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Kiters put the wind up web address system
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20411-2503198,00.html

The Great Internet Brand Rip-Off
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2006/tc20061215_022904.htm

ICANN Awards NeuStar Control Over .biz Registry Until
2012
http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196604324

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DOMAIN NAMES
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Kiters put the wind up web address system
A new type of cyber-squatting which allows
opportunists to occupy web addresses without paying
for them is creating havoc for internet chiefs.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20411-2503198,00.html

ICANN on Kiting/Tasting by Bret Fausett
Here's a pointed article from the Times Online: "A new
type of cyber-squatting which allows opportunists to
occupy web addresses without paying for them is
creating havoc for internet chiefs....As many as five
million domain names are registered each year by
domain name kiters, according to the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),
which assigns web addresses." The article includes
quotes from ICANN's Paul Twomey and NetNames' Jonathan
Robinson.
http://blog.lextext.com/blog/_archives/2006/12/14/2573427.html

The Great Internet Brand Rip-Off
The growing practice of "domain tasting" is creating
junk Web sites and headaches for companies: Sarah
Deutsch is steaming. The attorney for Verizon
Communications (VZ) regularly scours the Web from her
Arlington (Va.) office and finds hundreds of new sites
that use variations of Verizon's name. A mid-December
browse uncovers a constellation of Verizon-inspired
domains such as verizonpicture.com,
vorizonringtone.com, and varizoncellularphone.com.
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2006/tc20061215_022904.htm
http://www.circleid.com/posts/domain_tasting_in_spotlight/

ICANN Awards NeuStar Control Over .biz Registry Until
2012
The agreement gives NeuStar leeway to raise prices of
not more than 10% a year, as long as domain
registrants are informed of planned increases six
months in advance.
http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196604324

Closing China's Internet gap: Kennedy Wong says its
time Hong Kong helped China get Chinese language on
the Web
The so-called Olympic Games of the telecommunications
industry -- the International Telecommunication Union
Telecom World -- was held in Hong Kong last week.
Opening ceremony guest Wu Bangguo , chairman of the
National People's Congress, noted that it was the
first time in 36 years that the triennial event had
been held in a city other than Geneva. This was a
clear sign that the telecommunications sector
worldwide had a positive outlook for Hong Kong and the
mainland, he said.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=59608

AFNIC and DNS Server Redelegation by Brendan Becker
As an American, I could go for the ignorant
stereotyping of the French. But being the good global
citizen I try to be, I?ll just see if someone can tell
me if I?m missing something here, or if indeed AFNIC
has lost its mind. 
http://www.circleid.com/posts/afnic_dns_server_redelegation/

More skeletons in ICANN's closet by Edward Hasbrouck
(blog)
Every time we pry open another of ICANN's doors, we
find another skeleton in their closet -- and more
evidence of why ICANN is so desperate to avoid
openness, transparency, or accountability. Yesterday,
18 months after the fact, ICANN finally posted its
official response to my request for reconsideration of
16 May 2005.
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001196.html

Post post - Susan Crawford following up on the ICANN
S?o Paulo meeting
Back in NYC, finally, after a long and remarkably
low-energy board meeting on Friday.  We have a new
Vice Chair, Roberto Gaetano, and a shared commitment
to make the transition to a new Chair by the end of
next year -- this is Vint Cerf's last year as an ICANN
board member.
http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/12/10/2563686.html

ICANN: Reminder of Request for Comments on ICANN
Accountability and Transparency Management Operating
Principles
On 16 October ICANN posted an announcement seeking
community input on the development of Transparency and
Accountability Management Operating Principles. The
comment period will close on 31 December and ICANN
encourages members of the community respond to this
very important issue.
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-14dec06.htm

ICANN Formalizes Relationship with ccTLD Manager for
Finland
ICANN has announced today that it has signed an
exchange of letters with the country code top level
domain (ccTLD) manager for .fi--Finland, the Finnish
Communications Regulatory Authority.
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-15dec06.htm

au: 2007 Names Policy Panel call for nominations
auDA invites people with an interest in Australian
(.au) domain name issues to nominate for the 2007
Names Policy Panel.
http://auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-15122006/

Beijing Olympics Use .cn Domain Name Instead of .com
The 29th Olympic Games has used beijing2008.cn instead
of beijing2008.com as their official website. When
people visit www.beijing2008.com they'll be redirected
to www.beijing2008.cn. It's the first time in Olympic
history that a non-.com domain name has been used for
the official website.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/olympic/192397.htm

