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 October 25 edition of the news include: Deutsche Telekom Prepares for Two-Tier Internet | Insider domain name snatching probed | Venue chosen for ICANN Paris 2008 | ICANN Releases RAA Public Consultation Comments | ICANN Advisory ? "L Root" changing IP address on 1st November by Kim Davies | Review of the ICANN Nominating Committee | sg: Launch of Pure Numeric Domain Names | tk: Putting an island in touch with the world | NeuStar Wins Contract for .US ccTLD | Estonia's CTO speaks out on cyberattacks | China Rejects Renewed Accusations of Cyber Spying | Germany accuses China of digital espionage And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. *************************************************** The domain name news is supported by auDA *************************************************** ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** Internet Governance, Global Privacy and IGF-Rio The global debate on Internet governance will once again gather people from all over the world at UN?s IGF, this time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The process was started last year in Athens, when more than 1,200 participants focused on discussion of the overarching issues tied to the future of information and communications technologies, including control over the Internet architecture and numbering and naming system, security, intellectual property, openness, connectivity, cost and multilingualism. http://eco-rama.net/2007/09/18/internet-governance-global-privacy-and-igf-rio/ Working with civil society at the heart of UNESCO Forum Hubert V?drine, former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nitin Desai, President of the Internet Governance Forum and former UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs as well as Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman of the Board of Directors of L?Or?al, will give keynote speeches during the meeting. http://mediaforfreedom.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=5152 A Consociational Bureau for the Internet Governance Forum The principle that Internet governance ?is a joint effort which requires cooperation and partnership among all stakeholders? (Geneva Declaration of Principles, para 20) has become axiomatic since it was first agreed at WSIS, and is fundamental to the IGF as a ?new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue? (Tunis Agenda, para 72). However at the same time as this principle has been universally embraced, some of its implications, that would require the four stakeholder groups identified in the Tunis Agenda to collaborate on the development of joint policy recommendations (Tunis Agenda para 72(g)) have met with resistance. http://igfwatch.org/discussion-board/a-consociational-bureau-for-the-internet-governance-forum Internet Users to Surf Solar System by 2010? Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, in a recent address in South Korea talked about working with NASA JPL to create the standards needed to turn the World Wide Web, to the Solar System Wide Web. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/10/internet-users-.html Internet Users to Surf Solar System by 2010? Vinct Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, in a recent address in South Korea talked about working with NASA JPL to create the standards needed to turn the World Wide Web, to the Solar System Wide Web. http://www.net4now.com/isp_news/news_article.asp?News_ID=5285 ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** ********************** - ICANN ********************** ICANN Publishes 2007 Semi-Annual Contractual Compliance Audit Report ICANN?s Contractual Compliance Department publishes its first semi-annual Registrar and Registry Contractual Compliance Report. This report summarizes ICANN?s audit activities from January through September 2007. During this period, ICANN completed five registrar contractual compliance audits and two registry contractual compliance audits. ICANN conducted each audit by following consistent audit procedures established before each audit commenced. This report contains details regarding the audit findings, observations and conclusions. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-18oct07.htm ICANN GNSO Improvements The Board Governance Committee (BGC) created a working group, comprising current and former Board members, to oversee improvements to the Generic Supporting Names Organization (GNSO). The purpose of the ?BGC GNSO Review Working Group" (?BGC WG?) is to consider the independent reviews conducted by the London School of Economics Public Policy Group and others to determine whether, in general, the GNSO has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure and, if so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness. The Board charged the BGC WG with recommending a comprehensive proposal to improve the effectiveness of the GNSO, including its policy activities, structure, operations and communications. http://icann.org/topics/gnso-improvements/ ICANN Posts Draft of Strategic Plan for Consultation ICANN today posted the first draft of the July 2008 ? June 2011 Strategic Plan for community consultation. ... In accordance with the ICANN annual planning calendar, initial consultation on this plan began at the San Juan meeting in June where consultation sessions were held in English, French and Spanish. An online forum was also established with questions in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Telephone consultations were organized with constituency groups which requested these. An issues paper was released in September and further comments were sought. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-19oct07.htm ICANN Opens Comment Period on Revised Telnic Contract Amendment ICANN is opening a public comment period on revised contract changes to alter the terms for the public display of Whois information in the .TEL Registry Agreement. A comment period on the Telnic proposal was initially conducted from 11 May 2007 through 28 June 2007. Following the ICANN meeting in San Juan, ICANN and Telnic engaged in ongoing discussions to reach resolution of Telnic's Whois proposal. Based on input received from the community, ICANN and Telnic discussed the proposed contract changes and Telnic significantly amended its original proposal. In addition, ICANN is engaged in consultations with the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office to understand the reported conflict between UK Privacy Law and the requirements of the ICANN registry agreement with Telnic. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-19oct07.htm ICANN's gTLD Registry Failover Plan ICANN is today posting its gTLD Registry Failover Plan for public comment. ... The Registry Failover Project is one of ICANN's key projects in the 2007-2008 ICANN Operating Plan and aligns with ICANN's mission to preserve the operational stability of the Internet. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-20oct07.htm ICA§ICANN-LA [news release] The upcoming ICANN meeting scheduled for October 29-November 2 in Los Angeles will be a unique opportunity to attend an ICANN meeting in the United States. It has been more than six years since a meeting took place in the USA. This opportunity will not recur this decade and is just too good to miss. The Internet Commerce Association is strongly encouraging all ICA members and other concerned domain name registrants to attend the LA meeting. http://internetcommerce.org/ica_icann_la Single-letter and Single-digit Domain Names available? ICANN is opening a forum on allocation methods for single-letter and single-digit domain names in gTLD registries. Answers should be submitted no later than 15 november 2007. http://domainesinfo.fr/english/123/single-letter-and-single-digit-domain-names-available.php http://www.cscprotectsbrands.com/news.asp?newsId=18320018 Yes, it is your bubbe's Web address! The Internet is a worldwide phenomenon, and yet the dominant language for online traffic has been English. If you want to navigate around the World Wide Web with a browser, you must have command of the Latin alphabet -- even if you primarily read and write in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic or Hebrew. http://jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=18370 It?s all Greek, Persian, Tamil and Cyrillic Russian to me! Web users across the planet can now play around with their name in their own language (i.e. not English or other ?Western-style? languages that use the same Latin alphabet that I am using to write this blog) thanks to the fact that ICANN has commenced live testing of IDNs. http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006213o-2000458459b,00.htm Domain names in Indian languages soon India is all set to join the global bandwagon of local language domain names. Soon you will be able to own domain names in Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit, Bengali, Punjabi and some other Indian languages. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Domain_names_in_Indian_languages_soon/articleshow/2479794.cms http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Domain_names_in_Indian_languages_soon/articleshow/2479794.cms ********************** - (cc)TLD NEWS ********************** Argentinian com.ar domain name heads Latin American names [sub req'd] http://telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=188839 Prominent Global Brands Adopt .Asia as Sunrise Commences [news release] Building on the momentum of the groundbreaking .Asia Pioneer Domains Program which has attracted global leading brands, DotAsia, the registry operator of the ?.Asia? Internet domain, has launched its Sunrise period, a priority registration period for trademark owners and companies. The Sunrise phase will run through to January 15 2008, giving corporations a chance to register domain to protect their brands online before the general public is invited to take part in the ?Landrush? registration phase in February 2008. http://pioneer.domains.asia/press/2007-10-17-DotAsia-PR.html Australian political websites ripe for the picking [AAP] Australia's political parties are leaving themselves open to attack from hackers, according to internet security company Symantec. ... He is also concerned that many political parties are leaving themselves open by not registering "typo" domain names, subtle variations on the party's official website address, which could be used to host malicious material. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/19/1192301018970.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/19/1192301018970.html http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/20073619-158v.html http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=307345 au: Online Regulations - Your Website and the Law The internet is not a lawless territory where anything goes. An online business is subject to the same regulations as any other model, and there are pitfalls particular to this relatively new and constantly changing environment. Michael Sutton sets out regulation guidelines for developing and operating an online site so it won?t fall foul of the law. These days, every business seems to be online. From multinational corporations to one-man businesses, the low cost and relative ease of advertising online has lured many traders to create a website to promote their goods and services. Consumers are also attracted to the wealth of purchasing information that these traders are making available on the internet. http://dynamicbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=531&Itemid=10499 Five Domain Name Service Providers exposed by CNNIC The .CN registry has published the name of five domain name service providers that have received the most complaints from consumers but have not taken effective measures to rectify their problems. http://domainesinfo.fr/english/124/five-domain-name-service-providers-exposed-by-cnnic.php sg: Domain names as easy as 123 Businesses and Internet users in Singapore can soon use their favourite numbers as their website addresses. Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), the national internet domain name registry, will release pure numeric domain names for registration from November. http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Tech+%2526+Science/STIStory_169365.html gov.uk websites - accessible or offline by end 2008 Accessibility has been a big issue foe me since I worked for a not for profit organisation dealing with disabilities. So it was pleasing for me to see an article in The Register that the British government has given all websites in the gov.uk domain till the end of 2008 to achieve the minimum, Level Double-A of the W3C Guidelines will have its domain withdrawn. The Register feels this is foolhardy. The Register is wrong and misguided in its view. It is a great incentive for government agencies to get their websites to abide by the W3C guidelines. For too long website designers have ignored or paid lip service to the needs of people with disabilities, and more courageous decisions such as this need to be made to make the web accessible for all. http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3045 UK.gov makes bizarre threat to throw self off internet The UK Government has given itself until the end of next year to get its act together on accessibility, after which any .gov.uk site failing to achieve the minimum, Level Double-A of the W3C Guidelines will have its domain withdrawn. This brave, nay, foolhardy commitment could conceivably result in carnage across national, local government and miscellaneous hanger-on .gov.uk sites - and we can perhaps look forward to a more overtly outsourced future containing sites such as homeoffice.tv, mod.cn and basildon.eu. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/18/uk_gov_accessibility_suicide_threat/ The Sun is first UK national newspaper to launch a .mobi site [news release] dotMobi announced that Britain?s most popular newspaper, The Sun, is the first UK national newspaper to launch a .mobi web site. http://mtld.mobi/node/845 ********************** - DOMAIN SECURITY ********************** Have a CERTs - attending GovCert.NL Symposium in the Netherlands by Milton Mueller This week I attended the GovCert.NL Symposium in the Netherlands. This is the 6th annual gathering of "Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and other experts in Internet security and privacy. About 50% of the participants were Dutch, I would guess, and maybe 85% from Europe, although there were attendees from as far away as the USA, Japan and Australia. There were some fascinating presentations, including an analysis of the role of money mules in phishing scams, analyhsis of a new "man in the middle"-style attack on banks, attempts by governments to implement digital identity systems, a detailed recounting of the Estonian "cyber riot" that temporarily crippled the Internet in that country, advocacy for Bitfrost, a new operating system platform based on new privacy/security assumptions, and, oh, a very interesting discussion of the Whois-privacy problem in ICANN. There were two take-away messages. One is the astounding degree to which Europeans take privacy more seriously than people in the US. http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/10/20/3304029.html Security experts say Rock Phish widening net A recent surge in phishing ? fraudulent e-mail and Web sites designed to "fish" sensitive personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers ? is the handiwork of a small, shadowy cybergang, say computer security experts. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,695220241,00.html ********************** - DOMAIN DISPUTES ********************** Trademark Law ? What Search Marketers Should Know, Part 1 Since search became monetized, trademarks have been a front-and-center issue for legal debate. In the late 1990s, competitors were buying each other's trademarks as keywords, and hiding those keywords in meta tags. Today, with the proliferation of paid and organic search listings, search and trademarks have become a growing dilemma for search engines and advertisers alike. http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3627333 Trademark Law ? What Search Marketers Should Know, Part 2 In Search Engine Watch's previous article, they covered the law fundamentals search marketers should know about online trademarks. Here they cover important tips and tactics by online intellectual property attorneys and legal counsels for the search engines, for both protecting your own trademark material and respecting the trademarks of others. http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3627346 Cybersquatting ? Moving With The times? Cybersquatting ? the practice of registering internet domain names that are based on another entity?s brands or company name - is as prevalent as ever. As online business models have developed and converged, the cybersquatter?s methods have adapted accordingly. Today, businesses routinely need to think about registering domain names simply to prevent others getting hold of them ? in the wrong hands, a domain name can be used to divert business, confuse customers, dilute the brand and commit fraud. http://kemplittle.com/SL-Cybersquatting_Oct07.htm Rebranding 'Thelen' And The