[DNS] domain name news - November 5

[DNS] domain name news - November 5

From: David Goldstein <goldstein_david§yahoo.com.au>
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 21:23:18 -0800 (PST)
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 November 8 edition of the news include:
ICANN tweaks root DNS server | ICANN Establishes Forum on Allocation Methods for Single-Letter and Single-Digit Domain Names | .AU approaches one million domain registrations | Cyveillance Reports Malware Attacks via Web Sites Grew | Honeynet Project: Attackers Know Where You Live


And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings.


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The domain name news is supported by auDA

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Internet Governance Forum this month will be wide-ranging, says UN official [news release]
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24520
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3158

Security, Child Pornography Issues To Dominate Internet Governance Forum
http://allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009050640

Formative years of Net in steady hands
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sunprofile4nov04,1,4959073.story

Kiwi appointed chairman of cyberspace [NZPA]
http://stuff.co.nz/4260640a11.html

Kiwi new king of online world
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/blog/story.cfm?c_id=1501198&objectid=10474119

Change Of Leadership At ICANN As Cerf Makes Way For IP Expert by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
http://ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=807&res=&res=1280_ff&print=0

Commerce?s NTIA Seeks Public Comments Regarding Joint Project Agreement with ICANN [news release}
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2007/PR_ICANNJPA_10292007.html

Group on non-English domains formed [AP]
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/03/1193619180658.html

WHOIS stays as is for now
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=privacy&articleId=9045158

The Sleeper Issue in Los Angeles by Milton Mueller
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/11/4/3332778.html

ICANN Invites Internet Community to Pay Tribute to Dr. Vint Cerf
http://blog.icann.org/?p=231

Study Shows German Internet Users Prefer Memorable Domain Names for Cities and Regions by Dirk Krischenowski
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3157

nu: Niue Government Criticized In Internet Domain Probe
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=36209

tk: Littlest nation joins top 10 internet domains
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/11/02/227906/littlest-nation-joins-top-10-internet-domains.htm

UK businesses "live to regret" domain names
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/135270/uk-business-live-to-regret-domain-names.html

Report: Al Qaeda Schedules Cyber Jihad for Nov. 11
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=137875

uk: Signing the root and DNSSEC - Nominet position paper
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=4549

Velcro defies generic claim in domain name battle
http://out-law.com/page-8608

in: United Breweries Win Copyright Case
http://medianewsline.com/news/135/ARTICLE/1622/2007-11-05.html


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GOVERNANCE
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Internet Governance Forum this month will be wide-ranging, says UN official [news release]
A meeting on Internet governance in Rio de Janeiro later this month will bring together participants from around the world to discuss issues ranging from open standards to child protection and child pornography, a senior United Nations official said today. Speaking to the press in Geneva ahead of the second Internet Governance Forum meeting, to be held from 12-15 November, Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator of the Forum Secretariat, said more than 1,500 participants had registered 10 days before the event was set to begin.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24520
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3158
http://egovmonitor.com/node/15576

Security, Child Pornography Issues To Dominate Internet Governance Forum
Issues ranging from open standards for child protection and child pornography will dominate discussions at the IGF in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 12-15.
http://allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009050640

Internet pioneers mark 30 years of inter-networking in Mountain View
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View and the Web History Center are hosting a panel discussion - no, call it a trip down computer-memory lane - on Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the first inter-network data transmission. (Hint: Find the word in the previous sentence that gave us the term "Internet.") Speakers include Internet pioneers Vint Cerf, Robert Kahn, Don Nielson, Virginia Strazisar Travers, Jim Garrett, Irwin Jacobs and Paal Spilling, and here's their story:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/03/BUGRT52QK.DTL

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - ICANN
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Formative years of Net in steady hands
As a guy who helped teach computers to talk to each other, earning him acclaim as one of the fathers of the Internet, Vint Cerf could have been forgiven a little preening as he handed over the keys to another generation. But Cerf's farewell speech last week as chairman of ICANN -- the closest thing the Internet has to a governing body -- was vintage Vint.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sunprofile4nov04,1,4959073.story

Kiwi appointed chairman of cyberspace [NZPA]
Wellington-based Internet law expert Peter Dengate Thrush has been appointed chairman of the board of Icann, the US-based organisation that globally co-ordinates Internet address identifiers.
http://stuff.co.nz/4260640a11.html
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/4262070a6479.html
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/071102/3/29yu.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10473839

NZ lawyer takes top job at internet govering body
A Wellington intellectual property lawyer has become the first New Zealander to head the internet's international governing body, ICANN.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200711050603/nz_lawyer_takes_top_job_at_internet_govering_body

Kiwi new king of online world
Congratulations to Peter Dengate Thrush - the Wellington lawyer who is the new chairman of ICANN. He has big shoes to fill following high-profile internet guru Vint Cerf into the role.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/blog/story.cfm?c_id=1501198&objectid=10474119

InternetNZ congratulates new ICANN Chair [news release]
InternetNZ congratulates longstanding InternetNZ member Peter Dengate Thrush on his election as Chair of the board of ICANN, the US-based organisation that globally coordinates the Internet?s unique identifiers.
http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/mediareleases/31107icann

New Zealander to chair ICANN [news release]
The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mr David Cunliffe today congratulated Wellington lawyer Peter Dengate-Thrush on his election as Chairman of ICANN, the international corporation that controls domain names on the Internet.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=31194

Change Of Leadership At ICANN As Cerf Makes Way For IP Expert by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
Intellectual property and computer law barrister Peter Dengate-Thrush has been elected as new Chairman of the Board of ICANN. The former chairman of InternetNZ, the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry for New Zealand (.nz), and cofounder of the Association of Asian Pacific ccTLDs, succeeds the legendary Vinton Cerf.
http://ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=807&res=&res=1280_ff&print=0

ICANN chair to fast-track Internationalised Domain Names
Non-English-speaking nations could begin using their own scripts for top level domain names as early as mid-2008 says the new chairman of ICANN, New Zealand lawyer Peter Dengate Thrush.
http://m-net.net.nz/2035/latest-news/latest-news/icann-chair-to-fast-track-internationalised-domain-n.php

gTLD scrap ahead?
A comment made by Peter Dengate Thrush on his appointment as ICANN's new chairman may herald controversy over additional gTLDs.
http://itwire.com/content/view/15187/53/

ICANN appoints successor to Vint Cerf [IDG]
ICANN sought to allay fears that come with leadership change as it announced a new chairman for the group, replacing the charismatic Vint Cerf. ICANN elected Peter Dengate Thrush, a board member who has been involved in ICANN since its inception, as its new chairman.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/02/ICANN-appoints-successor-to-Vint-Cerf_1.html