December 2006 Web Server Survey
In the December 2006 survey we received responses from
105,244,649 sites, an increase of 3.8 million
hostnames from last month, when the survey topped 100
million sites for the first time. The increase brings
the Web's total growth for 2006 to 30.9 million sites,
shattering the previous one-year record gain of 17.5
million sites from 2005.
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2006/12/05/december_2006_web_server_survey.html

The VoIP Peering Puzzle: Implementing ENUM
In VoIP PLanet's last two tutorials, we examined the
theory and principles of ENUM?the Electronic Numbering
system that has been developed by the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF), in concert with other
standards organizations, such as the ITU-T.
http://www.voipplanet.com/backgrounders/article.php/3648911

Swedish alphabet poses sex problems for ski site
Unsuspecting web-surfers seeking information about the
forthcoming Alpine World Ski Championships in ?re have
been running the risk of an accidental encounter with
hardcore pornography. Upon its foundation the company
responsible for organising the competition, ?re 2007
AB, quickly registered the domain name are2007.com. In
a bid to ward off any eventual hijacking attempts they
also secured the rights to eleven other, similar
names.
http://www.thelocal.se/5790/20061213/

Google puts the domain in Apps for Your Domain
Google is beefing up its Google Apps for Your Domain
package of Web-based applications by including domain
name registration services.
http://news.com.com/2110-1038_3-6143971.html
http://infoworld.com/article/06/12/14/HNgoogledomain_1.html

Google starts selling $10 domain names
For $US10 a year, Google sells web addresses ending in
.com, .org, .net, .biz, and .info. The domain names
are for use with Google Apps for Your Domain, a free
hosting service targeted at small businesses.
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/8135/53/

Google Gets Into Web Site Registration (AP)
Google Inc. on Friday will join the crowded field of
services registering Web site addresses in a move
aimed at encouraging more usage of the online search
leader's free software products.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GOOGLE_DOMAINS
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/12/15/1166162311304.html

Internet Domain Name Aftermarket Growing to Gigantic
Proportions press release
The real estate boom isn't over; it has simply shifted
online with market speculators now buying, selling and
renting online properties.
http://web-sites-internet.press-world.com/v/75906/internet-domain-name-aftermarket-growing-to-gigantic-proportions.html

Russian vodka maker buys Vodka.com domain for $3 mln
(Reuters)
The billionaire Russian entrepreneur behind Russia's
biggest vodka maker has paid $3 million (1.53 million
pounds) to acquire the vodka.com domain, part of a bid
to expand into the U.S. market, a broker said on
Thursday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121500456.html
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-12-14T235126Z_01_N14393671_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-UK-INTERNET-VODKA.XML

Statement regarding allegations about the EGM
Nominet strongly refutes allegations made about the
vote at our recent EGM: At our Extraordinary General
Meeting on 22 November 2006 over 90% of members' votes
cast were in favour of the resolution to expand our
scope, enabling us to bid to run other Internet
registry services, such as UK ENUM.  Our members also
voted in favour of enabling electronic voting and
communication, to enable simplified voting and
increased participation.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=3392

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East 2006: How Domain History was Made
at the Westin Diplomat  
The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East 2006 Domain Conference ended
Saturday (Oct. 28) in Hollywood, Florida and by all
accounts this 6th event in the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. series
was the best one yet. The approximately 500 attendees
were wowed by the new venue (the plush Westin Diplomat
Hotel with roomy conference facilities directly
overlooking the Atlantic Ocean), a string of
informative seminars (including a face to face meeting
with Madison Avenue) and the biggest live domain
auction ever held. The show also served as the
launching pad for a long awaited non-profit
organization devoted to protecting domain owner?s
rights (that bill being filled by the Internet
Commerce Association)
http://dnjournal.com/cover/2006/november.htm

French consumers apply for over 120,000 .fr domain
names (sub req'd)
http://www.telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=151801&nr=

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OTHER INTERNET NEWS
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us: NY pension funds press big Web companies on rights
(Reuters)
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-12-15T134302Z_01_N14455406_RTRUKOC_0_US-INTERNET-RIGHTS-FUNDS.xml

uk: Ban on possession of child abuse images planned
The British government plans to ban the possession of
computer-generated images of child abuse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1971270,00.html

nz: Warning on dangers of text messages
Police are urging parents to warn children of the
dangers of text messaging after the arrest of a
Central Otago man charged with sexual grooming.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10415501

nz: Parents warned over cell phone use
A warning has been issued from internet safety groups
after an Alexandra man was charged with sexual
grooming of a 14-year-old via text message.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411416/934234
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/default.aspx?id=68578

uk: Major decision edges towards privacy law
The UK is edging towards having an effective privacy
law following a landmark ruling in the Appeals Court.
Folk singer Loreena McKennitt has successfully
thwarted an appeal from the author of a book that
McKennitt said violated her privacy rights.
http://out-law.com/page-7581

