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 24 September edition of the news include: Celebrate the Internet on (last) Saturday's OneWebDay | China says it's a cyber-attack victim | Could U.S. be at risk for cyberwarfare? | Things you didn't realize were on the ICANN site: Part 1 by Kieren McCarthy | Request for Comments ? ICANN Board Review Draft Terms of Reference | ICANN Notice of Intent to Issue Advisory Regarding the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy | ICANN, TWNIC Host "Toward the New Era of Internet" in Taipei | What Has the Hamptons, 4 Airports and a Hankering for Independence? Includes bid for .ILI TLD | Nigerian domain name registrations grow | Recruiting .uk domain name dispute resolution experts | LexisNexis Launches Essential New Guide to Domain Name Law | Clicks That Count - Is Click Fraud a Problem? | Iraq.com and Zimbabwe.com for sale! And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. *************************************************** The domain name news is supported by auDA *************************************************** Internet Governance, Global Privacy and IGF-Rio http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/09/18/internet-governance-global-privacy-and-igf-rio/ E-conference on Internet Governance and Sustainable Development http://www.iisd.org/infosoc/gov/igsd/ Developing Internet Standards: How Can the Engineering Community and the Users Meet? by Patrick Vande Walle http://www.circleid.com/posts/79197_developing_internet_standards_engineers/ Report: Attacks on ISP Nets Intensifying http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=133973 Cyberspies Target Silent Victims http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/09/11/cyberspies-raytheon-lockheed-tech-cx_ag_0911cyberspies.html ICANN celebrates ninth anniversary as master of your domain http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/18/icann_anniversary/ Stalemate Continues on Hiding WHOIS Info http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=302552 ICANN Asia Pacific Meeting in Delhi by Michele Neylon http://www.isquattedyour.eu/2007/09/17/icann-asia-pacific-meeting-in-delhi/ The lives of country code domains by Kim Davies http://blog.icann.org/?p=195 DENIC Supervisory Board appoints new full-time members of the Executive Board - Sabine Dolderer returns [news release] http://www.denic.de/en/denic/presse/press_85.html Russia - one million domain names & 30 million internet users http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=2707 USSR alive and kicking on the Internet [Reuters] http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1364669 uk: Nominet plan could trip legit domain name holders, warns expert http://out-law.com/page-8479 uk: Lawyers attack Nominet plan for domain name disputes http://out-law.com/page-8481 Plan approved to retire Yugoslav domain [AP] http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/T/TECHBIT_YUGOSLAV_DOMAINS http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/177733.html ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** Internet Governance, Global Privacy and IGF-Rio The global debate on Internet governance will once again gather people from all over the world at UN's IGF, this time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The process was started last year in Athens, when more than 1,200 participants focused on discussion of the overarching issues tied to the future of information and communications technologies, including control over the Internet architecture and numbering and naming system, security, intellectual property, openness, connectivity, cost and multilingualism. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/09/18/internet-governance-global-privacy-and-igf-rio/ E-conference on Internet Governance and Sustainable Development From September 17 to 28, the International Institute for Sustainable Development is hosting an e-conference to engage researchers, practitioners and policy analysts in an open discussion on the intersections between Internet governance and sustainable development. http://www.iisd.org/infosoc/gov/igsd/ The long goodnight... for television, says Vint Cerf Thirty years ago he helped create a technology that has revolutionised millions of lives around the world. But recently the man known as the "godfather of the net" laid out his vision of where our online future might be, including a time when we download entire television series in seconds - and even surf the web from Mars. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881523560.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881523560.html Africa telecoms summit to promote Internet access [Reuters] A U.N.-backed Africa communications summit, "Connect Africa", in Rwanda in late October, will seek to boost high-speed Internet access to match the continent's explosive growth in mobile phones, officials said on Wednesday. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19292140.htm http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN19292140.html Internet's demise is greatly exaggerated The internet is coming under increasing strain from a growing range of sources. More people are using bandwidth-hungry applications, such as video streaming, and the size of files being downloaded is growing all the time. http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/comment/2198878/internet-demise-greatly-3460058 http://www.pcw.co.uk/itweek/comment/2198878/internet-demise-greatly-3460058 A call for Net neutrality debate in U.K. The time has come for the United Kingdom to join the growing debate surrounding Net neutrality, the president of the British Computer Society told ZDNet UK. http://www.news.com/2100-1028_3-6208405.