Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the 12 July edition of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online!
Headlines from the 12 July edition include: Could the UK face 'cyber attack'? | FTP Is Simple but Open to Leaks | au: .bank proposal gets lukewarm reception | Role of Domain Registrars to Change Over Next 5 Years The domain name news is supported by auDA. And don't forget to check out my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IGP Proposal Highlights Global Nature of Digital Security http://econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=36784 In dispute over Gmail brand, Hamburg firm defeats Google http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/92266 IETF DNS Working Group defines DNS as "critical infrastructure" by Brenden Kuerbis http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/7/8/3079342.html What is ICANN's definition of progress? http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/73/what-is-icann-s-definition-of-progress.php Nominet reaches six million domain registrations (news release) http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=4181 nz: Keen interest in NZAmericasCup.com auction (news release) http://scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0707/S00068.htm ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** Gridlock on the superhighway as web grinds to a halt ... Now the United Nations is calling for action to upgrade the system and prevent meltdown. The Internet Governance Forum is asking internet providers and governments to cooperate ahead of its conference in Rio later this year. The IGF's chair Nitin Desai said: "People are concerned about whether the system we have now will work five years from now." And a source at the IGF added: "As more people come online and do more with the internet, it will need more capacity to continue working at the high speeds users in the West have got used to. It can be done, but only if all the companies and governments involved commit to getting the infrastructure upgraded." http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1063882007 http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1063882007 IGP Proposal Highlights Global Nature of Digital Security The Internet Governance Project (IGP) has worked since 2004 to advance the discussion of global internet governance. Its work took a public turn in May when the IGP released a proposal to decentralize authority over DNS authority. http://econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=36784 ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** In dispute over Gmail brand, Hamburg firm defeats Google Hamburg entrepreneur Daniel Giersch has won a legal dispute with Google concerning the Gmail brand. The Hanseatic Upper Court has now ruled (Az 5 U 87/06) prohibiting Google from using "Gmail" for its e-mail service in German. The court has not yet handed down any written statement. Daniel Giersch's lawyer Sebastian Eble stated, "The Hanseatic Upper Court felt that the law was so clear that it has not even allowed its ruling to be appealed to a higher court." http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/92266 Google Loses Gmail Name in Germany The company says it will still provide Web e-mail in Germany, even though a German court ruled that another firm owns the Gmail trademark in the country. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=200900541 http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/05/Google-loses-Gmail-trademark-case-in-Germany_1.html German courts demand no more Gmail squabbling German courts have banned Google from further attempts to wrestle the rights to the "Gmail" trademark away from a businessman who registered the name several years before it launched a webmail service. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/05/google_gmail_germany/ http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22027484-16123,00.html ********************** - DOMAIN SECURITY ********************** IETF DNS Working Group defines DNS as "critical infrastructure" by Brenden Kuerbis In the process of drafting its revised charter (which came about because it is now largely finished with the DNSSEC standard), the IETF's DNS Extensions Working Group (DNSEXT) has identified the Domain Name System as "a critical Internet infrastructure." Given that the DNS handles billions of queries mapping human readable domain names to IP adresses of network hosts daily, it only makes sense that it be considered critical to the function of the Internet. Without the DNS protocol, much of the value of the Internet to humans would not exist. http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/7/8/3079342.html We have your Web site: Despite tougher cyber squatting laws domain names ar e still being held for ransom Cybersquatters are lurking on the Internet, ready to swipe your business brand the instant your guard slips. And their illegitimate efforts are on the rise. “It’s very much a nuisance to everyone,” said Mary Jane Frisby, an associate at Indianapolis-based law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP who specializes in domain name disputes. “And there is this groundswell of irritation.” http://cms.ibj.com/ASPXPages/6iframes/FrontEndArticlesDetailPage.aspx?ArticleID=02928 Diagnosing the Health of the Internet Real-time maps showing the "health" of the Internet, including its speed, traffic numbers and the rate of attacks, are now freely available to the public from Akamai, which operates a distributed computing platform that handles much of the world's Web traffic. