Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the most recent edition of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online! Headlines for the most recent news include:
Google wins right over domain name 'gmail.co.in' | Sale of domain names a hot business in India | IP address depletion looms, ARIN warns | ARIN Provides Latest Word on Need to Move to IPv6: Will Anyone Heed the Warning? (Does anyone care?) | Sedo, and the Boobtube.com problem | Boobtube.com Shenanigan: Domain Name Exchanges Open to Market Manipulation? | Netcraft June 2007 Web Server Survey The domain name news is supported by auDA. And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for regular updates in between postings. *************************************************** China to raise key Internet issues at IGF meeting (IDG) http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/06/China-internet-issues_1.html Latest VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief Spotlights Growth Indicators for First Quarter of 2007 (news release) http://www.verisign.com/press_releases/pr/page_042169.html A Domain Name Game of Growth http://www.internetnews.com/stats/article.php/3681906 au: In sunny Queensland, a domain name empire grows http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809431843.html It's time to support a multilingual Web by Michael Geist (Toronto Star) http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/221117 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2000/159/ in: Domain names become hot biz at online auctions http://business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=286911 The Three Letter .com Report http://www.domaineditorial.com/archives/2007/06/06/report-on-3-letter-domain-sales/ http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/06/namebio-releases-3-letter-domain-name-pricing-report/ ***************** GOVERNANCE ***************** China to raise key Internet issues at IGF meeting (IDG) China is seeking to put technical Internet management issues on the agenda of the next IGF meeting. China appears poised to raise issues that have put it at loggerheads with the United States, which has been consistently criticized for wielding too much influence over the Internet. However, there are no specific plans for how the issues raised by China may be addressed, said Markus Kummer, executive coordinator for the secretariat of the IGF, on Tuesday in London. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/06/China-internet-issues_1.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132616-c,techindustrytrends/article.html Senior Chinese official promotes "web culture with Chinese characteristics" As China battles with Internet pornography, the country's top propaganda official Liu Yunshan has put forward the idea of "building a web culture with Chinese characteristics". Addressing a national meeting on Internet culture on Monday, Liu called for the molding of the Internet into "the new means of promoting a culture of advanced socialism, the new platform for public cultural services, the new area for spiritual fulfillment and a new channel for China to present itself to the outside world. http://en.ce.cn/National/culture/200706/06/t20070606_11619871.shtml uk: Internet best practice contest launched Businesses across the UK are being invited to put themselves forward as examples of internet best practice, after Nominet launched a competition. Nominet wants to establish a UK-specific version of the forum to show the rest of the world how well the UK manages its internet governance. Both private and public-sector organisations are invited to enter. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39287411,00.htm http://www.vnunet.com/itweek/news/2191485/nominet-reaches-internet http://www.itpro.co.uk/internet/news/115000/nominet-kicks-off-web-best-practice-challenge.html Nominet Launches Best Practice Challenge for Internet Governance (news release) Margaret Hodge MBE MP, Minister for Industry and the Regions, unveiled the Nominet Best Practice Challenge 2007, as part of an initiative by Nominet, DTI and key parliamentarians to create a UK Internet Governance Forum. The Challenge will recognise organisations, groups or individuals that have worked to deliver a safer, more accessible, diverse Internet experience. http://www.nominet.org.uk/digitalAssets/20107_Nominet_launches_Best_Practice_Challenge_for_Internet_Governance.pdf http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=4036 United Nations to control future of Internet Next month, the ITU "Working Group" on the Information Society will consider whether -- and if so, how -- it will assume the lead policy role for the future growth and development of the Internet. This includes assigning domain names and addresses and related technical matters discussed at two earlier U.N. conferences. While no decision affecting the way the United States -- mainly through its agreement with the Southern California corporation called ICANN -- does business, that all is slowly but surely about to change. http://sddt.com/news/article.cfm?SourceCode=20070605tza ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Latest VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief Spotlights Growth Indicators for First Quarter of 2007 (news release) Key Industry Stats and Trends for Q1 2007 include: TLD registration growth reached 31 percent year-over-year, and 6 percent over most recent quarter; ccTLD growth of 33 percent year-over-year, and 5 percent quarter-over-quarter; new ccTLD registrations were up 86 percent year-over-year; 10.7 million total new registrations worldwide in