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The domain name news is supported by auDA. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Of ICANN and the Registerfly meltdown: What needs to be done http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/03/icann_registerfly_domain/ Stiffening at last, ICANN threatens Registerfly with legal action http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/04/icann_sues_registerfly/ RegisterFly Update http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-02mar07.htm British porn domain mastermind fights US Government http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/02/lawley_vs_us_government/ Motorola loses Razr domain name case http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/02/motorola_loses_razr_domain_case/ An Update on GoDaddy Whois Issue and Other Registrars Responses http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/02/an-update-on-godaddy-whois-issue-and-other-registrars-responses/ *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** A packet filter placement problem with application to defense against spoofed denial of service attacks by Benjamin Armbruster, J. Cole Smith, and Kihong Park Abstract: This paper analyses a problem in computer network security, wherein packet filters are deployed to defend a network against spoofed denial of service attacks. Information on the Internet is transmitted by the exchange of IP packets, which must declare their origin and destination addresses. A route-based packet filter verifies whether the purported origin of a packet is correct with respect to the current route map. We examine the optimization problem of finding a minimum cardinality set of nodes to filter in the network such that no spoofed packet can reach its destination. We prove that this problem is NP-hard, and derive properties that explicitly relate the filter placement problem to the vertex cover problem. The paper identifies topologies and routing policies for which a polynomial-time solution to the minimum filter placement problem exists, and prove that under certain routing conditions a greedy heuristic for the filter placement problem yields an optimal solution. http://www.cs.purdue.edu/nsl/sdarticle.pdf ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Of ICANN and the Registerfly meltdown: What needs to be done Comment: The scorn heaped upon ICANN recently for its laissez faire attitude toward customer allegations of fraud by its accredited registrar Registerfly - a scandal in which ICANN spent the better part of a year repeatedly referring customers back to Registerfly, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of misconduct - has forced ICANN to acknowledge that it is a responsible for holding its accredited registrars to certain ethical standards. Well, it's a start. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/03/icann_registerfly_domain/ Stiffening at last, ICANN threatens Registerfly with legal action ICANN has finally firmed up in its battle with troublesome domain registrar Registerfly and looks ready to battle the company in court. In a letter from its powerhouse attorneys at Jones Day, ICANN accuses Registerfly of willfully refusing to comply with an accreditation audit as mandated in its Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/04/icann_sues_registerfly/ RegisterFly Update ICANN has provided an update on the ongoing issue with RegisterFly, noting issues such as Notice of Breach of its Registrar Accreditation Agreement; ICANN sent two employees to RegisterFly offices in New Jersey to audit them and obtain the registrant information to which RegisterFly has not complied; and ICANN has provided notice that it will file a suit against RegisterFly in the United States District Court for the Central District of California seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring RegisterFly to turn over the data requested and to compel an emergency audit of its books and records. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-02mar07.htm British porn domain mastermind fights US Government The British man behind the proposed .xxx internet domain believes the US Government has intervened to thwart his plans. Stuart Lawley is fighting a court battle to retrieve the documents he says would prove his case. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/02/lawley_vs_us_government/ http://out-law.com/page-7824 Motorola loses Razr domain name case Motorola has lost a battle to gain control of the domain name motorazr.com because it failed to prove when it started using the term Moto Razr. The domain name will be kept by its US owner R3 Media. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/02/motorola_loses_razr_domain_case/ http://out-law.com/page-7818 An Update on GoDaddy Whois Issue and Other Registrars Responses GoDaddy will not return domain; other registrars say what they would do in the same situation. Its been just a few days since Domain Name Wire broke the story about GoDaddy deleting a domain registration due to an invalid e-mail address in whois. GoDaddy responded to the article but few people seem satisfied. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/02/an-update-on-godaddy-whois-issue-and-other-registrars-responses/ When luxury companies play the name game What is in a name? Everything. Yet today it has become increasingly difficult to find a name for a company, a product, even a new shade of lipstick that has not been taken already. ... As for the Internet, the growth of trademarked domains Web addresses or Web sites is exponential, said Delphine Parlier, a co-founder and partner in Quensis, a Paris-based company with its own technology that integrates the creative process of choosing a name at the same time as it does the legal, cultural and linguistic screening that is necessary now. http://iht.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/rbrand.php nz: Third time lucky for '.bank.nz'? After being rebuffed twice by the Internet community, the Bankers' Association is trying for the third time to create a place in cyberspace specifically for New Zealand banks, ".bank.nz" a move which it says could make it safer to bank online. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/3982469a28.html Public survey on the access and publication of the AFNIC database (news release) The AFNIC wishes to update and formalise its data access and publication policy by supervising juridically, when necessary, the data utilization by third parties. It seems important for the AFNIC to associate to its reflection a large range of users and experts that can express different needs and enrich the service brought to the Internet community. http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/general/NN20070227 The AFNIC reacts to the publication of a decree on domain names (news release) A decree on domain names has been published in the French Official Journal (JO) on February 08th 2007. The AFNIC would like to draw the attention of all of the stakeholders, in particular registrars, users and legal claimants on this new legal element for naming in France. http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/general/CP20070208 Proposed .MUSEUM sTLD Registry Agreement Posted for Public Comment The proposed .MUSEUM sTLD registry agreement is posted for public comment. The proposed .MUSEUM registry agreement substantially follows the format of other recent sTLD registry agreements negotiated by ICANN. The agreement is for a ten-year term. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-02mar07.htm Vint Cerf: Father Knows Best He's probably one of the only people at Google who can remember the Arpanet or what the Internet was like before the Web. And there's one thing few people know about Internet legend Vinton Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP stack that was used to build the Internet infrastructure: His secret wish is to be an actor. ... His move from MCI to the post of chief Internet evangelist at Google in late 2005 led him to a part of the Net he hadn't focused on before: the applications. "Having spent a good portion of my career on the infrastructure of the Internet, its fun to work on new ways to use it." http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=118596 au: Reseller forced to shut down Asus site Notebook reseller PC Market has taken down its www.asusnotebook.com.au site because of a request by notebook vendor AsusTek to shut down the site after director Meng Wei Koh was instructed or face all stops on rebates and demo products. http://www.crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=74625 DNS BE working with Hypothèse asbl to inform French-language schools about using the Internet (news release) The Liège-based not-for-profit association Hypothèse is launching the www.crackduweb.be website in conjunction with DNS BE. DNS BE has worked alongside Hypothèse to create a tool that tells French-language schools about using domain names and the Internet in general. Hypothèse, which is running the project, encourages teachers and their pupils at French-speaking schools to register at the website and become Web Wizards. The new web tool enables students aged 10 to 12 at schools registered in the programme to learn about the Internet and gradually become familiar with the essential elements needed for building a website. http://www.dns.be/pdf/Pressrelease_en_200702.pdf .IN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy Under Scrutiny (reg req'd) Domain Names identify Internet sites. They are the text name of a numeric IP address of a computer on the Internet. The increased popularity of the Internet has demanded an Internet presence and every company/organization wants to have a webpage in their name. This development has lead well-known companies/organizations to become protective of their domain names, as everyone has realized that having a domain name identical or similar to them can establish and increase their Internet presence. http://www.mondaq.com/news.asp?e=1&a=46454 ke: Internet Safety Lessons From Raila-Kalonzo Web Saga Unless the truth of what really happened to the websites of ODM's presidential aspirants Kalonzo Musyoka and Raila Odinga is plainly told, a number of people may fear using the Internet. They might believe it is unsafe and may never put their money and time in the technology. ... Occasionally, Cyber Squatters register domain names with the intention of making money. Around 2001, another joker registered www.rais.go .ke with the hope of cajoling government officials to part with cash in the name of redeeming their brand name. He got nowhere with his schemes and the government has since got smarter. You cannot now register a .go.ke domain without the approval of the Government of Kenya. http://allafrica.com/stories/200703030052.html The State of the Industry January 2007: 15 Domain Experts Ponder What Happened in 2006 and Predict Whats Coming Next Every January Domain News Journal kicks off the