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And don't forget to check out my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for regular updates in between postings. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Scrap the internet, start over (AP) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/16/1176696731538.html ITU Activities Related to Management of Internet Names and Addresses http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/mina/ us: Net reaches out to final frontier http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6551807.stm US Senators propose labels for adult Web sites http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6175549.html us: Senators Want Porn Site Owners To Clean Up Home Pages, Label Content http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199001010 us: ICANN board member berates 'woefully unprepared' DHS http://www.theregister.com/2007/04/14/crawford_icann_security_ddos/ Securing the Root: What is DNSSEC, what's the controversy? by Brenden Kuerbis http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/4/9/2866546.html New .asia domain name set for launch http://www.netimperative.com/2007/04/10/asiadomain Pacific accused of being haven for online fraudsters http://stuff.co.nz/4026565a28.html For tiny Tuvalu, a rising sea of worries: Income is rising from .tv domain name fees http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_11434.asp The State of Global Cybersquatting in 2007 http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1733 ***************** GOVERNANCE ***************** Scrap the internet, start over (AP) Although it has already taken nearly four decades to get this far in building the internet, some university researchers with the US federal government's blessing want to scrap all that and start over. The idea may seem unthinkable, even absurd, but many believe a "clean slate" approach is the only way to truly address security, mobility and other challenges that have cropped up since UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock helped supervise the first exchange of meaningless test data between two machines on September 2, 1969. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/16/1176696731538.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2007-04-15-rebuilding-the-net_N.htm http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070413/rebuilding-the-internet http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21563794%5E16123%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html ITU Activities Related to Management of Internet Names and Addresses In regards to the ITU’s role with regard to international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and the management of Internet resources, including domain names and addresses, a questionnaire has been developed that aims to initiate a consultation amongst the ITU membership and other relevant stakeholders. The consultations will be used to prepare and submit proposals, based on those consultations and contributions from the ITU membership, to the 2007 session of the Council, through the Working Group on WSIS. As the next meeting of the WG-WSIS is scheduled for 13–14 June at ITU Headquarters, comments and contributions should be submitted by 25 May 2007. More information including links to the resolution and questionnaire are available. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/mina/ us: Net reaches out to final frontier The Department of Defense's Iris project will put an internet router in space by the start of 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6551807.stm http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/C4F1278703F2238BCC2572BC00157CC9 Die ITU will ihre Rolle bei der Internet-Verwaltung festlegen Welche Rolle soll die International Telecommunication Union (ITU) bei der Verwaltung des Internets übernehmen? Diese Frage stellt die für die Standardisierung von Telekommunikationstechnik und die Verwaltung des internationalen Rufnummernplans zuständige Organisation im Rahmen einer Konsultation. Dabei geht es um die so genannte Resolution 102, eine von zwei bei der ITU-Hauptkonferenz im vergangenen Jahr heiß diskutierten Entscheidungen zur zukünftigen Rolle der ITU in der Internetwelt. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/88192 ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** US Senators propose labels for adult Web sites Operators of Web sites with racy content must label their sites and register in a national directory or be fined, according to a new U.S. Senate proposal titled the Cyber Safety for Kids Act of 2007. The proposal includes the requirement for “embedding a new tag--such as <L18>--in all Web pages that the government deems unsuitable for minors.” Web sites with "harmful to minors" content on pages that are initially viewable to visitors must use the tag to be devised by the U.S. Department of Commerce or face civil fines. The federal government would be able to "shut down" noncompliant sites, but that portion is not actually in the bill. Another section of the Act would require the owner of any web site with adult content to say so when registering the domain with ICANN. The owner must also give ICANN the web site's Internet Protocol address and other information. Naturally the proposal is going to run into problems with the ACLU stating "The labeling part of it is going to be constitutionally problematic." http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6175549.html