Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for all the news on ICANN in Lisbon and *that* decision on .xxx, as well as other domain name news over the last few days! And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for regular updates. The domain name news is supported by auDA. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Scammers target domain name owners http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/domain_appraisal_scam/ ICANN sued by irate RegisterFly customer, as class action rumble begins http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/icann_lisbon_lawsuit_registerfly/ ICANN to review oversight of companies that sell domain names (AP) http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/27/1174761416275.html ICANN committee creates new working group to further explore domain name privacy (AP) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/29/1174761590912.html The New .xxx Domain: Just a .bad/idea (National Catholic Register) http://ncregister.com/site/article/2158/ Government Advisers Discuss '.xxx' Name (AP) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/24/1174597921741.html ICANN to vote Friday on .xxx domain (IDG) http://infoworld.com/article/07/03/26/HNicannxxx_1.html Kevin, Stop The Nonsense: Take the Logo Down and Give us the Data by Paul Levins http://blog.icann.org/?p=76 ICANN Factsheet: Registerfly and Registrars (pdf) http://icann.org/announcements/factsheet-registerfly-registrars-26mar07.pdf ICANN to Celebrate Three New Regional At-Large Organizations http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-28mar07.htm Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name Registrar http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/25/2834529.html auDA conducts online policy survey http://auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-29032007/ .nz Domain Name Fee Reduction Announced (news release) http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/FeeReduction *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** Cybersquatters and invisible ink: Challenges to trademarks on the Internet (2000) (sub req'd) Abstract: A trademark can be the most important intellectual property asset owned by a business. Frequently, it is more valuable than the products or services it identifies. Trademarks created with an eye to their exposure on the Internet are particularly valuable because they are less vulnerable to the challenges that are presented in bold relief by Internet usage. Domain names are the trademarks of the Internet and clearly can be as valuable to their owners as traditional trademarks. An effective strategy to protect rights in trademarks and domain names can be developed only after the development of an understanding of the basic principles that apply to the creation and protection of rights that attach to these assets. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/72514623/ABSTRACT Domain Names, Trademarks, and the First Amendment: Searching for Meaningful Boundaries by Margreth Barrett (University of California, Hastings College of the Law) This article argues that domain names for forum web sites are comparable to the titles of expressive works, and points out how existing principles defining and governing the regulation of non-commercial speech should apply when mark owners challenge incorporation of their marks into domain names for gripe sites and other forum sites that target the mark owner. Unfortunately, courts have generally ignored the Supreme Court's definition of noncommercial speech in this context, and the First Amendment implications of prohibiting the defendants' use. In particular, courts are equating commercial speech with the Lanham Act's recently expanded commercial use requirement. While the commercial use requirement has served in the past to ensure that Lanham Act protection is consistent with First Amendment principles, its recent expansion has seriously undermined its effectiveness to do so. The article also examines the interface of First Amendment protection with the Anticybersquatter Consumer Protection Act, focusing particularly on how the courts are construing and applying the forth and fifth factors that the Act lays out for determining whether a defendant has the requisite bad faith intent to profit from the plaintiff's mark. The article notes several concerns, including a tendency of courts to undermine the purpose of the fourth factor's safe harbor for noncommercial fair use by: 1) relying on recent expansion of the Lanham Act's commercial use requirement in infringement and dilution cases to find that the defendant's forum site use was commercial; 2) focusing on the defendant's intent to harm the plaintiff, rather than his intent to profit; and 3) defining profit to include non-financial interests, such as the defendant's personal satisfaction from airing his criticism of the plaintiff. The article also points out pitfalls in the courts' construction of the fifth factor, and suggests alternative constructions that are more consistent with First Amendment precedent. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=928261 Method for query of domain names of telephone numbers Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for query of domain names of telephone numbers, e.g., E.164 numbers. The method comprises: in ENUM DNS (Electronic numbers to URI Mapping Domain Name System), dividing a domain name of a telephone number into a public domain name part and a digit domain name part; storing sequentially public domain name information separated by spacer(s) in the public domain name part and the data obtained by arranging digits in the digit domain name part in a preset order into nodes of a search tree according to storage rules of the search tree; on receiving a query request, the ENUM DNS obtaining the public domain name information of the domain name and finding the corresponding nodes according to search tree rules; obtaining the digits separated by spacer(s) in the domain name, arranging the digits into data in a prescribed order of the system, and finding the next-level nodes of the search tree. With the method of the present invention the height of the search tree can be effectively reduced, the hash degree of the HASH values generated by the nodes may be improved, and the possibility of conflict may be reduced, thus improving the query efficiency of the system. http://freepatentsonline.com/20070002778.html Load balancing network access requests Abstract: A method of load balancing network access requests comprises receiving a network access request from a serving node linked to a radio access network. The network access request identifies a mobile node receiving wireless service from the radio access network and identifies a data network to which the mobile node has requested access. The network access request requests a communication channel with the serving node for transporting data communications between the mobile node and the data network. The method further comprising determining one or more gateways providing access to the data network, selecting one of the gateways, and forwarding the network access request to the selected gateway. http://freepatentsonline.com/7185067.html IDNs: Straightforward Technical Problem or Machiavellian Nightmare? by Greg Goth Three of the leading figures