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134226-c,techindustrytrends/article.html ********************** - ICANN ********************** What is ICANN's definition of progress? ICANN management has concluded the corporation's 2nd general meeting of the year with upbeat comments on new Internet domains. Not everyone shares that optimism. http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/73/what-is-icann-s-definition-of-progress.php The Inextricable Issue of Internationalized Domain Names by Patrick Vande Walle ICANN has embarked on the IDN boat at the same time it wants to introduce DNSSEC and new gTLDs. This promises lots of fun. Or grey hair, depending how you look at it. First is the issue of country code IDNs. The ISO-3166 table, based on two letter codes, is a western convention. Some cultures do not use abbreviations or acronyms. Some do not use a character-based alphabet, but a syllabic one. Hence, the next logical step would be to represent the full country name in local script, rather than a transliteration of the ISO string... Imagine the case of India, where there are 1.652 languages, of which 24 are spoken by more than one million people. http://www.circleid.com/posts/inextricable_internationalized_domain_names/ Will ICANN go French in 2008? ICANN holds three meetings a year. Decisions taken there can affect Internet users the world over. In 2008, one of the proposed meeting venues is Paris. A first for the French Capital. http://domainesinfo.fr/english/74/will-icann-go-french-in-2008.php Domain Contacts Should Not Change Lately, ICANN has been in the process of determining the fate of domain name ownership information. The proposed change aims to improve the privacy of domain registrants by limiting the information required. However noble, we hope the proposal will be tabled to prevent "bad actors" from flourishing across domains. http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070705-144911 Foreign-character domain names are coming, ICANN says By November ICANN will begin instituting foreign characters in domain addresses, but for now it’s still working on the details. http://government.zdnet.com/?p=3282 ********************** - (cc)TLD NEWS ********************** Nominet celebrates six millionth .uk domain milestone The registration of the six millionth .co.uk domain name highlights the fact that businesses in the UK are voting with their feet in terms of recognising that local domain names are important to customers. http://www.itpro.co.uk/internet/news/119113/nominet-celebrates-six-millionth-uk-domain-milestone.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39287918,00.htm http://www.circleid.com/posts/uk_domains_pass_6_million_mark/ Nominet reaches six million domain registrations (news release) The .uk domain name register has passed the six million mark. The domain name taking us to the landmark six million figure was klassikbuilders.co.uk, registered by a tradesman from Merseyside. Full details are available on our website. http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=4181 SIDN starts phasing out personal domains (subscription) Dutch internet domain registrar SIDN has started phasing out the use of personal domain names. http://telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=174735 http://www.sidn.nl/ace.php/c,727,5289,,,,SIDN_kondigt_uitfasering_persoonsdomeinnamen_aan.html (SIDN news release in Dutch) Domain names even less expensive and more attractive as of 1 September 2007 - SWITCHguard for increased security (news release) SWITCH, the registry for .ch and .li domain names, is reducing the price for domain names from CHF 27 to CHF 22 on 1 September 2007. The new standard domain name is now called SWITCHbasic and offers attractive extra functions. And a new addition to the product range is a domain name which offers increased security – SWITCHguard. http://switch.ch/about/news.html?id=140 Switch to lower domain registration fee to CHF 22 (subscription) Swiss domain registrar Switch, the registry for .ch and .li domain names, is reducing the price for domain names from CHF 27 to CHF 22 on 1 September. http://telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=174722 New age of domain name registration service providers The Vietnam Network Information Centre (VNNIC) has recently decided to transfer the job of caring for and collecting fees from registers for domain names ending in .vn at VNNIC prior to November 1, 2006 to domain name register service providers. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2007/07/714905/ Staggered release dates for .asia domain (VNUNET) Applications for the new .asia domain will be staggered over three time periods in an attempt to avoid the confusion and chaos surrounding the recent .eu domain launch. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2193690/asia-domain-staggered-release http://www.channelweb.co.uk/vnunet/news/2193690/asia-domain-staggered-release http://www.whatpc.co.uk/vnunet/news/2193690/asia-domain-staggered-release http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/2193690/asia-domain-staggered-release NetNames Prepares SMBs for .Asia (news release) NetNames announced that British businesses should ensure they have secured their online brands in the Asian market with the upcoming launch of the .Asia domain name on October 9. http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/070607_NetNames_Prepares_SMBs_for_.Asia.cfm ********************** - MISCELLANEOUS ********************** Fixing Typos by Web Users, Without Raising Hackles ... His service will also correct standard spelling mistakes. For example, if a user types google.cm instead of google.com, OpenDNS will redirect the query to the correct Web page. OpenDNS also makes it possible for users to use the Web address query box of a Web browser in the same way users now use the search engine query box found in all modern Web browsers. Typing a search request into the regular Web address box on a computer that uses the OpenDNS service will return search results and related advertisements from Yahoo. http://nytimes.com/2007/07/09/business/media/09startup.html Fights over names for Web use grow harder to untangle New Jersey's Keith Urban is no Keith Urban. He isn't a country music superstar. He doesn't live in a mansion in Nashville. He isn't married to Nicole Kidman. New Jersey's Urban is a little-known painter and computer graphics designer who lives a relatively quiet life in suburban Wayne. But he does have one thing the more famous Keith Urban wants: ownership of www.keithurban.com. The two are locked in a legal battle over the Internet address, which currently belongs to New Jersey Urban, who has owned it for years and uses it to sell his latest artwork. But the more famous Urban says the name is his trademark and the Web address should be his. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-11/118395530582520.xml&coll=1 Does the iPhone Keep dotMobi Awake at Night? by James Pearce We’ve had a number of questions (and seen plenty of commentary) regarding the recent launch of the iPhone and how it might affect us and the mobile web in general. http://www.circleid.com/posts/iphone_dotmobi_domain/ International technical conference on Internet Domain Name Service - Oct 2007, Mexico (news release) DNS World, the premiere conference on Internet Domain Name Service will set the stage for a new era in IP addressing, Internet domains, addressing within IP4 and IP6, DHCP, registrars, root servers and route servers, DNSSEC and much more. http://prudentpressagency.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=393 ********************** - DOMAIN SALES ********************** nz: Keen interest in domain name auction (news release) While TeamNZ is returning from Valencia empty handed, it did not prevent considerable interest in last evening's auction on Trademe for the domain name NZAmericasCup.com. http://scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0707/S00068.htm What Makes Domain Names Valuable? Back in the late '90's and very early 2000s, when search engines weren't as refiend as they are today, knowing the domain name of the site you wanted was considerably more important. Most people found out about websites through knowledgeable authorities, such as heavy web users, "A-list" sites and traditional media such as TV and print (Remember the number of magazines and books devoted to covering the newest sites? I think I still have a few of them sitting in a storage locker). As a result, what made a domain name valuable was brand recognition. Hence you wanted a domain name that was short and memorable, which explains the numerous sites and start-ups with silly-sounding names. http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/7/6/3075470.html Cybersquattors, Domain Name Disputes, and UDRP and ACPA Cybersquatting is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with a bad-faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. To address this issue, Congress enacted what is known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act ("ACPA"). The ACPA amended the Lanham Act by providing trademark owners with a civl remedy against cybersquatting. Have you ever had a third party register a domain name that is either exactly the same or very similar to your trademark? If so, it may be a Cybersquatting issue. http://www.upublish.info/Article/Cybersquattors--Domain-Name-Disputes--and-UDRP-and-ACPA/78295 Ways To Make Domain Name Investing Pay Off When it comes to ways to make money on the Internet, domain name investing is one of the easiest to get into. It is fairly simple to start and it can pay off rather well for a small investment. To open the doors on this investment opportunity, it is important to understand how it works. http://www.mycontentbuilder.com/Article/Ways-To-Make-Domain-Name-Investing-Pay-Off/52626 http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Ways-To-Make-Domain-Name-Investing-Pay-Off/252575 http://articlemap.com/Article/How-To-Make-Money-With-Domain-Name-Investing/60523 Domain name black-marketing Hoarding coveted domain names can make you a millionaire. Beer, sex and diamonds sell everywhere, a lot of them in the cyber world. But if you wanted to buy a suitable domain name to promote these small human pleasures on the Internet it could cost not thousands but millions of dollars because somebody smarter got in there first. http://hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=27556645-c837-4596-bfed-30ed05acebf8 Majority of Domain Names are Purchased as Investments Most big ticket domain purchases are by investors hoping to flip the domain or cash in on pay-per-click revenue. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/07/05/majority-of-domain-names-are-purchased-as-investments/ 2006 Domain Name Sales Domain Name Journal lists the final 2006 Top 100 sales charts. The first chart includes the Top 100 reported sales regardless of extension. The second chart, the Global Contenders, lists the Top 100 sales among domains with non .com global extensions. The third chart, the Country Codes, lists the Top 100 sales among ccTLD domains. http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2006/ytd-sales-charts-2006.htm "The President" Is For Sale Bidding Begins To Determine Who Will Own "The President" (news release) Coinciding with the run up to the American election, this news release breathlessly, and with much hyperbole, announces the sale of the domain name thepresident.com, along with ThePresident.Net, ThePresident.Org and ThePresident.Biz http://www.prleap.com/pr/84099/ ********************** OTHER INTERNET NEWS ********************** il: Government supports Internet censorship bill The Ministerial Committee on Legislation yesterday approved a proposed bill that would only allow access to adult-content Internet sites for users who agree in advance to identify themselves. They will likely be required to state year of birth and I.D. number, and access would would be denied to any surfers who did not specifically sign up to receive it. http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/879659.html China City Tightens Internet Control After Protest A Chinese city planned to censor online chatroom exchanges and ban anonymous postings after residents used the Internet to organize a mass protest against a chemical plant. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=RSPSOKOY3DQUGQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=200900872 Web search groups to yield on privacy Yahoo and Microsoft are preparing to announce concessions in their privacy policies in the next few weeks, as pressure mounts in Europe over the length of time internet search companies should be allowed to hold personal data. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/23e0931c-2b20-11dc-85f9-000b5df10621.html Downed Electronic Jihad Site Flew Under The Radar Although the "electronic jihad" Web site Al-jinan.org was offline for part of Thursday, the site has been able to survive for about four-and-a-half years for a number of reasons. While its domain name server registration features a number of contradictions that make tracing its origins difficult, the capabilities of the site's Electronic Jihad application are also limited. http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=200900590 http://itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=55691 Estonia calls for international convention to fight cybercrimes Estonia's government on Thursday called for an international convention on combatting computer-based attacks like those directed against the Baltic state in late April-early May. Global ratification of the convention would establish "a strong legal basis to fight cyber crimes," the Economic Affairs Ministry said in a statement. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/06/1183351392921.html Faces of terror suspects: Breaking the rules? ... Britain has some of the tightest reporting restrictions in the Western world, limiting the ability of news organizations to publish pictures or articles about the subjects of criminal investigations. The rules are intended to ensure fair trials by keeping potentially prejudicial information out of the hands of would-be jurors. But critics say the restrictions seem increasingly out of step in an era of around-the-clock, global news flows, when Britons can turn to the Internet or other sources for unfiltered information on high-profile stories like terrorism. And, based on their coverage of the latest alleged bomb plot, news organizations seem unclear about how to apply the rules. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/08/business/media09.php Diagnosing the Health of the Internet Real-time maps showing the "health" of the Internet, including its speed, traffic numbers and the rate of attacks, are now freely available to the public from Akamai, which operates a distributed computing platform that handles much of the world's Web traffic. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134226-c,techindustrytrends/article.html uk: Three jailed for engaging in 'cyber jihad' for al-Qaida Three men, including the top computer expert for al-Qaida in Iraq, were sent to prison yesterday for spreading extremist jihadi material through their websites. It was the first UK prosecution for inciting terrorist murder on the internet. http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2120099,00.html http://ecommercetimes.com/story/58198.html U.K. jails trio who incited terrorism over Web (Reuters) Three men have been sentenced to a total of 24 years in prison after admitting to inciting terrorism over the Internet in the first case of its kind in Britain, police said on Thursday. http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-6195015.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39287873,00.htm http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/04/1183351293920.html uk: Terrorism's Hook Into Your Inbox U.K. investigation reveals a significant link between Islamic terrorist groups and cyber crime, and experts say security officials must do more to understand and confront cyber crime as part of any overall strategy for combatting terrorism. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501153.html Court holds Belgian ISP responsible for file-sharing A court has ruled that the Belgian ISP Scarlet Extended is responsible for blocking illegal file-sharing on its network, setting a precedent that could affect other ISPs in Europe, according to a recording industry group. One legal expert doubted that claim, however. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/05/ISP-responsible-for-file-sharing_1.html http://futurezone.orf.at/it/stories/205123/ (German) Belgium judge orders ISP to clean up network A Belgian legal victory by authors and composers means that the country's third-largest ISP has six months to clean up its networks of copyright infringing material distributed by P2P. The long-running case was brought by the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM) against ISP Scarlet, formerly Tiscali and the third largest operator in Belgium. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/05/belgium_p2p_isp/ Belgian ISP told to block file-sharing in landmark case An internet service provider in Belgium must screen traffic for music piracy, a court has ruled in a decision which overturns conventional thinking on how two major European directives relate to one another. http://out-law.com/page-8239 us: Court orders dismissal of U.S. wiretapping lawsuit A U.S. appeals court has ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit against the U.S. National Security Agency for a wiretapping program because it said the plaintiffs haven't been hurt by the agency's actions. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9026379 Judge In U.S. Options Trial Questions Government's Case A U.S. judge Friday expressed doubts about the options-backdating case against the former chief executive of Brocade Communications in a setback for what the government has viewed as a precedent-setting criminal trial. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=RSPSOKOY3DQUGQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=200900871 German Firm's Reputation Takes Deep Hit Damage caused by inappropriate employee actions at one of the German software giant's divisions won't be easy to undo. SAP took pains to blunt the impact of its admission of inappropriate behavior by employees at one of its divisions: The German software giant demoted the head of a U.S. unit and said further action against the executive could come. But the moves, outlined in a March lawsuit filed by archrival Oracle, may already have dulled the edge of a key weapon against SAP's biggest competitor -- damage that won't be easy to undo. http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,492564,00.html au: Police concern over HoonTube SOUTH Australian police are considering appealing to the American hosts of video-sharing website YouTube to ban users posting footage of dangerous hoon driving. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22036073-5006301,00.html nz: Porn site teacher earns slap on wrist An art teacher who posted hard-core pornographic pictures of himself and two women on internet sex sites - with messages for girls "the younger the better" to contact him - has been allowed to continue teaching. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=10450272 uk: New law will criminalise possession of extreme porn The Government has published a new law which will criminalise extreme pornography. The Government first indicated that it would criminalise the possession of violent pornography two years ago. A new Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill has had its first reading in Parliament, which means that it has been published and awaits debate and committee scrutiny. http://out-law.com/page-8190 uk: Government porn bill faces Backlash The UK government is facing calls to drop its proposed ban on pornography featuring bondage and sadomasochism. New proposals contained in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill would make it a crime to view any image classed as "extreme". http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2193662/trouble-looms-government-porn Canadian Cultural Policy Must Adapt to the Internet World by Michael Geist Given our easy access to Hollywood movies and U.S. television programming, it is unsurprising that Canadians have long placed great emphasis on cultural policies. To avoid marginalizing homegrown talent, Canada has set Canadian content as a key objective in the Broadcasting Act, established foreign ownership restrictions within the cultural industries, and safeguarded cultural policies in its international trade agreements. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2076/159/ http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/business/story.html?id=8d0a0a8b-3cca-4df9-8b3f-51f294a596b1 Wikipedia remains go-to site for online news (Reuters) Wikipedia has added about 20 million unique monthly visitors in the past year, making it the top online news and information destination, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. In May, Wikipedia had 46.8 million unique visitors, up 72 percent from June 2006, NetRatings said. Wikipedia also has finished on top of the news and information category every month this year. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6195367.html comScore Publishes the First Comprehensive Review of Asia-Pacific Internet Usage (news release) comScore released the first comprehensive review of Internet behavior covering 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The comScore World Metrix study reveals that in May there were nearly 284 million people age 15 or older who accessed the Internet from either a home or work computer in the region. This represents 10 percent of the Asian-Pacific population 15 years of age and older. The average person in the Asia-Pacific region visited the Internet on 13.8 days in the month and spent 20.2 hours viewing 2,171 pages. This compares to the global averages of 17.1 usage days per month, 25.2 hours per month, and 2,519 pages per month, indicating that the Asia-Pacific region’s PC-based Internet usage is somewhat lower than the rest of the world. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1520 China Set To Be Broadband King, Fueling Business For Net Firms China is on pace to pass the U.S. to become the largest broadband market later this year as video, e-commerce and online gaming fuel demand. And the country has just scratched the surface. China added 4.5 million high-speed connections in the first three months of 2007 to 56.3 million, says research firm point 15pic. The U.S. ended the first quarter with 60.4 million. http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-17973011.htm MySpace, Facebook: A Tale of Two Cultures Emerging data suggest the two may not be direct competitors after all. Businesses that want to reach these audiences have more to learn: The blogosphere is buzzing about a provocative June 24 essay by U.C. Berkeley researcher Danah Boyd suggesting that MySpace and Facebook users are dividing along race and class lines. Even as her timely ethnographic observations touch off debate among users and Web developers, they underscore a question businesses have been asking since MySpace first launched: Who really uses these sites and what are they doing there? What can businesses learn from the emerging information about growing audiences on MySpace and Facebook, the largest of the online social-networking sites? We took a look at current data to ascertain who's doing what, where, and how. http://businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2007/id2007072_502208.htm Facebook Sees Flood Of New Traffic From Teenagers And Adults (news release) comScore released the results of a study on the visitation to Facebook.com, which showed the site grew to 26.6 million unique visitors in the U.S. in May 2007, marking an 89-percent increase versus the same month last year. The dramatic growth comes on the heels of Facebook.com’s decision in September 2006 to open up registration to the general public, a change from the previous policy requiring a valid email address from a university or a selected group of secondary schools and businesses. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1519 Facebook grows by 89 per cent The number of people using Facebook has nearly doubled in the past year, confirming the site's position as the social network du jour. In May 26.6 million Americans visited Facebook, an increase of 89 per cent on the same month last year. Among users aged 25 to 34, the increase was 181 per cent, according to research conducted by comScore. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2036442.ece http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/07/07/cnface107.xml Social networking shows explosive growth in Australia New research shows that the use of social media such as YouTube in Australia is soaring pushing Australians onto international sites at the expense of local destinations. The findings were released this week at a press briefing held by Future Exploration Network and Nielsen/NetRatings, in the lead-up to the Future of Media Summit 2007 being staged in Sydney on 18 July. http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/13345/53/ MySpace's Slow Start in China The social-networking site's new Chinese version faces tough challenges trying to appeal to local tastes and grab market share from many rivals http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070625_607135.htm Live Earth streaming sets record: MSN MSN declared itself the new record holder for the biggest online entertainment audience, reporting more than 10 million streams on Saturday for its coverage of Live Earth. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/09/1973541.htm http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2883&iArticleId=5018074 Urban India Web Users Urban areas of India are home to 30.32 million Internet users according to a report by JuxtConsult. The Internet population rose 28 percent from April 2006 to April of this year. http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626341 Time Magazine's 50 Best Websites 2007 Our 2007 picks for the best of what's new and exciting on the Web today — sites with exceptional style and smarts that offer new ways to enrich the on- and off-line experience http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1633488_1633458,00.html Awaiting Internet Access, Remote Brazilian Tribes Debate Its Promise, Peril When the sun sinks behind the palm and mango trees, candlelight flickers throughout a tiny village of thatched huts where about 100 Xavante Indians live. The villagers here lack electricity, but not technical ambition. Just beyond the semicircle of huts sits a new one-room school building, and a place inside has already been reserved for an eagerly anticipated local milestone: the village's first computer. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501866.html BOOK REVIEW: YouTube if you want to ... Andrew Keen's The Culture of the Amateur The internet is overrated and even harmful according to Andrew Keen's The Culture of the Amateur, says Killian Fox The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy by Andrew Keen: Bloggers are notoriously touchy so it's unlikely they'll respond with restraint to the comparison that opens Andrew Keen's polemic. Adapting the 'infinite monkey theorem', Keen, a British media commentator based in California, updates the typewriting primates to internet users. These 'monkeys' are not producing Shakespeare, they're deluging us with 'everything from uninformed political commentary, to unseemly home videos, to embarrassingly amateurish music, to unreadable poems, reviews, essays, and novels'. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2121075,00.html >From the web to the White House - the web's role in the US presidential >campaign Since the 1960 face-offs between Kennedy and Nixon, televsion has been the dominant medium in US presidential election campaigns. But the advent of YouTube has changed all that. Now it's the internet that has become the key political battleground for 2008. But is this the birth of a new democraticatising medium - or just a passing fad? http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2121069,00.html You've got mail - all you need is a way to get rid of it 'You can', my mother used to say, 'have too much of a good thing'. Since she was generally not in favour of good things (which she equated with self-indulgence), I habitually disregarded this advice. But I am now beginning to wonder if she may have been right after all. This thought is sparked by an inspection of my email system. I have 852 messages in my 'office' inbox. ... The problem is not with email as such, but with the way organisations have subverted - or perverted - it for bureaucratic purposes. And they have done it for the same reason that spammers have perverted personal email: because it's cheap and easy to do. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2121185,00.html Apple Issues Battery Program for IPhone (AP) A consumer advocacy group has expressed outrage over Apple Inc.'s battery replacement program for the iPhone, while developers and hackers are trying to figure out ways they could expand the capabilities of the hot new gadget. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APPLE_IPHONE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-05-19-47-51 Apple's iPhone faces uncertain future in Europe, analysts say Despite a tsunami of hype following the rollout of Apple's iPhone in the United States last week, analysts and market experts say the device will face greater obstacles in the fragmented European mobile phone market. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/05/business/iphone.php Apple's iPhone faces uncertain future in Europe, analysts say "[The iPhone] isn't going to have a chance with regular businessmen. It's just not a Blackberry. It's difficult to write SMSs, there's no push e-mail functionality, and you can't synchronize your Outlook telephone contacts." Despite a tsunami of hype following the rollout of Apple's iPhone in the United States last week, analysts and market experts say the device will face greater obstacles in the fragmented European mobile phone market, which is dominated by pay-as-you-go customers and operators with their own designs on the download music market. "I think that Apple will do with the iPhone what it has done in the personal computer arena - take about 5 percent of the total market," said Frank Rothauge, a telecom analyst in Frankfurt at Bankhaus Sal. Oppenheim. "That's still significant, but it's not going to change the world." http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/05/business/iphone.php uk: Sony says sorry in cathedral computer game row Sony apologised "unreservedly" yesterday for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a violent computer game. The computer giant acknowledged it had offended worshippers by using the cathedral as a backdrop for Resistance: Fall of Man. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2742831.ece uk: Manchester Cathedral says Sony apology not enough and issues new digital rules Manchester Cathedral is calling for all video games manufacturers to sign up to a new set of “sacred digital guidelines” to prevent future “virtual desecration” of religious buildings. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2036423.ece ISPs scramble to tackle net choke AUSTRALIA'S key internet companies have responded rapidly to a call by the industry's peak body to ease costs for international network capacity. http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22027837-16123,00.html IT chiefs see mobile VoIP boom The use of mobile VoIP phones will grow dramatically in the next two years, but many IT chiefs may be left struggling to cope with the management challenges this poses. A survey of executives has revealed that 27 percent worked for businesses that already used mobile VoIP phones and 70 percent said they expected their companies to be regularly using the devices within two years. http://techworld.com/news/index.cfm?NewsID=9380 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- List policy, unsubscribing and archives => http://dotau.org/