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6208405.html us: Senator: Net neutrality push ain't over yet One of the leading U.S. Senate proponents of Net neutrality laws said Monday that he's not giving up on enacting the divisive antidiscrimination rules. To a standing ovation, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) urged attendees at the Future of Music Policy Summit here to "fight back and say this is something that's important for our country's interests." http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9779815-7.html ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** ********************** - DOMAIN SECURITY ********************** Developing Internet Standards: How Can the Engineering Community and the Users Meet? by Patrick Vande Walle There is currently a discussion going on between Milton Mueller and Patrik F?ltstr?m over the deployment of DNSSEC on the root servers. I think the discussion exemplifies the difficult relation between those who develop standards and those who use them. On the one hand, Milton points out that the way the signing of the root zone will be done will have a great influence on the subjective trust people and nation states will have towards the system. On the other hand, Patrik states that "DNSSEC is just digital signatures on records in this database". Both are right, of course, but they do not speak the same language. http://www.circleid.com/posts/79197_developing_internet_standards_engineers/ Report: Attacks on ISP Nets Intensifying Increasingly-intense distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks on ISP backbones are surpassing providers' capacity and knocking customers offline, according to a new survey of service providers by Arbor Networks. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=133973 http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807099 http://www.circleid.com/posts/botnets_threat_to_isp_backbones/ Arbor?s Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report Highlights Growing Threats to ISPs [news release] Arbor Networks, a leading provider of network security and operational performance for global business networks, released its third-annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report today in cooperation with the network security and operations communities. For the first time, botnets surpassed distributed denial of service attacks as the top threat identified by service providers. http://arbornetworks.com/en/news-releases/arbor-s-worldwide-infrastructure-security-report-highlights-growing-threats-to-2.html ISPs Try on Anti-Botnet Services Model ISPs, under siege from increasingly more powerful and sophisticated botnet-based attacks, are fighting back -- with an anti-botnet business model. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=134336 Reports: Threats More Sophisticated, More Costly Than Ever Computer crime is becoming good business, and the crooks are becoming increasingly efficient at what they do. The net result: Each attack is hitting victims harder, both in the data center and on the bottom line. These are some of the takeaways from four major studies published in the last few days. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=134338 Cyberspies Target Silent Victims The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed last week that cyberspies have been sifting through some government computer systems. What wasn't said: The same spies may have been combing through the computer systems of major U.S. defense contractors for more than a year. "There's been a massive, broad and successful series of attacks targeting the private sector," says Alan Paller, director of the SANS Institute, a Bethesda, Md.-based organization that hosts a response center for companies with cybersecurity crises. "No one will talk about it, but companies are creating a frenzy trying to stop it." http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/09/11/cyberspies-raytheon-lockheed-tech-cx_ag_0911cyberspies.html US Air Force sets up Cyber Command [AFP] The US Air Force established a provisional Cyber Command Tuesday as part of an expanding mission to prepare for wars in cyberspace, officials said. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881559368.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881559368.html ********************** - ICANN ********************** ICANN celebrates ninth anniversary as master of your domain Today (18/9) is the ninth anniversary of ICANN as the master of the internet universe, and on that note, the controversial organization that controls the technical standards of internet seems to merit a salutation of sorts. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/18/icann_anniversary/ Stalemate Continues on Hiding WHOIS Info Proposed changes that would have shielded some of the personal information stored in the Internet?s WHOIS database from public view were indefinitely shelved last month, after a working group failed to reach agreement on how or even whether to implement the privacy reforms. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=302552 ICANN Asia Pacific Meeting in Delhi by Michele Neylon According to minutes of the ICANN board meeting held last week, the Asia Pacific ICANN meeting will take place in Delhi from 10-15 February 2008. http://www.isquattedyour.eu/2007/09/17/icann-asia-pacific-meeting-in-delhi/ Partnership to Help Develop Arabic Domain Names: ICANN, UN Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia agree to work together The development of IDNs in Arabic will get a boost thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the UN Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia (UN-ESCWA). http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-22aug07.htm ********************** - (cc)TLD NEWS ********************** The lives of country code domains by Kim Davies ICANN made a little piece of history in three countries a few days ago when it approved the delegation of the .KP domain for North Korea, the .RS domain for Serbia, and the .ME domain for Montenegro. For the former it marks a further step in their efforts to connect their country to the Internet. For the latter, it gives these two new countries the ability to shrug off their historical designation of .YU, and use something that better reflects their countries on the net. http://blog.icann.org/?p=195 DENIC Supervisory Board appoints new full-time members of the Executive Board [news release] Sabine Dolderer and Dr. J?rg Schweiger will manage the business of DENIC eG as of 1 October as CEO and CTO respectively: The Supervisory Board of DENIC has filled the two full-time posts in the Supervisory Board of the German domain registry with new Board members. Sabine Dolderer and Dr. J?rg Schweiger will assume the positions of CEO and CTO respectively as of 1 October 2007. The current full-time members of the Executive Board, Andreas B?? and Stephan Deutsch, will continue to manage the business of DENIC until the end of September, and they have