ICANN taps New Zealand lawyer to replace Cerf
ICANN has elected New Zealand lawyer Peter Dengate Thrush as its new chairman, replacing one of the Internet's "founding fathers," Vint Cerf.
http://www.news.com/2100-1030_3-6216997.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6216997.html

New Zealander to head Internet oversight board [AP]
A New Zealand lawyer has been selected as the new chairman of the international Internet oversight agency ICANN, replacing American Vinton Cerf who has lead the agency since its creation in 1998, the organisation said on Friday. Peter Dengate Thrush "has been elected unanimously as the new Chairman of the Board of ICANN," ICANN said in a statement.
http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/02/business/NA-FIN-TEC-US-Internet-Names-Chairman.php
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/03/1193619184539.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/03/1193619184539.html

Shills protest Paris Convention on IP
"This is an open meeting, of course, but I just want everyone to know it's all off the record." Steven Metalitz, Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC). Thanks, Steve. Since everything's off the record, what better way to give the public an idea of what really goes on in the emerald city of the internet than to offer an up close and personal view of ICANN at work? We thought we'd start with the IPC meeting itself and spiral downward from there.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/02/ip_igo_protections/

Commerce?s NTIA Seeks Public Comments Regarding Joint Project Agreement with ICANN [news release]
Commerce?s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced that it will consult with interested stakeholders regarding the mid-term review of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between the Department and ICANN. NTIA will soon release a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) requesting comments to be due February 15, 2008.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2007/PR_ICANNJPA_10292007.html

Domain owner info to remain public, for now
A panel on Internet names voted last week to defer long-simmering questions on whether names, phone numbers and other private information of domain name owners should remain public in open, searchable databases called Whois.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/BUSINESS/711050325

Group on non-English domains formed [AP]
A key Internet oversight agency formed a working group Friday to speed up the process of assigning addresses entirely in other languages. The decision by ICANN represents another step toward the approval of IDNs as early as next year. The working group will focus on domains for specific countries, such as the Chinese-character equivalent of China's ".cn" suffix.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/03/1193619180658.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/03/1193619180658.html
http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/02/business/NA-FIN-TEC-US-Internet-Names.php

WHOIS stays as is for now
A committee of ICANN has decided to leave the WHOIS database as it is, at least for now. The committee, which has been discussing changes to the WHOIS database for seven years, voted 17-7 yesterday to continue studying the issue. The committee, called the Generic Names Supporting Organization, also voted 17-7 against a proposal that would have allowed "natural persons," people who register domain names for purposes other than conducting business over the Internet, to list the contact information of designated third parties in the WHOIS database, rather than their own.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=privacy&articleId=9045158
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139211-pg,1/article.html

Whois reform: ICANN says let's run more tests
Quick, people: what takes seven years? Biblical plagues? Itches? If you guessed an ICANN policy development process - that's a PDP to you, luddite - you are correct. ICANN today officially cut off the oxygen to its Whois reform PDP after seven years in favor of... well, no one's quite sure, yet. Something must have happened - after all, we're not hanging out at LAX for the charming scenery and the cool jumbos.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/01/whois_reform/

The Sleeper Issue in Los Angeles by Milton Mueller
Amidst all the drama surrounding ICANN?s Los Angeles meeting (Vint Cerf?s exit from the ICANN Board, protests over the free expression implications of its new gTLD policy, the Whois-privacy debate and steps toward new multilingual domain names) an important signal about the future of ICANN was almost lost in the shuffle. The U.S. Commerce Department announced a full-scale, public review of the global Internet governance regime?s status. Interested parties have until 15 February 2008 to submit their comments. This initiative must be perceived in combination with renewed signs of ?enhanced cooperation? ? the WSIS-inspired code words for European demands that the U.S. accommodate their concerns about unilateral U.S. control of the Internet?s root. Together it faintly signals some kind of movement on the thorniest issue in global internet governance. Movement in exactly which direction remains unclear, but pressure from BRIC countries in the UN
 Internet Governance Forum certainly plays role in it.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/11/4/3332778.html

Hallowe'en story: the Whois Monster Mask Slips Off by Milton Mueller
ICANN's GNSO Council stumbled and bumbled its way to a nonresolution of the Whois privacy controversy today (Wednesday, All Hallows Eve). On the surface, nothing changed. Despite ICANN's inertia, however, the "status quo" Whois is gradually being eroded by a combination of market forces, which allow registrants to buy a modicum of privacy protection from registrars, and the ongoing threat of legal assaults on Whois from outside the United States. A growing number of ccTLDs and gTLDs can be expected to force ICANN to adjust its Whois requirements to the data protection laws of other countries, the most current example being the TELNIC case. This means that the status quo equilibrium left in place by ICANN's inability to act is tilting slowly in favor of privacy. At the same time, law enforcement and takedown measures are taking new directions, pioneered by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, that also work outside the ICANN process.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/10/31/3326082.html

ICANN LA according to board member Susan Crawford
Susan Crawford has a series of postings on her blog on the ICANN meeting in LA.
http://scrawford.net/blog/

Giant head of I-CANN, Vint Cerf angered by travelers
It was reported today in Los Angeles that four travelers and a dog arrived at the steps of I-CANN and asked to speak with the father of the internet, Vint Cerf. Cerf did not want to see the travelers for he had more important things to do and kept putting them off. The travelers then became upset and broke through security demanding to see him.
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s5i26498

ICANN - New TLD Policy - The Anti-Innovation Act of 2007
I'm sitting in ICANN's new TLD policy session - the restraint of trade is enough to gag a Rockefeller. ICANN continues to espouse an internet that exists only in its own image. An internet in which innovation and enterprise are forced to conform to ICANN standards of goodness.
http://www.cavebear.com/cbblog-archives/000329.html

Caution! Explicit content!
ICANN Ombudsman's 2007 Annual Report is out. He decided to include a letter from a complainant which on the face of it is disturbing, page 6.
http://domaine.blogspot.com/2007/10/caution-explicit-content.html

ICANN Invites Internet Community to Pay Tribute to Dr. Vint Cerf
The Internet Community is invited to pay tribute to Dr. Vint Cerf. Comments can be left by following this link:
http://blog.icann.org/?p=231

Video from Vint Cerf Tribute Released
ICANN posted the video tributes from Tuesday night?s salute to retiring Board Chair Vint Cerf on its website. Messages in the video include tributes from: Al Gore, Dr Tarek Kamel, Dr Eric Schmidt, Commissioner Viviane Reding and Dr. Charles Elachi.
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-01nov07.htm

ICANN Keeps Building Global Relationships With Frameworks
ICANN has signed four more exchanges of letters with country code top level domain operators ? bring the total to seven signed at ICANN?s 30th International Public Meeting in Los Angeles. The exchange of letters signed and completed over the past few days include: Italy (.it), Cook Islands (.ck), Federated States of Micronesia (.fm) and Solomon Islands(.sb).
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-01nov07.htm