Q1 2007; total worldwide base of 128 million domain name registrations and 7 million registrations for new .com and .net domain names in Q1 2007. http://www.verisign.com/press_releases/pr/page_042169.html Domain Name Registrations Reach 128 Million, 31 Percent Increase from Previous Year VeriSign released the VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief for the first quarter of 2007. The brief highlights key industry data for worldwide domain name activity. Highlights include the total number of domain name registrations reached 128 million, representing a 31 percent increase over the same quarter in the previous year, and a 6 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2006; 10.7 million new domain names in the first quarter of 2007; ccTLDs grew at 33 percent year over year and five percent quarter over quarter; TLD registration growth reached 31 percent year-over-year, and 6 percent over most recent quarter; new ccTLD registrations were up 86 percent year-over-year and 7 million registrations for new .com and .net domain names in Q1 2007. http://www.circleid.com/posts/domain_name_registrations_stats_2007/ A Domain Name Game of Growth More than a dozen years after companies and individuals first began to snap up Internet domains, demand continues to be strong. The latest VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief reports that in the first quarter of 2007 worldwide, there were a total of 10.7 million new registrations. The lion's share came from 7 million new registrations for the .com and .net TLDs. http://www.internetnews.com/stats/article.php/3681906 au: In sunny Queensland, a domain name empire grows The domain-name market is enjoying a great resurgence, writes Dan Skeen. For years, gleeful capitalists have read about moon-shot domain speculation deals, as when Marc Ostrofsky sold the Business.com domain and turned his $US150,000 ($A183,000) investment into a $7.5 million sale. But the domain name market itself has had a phenomenal revival. Australia is cashing in as well. Last week, jobs.com.au was bought by an obscure internet firm for a reported six-figure sum. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809431843.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809431843.html http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809431843.html au: Buyers roll the dice in name grab RoveDaily.com.au editor Kent Valentine ruminates on filthy online capitalism. When my cousin taught me to play Monopoly in 1983, he told me I should buy every property I landed on, even if I didn't want them. While I might not want the Angel Islington, he reasoned, somebody else would, and that would benefit me in two ways: a) I could sell it to them for an inflated price, or b) I could hang onto it, just to ruin their plans. "Sometimes you can win," he said, "just by making the other people lose." http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809431807.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809431807.html http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809431807.html It's time to support a multilingual Web by Michael Geist (Toronto Star) Imagine if each time a Canadian Internet user entered an email or website address, they would be required to include a Chinese or Cyrillic character. For millions of non-English speakers around the world, this is precisely what they experience when they use the Internet as the domain name system is unable to fully accommodate their local language. http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/221117 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2000/159/ http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/business/story.html?id=c476d026-3000-4c9d-a189-30dde4ab7089 in: Domain names become hot biz at online auctions Cybersquatters may have made their life a tad difficult, but enterprising individuals have managed to make an honest living selling domain names - with auction portal eBay India alone recording one sale every eight hours. http://business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=286911 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Domain_names_become_hot_biz_at_online_auctions/articleshow/2103525.cms The Three Letter .com Report The focus of this report is to analyze and determine the current and future market state of domain names consisting of three consecutive letters within the .com top level domain. The data from this report can be located at NameBio.com and consists of domain sales from Afternic.com, Sedo.com, BuyDomains.com, TDNAM.com, DNJournal.com, SnapNames.com, Pool.com and ClubDrop.com. http://www.domaineditorial.com/archives/2007/06/06/report-on-3-letter-domain-sales/ http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/06/namebio-releases-3-letter-domain-name-pricing-report/ Domain Ads Generating Twice the Conversion Rate of Search Ads by Frank Michlick A case study by Efficient Frontier mentions how using the Google Adsense for Domains network doubled the conversion ratio of search ads for their clients. According to their website, “Efficient Frontier manages more than $400 million in annual PPC spend under management, counts 80 of the top 500 search advertisers as clients and manages over 30 million keywords”. http://www.circleid.com/posts/adsense_domain_ads_twice_conversion_rate/ http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/06/domain-parking-sites-convert-at-twice-that-of-search/ Variable Pricing Hits Yahoo Search Partners Domain name parking programs using Yahoo feeds will see revenue linked to quality. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/05/variable-pricing-hits-yahoo-search-partners/ An Example of Pay-Per-Click Arbitrage Trickery Google cracks down on made-for-adsense sites, but will this extend to domain parking pages? If we don’t police ourselves... http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/05/an-example-of-pay-per-click-arbitrage-trickery/ IPv6 for the Rest of Us by Patrick Vande Walle IPv6 deployment is in a chicken and egg situation. On the one hand, there is no willingness from ISPs and commodity DNS router manufacturers to include IPv6 support in their infrastructure or equipment because "there is no demand". On the other hand, there is no demand because the average Joe Blow could not care less if he accesses a web site under IPv4 or IPv6. It should just work. The equipment and infrastructure should adapt transparently... What we users can do is to stop waiting for the industry to get its act together and work around its limitations. http://www.circleid.com/posts/deploying_ipv6_implementation_rest_of_us/ ICANN Launches Media Registration for San Juan Meeting http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-04jun07.htm Personal IE Domains Available Soon? by Michele Neylon Neylon writes another article on the possibility of individuals being able to register .ie domain names. "Under the current rules you cannot register johndoe.ie if your name is John Doe. You would have to add a number to the name, thus rendering it totally useless eg. johndoe7.ie or something of that style." Further, At the end of last month the IE Domain Registry contacted all of its accredited resellers (registrars) looking for feedback on proposed changes to the way “personal” IE domains are handled. http://www.circleid.com/posts/personal_ie_domains_available_soon/ 90% Chinese Government Bodies Use .CN Domain Names The latest statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center show that more than 90% of China's government departments, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance and some provincial level government bodies have adopted .CN domain names. China's State Council issued an opinion on strengthening of the government's website construction and management in December 2006 in which it said that the Chinese domain names of government websites should end with .CN. Since then, .CN domain names have been widely purchased by government departments of various levels. http://www.chinatechnews.com/2007/06/07/5487-90-chinese-government-bodies-use-cn-domain-names/ Two Domain Name Companies Receive Investments Is .travel back? A couple weeks ago Domain Name Wire reported that theGlobe.com, parent company of the .travel registry, was running out of money. On May 29 Dancing Bear Investments, Inc. took out a convertible note with the company. It’s only $250,000 but gives the option to purchase up to $2,750,000 before November 25. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/05/two-domain-name-companies-receive-investments/ Seven Figure Sale Lights Up the Domain Scoreboard After Being Finalized This Week Moniker.com auctioned off Scores.com at the Casino Affiliates Convention last month in Amsterdam. The high bid was a whopping $1,180,000 and that blockbuster deal was closed this week to easily claim the top spot on Domain Name Journal's new Top 20 domain sales chart. In fact that is the third highest sale reported so far in 2007. http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2007/domainsales06-12-07.htm ICANN Formalizes Relationship with ccTLD Manager for .sv (El Salvador) ICANN has announced today an accountability framework with the ccTLD manager for .sv, delegated to SVNet in 1994, a not-for-profit organization based in El Salvador. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement06jun07-english.htm Network Solutions Now Providing .mobi Domains Network Solutions is expanding its offerings with registration services for .mobi domains. http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=NetworkSolutions&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=189214&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True&Merge= Fight for your domain rights (sub req'd) Navigating your way around the maze of national domain name dispute resolution procedures can be tricky. But it is essential if you want to take on the cybersquatters - and win. Emma Barraclough introduces a survey of eight Asian jurisdictions which considers what rights owners need to know to reclaim their rights http://managingip.com/?Page=10&PUBID=34&ISS=23882&SID=687038&TYPE=3 The most sought-after domain name on the web: John Preston reviews Sex.com by Kieran McCarthy In 1994, Gary Kremen, a Silicon Valley software salesman, set up a website called sex.com and registered himself as the legal owner. It didn't cost him a thing; there wasn't even a registration fee. Kremen was not a pornographer, nor did he intend to become one. Indeed, he took a dim view of pornography; his main interest being in offering free sex education. But swiftly - very swiftly - both Kremen's world and the world around him began to change. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/06/07/bomcca04.xml What's in a name - litigation and profound embarrassment - sex.com book review In the beginning, when the world wide web was void and without form, you could buy an island in it for a song, without having to concern yourself about hostile natives. Some early colonists bought what amounted to whole continents. In 1994, Gary Kremen registered "sex.com", but Stephen M Cohen stole it through devious means. http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=3868026 Banks targeted by hordes of cybersquatters More than 10,000 “cybersquatting” domains are infringing on the trademarks of 10 of the top U.S. retail-bank websites, according to CitizenHawk Inc., a provider of digital brand management solutions. http://investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070604/FREE/70604019/1017 *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** The State of Search Engine Safety Abstract: One year after releasing The Safety of Search Engines in May 2006, we reassess the state of search engine safety and evaluate changes in search engine safety levels over time. This report also follows our second study, The Safety of Search Engines - Revisited, released in December 2006. In this study, we compare the safety of leading search engines, using McAfee SiteAdvisor’s automated Web site ratings. We find that AOL returns the safest search results, while Yahoo! returns the greatest percentage of risky results. Since May 2006, search engine results have become safer, primarily due to improved safety of sponsored results on Google, AOL, and Ask. Despite this improvement, dangerous sites are found in search results of all of the top five search engines, and sponsored results continue to be significantly less safe than search engines’ organic results. http://www.siteadvisor.com/studies/search_safety_may2007.html Beware the Unauthorized Practice of Law in Cyberspace by Shari Claire Lewis (New York Law Journal) The explosive growth of the Internet allows people to instantaneously access information about the law and their legal rights from Web sites created by both lawyers and non-lawyers without ever leaving their homes or offices. As a result, issues relating to the unauthorized practice of law by lawyers and laypeople are arising with increasing frequency. Depending on the nature of the Web activities at issue, it could be determined either that an unlicensed layperson is practicing law, or that a licensed lawyer is intentionally or unintentionally practicing law in jurisdictions in which the lawyer is not admitted. Consider the recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in In re Reynoso. http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1181034328636 ********************** OTHER INTERNET NEWS ********************** Sex, porn and a discreet taste for the bizarre With 6,000 brothels and 80,000 prostitutes in London, sex was an 1857 obsession. John Sutherland charts expression and repression of the dirty-book trade of the day http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article1882267.ece The terrible growth of internet repression by Kate Allen, UK Director of Amnesty International The Great Firewall of China prevents thousands of sites reaching people inside the country http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2617406.ece Censorship 'changes face of net' Amnesty International has warned that the internet "could change beyond all recognition" unless action is taken against the erosion of online freedoms. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6724531.stm http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,,2096719,00.html China's internet censorship spreads Dozens of countries are copying China's methods of censoring of the internet, Amnesty International has warned. In advance of a live webcast to discuss internet freedom, Amnesty warned that censorship was a “virus” that was infecting countries round the world. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/06/wchina206.xml au: Fear drives a bid for censorship by Professor Tony Coady All governments have a tendency to control and censor, and the climate of the "war on terror" strengthens this tendency in alarming ways. A new government discussion paper — "Material that Advocates Terrorist Acts" — is a case in point, being designed to placate alleged public disquiet about publications that might help turn people into terrorists. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/31/1180205422224.html MySpace to seek court help to release predator emails (Reuters) Social networking website MySpace today filed a request in a US state court to seek guidance on how it can legally provide local authorities with the private emails of convicted sex offenders who had lurked on its service. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10443654 http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0326070020070604 Second Life is for adults-only Linden Lab has said Monday that its popular virtual world Second Life where activities include sex and gambling is strictly adults-only. The statement by the creator of an Internet world where people live vicariously via customised three-dimensional animated figures came after L'association Familles de France accused it of letting children cavort in a virtual land rife with grown-up vices. http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5016949 McAfee: Search results can be dangerous A study by the security company finds that 4 percent of search results send users to 'risky' Web pages; AOL's search results are the safest, while Yahoo's are the riskiest The odds of a search engine directing you to a risky Web site are getting slimmer, but some companies are better at filtering out bad links than others, McAfee reported. Google has improved over the past year, but AOL has the safest search results on the Web right now, McAfee said. The riskiest? Yahoo. Overall, a significant percentage of Web links are still risky, McAfee said. In its latest study, published Monday, about 4 percent of search results were found to be risky. A year ago, that number was 5 percent. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/04/Search-results-can-be-dangerous_1.html Study: Music, Tech Search Terms Riskiest (AP) Search terms related to music and technology are most likely to return sites with spyware and other malicious code, a new study finds. Some 42 percent of the results using the term "screensavers," for example, led to sites flagged with a "red" warning or a cautionary "yellow" by McAfee Inc.'s SiteAdvisor service. Other keywords McAfee deemed risky include names of file-sharing software - "BearShare," "LimeWire" and "Kazaa." http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/04/1180809405098.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6057100 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/04/AR2007060400403.html http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RISKY_SEARCH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-04-21-20-22 Google's Street View could be unlawful in Europe Out-Law.com EDITORIAL: Like a trigger-happy tourist, Google has shot almost every street in five US cities and added its pics to what might be the world's biggest holiday album. But if Google ever starts shooting the streets of Europe, courts here could fire back. http://out-law.com/page-8116 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/05/google_street_view_legality_in_europe/ Does Virtual Reality Need a Sheriff? Earlier this year, one animated character in Second Life, a popular online fantasy world, allegedly raped another character. Then last month, authorities in Germany announced that they were looking into a separate incident involving virtual abuse in Second Life after receiving pictures of an animated child character engaging in simulated sex with an animated adult figure. Though both characters were created by adults, the activity could run afoul of German laws against child pornography, prosecutors said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102671.html au: Identity theft over the internet and Australian legislations In order to protect individuals’ personal information from unnecessary intrusion or misuse, many countries have enacted data protection laws. In Australia, there is the Federal Privacy Act of 1988, which is complemented by privacy laws in certain Australian states. Increasingly, laws are being proposed and/or enacted and they intend to deal with identity theft crime that unfairly infringe or threaten Internet users' privacy and other civil liberties. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=133C0AAD-EF79-4D46-B7FF-CC8803923BDA Estonia asks Russia to help hunt for Web criminals (Reuters) Estonia is seeking help from Russia to find the culprits behind a massive wave of attacks on the country's Internet infrastructure, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said Wednesday. http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6189085.html us: MySpace seeks advice in sex offender investigation MySpace.com filed a request Monday in a Pennsylvania state court asking for guidance as the social-networking service responds to demands for information about convicted sex offenders using the site. In the request, which was filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Dauphin County, home to the state capital of Harrisburg, MySpace said it is actively seeking advice on how it can legally provide authorities with registered sex offenders' contact information. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6188497.html http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6188497.html Terrorists also find Google useful Revelations that four terror suspects used Google Earth to allegedly plot an attack on an American airport have raised fresh concerns over the amount of sensitive information freely accessible on the internet. Abdul Kadir, one of the men accused of plotting to blow up fuel pipelines, fuel tanks, and buildings at John F. Kennedy International Airport, instructed his cohorts to use Google's online mapping software to obtain more detailed images of the airport, court documents say. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809491547.html Senior Chinese official promotes "web culture with Chinese characteristics" As China battles with Internet pornography, the country's top propaganda official Liu Yunshan has put forward the idea of "building a web culture with Chinese characteristics". Addressing a national meeting on Internet culture on Monday, Liu called for the molding of the Internet into "the new means of promoting a culture of advanced socialism, the new platform for public cultural services, the new area for spiritual fulfillment and a new channel for China to present itself to the outside world. http://en.ce.cn/National/culture/200706/06/t20070606_11619871.shtml Will Arrest Stem Tide of Spam? by Bill Nussey Legitimate email marketers, anti-spam groups and beleaguered recipients got a bit of good news with the arrest last week of a man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers. Robert Alan Soloway, 27, dubbed "the Seattle Spammer" by federal officials, was indicted on 35 charges related to fraudulent Internet activities. Soloway pleaded not guilty to all charges at his May 30 arraignment. You can read more here. Although it's always great when a notorious spammer gets put out of business, such actions probably won't result in a drop in the amount of spam that gets sent. http://www.circleid.com/posts/will_arrest_stem_tide_of_spam/ BOOK: The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy by Andrew Keen Andrew Keen's latest book has gained some notoriety. The book is BBC's Newsnight book club's latest addition and is discussed at length, including an