Virtually Addicted
A lawsuit against IBM is reviving debate over whether
Web overuse may be classified as an addiction. The
answer will have big implications for business: By his
own admission, James Pacenza was spending too much
time in Internet chat rooms, in some of them
discussing sex. He goes so far as to call his interest
in inappropriate Web sites a form of addiction that
stems from the posttraumatic stress disorder he's
suffered since returning from Vietnam. Whatever it's
called, Pacenza's chat-room habit cost him his job.
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2006/tc20061214_422859.htm

Quiz: Are You a Net Addict?
How do you know if you're already addicted or rapidly
tumbling toward trouble? Find out by taking the
Internet Addiction Test
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/12/1214_internetquiz/index_01.htm

fi: Changes to Act on Protection of Privacy in
Electronic Communications postponed
The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications
has during 2006 prepared a draft Bill to amend the Act
on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic
Communications (516/2004). The aim of the contemplated
law reform has been to specify and clarify the rights
of companies to process e-mail identification data.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1633

Startup Makes Spammers Pay
If you've ever wished you could bill spammers for the
time spent reading and deleting unsolicited e-mail
pitches, your day has come. A new e-mail-forwarding
service hopes to make senders pay for access to your
eyeballs, and is offering you a piece of the action.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72288-0.html

Microsoft wins ruling to ban spam list sales
Microsoft has stopped a man from selling lists of
email addresses which were being used for spam. A
court has granted a summary judgment against Paul
Martin McDonald, stopping him from selling the lists.
http://out-law.com/page-7580

au: Broadband take-up takes off
Broadband take-up by Australian households is rising
rapidly, with the number of connections almost
doubling in the year to June 2006, according to the
ABS.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/12/15/1165685879522.html

au: Household Use of Information Technology (news
release)
In 2005-06, 60% of Australian households had home
Internet access and 70% had access to a home computer.
During 2005-06, whilst the proportion of households
with access to the Internet increased by 4 percentage
points, in the same period, the proportion of
households with access to a computer increased by 3
percentage points.
http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs§.nsf/ProductsbyReleaseDate/ACC2D18CC958BC7BCA2568A9001393AE

Firefox Share Gains Slightly in Study (AP)
Mozilla's Firefox Web browser edged up slightly in
usage at the expense of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet
Explorer, commanding nearly 11 percent of the U.S.
market on a typical weekday, according to research by
WebSideStory.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BROWSER_SHARE
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/16241144.htm

Firefox 3.0 to renew assault on Microsoft
Revamped Firefox 3.0 expected next year, as figures
show 2.0 has 22% of European market
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2503196,00.html

China tightens control over online music (AP)
China is tightening control over its online music and
game industries, ordering distributors to submit all
imported products for approval by official censors,
the government said Tuesday.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/16223497.htm

German court rules SanDisk MP3 player seizure lawful
A German court has ruled that local Public Prosecution
officers were right to seize SanDisk digital music
players at the IFA consumer electronics show held in
Berlin last September. SanDisk's players are accused
of incorporating without permission technology owned
by a number of European firms.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/15/german_court_rules_on_sansa_snatch/

Bitten By The Google Spider
Google giveth, and Google taketh away. Kris Jones'
shopping-review Web site, MarketShareBuilders.com,
used to earn $15,000 to $20,000 a month by drawing
traffic with Google advertising and linking customers
with online merchants. Then one day last July, Jones
got an unpleasant surprise: Google hiked his
advertising price rates from about 35 cents per click
to $10.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/06/internet-advertising-search-tech_cx_ag_1207google.html

au: Free-to-air copping a download
AUSTRALIA'S $3.5 billion free-to-air commercial
television industry is being threatened by the
internet more quickly than expected, with a new online
study showing 53 per cent of respondents regularly
download TV shows from the internet, most of them
illegally.
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20922899%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

nz: InternetNZ welcomes passage of Telecommunications
Amendment Bill (news release)
InternetNZ today welcomes the 119-2 vote in Parliament
today to pass the Telecommunications Amendment Bill,
and congratulates all parties who voted for the
measure for their support of a better regulatory
framework for telecommunications in New Zealand.
http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/AmendmentBillPass

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Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and
BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>.

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(c) David Goldstein 2006

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David Goldstein
 address: 4/3 Abbott Street
           COOGEE NSW 2034
           AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David &#167;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

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