ICANN Concludes 30th International Public Meeting
ICANN continued its work to strengthen the single, global, interoperable Internet at its just concluded 30th International Public Meeting in Los Angeles. "ICANN meetings are the ICANN model in action ? bottom-up, consensus-driven discussions that help ensure the domain name system is co-ordinated rather than controlled," said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN's President and CEO. "This 30th meeting was one of the best ? we laid out our progress on internationalized domain names and new generic top-level domains, and we charted a course forward on complex and difficult issues"
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-4-02nov07.htm

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 - (cc)TLD NEWS
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.cn domain in demand by multinationals and domestic companies - CNNIC
A growing number of multinational as well as domestic companies are now registering .cn domain names, which will be a future trend due to the need of business localization and legal protection in China, a source with China's national domain name registration and management body, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), told Interfax yesterday.
http://www.interfax.cn/displayarticle.asp?aid=29261

cn: Google To Topple Baidu With Short Domain Name?
http://news.techwhack.com/6765/g.cn/
http://www.chinatechnews.com/2007/11/02/6045-google-china-whats-up-g/
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/11/02/google-to-topple-baidu-with-short-domain-name

Study Shows German Internet Users Prefer Memorable Domain Names for Cities and Regions by Dirk Krischenowski
The majority of private Internet users in Germany favour the increased usage of local domain endings as in .city or .region in the future because the more memorable names will help them to better find the information that they are looking for. That is the core result of a representative survey that was commissioned by eco Verband der deutschen Internetwirtschaft and conducted by the market research company eResult at the beginning of October. eco is the registered association of German Internet enterprises.
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3157
http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/11/03/study-shows-german-internet-users-prefer-memorable-domain-names-for-cities-and-regions-by-dirk-krischenowski/
http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/2007110401/study-shows-german-internet-users-prefer-memorable-domain-names-for-cities-and-regions-by-dirk-krischenowski/

hk: Suspected fraudulent website: www.bochkvip.com [news release]
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name www.bochkvip.com.
http://info.gov.hk/hkma/eng/press/2007/20071101e3_index.htm

IE Domain Registry Introduce Dot-ie Personal Domain Names
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the managed registry for Ireland.s dot-ie domain names, has today launched personal dot-ie domain names. For the first time, individuals can now register their own personal dot-ie domain name such as www.johnsmith.ie.
http://www.iedr.ie/NEWS/News-01Nov07.php

Bringing IP to Ireland
Stamp duty exemption: Irish tax law provides an exemption from stamp duty on the sale, transfer or other disposition of IP such as any patent, trademark, copyright, registered design, design right, invention, domain name, supplementary protection certificate or plant breeder?s rights. Also included in the exemption is goodwill to the extent that it is directly attributable to such IP.
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=129809&d=415&h=417&f=262

it: Internet Law - domain registration in Italy
Domain names ending with the .it ccTLD for Italy are registered and managed by ccTLD .it registry (nic.it), an assigned official registry of Italy. The activities of the ccTLD .it registry are administered by regulations that contain rules for the registration and management of ccTLD .it domain names and include separate regulations for the resolution of disputes regarding .it ccTLD. These regulations were developed by the Rules Committee, a technical advisory body of the ccTLD .it registry. This article answers the following questions: What is a Letter of Assumption of Responsibility (LAR); What does ?challenged status? mean; What does ?no-provider? status mean; and When does the registry annul the assignment of a ccTLD .it domain name.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=1743B65F-EA85-445B-A19C-4F59594823DE

YourCity.MD launches Web site nationwide
A health care Web site targeted at physicians and consumers went live in about 300 U.S. cities Thursday. YourCity.MD LLC said the sites, localized to each city, will reach 98 percent of the health care market in the United States. Users can type in the name of their city, along with the .md domain name, to easily connect to their local health care networks, the Cincinnati-based company said in a news release.
http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/10/29/daily49.html
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/10/29/daily49.html
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/10/29/daily49.html

my: 2nd Level Domain Priority Entry Period is now open for applications!
MYNIC is pleased to announce that the Priority Entry period for MYNIC's shorter addressing (shorter suffix) option via second level domain name (2LD), will start from 9am 1 November 2007 to 5pm 31 December 2007.
http://mynic.net.my/newhp/announcements/mynic-1nov07.html

nl: Holland launching numerical domain names
SIDN, the Dutch registry, plans to introduce numerical .NL domains next January. A Sunrise for holders of trademarks and tradenames starts December 1, 2007.
http://domainesinfo.fr/english/132/holland-launching-numerical-domain-names.php
http://www.nisnews.nl/public/021107_1.htm
http://www.domaininformer.com/news/press/071101SIDN.html
http://www.nisnews.nl/public/021107_1.htm

nu: Niue Government Criticized In Internet Domain Probe
A commission of inquiry in Niue says the Government was mistaken in believing the country?s domain?dot NU?was capable of producing a huge revenue. In its report, which while two years old is still to be released, the Inquiry has also cleared the companies that control the dot-nu internet domain name of any misconduct.
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=36209
http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2007/11/05/niue-government-criticized-in-internet-domain-probe

nz: InternetNZ and ICANN in Exchange of Letters [news release]
InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) is pleased to announce that it has formalised its relationship with ICANN through the signing of an exchange of letters.
http://dnc.org.nz/story/30296-29-1.html

tk: Littlest nation joins top 10 internet domains
The smallest nation in the world is now one of the world's 10 largest domain registries, with more active domain names than France or Italy, thanks to an innovative marketing programme that saw the owners pay registrants to sign up. .TK is the internet domain of the Tokelau Islands in the South Pacific. Despite having just over 1000 residents, .TK has amassed 1.7 million active domain names in a couple of months.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/11/02/227906/littlest-nation-joins-top-10-internet-domains.htm

tk: Sudden Growth Causes Internet Domain Registry to Temporarily Close
Dot TK, with its 1.7 million active domain names, is now one of the 10 largest domain registries in the world. The Internet domain of the small group of Tokelau Islands in the South Pacific, has grown bigger than country code extensions like, such as .it (Italy) and .fr (France). Due to the enormous growth in the last couple of weeks Dot TK has decided, together with the government of Tokelau, to temporarily stop the registry for paid domains. This period is called the 'Sunrise Period' and runs from October 26th until December 3rd 9:59 am GMT.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071101/nyth088.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-01-2007/0004695110&EDATE=

UK businesses "live to regret" domain names
While naming a business is often a long and thoughtful process, choosing a website address is often regarded as a much smaller decision. According to a new survey, 41% of UK businesses spend less than an hour choosing their website address, and over half don't think to seek a second opinion on this critical decision.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/135270/uk-business-live-to-regret-domain-names.html