extract from chapter 1. Newsnight's Gavin Esler asks "has the internet become a medium of mediocity?" And Newsnight says Keen "expresses his concern for the profligacy of online amateurism, spawned by the digital revolution. This, he feels, has had a destructive impact on our culture, economy and values." There's way too much to reproduce here, but part of the extract republished says "call it the great seduction. The Web 2.0 revolution has peddled the promise of bringing more truth to more people—more depth of information, more global perspective, more unbiased opinion from dispassionate observers. But this is all a smokescreen. What the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment. The information business is being transformed by the Internet into the sheer noise of a hundred million bloggers all simultaneously talking about themselves." Join the debate, and while the Newsnight story is still available, watch it! http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2007/06/the_cult_of_the_amateur_by_andrew_keen.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm "Amateur" charge infuriates blogosphere (Reuters) Internet culture, often portrayed as the vanguard of progress, is actually a jungle peopled by intellectual yahoos and digital thieves, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-dissenter. ..."Millions and millions of exuberant monkeys... are creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity," Keen writes in a book published on Tuesday. His views have infuriated bloggers and others, especially in Silicon Valley, who argue he is an elitist intellectual, a conservative pining for a return to old ways, and a writer who cannot keep his facts straight. The villains in Keen's narrative are a "pajama army" of mostly anonymous writers who spread gossip and scandal, "intellectual kleptomaniacs," who search Google to copy others' work and the "digital thieves" of media content in the post-Napster era. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN0423182220070605 http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5016964 Europe online '24 hours a month' More than 122m Europeans aged 15 and above use the internet each day at home, school or in work, says a report. The average European accesses the net 16.5 days in a month, and spends 24 hours viewing 2,662 web pages, according to tracking firm comScore. The Netherlands has the highest net penetration, with 83% of the country online, the firm reported. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6720135.stm Brits are Busiest Surfers Web surfers in the U.K. spend more time online than those in the rest of Europe or the U.S., according to results from a study released on Monday. The average U.K. Internet user spends 34.4 hours on the Web each month -- or almost a day and a half -- followed by the Swedes with 31.7 hours and the Spanish with 30.6 hours, according to the figures, from comScore's World Metrix study. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132524-c,researchreports/article.html http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/04/Brit-Web-surfers_1.html Google is Europe's most visited site, while America prefers Yahoo! A survey of internet usage across Europe reveals that Google is the region's most popular website in every country except Sweden and Norway. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/05/comscore_internet_use_figures/ comScore Releases First Comprehensive Review of Pan-European (news release) comScore released the first comprehensive review of European Internet activity. The comScore World Metrix study reveals that on an average day in April 2007, there were 122 million Europeans age 15 or older online, versus 114 million in the U.S. The average European accessed the Internet from either a home or a work computer an average of 16.5 days in the month and spent a total of 24 hours viewing 2,662 Web pages. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1459 To Appeal to Women, Too, Gadgets Go Beyond ‘Cute’ and ‘Pink’ Only a few years ago, feminizing a consumer electronic product meant little more than creating a pink or pastel version of the same black or silvery item coveted by men. And, some retailers note, that kind of marketing still goes on. But feminizing technology is more about a product’s fundamentals, often expressed in its ease of use. It is not always aimed exclusively at women, but it is female friendly. Shoppers see it throughout electronics store from the rising popularity of digital picture frames to flat-panel televisions that are designed to fit into the cabinets and armoires that once housed smaller-screened traditional televisions by moving the TV speakers from the sides to the top or bottom of the TV. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/technology/07women.html Second Life Not Immune to Bullying, Study Says Not even the virtual world is safe anymore. Researchers from the University of Nottingham have discovered in a recent study on cyber-bullying that griefing may have negative consequences for users in both Second Life and the real world. According to the study's leader, Dr Thomas Chesney, griefing is "intentional, persistent, unacceptable behavior which disrupts a resident's ability to enjoy Second Life". http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132632-c,games/article.html Purveyors of porn scramble to keep up with Internet Major players in the adult-entertainment industry, long in the vanguard of technology use, now find themselves playing catch-up. Overall sales and rentals of X-rated DVDs have plunged 15% in the last year and up to 30% over the past two years because video and photos on the Internet — much of it created by amateurs — are available at a fraction of the cost or for free. PornoTube.com and YouPorn.com are piping user-generated naughty content straight to the PCs, cellphones and Internet-connected TVs of consumers. Internet-based porn sales, by contrast, grew 14%, to $2.8 billion, last year. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2007-06-05-internet-porn_N.htm Porn Addiction Flooding Culture, Church In a culture where sexuality and porn is now a part of everyday life, porn addiction in the church is escalating, according to a new survey. In a poll of 1,000 respondents, 50 percent of Christian men and 20 percent of Christian women were found to be addicted to pornography. Conducted by ChristaNet.com, a popular Christian marketplace website, the poll asked visitors about their personal sexual conduct. http://www.christiantoday.com/article/porn.addiction.flooding.culture.church/11029.htm http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070605/27799_Porn_Addiction_Flooding_Culture,_Church.htm 200 million people worldwide use DSL Over 200 million people worldwide use DSL technology to access the internet, according to figures released yesterday at Broadband World Forum Asia in Beijing. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06/dsl_usage_worldwide/ Newspapers must embrace digital future to survive, conference told (AFP) Newspapers hoping to retain their readers and survive in the technological age must venture into the online and mobile phone spheres, a World Association of Newspapers meeting heard Tuesday. Speakers at a workshop said the newspaper was a dying breed but could avoid extinction by modernising its approach and extending its digital reach. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/06/1180809543797.html au: Company laptops used for porn Almost one in 10 Australian workers will download porn on the company laptop, and blokes use them to gossip nearly as much as women, a report reveals. The report – which studied habits in Australia, the US, UK, Singapore and the Netherlands – has revealed laptop users are far more cavalier in their approach to web-surfing on work equipment than those using desktop PCs. http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,21851369-462,00.html http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1166657 Microsoft and Apple, bitter rivals, try to save the desktop operating system Can two bitter rivals save the desktop operating system? In the battle between Apple and Microsoft, Bertrand Serlet and Steven Sinofsky are the field generals in charge of competing efforts to insure that the personal computer's basic software stays relevant in an increasingly Web-centric world. The two men are marshaling their software engineers for the next encounter, sometime in 2009, when a new generation of Macintosh and Windows systems is due. Their challenge will be to avoid refighting the last war - and finding themselves outflanked by new competitors. http://iht.com/articles/2007/06/04/business/compute.php Search is history, says Yahoo! Yahoo!, one of the two names most synonymous with search on the internet, has surprised Silicon Valley by suggesting that the future of the web is not about search. The comments, interpreted as an admission that Yahoo! cannot keep pace with Google, came during a conference at which many participants said that the traditional model for getting information from the internet – using a browser to visit web pages – was outdated. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1883175.ece BBC celebrates three Webby awards The BBC News website has picked up two awards at the internet's most glamorous night of the year. The site won Webbys for Best News Website and the People's Choice Award for online news sites for the third year running. The BBC's Radio 1 website also won an award for Best Radio Website. Other winners included singer David Bowie and auction site eBay, who both received Lifetime Achievement Awards at the glittering ceremony in New York. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6725369.stm uk: Karate chops and meatballs is YouTube hit A retired Cypriot couple bickering in their kitchen have become internet stars http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1890317.ece Mobile phone Internet usage soon to join television in Nielsen ratings world More than 33 million people have used mobile phones to access the Internet this year, according to Nielsen Media Research, which on Wednesday announced its new effort to measure such use. http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6076563 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5dcdb914-1447-11dc-88cb-000b5df10621.html Asian ministers vow to narrow digital divide Thirty Asian and Middle Eastern nations agreed Tuesday to try to bridge the IT divide between rich and poor countries through shared expertise and joint research projects. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809485214.html http://www.todayonline.com/articles/192595.asp http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=265690 Intel targets developing world with basic laptop for children Intel is planning to mass market a $199 (£99.70) notebook computer. It has teamed up with Asustek Computer, the Taiwanese circuit board maker, as it competes with the One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) to gain a foothold in a potentially huge market. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article1890168.ece uk: Wireless power limit doubled to bridge digital divide Ofcom has allowed fixed broadband internet providers to double the power of their signals in a move the UK telecoms regulator says will help bridge the digital divide. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06/wireless_power_limit_raised/ French sports groups join suit against YouTube France's top soccer league and its national tennis organization are the latest to join legal action against YouTube. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6188948.html Google Keeps Tweaking Its Search Engine These days, Google seems to be doing everything, everywhere. It takes pictures of your house from outer space, copies rare Sanskrit books in India, charms its way onto Madison Avenue, picks fights with Hollywood and tries to undercut Microsoft’s software dominance. But at its core, Google remains a search engine. And its search pages, blue hyperlinks set against a bland, white background, have made it the most visited, most profitable and arguably the most powerful company on the Internet. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03google.html Yahoo opens Panama search ad platform Yahoo announced Monday that its Panama search advertising platform is now open to third parties. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6188457.html 855,000 new phones end up in the bog New research from SimplySwitch reveals that while we buy 18 million handsets ever year, we're throwing 855,000 of them down the toilet and leaving 810,000 in the pub - contributing to the 4.1 million we lose or break every year. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/05/phones_down_the_pan/ au: Fibre announcement soon - Coonan FEDERAL communications minister Senator Helen Coonan says the government will make an announcement about its plans for the construction of a national high speed broadband network very shortly. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21859201-16123,00.html au: High-speed broadband to woo voters The roll-out of a multibillion-dollar high-speed broadband network in the cities could be rushed through as the Federal Government tries to seize the upper hand in the debate before the election. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/05/1180809462421.html Broadand needs to reach all Australians: Labor Australia deserves better than a quick-fix broadband plan designed to cover only five capital cities, Labor said. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Broadand-needs-to-reach-all-Australians-Labor/0,130061791,339278190,00.htm au: Internode ponders P2P filters ADELAIDE-BASED ISP Internode is considering using filtering systems to contain rampant growth in peer-to-peer internet traffic across its network. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21853338-15306,00.html uk: BT declares ceasefire in broadband speed wars BT is aiming to push access speed down the broadband agenda as the copper wires which carry data into homes swiftly approach their technological limits. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/bt_speed_wars_over/ uk: City wi-fi plans under scrutiny More and more cities are cutting their wires and going wireless. But as councils offer public wi-fi, questions are being asked about how much citizens will use them and how sustainable they are. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6722977.stm Cities swap public Wi-Fi secrets Despite the tribulations of launching a regional wireless Internet network, some cities are making progress by sharing their hard-won lessons. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/05/Cities-swap-public-wifi-secrets_1.html Bringing public Wi-Fi to small town America When it comes to building the infrastructure that makes public high-speed Internet access possible, companies are keen to take on projects for large cities. However, smaller cities are another story. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6188911.html http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6188911.html Killer Wi-Fi panics London's chattering classes Recent revelations that Wi-Fi may provoke spontaneous abortions in cattle, raise storms and tempests, curdle milk and fry children's brains have had the desired effect among London's chattering classes, with panicked parents mobilising to contain the wireless menace. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/wi_fi_panic/ Court says Internet phones must pay into fund (Reuters) A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld an order by U.S. regulators requiring Internet telephone services like Vonage Holdings Corp. to contribute part of their revenues into a federal subsidy fund. http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0131832820070601 VoIP: Beyond Digital POTS by Brough Turner I've been involved with VoIP technology since 1996. I've been a public advocate for wideband audio at least since 1997. And I've admired and supported a variety of companies using VoIP to provide innovative services and new user interfaces. But reflecting on the past decade, the only globally significant impact of VoIP has been on prices (by fostering arbitrage). Most VoIP telephony services are just digital POTS. http://www.circleid.com/posts/voip_beyond_digital_pots/ nz: Blog: Will farmers go for VoIP? Internet providers WorldxChange and BayCity Communications are going to make a big push to get voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services out to rural areas using the Extend wireless network of state-owned broadcaster Kordia. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10443925 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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/