New Year with a survey of domain industry leaders who are perfectly positioned to identify the most important events and trends of the past year and to forecast what we are likely to see in the year ahead. If you dont put much stock in predictions, you might want to revisit our January 2005 and January 2006 State of the Industry reports to see just how remarkably accurate our panel of experts have been. http://dnjournal.com/cover/2007/january.htm Does it matter if Google can't have Gmail.cn? A few days ago Reuters published an article about Google's attempts to buy the Gmail.cn domain from a Chinese company. It seems that Google has been frustrated in its attempts to get its hands on the domain, which was first registered back in 2003, before Google announced Gmail, by a Chinese domain registrar called ISM Technologies. Naturally enough, ISM runs a webmail service on the domain. They even use a multicolored logo that, while not a direct ripoff of the Gmail logo, is certainly suggestive. But this isn't a new story. http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/blog/littleredblog/0,39056119,61993636,00.htm Who's Your Go Daddy? With shrewd marketing and in-your-face tactics, Bob Parsons made his company the hottest thing in the Internet domain world. Now he's about to see how his act plays on a much grander stage. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/12/01/8394968 Update on IPv6 Host Mobility By Wolfgang Fritsche and Gerardo Giaretta As mobile communications become a more integral part of our daily lives, so are they capturing the attention of the IETF, which has seen an increase in the number of IETF working groups dealing with mobility issues. This review provides an update on the work being done in the area of IPv6 host mobility as discussed last November at IETF 67. http://www.isoc.org/tools/blogs/ietfjournal/?p=115 Coca-Cola contracts NetNames to protect online initiatives Coca-Cola Enterprises, the company responsible for the manufacture and distribution of Coca-Cola products in the UK, has selected NetNames, the London-based domain name management specialist, to protect its trade services and initiatives online. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=22543 http://hostsearch.com/news/netnames_news_5656.asp us: 29 powerful law-related domain names, including names for tax, bankruptcy, personal injury, and other legal fields, have been posted for sale. A provider of books, web resources and seminars for lawyers has recently posted a number of rare and valuable URLs related to the legal industry for sale. http://www.pr-inside.com/powerful-law-related-domain-names-including-r58780.htm us: Galligan domain names taken in Jeffersonville mayoral campaign Three Internet domain names that could be appropriate for Jeffersonville mayoral candidate Tom Galligan have been tied up by the citys information technology director, who is helping with the re-election campaign of Mayor Rob Waiz. http://news-tribune.net/clarkcounty/local_story_061125342.html Creating a special web address for mobile phone customers (sub req'd) The mission of dot mobi, backed by a consortium of the world's leading mobile operators, is to establish its internet domain as the address of choice for businesses to locate their mobile websites http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2007/0302/1172185341689.html The domain halflife.com is exposed on sale for one million dollars Company Rowanlea Grove has exposed the domain halflife.com on sale for one million dollars. The information on sale of the domain has appeared on a site rather recently (according to whois-inquiry, the information on the domain has been updated 20.02.2007). http://it.moldova.org/stiri/eng/33998/ Network Solutions announces ownership change (news release) Network Solutions announced that General Atlantic, a leading global private equity firm, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Network Solutions from Najafi Companies (formerly Pivotal Private Equity). Champ Mitchell, chairman and CEO of Network Solutions, and the current Network Solutions management team will continue to lead the company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. http://onlinepressroom.net/networksolutions/ Sell your Domain Names without paying a commission (news release) Excellent opportunity to sell all your Domain Names at cDomains.com without the need to use a broker and pay him the usual 10% or 15% commission. http://24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=25145 World's Longest Domain Name Just Got Longer (news release) Internet domain world has become playground for corporations, speculators, investors and individuals called domainers. Their target is to get their hands to as many good, short, memorable and close to generic word top level domains (TLDs) as possible - with a good price we might add. http://addpr.com/articles/web_sites_and_internet/15794.html ********************** OTHER RESEARCH PAPERS ********************** Mobile Commerce consumer issues and policy challenges for a promising market (OECD) Mobile commerce is a promising market both for consumers and businesses. However, consumer troubles and complaints are increasing and can sometimes become serious, including issues for minors. Member countries experiences show that we should ensure that consumers benefit. In particular, countries may review their instruments with regard to a more effective scheme for information disclosure, liability protection over SIM and RFID cards, effective notice to excessive consumption, and the importance of consumer education. Businesses may also consider more effective consumer protection schemes. