Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for today's edition of the complete domain news, including an RSS feed - already online!
Headlines from the 13 September edition of the news include: Mediating Distance: Online Tools for Reconciliation? by Ian Macduff [Director, NZ Centre for Conflict Resolution, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington] | Internet Governance Forum to meet in Brazil | AFNIC steps up for a transparent Internet | PM says foreign spies hacked into New Zealand government computers; no key data lost | China denies role in NZ cyber attack | Blog: Is Beijing hacking into NZ's computers? | ICANN Posts Issues Paper for the July 2008 - June 2011 Strategic Plan | ICANN September magazine is out | Paul Twomey on IPv6 and possible cyberattacks down under | 10,000 .eu names suspended amid cybersquatter allegation | Chinese woman faces legal action from .eu authorities | IEDR to relax domain registrations | tk: Pacific island cashes in on website domain | NZ Disputes Resolution Conference 19-21 Sept | You Say Hulu. I Say Lulu. Lets Take the Thing to Court. | Bin Ladin domain up for grabs And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. *************************************************** The Domain News is brought to you with the support of auDA *************************************************** US backing for two-tier internet http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6983375.stm Net neutrality hopes hit by DoJ criticism http://www.ft.com/cms/s/72aa6548-5cc3-11dc-9cc9-0000779fd2ac.html Guess Who's Afraid of an Open Internet? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/guess-whos-afraid-of-an-_b_63655.html Bush Administration Restates Position on Proposed Internet Traffic Policing Rules http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/09/bush-administra.html Ten things that finally killed Net neutrality http://news.com.com/8301-13578_3-9773538-38.html InternetNZ to host APNIC meeting Print this page [news release] http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/mediareleases/apnic Vint Cerf On Bandwidth And The Future Of Internet Television http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/vint-cert-on-ba.html US tip-off foiled German bomb plot, reports say http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,2164900,00.html Germans Say U.S. Officials Helped to Foil Bombing Plot http://nytimes.com/2007/09/09/world/europe/09germany.html F.B.I. Data Mining Reached Beyond Initial Targets http://nytimes.com/2007/09/09/washington/09fbi.html http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6206942.html Fraudster Who Impersonated a Lawyer to Steal Domain Names Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/09/fraudster-who-i.html The Hubbub Over Hulu http://businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2007/tc20070829_979664.htm Lulu site sues News Corp http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2163938,00.html ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** US backing for two-tier internet The US Justice Department has said that ISPs should be allowed to charge for priority traffic. The agency said it was opposed to "network neutrality", the idea that all data on the net is treated equally. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6983375.stm Net neutrality hopes hit by DoJ criticism The US Department of Justice threw its weight behind telecommunications operators, warning telecom regulators against imposing net neutrality rules that would block carriers from charging content providers premium prices to prioritise some web traffic http://www.ft.com/cms/s/72aa6548-5cc3-11dc-9cc9-0000779fd2ac.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/07/1188783431412.html [AP] http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-09-06-priority-web-traffic-charge_N.htm Guess Who's Afraid of an Open Internet? Open Internet advocates just received a parting gift from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. In a Thursday filing to the Federal Communications Commission, Gonzales' Department of Justice urged the agency to oppose Net Neutrality -- the principle that all Internet sites should be treated equally. ... The DOJ ruling once again proves the point that powerful corporate and government gatekeepers are working together to dismantle Internet freedoms and impose their will upon the Web. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/guess-whos-afraid-of-an-_b_63655.html Bush Administration Restates Position on Proposed Internet Traffic Policing Rules The Federal Communications Commission should not enact new rules to prevent telecommunications providers from discriminating against certain kinds of Internet traffic, the Justice Department said in a filing with the Commission Thursday. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/09/bush-administra.html Ten things that finally killed Net neutrality If you haven't heard much about Net neutrality this year, you're not alone. It went from being the political equivalent of a first-run Broadway show, with accompanying street protests and high profile votes in Congress, to a third-rate performance with no budget and slumping attendance. So what killed Net neutrality? Declan McCullagh gives his list of reasons. http://news.com.com/8301-13578_3-9773538-38.html A Possible Missing Piece of Net Neutrality Puzzle: Backbones and Peering? by Susan Crawford I remember being told three years ago that, in general, internet backbone issues weren't really a subject for regulatory involvement, and didn't need to be. Although the last mile was a problem, the upstream fat-pipe relationships weren't - they were all competitive and thriving. Or at least that's what people thought. Over the last couple of days I've been looking around trying to figure out what the facts are about backbones and peering. It seems that we don't even know what we don't