Dot VN, Inc. Appoints Mike Weller Chief Information Officer, EVP
Dot VN, Inc., a Delaware corporation, an Internet and Telecommunications Company and the official global domain name registrar (www.VN) for the Country of Vietnam, announced the Company has engaged Mike Weller, as the Company?s Chief Information Officer (CIO), EVP.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071102/20071102005203.html

"Oh-h say can you see..." dotUS web site addresses skyrocket at Go Daddy! [news release]
The Go Daddy Group is seeing tremendous growth in .US registrations, the Country Code domain name for the United States. Go Daddy accounted for more than 53% of all .US registrations in August and racked up similar statistics in September and October. In fact, Go Daddy has been the dominant .US registrar for every month of the last two years.
https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/news/release_view.asp?news%5Fitem%5Fid=124&app%5Fhdr=

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 - DOMAIN SECURITY
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Report: Al Qaeda Schedules Cyber Jihad for Nov. 11
The IT security blogosphere is burning up today, following an unconfirmed report that Osama Bin Laden and his followers are planning a massive cyber attack on Western targets in less than two weeks.
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=137875

uk: Signing the root and DNSSEC - Nominet position paper
Nominet has published a position paper that examines the issues currently preventing widespread adoption of DNSSEC with a special focus on the issues involved in signing the root zone. Nominet also suggests a solution to signing the root that they believe balances the requirements of all those affected.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=4549

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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Velcro defies generic claim in domain name battle
Velcro has won control of the domain name velcro.biz from the chief executive of a rival firm who argued that because the Velcro trade mark had become a generic name for hook and loop fasteners, he was entitled to the domain.
http://out-law.com/page-8608

Techie uses cybersquatting to tempt Google [TechWorld]
Cybersquatting is not something that sounds like a fast track to a better job, but that is precisely what a German techie decided to do in order to get noticed by search giant Google Inc. It has been reported on various blog sites that 27-year-old Cologne-based Sebastian Klein decided to register a variety of Google-related domains, where he posted an open letter to the company in several languages making it clear that he would relinquish the domains only if offered a job.
http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=10545
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045620

in: United Breweries Win Copyright Case
United Breweries (Holdings) Limited has announced that it has secured an ex-parte order of temporary injunction in a suit that was filed by it seeking relief against the website www.indianracing.in for running a website with a domain name that is deceptively similar to the www.indiarace.com website , owned by United Breweries (Holdings) Limited.
http://medianewsline.com/news/135/ARTICLE/1622/2007-11-05.html

Apple goes after sites using the iPhone trademark in their name
Remember way back in May (I know, I?ve slept since then too) when our sister site had to change its name from MYiPhone to MYiTablet? This was prompted by a brief meeting our own Vincent had with Steve Jobs where he was told to change the name because Apple has ?a team of lawyers to go after that kind of stuff.? We tried to warn the other sites using the iPhone name to get out while the getting was good. Those of you that didn?t heed our warning are likely sweating bullets today.
http://www.slashphone.com/70/8715.html

Wal-Mart's phishing site?
Recently a site has popped up and it's been making the rounds supposedly revealing "secret" holiday specials for Wal-Mart. What struck me immediately though is the domain name - holiday.ri-walmart.com. Anybody who's examined a phish or two would immediately notice ri-walmart.com is not walmart.com.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/WalMarts-phishing-site-89074

HuLu Not In UGC; LuLu Loses Prelim
Lulu assists in self-publishing content, including user-generated content (UGC) in video form. Hulu is the much-discussed joint venture between NBC and Fox that will distribute video content online. The venture had filed a trademark application covering a broad array of services, that could include the distribution of video UGC. Additionally, Hulu has sometimes been described as a potential competitor of YouTube, and that may give rise to the perception that Hulu would distribute UGC.
http://www.schwimmerlegal.com/2007/11/hulu_not_in_ugc.html

**********************
 - IPv4/IPv6
**********************
RIPE Community Resolution on IPv4 Depletion and Deployment of IPv6
During the RIPE 55 meeting in Amsterdam, the RIPE community agreed to issue the following statement on IPv4 depletion and the deployment of IPv6. "Growth and innovation on the Internet depends on the continued availability of IP address space. The remaining pool of unallocated IPv4 address space is likely to be fully allocated within two to four years. IPv6 provides the necessary address space for future growth. We therefore need to facilitate the wider deployment of IPv6 addresses.
http://ripe.net/news/community-statement.html

**********************
 - MISCELLANEOUS
**********************
DENIC eG presents ENUM applications at the Vo.IP Germany     
ENUM is an innovative service based on the Internet?s Domain Name System, which links the communication worlds of telephony and Internet. DENIC eG presents possible applications of this technology at the Vo.IP Germany in Frankfurt am Main on 30 and 31 October 2007 (location: Chamber of Commerce and Industry / Frankfurt Stock Exchange). ENUM and the services linked to it open up the entire world of communication to the user. With ENUM, one single telephone number grants access to PSTN and mobile service, but also to fax devices and even e-mail addresses or websites. In addition to that ENUM is used for the coupling of Voice-over-IP networks.
http://www.denic.de/en/denic/news/news_73.html

Verizon DNS Redirection 'Service' Spreads
Verizon has been implementing a DNS redirection service for select DSL and FiOS customers. The service redirects users who mistype URLs to an Verizon-run search page (complete with referral links) instead of giving a traditional error message. While Verizon insists the service was created to help users, it's really just a revenue generator. In essence, butterfingers create a revenue stream.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-DNS-Redirection-Service-Spreads-89137
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/Verizon-DNS-Redirection-Service-Spreads-89137

VeriSign Reports Third Quarter Results
Non-GAAP Operating Margin for Continuing Operations Increases Over 190 Basis Points to 23.4%
VeriSign, Inc. reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2007. VeriSign reported total revenue of $377 million for the third quarter of 2007 with revenue from continuing operations of $374 million.
http://www.verisign.com/static/043021.pdf

VeriSign 3Q Profit Rises 25 Percent [AP]
VeriSign Inc., which manages domain name registries for Web sites, said Thursday its third-quarter profit rose 25 percent on strength in two of its business units.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/11/01/ap4291548.html

Netcraft October 2007 Web Server Survey
In the October 2007 survey we received responses from 142,805,398 sites, an increase of 7.6 million sites since last month. This continues the strong gains seen last month, a rate of over 5% monthly growth, with MySpace, Microsoft Live.com, and Google's Blogger each gained over 1 million sites this month. Benefitting from the gains at MySpace and Microsoft Live, Microsoft-IIS now hosts over 50 million sites.
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/10/11/october_2007_web_server_survey.html

Has GoDaddy Done a 180 on Invalid Whois?
It appears that GoDaddy no longer cancels domains for invalid whois.
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/11/02/has-godaddy-done-a-180-on-invalid-whois/