http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/04/12/senators-propose-labels-for-adult-web-sites/ us: Senators Want Porn Site Owners To Clean Up Home Pages, Label Content A new bill is latest in a long string of attempts by federal lawmakers to pass protections that would help protect minors from obscenity and pornography. ... The bill would require Web site owners to notify ICANN and provide information about the site if it contains adult content. It would also have the U.S. Department of Commerce ensure that adult sites shave secure log-ins, age identification requirements, clean home pages and the ability to be blocked by filtering technology. If the bill passes, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration would be able to fine non-compliant sites. http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199001010 us: Pryor abandons xxx domains for porn Sen. Mark Pryor, the sponsor of bills to prevent children from accessing pornography on the Internet, has abandoned an effort to require an .xxx domain name for sites with adult content. Pryor, D-Ark., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., took a new approach on a "Cyber Safety for Kids" bill they introduced on Wednesday, compared to an unsuccessful measure in 2006. This year's bill would require age verification before computer users can access pornographic sites. http://arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/04/12/WashingtonDCBureau/341701.html us: ICANN board member berates 'woefully unprepared' DHS Amid the outcry over allegations that the Department of Homeland Security wants the security keys to the DNSSEC encryption technology slowly – very slowly – being adopted by internet overlord ICANN, one ICANN board member, the refreshingly candid Susan Crawford, has recently taken her own swipe at security standards in place at the DHS. According to Crawford, the DHS is woefully unprepared for what lies ahead. She noted at a recent conference that ICANN’s major security concern after the Distributed Denial of Service attack on six of the internet’s root servers in February has been a repeat of the incident powerful enough to cause a is a massive virtual blackout. http://www.theregister.com/2007/04/14/crawford_icann_security_ddos/ http://internetcommerce.org/press/department_of_homeland_and_security_wants_master_key_for_dns DHS publicly acknowledges DNSSEC root signing spec by Brenden Kuerbis Nearly five months after the fact, DHS acknowledged widely last week the release of a draft technical specification for signing and securing the DNS Root Zone. Signing the root is considered a critical step toward the widespread deployment of DNSSEC across the Internet. The document, prepared for DHS by the DoC's NIST and two defense contractors, was reviewed initially by other USG agencies and then distributed for comment in November 2006 to a group of 30 technical experts in government, academia, and key Internet governance and infrastructure organizations from the US, Sweden, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and Australia. Surprisingly, the document was marked "not for further distribution" yet posted to a publicly available listserv for individuals working on DNSSEC deployment. An unknown number of comments on the specification were received, and have not been made available to the public. http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/4/15/2881860.html Securing the Root: What is DNSSEC, what's the controversy? by Brenden Kuerbis [IG Editor's note: [This] is an overview of DNSSEC written for a non-technical audience, however, it assumes some basic knowledge of the Domain Name System (DNS) and public-key cryptography concepts. The point is to provide enough detail to allow us to understand how chosen technology and institutional design creates Internet governance dilemmas. If there is technical blunder, my apologies - by all means let me know. Clear concepts are a baseline for productive debate. And as I said previously, see the actual specifications (RFC 4033, 4034, 4035) or other reference material, e.g., Geoff Huston's article series or Ron Aithchison's work for more detailed technical explanations.] http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/4/9/2866546.html New .asia domain name set for launch New .asia domain names are to go up for grabs this European summer, and NetNames is warning UK businesses to protect their brands from rivals and cybersquatters by registering early. With around 900,000 .jp domain names and 780,000 .cn domain names registered among the 73 countries in the Asia/Australia/Pacific region that will be entitled to register in .asia, there is expected to be some vigorous competition for many domain names. It is expected there will be four registrations periods: the first sunrise period, expected to begin in June for government bodies; second sunrise period from September to be open to trademark owners; the third sunrise is period from November for any company operating in the Asia-Pacific region and finally the .asia domain name will then go into the so-called ‘landrush’ phase, pencilled in for February 2008 and open up to anyone in the region. http://www.netimperative.com/2007/04/10/asiadomain '.asia' domain to open for applications DotAsia Organization Ltd, the Hong Kong-based registry operator of the ".asia"-sponsored gTLD, announced yesterday that it would begin accepting applications for the ".ASIA" domain name in June, opening the domain first to 73 Asian government departments. http://taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2007/04/14/2003356634 in: Govt to increase vernacular grip on Net In a fresh move to Indianise the web, the government is planning to have vernacular domain names. This means that ‘dot in’ domain names that link to the vernacular website can also be in vernacular languages. As of now the ‘dot in’ registry has to offer only english domain names. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Infotech/Internet__Telecom/Govt_to_increase_vernacular_grip_on_Net/articleshow/1912921.cms Pacific accused of being haven for online fraudsters Scammers are said to be drawn to the domains of New Zealand's neighbours, says Reuben Schwarz. The web domains of New Zealand's closest neighbours in the Pacific stand accused of being a haven for spam, scams and viruses. The problem centres, some say, on lax policies for registering domain names that make them a magnet for criminals. http://stuff.co.nz/4026565a28.html For tiny Tuvalu, a rising sea of worries: Income is rising from .tv domain name fees Anyone who uses the internet knows there's been an explosion in online video, and no one knows it better than the residents of the tiny nation of Tuvalu. Tuvalu's internet domain name is .tv. Over the past two years .tv registrations have grown 48 percent, and that's much appreciated by this poor nation of nine islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Tuvalu gets a slice of the fees. But as so often happens in life, the good is usually offset by something not so good, and for Tuvalu that something is global warming, which threatens to drown the entire tiny nation. http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_11434.asp The State of Global Cybersquatting in 2007 WIPO reports Internet cybersquatting is exploding globally, up 25% in 2006 over the previous year, as even software colossus Microsoft's Bill Gates lost a symbolic case involving his Corbis images company, presided over by WIPO, as well. This article reports recent notable cases, trends in cybersquatting, and strategic developments being advanced against the issue Cyberquatting is the predicament of the Internet era. In 2006, 1,823 formal complaints were lodged over internet address disputes, the most since 2000, before the WIPO"s arbitration and mediation centre. Cybersquatting” is defined as "the abusive registration of trademarks as domain names.” The WIPO complained the domain name system itself was in danger of becoming a mere forum for “speculative gain” as cybersquatters have snapped up many choice addresses associated with top businesses, brands and other trophies in this intellectual property skirmish. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1733 “Hey, that’s my name!!” How to fight for your intellectual property rights against cybersquatters Recognizing the Internet is an irreplaceable cornerstone of any country’s modern economy, legislators are increasingly passing laws to reinforce the rights of owners of trademarks, intellectual property owners, and ordinary people not to have their rights taken away in the frontier of cyberspace. These laws apply as much to a solo entrepreneur as they do to such leviathans as Microsoft, and anyone can take advantage of this protection with a little savvy. You can protect your rights if you take a methodological approach, sometimes even without hiring an attorney, if you remember a few basic rules, summarized below. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=1D56ED63-15A6-4DB3-8D1E-86524CBA7F4E Domain Name System shows signs of stress from financial maneuverings Cybersquatting — the practice of registering Internet domain names that poach well-known trademarks — is profitable for just about everybody involved. Money is made off of registration fees and advertising, and even the regulator of the Domain Name System gets a piece of the action. But it’s not so lucrative for corporate officials like Lynn Goodendorf, who heads global privacy at InterContinental Hotels Group PLC. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=289466 Cybersquatting Can Yield Pay-Per-Click Bounties Regardless of whether a domain name is legitimate, the economics of registering it are the same. The registrar makes money. The registry that manages the TLD under which the name is registered is also paid. ICANN gets a cut of the registration fee as well. And for illegitimate domains, the moneymaking doesn’t stop there. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=289576 Q&A: Cybersquatters bank on 'a good typo' Ron Jackson is editor and publisher of the online magazine Domain Name Journal and president of its parent company, Internet Edge Inc. Tampa, Fla.