trying to solve the technical aspect of IDNs ? Internet domain names containing non-ASCII characters, such as those used in Arabic or Chinese ? have been alternately hopeful and pessimistic recently. Vint Cerf, chairman of the ICANN board, says he?s more optimistic about finally deploying a globally workable IDN solution than he?s been in a year. Cary Karp, director of Internet strategy and technology at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, paints a darker picture of disingenuous and cynical maneuvering by parties with axes to grind. And John Klensin, former chairman of the Internet Architecture Board, says his outlook on one of the global Internet community?s most vexing and longest-running problems depends on the developments on any given day. http://csdl2.computer.org/comp/mags/ic/2007/01/w1011.pdf ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Scammers target domain name owners Fraudsters are targeting domain owners in a new spam-based scam. Typically the sophisticated fraud, which is still under investigation, starts with an email message to domain owners offering to purchase a domain. Prospective marks are directed to a forum ostensibly set-up to discuss domain appraisal services. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/domain_appraisal_scam/ ICANN sued by irate RegisterFly customer, as class action rumble begins The Dummit Law Firm announced today on its website that it has filed a class action lawsuit against internet registrars Registerfly, Enom and ICANN. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/icann_lisbon_lawsuit_registerfly/ http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/d805653303cbbba8/id/237454/cs/1/ http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/237454 Registerfly-lawsuit.com Release Comment on Registerfly lawsuit (news release) A U.S. District Court judge unsealed a class action lawsuit against RegisterFly along with ICANN, among others. The lawsuit (Anne Martinez v RegisterFly, ICANN et. al.) filed by Attorney E. Clarke Dummit alleges that RegisterFly has systematically defrauded its customers who attempted to register or renew Internet domain names, causing them to lose their domain names, finances, and even entire businesses. The lawsuit was initially sealed due to fears of retribution by RegisterFly.com towards plaintiff Anne Martinez for filing the suit, but since then other concerns have become more pressing, and the case was opened to the public. http://registerfly-lawsuit.com/press/ http://uk.webhostdir.com/news/articles/shownews.asp?id=20065 ICANN to review oversight of companies that sell domain names (AP) ICANN is reviewing the way it oversees businesses that sell domain names in the wake of financial and operational problems that left customers of one company nameless. ICANN already has taken steps to decertify RegisterFly.com, whose troubles it said resulted in many customers unable to renew names before they expired or to transfer them to rival registration companies, known as registrars, as required under ICANN rules. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/27/1174761416275.html http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/26/business/NA-TEC-US-Internet-Names.php http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/16976811.htm http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERNET_NAMES http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=368558 ICANN: Let?s Learn from RegisterFly Many in the domain name community are blaming ICANN for not taking action sooner against disgraced (and disaccredited) domain registrar RegisterFly. The company imploded earlier this year, placing valuable domain names in limbo. ICANN intervened after it was too late, say critics. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/27/icann-lets-learn-from-registerfly/ ICANN Lisbon day 2 - Intellectual property debate heats up, as ICANN looks to the future The Register focuses "on the registrar and intellectual property angles, which have revolved around the issuance of new TLDs, and the privacy debate surrounding the Whois database." The Register notes "[t]he current process (for new TLDs) seems to be far more inclusive than the divisive process" that was happening at the time of the .travel and .aero approvals. The writer notes the .asia process has gone very well, and looks at a couple of the issues facing .asia as it works its way to its launch. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/icann_lisbon_intellectual_property/ Of ICANN and the registrar zombies ICANN Lisbon 2007 officially opened today, although in true ICANN style work has been going on all weekend - it's just the public part began today, with the usual welcoming speeches by Chairman Vint Cerf and CEO Paul Twomey. The opening speeches provided a glimpse into some recent ICANN accomplishments - Libya got its own TLD, .ly, after years of fighting for it, the Whois registry is still being fought over, and the Regional At Large Organization (RALO) concept continues to evolve - but much of the first day consisted of arguments about Registerfly, and what it means for ICANN. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/26/icann_meeting_lisbon_registerfly/ ICANN committee creates new working group to further explore domain name privacy (AP) A committee of ICANN agreed Wednesday to form a new working group that would examine how to offer more privacy to small businesses and people with individual Web sites. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/29/1174761590912.html http://businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8O5AIEG0.htm The New .xxx Domain: Just a .bad/idea (National Catholic Register) Family advocates and purveyors of pornography are definitely strange bedfellows. But when it comes to the proposed ?.xxx? Internet domain for porn sites, recently resurrected for consideration by the Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers (ICANN), both camps are largely against it, albeit for radically different reasons. http://ncregister.com/site/article/2158/ Government Advisers Discuss '.xxx' Name (AP) Government advisers deliberated behind closed doors Wednesday but issued no public statement on a plan to give the online back alleys their own home through a voluntary ".xxx" Internet address. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/24/1174597921741.html http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/28/technology/EU-TEC-Portugal-Internet-Names.php http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/28/financial/f105155D70.DTL http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-03-28-xxx-domain_N.htm http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21467379%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e15306,00.html http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERNET_PORNOGRAPHY .xxx domain proposal revisited ICANN's Government Advisory Committee has again been discussing the proposed .xxx top-level domain for pornographic sites, but has yet to reveal what it will recommend to the full board. http://itwire.com.au/content/view/10906/53/ http://cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=9AE68C0C-5868-44A9-B0B4-64142C49CEF1 In Portugal, ICANN debates a plan to give porn site '.xxx' domain name (AP) A formal communique was expected Thursday from ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee on a plan to give pornographic websites their own ".xxx" domain name. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/29/1174761590907.html Vote on .XXX Domain Nears (AP) Online pornographers and religious groups are in a rare alliance as ICANN nears a decision on creating a virtual red-light district through a ".xxx" Internet address. ICANN has already rejected similar proposals twice since 2000, plans to vote as early as this week on whether to approve the domain name for voluntary use by porn sites. The decision ultimately could hinge on whether ".xxx" has the support of the adult-entertainment industry -- and many porn sites have been strongly opposed. http://technewsworld.com/story/56501.html http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=12200B7MU14Y http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/03/26/tech-porn.html http://redorbit.com/news/technology/882284/icann_to_decide_on_xxx_domain_at_conference_in_portugal/ ICANN to vote Friday on .xxx domain (IDG) Faced with an outcry against the creation of a dedicated ".xxx" suffix for pornography Web sites, leaders of ICANN are set to vote Friday on whether to launch the initiative. Supporters say adult content would be easier to regulate if it had its own cordoned section of the Web. But critics including religious leaders say the move could make adult content too easy to find, while others complain that increased filtering could harm the sites' right to freedom of speech. http://infoworld.com/article/07/03/26/HNicannxxx_1.html http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9014418 Please, Keep the Core Neutral (Pandora Has Opened the Box) by Michael D. Palage When certain governments interjected themselves into the ICANN Board?s consideration of the ICM Registry application for an adult TLD on public policy grounds, they set in motion an irrevocable set of events that have profound consequences on ICANN?s future. The first such manifestation can be seen in the Draft GAC principles on new TLDs that have proposed the ability of a single government to block indefinitely, i.e. effectively a veto, a future TLD application if they had unmet public policy concerns. http://www.circleid.com/posts/please_keep_the_core_neutral/ Icann refuses to take 'no' for an answer Smacked down twice in its misguided attempt to give pornography a permanent internet home, Icann now is going to try again. This obsessed internet controller is attempting to create a domain specifically for pornography merchants. http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southeastasia.asp?parentid=66527 Kevin, Stop The Nonsense: Take the Logo Down and Give us the Data by Paul Levins To all affected by RegisterFly, I am very sorry for not having provided an update to the Blog before this. We have not been idle. We are pursuing RegisterFly as hard as we can. The latest development is that ICANN?s General Counsel, John Jeffrey, has sent a letter to Kevin Medina telling him his ?time is up?. http://blog.icann.org/?p=76 ICANN Factsheet: Registerfly and Registrars (pdf) The fact sheet covers what happened, why it happened, what was different about RegisterFly, how RegisterFly became an accredited registrar, what exactly is ICANN?s role, does ICANN now want to become a traditional regulator and what are the solutions. http://icann.org/announcements/factsheet-registerfly-registrars-26mar07.pdf ICANN Introduces New Website ICANN today introduces a new website with better navigation and new features. "ICANN is committed to being more transparent and accessible" said Paul Levins, ICANN's Executive Officer and Vice President, Corporate Affairs. "Reform of our website is a key part of that commitment." The site has a new, more useable navigation system and an improved look and feel. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-3-26mar07.htm What?s wrong with this picture? ICANN has been developing a toolkit for application developers so they can use more robust techniques for verifying the validity of domain names. The aim of the toolkit is for software developers to be able to accurately test for valid top-level domains and ensure that the situation above does not occur. http://blog.icann.org/?p=79 ICANN to Celebrate Three New Regional At-Large Organizations ICANN and the Internet community will celebrate the creation of three Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs) ? Africa, Europe, and Asia-Australia-Pacific ? tomorrow afternoon at ICANN's 28th Public Meeting. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-28mar07.htm ICANN Formalizes Relationships with ccTLD Managers for C?te d'Ivoire and Russia ICANN announced today that it has formalized its 20th and 21st relationships with ccTLD managers. Today?s are for .ci - C?te d'Ivoire (Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet Boigny), and .ru ? Russia (Coordination Center for TLD RU). http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-28mar07.htm Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name Registrar Elliot Noss, President & CEO of Tucows has written a guide titled ?Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name Registrar? following the problems with RegisterFly. Noss notes ?[t]he interests of the businesses and individuals who buy domain names have been lost in this debate. There are a whole raft of existing rules and policies, defined by ICANN, that govern how the domain name registration system should work. The problem is that ... registrants ... are not familiar with the rules and do not know how to help themselves.? Noss notes the bad news is to fix the regulation of registrars and how rules are enforced will take some work, especially from ICANN. However in the meantime, Noss notes registrants ?need to stop focusing on price and start focusing on customer service, the services offered and increase their awareness of the rights that the existing rules give them.? The guide is just that, a guide, and is not exhaustive, and covers ?10 questions everyone should ask a registrar before buying a domain name from them. We don?t expect registrants to necessarily dig in to all of them, but it is a place to start.? Noss goes into detail on each point, but the points are What is your primary business model?; Do you make transfers as easy as the rules allow?; Do you allow for easy locking/unlocking?; Do you make it easy to opt-out of auto-renewals?; Do you tie domains to your services?; Do you offer Whois privacy? What are your privacy policies in general?; What are your policies on compliance issues like litigation, ownership disputes and WDRP?; How easy is it to contact you?; What happens when my domain expires? and Are you a registrar or reseller? http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/25/2834529.html More Whois Chatter: Privacy for Internet Names Moves Forward by Ross Rader As this article illustrates, there is a lot of interest brewing around ICANN?s proposed Whois privacy policies. I suspect that a lot of this interest is due to the fact that the intellectual property community can see the end of their free ride and they are really turning up their efforts in a last ditch attempt to overturn ICANN?s progress. http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/20/2821865.html Study: US servers host majority of malicious code Forget China, Russia or eastern European countries. When it comes to malicious code, U.S.