**********************
 - DOMAINING
**********************
Domain Portfolio Development Best Practices: Learn from CNET, DuPont, Novartis and Time Warner
Managing a large, global domain name portfolio has become more and more complex over the years. Between the intricacies of international extensions to the rules of engagement for recovery, domain management professionals need to stay on top of the latest trends and strategies. Please join MarkMonitor and Managing Intellectual Property magazine for a live webinar featuring some of the most forward-thinking professionals in the world of online brand protection. Our expert legal panel will be "simulcast" live from the 2007 Insider Forum, MarkMonitor's annual user conference that has proven itself as a fantastic venue for collaboration and knowledge-sharing. The webinair will be held on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 13.00 ET / 10.00 PT / 18.00 UK / 7pm CET
http://markmonitor.com/seminars/071113em.html

Network Solutions? and Constant Contact? Announce Joint Online Seminars Explaining the Benefits of Combining SEO and Email Marketing
It takes much more than a simple Website to build a strong online presence. In order to educate small business owners on how to establish a strong online presence and drive more traffic to their Websites, Network Solutions, a leader in search engine optimization and online marketing services, and Constant Contact?, Inc., a leading provider of email marketing and online surveys for small organizations, will hold a two-part online seminar explaining the benefits of SEO and email marketing on November 6 and 8, 2007.
http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=NetworkSolutions&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=216264&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True&Merge=

**********************
 - AFTERMARKET
**********************
Preliminary GeoDomains Auction List Released
Initial geographical domain auction list released by Moniker.
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/11/02/preliminary-geodomains-auction-list-released/

Domain Name Marketplace NameMedia Files For $172 Million IPO
Domain name media firm NameMedia has filed to go public through a $172.5 million IPO on Nasdaq. The Waltham, MA-based company offers two main services, monetizing unused domains and facilitating domain name sales, each of which accounts for roughly half of the business.
http://biz.yahoo.com/paidcontent/071102/1_316493_id.html

CreditCards.com Takes Swipe at $185M IPO
CreditCards.com hopes to raise as much as $185 million through an IPO. The company will deploy the capital it raises through the offering in part to repay debt as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. The company told the SEC that it is profitable, earning $2.3 million in the first nine months of 2007 on $44.6 million in revenue, a reflection of the low-overhead e-commerce model.
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/CreditCardscom-Takes-Swipe-at-185M-IPO-60139.html
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/11/02/creditcardscom-ups-ipo-to-185m/

NameMedia (NAME) Files US$172.5M IPO
NameMedia Inc. filed a registration statement with the SEC for an initial public offering of its common stock. The proposed maximum aggregate offering price is $172.5 million. The company plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol "NAME".
http://www.streetinsider.com/IPOs/NameMedia+(NAME)+Files+$172.5M+IPO/3083609.html

NameMedia, Inc. Files Registration Statement for Initial Public Offering [news release]
NameMedia, Inc. today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. Upon effectiveness of the registration statement, the common stock is expected to trade on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol ?NAME.?
http://namemedia.com/?p=49

OTV.com Tunes in $110,000 in This Week's Top Reported Sale
The AfternicDLS targets small and medium sized businesses, selling the majority of their domains in the four-figure range, but despite that tight focus every now and then they reel in a whale. Such was the case this week as they landed the #1 spot on our new Top 20 chart with the $110,000 sale of OTV.com.
http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2007/domainsales10-30-07.htm

Secondary market trading platform for domain names
Although domain name sharing is not new, it might gain more attention with the soon to be launched Fusu. Fusu allows the industrialization of name sharing. This Domain Stock Exchange is expected to start on November 1.
http://domaine.blogspot.com/2007/10/secondary-market-trading-platform-for.html

**********************
CENSORSHIP
**********************
Another ?technical incident? shuts down Internet again
Reporters Without Borders condemns the resumption of Internet censorship by the Burmese military government. Internet connections have been cut again since yesterday. One of the main ISPs, the state-controlled Myanmar Teleport (BaganNet), has again referred to a ?technical incident.?
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24183

Myanmar internet link with outside world fails for second day
Myanmar's internet link with the outside world continued to fail on Friday, the second day since Thursday without web access internationally.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90781/90877/6295938.html

Australian free speech being whittled away
Free speech in Australia is being whittled away by legal restrictions and a secretive culture among public officials, according to a new report on press freedom. Author of the report, former NSW ombudsman Irene Moss, says there are grounds for concern about the state of free speech in Australia. Her audit, commissioned by a coalition of major media groups, says there are 500 pieces of legislation and at least 1,000 court suppression orders still in force that restrict media reporting in Australia.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/05/1194117939539.html

Report reveals Australia's slide to secrecy, censorship
Australians are the victims of a secretive culture that makes public officials too frightened to release vital information, a damning report on the state of free speech in the nation has found. The study of how information is kept hidden from the public has found that governments and judges are denying access to ?vital information? through secrecy legislation, ?flimsy? suppression orders and million dollar fees for individual Freedom of Information requests. 
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22704124-5013456,00.html

Press freedom declining: audit
An independent audit by former New South Wales ombudsman Irene Moss has found a general "subtle shift" towards secrecy in Australia. The audit reviewed legislation and practices related to free speech issues affecting the media in Australia. Ms Moss says Australians should not be complacent about declining media freedom.
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081787.htm

The Report of the Independent Audit into the State of Free Speech in Australia is available from:
http://www.news.com.au/files/freespeechinaustralia.pdf

US House committee chairman criticizes Yahoo over role in arrest of Chinese dissident [AP]
A U.S. House committee chairman is angrily rejecting Yahoo Inc.'s explanation for why it provided incomplete information to Congress about its role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/06/1194118014366.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/06/1194118014366.html

************************************************
CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
************************************************
us: Child porn cops stress sessions [AFP]
IN a normal working day, US criminal investigator Flint Waters will surf the internet, chat online with someone whose acquaintance he made a few weeks earlier, and exchange photos and videos. Every so often, Mr Waters goes for stress counselling to try to get some of the images he has seen in a day's work out of his head, because the reality of his work is in sharp contrast with the attractive job description.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22667546-15322,00.html

au: Internet bullying warning to parents
MORE than one-third of teenage girls in Australia have been sexually harassed via the internet, and more than a quarter admit to cyber-bullying other girls, according to a survey released yesterday.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/04/1194117913362.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/04/1194117913362.html
http://stuff.co.nz/4262496a12.html
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/11/04/1194117913362.html

au: Cyber-sex fans flames of porn by Barbara Biggs
WHILE the Federal Government is spending more than $100 million on efforts to protect Australian families from internet porn, associated problems are popping up like spot fires in a hot wind. We've already seen that tech-savvy teenagers can bust the Government's online porn filters. That knowledge will no doubt spread like a virus, like other information forbidden to teenagers online.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22711456-5007146,00.html

au: Teen hacker helps govt block porn
Downloads of the government's Internet filtering software have hit six figures, according to the Communications Minister -- with the Coalition now turning to a schoolboy for help in improving the software.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Teen-hacker-helps-govt-block-porn/0,130061733,339283512,00.htm