-based Internet Edge also operates a domain name registrar and several other "domain monetization" businesses, and Jackson owns about 7,000 domain names focused on generic keywords. He spoke with Computerworld last week about cybersquatting and other issues related to domain name usage. Excerpts from the interview follow: http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9016698 http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1858385134;fp;4194304;fpid;1 Hunting for typosquatters Typo domains are on the rise thanks to the pay-per-click ad models of Google and Yahoo. And though domainers don't like to talk about it, the dirty secret is that the best domain names--those that make the most money on parked pages--are often those that infringe on trademarks. Hence, typosquatting, where someone registers a misspelled version of a company name or a product name, is booming. http://blogs.business2.com/sloan/2007/04/hunting_for_typ.html Cybersquatters Beware TypoSquasher CitizenHawk thinks it has a solution and some big name customers have signed on. The company formally launches its TypoSquasher technology today, which has been used by a number of customers in a pre-release trial for several months now. http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3671561 http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_inter.php?iFeedArticleId=10414836 http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625589 IPv6 by Susan Crawford Here's a link snapshot report that tells us how we're doing with IPv4 numbers (a link is provided). It says we'll run out in 2012 or so. That's not very far away. In 2005, the US Office of Management and Budget said [warning, pdf] that businesses should plan to move to IPv6-enabled hardware and software. But for people who aren't selling to the government, the economic incentive to move to IPv6 isn't great. (The people who are selling to the government have to move along.) http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/10/2871405.html ICANN Reminder - Deadline for Statements of Interest to ICANN Nominating Committee is 1 May 2007 This is a reminder that the deadline for the 2007 ICANN Nominating Committee to receive Statements of Interest from candidates for the ICANN Board of Directors, GNSO Council, ccNSO Council and At-Large Advisory Committee is 1 May 2007 23:59 UTC. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-16apr07.htm Afilias Notice of .info Fee Change to Registrars In a letter to Paul Twomey, ICANN's CEO, Afilias advised the fee charged to registrars for a .info domain will rise to $6.15 on 15 October 2007. This follows the announcement of a fee increase for .com and .net domains effective on the same date. For the letter, see: http://icann.org/correspondence/laplante-to-twomey-13apr07.pdf Cybercrooks exploiting new Windows DNS flaw Cybercrooks are using a yet-to-be-patched security flaw in certain Windows versions to attack computers running the operating systems, Microsoft warned late Thursday. The attacks target Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 systems through a hole in the Domain Name System, or DNS, service, Microsoft said in a security advisory. The attacks happen by sending rigged data to the service, which by design is meant to help map text-based Internet addresses to numeric Internet protocol addresses. http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6175743.html When wires got crossed between Big Berlin and Little Berlin ... Dotberlin sees itself as a trailblazer for TLDs for urban communities, and insists its initiative for a top-level Berlin domain is backed by a large number of companies, organisations, associations and individuals. A top-level domain would, Kriscenowski reasons, help people all over the world become more familiar with places called Berlin - and with their people, culture and economies. Schramm agrees, but thinks the world's oldest Berlin should have a say in the initiative. http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/features/article_1291613.php http://jurnalo.com/jurnalo/storyPage.do?story_id=29253 Students, you can participate in ICANN During the ICANN meeting two weeks ago, we conducted a special university outreach event at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Faculdade de Ciencias da Universidade de Lisboa). ICANN Board Chairman Vint Cerf gave a very interesting introduction on the development of the Internet and some insight into its future to a group of computer science and computer engineering students and faculty. The event was well attended, and also featured brief presentations from Pedro Veiga of FCCN, myself, Tina Dam and Kieren McCarthy. The event was ably moderated by Giovanni Seppia, ICANN’s Regional Liaison for Europe. http://blog.icann.org/?p=90 ICANN Lisbon in pictures You can see the full set of photographs at: http://www.icann.org/photos/meetings/lisbon/ WHOIS and Corporate Identity (news release) ICANN prescribes, that the registrar has to publish at the owner or registrant’s data the data of a person. ICANN has concluded, that this solution is necessary, as the Admin-C is nowadays in many cases not a representative of the company, which owns the domain, but a foreign person belonging to a web design office, provider or registrar. If we would follow the policy of ICANN, the ownership is not univocal anymore. http://www.businessportal24.com/en/WHOIS_Corporate_Identity_170206.html Attack code raises Windows DNS zero-day risk The public release of computer code that exploits a yet-to-be-patched Windows security hole increases the possibility of widespread attacks, security experts have warned. http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-6176429.html Microsoft suffers DNS vulnerability attacks Microsoft confirmed yesterday that it has uncovered targeted attacks exploiting a new vulnerability in the Windows Server DNS Service. http://itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=49857 http://infoworld.com/article/07/04/13/HNdangerousdnsflaw_1.html http://cpilive.net/v3/inside.aspx?scr=n&NID=1317 http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130695-pg,1/article.html http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3671656 us: Counsel sought in domain-name clash The county election board will seek special counsel to investigate a complaint filed over Internet domain names in a contentious race for the county controller’s office. But after an executive session to discuss possible candidates Thursday, the chairman of the board said it is uncertain when the appointment will be made. http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18205669 DotVentures Launches "Moguling" - Possible New Type of "Domain Name Optimisation" (news release) DotVentures has launched a new “Dot Com” brand called Moguling. Moguling is a process of developing online real estate through blogging. This is a “reverse engineering” of the usual process and is being hailed as a new type of “domain name optimization” by some. http://webhostdir.com/news/articles/shownews.asp?id=20310 Domain Registrars Offer Discounts if You Ask; $5.99 Renewals at GoDaddy When you multiply domain name registration and renewal costs across thousands of domains, saving even a few dimes per registration adds up quickly. Many registrars offer “preferred” pricing for large domain name owners. This article will discuss some of this pricing along with a coupon code for domain renewals at Godaddy. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/04/13/domain-registrars-offer-discounts-if-you-ask-599-renewals-at-godaddy/ Moniker.com to auction gambling domains at Casino Affiliate Convention Moniker.com will hold the first silent auction of premium online gambling domains at the Casino Affiliate Convention in Amsterdam. All attendees at the convention, which takes place the first week of May, will be provided with a password to allow them to bid on the available domains, according to online reports, Those unlucky enough to be unable to attend the Amsterdam extravaganza will be able to bid on Moniker’s website for $99. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/14/cac_moniker_auction/ http://www.winneronline.com/articles/april2007/monikerauction.htm Internet Finance International Lists Approximately 1,000 Domain Names with Moniker's Marketplace (news release) Internet Finance International Corporation announced that it has listed approximately 1,000 of its top domain names in Moniker's Marketplace. http://prweb.com/releases/2007/4/prweb518836.htm http://webhostdir.com/news/articles/shownews.asp?id=20309 Squatters Register Sohu And Netease Domain Names The Chinese character .cn domain names for Sohu and Netease have been registered by other parties, reports Beijing Youth Daily. Sohu's .cn domain name links to a classified ad landing page, while Netease's .cn domain name does not link to a website. http://pacificepoch.com/newsstories/94803_0_5_0_M/ WIPO Warns Trademark Owners Of Increased Risk From Cybersquatters (reg req'd) In a report issued on March 12, 2007, WIPO warned trademark owners that they face increased risks from cybersquatters. WIPO Conclusions - New Practices That Increase Risk to Trademark Owners: The report observes that "While electronic commerce has flourished with the expansion of the Internet, recent developments in the domain name registration system have fostered practices which threaten the interests of trademark owners and cause consumer confusion." Further, the report states that "domain names used to be primarily specific identifiers of businesses and other Internet users, but many [domain] names nowadays are mere commodities for speculative gain." Two related practices the report cites, which represent the greatest threat to trademark owners are (1) the proliferation of automated domain registration systems and (2) domain "tasting." http://mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=47420 Poland has most .eu domain names in CEE Poland takes pride of place among the Central and Eastern European (CEE) members of the European Union in terms of the number of active registered internet addresses with the .eu domain. On 11 April 2007 there were 82,451 such addresses registered for Polish users. http://polishmarket.com/next.php?id=48576 http://www.itandtelecompoland.com/next.php?id=48576 .eu one year on: over 2.5 million have taken up a European address on the web (news release) This April, Europe's internet domain .eu celebrates its first year of being open to the public. Over 2.5 million domain names have been registered. This enormous number of active users makes .eu Europe's third most popular TLD and seventh most popular worldwide. With a 17% increase of registrations over the past five months, .eu is also one of the fastest growing TLD names on the web. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/483 Europe's .eu domain turns one year old Europe's top-level Internet domain, .eu, turns one year old this week and has already become the continent's number-three regional domain name. http://infoworld.com/article/07/04/12/HNdoteudomain_1.html http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2007/gb20070412_755619.htm http://tax-news.com/asp/story/More_Than_25_Million_eu_Domain_Names_Registered_In_First_Year_xxxx26946.html http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/041207_.EU_Reaches_2.5m-Plus_Registrations.cfm http://eubusiness.com/Newswire/newsletter351.2007-04-12 http://www.assodigitale.it/NEWS_SITO/DTT/eu_one_year_on:_over_2.5_million_have_taken_up_a_European_address_on_the_web_200704127497/ http://itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=49847 us: IRS warns of tax phishing scheme E-mails sent by Web