know.. http://www.circleid.com/posts/79512_backbones_peering_points/ InternetNZ to host APNIC meeting [news release] InternetNZ (The Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) has won the right to host a meeting of APNIC (the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre) next August. ... The meeting will be held at the Christchurch Convention Centre from August 26 - 29, 2008 and will include a range of technical presentations, tutorials and special interest workshops, finishing with APNICs annual member meeting. http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/mediareleases/apnic Highway Africa Begins Next Week Over 500 delegates from across the continent are expected to gather at the 11th Highway Africa conference, in Grahamstown, from 9 to 12 September, says conference organizer Chris Kabwato. This year's conference will look at issues relating to Internet governance, ICT policy and media for democracy affecting Africa and the globe. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709070725.html http://www.ghanaian-chronicle.com/thestory.asp?id=3668 http://modernghana.com/GhanaHome/NewsArchive/news_details.asp?menu_id=1&id=VFZSUmVVNXFZekk9 Britain faces the broadband test What must change for Britain's infrastructure to cope with increased internet use? Barry Mansfield reports: One of the internet's founding fathers, Vint Cerf, predicted last week that television as we know it would soon be dead, and that an era of television-on-demand, downloaded directly from the internet, would become the norm. It has got internet service providers quaking in their boots. If increasing numbers of us start to use our internet connections to access feature-rich content, uploading and downloading large files on an almost-continuous basis, we will be putting a huge strain on the broadband infrastructure of this country. Indeed, the chief executive of internet service provider Tiscali recently suggested that broadband subscriptions may have to increase in order to support improvements to the network, and that "the internet was not set up with a view to distributing video". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/09/08/dlbroad08.xml Virtual Worlds Are The Future Of Global Commerce: ICANN CEO In a wide ranging keynote address at the 2007 Influence Forum, ICANN CEO Paul Twomey told the audience that virtual worlds are the future of global commerce. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/08/virtual-worlds-are-the-future-of-global-commerce-icann-ceo/ Vint Cerf On Bandwidth And The Future Of Internet Television Echoing what almost everyone is thinking these days, Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the internet, and now Googles vice president, thinks that television is dead and internet video delivery will soon be the norm. http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/vint-cert-on-ba.html TV's iPod moment? Last month, the British television industry belatedly joined in a ritual that has been performed by a variety of industries over the past decade. Pointing manically at the rising tide of digital technology, it shook itself awake, and demanded a little more panic. The occasion was the annual Edinburgh International Television Festival. The figure who did most to rouse the assembled producers and executives from their slumbers was Vint Cerf, Vice President of Google and Chair of ICANN. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/06/william_davies_panic_in_tvland/ ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** ********************** - DOMAIN SECURITY ********************** Who launched that attack? Commentary--Mass e-mailing is no longer hip for hackers. Spam attacks are now yesterdays news and have been replaced with targeted attacks. There are two predominant reasons for the switch: First, mass mailing malware is noisy and slow; it typically takes considerable time for an e-mail to work its way across the Internet. ... Second, using a broad and unqualified e-mail address list may generate a few hits for a hacker--but for the most part it delivers lots of misses. http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-163227.html US tip-off foiled German bomb plot, reports say A tip-off from US intelligence helped to foil the terror bomb plot in Germany, it emerged yesterday. "The first piece of hard evidence on the bomb plot against American military and airbases in Germany was transmitted to the German authorities from American intelligence officials," Rolf Tophoven, director of the German institute for terrorist research and security policy, said. ... According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the US officials gave the Germans internet IP addresses - numbers that can help to locate a computer - and parts of names. http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,2164900,00.html Germans Say U.S. Officials Helped to Foil Bombing Plot The discovery of a plot to detonate powerful bombs in Germany this week was a result of close cooperation between American and German security officials, with intelligence passing back and forth between the two sides, German officials said Saturday. American intelligence was instrumental in first bringing the foiled plot to the attention of German intelligence and law enforcement officials, according to German and American officials. Interceptions of e-mail messages and telephone calls between Germany and both Pakistan and Turkey raised the initial red flags last year, they said. But the Americans also wanted to protect their sources, a German intelligence official said, which meant that the earliest warnings were vague. http://nytimes.com/2007/09/09/world/europe/09germany.html F.B.I. Data Mining Reached Beyond Initial Targets The F.B.I. cast a much wider net in its terrorism investigations than it has previously acknowledged by relying on telecommunications companies to analyze phone-call patterns of the associates of