**************************
ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
**************************
Publishers See a Way to Track Their Content Across the Net
Copyrighted work like a news article or a picture can hop between Web sites as easily as a cut-and-paste command. But more than ever, as that material finds new audiences, the original sources might not get the direct financial benefit ? in fact, they might have little idea where their work has spread. A young company called Attributor says it has an answer, and a number of big publishers of copyrighted material say Attributor just might be right.
http://nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05paper.html

Dutch pedophile Web site cannot show royal photos [Reuters]
A Dutch court has banned a Web site sympathetic to pedophiles from showing photographs of child members of the royal family, including the three-year-old heiress to the throne Princess Amalia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0181830520071101

au: IDs hijacked in website trickery
ONLINE identity theft has reached catastrophic levels with millions of personal passwords being stolen in internet scams. Known as phishing, internet scammers set up pages designed to look like familiar pages such as Facebook or MySpace and trick users into volunteering their personal details.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22687438-11869,00.html

Wikipedia cleared in French defamation case [Reuters]
A French judge has dismissed a defamation and privacy case against Wikipedia after ruling the free online encyclopedia was not responsible for information introduced onto its Web site.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6216797.html

FBI: the 24-Hour Case: Anatomy of a Cyber Investigation
Ever wonder how the FBI runs a cyber investigation? Here's a good example...a potentially deadly threat that we ran to ground in short order with the help of our partners. Setting the stage. On April 17, a day after the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, the FBI learned that a message had been posted on the Internet threatening a similar attack at San Diego State University in Southern California.
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/oct07/cybercase103107.html

**************************
PRIVACY
**************************
Most consumers clueless about online tracking, behavior profiling
Every single move you make online can, and often is, tracked by online marketers and advertising networks that gather and use the information for serving up targeted advertisements. But the average American consumer is largely unaware that such tracking goes on, the extent to which it is happening or how exactly information is being used.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045159
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139212-page,1/article.html

us: Don't track Internet surfers by default, says FTC official
A Federal Trade Commission official on Thursday issued a warning of sorts to Internet companies: stop collecting information about your users by default, and give them shorter, more conspicuous details about what's going on with their data.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9809093-7.html

us: Support for ad-tracking opt out
US privacy advocates and consumer bodies are seeking the creation of an opt-out list for internet users who do not want to be tracked by advertisers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7072653.stm

Online privacy policies need work, advocates say [IDG]
Online privacy policies need to be easier to understand and more conspicuous because few people now actually read them, said panelists at a U.S. Federal Trade Commission workshop on targeted online advertising.
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1526265266;fp;2;fpid;1

**************************
GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
**************************
us: F.T.C. Member Vows Tighter Controls of Online Ads
A member of the Federal Trade Commission said yesterday that the agency would be exerting a tighter grip over online advertising, partly because of increased tracking by marketing companies of people?s activity on the Internet.
http://nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/001cnd-ftc.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/02adco.html
http://iht.com/articles/2007/11/01/technology/privacy.php

FTC reviewing Google ad deal "expeditiously" [Reuters]
U.S. antitrust authorities are reviewing Google Inc's purchase of advertising company DoubleClick as quickly as possible, Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN0154130420071101

au: Internet the battleground for Australia's election [Reuters]
Australia's election has become a war of bytes, with Labor challenger Kevin Rudd swooping on the Internet's high ground to build an army of young supporters and a Facebook fanclub on a promise of "fresh thinking".
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKSYD13371020071101

au: Family First candidate downloaded web porn
FAMILY First has been caught in a new morals controversy with one of its candidates who questioned whether a rival was a lesbian now admitting having downloaded internet porn.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22690376-5005941,00.html

North Korea an Internet Abyss, no Grid Exists to Support Web
A height-challenged, platform shoe wearing dictator sporting Elton John-styled glasses, with a billowing pompadour, spouting empty socialist clich?s who also claims bragging rights to the world's largest Daffy Duck collection might seem to be the creation of a zany Hollywood spy comedy. Yet, when you add that the same leader is building a secret nuclear weapons cache from the ground up, while overseeing an economically stunted and almost totally impoverished country, while simultaneously presiding over an accidentally-hilarious Stalin-like cult of personality, then you can only be talking about Kim Jong-il, the notorious "Dear Leader" of North Korea.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1900

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INTERNET USE
**********************
comScore Ranks Top Web Sites in Germany for September [news release]
... Google was the most visited property in Germany with 23.2 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 70 percent of the total German Internet audience. Google was followed by eBay, which last month overtook Microsoft Sites to become the second most visited property from within Germany. The online marketplace served 17.7 million unique visitors in September, having grown 2.1 percent from the previous month.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1864

comScore Ranks Top Web Sites in U.K. For September
... Google was the most visited property in September, with 28.6 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 89 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience. It was followed by Microsoft Sites, which attracted 26.9 million unique visitors, an 83 percent reach. Wikipedia, a site whose growth had leveled off over the summer, was the fastest growing property in the top ten in September, increasing by 15 percent to attract its highest ever U.K. audience of 13.3 million unique visitors.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1851

Australia now in broadband speed top ten
According to new research from the OECD, Australia is now ranked within the top ten countries for average advertised broadband speeds. In the statistics for October 2007, Australia is ranked ninth for average advertised speed and 23rd on average price per MB out of the OECD's 30 member countries.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Australia-now-in-broadband-speed-top-ten/0,130061791,339283563,00.htm

Room for improvement in NZ's OECD ranking [news release]
New Zealand?s climb in the latest OECD broadband table is positive but the country is still playing catch up with most of the rest of developed world, warns InternetNZ. The statistics for the half year to June 2007 show New Zealand now ranks 20th of 30 OECD countries, with 683,500 broadband subscribers (16.5 broadband subscribers per 100 people).
http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/mediareleases/oecd61107

Britons sending 1bn texts weekly
Britons are now sending more than one billion text messages per week according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association. The figure is 25% higher than a year ago and is set to shatter forecasts for how many text messages have been sent to and from handsets this year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7075005.stm
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL0541656420071105

AP Chief: Newspapers Must Get Over Themselves [AP]
Newspaper publishers have been seeing declining ad revenues as more readers and advertisers migrate to the Web. Their own revenues from online ads have also been growing, but not fast enough to make up for the declines in print. "The first thing that has to go is the attitude," said Tom Curley, CEO of the Associated Press.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60158.html

Surge in South African internet usage
Internet usage in South Africa is rapidly increasing, according to statistics released by the Online Publishers Association recently. The latest figures reflect Internet usage over July, August and September this year, and reveal that the number of online users has increased by roughly 3 million. In 2006, 4,8 million unique online users were recorded. 2007 has seen a growth of nearly 163%, with 7,8 million online users recorded.
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=4114841