the full confidence of the Supervisory Board in doing so. The Supervisory Board thanks both for their long years of extremely valuable work with the Cooperative. ?They have brought about great progress for DENIC by their excellent technical work and their tireless commitment. Their work as members of the Executive Board has had a decisive positive impact on the Cooperative,? so Elmar Knipp, chairman of DENIC?S Supervisory Board. http://www.denic.de/en/denic/presse/press_85.html ie: Joining the dots A promotional story about what is a domain name, whether to register a name under a gTLD or ccTLD, important factors to consider such as security and other issues a new registrant may want to consider. http://siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single9219 Montenegro, Serbia get new domain names ICANN has approved separate domain names for Montenegrin and Serbian websites, the news service Balkan Insight and the Serbian news agency B92 reported on September 14. http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/09/4-see/see-180907.asp ru: One Million .Ru Addresses and Counting The Russian Internet passed a milestone on Monday as the millionth .ru domain name was registered, which effectively means there are now 1,000,000 web sites ending with the .ru suffix. A company called Cyberbox Ltd. registered "Hanti.ru" just after 1 a.m. Monday, reaching the million mark, said Andrei Vorobyov, a spokesman for Ru-Center, the nonprofit organization in charge of registering .ru domain names. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/09/18/003.html http://eng.cnews.ru/news/line/indexEn.shtml?2007/09/17/266299 http://upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2007/09/18/millionth_russian_domain_name_registered_/8156/ http://imedinews.ge/en/news_read/65388 ru: Cybersquatters make Runet millionaire A million second level domain has been registered in Runet by the famous cybersquatter company Cyberbox Limited. At present 500 thousand sites fall to every million registered domains in Russian. Other domains are either misused, or not used at all. http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2007/09/17/266484 http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/72444/ Russia - one million domain names & 30 million internet users The one millionth .ru domain name has been register according to a report in C-News. The name, hanti.ru, was registered on 17 September, with even the exact time give - 01.02.33 Moscow time. In another story, C-News also reports there are around 30 million internet users in Russia with 40 million internet users expected sometime in 2008. http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=2707 http://domainpulse.com/2007/09/17/russia-one-million-domain-names-30-million-internet-users/ http://domainnews.com/general/2007091723/russia-one-million-domain-names-30-million-internet-users/ USSR alive and kicking on the Internet [Reuters] Russian Internet enthusiasts are locked in a tussle with an international body over a relic of the Soviet past -- the .su domain name assigned to the country just before the Soviet Union collapsed. ICANN says the name is out of date and wants to kill it off. But thousands of Internet users still use the suffix -- in part for its nostalgia value -- and are fighting to save it. http://africa.reuters.com/odd/news/usnL19864807.html http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1364669 http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5020826 http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL1986480720070919 ICANN dukes it out with the USSR in cold war rematch smackdown The Internet Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers - that's ICANN to you, Boris - has had enough, and decided to stick it to those godless pinko commie automotons once and for all, nukes be damned. For those readers who thought the cold war had vanished in rhetorical smoke years ago, Reuters has news for you. ICANN has decided to jettison once and for all the .su country code domain originally assigned to the Soviet Union. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/19/icann_ussr/ http://news.digitaltrends.com/news/story/14232/yugoslavia_fades_ussr_keeps_on_ticking uk: Nominet plan could trip legit domain name holders, warns expert The registry for .uk domain names has proposed a major change in the way disputes over domains are handled. One disputes expert has warned that a vital safeguard must be put in place before the system is changed. http://out-law.com/page-8479 uk: Lawyers attack Nominet plan for domain name disputes The registry for .uk domain names has proposed a change in the way that name disputes are handled, but the proposed fast-track system faces criticism for not being radical enough. http://out-law.com/page-8481 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/20/nominet_domain_dispute_plan/ Plan approved to retire Yugoslav domain [AP] Internet decisions aren't always made at Internet speeds. ICANN has approved a plan to phase out the domain name for Yugoslavia, four years after the country dissolved following civil war. It'll take two or three more years for ".yu" users to fully transition to ".rs" for Serbia and ".me" for Montenegro. Politics played a big part in the delay. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/09/19/plan_approved_to_retire_yugoslav_domain/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070919.wgtSoviets0919/BNStory/Technology/ http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/177733.html ********************** - DOMAIN DISPUTES ********************** in: Trademark & patent fights sign of healthy consumer market ... In the Buffalo Networks Ltd Vs Manish Jain, the Delhi High Court awarded Rs 1 lakh to the plaintiff as the defendants deceptively used the word ?tahelka? as its domain name, which was deceptively similar to the registered domain name tehelka.com. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Debate/Trademark__patent_fights_sign_of_healthy_consumer_market/articleshow/2384914.cms Microsoft sues cybersquatters [Bloomberg] Microsoft has filed three lawsuits in the US against people and companies it accuses of profiting from the use of website addresses containing its trademarked terms. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22433016-15322,00.html Bobcats Finally Get Rights To Preferred Domain Name From Breeder The Charlotte Bobcats finally have a simple Web address. For its first three years, the team used the domain name www.bobcatsbasketball.com because the rights to www.bobcats.com belonged to a bobcat breeder in Montana. http://www.wsoctv.com/sports/14144709/detail.html http://domainpulse.com/2007/09/19/199/ http://domainnews.com/general/2007091912/bodog-launches-new-domain-as-dispute-continues/ http://www.charlotte.com/business/story/282634.html http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/nba/09/18/bc.bkn.bobcats.campaign.ap/ Bodog's New Domain is bodoglife.com High stakes, hot women and killer parties in exotic locales - Bodog has always known how to roll. It's all part of the company's play hard philosophy and now it's all part of the Bodog life, as the digital entertainment giant is pleased to announce the launch of www.bodoglife.com http://www.allinmag.com/article.php?article=1057 Bodog Life after domain hijacking! Bodog Life after domain hijacking!We have more bad news for the patent trolls over at 1st Technology, Point-Spreads.com has learned that Bodog Entertainment will be rolling out a new and improved domain name called BodogLife.com. The new website will replace the NewBodog.com domain name and is currently live and accepting bets. The new domain name BodogLife.com will be heavily marketed going forward while the legal battle continues against 1st Technology. http://point-spreads.com/industry/091807-bodog-life-after-domain-hijacking.html ********************** - MISCELLANEOUS ********************** Domain Pricing - What's Going On? by Michele Neylon In recent discussions among Nominet members it came up as part of a discussion on drop-catching and domaining. Some people feel that the fees are too high, while others feel that they need to be increased significantly in order to discourage domainers. Within the Irish internet community the upcoming change to policy regarding "personal domain names" has led to some discussion on how registrars set their pricing. While at an ICANN level there's been a lot of mixed messages flying about. http://www.isquattedyour.eu/2007/09/18/domain-pricing-whats-going-on/ Sonus Networks Streamlines Number Portability for Network Operators Worldwide Sonus Networks Inc. has announced at the on-going Number Portability 2007 Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, that it is helping network operators worldwide streamline regulatory compliance with its new standards- based Electronic Number Mapping (ENUM) enhancement for Number Portability (NP). http://wirelessdesignasia.com/article-6866-sonusnetworksstreamlinesnumberportabilityfornetworkoperatorsworldwide-Asia.html ********************** - DOMAINING ********************** Mobile Messages Make AdSense to Google Google is taking its act on the road, offering up its AdSense program for delivering advertising to mobile phones and other devices. The program converts Web-based advertising into text that includes links to follow to the advertiser's site. The messages are targeted to users contextually, meaning the content of the site they are viewing helps determine what ad is delivered. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Jple3RqRBE4tnq/Mobile-Messages-Make-AdSense-to-Google.xhtml http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807325 ********************** - DOMAIN SALES ********************** Televisions.com Sells for Six Figures Domain name parking and sales company NameDrive has brokered the sale of Televisions.com for a substantial six figure price tag, Domain Name Wire has confirmed. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/09/17/televisionscom-sells-for-six-figures/ Sedo Live Auction: 50 Internet Addresses Reach Total sum of Over $350,000 Sedo announced that over 50 domain names were sold at Sedo?s Live Auction at the Domainvermarkter Forum in Hamburg, Germany. Total sales of the three-hour long auction, powered by Sedo, reached US$360,400. http://webhostdir.com/news/articles/shownews.asp?id=22310 http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/091807_Sedo_Germany_Auction_Tops_360k.cfm Southie.com for sale A Dublin native living in Florida is hoping there?s money in Southie - Southie.com that is. He?s putting the Web domain name on the auction block on Thursday, and it?s expected to sell in the high five-figure to low six-figure range, according to Sedo.com LLC, a Cambridge company that buys, sells and appraises domain names. http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1032224 Salesforce.com Buys Force.com Domain Name Salesforce.com, known for its CRM application, changes brand to Force.com with domain purchase. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/09/19/salesforcecom-buys-forcecom-domain-name/ ************************** ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL ************************** uk: Terrorism's reach via internet The trial of a young Clackmannanshire man at the High Court in Glasgow has focused attention on how no part of the world is free from terrorism. Mohammed Atif Siddique, 21, was accused of four offences under the UK's Terrorism Acts. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/6999176.stm Microsoft rejected in antitrust appeal The second-highest court in Europe on Monday rejected Microsoft's attempt to overturn a landmark European Commission antitrust ruling and record fine, bolstering smaller software makers and putting market leaders on notice that they cannot leverage dominance in one technology niche to squelch broader innovation, industry and legal experts said. http://iht.com/articles/2007/09/17/business/msft.php http://nytimes.com/2007/09/18/technology/18soft.html http://www.news.com/2100-1014_3-6208500.html Kroes lashes out at U.S. official over Microsoft The European Union competition commissioner lashed out Wednesday at a top U.S. Justice Department official who criticized an antitrust ruling against Microsoft. http://iht.com/articles/2007/09/19/business/msft.php http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/09/19/EC-slams-DOJ-reaction-to-Microsoft-ruling_1.html http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807680 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8954aff4-66cf-11dc-a218-0000779fd2ac.html Microsoft case could make EU 'litigation capital of the world' The crushing legal victory over Microsoft on Monday may embolden the top European regulator, but critics warned that the ruling from the European Court of First Instance would spur a glut of additional cases, transforming Europe into a legal battleground for the global technology sector. http://iht.com/articles/2007/09/17/news/antitrust.php European appeal court opens Windows to the world and shakes the superdominant The European commission got the green light from Europe's second-highest court yesterday to pursue even more high-profile antitrust actions against dominant global companies. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2171345,00.html Microsoft loses appeal against ?342m EU fine over software sharing Microsoft was left reeling yesterday after a bruising defeat at the hands of European judges who upheld a record fine on the software giant for abusing its dominant market position to crush competition. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2472555.ece Court backs commission's ?497m landmark fine against Microsoft Regulators across Europe are set to take a tougher line when applying competition law to large companies after the European Commission's decision to fine Microsoft nearly ?500m (?348m) for abusing its dominant position in the desktop software market was upheld by Europe's second-highest court. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2973639.ece Microsoft Loses E.U. Anti-Trust Case ... The Commission, naturally, welcomed the ruling and said it meant a super-dominant company could not unfairly influence rivals that attempted to offer more innovative and price-competitive products. Commission President Jos? Manuel Barroso said the ruling "confirms the objectivity and the credibility" of the Commission's competition policy. "This policy protects the European consumer interest and ensures fair competition between businesses," he said. E.U. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the Court had set "an important precedent," that dominant companies have to allow competition. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1662431,00.html Other U.S. firms may feel Microsoft's pain Microsoft Corp.'s defeat in a European courtroom Monday hurt the giant software maker -- and other U.S. companies that dominate their markets could feel the sting too. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-micro18sep18,1,2205250.story Microsoft defeat opens door for more software rulings, says competition lawyer Today's decision by an EU court to uphold a landmark antitrust ruling against Microsoft is likely to influence other cases in the software industry. A competition lawyer said he expects the principles of the case to be "rolled-out more actively" across the EU. http://out-law.com/page-8474 Microsoft Loses Appeal of EU Antitrust Ruling The European Union's second highest court has dismissed Microsoft's case and and ordered it to pay most legal fees. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137243-c,microsoftantitrustcase/article.html E.U. Court Rejects Microsoft's Appeal Judges Uphold $690 Million Fine, Requirement to Share Software Information http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091700235.html EU Victory Leaves Questions for Vista [AP] European antitrust regulators' victory over Microsoft was a resounding smack at the software maker's old business practices, but it left analysts divided as to how the company's new businesses, including Windows Vista, might be affected. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22438976-15306,00.html http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_MICROSOFT_VISTA Report: Attacks on ISP Nets Intensifying Increasingly-intense distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks on ISP backbones are surpassing providers' capacity and knocking customers offline, according to a new survey of service providers by Arbor Networks. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=133973 http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807099 http://www.circleid.com/posts/botnets_threat_to_isp_backbones/ Arbor?s Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report Highlights Growing Threats to ISPs [news release] Arbor Networks, a leading provider of network security and operational performance for global business networks, released its third-annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report today in cooperation with the network security and operations communities. For the first time, botnets surpassed distributed denial of service attacks as the top threat identified by service providers. http://arbornetworks.com/en/news-releases/arbor-s-worldwide-infrastructure-security-report-highlights-growing-threats-to-2.html ISPs Try on Anti-Botnet Services Model ISPs, under siege from increasingly more powerful and sophisticated botnet-based attacks, are fighting back -- with an anti-botnet business model. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=134336 Reports: Threats More Sophisticated, More Costly Than Ever Computer crime is becoming good business, and the crooks are becoming increasingly efficient at what they do. The net result: Each attack is hitting victims harder, both in the data center and on the bottom line. These are some of the takeaways from four major studies published in the last few days. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=134338 Cyberspies Target Silent Victims The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed last week that cyberspies have been sifting through some government computer systems. What wasn't said: The same spies may have been combing through the computer systems of major U.S. defense contractors for more than a year. "There's been a massive, broad and successful series of attacks targeting the private sector," says Alan Paller, director of the SANS Institute, a Bethesda, Md.-based organization that hosts a response center for companies with cybersecurity crises. "No one will talk about it, but companies are creating a frenzy trying to stop it." http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/09/11/cyberspies-raytheon-lockheed-tech-cx_ag_0911cyberspies.html US Air Force sets up Cyber Command [AFP] The US Air Force established a provisional Cyber Command Tuesday as part of an expanding mission to prepare for wars in cyberspace, officials said. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881559368.