sites claiming to be part the Free File Alliance for filing tax returns online could be phishing scams designed to hijack your tax return http://infoworld.com/article/07/04/16/HNtaxphishingscheme_1.html *************** RESEARCH PAPER *************** Participative Web: User-Created Content The concept of the "participative web" is based on an Internet increasingly influenced by intelligent web services that empower the user to contribute to developing, rating, collaborating on and distributing Internet content and customising Internet applications. As the Internet is more embedded in people's lives "users" draw on new Internet applications to express themselves through "user-created content" (UCC). This study describes the rapid growth of UCC, its increasing role in worldwide communication and draws out implications for policy. Questions addressed include: What is user-created content? What are its key drivers, its scope and different forms? What are new value chains and business models? What are the extent and form of social, cultural and economic opportunities and impacts? What are associated challenges? Is there a government role and what form could it take? http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/14/38393115.pdf ********************** OTHER INTERNET NEWS ********************** China targets porn and rumours The Chinese Government has launched a six-month campaign against online pornography, rumours and slander as it tries to tighten its grip on the internet. Chinese web controls are already among the world’s tightest, with internet traffic subject to automatic filters and manual monitoring. The Government encourages web use for education and business but tries to block access to material considered obscene or subversive. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1650532.ece Bloggers' search for anonymity The internet has given the individual unprecedented power to reach out to millions but some governments are cautious, even hostile, to giving their citizens free access to ideas they deem too democratic and dangerous. Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia: they are all popular with holiday makers but they also censor and even lock up journalists and bloggers. This is why the media rights group, Reporters Without Borders, has published The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6548555.stm uk: Worst child abuse images quadruple online in three years, says watchdog The number of images of serious child abuse online has quadrupled over three years, according to figures from Britain's internet watchdog published today. The Internet Watch Foundation says the most distressing grade of images account for nearly a third of all reports of child pornography it receives. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Society/children/story/0,,2058878,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6549717.stm us: FTC Issues Report on Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children (news release) The Federal Trade Commission gave a mixed review of the movie, music, and video-game industries’ self-regulatory programs and their marketing of violent entertainment products to children in its latest report to Congress. http://ftc.gov/opa/2007/04/marketingviolence.shtm au: Child porn unlikely to trigger act: doctor The Australian men arrested in a police crackdown on internet child pornography were unlikely to commit offences against children, the psychiatrist who has interviewed many of them says. Olav Nielssen, a psychiatrist at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, said giving the men access to "virtual" child pornography, in which computer-generated images rather than real children were used, would do no harm to society. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/16/1176696757630.html au: Net sex depravity a danger for young, says expert Young people regularly exposed to depraved or violent internet pornography are at risk of becoming sexual deviants with incurable problems, a sex therapist and educator said yesterday. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/16/1176696757645.html http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4029240a28.html Is Web 2.0 Inherently Insecure? Many Web 2.0 apps pass data as a JavaScript object or as code that can be evaluated in JavaScript. This approach leaves users vulnerable, in particular, to cross-site request forgery attacks. http://networkcomputing.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=199000154 A World Wide Web of terrorist plotting The Internet has become a virtual operations center replacing the Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and Bosnia: They never met face to face, but the two young zealots became brother warriors in the new land of jihad: the Internet. Investigators say their bond made them central figures in a terrorism network that spanned eight countries, involved more than 30 suspects and hatched plots in Washington, Toronto, London and Sarajevo. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-net16apr16,1,545128.story us: Judges Reject Appeals From Webcasters (AP) Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a panel of copyright judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that hiked the royalties they must pay to record companies and artists http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERNET_RADIO Google Shifts Gears to Avoid Copyright Challenges Overseas Google is taking measures overseas to avoid the legal battles on alleged copyright infringement faced at home. The company recently settled a lawsuit with Paris-based news agency Agence France-Presse, struck deals with the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Chelsea Football Club as well as with Spanish TV channel Antena 3, and sat down to negotiate with executives of Spanish TV channels Telecinco and Cuatro on the use of their content. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1732 uk: Blog bullies propel state of the internet into the spotlight Teachers are mocked on YouTube. Internet commentators receive death threats. But the UK press watchdog's Tim Toulmin says that you can trust UK web journalists ... The case for a form of non-statutory independent regulation for print and digital media, which protects freedom of expression, promotes good journalistic practice and provides redress for individuals when things go wrong is stronger than ever. The development of such a system through the Press Complaints Commission is perhaps one reason why the online journalism of UK newspapers and magazines - with its global audience of tens of millions of people - has not provoked the ethical questions raised by Alan Johnson and Jimmy Wales about You Tube and blogging. Because the PCC - while independent - involves the industry in its decision making, no one considers circumventing its advice and rulings. The same cannot be said for imposed restrictions and injunctions, which are a clumsy and sometimes counterproductive alternative. In the online environment, the Commission's non-statutory framework enables it to act quickly to resolve disputes in hours or days when things do go wrong - particularly important considering one of the main concerns people have concerns the speed of dissemination of inaccurate or intrusive information. This is not a complete answer to the challenges thrown up by the revolution in information provision. But, while the rows over social-networking sites and blogging continue to simmer, it is at least worth highlighting that the British press has taken the lead in voluntarily subjecting its online written and audio-visual journalism to independently-policed professional standards. http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2450383.ece FTA likely to limit freedom for South Korean Web users: lawmaker An opposition lawmaker on Monday warned that the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States will greatly limit the Internet use of South Koreans due to excessive protection of the intellectual property rights of online contents. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20070416/640000000020070416180753E4.html Malaysia jams mobiles Malaysia has banned mobile phones and installed electronic jamming devices in key parts of its administrative capital to block spying on official discussions, a newspaper has reported. http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21564661%5E16123%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/16/1176696745105.html Chinese spammers go quiet THE amount of spam originating from China dropped dramatically in the first three months of the year, an IT security firm says. http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21544514%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e15306,00.html Image spam and how to fight it Spammers have become much better at slipping through spam filters, sending colourful promotions as images rather than text. Diego d’Ambra, CTO of SoftScan, gives OUT-LAW readers the full picture. http://out-law.com/page-7952 The Coming Virtual Web - BusinessWeek Tech Special Report In the future, the Internet is almost certain to look more realistic, interactive, and social—a lot like a virtual world http://businessweek.com/technology/special_reports/20070416virtuallife.htm Invention: All-knowing browser Ever given false information when prompted for personal details by a website? Don't worry, the US copying and computing company Xerox hopes to eliminate that kind of questioning because it believes it can get the information without even asking. Even if you choose not to reveal who you are, Xerox says it can determine demographic information such as your age, sex and perhaps even your income by analysing the pattern of pages you choose to access on the web and comparing them to a database of surfing patterns from other users with a known background. http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn11570 Internet child Death in cyburbia Our celebration of life online needs to be balanced with serious social investigation of why we spend so much time there, and what it says about us http://technology.guardian.co.uk/opinion/story/0,,2057975,00.html Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well. http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece Women dominate US web use (AFP) A study released on Thursday indicates that more women than men go online in the United States, defying the perception of the internet as a male-dominated realm. Approximately 97.2 million women use the internet in the United States, compared to 90.9 million men, according to research by eMarketer. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/13/1175971307436.html Broadband challenge faces Britain The UK must act quickly to ensure it is in shape to cope with growing net use, warns a report. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6552823.