to promote their wares. http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8320522 The Dark Side of Second Life Software that lets residents copy others' possessions is the latest reminder that this virtual world may need tougher law enforcement http://businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061121_727243.htm China's Online Porn King Sentenced to Life in Prison Chen Hui, the creator of China's largest pornographic Web site, was sentenced to life imprisonment Wednesday. Chen, 28, and his accomplices started the Qingseliuyuetian (pornographic summer) Web site in 2004 and opened three more porn Web sites, attracting more than 600,000 users. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/54387.html us: Calif. Supreme Court Shields Web Republishers People who republish defamatory content online cannot be held liable for defamation even if they were warned about it, the California Supreme Court ruled, 7-0, on Monday. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1164103520282 us: Groups Oppose Passage of New Surveillance Bill A new bill that would weaken intelligence oversight should not pass in the few remaining days of the 109th Congress, a coalition of groups said Monday. CDT joined with several other public interest groups in urging Senate Judiciary Committee Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) to end his effort to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Oversight and Resource Enhancement Act of 2006 (S. 4051). Instead of pushing for rushed passage of a legislation that could undercut the security and privacy of innocent Americans, the groups urged Specter to work with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to more fully address the issues relating to warrantless domestic spying when the new Congress convenes next year. November 22, 2006 http://www.cdt.org/security/20061121specter.pdf au: Rio sacks 21 over PC porn RIO Tinto Coal Australia has sacked almost two dozen employees as part of a big crackdown on sexually explicit emails. http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20805871%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html us: Police blotter: Child porn in Web cache OK What: Pennsylvania man appealed his conviction for knowingly possessing downloaded child pornography, saying he didn't know it was in his Web browser's cache. http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6137123.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6137123.html Microsoft brings phishers to justice Microsoft is helping law enforcers hunt down criminals who try to steal bank account details on the internet and has initiated 129 lawsuits in Europe and the Middle East, the U.S. software company said. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/23/1163871527068.html Stock fraudsters may become victims of their own success The biggest increase in spam over the past two years has been in e-mails that offer recipients shares in obscure technology companies based in the United States. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2470746,00.html Gangsters hijack home PCs to choke internet with spam 150,000 Britons have had their computers hijacked by spammers to send billions of e-mails peddling pornography, drugs and shares http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20411-2470742,00.html The price of humans who'll spam blogs is falling to zero This article finds evidence that spammers are paying people in developinig countries to complete captcha boxes on websites, enabling spammers to bypass a security device to avoid spam - will they stop at nothing? Obviously not, as spammers think it's nothing personal. You have to understand: it's just business. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1954160,00.html Smart homes a reality in S Korea BBC Click reports on the futuristic homes offering intelligent technology in South Korea. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6179868.stm Reuters opens virtual news bureau in Second Life (Reuters) Reuters is opening a news bureau in the simulation game Second Life this week, joining a race by corporate name brands to take part in the hottest virtual world on the Internet. http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=13800963 China's Communist Party gets a taste for the blogging craze Around 20 officials from a town in eastern China have set up their own blogs after being encouraged by a local Communist Party leader, state media said. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/26/1164476051020.html Google: mobile operators want to block our apps One of Google's senior executives has criticised mobile phone operators for trying to prevent their users from accessing Internet applications. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39284850,00.htm Podcast numbers show 'few hooked' users who have experimented with downloading a podcast continues to grow but few remain hooked, research suggests. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6175728.stm Green IT: Do it for the money, if nothing else While the welfare of the planet may not top their agenda, the vast majority of businesses are still shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to energy savings. Eighty percent of businesses have never conducted an energy audit and only 29 percent of businesses are investing in energy-efficient PCs, according to research from Intel. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6137822.html Confounding the skeptics, Google shares soar Over the years, many have felt that Google stock was overvalued and that it would inevitably suffer the fate of Yahoo. This week, Google shares closed above $500 for the first time. http://iht.com/articles/2006/11/22/business/google.php If Google Shopped Until It Dropped It was a glorious Thanksgiving for the founders of Google, whose shares now trade around $500, having more than quintupled in 27 months. Yes, a market value of $155 billion is some kind of cornucopia. So with tryptophan coursing through their veins and visions of search algorithms dancing in their heads, Sergey Brin and Larry Page let their post-meal thoughts drift to what most other Americans were fixating on: shopping. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_49/b4012060.htm nz: Players coy on spectrum auction Telecom and Vodafone are refusing to be drawn on whether they will bid in a wireless spectrum auction next year. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3876102a13,00.html nz: InternetNZ supports Government’s wireless broadband decision (news release) InternetNZ (The Internet Society of New Zealand) congratulates the Government on its decision to reallocate spectrum for the purposes of wireless broadband, concurring that the move will provide better, more competitive access to broadband. http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/wirelessbroadband au: ACMA releases its first major communications industry report The Australian Communications and Media Authority released its first major report on the communications industry. Tabled in parliament by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, the ACMA Communications Report 2005–06 is the first whole-of-industry report published by ACMA since it was formed in July last year. http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.1507598:STANDARD::pc=PC_100954 au: Coonan v moguls over broadband Australia's media moguls are pursuing their own commercial interests by complaining that the country's broadband speeds are among the slowest in the developed world, Communications Minister Helen Coonan says. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/24/1163871599028.html VOICE OVER IP COMES OF AGE There is a growing body of evidence that voice over IP is starting to gain wider acceptance as a viable enterprise technology, as some of the problems that beset the technology in its early days are overcome. http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2006/07/07/216874/VOICE+OVER+IP+COMES+OF+AGE.htm eu: IT directors still concerned about VoIP A survey of 300 large enterprises across Europe, published today, has found that 73% of IT directors are still worried about basic quality and reliability of Voice over IP (VoIP), despite a strong industry trend towards converging voice and data traffic onto a single data network. http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2006/11/20/220008/IT+directors+still+concerned+about+VoIP.htm --------- David Goldstein address: 4/3 Abbott Street COOGEE NSW 2034 AUSTRALIA email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home) "Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- List policy, unsubscribing and archives => http://dotau.org/