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/52/38077227.pdf The 'agreement' that sparked a storm At a recent legal presentation attended by prominent intellectual property lawyers and law professors, a loaded question was posed to the audience: "By a show of hands and be honest, now how many of you read the terms and conditions presented in an end-user license agreement?" Of the nearly 100 people in the auditorium, not a single hand was raised. Shocking? Only if such an admission is unexpected. It really isn't. http://www.abanet.org/buslaw/blt/2007-01-02/kahana.shtml The Net Neutrality Debate: Twenty Five Years After United States v. AT&T and 120 Years After the Act to Regulate Commerce by BRUCE OWEN (Stanford Law and Economics Oline Working Paper) Abstract: Net neutrality policies could only be implemented through detailed price regulation, an approach that has often failed, in the past, to improve consumer welfare relative to what might have been expected under an unregulated monopoly. Regulatory agencies often settle into a well-established pattern of subservience to politically influential economic interests. Consumers, would-be entrants and innovators are not likely to be among these influential groups. History thus counsels against adoption of most versions of net neutrality, at least in the absence of refractory monopoly power and strong evidence of anticompetitive behavior - extreme cases justifying dangerous, long shot remedies. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=963623 Helping Hands: Design for Member-Maintained Online Communities This thesis studies the design of member-maintained online communities, systems where many members help perform upkeep. A key design challenge is motivating members to contribute toward maintenance. Social science theories help to explain why people contribute to groups. We use these theories to design two general mechanisms for increasing peoples motivation to contribute. http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~cosley/thesis/final.pdf Where Antitrust Ends and IP Begins by Katarzyna A. Czapracka (Yale Journal of Law and Technology) U.S. antitrust enforcers see little scope for antitrust policy to mitigate the consequences of imperfect IP policies. They are reluctant to intervene in what is perceived to be the sphere of IP policy and take the view that any competitive concerns are better remedied by changes in the IP policy. This trend corresponds with shielding antitrust policy away from fields occupied by other forms of regulation. Exactly the opposite tendencies are present in EU competition law. Both the European Commission and the ECJ seem to see a role for competition law to correct improvidently defined IPRs, even if it entails adjusting competition principles. It may seem reasonable, as unlike competition policy, most issues relating to IP policy within the European Union are still decided at the national level. Yet, there is an inherent danger in this approach. It may lead antitrust authorities to adopt analytically questionable approaches that undermine the coherence of antitrust law. Competition agencies must be particularly cautious in adopting the measures to curb IP laws, as they may discourage private R&D investment. The views of the Commission on application of Article 82 to interoperability information, as expressed in the Microsoft Decision and the Article 82 Paper, confirm that these reservations are valid. http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/yjolt/files/20062007Issue/fall06-czapracka.pdf The Race Robert Kuttner learns that newspapers have a bright future as print-digital hybrids after all-- but they'd better hurry. http://cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Kuttner.asp Does information beget information? by Dennis S. Karjala (Duke L. & Tech. Rev) Using the language of mathematics, Professor Polk Wagner has recently argued that the impossibility of fully appropriating the value of information in a rightsholder leads to the surprising conclusion that expanding the degree of control of intellectual property rights will, in the long run, increase the sum total of information not subject to ownership claims and therefore available as part of the cultural and technological base on which new growth and development can occur. Indeed, he claims that open information will grow according to the formula for compound interest, where the interest rate is 100% plus or minus a factor z supposedly related to creation incentives. This article demonstrates that Professor Wagner's mathematical analysis is simply wrong and does not lead to any of the conclusions he reaches concerning the growth of open information. It also shows both the difficulties and the dangers of the lay use of the language of mathematics in resolving complex social problems even if one does the math correctly. http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2007dltr0001.html Internet 3.0: Identifying Problems and Solutions to the Network Neutrality Debate by ROB FRIEDEN (Pennsylvania State University) This paper examines the network neutrality debate with an eye toward refuting and dismissing the many false and misleading claims and concentrating on the real problems occasioned by the Internet's third evolution. The paper accepts as necessary and proper many types of price and quality of service discrimination. However the paper identifies other types of hidden and harmful discrimination. The paper concludes with an identification of best practices in good discrimination that should satisfy most network neutrality goals without creating disincentives that might dissuade ISPs from building the infrastructure needed for Internet 3.0 services. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962181 The Internet and the Project of Communications Law by SUSAN P. CRAWFORD (Cardozo Law School) Abstract: The internet offers the potential for economic growth stemming from online human communications, but recent industry and government actions have disfavored these possibilities by treating the internet like a content-delivery supply chain. I recommend that the internet be at the center of communications policy and that laws affecting internet access be evaluated in terms of whether they further U.S. economic growth by facilitating increased emergent online diversity. The article criticizes the nearly exclusive focus of communications policy on the private economic success of infrastructure and application providers, and suggests that communications policy be focused on facilitating communications themselves. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962594 Internet Think by SUSAN P. CRAWFORD (Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law) Abstract: This essay suggests that how "the internet" is understood has substantial legal, social, and cultural consequences. Beginning in the 1940s, Netheads adopted an understanding of man-computer symbiosis that continues to be attractive to internet futurists. Later on, in the 1970s, Engineers addressed the architectural needs of the future in a concrete way, seeking to interconnect diverse networks. In recent years, the Telcos have increasingly taken the position that "the Internet" is no more than the sum of their privately-owned pipes and wires. These three different approaches to "the Internet" are now informing a complex and important public policy debate about "network neutrality." http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962596 Rebooting Cybertort Law by MICHAEL L. RUSTAD & THOMAS KOENIG (Washington Law Review) Abstract: Cyberspace provides an ideal legal environment for tortfeasors and online criminals because Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have no duty to mitigate harms caused by ongoing torts, crimes, and infringing acts. Courts have stretched Congress's express language in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from the narrow purpose of immunizing ISPs as publishers to the expanded purpose of shielding them from all tort liability. This Article proposes imposing a limited duty of crae on ISPs to remove or block ongoing tortious activities on their srvices when they have been given actual notice. This reform will harmonize American ISP liability law with the European union's Electronic Commerce Directive, which imposes an affirmative duty on ISPs to take down objectionable materials. It also will unify U.S. law by creating procedures consistent with the takedown policy mandated by the Digital Copyright Act. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=961885 Authors v. Archivers: The Copyright Infringement Battle Over Web Pages by KINARI PATEL Abstract: Archiving Internet content by storing old versions of Web pages is currently a growing trend because of the educational, cultural, and evidentiary value it provides. Google and the Internet Archive are two examples of Internet archives that provide this service. However, by storing old versions of Web pages without first obtaining the permission of authors, Internet archives infringe on the copyrights of authors. Under the fair use exception to copyright infringement, Internet archives may be legally authorized to archive old versions of Web pages without first obtaining the permission of authors in certain situations. However, this paper argues that, in all cases, the burden should be placed on authors to notify Internet archives that they wish for their Web pages to be excluded from the archive, rather than placing the burden on Internet archives to contact authors before they archive Web pages. By not overburdening Internet archives, the current opt-out policy is more advantageous than an opt-in policy because it allows Internet archives to continue to provide the benefits of archiving old Web pages to the public. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=965199 Corporate Complicity in Internet Censorship in China: Who Cares for the Global Compact or the Global Online Freedom Act? by SURYA DEVA (George Washington International Law Review) This article critically evaluates the efficacy of two regulatory initiatives - the UN Global Compact and the US Global Online Freedom Act - in dealing with the specific challenges posed by doing business with or within China. In considering how much promise these two initiatives offer in ensuring that corporations take their human rights responsibilities seriously, two specific claims are advanced. First, that the Global Compact has failed not only in convincing US corporations to embrace, support and enact its ten principles, but also in ensuring that participant corporations seriously fulfill their undertaken commitments. Such a US-specific inquiry is especially relevant because many MNCs that have been sued for human rights abuses have a presence in the US. The second claim is that although home state extraterritorial regulation is a potential option to tame MNCs' abusive activities, it is unlikely that the Freedom Act, even if enacted, will achieve its goal of promoting Internet freedom globally by combating censorship by authoritarian foreign governments. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=964478 The Structure of Search Engine Law by JAMES GRIMMELMANN (Yale Law School Information Society Project) Abstract: This article will provide a road map to the legal issues posed by Internet search engines. It will indicate what questions we must consider when thinking about search engines, and it will detail the interconnections among those questions. It will not endorse any particular normative framework for search. Nor will it recommend who should regulate search. Instead, it will provide the necessary foundation for informed decision-making, by whatever regulator and whatever its normative approach. Part I will explain how modern search engines function and describe the business environment within which they operate. Part II, the heart of the article, will present a descriptive analysis of the legal struggles over search, showing how questions of search policy, many of which have long been latent in different fields of Internet law, are increasingly confronting lawyers, courts, and regulators. Part III will then show, with five examples, how taking a broad view of search yields otherwise unavailable insights into pressing controversies. This is not to say that the end result must be a body of search-specific law, only to note that failing to consider the larger forces at work in search is antithetical to sensible policy-making. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=963118 Internet Jurisdiction: A Comparative Analysis (Harvard Law Review) The difficult jurisdictional issues raised by the Internet have captured significant attention, prompting one federal judge to comment that, [t]o paraphrase Gertrude Stein, as far as the Internet is concerned, not only is there perhaps no there there, the there is everywhere where there is Internet access. This lack of clear borders creates tension between different interests. The media desire certainty regarding when online content creates a basis for personal jurisdiction so that they can avoid defamation lawsuits in distant places. Sovereign nations want to ensure that the ubiquitous nature of the Internet does not undermine their ability to enforce substantive laws balancing speech and reputation rights. This Parts comparison of U.S. and Commonwealth cases reveals differing approaches to determining when to exercise jurisdiction over media defendants based on Internet content. U.S. courts have adopted a targeting test that requires purposefully directing activity at a forum as opposed to merely providing content accessible there. Courts in Commonwealth countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, have based jurisdiction on foreseeability, exercising jurisdiction over any online media content that could harm a plaintiffs reputation in the forum. Although these inconsistent jurisdictional tests are a matter of procedure, they stem from different substantive laws and from Commonwealth courts underlying unfriendliness to U.S. free speech protections. Media defendants have argued for special jurisdictional rules applicable to the Internet alone; however, any such call for reform must recognize that the procedural divergence results from entrenched substantive differences. Thus, this Part argues that absent an international agreement harmonizing the jurisdictional analysis, courts are not likely to adopt special Internet rules, and media groups will instead be compelled to turn to technological solutions. http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/120/feb07/DEVO/DEVO_intro07.pdf ********************** OTHER INTERNET NEWS ********************** au: Industry closes anti-coal website THE mining industry has used copyright laws to close an anti-mining website launched by a small protest group in Newcastle. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/04/1172943275688.html Egypt's bloggers test state media control (Reuters) Egyptian bloggers have come into the spotlight, on the one hand as an important forum for political debate, on the other as the target of government attempts to limit their freedom of expression. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2870055620070304 Movement to free Kareem looks to UN We've learned all too well by now that many parts of the globe won't tolerate any perceived insult to Islam, however unintentional. Invite cartoonists to draw Muhammad, as Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did in 2005, or be one of the dozens of other publications that reprinted the caricatures in solidarity with Jyllands-Posten, and watch the death threats pour in and lethal rioting start as some Muslim organizations try to get the government to levy criminal charges. http://hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1172877013129 Egyptian Blogger Appeals Prison Sentence (AP) Lawyers filed an appeal Monday on behalf of a blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022700065.html au: Call for internet drug fight POLITICIANS want police and the Australian Crime Commission to have extra powers to scour the internet and hunt the manufacturers and suppliers of synthetic drugs such as ice and ecstasy. http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21305633%5E26199%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html us: Surge in global internet scams Alarmed by a rise in foreign-based internet scams targeting the lovelorn and greedy, including one that led to the suicide of an American in Africa last year, the State Department is warning US citizens against falling prey to fraudsters. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/02/1172338853755.html 'Harry Potter' author fights e-book fraud on eBay Children's author J.K. Rowling may or may not have garnered the equivalent of a temporary injunction against eBay over the sale of fraudulent Harry Potter e-books, depending on how you interpret court documents. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6163620.html us: Internet porn pop-ups cost this teacher her job and her freedom A teacher faces up to 40 years in jail for exposing her pupils to online pornography, amid an outcry from computer experts that she is the innocent victim of malicious software. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1464355.ece http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/01/1172338780879.html us: Police Turn to YouTube to Catch Suspects Patrolman Brian Johnson of the Franklin, Mass., Police Department studied a surveillance video showing two men using allegedly stolen credit cards at a Home Depot. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CRIME_FIGHTING_YOUTUBE us: Woman accuses Yahoo of stealing her image An Ohio woman is demanding $20 million from Yahoo for allegedly using a photo of her without her permission for a welcome e-mail sent to new users. http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6163987.html us: Justice Department takes aim at image-sharing sites The Bush administration has accelerated its Internet surveillance push by proposing that Web sites must keep records of who uploads photographs or videos in case police determine the content is illegal and choose to investigate, CNET News.com has learned. http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6163679.html us: Berners-Lee: Congress should consider net neutrality Timothy Berners-Lee advocated that the U.S. Congress protect net neutrality and questioned the value of DRM (digital rights management) Thursday. Berners-Lee, speaking before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet in the U.S. House of Representatives, said it was "very, very important" for lawmakers to protect the ability of users to access the Web content they want regardless of their ISP. http://infoworld.com/article/07/03/01/HNcongressnetneutrality_1.html us: Berners-Lee pushes Congress on 'nondiscriminatory' Web World Wide Web father Tim Berners-Lee told politicians on Thursday that it's critical to shield his seminal innovation from control by a single company or country. http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-6163616.html Google trading fairly in Korea? Google is in hot water with the Korea Fair Trade Commission for allegedly violating part of its business agreement with the government branch. http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6162446.html au: 'Disgusting' broadband govt's fault says Telstra Telstra public policy and communication general manager Phil Burgess today said the "disgusting" lack of high-speed services in Australia was due to the federal Government's nonsensical regulations demanding it could only be rolled out if there were two or more providers to ensure competition. http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21307341%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html au: Big boost for broadband this week The government will make a major announcement on broadband services later this week, said Prime Minister John Howard. http://zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Howard_Big_boost_for_broadband_this_week/0,130061791,339273981,00.htm nz: ISPANZ, Drury differ on internet peering fix The ISP Association (ISPANZ) is backing high-tech entrepreneur Rod Drury in seeking a fix to the emerging internet peering debate. ISPANZ says the government should take immediate steps to fix the issue, which sees much local internet traffic routed outside the country due to telecommunications carriers here refusing to "peer" with each others' networks. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/21D5DDF4DF55B826CC25729100738AF9 Scotsman wins £1,300 settlement against spammer An Edinburgh man has obtained damages of more than £1,300 from British-based spammer. Gordon Dick was granted the order against Transcom Internet Services Ltd of Henley-on-Thames at a January hearing in Edinburgh's Sheriff Court. Although he hasn't received any money yet, even after sending a debt collector around to Transcom's premises, the lawsuit is a landmark in the fight by consumers against UK spammers. This is the first action of its kind in Scotland and only the second so far in the UK. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/02/scotland_spam_victory/ The rise of technology addiction The seemingly exponential growth of portable technology has sparked fears that people are becoming addicted or swamped by gadgets and their uses. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6411495.stm Mobile Content Usage is Higher in Developing Countries Third World country mobile users are more content and feature focused than their counterparts in developed countries. http://clickz.com/stats/sectors/wireless/article.php/3625143 Second Life Just Like The First Second Life, the four-million-strong online community, is turning more and more into a pixelated copy of reality and its institutions, complete with rampant consumerism, political candidates and lawsuits. Whatever happened to the brave new virtual world? http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,469577,00.html Study: Violent video games don't make killer kids (Reuters) Do video games kill? The jury is still out on whether violent video games lead to violent behavior in children, but a new study asserts that killer games do not make killer kids. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-03-02-killer-games_N.htm Dump the TV set, watch the web instead Watching programmes on your television set is so last century. Television studios are increasingly using the net to transmit their programmes to viewers on demand. While this is fine when a relatively small number of people are downloading files at different times, if the internet were to transmit live television broadcasts to millions of viewers simultaneously, the sudden demand for bandwidth could create a huge bottleneck. Now a British company has developed a way to send live video to millions of computers at once without overloading the web. http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/mg19325936.900 Cyber cafes a refuge for Japan's poor In a dingy backstreet of Ikebukuro, not far from one of Tokyo's busiest commercial and entertainment districts, a handful of young men and women hover near a sign that lights the way to an upstairs internet cafe. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/03/1172868789931.html ca: The Digital Divide: Is There A Solution? Definition of the Digital Divide: The difference in opportunities available to people who have access to modern information technology and those who do not. Traditionally the working poor and homeless have been at a big disadvantage by not having access to the latest technology available. The disadvantages are many. Lack of access to information and being less competitive in the job market are two of the most significant. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/04/064418.php YouTube Struggles Despite Dominance: Some Big Media Firms Take Videos Elsewhere In the few months since Google paid $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube, both companies have tried to come up with a formula to turn the hugely popular online video site into a moneymaking venture. Turns out, it's not easy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/02/AR2007030200309.html BBC strikes Google-YouTube deal The BBC will soon offer trailers, classic clips and news on Google's YouTube video sharing website. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6411017.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2025651,00.html On Advertising: BBC creeping toward commercialism With its agreement with You-Tube, the BBC is moving away from its position as a publicly funded broadcaster. http://iht.com/articles/2007/03/04/business/ad05.php Wikipedia: you couldnt make it up The internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia is one of the most visited sites on the web. Can you trust it? http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article1457697.ece Microsoft could face more fines, warns EU European antitrust regulators on Thursday issued a formal warning to Microsoft, threatening further penalties against the software giant over its pricing of protocol licenses. http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-6163349.html us: Tech firms go green as e-waste mounts This is where computers go to die a green death. Inside Hewlett-Packard Co.'s cavernous recycling plant in the Sacramento suburbs, truckloads of obsolete PCs, servers and printers collected from consumers and businesses nationwide are cracked open by goggled workers who pull out batteries, circuit boards and other potentially hazardous components. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/2007-03-04-green-firms_N.htm http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/04/1172943254031.html FastWeb founder turns his attention to Internet television and video-on-demand In seven and a half years, Silvio Scaglia transformed FastWeb from a start-up with a plan to bring fiber-optic cables into houses from Milan to Palermo into a company with 1.3 billion in annual sales and 1.1 million clients. http://iht.com/articles/2007/03/04/business/nettv05.php us: FCC: Local telephone carriers must connect to VOIP The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has ruled that incumbent local exchange carriers must connect to VoIP services, overruling two state public service commission opinions. http://infoworld.com/article/07/03/02/HNlocalphonevoip_1.html au: Man to face court on child porn charges A 58-year-old Port Macquarie man has been charged with child pornography offences. http://abc.net.au/news/australia/nsw/midnorth/200703/s1861031.htm au: Child pornography charges - Child Exploitation Internet Unit (news release) A 58-year-old man has been charged with child pornography offences after sexual offences against children were allegedly described in detail in an online chat session. http://police.nsw.gov.au/news/recent_media_unit_information?sq_content_src=aHR0cDovL2N1c3RvbXNjcmlwdHMucG9saWNlLm5zdy5nb3YuYXUvbmV3cy9kZXRhaWxzX21lZGlhLnBocD9NZWRpYUlEPTg4MDU%3D +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- List policy, unsubscribing and archives => http://dotau.org/