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/Technology/news/story/0,,2057864,00.html A golden age for gadgets Nowadays, there is a profusion of gadgets that harness the latest micro technologies and the wackiest thinking of garage inventors. Whether the problem is how to one-up the office practical joker or brew a hot cup of espresso while driving to work, there's a gadget for it, and a cottage industry furiously bent on delivering more. http://iht.com/articles/2007/04/15/technology/gadgets.php Calif. grandmother blogs from Baghdad Jane Stillwater is an unlikely war correspondent. She's 64, a self-described Berkeley "flower child, 40 years later" and broke. So how did this mother of four grown children end up in Baghdad, churning out commentary ranging from shock at Thursday's bombing of the Iraqi parliament cafeteria, to the weirdness of touring Saddam Hussein's bathroom? http://businessweek.com/ap/tech/D8OG93HG0.htm uk: MySpace party invite leads to £20,000 repair bill Up to 200 teenagers caused £20,000 worth of damage to a family home after a teenage girl advertised a party on the MySpace internet site while her parents were away. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2444491.ece http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2056154,00.html uk: Hey Rachael, that was some great teenage bash We've all been there haven't we? Virtually anyone who has ever been a teenager has done one, or all, of the following: been to a party where the carpets have ended up covered in beer/vomit/cigarette burns/all three (delete as appropriate); thrown a party which has spiralled into something rather different and much harder to tidy up than the beer-and-pizza evening begrudgingly allowed by the parents; fallen around at the age of sixteenish in a room where other 'guests' happen to be having sex; stained the parquet floors with bong water and singed the sofa after attempting to give some vaguely known, semi-conscious 'new best friend' a joint. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2057476,00.html Schmidt says YouTube 'very close' to filtering system Google is very near enacting a filtering service that would prevent copyright content from being uploaded to video-sharing site YouTube, CEO Eric Schmidt said Monday. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6176601.html http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-6176601.html Mexican drug gangs take their turf wars onto YouTube Dozens of gang-related videos are being posted on YouTube in a propaganda war to recruit members and intimidate rivals http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1654897.ece au: Boy dupes YouTube to delete videos A 15-year-old West Australian pretending to represent ABC TV succeeded in having more than 200 clips removed from the video-sharing website YouTube. The boy signed a form claiming, "under penalty of perjury", that he represented the clips' copyright owners. The removal of the clips was in direct contrast to ABC's policy on content sharing. "[ABC wishes] to get our content out there on as many platforms as possible, run by as many different operators as possible." http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/13/1175971361981.html au: CD sales rise despite downloads As digital music hogs the headlines, the humble CD has made a comeback at the cash register. However, music retailers may still be feeling the pinch. Figures released by the Australian Recording Industry Association yesterday show an increase of almost 8 per cent in the volume of wholesale physical music products, such as CDs, in 2006 compared with 2005, despite a decrease of more than 5 per cent in overall revenue. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/12/1175971303268.html Beatles to release tracks online The Beatles have reportedly settled their long-running royalties dispute with EMI. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/12/1175971242257.html Google's DoubleClick Strategic Move With its $3.1 billion acquisition, the Internet giant secures entry into the promising business of display advertising and thwarts Microsoft in online search http://businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2007/tc20070414_675511.htm Google deal raises competition concerns Google rivals say the deal to buy DoubleClick will lead to an unprecedented consolidation of power in the online advertising market. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/16/1176696761507.html Windows XP to be retired in 2008 Windows XP will stop being available on new PCs from the end of January 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6551429.stm BBC to put one million hours of its past online Thousands of hours of broadcasting history are to be made available to the public online as part of a plan to open up the BBC's entire archive to licence-fee payers free of charge. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2057506,00.html Phone rivals threaten to spoil iPod’s party Apple has sold 100m of its music players but Nokia and others are already outselling it with song-playing mobiles http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1654249.ece nz: Time to act on telecommunications report Telecommunications lobby group TUANZ wants action on a Commerce Commission report which the government has been sitting on for a year. http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/default.aspx?id=72223 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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/