Americans who had come under suspicion, according to newly obtained bureau records. The documents indicate that the Federal Bureau of Investigation used secret demands for records to obtain data not only on individuals it saw as targets but also details on their community of interest the network of people that the target was in contact with. The bureau stopped the practice early this year in part because of broader questions raised about its aggressive use of the records demands, which are known as national security letters, officials said. http://nytimes.com/2007/09/09/washington/09fbi.html http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6206942.html http://futurezone.orf.at/it/stories/220441/ [German] ********************** - ICANN ********************** It's Time for Paul Twomey to Step Down as CEO of ICANN ... In it, Paul Twomey seems to pontificate about what the Internet is/does, broadcasting his "vision" for the benefit of the uninformed on Main Street (who likely have little clue about what ICANN does or how the Internet works). Reading this, I couldn't help but be struck that Paul has so insulated himself from the reality of the Internet that he's drwaing on a whisp of 'virtual reality' to describe the direction it's going. I began to reflect on Paul Twomey's tenure as CEO of ICANN. Has he done that great a job? Could the organization have done just as well without him? Should we be satisfied with this level of public service? Don't get me wrong, Paul looks and talks the part. He has been a fine bureaucrat, but ICANN needs a leader who can do better than simply react and fill the vacuum. The organization needs more of a MacArthur or a Mulholland and less of a Gerald Ford. http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/09/its-time-for-pa.html ICANN Solicits Candidates to Develop Request for Proposals for New gTLDs ICANN is posting this statement of work as part of its anticipated program for delegation of new generic top-level domains. ICANN is seeking to engage a provider to develop in detail important portions of the new gTLD evaluation process. That is, the selected provider will develop the new gTLD request for proposals (RFP) process and document. This will become the process that applicants for new gTLDs will follow and that will describe the evaluation process of those applications. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-06sep07.htm ICANN Completes Renewal of Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel ICANN is pleased to announce that 23 members of the Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel (RSTEP) have agreed to serve for an additional year. On 30 August 2006, ICANN announced the original members of the RSTEP, the panel of technical experts created to provide guidance to ICANN on security and stability issues during the review of registry services proposals under the Registry Services Evaluation Policy. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-3-06sep07.htm ICANN Posts Communication from the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Regarding its Sponsorship of the .POST Top-Level Domain The communication (linked from ICANN posting) from the UPU describes aspects of its intended sponsorship of the .POST sponsored top-level domain. ICANN and the UPU have entered into negotiations intended to result in the delegation of the .POST registry. This outreach by the UPU is intended to inform the community about proposed aspects of the UPUs business model and requested contractual agreement. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-06sep07.htm ********************** - (cc)TLD NEWS ********************** Alternative Dispute Resolution for .eu Domain Names (reg req'd) ... Regardless of this quantitative success, the introduction of .eu was, above all, characterized by its extremely formalistic "Sunrise Period," which initially was meant to protect trademark owners, but actually allowed domain name grabbers to profit from bureaucratic mistakes both in the complex and often inconsistent legal framework provided by the European Commission as well from simple formal mistakes by the applicants themselves. Moreover, since the start of the subsequent "Landrush Period," on April 7, 2006, which now allows the registration of .eu domain names to any interested party with legal domicile within the European Union, a significant percentage of the 2.4 million registrations again were registered by professional cyber-squatters. As a result, many trademark owners still seek to register the .eu domain name of their first choice. They have realized that domain name matters should not always be left with IT departments, but from time to time require professional legal assistance. http://mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=52042 Launch of Official .ae Domain Administration website The .ae Domain Administration (.aeDA) today launched its website which will become the definitive and authoritive resource for all facets of the Domain Name Industry. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the United Arab Emirates has endorsed the .aeDA to manage the .ae domain name on behalf of all domain name owners and internet users both in the country and worldwide. http://aeda.ae/news2.html 'The Browser' - InternetNZ's monthly newsletter The August 2007 issue of 'The Browser' is now available. Topics covered include the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 and and the ISP Spam Code of Practice; .nz at APTLD Solomon Islands; IPv6 workshop on insights into IPv6; honouring Peter Macaulay and Judy Speight for their ongoing efforts in helping to bridge New Zealands digital divide and RMC Policy Review. http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/browser/ .SE opens the .se-domain to more languages [news release] Starting today, it is possible to register .se domain names written in any of Swedens five official minority languages, as well as