Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the most recent edition of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online! Headlines from the most recent edition of the news include: Internet Governance Forum in November to address access, security issues, UN official says | IGF Preparatory Meeting: A Score Draw in Geneva | PINA convention looks at regional internet issues | Sex.com and a web of intrigue | RegisterFly domain transfer imminent, ICANN reports | NZ second most favoured target for cyber-vandalism | au: Turkish hackers target Aussie websites The domain name news is supported by auDA. And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for regular updates in between postings. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Impending Internet Address Shortage http://informationweek.com/research/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199700668 ASIAN POP: Dot Community http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/05/22/apop.DTL au: Domain name deregulation is 'damaging' (AAP) http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/22/1179601392763.html au: Melbourne IT expects to do 150% better in first half http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/22/1179601410430.html au: Will Helen Coonan hurt Malcolm Turnbull?s Melbourne IT investment? by Stephen Mayne http://www.crikey.com.au/Business/20070523-Will-Helen-Coonan-hurt-Malcolm-Turnbulls-Melbourne-IT-investment-.html au: Latest reports on Jobs.com.au domain name sale http://blog.nowhiring.com.au/index.php/2007/05/22/latest-reports-on-jobscomau-domain-name-sale/ DHS publishes sector-specific protection plan for IT infrastructure http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=disaster_recovery&articleId=9020680 Academic Group Releases Plan to Share Power Over Internet Root Zone Keys (news release) http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530190/ PPC Fraud: Every Click Counts...Or Does It? http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/article.php/3679166 Debate Over Confidentiality of Web Site Registration Information Continues http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1179751698776 ICANN Calls for Proposals to Host 2008 Meetings http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-23may07.htm Satisfaction with ICANN Wanes http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/21/satisfaction-with-icann-wanes/ The man who owns the Internet - the world's largest domainer http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/06/01/100050989/ ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** The Impending Internet Address Shortage Sometime in the next 6 years, the Internet will run out of space says Information Week. The impending crisis that many discuss can be easily averted through the migration to IPv6, and sooner rather than later. The Information Week article covers a number of issues. One is that holders of IP address blocs awarded during the Internet's early days may be sitting on a gold mine because they're not bound by an ARIN contract, they're theoretically free to sell their IP numbers. They haven't done so because, among other things, there's no money in it at the moment. But if the IPv6 migration continues to lag and IP addresses become scarce, holders of legacy IP address blocs could find it profitable to sell their numbers. The article concludes noting ?One controversial method for dealing with the IP address shortage has been the increasing use of Network Address Translation (NAT), which effectively creates a private network within a given IP address. ... So perhaps the Net of the future might evolve as an IPv4 public mesh connecting private spaces behind NATs. For that we have enough IPv4 space for decades.? The article notes this scenario runs into trouble when those private spaces try to directly interconnect. http://informationweek.com/research/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199700668 http://crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=81716 http://www.circleid.com/posts/arin_faster_migration_ipv6/ ASIAN POP: Dot Community The impending launch of .asia is covered by the San Francisco Chronicle. The article begins by asking ?Is .asia the harbinger of -- or a bridge to -- a new era of social, cultural and commercial cross-pollination on the world's fastest-growing and most populous continent?? The article notes .asia is the first TLD ?to be awarded to a transnational entity without some kind of a formal government structure.? While a large part of Europe, which uses .eu, has a common currency and government, none of this applies to Asia. The article notes Asia?s ?current status is probably best understood as a hybrid between concept and convenience. It's an oft-repeated cliche that there are ?no Asians in Asia,? because the continent's inhabitants represent such a wild cultural diversity and deeply competitive history that they have little incentive to embrace that kind of a pan-regional identity.? However the backers of .asia say the Internet itself is dramatic evidence of the overwhelming power of imagined concepts, once they've achieved sufficient grassroots support. Or ?put it another way: The entire Internet is dependent on the idea that if you believe something exists, it exists -- even if you can't touch it, hold it or visit it in person. ... And that's why the symbolic importance of giving the continent of Asia its own designated neck of the 'netwoods can't be denied.? As the article notes ?over 60% of the world's population and 90 languages reside in Asia ... NOW is the time for the Asian community to establish its own identity on the Internet.? http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/05/22/apop.DTL http://www.circleid.com/posts/dot_asia_first_tld_transnational/ au: Domain name deregulation is 'damaging' (AAP) Australia's biggest domain name registry, Melbourne IT Ltd, has warned further deregulation of the market would damage the quality of Australian internet addresses. The comments by Melbourne IT chief executive Theo Hnarakis come as a review gets underway into the way domain names are registered and transferred by the domain name regulator - auDA. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/22/1179601392763.html http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21778507-643,00.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/22/1179601392763.html http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=268666 http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/20072422-e67.html http://au.news.yahoo.com/070522/2/13j7x.html au: Melbourne IT expects to do 150% better in first half Melbourne IT has begun 2007 well, with expectations that first-half earnings will improve 150 per cent over the same period last year. But Australia's biggest domain name registrar said yesterday further deregulation of the market could seriously damage the quality of Australian internet addresses. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/22/1179601410430.html http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/bm/business/794083.html au: Will Helen Coonan hurt Malcolm Turnbull?s Melbourne IT investment? by Stephen Mayne As Malcolm Turnbull contemplates the reality of losing his seat in the forthcoming Labor landslide, he should take some solace from the performance of his investment portfolio. Malcolm?s largest stake in a listed company suterged above $20 million today after Melbourne IT delivered an upbeat message at yesterday?s AGM in Melbourne. ... However, the company is still nervous about pending deregulation of the Australian domain name system. There?s a pretty s-xy story on all this, but only AAP covered it at the bottom of its AGM report. I asked Theo where the political power lay in terms of any decision to deregulate a system that is profitable for Melbourne IT because it doesn?t permit on-selling and only allows applicants to lease domains which have to be renewed each 12 months. http://www.crikey.com.au/Business/20070523-Will-Helen-Coonan-hurt-Malcolm-Turnbulls-Melbourne-IT-investment-.html MelbourneIT to keep FTR Domain name registrar Melbourne IT has scrapped plans to sell the FTR court reporting software business it acquired when it snapped up Queensland web hosting company WebCentral for $64 million last year. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/22/1179601377900.html http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21774057%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e15306,00.html http://au.news.yahoo.com/070522/2/13j4i.html au: Latest reports on Jobs.com.au domain name sale The latest reports on the Jobs.com.au domain name sale are that final bids are now in and that the winning bid was apparently well over $500k. No confirmations on who the successful purchaser is although there are lots of rumours about Monsters and huge publishing houses and the like. http://blog.nowhiring.com.au/index.php/2007/05/22/latest-reports-on-jobscomau-domain-name-sale/ DHS publishes sector-specific protection plan for IT infrastructure The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a broad blueprint of actions that technology companies and government entities can take to mitigate terrorist and other threats against the nation's IT infrastructure. The plans are designed to help infrastructure stakeholders in each area to identify and prioritize key assets that need to be protected and to provide recommendations on how to go about doing that. The stakeholders in the IT sector include hardware and software companies, network and security vendors, Domain Name System and TLD operators and ISPs. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=disaster_recovery&articleId=9020680 Academic Group Releases Plan to Share Power Over Internet Root Zone Keys (news release) A group of scholars centered at Syracuse University has published a plan to decentralize authority over the DNS as it transitions to a new, more secure technology known as DNSSEC. http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530190/ http://yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_57449.shtml PPC Fraud: Every Click Counts...Or Does It? Paid Internet advertising has soared in recent years, and it appears there's no end in sight for this trend. According to research by J.P. Morgan, spending on all forms of online advertising will reach $19.2 billion in 2007, with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising at Google, Yahoo and the other major search engines accounting for half, or $9.6 billion. http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/article.php/3679166 Debate Over Confidentiality of Web Site Registration Information Continues Privacy advocates will have to wait a little longer before they can rest assured that most Web site registration information will be kept confidential. In late March, an international council that oversees domain name registration created a study group to further review a system that another subcommittee had supported a few weeks earlier. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1179751698776 ICANN Calls for Proposals to Host 2008 Meetings ICANN is actively soliciting proposals from organisations seeking to host ICANN International Public Meetings in 2008. The ICANN Meetings Committee has previously agreed upon the following locations and dates: 10-15 February 2008, Asia Pacific; 22-27 June 2008, Europe & 2-7 November 2008, Africa. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-23may07.htm ICANN?s At-Large Process: Exit, Without Voice by Wendy Seltzer ICANN seems to be out to re-prove Hirschman?s theories of exit, voice, and loyalty by driving all of its good people to exit rather than giving them meaningful voices. Thomas Roessler, a long-time advocate of individual users? interests on the interim ALAC now suggests it?s Time to Reconsider the structure of ICANN?s At-Large, as he feels compelled to promise himself not to get involved with ICANN again. http://www.circleid.com/posts/icanns_at_large_exit_without_voice/ Satisfaction with ICANN Wanes ICANN, the global coordinator of the Internet?s domain name system, is losing popularity. Approval of ICANN has waned in the past year, according to the 2007 Domain Name Wire survey. Only 24% of survey respondents approve of ICANN, down from 33% last year. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/21/satisfaction-with-icann-wanes/ RegisterFly Update 22 May, 2007 ICANN has been advised of a deal to transfer all names in RegisterFly?s management from RegisterFly to an existing accredited Registrar with a demonstrated record of customer service. This would be a quick and effective solution to many of the problems that registrants are presently experiencing with RegisterFly. The deal, which has been confirmed with the registrar, is a commercial transaction (where the acquiring registrar has worked out a financial arrangement to take over names managed by RegisterFly). http://blog.icann.org/?p=130 ICANN Formalizes Relationship with ccTLD Manager for .br (Brazil) ICANN has announced today an exchange of letters with the ccTLD manager for .br -- Comite Gestor da Internet no Brasil (CGI.br) administered through NIC.br. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-22may07.htm ICANN Posts Proposed 2007-08 Budget In accordance with its bylaws, ICANN posted the Proposed Budget for fiscal year 2007-08 on 17 May 2007 and reposted version 1 on 23 May 2007 with minor modifications in descriptive text not effecting revenue or expenses. ICANN will hold a series of consultations and take public comment on this budget through the ICANN meeting in San Juan 23-29 June 2007. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-17may07.htm ICANN Seeks Escrow Provider for Whois Data When domain registrar RegisterFly?s crooked activities finally caught up to it, thousands of domain owners were left in no man?s land. They had difficulty transferring their domains to other registrars. Data about owners was lost and it became difficult for domain owners to get control of their domains. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/22/icann-seeks-escrow-provider-for-whois-data/ Tech Night Owl LIVE? looks ?massive failure? of registrar of Internet domains On the new Tech Night Owl LIVE podcast, host/pundit Gene Steinberg talks aboutmassive failure of a major registrar of Internet domain names with Justin from Registerflies.com. http://macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/tech_night_owl_live_looks_massive_failure_of_registrar_of_internet_domains The man who owns the Internet Kevin Ham is the most powerful dotcom mogul you've never heard of, reports Business 2.0 Magazine. Here's how the master of domains built a $300 million empire: Kevin Ham leans forward, sits up tall, closes his eyes, and begins to type -- into the air. He's seated along the rear wall of a packed ballroom in Las Vegas's Venetian Hotel. Up front, an auctioneer is running through a list of domain names, building excitement the same way he might if vintage cars were on the block. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/06/01/100050989/ http://www.circleid.com/posts/business_2_most_powerful_domainer/ http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/22/business-20-profiles-domain-name-moguls/ National Arbitration Forum Issues Three Decisions on Internet Domain Name Disputes (news release) The National Arbitration Forum recently issued decisions on three separate domain name disputes filed by Disney, Jimmy Buffett and Angels Baseball. "We continue to see a trend towards filing complaints under the UDRP, rather than lawsuits, for these Internet conflicts," said Kristine Dorrain, Internet Legal Counsel of the National Arbitration Forum. "We're on the way to surpassing last year's record-breaking domain name filings." In 2006, the National Arbitration Forum saw its largest filing year ever, marking a 21% increase over 2005. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/5/prweb528030.htm http://lawfuel.com/show-release.asp?ID=12503 Los Angeles Angels Lose Fight for Angels.com Domain Name The Los Angeles Angels Major League Baseball team has lost its fight for Angels.com. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/23/los-angeles-angels-lose-fight-for-angelscom-domain-name/ .Net Still Second Choice For Domain Registrants Finding good .com domains is getting harder and harder. Respondents to Domain Name Wire?s 2007 survey were asked ?If a .com is taken, what?s your second choice of a TLD??. For the second year in a row, .net came out on top with 73% of the vote. Last year .net took 63% of the vote. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/23/net-still-second-choice-amongst-domain-registrants/ us: Web site feud in DA?s hands Before being decided Nov. 6 at the ballot box, the race for Schuylkill County controller could land in a courtroom, and might set precedents for other cases. The three-member county Board of Elections decided Monday to refer the complaint by Democrat Melinda G. Kantner against her GOP opponent, Jason Gherghel, charging state Election Code violations in the alleged misappropriation of Internet domain names and ownerships, to District Attorney James P. Goodman for review. http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18371158 Find the Perfect Domain Name Think all the good ones are gone? These 8 steps will take the frustration out of finding a name for your internet business. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18741301/ Will .Travel Registry Fail? A fiasco ensued when domain registrar RegisterFly died. ICANN is learning its lesson. But now an entire domain registry is on the verge of death. The good news is it?s only the .travel registry, which no one really cares about anyway. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/21/will-travel-registry-fail/ http://www.domaineditorial.com/archives/2007/05/23/why-travel-might-be-going-out-of-business/ ICANN facing more problems: Registry going broke? After the Registerfly disaster, ICANN is now finally starting to look for someone to provide registrar data escrow services. But wait, just as they start thinking about this problem, the next problem appears on the Horizon: According to recent filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission the company behind Tralliance, TheGlobe.com Inc., will run out of cash later this month. http://www.domaineditorial.com/archives/2007/05/22/icann-facing-more-problems-registry-going-broke/ Comment: I don't give xxx about Internet censorship What do pornographers, devout Christians and Guardian columnists have in common? It sounds like a Jim Davidson punch line waiting to happen, but it's merely a desire to thwart Internet censorship. Two recent issues have plunged net censorship back into the spotlight: web guru Tim O'Reilly's proposed code of conduct for bloggers and ICANN's decision to, once again, reject proposals for a .xxx domain for porn sites. They might sound like separate issues, but they both boil down to the same thing: a well-meaning but utterly cack-handed attempt to seal off the net's 'undesirables'. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/113642/comment-i-dont-give-xxx-about-internet-censorship.html Protect Your .ORG Campaign Attracts Registrars Worldwide (news release) The Public Interest Registry (PIR) is pleased to announce that Ascio Technologies and CORE have joined the Protectyour.org international public awareness campaign as partners. Ascio and CORE are the first registrars to partner with PIR on the campaign, which was announced in November as part of an effort by the non profit registry to raise awareness of the increasing value of the .ORG top-level domain and the dangers of allowing .ORG domain names to expire. http://pir.org/News/PressRelease.aspx?id=50 CitizenHawk TypoAlert: Over 10,000 Cybersquatting Domains on Ten Top US Retail Bank Sites (news release) CitizenHawk reported that there are over 10,000 cybersquatting domains infringing on the trademarks of ten of the top US retail bank web sites. These statistics include typo domains as well as other potential trademark-infringing domains. http://citizenhawk.com/newsevents/pressreleases/retailbanking.html Mac Night Owl: ?What if your Internet domain name was hijacked?? On today?s Mac Night Owl commentary, Gene Steinberg asks, ?What if your Internet domain name was hijacked?? ?To most of you, talk about Internet domains is a lot of obtuse nonsense. It has nothing to do with you, or does it?? he says. ?You see, whenever you want to set up a personal or business site on the Internet with a unique name, you immediately get involved with the domain business. Consider a domain more than just a sign on your front door, but the online equivalent of your physical address. If that disappears, your friends and/or customers can?t find you. Suddenly, domains seem a lot more important, right?? http://macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/mac_night_owl_what_if_your_internet_domain_name_was_hijacked Conman.com If cybersquatter Robert Paisola is the future of the internet, then we?re all in big trouble: By purchasing sound-alike domain names like CNNlegal.com, Paisola often leeches off the reputations of brand-name outfits to give himself gravitas. In a lengthy letter of complaint about Paisola to the Utah Attorney General?s Office sent December 2006, a debt collector turned private investigator named John Brewington explained, ?Mr. Paisola steals whatever appeals to him. He takes names like Trump, CNN, Sundance, IPO, Carnival Cruises and changes them to make his own. There is no mistaking his intent.? That intent, Brewington said, is to get companies to pay him in exchange for the domain names. ?If the owners of the material make their dissatisfaction known, Mr. Paisola posts their names on his Website in a suggestion that they did something wrong.? http://slweekly.com/editorial/2007/feat_2007-05-24.cfm Barclays rings in dot-mobi banking High street bank Barclays has launched a mobile phone banking service to extend the reach of its online banking facility. http://www.silicon.com/financialservices/0,3800010322,39167238,00.htm GoDaddy Launches TDNAM .Mobi Site Domain auction fans can access TDNAM and bid on domains from their mobile phones. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/05/23/godaddy-launches-tdnam-mobi-site/ Poker Domain Names Offered for Sale by e21.com Poker is booming and online Poker is extremely popular and very profitable. To get a piece of the cake, a good Poker domain name is a must. http://domaininformer.com/news/news/070522e21.html Renewed calls for .bank domain names Calls have been renewed for a .bank top-level domain to be created to improve the security of online banking. The idea is that a .bank domain name would be so expensive that only banks would be able to afford them. http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2190407/calls-renewed-bank-domain-names http://www.itweek.co.uk/computing/news/2190407/calls-renewed-bank-domain-names http://www.managementconsultancy.co.uk/computing/news/2190407/calls-renewed-bank-domain-names http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1307222.php/Fight_over_.bank_domain_continues OH, what a scandal! 2.3 million phonies out there. The Government Accountability Office analyzed a sample of Web registrations through the Whois database maintained by ICANN. ICANN "generally agreed" with the agency's findings that 2.3 million Web domain names had been registered with "patently false data, obviously and intentionally false without verification" and another 1.6 million sites' registrations were incomplete. http://hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=0b716597-a216-46c7-bff9-42693d4c8cd1 F-Secure answers .bank criticisms Security company F-Secure has answered criticisms of its suggestion that a .bank TLD be created to improve the protection of online financial services. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39287164,00.htm Typo Squatters and the Madeleine McCann Search The Evening Standard reported on Saturday that a number of online publishers (and I use the term lightly) are attempting to cash in on the Madeleine McCann Search by registering a range of different domain names similar to the Missing Madeleine site. http://eyefall.co.uk/blog/news/07066/typo-squatters-and-the-madeleine-mccann-search.html Two-thirds of internet users know .fr is open to individuals (sub req'd) http://telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=168990 *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** Spam 2007: The volume of spam is growing in Americans? personal and workplace email accounts, but email users are less bothered by it. 37% of email users said spam had increased in their personal email accounts, up from 28% of email users who said that two years ago. And 29% of work email users said spam had increased in their work email accounts, up from 21% two years ago. Yet fewer people say spam is "a big problem" for them. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/214/report_display.asp ********************** OTHER INTERNET NEWS ********************** Bloggers on frontline in global rights battle, says Amnesty The internet is the new frontline in the war for human rights as governments around the world battle to stamp out the voices of opposition online, Amnesty International said today. In its annual round-up of global human rights abuses, the London-based watchdog singled out Belarus, China, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia as countries that tried to keep a lid on their web-users, ?monitoring chat rooms, deleting blogs, restricting search engines and blocking websites?. In addition, it said, ?people have been imprisoned in China, Egypt, Syria, Uzbekistan and Vietnam for posting and sharing information online". http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1828944.ece Amnesty International Report 2007: Politics of fear creating a dangerously divided world (news release) Freedom of expression was suppressed in a variety of ways from the prosecution of writers and human rights defenders in Turkey, to the killing of political activists in the Philippines, to the constant harassment, surveillance and often imprisonment of human rights defenders in China, to the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and new laws regulating non-governmental organizations in Russia. The Internet became the new frontier in the struggle for dissent as activists were arrested and companies colluded with governments to restrict access to information on-line in countries such as China, Iran, Syria, Vietnam and Belarus. http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGPOL100092007 Amnesty Int to hold web censorship conference Amnesty International and the Observer newspaper have called a conference against internet censorship and repression. The interactive global event will be held on 6 June at 18:30 (UK), 19:30 (Europe), 13:30 (EST), 10:30 (PST). http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/22/internet_repression/ Journalists quit over censorship in Russia A group of journalists at a state-controlled broadcast news agency in Russia have resigned en masse in one of the few open rebellions in recent years against censorship imposed by the Kremlin. http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2084226,00.html China eases demand that bloggers use real names The government said that it would instead promote a "self-discipline code" to encourage, rather than mandate, bloggers to register under their own names. http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/22/technology/chiblog.php http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKPEK35342620070522 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6682755.stm uk: Mum, get out of my Facebook: half of parents have turned into online spies Parents who are desperate to find out what their children are up to in their spare time are joining networking websites aimed at teenagers. Almost half of parents snoop around the sites that their children visit to check up on them, according to research. Parentline Plus, a helpline, says that calls from parents trying to keep tabs on their children?s internet activities are ?regular and increasing?. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1816570.ece MySpace Buckles in Sex Offender Data Dispute After a brief showdown last week with a group of attorneys general, MySpace announced Monday that it will give the group the information it requested about registered sex offenders with profiles on the site. The attorneys general delivered a subpoena to the social networking site on the same day. Working with Sentinel SAFE, MySpace identified about 7,000 registered sex offenders who used the site, according to the company. Those profiles were deleted, but information about the users was saved and will be delivered to the attorneys general. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57483.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6681669.stm http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/22/technology/myspace.php us: Behind the Curtain of the MySpace Legal Drama The super-popular MySpace social networking site has been buffeted by a storm of negative press over the actions of several state attorneys general and their recent requests for sex offender information. The whole mess has unfolded like a bad soap opera -- and it must be particularly baffling for MySpace, because it has invested a significant amount of resources and technological effort to ensure that sex offenders can't use MySpace to lure or harass anyone. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57510.html il: MKs seek approval for law to restrict adult Web sites Ahead of the first reading of a bill proposed by Shas MK Amnon Cohen that would require Internet providers to stop minors from accessing adult Web sites, the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee met with representatives of various ministries and technology companies on Monday. "This is not a haredi law or a religious law," Cohen said, "but rather it is a law for all of the country's children - to watch over them and to protect them." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708654720&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull au/nz: Cyber filters give 'false confidence' Australian Federal Government plans to issue free computer filters to families and libraries as part of a battle to stem instances of cyber-bullying have received a lukewarm response from education and cyber-safety experts. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/17/1178995324570.html uk: E-mail fraudsters: we know where you live A map showing the location of British-based fraudsters who extract money from their victims with enticing get-rich-quick schemes has been compiled for The Times by investigators. Each pin marks the address, to within 100m, of a scammer who makes a living by dispatching e-mails that promise huge financial rewards in return for a small upfront investment. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1811228.ece Where will the cyber saboteurs strike next? A sustained attack on Estonian websites has raised fears of web-based warfare After three weeks of unrelenting cyber attacks, the most wired country in the West, Estonia, has returned to normality. The tiny Baltic nation has weathered an unprecedented barrage of denial of service attacks that reduced the country?s online banking system, its newspapers and government services to a crawl, knocked out thousands of commercial websites and left its 1.3 million citizens on edge. In terms of duration and impact, the attacks, which escalated following a government decision to remove a Red Army statue from the capital, Tallinn, are unprecedented. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1830914.ece EU wants police-private sector cybercrime pact (Reuters) Police in the European Union should team up with the private sector to stop illegal Internet content, especially child pornography, across the bloc, the European Commission said on Tuesday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2218099120070522 http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2885&iArticleId=3846012 Europe votes to restrict police data sharing The European Parliament voted on Monday night to reinstate the principles of data protection in legislation that would allow police across Europe to routinely share data about their activities. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/23/europarl_on_3rdpillar/ Terrorism on the Internet: another Border to Protect one Country?s Sovereignty ?The Internet is a weapon in the hands of our extremist enemies,? Senator Joe Lieberman, (I-Conn.) chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said after the Senate?s review of a recent report on how terrorists are using the Internet to spread their radicalism. At the beginning of May this year, the Senate Homeland Security Committee engaged in a deep analysis of how the Internet is being used by terrorist organizations to express their prejudice against the United States. This analysis included reviewing a recent report prepared on this subject, listening to the testimony of several Internet experts and the drafting the United States? response to this practice. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1765 au: Queensland's plan to end Nigerian scams A national event aimed at stamping out so-called Nigerian scams will be held in Queensland, Detective Inspector Brian Hay, who heads up the Queensland Police Corporate Crime Investigation Group, said. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Queensland-s-plan-to-end-Nigerian-scams/0,130061744,339277685,00.htm Nigerian Scammers Profiting Heavily in Australia Even after being robbed of their life savings, the victims of Nigerian e-mail scams refuse to believe they have been duped by fraudsters. Not even warnings from police can convince them to stop sending money out of Australia as they hold onto the dream of overnight riches as a result of a huge inheritance, lotto win or once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132186-c,scamshoaxes/article.html au: Schoolboys plot massacre on net Two NSW school students used the internet to discuss carrying out a gun massacre in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/23/1179601417842.html au: Teens lash out over massacre claim Two teenagers who allegedly plotted a shooting massacre at Crookwell High School have lashed out at schools and police, saying they are victims of a misunderstanding over a former girlfriend of one of the boys. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/23/1179601494641.html au: Psychiatric evaluation for school massacre planners ELEANOR HALL: In New South Wales, two schoolboys are undergoing psychiatric evaluation after they were allegedly caught plotting a gun massacre at their school. Concerned schoolmates reported the boys' plan to their school principal after noticing their conversations on an internet chat site. http://abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s1931035.htm au: Black holes in net space by Michael Carr-Gregg and Susan McLean The tragic deaths of two 16-year-old Victorian students underlines the all-too-real danger when marginalised young people find an internet site that encourages them to take their own lives. An investigation by Channel 9's 60 Minutes revealed that Jodie Gater and Stephanie Gestier, who hanged themselves in the Dandenong Ranges, had accessed a pro-suicide site in Holland. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21778178-5000117,00.html AusCERT: Cybertrust launches Asia Pacific security squad Going head to head against the large consultancies, Cybertrust has launched an Asia Pacific investigative response team to assist companies with a wide range of security attacks, breaches and fraudulent activities. Headquartered in Sydney, the team specialises in identifying the source of the security breach, continuing it and documenting the event in preparation for case evidence where legal action is likely. http://arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;907870176;fp;2;fpid;1 Apple moans over sex toy ad Apple isn't tickled over an Ann Summers sex toy ad that mimics the company's iconic silhouette ipod campaign. News of the World reports Apple lawyers are flushed over the sex shops hawking a ?30 iGasm peripheral, which plugs into a music player and vibrates to the beat. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/23/apple_sex_toy_spat/ http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/ipod_1405.shtml Campaign Against Web Crime Launched A global campaign has been launched to fight cyber crime amid fears that hackers would soon get access to hospital computer systems. The ITU has announced a two-year campaign dubbed "Global Cyber security Agenda" to ensure that there are no safe havens for cyber criminals. http://allafrica.com/stories/200705220080.html South Korea to introduce Internet code of ethics South Korea will introduce an Internet code of ethics to curb the distribution of pornographic material and other information deemed inappropriate, officials said Wednesday. http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2885&iArticleId=3846118 http://www.todayonline.com/articles/190118.asp http://metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070523-070334-6663r U.S. House approves less stringent anti-spyware bill (Reuters) The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday that would impose specific penalties for the fraudulent use of spyware but would not impose new requirements on software makers. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2007-05-22T190517Z_01_N22266322_RTRUKOC_0_US-CONGRESS-SPYWARE.xml http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57528.html Importing goods into Australia through the internet Australia is a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which outlines many aspects of Australia's trade laws, including imports. In Australia, if a person arranges for goods to be brought into Australia, he is regarded by Customs as the importer of those goods. Any goods purchased over the internet and delivered into the country are also considered imports and are subject to import duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) where applicable. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=9C6CC98C-9C20-400F-B33F-9D7692A69DA7 Study: More Spam but Fewer Complaints (AP) Spam messages are increasingly plaguing e-mail inboxes, but more Americans are accepting them as a fact of life, a new study finds. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. e-mail users say they are getting more junk in their personal e-mail accounts, and 29 percent see an increase in their work accounts. About half say they have not noticed a change, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said in its study, released Wednesday. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TECHBIT_SPAM_SURVEY http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2135600,00.asp nz: Spam code: Good idea but no panacea Internet NZ is seeking feedback on the internet Service Providers Spam Code of Practice which it hopes will determine the process for regulating industry anti-spam measures in New Zealand. The paper outlines a number of measures ISPs can undertake to support the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 which aims to reduce locally-generated spam. Most of the measures are already being used by the industry, which due to its small size, can react fairly quickly to complaints about spam. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10441072 us: Can-Spam put to the test The last six months have not been particularly kind to the antispam community. Late last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit limited the reach of both state and federal spam laws to e-mails that contain "material" falsity or deception. And last week, a federal district court dismissed a Can-Spam claim on the basis that the plaintiff, James Gordon--who was not a traditional ISP--did not suffer the type of injury envisioned by the law, and thus lacked legal standing to sue. The court also signaled its intention to award attorney's fees. While the decision will likely have minimal effect on claims brought by traditional ISPs, it is sure to take the sails out of the cottage industry built around spam litigation. http://news.com.com/2010-1028_3-6185501.html Promising antispam technique gets nod A key Internet standards body gave preliminary approval on Tuesday to a powerful technology designed to detect and block fake e-email messages. It's called DomainKeys Identified Mail, and it promises to give Internet users the best chance so far of staunching the seemingly endless flow of fraudulent junk e-mail. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6185904.html As the Grapevine Withers, Spam Filters Take Root What we have here is obviously not a failure to communicate, but it?s not quite the opposite either. It?s not a simple case of information overload, according to a seminal article in the journal Sociological Theory by Dr. Ryan, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, Calif. He defines it ? with all the flair we?ve come to expect from that journal ? as a violation of the ?notification norms? that ?constrain the behavior of nodes in social networks.? Technology now lets us tell everyone everything at once, but we still value a network that existed before the Web: the grapevine. When you pass along gossip to a friend or colleague, you?re doing more than just relaying news. You?re defining a social circle. You?re reassuring the listeners that they?re in the loop ? and subtly obliging them to remember that you are, too. The golden rule of this ?information order,? as Dr. Ryan calls it, is to tell unto others as you would have them tell unto you. You shouldn?t leave your trusted colleagues at the office in the dark about a coming shake-up, but you shouldn?t be an electronic font of trivia, either. You filter the news for them and expect them to do the same for you. You tell them what they need to know in the way they expect to hear it. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/22tier.html Google?s goal: to organise your daily life Google?s ambition to maximise the personal information it holds on users is so great that the search engine envisages a day when it can tell people what jobs to take and how they might spend their days off. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c3e49548-088e-11dc-b11e-000b5df10621.html Green light for internet makeover project A contractor that played a key role in the internet's birth will oversee efforts to redesign the network from scratch. The National Science Foundation announced BBN Technologies will get up to $US10 million over four years to oversee the planning and design of the Global Environment for Network Innovations. Many researchers want to rethink the internet's underlying architecture, saying a "clean slate" approach is the only way to truly address security, mobility and other challenges that have cropped up since the internet's birth in 1969. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/22/1179601370231.html Murdoch extends his net to China: As tycoon launches version of MySpace, human rights activists fear it will be abused by censors MySpace has launched a version of its website in China, despite fears among human rights campaigners that users will be censored or spied on by the totalitarian Communist state. Rupert Murdoch said last year that the company was looking for a way to enter China without running into political obstacles of the type faced by Google, which agreed to self-censor its content; and by Yahoo, which gave the Chinese government information about the site's users. Murdoch has set up a separate business to avoid any problems. MySpace China is a 'locally owned, operated and managed company' in which News Corp is only one among several investors. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2083872,00.html Google bans web cheat essays The world?s biggest search engine will no longer accept adverts from companies that sell essays and dissertations from as little as ?70 http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1827302.ece http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6680457.stm Tiny island nation opens the first real embasy in a virtual world The Maldives has become the first country to open an embassy in Second Life, an internet-based three-dimensional virtual world inhabited by more than 6.6 million ?residents? from around the globe. The tiny island nation with a population of 300,000 opened its virtual mission on Tuesday, just ahead of Sweden, which had hoped its embassy would be Second Life?s first when it opens on May 30. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1832158.ece Swiss Minister Leuenberger wants global tax on "information" Communications Minister Moritz Leuenberger has called for a global tax on information to help bridge the digital divide. Leuenberger said the levy would serve to finance new information and communication technologies in regions where people have little or no access to the internet. http://www.nzz.ch/2007/05/22/eng/article7843573.html http://tax-news.com/asp/story/Swiss_Minister_Proposes_Global_Information_Tax_xxxx27367.html London police arrest man they link to Russian Web site AllofMP3.com The arrest was the first under a British law introduced in January that made the unlicensed sale of music a criminal offense, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said. http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/21/business/mp3.php NZ music charts embrace legal downloads Not before time, some might say, the official New Zealand Music Chart will begin logging sales of digital music. From May 29 the charts will include downloads from legal digital music retailers. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/36233712215DC7BFCC2572E3007C8983 Scientists reject BBC Panorama's claims on Wi-Fi radiation risks An investigation into the possible dangers of Wi-Fi technology by the BBC documentary programme Panorama has been rejected as "grossly unscientific" and a "scare story" by leading scientists. The programme will claim that the radiation given off by a Wi-Fi laptop is "three times higher than the ... signal strength of a typical phone mast". But the experiment carried out by the programme did not take into account a "basic" scientific concept and presented a bogus comparison, critics say. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2084217,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6676129.stm Wi-fi 'worse than phone masts' The chairman of the Health Protection Agency has called for an urgent review of the health risks of wireless technology http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article1816571.ece Can we have a proper study of Wi-Fi, please? Only four weeks ago, we called for serious research into wireless radiation. The good news: Sir William Stewart - chair of the Health Protection Agency - has said that the time has come to do this research. My only problem with this is that I honestly doubt any useful information is going to emerge from it. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/22/wifi_science_bunk/ Firefox and the anxiety of growing pains If the open-source software movement were an upstart political campaign, Chris Messina would be one of its community organizers--the young volunteer who decamps to New Hampshire, knocking on doors, putting up signs. http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6185221.html http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/21/business/firefox.php Is Vista helping boost PC sales? Speaking to a crowd of hardware engineers last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates trumpeted the fact that the company has sold 40 million copies of Vista since the operating system hit the market. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6186086.html http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6186086.html au: SM cries for porn kids Tweed Heads magistrate Jeff Linden, who has been known to come down hard on offenders, broke down in tears yesterday after hearing how a notorious Canadian pedophile manipulated a local 13-year-old schoolgirl. http://gcbulletin.com.au/article/2007/05/22/5283_news.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 ___________________________________________________________________________________ How would you spend $50,000 to create a more sustainable environment in Australia? Go to Yahoo!7 Answers and share your idea. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/aunz/lifestyle/answers/y7ans-babp_reg.htmlReceived on Mon May 28 2007 - 03:16:34 UTC
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