Poll finds nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults go online [Reuters]
... Four out of five U.S. adults go online now, according to a new Harris Poll. The survey, which polled 2,062 adults in July and October, found that 79 percent of adults -- about 178 million -- go online, spending an average 11 hours a week on the Internet.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0559828420071106

Spain's blogging gran a hit with surfers
Age is no barrier for 95-year-old Maria Amelia Lopez, whose blog attracts 60,000 readers worldwide.
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081738.htm
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=5022265

WSJ.com hits 1 million subscribers [Reuters]
The Wall Street Journal said on Sunday that its Web site now has 1 million subscribers, a milestone for a site that charges for access even as other sites are throwing themselves open for free. It also comes as News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch, who is buying the Journal's parent company Dow Jones & Company, contemplates scrapping the Journal's subscription model in favor of free access supported by advertising.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTON51576020071105
http://www.news.com/2110-1038_3-6216913.html

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SOCIAL NETWORKING
**********************
JupiterResearch Finds that One-Third of European Online Advertisers Plan Social Networking Profiles in the Next Year
JupiterResearch finds that 33 percent of European online advertisers plan to launch their own profiles on social networking sites in the next year. However, just 24 percent of advertisers using such "engagement" tactics measure whether users interact with their online ads. In a new report, "Social Marketing in Europe: Creating and Measuring User Engagement," JupiterResearch recommends a framework that will allow advertisers to easily and effectively measure their success in engaging users.
http://jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/press:press_release/2007/id=07.10.29-social-marketing-europe.html/

Why Google Turned Into a Social Butterfly
Facebook is an island. A most convivial island, with one?s classmates, friends, workmates and family members close at hand. An island that since May has been enlivened with entertaining fauna and flora in the form of minisoftware applications. But it?s still an island.
http://nytimes.com/2007/11/04/technology/04digi.html

MySpace and Bebo join Google's love-in
Google ramped up the pressure on Facebook last night, announcing that MySpace and Bebo had joined the broad alliance of social networking sites it has assembled that will offer a cross-site platform for software developers.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2793615.ece

Confirmed: MySpace Joining Google's OpenSocial
Now, it's getting interesting: News Corp.'s MySpace is joining Google's just-announced OpenSocial program. That's Google's shot at one-upping Facebook in the race to get outside software developers to create programs for social networks. The program allows developers of social applications, such as Slide, RockYou, and Flixster--which in turn have helped make Facebook the hot company of the year--to write programs once and have them run largely unchanged on any social site that signs on to OpenSocial.
http://businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2007/11/confirmed_myspa.html

MySpace, Facebook Hone Their Advertising Aim
The two leading social networking sites -- Facebook and News Corp.'s MySpace -- are both launching advertising programs this week aimed at allowing marketers to tightly target their audiences by using information from user profiles and other data. MySpace announced the pending launch of "SelfServe by MySpace," an advertising-ordering, creation and serving platform on Monday at the annual Ad:Tech conference in New York City, and said it has been quietly testing its HyperTargeting by MySpace technology since July.
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/MySpace-Facebook-Hone-Their-Advertising-Aim-60162.html

**********************
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
**********************
Google reveals mobile plans
Google today took another step in its quest to become the most powerful company in the world as it finally confirmed plans to enter the mobile phone industry. The company is introducing a new mobile system called Android, which it hopes will bring internet access to the masses ? and help it sell more advertising.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/05/google.mobilephones

Sorry, no Gphone, just an Open Handset Alliance
... Bottom line: Google is trying to use its market power to get a subsection of the mobile phone industry to line up behind a Google-sponsored Linux-based platform, so they can all produce the same sort of phone only cheaper. Presumably they'll all be running Google apps, so will these be open source and free as well?
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/11/05/sorry_no_gphone_just_an_open_handset_alliance.html

Rivals dismiss threat of Google mobile platform [Reuters]
Rivals of Google cast the web search leader as a late entrant to the cell phone market, saying its planned mobile phone software may boost web use on handsets but without threatening entrenched players. Analysts, however, said Google could have the means to disrupt the status quo in the wireless industry, which is dominated by a handful of large phone makers and regional service providers that often tightly control customer choices.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10474340

Google's Android platform seen as leading to market fragmentation
The announcement of the Android open mobile platform by Google Inc. and dozens of other companies could provoke the kinds of industry battles seen with other Linux-based initiatives, where incumbent, established players fight newcomers. If that is going to play out, though, it wasn't obvious today. Some of the more established mobile players, including Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Verizon Wireless and AT&T Corp., offered low-key reactions to Google's plans. None of the four companies is a member of the new Open Handset Alliance (OHA), the group of 34 wireless carriers, handset makers and others that have created Android.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045626
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139274/article.html

FAQ: Google's Android Platform for Mobile Phones
When will you be able to buy a Google phone? We'll answer your questions about everything surrounding Android, the Google phone, and the Open Handset Alliance in this continually evolving FAQ.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139293-c,pdacellphonehybrids/article.html

Mobile Developers Get to Tinker With Google's Android
Google, in conjunction with 34 technology and mobile industry leaders, is launching an open source platform called "Android" for mobile devices. The platform will be available under a progressive open source license, giving mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom to design products, according to Google.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60161.html

Google's Dream Phone
Google likes software, particularly the kind that puts ads on Web pages, making Google rich. The realities of a phone business--running a supply chain, keeping inventory and managing distribution--were never something Google wanted from its phone initiative. But it has built about five prototype phones based on the Open Handset Alliance software kit that it has used to demonstrate what an open-source phone could do--and to woo companies to join its team.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/11/05/gphone-google-phone-tech-cz_qh_1105gphone2.html

Google's Android adds to mobile complexity
While Google may be pitching its new mobile software platform as a way to unify the mobile market, even members of the new alliance think differently. ... But handset makers and operators are regarding Android, the new Linux-based mobile phone software announced Monday, as one more of many platforms that they already use.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/05/Google-Android-add-mobile-complexity_1.html

Google android steals march on mobile rivals
Google unveiled its long-awaited cell phone strategy yesterday as it sought to transplant the model that shook up the internet to the mobile sector. The plan, to be known as ?Android?, involves an international alliance of more than 30 handset makers and communications companies and could prove a disruptive force to the economics of the mobile industry in the long-term, according to analysts.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e9c2da4-8bbf-11dc-af4d-0000779fd2ac.html

I, Robot: The Man Behind the Google Phone
A retinal scanner emitting a blue glow monitors the entrance to Andy Rubin?s home in the foothills overlooking Silicon Valley. If the scanner recognizes you, the door unlocks automatically. (The system makes it easier to deal with former girlfriends, Mr. Rubin likes to joke. No messy scenes retrieving keys ? it?s just a simple database update.)
http://nytimes.com/2007/11/04/technology/04google.html