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881559368.html Anti-piracy honeypot site exposed [AP] Hackers who intercepted email from MediaDefender, a firm that tries to stymie unauthorised downloading of songs and movies on behalf of record companies and Hollywood film studios, have released hundreds of megabytes of data on the internet. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/18/1189881481729.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/18/1189881481729.html Symantec Reports Cyber Criminals Are Becoming Increasingly Professional [news release] The latest Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), Volume XII released by Symantec concludes that cyber criminals are increasingly becoming more professional ? even commercial ? in the development, distribution and use of malicious code and services. While cybercrime continues to be driven by financial gain, cyber criminals are now utilizing more professional attack methods, tools and strategies to conduct malicious activity. http://www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20070917_01 Cybercriminals Lurk In Dark Corners Of Trusted Web Sites Think you're safe on your favorite Web site? You might want to think again. Symantec reports cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting them to target trusting users. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807108 Malware moves from scattershot to honeypot Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report shows toolkit development is becoming a real industry with all the money that is being made, and the Web browser remains the biggest security hole for most end users and organisations http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;583206184;fp;2;fpid;1 China leads region in malicious online activity China leads Asia in malicious online activity, racking up 42 percent of the action in the first half of 2007, up from 39 percent last year. http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/security/0,39044215,62032407,00.htm au: 2Clix lawsuit over Whirlpool forum comments withdrawn An Australian software firm, which was suing a broadband community website over unflattering comments published on its message board, has dropped its case. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881557140.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881557140.html http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;910518503;fp;2;fpid;1 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/14530/1023/ In-house lawyers cannot claim protection, says European court In-house lawyers cannot now assume that all of their correspondence with their employer is covered by lawyer-client confidentiality rules, following a judgment this week from Europe's second-highest court. http://out-law.com/page-8480 uk: Made for 25p, sold for ?15. The fake Viagra that netted pill gang millions A man described as the UK linchpin of a global conspiracy to sell fake medicines over the internet was yesterday sentenced to four and a half years in prison following what police described as the biggest counterfeit drugs bust in British history. http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2171477,00.html Why political bloggers can breathe easier by Eric J. Sinrod The Internet offers a variety of ways for the public to express views and take part in elections. Indeed, in my last column, I wrote about how a federal appellate court has blessed vote-swapping sites. This provides a way for voters in different states to ensure the same number of votes for their respective candidates while in the process helping one of their candidates beat yet a third candidate. For example, in the 2000 presidential election, supporters of Al Gore and Ralph Nader could swap votes to help Gore try to beat George Bush in hotly contested states. http://www.news.com/2010-1028_3-6208777.html http://news.zdnet.com/2010-9588_22-6208777.html AdBlock Plus can quietly kill ads - and perhaps the internet economy Adblock Plus, a browser plugin that erases advertisements from web pages, is a killer of a killer app - or at least it would be if it were to become widely popular. Right now, it sits like a coyote at the edge of the internet, quietly eyeing all the businesses it would happily devour. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/sep/20/guardianweeklytechnologysection.internet ************************** PRIVACY ************************** Cost fears threaten Australian privacy law New laws requiring notification of data breaches are included in proposals by the Australian Law Reform Commission for sweeping reform of the national privacy regime. The commission, which wants to untangle the present jurisdictional tangle, also recommends bringing small businesses under the federal Privacy Act and tightening both private and public sector handling of personal data. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22435328-5013040,00.html Symantec CEO says Internet tracking programs are digital peeping Toms [AP] Cookies to collect Internet user data are a serious invasion of privacy, Symantec chief executive John Thompson said Wednesday, likening them to "a peeping Tom." http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/20/1189881622975.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/20/1189881622975.html Google Trying to Appease Regulators and Fight Privacy Groups, Says Ads are Info In advance of a government Town Hall in November focusing on the privacy threats online behavioral advertising, online data collection and what standards should govern them, Google, one of the net's largest data collectors, suggests that the forum also talk about how online advertising funds free, high-quality content and how online advertising contributes to the nation's small businesses. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/09/google-trying-t.html ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** US intelligence chief says China is spying on cold war scale China and Russia are spying on the US on a scale not seen since the end of the cold war, the head of US national intelligence, Mike McConnell, said yesterday. http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2172240,00.html us: Warrantless Wiretaps Not Used, Official Says The National Security Agency has not conducted wiretapping without warrants on the telephones of any Americans since at least February, the nation?s top intelligence officer told Congress on Tuesday. http://nytimes.com/2007/09/19/washington/19nsa.html uk: Minister calls for road map for super fast broadband The Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP will today make his first major speech as Minister of State for Competitiveness on the subject of broadband. He will say that the UK needs a road map for the move to super fast broadband and that the clock is ticking as other countries move forward. He will also announce a high-level summit on the potential need for public sector intervention in broadband deployment. http://www.gnn.gov.uk/content/detail.asp?NewsAreaID=2&ReleaseID=315384 us: Spy czar urges extension of warrantless wiretap law Under grilling from congressional Democrats on Tuesday, the nation's intelligence chief said he doesn't know how many Americans' phone and e-mail conversations have been inadvertently overheard in the process of foreign-oriented snooping. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6208762.html ********************** INTERNET USE ********************** 'Surprise' over British gambling figures The internet and other new forms of gambling have not led to an increase in people having a flutter since 1999, a Gambling Commission study has found. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7001329.stm http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/19/gambling_survey_2007/ Asian broadband take-up slow Home to some 1.5 billion people, South Asia is paying a high price to access the internet as service providers have been slow to deliver cheaper broadband connections, analysts said. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22430846-16123,00.html Mobile Phone Web Users Nearly Equal PC Based Internet Users in Japan [news release] comScore released a new study on mobile phone usage in Japan. The study estimated that 53.6 million people are using a mobile device to access the Internet, a figure nearly equaling the 53.7 million who accessed the Internet from either a home or a work computer in June 2007. The study was conducted among 3100 people age 15 and over. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1742 Internet traffic swells on Web 2.0 The amount of data transferred on the Internet has rapidly increased due to the spread of Web publishing, a private think-tank said Sunday. The Samsung Economic Research Institute said that the so-called Web 2.0 movement is the main reason behind the surge of online traffic. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2007/09/129_10235.html http://asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=78039 Africa: Mobiles for the 'World's Poorest' Nearly half a million people, described by the UN as "the poorest of the poor", will soon be able to make mobile calls. As part of a UN programme to tackle poverty in rural Africa, 79 villages across 10 African countries will be hooked up to cellular networks. http://arushatimes.co.tz/society_3.htm http://allafrica.com/stories/200709170360.html Chinese Internet Users Are Unhealthy According to the newly released "White Book on Chinese Netizens' Health Status", more than 40% of Chinese Internet users spend most of their weekends surfing online and over 70% of the netizens have a certain degree of associated mental problems. http://www.chinatechnews.com/2007/09/18/5895-white-book-chinese-internet-users-are-unhealthy/ Chinese man dies after three-day internet session A Chinese man dropped dead after playing internet games for three consecutive days, state media said, as China seeks to wean internet addicts offline. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/17/2035663.htm http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/sep/17/china.censorship http://www.news.com/2100-1043_3-6208313.html http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22431951-16123,00.html Belgium fetches $17m bid on eBay [AFP] Belgium has been put up for auction and attracted a top bid of $17 million before eBay stopped the spoof sale. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/18/2036949.htm us: NBC to Offer Downloads of Its Shows NBC Universal announced plans today for a service that will make popular NBC programs available to download free to personal computers and other devices. http://nytimes.com/2007/09/20/business/media/20nbc.html http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/nbc-brings-the-most-popular-word-to-tv-downloads-free/ ********************** SOCIAL NETWORKING ********************** Is Facebook good for the workplace? Walk into almost any open-plan office in Australia today and you?re bound to see staff logged onto Facebook. The social networking site has become so popular - at last count there were 479,500 members signed up to its Australia network and more than 41 million Facebook users worldwide - employers fear it is having a detrimental impact on staff productivity and creating a potential risk to their company?s confidential information. http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22437742-5012424,00.html MySpace using profile and blog entries to sell targeted ads News Corp's MySpace social networking site is using personal details contained on users' profile pages and blogs to sell highly targeted advertising, the company said today. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/19/1189881556957.html German Social Networking Community Reaches 14.8 Million [news release] comScore released its report into a selection of Germany?s largest social networking sites. Social networking sites attracted 14.8 million unique visitors from within Germany in July ? reaching 45.0 percent of the country?s online population. Reiterating its International appeal as the worlds? largest social networking site, MySpace.com proved to be the most popular social networking property in Germany, attracting 3.7 million unique visitors. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1737 Skyrock Network the Dominant French Social Networking Site [news release] comScore's report on France?s largest social networking sites found social networking sites attracted 13.2 million unique visitors from within France in July, reaching 50 percent of the country?s entire online population. French site Skyrock Network dominated the French social networking scene with 9.1 million unique visitors. In second place in July was the worlds? largest social networking site, MySpace.com, attracting 2.3 million unique visitors. Interestingly, Facebook, which has enjoyed a 422 percent growth across the continent since the start of the year, has struggled to make an impact on the French market. http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1735 ********************** NEW TECHNOLOGIES ********************** Will computers reach top speed by 2020? For decades it has been the benchmark by which advancements in computing are measured. Now Moore's Law - the maxim which states that computers double in speed roughly every two years - has come under threat, from none other than the man who coined it. ... In an interview yesterday, however, Mr Moore said by about 2020, his law would come up against a rather intractable stumbling block: the laws of physics. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2489053.ece http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7002267.stm http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4207574a28.html http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9037480 No mobile means poverty, say British children Almost half of children in some parts of Britain think that not having a mobile phone means a child is poor. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/sep/19/mobilephones Virtual worlds open up to blind Online virtual worlds could soon be accessible to blind people thanks to research by students at IBM in Ireland. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6993739.stm Mozilla tries Firefox recipe with Thunderbird Mozilla wants to reproduce the Firefox Web browser's success with Thunderbird, its open-source e-mail software. http://www.news.com/2100-1012_3-6208483.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6208483.html ********************** DIGITAL DIVIDE ********************** Africa telecoms summit to promote Internet access [Reuters] A U.N.-backed Africa communications summit, "Connect Africa", in Rwanda in late October, will seek to boost high-speed Internet access to match the continent's explosive growth in mobile phones, officials said on Wednesday. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19292140.htm http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN19292140.html Internet cafes and the digital divide in Papua New Guinea ... High Internet costs contribute towards making the much talked about Digital Divide in Papua New Guinea an enormous barrier to the ability of the people to participate in and benefit from the digital economy. http://www.thenational.com.pg/091807/w6.htm in: Ericsson launches rural broadband project Aiming to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban India and to bring in the benefits of the internet services to rural people, telecom equipment vendor Ericsson today launched "Gramjyoti rural broadband project." http://indiadaily.com/breaking_news/93209.asp OLPC machine may cause an education revolution If the One Laptop Project keeps its promises, the small green US$100 laptop could very well revolutionise teaching in developing nations. Computerworld Denmark asked Jan Soelberg, an expert from the school of education at the University of Aarhus, to try the computer. http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;42601440;fp;2;fpid;1 The next Internet revolution is coming "No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come," said Howard Charney, Cisco's senior vice president, borrowing from Victor Hugo to summarise the power of the Internet. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/The-next-Internet-revolution-is-coming/0,130061702,339282193,00.htm ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* I.B.M. to Offer Office Software Free in Challenge to Microsoft?s Line I.B.M. plans to mount its most ambitious challenge in years to Microsoft?s dominance of personal computer software, by offering free programs for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. http://nytimes.com/2007/09/18/technology/18blue.html Google goes to war with Microsoft Google, no longer just a souped-up search engine, is really beginning to get under the skin of Microsoft, it seems. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22432454-39525,00.html Australia spends nearly a billion dollars each year powering computers Australian enterprises are the largest consumers of electricity used for computing but still lag behind when it comes to environmental leadership, according to new research released today by Springboard Research. Despite its large carbon footprint, Australia's ICT sector has a tendency to interpret Green IT initiatives as just another cost and process to endure. http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1770966267;fp;2;fpid;1 German web host to go carbon neutral Web hosting firm Strato has pulled on its hemp-woven strides and made an ambitious proclamation that it will be completely carbon-free by January 2008. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/19/strato_web_hosting_green_co2/ IHT and Times to stop charging for parts of their Web sites The move comes two years to the day after the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect. http://iht.com/articles/2007/09/18/business/18times.php ********************** TELECOMMUNICATIONS ********************** au: Ruddock to make the call on CDMA shut-off The highly-charged debate surrounding the shutdown of Telstra's CDMA network has forced the federal government to bring in "the law" with Attorney General Philip Ruddock taking on the role of adjudicator. http://arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;1188869915;fp;4194304;fpid;1 http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1188869915;fp;2;fpid;1 http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Coonan-washes-hands-of-Telstra-CDMA-decision/0,130061791,339282125,00.htm ********************** VoIP ********************** us: Lawmakers Float VoIP-Based 911 Bill Lawmakers today introduced a bill to try and bring VoIP services into an emergency calling regime that has largely ignored the IP-based infrastructure. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3700541 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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.htmlReceived on Mon Sep 24 2007 - 04:37:50 UTC
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