-based servers host an overwhelming majority of it, according to security vendor Finjan. That conclusion is based on an analysis of more than 10 million URLs collected from live end-user traffic in the U.K using Finjan's content inspection engines. http://linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;1032749126;fp;2;fpid;1 auDA conducts online policy survey auDA has commissioned an online survey of .au registrants and Internet users as part of a major review of .au domain name policies. http://auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-29032007/ .nz Domain Name Fee Reduction Announced (news release) InternetNZ (The Internet Society of New Zealand) has announced it is reducing by 14% the wholesale domain name fee charged to authorised .nz registrars by .nz Registry Services (NZRS). The reduction takes the fee to NZ$1.50 per domain name per month, down from NZ$1.75, exclusive of GST. The new wholesale fee applies from 1 July 2007. http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/FeeReduction http://dnc.org.nz/story/30278-29-1.html NIRA Calls for Promotion of Nigeria's .ng Domain Chairman board of trustees of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) Dr. Adeola Odeyemi has re-iterated the need for all stakeholders in the Nigerian internet community to come together to promote the growth and development of its online presence through the growing adoption of the Nigerian top level domain. A Similar call had earlier been made by President Olusegun Obasanjo. http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=74158 Fair Use It or Lose It: Copyright owners? threats erode free expression Tom Forsythe is an artist with a mission. In 1997, he created ?Food Chain Barbie,? photographs depicting the iconic doll interacting with various kitchen appliances. The results??Malted Barbie? and ?Barbie Enchiladas,? among others?were intended, Forsythe said, ?to critique the objectification of women associated with Barbie.? ... Many other stories emerged from our research. For example: ... Bank of America sent a cease-and-desist letter to a small entrepreneur who makes ceramic piggy banks under the domain name www.piggybankofamerica.com. The piggy bank maker at first ?panicked and felt helpless,? but eventually found her way to Stanford?s Cyberlaw Clinic. A law student wrote a well-researched reply, and Bank of America backed off. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3066 New attack allows for hijacking of web traffic Microsoft is warning users and administrators of a new exploit that could allow an attacker to control which sites a user can visit. The vulnerability lies within the Web Proxy Auto Discover (WPAD) component used to connect a PC to a web proxy server. Microsoft disclosed the flaw earlier this year and issued a patch. The company has also issued a tutorial for administrators on how to configure DNS servers to prevent attackers from setting up the malicious proxy. http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=48797 http://www.computeractive.co.uk/vnunet/news/2186574/attack-allows-hijacking-web Aged Domains vs. Branding New Domains One of the big mistakes I?ve made recently is to take some older domains and try to launch new content on them for news portals. Even though the domains are like 3+ years old, they haven?t had much of a search history on Google. The result is that they are effectively being treated the same as new domains. http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/03/28/aged-domains-vs-branding-new-domains us: Judge dismisses Tanners' suit A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a couple known for espousing anti-Mormon views and claimed that another organization usurped Internet domain names that linked viewers to pro-LDS Web sites. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660206491,00.html http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5524587 DENIC eG and Sabine Dolderer terminate co-operation (Denic news release) Sabine Dolderer, member of the Executive Board of DENIC eG, and DENIC?s Supervisory Board have reached an amicable agreement to terminate their work with one another with immediate effect. The background to this step lies in differing views as to how DENIC ought to continue to develop in future. The Supervisory Board expressess thanks to Sabine Dolderer for the outstanding work she has contributed in the course of recent years. http://www.denic.de/en/denic/presse/press_80.html The AFNIC and EuroDNS end the litigation that opposed them (news release) After the successful opening of the .fr to individuals that reinforced their cooperation, the AFNIC and EuroDNS wish to end the legal dispute that opposed them since 2004. This litigation was based on 4465 domain names registered through EuroDNS that were blocked following a decision from the AFNIC's Board of directors. http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/nommage/CP20070319 Will it be Dot Com or Dot SG for me? This blog posting on CNet includes looking at the process of registering an .sg domain name. The writer, Suzanna Low, claims "it seems that registering for a Dot Sg domain is not easy." Suzanna lists her "top 5 Singapore and international domain registry companies." These are Network Solutions, Dreamhost, webhosting.com.sg, cybersite.com.sg and singaporewebhosting.com. http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/blog/shopabloglic/0,39067182,62000516,00.htm .SE reaches 600,000 domain names (news release) .SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation) announced the registration of the 600,000th .se domain in February 2007. Domain number 600,000 was magnusgoransson.se, registered by Magnus G?ransson in Malm?, Sweden, through .SE registrar One.com. http://iis.se/english/nyheter/news/2007-03-02 Niue struggles against ?digital colonialism? Niue is wrestling with a US businessman for control of the .nu internet top domain. Toke Talagi, the traveling ambassador of Niue, does not mince words: ?This is digital colonialism. The domain is not used by our nation, and it hasn?t given us anything, except for an internet connection. Also, Niue gets the blame for all the bad things done from .nu domains.? http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/6834B3C37BAF205FCC2572A7000ECB00 Irish company tops .eu registrars Dublin-based company, EU Internet, was listed yesterday among the top 3pc of worldwide .eu registrars, according to the European Registry of Internet Domain Names, EURid. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single8037 http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=1680172;s=rollingnews.htm Buyers Get Value For Extremely Strange Web Domain Names This story looks at .eu and some of the stranger and longer domain names registered since it's launch - those domain names that use all 63 available characters! http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_9125.aspx Market For Domain Names Heats Up As BUQ.COM Attracts 41 Bids Within 24 Hours (news release) The domain name buq.com is being auctioned, and in the first 24 hours, had attracted 41 bids with the highest being $3,650. At the time of writing (29/3/07 Australian time), the current bid was $5,001 following 48 bids with over 5 days of the auction remaining. http://emediawire.com/releases/2007/3/emw514559.htm Canadian City Domain Sells for $75,000 While the Name of an Atlanta Neighborhood is Set to Close at $250,000 Geo domains took the spotlight this week with Penticton.com being purchased by Canada's Shaun Pilfold for C$88,000 and a deal for Buckhead.com about to close at $250,000. http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2007/domainsales03-27-07.htm Additional $1.2 Million in Domain Names Sold During Moniker's Silent Auction Moniker's Silent Auction of premium domain names at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West netted almost $1.2 million, adding to the $4.3 million already made during the Live Auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West. The Live and Silent auction's combination of nearly $5.5 million made T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West Moniker's most successful auction to date. http://www.pr-inside.com/additional-1-2-million-in-domain-names-r77671.htm Median Domain Selling Price: $600-$750 Information from Sedo, along with an Afternic sales analysis, reveals that the typical domain name purchase is under $1,000. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/28/median-domain-selling-price-600-750/ Video.us has sold on domain aftermarket Afternic for $75,000. Video.us has set a record for publicly announced .us domain name sales at $75,000. The transaction was executed through Afternic and was completed today, according to the sales logs at Afternic.com. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/27/videous-sells-for-75000-sets-record-domain-sales-price/ The best mobile websites dotMobi, the mobile industry trade body, has published a list of the top ten mobile-ready websites, but only three of them scored more than three out of five on dotMobi's scale of "readiness". http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/03/the_best_mobile_websites.html Corbis Loses Cybersquatting Case (AP) Digital rights company Corbis Corp. suffered defeat in a cybersquatting complaint it brought against a British Web designer, the World Intellectual Property Organization said Monday. http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=AP&Date=20070326&ID=6664450 us: Waitress could be Go Daddy Girl A waitress and aspiring model from Scottsdale has a shot at becoming the next Go Daddy Girl. http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/0327sr-godaddy0327Z8.html Welsh domain names easy as pi What's in a domain name? Sixty-three characters maximum. The group managing the new European .eu domain said Friday that six people last year registered the longest possible internet addresses they offer, ranging from the tongue-twisting name of a Welsh village to the first 63 decimals for pi. http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=3750224 http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3750362 za: Legal Battle Over Proper Use of '24' LEGAL tension surrounding Media24's claim to the numerals "24" more than two years ago has spurred one entrepreneur to undertake an all-out campaign that has him butting heads with the media giant. Entrepreneur Christopher Riley was warned this month to stop using Properties24.co.za as his business' website address. http://allafrica.com/stories/200703270593.html http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/dailymailer.aspx?ID=BD4A422191 Domain Names for Top Level International Market, Root Tested through ICANN ICANN engaged Autonomica AB of Stockholm, Sweden, to develop, conduct, and report on the results of laboratory testing of internationalized top-level domains in a setting corresponding to the public root. http://cheaphostingdirectory.com/news-domain-names-for-top-level-international-market-root-tested-through-icann-2902.html .travel supports World Water Day In honor of World Water Day, Tralliance Corporation, the .travel Registry, urges all members of the travel and tourism industry to support water-based charities worldwide. http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/article/2007032310193355 http://traveldailynews.com/new.asp?newid=36265 ********************** OTHER RESEARCH PAPERS ********************** A Brave New Geography of the Internet Age? The Determinants of Telecommunications Growth in Historical Perspective by Richard Perkins & Eric Neumayer (London School of Economics - Department of Geography and Environment) Abstract: The Internet is often portrayed as a novel, uniquely disembedded technology, floating free of territory and traditional place-based constraints. In this paper, we contribute to a growing body of literature which challenges such imagery. To do so, we use quantitative techniques to examine the determinants of spatio-temporal variations in the Internet and older communication technologies, namely, mail, the electric telegraph and telephones. Our results reveal striking similarities in the country-bound factors - income, education and trade openness - influencing rates of uptake. We conclude that, contrary to claims of novelty, the Internet is unfolding unevenly across geographic space according to conventional territorial and relational attributes. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=968668 Swapping Print: The Impact of Immigration and the Internet on International Newspaper Trade by Hisham S. Foad (San Diego State University, Department of Economics) Abstract: Why is there international trade in newspapers? Why do even very small countries both import from and export to large nations? New trade models founded on transport costs and increasing returns fail to explain the high degree of bilateral trade in cultural goods like newspapers and periodicals. I argue that immigration is complementary to newspaper trade, with small cosmopolitan countries having the largest trade as a percentage of GDP. These predictions are empirically confirmed, with a 10% increase in bilateral immigration inducing a 4.4% increase in newspaper trade between nations. While increased immigration has lead to greater trade, this effect is decreasing in internet usage. The trade-immigration elasticity is 8.5% smaller for high-internet usage countries, reflecting the fact that immigrants increasingly get their foreign news fix online. These results suggest that cultural goods need not be protected from trade as a country's economic presence on the global stage creates a market for its products. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=971131 The Myth of the Superuser: Fear, Risk, and Harm Online by Paul Ohm (University of Colorado Law School) The experts in computer security and Internet law have failed to deliver us from fear, resulting in overbroad prohibitions, harms to civil liberties, wasted law enforcement resources, and misallocated economic investment. This Article urges policymakers and partisans to stop using tropes of fear; calls for better empirical work on the probability of online harm; and proposes an anti-Precautionary Principle, a presumption against new laws designed to stop the Superuser. http://ssrn.com/abstract=967372 Network Neutrality by Alfred E. Kahn (AEI-Brookings Joint Center Working Paper) Abstract: Much of the advocacy of legislatively-mandated network neutrality is based on a simple fallacy - namely, that differing charges to suppliers of content to the Internet for correspondingly differing speeds of delivery are inherently discriminatory. They are not; and an attempt to prohibit them would prevent the Internet's offering a full range of services, with widely diverging tolerances for latency. Preservation of the open end-to-end character of the Internet may well, however, require vigilant prohibition of vertical squeezes and other unfair methods of competition and authority of an antitrust agency to compel interconnections. http://ssrn.com/abstract=973513 Economists' Statement on Network Neutrality Policy Abstract: Network neutrality is a policy proposal that would regulate how network providers manage and price the use of their networks. Congress has introduced several bills on network neutrality. Proposed legislation generally would mandate that Internet service providers exercise no control over the content that flows over their lines and would bar providers from charging particular services more than others for preferentially faster access to the Internet. These proposals must be considered carefully in light of the underlying economics. Our basic concern is that most proposals aimed at implementing net neutrality are likely to do more harm than good. http://ssrn.com/abstract=976889 Regulating for Local Content in the Digital Audiovisual Environment - A View from Australia by Jason John Bosland (University of Melbourne - Centre for Media and Communications Law) Abstract: This paper explores the future of Australian content quotas in light of digital television and emergent, internet-based television services. Part II describes the current system of broadcasting regulation in Australia, focusing in particular on the interaction between economic and cultural goals. Part III considers the challenges to existing regulation presented by digital television and the distribution of programming via broadband internet. Finally, Part IV examines some of the solutions that have been proposed to achieve adequate levels of local Australian content in the digital media age, including a consideration of a possible solution not yet fully explored in the Australian context: the introduction of a public service publisher, or a PSP. Also considered is how this and other policy responses might be limited by Australia's recent entry into a free-trade agreement with the United States. http://ssrn.com/abstract=969254 The Cybercrime Phenomenon and Latvian Cybercrime Law by Dr. Edward Lestrade (European Newsletter, Doing Business in Europe) Abstract: The term 'Cybercrime' is now widely used to describe the phenomenon of the wide variety of criminal, or unauthorised acts which may be committed remotely from the target area, or country, as a result of internet technologies. With regard to the foregoing, this article will present and examine a dominant European international measure for combating Cybercrime - the European Convention on Cybercrime ('ECC') - and some EU complementary measures. Having done that, issues concerning the implementation of these international measures will be examined from the perspective of one of the new member states of the European Union - the Republic of Latvia - so as to comment on the relative effectiveness of the adopted measures in that country to limit, deter and punish Cybercrime following the lead of the ECC and the EU measures. http://ssrn.com/abstract=971182 The Race By Robert Kuttner By the usual indicators, daily newspapers are in a deepening downward spiral. ... A far more hopeful picture is emerging for newspapers. In this scenario the mainstream press, though late to the party, figures out how to make serious money from the Internet, uses the Web to enrich traditional journalistic forms, and retains its professionalism?along with a readership that is part print, part Web. Newspapers stay alive as hybrids. The culture and civic mission of daily print journalism endure. Can that happen? Given the financial squeeze and the shortsightedness of many publishers and investors, will dailies be able to navigate such a transition without sacrificing standards of journalism? Or will cost-cutting owners so thoroughly gut the nation?s newsrooms that they collapse the distinction between the rest of the Internet and everything that makes newspapers uniquely valuable? Which newspapers are most likely to survive? And, while we are at it, why does the survival of newspapers matter? In an era when the Web explodes the monopoly of the print newspaper as authoritative assembler of the day?s news and invites readers to be both aggregators and originators of content, what remains distinctive about newspapers? http://cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Kuttner.asp Conflict, Terrorism and the Media in Asia by Rebekah L. Bina The fourth and latest release in a series of publications on the impact of media and changes in societal culture in Asia, this book provides a study of the subnational conflicts across Asia and the global "War on Terror." The authors examine the condition of free press, access to media, and diversity in news reporting to explore how media is used as a tool to facilitate ideological coalition, shelter populations, and maintain political stability. http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v59/no2/13-Bina.pdf What open access research can do for Wikipedia by John Willinsky Abstract: This study examines the degree to which Wikipedia entries cite or reference research and scholarship, and whether that research and scholarship is generally available to readers. Working on the assumption that where Wikipedia provides links to research and scholarship that readers can readily consult, it increases the authority, reliability, and educational quality of this popular encyclopedia, this study examines Wikipedia?s use of open access research and scholarship, that is, peer-reviewed journal articles that have been made freely available online. This study demonstrates among a sample of 100 Wikipedia entries, which included 168 sources or references, only two percent of the entries provided links to open access research and scholarship. However, it proved possible to locate, using Google Scholar and other search engines, relevant examples of open access work for 60 percent of a sub-set of 20 Wikipedia entries. The results suggest that much more can be done to enrich and enhance this encyclopedia?s representation of the current state of knowledge. To assist in this process, the study provides a guide to help Wikipedia contributors locate and utilize open access research and scholarship in creating and editing encyclopedia entries. http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_3/willinsky/index.html The potential disruptive impact of Internet 2 based technologies by C. Pascu, D. Osimo, M. Ulbrich, G. Turlea and J.C. Burgelman Abstract: This paper assesses the development of emerging computing applications that fall under the family of digital applications and technologies. These applications and technologies ? Internet 2 based technologies for short ? enable new ways of connectivity for networking, interfacing and producing content. They have the capacity and the force to disrupt existing social and economic relations and thus have major impacts on society. Hence, the term ?e-ruptions?: emerging e-trends with potential disruptive power. This paper investigates the socio-economic impact of emerging e-ruptions, in an attempt to try and contextualise their implications and relevance for policy formulation. http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_3/pascu/index.html ******************* OTHER INTERNET NEWS ******************* Internet censorship, at home or state-run, is a political hot potato by Seth Finkelstein Would you be surprised to hear US civil liberties groups arguing that internet censorship is cheap, easy, relatively effective and difficult to circumvent? While in reaction, the US government claimed that such efforts had an unacceptable amount of collateral damage? Yet that's what has been happening for more than a decade in litigation involving censoring the internet. While these arguments sometimes descend into a fog of statistics, the overall implications are important for public policy. In the UK, a different set of censorship issues has arisen with BT's Cleanfeed project, intended to block content that is illegal, as gathered by the Internet Watch Foundation. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2044595,00.html South Korea blocks foreign porn sites South Korea said today that it will block foreign porn sites as it steps up its campaign against adult content on the internet. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1570670.ece South Korea's Net Porn Problem Instances of obscene material being posted to major Web sites has the government and Internet companies joining hands to fight back: Earlier this month, a porn video clip was posted and left for six hours on Yahoo Korea's Web site. Major portals Naver and Daum have also experienced similar problems in the past. http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070328_879359.htm Beijing threatens jail for mobile porn (AP) Beijing police are threatening jail and fines for people who transmit pornography via cellphones after merchants were caught selling such movies on phone memory chips, a report said Wednesday. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-03-28-beijing-porn-ban_N.htm Belarusian authorities restrict internet access On March, 25 a number of Belarusian web-sites ucpb.org, svaboda.org, charter97.org, belhelcom.org, belaruspartisan.org, gazetaby.com and livejournal.com providing independent news and information were unavailable from 9.00 till 16.00 within the country borders. http://e-belarus.org/news/200703261.html Children?s Internet Protection Act: a good Combination of Internet Access and Protection for Children In 2000, the United States Congress passed the Children"s Internet Protection Act (?CIPA?) with the following objective: to 'assist most schools and libraries in the US to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet accesses provided that certain online protection measures are followed. The combination cannot not be wiser, discount internet access and telecommunications to schools and libraries, specially those serving underpriviledged areas, in exchange of online protective measures for children. This program is commonly known as ?E-rate? program and is found in CIPA, section 1711. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1719 E-mail users want more control of inboxes (Reuters) Bombarded by spam, e-mail users are eager for tools like a "report fraud" button that would help weed out unwanted messages that litter inboxes, according to a survey by the Email Sender and Provider Coalition released on Tuesday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN2635299820070328 Call for blogging code of conduct The support for a blogger hounded by death threats has intensified with some high profile web experts calling for a code of conduct in the blogosphere. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6502643.stm Blog death threats spark debate Prominent blogger Kathy Sierra has called on the blogosphere to combat the culture of abuse online. It follows a series of death threats which have forced her to cancel a public appearance and suspend her blog.\ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6499095.stm uk: Many net users 'not safety-aware' Fewer than half of the UK's 29m adult internet users believe they are responsible for protecting personal information online, a survey suggests. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6472723.stm Survey says one in 10 is victim of online fraud (Reuters) One in 10 Internet users fell victim to online fraud last year, losing an average of 875 pounds each, according to a survey on Monday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2625108320070327 us: Supreme Court to Hear Online Pandering Case The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case involving the overturned conviction of a Florida man for soliciting or offering online child pornography. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law includes protected free speech and is unconstitutional. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3668146 http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=190956 us: Justices Agree to Revisit Child Pornography Laws The Supreme Court agreed Monday to undertake its latest effort to define the permissible boundary between free speech and the government?s prohibition of child pornography. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/washington/27scotus.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-na-porn27mar27,1,7983878.story http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003636699_webscotusporn26.html us: MySpace files phishing and spam suit against Sanford Wallace News Corporation's interactive media company MySpace said it has filed a lawsuit against spammer Sanford Wallace in the US District Court in Los Angeles. http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/03/27/afx3554633.html http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-briefs27.6mar27,1,3560821.story http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/myspace_sues_spamford/ Saudi Arabia sets jail penalties for cybercrimes (Reuters) Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will impose 1-year prison sentences and fines of 500,000 riyals (68,000 pounds) for Internet hacking and misuse of mobile telephone cameras, such as taking unauthorised pictures. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2669502020070327 Webcam lets your face be your password A Canadian company on Wednesday in the US announced a new camera that doubles as a security system that scans a face in three dimensions and a Webcam for online video. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Webcam_lets_your_face_be_your_password/0,130061702,339274571,00.htm us: MySpace sues the ?Spam King? for $100m Alleges violations of state, federal laws http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3af660de-dcb2-11db-a21d-000b5df10621.html How to crack the problem of internet password security It's a good bet that if you have 20 online accounts, you don't have 20 different passwords. In fact, according to a survey by Kaspersky Lab, most people (51% of us) only have between one and four passwords for 20 accounts. We are insecure. But recent developments mean we could be more secure in the near future. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2044606,00.html Bloggers are not journalists, Lithuanian parliament Bloggers are not journalists, and therefore do not have the rights and protections accorded to them, says the Lithuanian parliament. http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=3754044 au: Gaming, porn rife at work One in seven Australian office workers has looked at online porn at work, and even more use office hours for online gambling, according to security company Websense. Since the start of last year, Websense has collected data from 52,000 people in Australian organisations using its security risk-assessment service. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/26/1174761375431.html Get real. The internet is not fantasy Our columnist on cruelty, fraud, snooping and rudeness - online: Kevin Whitrick is dead. He killed himself. That is real. His last companions were the ?insult? chat room frequenters on Paltalk, some of whom goaded him on, apparently shouting abuse over microphones or the screen, saying ?F****** do it, get it round your neck, for f***?s sake do it properly?. In a similar case in Arizona, Brandon Vedas took poison to jeers of ?Eat more!?. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/libby_purves/article1572434.ece Active Home Internet Users by Country, February 2007 The number of active Internet home users dipped by 0.13 percent in February in the 10 countries tracked by Nielsen//NetRatings. Spain (-3.31 percent); the U.S. (-1.50 percent); and Germany (-0.96 percent) accounted for the dip in the number of active home users. The number of users was down 426,498 compared to January data. http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625342 Napster lawsuits near resolution Bertelsmann said Monday that it had settled the last lawsuit filed by a record company over the German media conglomerate's role in funding the original Napster electronic file-swapping service that was once the scourge of the music industry. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-napster27mar27,1,3736811.story The impact of the Grokster decision on file sharing How will providers of file-sharing software operate after the United States Supreme Court decision in Grokster? What is the precedent set in the decision and has the file-sharing technology been rendered illegal? And what about Israel? http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1715 MySpace, Eisner in online video deal MySpace, the social networking site owned by News Corp, has made its biggest push yet into providing its millions of members with original video content. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2153e480-dd8e-11db-8d42-000b5df10621.html Wikipedia braces itself for April Fools' Day Jenny Kleeman: The online encyclopaedia anyone can edit has been the target of joke contributions since its launch in 2001, but April Fools' Day has proved an irresistible opportunity for internet pranksters, as well as normally trustworthy contributors inspired to let their hair down. http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2044243,00.html Wikipedia rival takes to the web Citizendium, a self-proclaimed "citizens' compendium" of general knowledge, works much like Wikipedia in that anyone can submit information. This community encyclopedia, however, requires users to register with their real names, and its articles are governed by an editorial board. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39286499,00.htm Vista shifts 20 million copies Microsoft claims Windows Vista is off to a fast start, having sold more than 20 million copies since its 30 January consumer release. By comparison, in its first two months, Windows XP sold 17 million copies, Microsoft said. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39286485,00.htm http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21454079%5E16123%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html EU Gives Microsoft More Time to Correct 'Abuses' European Union antitrust regulators have given Microsoft more time to prove it is complying with a requirement to fairly license its server software communications protocols. Microsoft now has until April 23 to respond to charges from the European Commission, which has said that Microsoft has yet to fully comply with a condition of its 2004 antitrust ruling. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/56518.html Yahoo Mail to offer unlimited storage Yahoo will begin offering unlimited storage for its free Web-based e-mail in May, the company announced late Tuesday. The move makes Yahoo the first of the major free e-mail providers to offer unlimited storage, but it likely will not be the last. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6171111.html http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-6171111.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/29/1174761604346.html Yahoo opens up e-mail APIs to outsiders Yahoo is expected to release software that will allow third-party developers to write applications using Yahoo Mail. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6171378.html Project Failure? Blame Poor Governance Poor IT governance is one of the key causes of failure in big business transformation projects, according to the latest research. A report from analyst house the Butler Group found IT governance initiatives were usually deployed only within the IT department, leading to a lack of co-ordination between the IT-led elements of projects and the wider management of business transformation initiatives. http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070328_519010.htm Putting The World's Books On The Web Two years ago Google, the Internet search firm, began scanning hundreds of thousands of books and making their contents available on the Web. Could this signal the end of libraries as we know them? http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,473529,00.html uk: Google extends UK online ad lead Google has increased its grip on the UK online ad market, claiming 43% of the record ?2bn spent last year, according to figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2044577,00.html nz: Editorial: It's payback time for Telecom Over the years, Telecom's shareholders were well rewarded as the company took full advantage of its position as de facto regulator of the telecommunications industry. They prospered as Telecom employed formidable lobbying and legal haggling to preserve its status far beyond any reasonable expectation. The same could not be said for Telecom's customers. They fumed as the company's ageing equipment creaked. Telecom's approach, rational enough in the circumstances, was to minimise capital expenditure while maximising its returns to shareholders. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10431380 nz: Telecom urged to reinvest in broadband Telecom is being urged to upgrade its network with the more than $2 billion it will get from the sale of its Yellow Pages Group. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1037735 uk: Small biz loves VoIP Right now 25 per cent of small businesses are using Voice over Internet Protocol to make calls. This is expected to almost double to 48 per cent by this time next year. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/smallbiz_voip/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.comReceived on Mon Apr 02 2007 - 04:50:48 UTC
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