Google introduces software for mobile phones
Google took its long-awaited plunge into the wireless world Monday, announcing that it was leading a broad industry alliance to transform mobile phones into powerful mobile computers that could accelerate the convergence of computing and communications. The technology is expected to provide cellphone manufacturers and wireless operators with capabilities that match and potentially surpass those using smartphone software made by Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, Research In Motion and others. In contrast with that of its competitors, Google's software will be offered freely under "open source" licensing terms, meaning that cellphone manufacturers will be able to use it at no cost and be free to add new features to differentiate their products.
http://nytimes.com/2007/11/05/technology/05cnd-gphone.html
http://iht.com/articles/2007/11/05/technology/google.php

iCame, iSaw, iPhoned - British iPhone review
... After months of waiting for Apple's flagship to land in the UK, we're finally going to get it this Friday. In the meantime, the hype cycle seems to have gone full circle: first excitement at the US launch, then disappointment with the lack of third-party support, a backlash from some quarters, and finally tentative excitement again.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/05/gadgets.apple

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SPAM
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Why VoIP is the next target for spammers
In what looks like a highly developed piece of irony, hackers have proven that Voice over internet Telephony (VoIP) accounts are prone to the nuisance of voice spam - by attacking the university where the co-author of the protocol that VoIP runs on is professor of computer science.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/01/news.hacking

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DIGITAL DIVIDE
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ICT Summit Emphasizes Information Technology Age
The Information Technology Age has changed man's 'nature and nurture' in the world today and this week, it took the Connect Africa Summit to emphasize this. President Paul Kagame who hosted the meeting said, "In just ten years, what was once an object of luxury and privilege, the mobile phone has become a basic necessity in urban and rural Africa."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711050515.html

Africa: Do Everything to Ensure We Have a Digital Miracle
Africa is alive with possibility. The speed with which Africans have embraced mobile telephones provides an opportunity for rapid transformation and the potential of bridging the so-called digital divide.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711050449.html

Africa to get multi-billion dollar Internet injection
Africa will receive investment worth US$55-billion to boost its goal of securing universal Internet access by 2012, the International Telecommunication Union said on Wednesday. The international commitments were made at the two-day "Connect Africa" summit that ended in Rwandan capital on Tuesday, with a pledge to speed up technology in the continent, the ITU said in a statement.
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2884&iArticleId=5022154

Bridging Africa's digital divide
Intel's chairman Craig Barrett is in Africa to talk about initiatives designed to end the digital divide. He tells BBC News of the challenges the continent faces as it attempts to reap the benefits of the technological revolution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7071289.stm

Africa: ITU And Microsoft Unite
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Microsoft have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 'Connect Africa Summit' outlining how they will work together to build a safe, inclusive and networked information society.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711020796.html

RWANDA: Bridging the digital divide to reduce the dependence on aid
More than US$50 billion of largely private sector investment has been pledged to develop Africa's burgeoning ICT sector at a summit attended by African heads of state and more than 1,000 representatives from the industry.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/47c2fb2b5e80c484c609816f779a6375.htm

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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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The Era of Bottom-Up Brands: Google's Dominance Is Changing the Rules By Which Brands Win Consumer Loyalty
One of my favorite stories in the history of Web business -- a chronicle by turns heroic and tragic, ambitious and doomed, shrewd and really, really dumb -- is that of Pathfinder, Time Warner's attempt to dominate the Web by building a common home for its various print titles.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119393895627879318.html

Google hits US$219bn in success search
Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, has joined the corporate super-league with a market value that ranks among America's top five companies. Ten years after its creation in a Stanford University dormitory, the Silicon Valley firm's capitalisation reached $219bn (?105bn) on Tuesday - overtaking healthcare titan Procter & Gamble to place it in fifth place on the US stockmarket.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/01/news.google

Apple's Microsoft-Devouring Jungle Cat: How Leopard demolishes Vista.
Steve Jobs may be the undisputed grand master of technology hype, but when it comes to numbering operating systems, he's oddly self-effacing. With Leopard, the new version of OS X, Apple has nudged the version number forward from 10.4 to 10.5. Most companies would assign such a teensy increment to an update with a few minor bug fixes, but Leopard includes more than 300 new features by Apple's count. Even after you weed out several dozen pieces of ephemera such as Kerberized NFS?if you don't know what that is, you'll never need it?the $129 Leopard is a big deal with plenty of meaningful enhancements over its predecessor Tiger.
http://www.slate.com/id/2177073/

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VoIP
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Legislation enacted to protect triple zero calls via VoIP
Emergency triple zero calls from VoIP services are covered under legislation that formally came into effect today. Amendments to the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2002 Act confirm the obligation to provide free-of-charge access calls to Triple Zero from VoIP services with both dial-in and dial-out functionality.
http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1661091834
http://infoworld.nl/idgns/bericht.phtml?id=002570DE00740E18002573890083D2FA
http://webwereld.nl/articles/48550/legislation-enacted-to-protect-emergency-calls-via-voip.html
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/110507-legislation-enacted-to-protect-emergency.html
http://itwire.com/content/view/15186/127/ [IT Wire]

Emergency calls from VoIP now mandatory in Australia
In Australia, the communications authority has implemented new rules to provide greater certainty for consumers about access to police, fire and ambulance assistance.
http://www.voip-news.co.uk/2007/11/05/emergency-calls-from-voip-now-mandatory-in-australia/

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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
**********************************
Europe child porn probe nets 92
An investigation into a Europe-wide child pornography network has led to 92 arrests across eight countries, prosecutors say. The network made videos of children being abused and sold them to 2,500 customers in 19 countries, says the European police force, Europol.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7079716.stm

Men held in Euro child porn probe
Nine men were arrested in London and the Thames Valley during a Europe-wide inquiry into child porn that has led to 92 arrests across eight countries. Raids took place in Newbury, Berkshire; Oxfordshire; and Amersham and Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in September.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7079803.stm
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_2871280,00.html
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_2871592,00.html

au: Child sex network uncovered
Nine Queensland men are facing 188 charges after a major child pornography network was smashed by a police operation across 28 countries. The men, aged between 29 and 64 and hailing from Cairns to the Gold Coast, were arrested and charged after a breakthrough in a national offensive dubbed Pariah, and enforced by Queensland Police's child protection unit, Taskforce Argos.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,22711625-952,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22711625-3102,00.html

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

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(c) David Goldstein 2007

 
--------- 
David Goldstein
 address: 4/3 Abbott Street
           COOGEE NSW 2034
           AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David &#167;yahoo.com.au
 phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home)
 
"Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery





      
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Received on Thu Nov 08 2007 - 05:23:18 UTC

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