Danish, Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian. The first domain name registered under the new rules was "hør.se", soon to be followed by the first domain name written in Yiddish: "????.se". http://iis.se/english/nyheter/news/2007-09-06 Gävle becomes Swedens first city to use DNSSEC Gävle becomes the first city in Sweden, and probably also in the world, to utilize secure DNS resolution (DNSSEC). The new service was deployed this week and its main purpose is to secure remote logins from employees of Gävle municipality. http://iis.se/english/nyheter/news/2007-09-04 The Punt VL fallacy by by Patrick Vande Walle There is a some parrallel that can be drawn between the current dispute on the .EH TLD for Western Sahara and the .VL application. In both cases, the process is being used for political purposes to serve a goal for autonomity or independence. I am not taking sides on the .EH issue, as I do not feel I have enough information to have a meaningful opinion. On .VL however, I think that the 20+ years I spent in Flanders can give me enough background. http://patrick.vande-walle.eu/internet/the-punt-vl-fallacy/ ********************** - DOMAIN DISPUTES ********************** Fraudster Who Impersonated a Lawyer to Steal Domain Names Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud A Nevada man pleaded guilty Thursday to his plotting to steal URLs from their legitimate owners by impersonating a California intellectual property lawyer and send threatening letters to domain name owners in hopes of convincing them to turn over the domains to him. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/09/fraudster-who-i.html http://www.circleid.com/posts/79713_lawyer_domain_registrant_guilty/ http://linuxelectrons.com/news/general/11794/fradulent-e-mail-causes-some-surrender-domain-names http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/7949 us: Nevada man charged with impersonating attorney to gain control of domains with threats of lawsuits [news release] A Las Vegas man was charged in federal court today with wire fraud for impersonating an intellectual property lawyer and threatening lawsuits against the owners of Internet domain names. David Dominic Scali, 28, agreed to plead guilty to the wire fraud charge in a plea agreement also filed today in United States District Court in Los Angeles. http://lawfuel.com/show-release.asp?ID=14827 The Hubbub Over Hulu In March, News Corp. and NBC Universal made an announcement akin to an end-of-season cliffhanger. The media titans were teaming up to bring the best of prime-time TV and other high-quality programming to a new Web site they would develop together. The site didn't have a name. The shows it would feature were not yet known. The launch date was to be determined. But, if all went according to plan, executives promised the site would change the online video landscape. Just stay tuned, they said. http://businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2007/tc20070829_979664.htm Lulu site sues News Corp Self-publishing site Lulu.com initiated legal action for trademark infringement today against News Corporation and NBC Universal over their joint venture video site - which they christened Hulu.com. Lulu alleged that the two media giants have tried to create confusion in the marketplace with their choice of domain name. http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2163938,00.html Battle of the ulu.com's: Lulu.com vs. Hulu.com This case could surely elicit some giggles from the rhyme police. Lulu.com said Wednesday that it has filed suit against Hulu.com for trademark infringement on the grounds that the two names and business models are too similar and will create confusion in the market. http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9772407-7.html Lulu files suit for trademark infringement, cyber piracy ... In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Raleigh, Morrisville-based Lulu claims that a joint venture from NBC-News Corp. known as Hulu.com effectively copies its Internet domain name and online publishing and distribution strategy for books, music, video and other media. http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/694177.html http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=133376 http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201804724 http://multichannel.com/article/CA6476137.html http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/09/lulu-files-suit.html http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003636047 us: Whats in a name? Restaurant changes name in response to lawsuit ... Following a lawsuit filed by a restaurant and brewery company in Tennessee of the same name, Calhouns was forced to change its name. ... The complaint was made against the restaurant in downtown Harrisonburg by the Copper Cellar Corporation of Knoxville, Tenn. According to The Daily News-Record, Calhouns was sued for trademark infringement and dilution, unfair competition and cyber-squatting. http://www.thebreeze.org/2007/9-10/top2.html uk: Seed company celebrates domain name dispute victory Paignton-based international seed suppliers Suttons have won a battle to stop a Manchester man from laying claim to an internet domain name which could be taken as being theirs. Suttons Consumer Products Ltd, the company behind 200-year old Sutton Seeds, took action against Brendan Martin, of 2 Warren Drive, Altrincham, Greater Manchester after it learned he had registered the internet domain name www.suttonseeds.co.uk .Now the company, of Woodview Road, Paignton, which runs its own website at www.suttons.co.uk, has won a ruling from Nominet, the UK's internet domain name dispute resolution service, that Mr Martin's registration of the domain name was "abusive". http://thisissouthdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=134822&command=displayContent&sourceNode=237837&home=yes&more_nodeId1=134831&contentPK=18288919 No domain for Gul Panag Former Miss India and actor Gul Panag is having a difficult time getting back the domain name for her website. While she was one of the first actors to set up an official website (gulpanag.com) as early as 2001, it went defunct in 2002 as it wasnt renewed. Recently, when Gul wanted to revive the website, her Delhi-based partners demanded a whopping amount of US $20, 000 to give her the domain name. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/No_domain_for_Gul/articleshow/2348276.cms ph: Solon backs Legarda in fight against "sex portal" Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on information and communications technology, is supporting Sen. Loren Legarda in the war on computer pornography. "We wholly support the fight against online pornography," Santiago said not long after Legarda urged the Inter-Agency Council Against trafficking and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to crack down on what was claimed to be the country's top online porn portal. ... Santiago also said the NBI could find ways to remove the domain name with the help of Network Solutions Inc., a US company that registers and manages domain names. http://news.balita.ph/html/article.php/20070907175258562 http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=2590 Apple Doesnt Own iPodTouch.com Once again, Apple fails to secure domain name prior to product announcement. The world is buzzing about Apples latest product, the iPodTouch. But you wont find information about the new gadget at iPodTouch.com. That domain was registered by a man in Canada in 2005. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/09/07/apple-doesnt-own-ipodtouchcom/ ********************** - IPv4/IPv6 ********************** Global policy for the allocation of the remaining IPv4 address space: APNIC meeting presentation This proposal describes a process for the allocation of the remaining IPv4 space from IANA to the existing RIRs. http://www.apnic.net/docs/policy/proposals/prop-051-v001.html IPv4 address transfers: APNIC meeting presentation: APNIC meeting presentation This policy proposes removing APNIC policy restrictions on the transfer of registration of IPv4 address allocations and IPv4 portable address assignments between current APNIC account holders. http://www.apnic.net/docs/policy/proposals/prop-050-v001.html IANA policy for allocation of ASN blocks to RIRs: APNIC meeting presentation This proposal is to have a global policy for the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to receive blocks of Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) from the IANA. http://www.apnic.net/docs/policy/proposals/prop-049-v001.html APNIC policy proposals - APNIC 24 There are more policy proposals from APNIC 24 available, including IPv6 ULA-central, IPv4 countdown policy proposal, Proposal to remove reference to IPv6 policy document as an "interim" policy document and Proposal to change IPv6 initial allocation criteria. http://www.apnic.net/docs/policy/proposals/ ********************** - MISCELLANEOUS ********************** Netcraft September 2007 Web Server Survey In the September 2007 survey we received responses from 135,166,473 sites. This is an increase of 7.2 million sites since last month, the largest growth in the number of sites recorded by the survey. The rate of growth, around 5.5%, is high but not exceptional by historical standards. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/09/03/september_2007_web_server_survey.html Building your own website - excessive fees in Papua New Guinea Several companies and individuals in Papua New Guinea are profiteering from the ignorance of our little people by charging them huge amounts of money to build a website for their small businesses. And after being ripped off by these companies, the little people then feel the brunt of paying excessive fees for a domain name, regular rental to the ISP, as well as Internet usage fees to Telikom. http://www.thenational.com.pg/091007/w1.htm ********************** - DOMAIN SALES ********************** Los Angeles Domain-holder and Celebrity Photographer Fernando Escovar Reveals His Hand With Internet Domain Names ... At first, Escovar didnt know could buy more than one name, so he bought fotographs.com and then another and so on. Next thing I knew, I had over 3,000 domain names and it became an addiction to be searching for names and acquiring and even buying names on Ebay.com. http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/view_release.php?id=17582 ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ uk: An unholy alliance: Timothy Cox - 'the son of god', global paedophile ring mastermind Timothy Cox was a quiet, clean-cut 27-year-old who worked for his small family brewery in rural Suffolk. He was also 'the son of god' - the mastermind of a global paedophile ring. Mark Townsend investigates: They caught the Son of God red-handed, in his pyjamas, while presiding over the most heinous online paedophile ring the police have yet uncovered. In his final moments of freedom, Timothy David Martyn Cox would have felt untouchable. Obsessed with being caught, Cox, 27, had only to press a button and his chat-room of child abusers would vanish without trace. Then, one morning last September, armed police burst through his bedroom window. As Cox spun round, officers forced him to the floor of his parents' farmhouse in rural Suffolk. The largest international investigation of its kind had snared its precocious ringleader. Those tasked with examining the evidence inside his computer would soon require counselling. Tired of trading in pictures of abuse, Cox had created a worldwide nexus of actual abusers. Babies as young as two months were raped live via webcam before a global audience. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2163408,00.html au: NetAlert package effective, says Coonan Federal Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan says checks had been completed on a government-funded internet filter and it had not been hacked into by a teenager last month. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/07/1188783474483.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/07/1188783474483.html au: Cybersmart Detectives: helping kids stay safe online [news release] School children from each state and territory will participate today in the Australian Communications and Media Authoritys online safety program, Cybersmart Detectives. ACMA will run the event in collaboration with Victoria Police, the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) and law enforcement agencies Australia wide. http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310631 uk: Internet controls or citizen service, rival leaders tackle child protection New controls may be needed to prevent the internet and video games from exposing children to harmful or inappropriate material, ministers indicated yesterday, as they appointed a TV psychologist to head an official inquiry. The prime minister, Gordon Brown, also launched a national consultation on the next decade of children's policy, underlining the government's determination to prevent Conservative claims of a "broken society" from taking hold after a spate of shootings and stabbings of young people. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2164203,00.html uk: Inquiry into safe net for children Tanya Byron, the clinical psychologist, is to head an inquiry into the impact of violent video games and internet pornography on children, ministers said today. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2402842.ece http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6982305.stm http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/tv+psychologist+heads+images+probe/772947 'Happy slapping' vids prompt Brown to push net filters The availability of gore and violence on the internet has prompted the UK Government to consider backing a campaign to encourage wider awareness and use of net-filtering software. Gordon Brown has ordered ministers to work with ISPs and media watchdog Ofcom to devise a strategy to regulate access to smut and violence online. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/04/net_filter_push/ ************************** ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL ************************** A US CERT reminder: The net is an insecure place If you use Gmail, eBay, MySpace, or any one of dozens of other web-based services, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team wants you to know you're vulnerable to a simple attack that could give an attacker complete control over your account. Five weeks after The Register reported this sad reality, US CERT on Friday warned that the problem still festers. It said the world's biggest websites have yet to fix the gaping security bug, which can bite even careful users who only log in using the secure sockets layer protocol, which is denoted by an HTTPS in the beginning of browser address window. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/08/security_group_warns_of_web_vulnerabity/ A crime is committed online every 10 seconds in UK, say criminologists More than three million online crimes were carried out last year, according to estimates published today. These included more than 200,000 cases of financial fraud, twice the official number of real-world robberies carried out during the same period. http://out-law.com/page-8450 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/07/1188783449780.html [AFP] US tip-off foiled German bomb plot, reports say A tip-off from US intelligence helped to foil the terror bomb plot in Germany, it emerged yesterday. "The first piece of hard evidence on the bomb plot against American military and airbases in Germany was transmitted to the German authorities from American intelligence officials," Rolf Tophoven, director of the German institute for terrorist research and security policy, said. ... According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the US officials gave the Germans internet IP addresses - numbers that can help to locate a computer - and parts of names. http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,2164900,00.html German Investigators Are Building Case Against Others Implicated in Foiled Plot ... Wolfgang Schäuble, the conservative federal interior minister, who for months has called for tougher security measures, made it clear this week that he wanted to expand investigators reach using highly debated techniques. The techniques include sending fake e-mail messages with Trojan horse viruses to suspects to help security agents conduct two types of searches: perusal and longer-term surveillance. Mr. Schäuble has also called for rules allowing investigators to ban some terrorist suspects from using mobile phones to undermine their ability to communicate, in a proposal that appears to be modeled on similar measures already in place in Britain, and for new powers to punish people who have been to camps where they are trained in terrorist methods to attack the West. http://nytimes.com/2007/09/07/world/europe/07germany.html ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** Legislation of INTERPOL member states on sexual offences against children In order to set up a base document regarding legislation of the member countries of the International Criminal Police Organization-INTERPOL on child sex abuse, INTERPOL asked member countries to provide us with a summary of the applicable legal texts regarding these offences. http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/Default.asp Judge Rules Feds Cannot Silence ISPs With Patriot Act A federal judge has struck down a component of the USA Patriot Act, saying the post-9/11 law violates constitutional principles by attempting to force third parties such as Internet service providers who receive demands for information without search warrants to keep silent about those inquiries. U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero handed a victory to Patriot Act opponents including the American Civil Liberties Union with the ruling, which was handed down on Thursday. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/KckCg9lpfVhtBC/Judge-Rules-Feds-Cannot-Silence-ISPs-With-Patriot-Act.xhtml us: Judge deals blow to Patriot Act A key portion of the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and violates Americans' free speech rights, a federal judge said Thursday in a case that could represent a bitter setback for the Bush administration's attempts to expand its surveillance powers. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the section of the Patriot Act that permits the FBI to send Internet service providers secret demands, called national security letters, for customer information violates the First Amendment and unreasonably curbs the authority of the judiciary. http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6206570.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6206570.html Judge Invalidates Patriot Act Provisions A federal judge struck down controversial portions of the USA Patriot Act in a ruling that declared them unconstitutional yesterday, ordering the FBI to stop its wide use of a warrantless tactic for obtaining e-mail and telephone data from private companies for counterterrorism investigations. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090601438.html ********************** INTERNET USE ********************** Comcast Shutting Down Big Downloaders The rapid growth of online videos, music and games has created a new Internet sin: using it too much. Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090602545.html Heavy Internet users unplugged by US cable company Several Internet users in the United States have been unplugged by their service provider because they download too much, a press report said here Friday. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/08/1188783547699.html ca: Caught in the throttle Having the highest-quality Internet connection is a must in today's world of teleworking and home-based businesses. Many businesses and workers rely on their Internet service providers to provide them with the high-speed service they pay for, but are ISPs delivering what they promise? As more and more Canadians begin using their high-speed Internet for applications that use a large amount of bandwidth, some ISPs are starting to pick and choose who gets full use of their high-speed access, while limiting or "de-prioritizing" others. http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/319629855570564.php Michael Geist's response to Caught in the Throttle ... What is a consumer to think when the company's website says nothing about the issue but promotes its services as offering "blistering speed for sharing large files and much more", while personnel alternately say that Rogers bandwidth shapes, doesn't traffic shape, prioritizes traffic, and/or reserves space for some traffic? http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2220/125/ ********************** SOCIAL NETWORKING ********************** Privacy fears as Facebook puts users details on search engines Facebook, the hugely popular social networking site, risks provoking anger from its users by opening up details of individuals to the web at large. A new public search feature will soon mean that basic Facebook user profiles carrying names and photographs of the sites members are accessible through search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2395582.ece uk: Hospital bans Facebook after computer slowdown Staff at a Kent hospital have been banned from using the Facebook website because social networking during working hours has been slowing down the NHS trust's computer systems. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2163184,00.html http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2163308,00.html Social networking sites take notice of seniors Silicon Valley's Next New Thing? Old people. Technology investors and entrepreneurs, long obsessed with connecting to teenagers and 20-somethings, are starting a host of new social networking sites targeting their parents and grandparents. The sites have names like Eons, Rezoom, Multiply, Maya's Mom, Boomj and Boomertown. Think Facebook with wrinkles. http://iht.com/articles/2007/09/06/technology/websocial.php ********************** NEW TECHNOLOGIES ********************** Germany warns citizens to avoid using Wi-Fi People should avoid using Wi-Fi wherever possible because of the risks it may pose to health, the German government's Environment Ministry has said. Its surprise ruling - the most damning made by any government on the fast-growing technology - will shake the industry and British ministers, and vindicates the questions that The Independent on Sunday has been raising over the past four months. http://environment.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/article2944417.ece Telecom Future In India And China India and China are top of the class when it comes to global telecom growth rates, with a total of 200 million subscribers between them in the first quarter of 2007, according to a UN report. Some 61% of the worlds mobile subscribers are in developing countries, fueled by countries like Brazil, China, India and Russia, said the report, from the International Telecommunications Union. http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/09/06/india-china-telecom-markets-equity-cx_rd_0906markets18.html Mobile television Screen test: Lessons from South Korea's experiment with mobile TV Ride on the Seoul metro or take a bus around the city's streets and you will see passengers gazing at their mobile phones with rapt attention, earplugs firmly in place. They are watching television. Since the first services were launched in 2005, mobile-TV services have garnered over 7.5m customers. The signals are delivered via terrestrial and satellite broadcasts, a far more efficient approach than sending individual data streams to each viewer's handset, as is mostly done in other countries. http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9767747 Techies Ponder Ever Smarter Computers Futurists argue information technology is hurtling toward a point where machines will become smarter than their makers. If that happens, it will alter what it means to be human in ways almost impossible to conceive, they say. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090801780.html ********************** SPAM ********************** Still growing, spam is now 83% of all e-mail It may sound like a broken record, but spam continues to do just that -- break records. Unwanted commercial e-mail is growing by electronic leaps and bounds: An Internet-buckling 60 billion to 150 billion messages per day. Put another way: A whopping 83% of all e-mail comes from suspicious Internet addresses. Spam is up 100% from a year ago because "there still is money to be made from marketing Viagra and get-rich-quick schemes," says David Mayer, a product manager at e-mail security firm IronPort Systems, the Cisco Systems division that sponsored the report. http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/ nz: ISPs will cut services to spammers under voluntary code With introduction of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act today, Internet Service Providers are also being asked to sign a voluntary code of practice to help stem the floods of spam reaching Kiwi inboxes. http://net4now.com/isp_news/news_article.asp?News_ID=4819 http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/1334494 us: Four Guilty In E-Mail Pump-And-Dump Case That Netted $20 Million Four men pleaded guilty to running an e-mail pump-and-dump scam that involved 15 different publicly traded companies and defrauded investors of more than $20 million. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201804792 us: Porn spammers' guilty verdict upheld If you received porn spam a few years ago, there's a reasonable chance Jeffrey Kilbride, a California resident, and James Schaffer, an Arizona resident, are to blame. The duo made millions with a simple business model: Churning out unsolicited junk e-mail with pornographic photos. ... Enter the federal Can-Spam Act, which took effect on January 1, 2004. It legalized spam but at least required that spammers follow certain rules. Kilbride and Schaffer didn't. http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6206690.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6206690.html ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* All sides await verdict in Microsoft-EU case Nine years after it began, Microsoft's legal battle with Europe's competition regulator will reach a climax next week with a ruling as eagerly awaited as almost any in European legal history. http://iht.com/articles/2007/09/09/business/msft10.php Web rivals plot the answer to Wikipedia A project has been set up with the aim of usurping Wikipedia as the webs leading reference work. Like its rival, the Citizendium site will solicit input from the public. But in a departure from the standard wiki model, it will be directed by expert editors, and contributors will be expected to use their real names. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2409783.ece au: Digital literacy in a knowledge economy There has been much comment recently on Kevin Rudd's proposal to fast-track broadband infrastructure in Australia. Even the Government thinks this is a good idea. The only difference between the parties is whether it should be supported with public as well as private finance. Not much of the debate has been concerned with what Australians might do with their digital capability once they've got it. Even less thought seems to have gone into how they - or rather we - will acquire the skills and motivations required to benefit fully from this new toy. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/10/2028137.htm Can Michael Dell Refocus His Namesake? On a recent afternoon at his companys headquarters here, Michael S. Dell is seated in a spacious conference room named Dobie Hall in honor of the University of Texas dormitory where, in 1984, he started the computer giant that bears his name. He boasts that Dell Inc. has just reported quarterly profits that exceeded Wall Street projections. Its an encouraging sign, he says, that the company buffeted by high-profile production problems and accounting shenanigans is finally regaining momentum. http://nytimes.com/2007/09/09/technology/09dell.html ********************** TELECOMMUNICATIONS ********************** au: OPEL network gets go-ahead The federal Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts has approved the funding agreement for a new national wireless and wired broadband network with OPEL Networks. http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;244493164;fp;2;fpid;1 ********************** MOBILE/WIRELESS ********************** us: The High-Stakes Debate Over Wireless Broadband "The Great White Space Debate" may be unfamiliar to most small business owners, and to most people for that matter. But its outcome could have a profound impact on e-commerce and the future of telecommunications and the Internet. http://nytimes.com/allbusiness/07girard.html Mobile phone technology turns 20 The international agreement that gave birth to mobile networks is 20 years old this weekend. On 7 September 1987, 15 phone firms signed an agreement to build mobile networks based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6983869.stm +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sick of deleting your inbox? Yahoo!7 Mail has free unlimited storage. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- List policy, unsubscribing and archives => http://dotau.org/