Problem With A Cybersquatter Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner had well-laid plans to rechristen itself with the shorter and catchier "Thelen" -- but the branding effort was held hostage by a lone Korean cybersquatter. The marketing move, which launched Monday with a new logo and Web site, was threatened by the distant owner of the "thelen.com" domain name, Thelen lawyers say. http://lawfuel.com/show-article.asp?ID=83892408 Pornographers hijack Somerset's Web address Looking for a "nude man club" or "nude mideastern teens?" Try searching for the city of Somerset's Web site, which was hijacked by cyber-criminals last week. http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA101907.01B.MUNICIPALPORN.6c7dc9.html Rahul sitting duck for cyber squatters The younger generation of Nehru family has become money-spinning names in cyber space, thanks to cyber squatters whose commercial interest recently got a fillip with the appointment of Rahul Gandhi as AICC General Secretary. Since his appointment, there are many more ?hits? on the websites with the domain name of Rahul Gandhi. http://www.indianexpress.com/story/230853.html ********************** - MISCELLANEOUS ********************** Research and Markets Report: By 2010, Over US$2 Billion Will Be Spent on Social Network Advertising in the US Alone ... Volume 2 of this report provides an insight and analysis into the trends and developments taking place in the revived Internet economy. It includes information and statistics on the Internet industry, beginning with an historical look at Internet growth. Information and statistics on Internet hosts, domain names, the World Wide Web, search engines, websites, the ISP market, Internet users and penetration is also provided. An overview of some of the key online services such as adult entertainment, dating, e-education, online financial services, e-government, mapping and online music is also incorporated. Covered in more detail are the sectors of ehealth, online gambling/gaming and virtual worlds. Also provided is technical information on web development related to Web 2.0. http://tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/718160/ One Web site, many names: an introduction to domain forwarding by Michael Horowitz When my Defensive Computing blog went live in July, the Web page address (URL is the nerd term) assigned to it was blogs.cnet.com/8300-13554_1-33.html. Shortly thereafter, CNET assigned the friendlier address blogs.cnet.com/defensive-computing/ http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9800302-7.html ARIN to Hold Meetings in Albuquerque [news release] The ARIN XX Public Policy and Members Meetings will take place 17-19 October in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Hyatt Regency, directly following the NANOG meeting at the same hotel. About 200 representatives from the technical Internet community, large corporations, governments, academia, and civil society will attend ARIN XX. http://arin.net/media/releases/ABQ_Media_Invitation.pdf ********************** - AFTERMARKET ********************** Network Solutions Releases Whitepaper Combining Ecommerce Solutions and Search Engine Optimization Tips for Online Businesses [news release] Network Solutions offers helpful information for online retailers looking to drive business to their stores during the busy holiday season. This new whitepaper, ?Is Your Site Holiday-Ready? 7 Steps to Improve Your Online Holiday Sales? explains what needs to be done today to get ready for the winter holiday shopping season. http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=NetworkSolutions&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=212157&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True&Merge= Analyst Says $8 Billion Online Advertising Network Will Grow 15%, Domain Channel Advertising by 37% in 2007 [news release] T.R.A.F.F.I.C, the domain industry?s premier conference, today announced that Michael Gilmour, a respected industry analyst, projects that the domain name and Internet traffic industry will grow dramatically in 2007. Publicly available corporate reports state that Google and Yahoo!?s total revenue in 2006 from their ad-network channel was $7.88 billion, including $800 million from domain parking. Thus, domain parking represents 10.2% of the companies? total ad-network channel, or 4.7% of Google and Yahoo!?s aggregate revenues. Gilmour, who will present at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.?s show next week, projects that online advertising spending will increase by 15.1% for 2007 while domain channel advertising will grow 37.5%. http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/10/18/analyst-says-8-billion-online-advertising-network-will-grow-15-domain-channel-advertising-by-37-in-2007/ Yee-hah! Dallas Cowboys Clueless On Domains Poor Jerry Jones, first his 'Boys get curb-stomped by the Patriots, then it turns out the attorney representing them at a domain name auction has no idea about the starting or ending price. http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/10/18/yee-hah-dallas-cowboys-clueless-on-domains Dallas Cowboys Return Cowboys.com Domain Name by Bill Hartzer Last week I spoke about SEO, Search, and Domain Names at the TRAFFIC domain name conference, held in Hollywood, Florida. The highlight of the conference was the live internet domain name auction on Friday, October 12th, at 2pm, hosted by Moniker. One of the domain names that was up for sale was Cowboys.com, a great domain name. The Dallas Cowboys apparently was amongst the many bidders for this name and ultimately won the auction for $275,000. Now, about a week later, they want to give it back. http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/10/19/dallas-cowboys-return-cowboys-com-domain-name Not the bill the Cowboys were expecting Going once, going twice, sold ... almost. Seeking to increase their online visibility, the Cowboys were bidding on the domain name cowboys.com at an auction in Hollywood, Fla. But something went amiss ? as in the final price. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/cowboys/stories/101907dnspocowside.92664c.html Cowboys.com Sells (Again) for US$370,000 After Dallas Cowboys back out of deal, Cowboys.com sells for $95,000 more. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/10/19/cowboyscom-sells-again-for-370000/ The Domain Name Auction Scene is a-Changin? SnapNames to unveil new service, GoDaddy signature auctions (finally) on tap. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/10/18/the-domain-name-auction-scene-is-a-changin/ Atomico.com is The Bomb After $80,000 Sale on the AfternicDLS Every domain on this week's Top 20 sales chart cracked the five-figure mark and the AfternicDLS wielded the heaviest weapon, Atomico.com at an even $80,000. That was one of five charted domains for that venue, a number exceeded only by Sedo.com's nine. Sedo's total included a pair from their GreatDomains site that ranked 2nd and 3rd - Subscription.com at $74,000 and HOO.com at $47,000. http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2007/domainsales10-09-07.htm ********************** CENSORSHIP ********************** Australian game censors go for the jugular Australia's draconian classification regime for video games has taken yet another scalp, with local retailers banned from selling the upcoming shooter title Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/18/1192300936928.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/18/1192300936928.html http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4243564a28.html Internet ban is clue to China?s new leaders Chinese people who want to know the identity of the man who will be their leader into the next decade should log on to the internet. But in a country where politics are opaque and the media is banned from reporting such state secrets as the lineup of the new Politburo Standing Committee, the clues to their identities lie in what is prohibited. In the past few days it has become impossible in China to include the names Xi Jinping or Li Keqiang in a blog. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2690168.ece China Blocks YouTube, Restores Flickr and Blogspot [IDG] China's Web viewers can no longer access YouTube, but Blogspot.com and Flickr photos are now available. China watchers, get your scorecards out: Google Inc.'s YouTube is blocked, Wikipedia is still blocked, but, for the moment, Google blog site Blogspot.com is available and some pictures from Yahoo Inc.'s Flickr photos can once again be viewed. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138599-c,sites/article.html cn: YouTube inaccessible and Google partially blocked Reporters Without Borders today accused the Chinese government of blocking access to part of the Internet during the Communist Party?s 17th congress, which began on 15 October. Google?s blog search engine (http://www.blogsearch.google.com) and the video-sharing website YouTube have been inaccessible since 17 October. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24087 Bangladeshi telecommunication regulator tightens grip on the Internet Reporters Without Borders condemned the tightening grip of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on the country?s Internet after it ordered all access providers to supply details of their customers, in a bid to combat illegal Internet telephone services. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24062 ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ Keeping Your Kids Safe Online No one knows better than 19-year-old Alicia Kozakiewicz just how the Web can be used to wreak havoc on a child's life. Six years ago, she arranged a meeting with a friend she'd met online, who described "herself" as a 12-year-old redhead. Instead, she found Scott Tyree, a middle aged man who kidnapped her, imprisoned her and abused her physically and sexually for days before she was rescued by FBI agents. "I discovered that the boogey man is real, and that he lives on the Web," she told congress Thursday at a judiciary committee hearing called to consider toughening online sexual predator laws. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/10/19/online-predators-children-technology-personaltech_cx_ag_1022safekid.html us: Department Of Justice Announces Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces In All 50 States [news release] The Department of Justice announced today that 13 new state and local law enforcement agencies will receive more than $3 million to form Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces in their regions. The funding marks the presence of ICAC task forces in all 50 states, and will support a seamless network making communities and children safer nationwide. http://justice.gov/opa/pr/2007/October/07_ojp_061.html us: Christian group pushing to filter porn from San Jose libraries A Christian group led in part by a former San Jose city councilman is pushing for anti-pornography filters on computers at the city's public libraries. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7225171 NZ Parents face real bills for fantasy real estate Teenagers are using their parents' credit cards to buy thousands of dollars' worth of virtual property, including real estate, on websites such as Second Life. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4245693a28.html au: Trouble in Cyberia To fight cyberbullying, parents and schools need to better understand the technology, writes Elisabeth Tarica. It is a common scenario: late at night, a boyfriend and girlfriend chat online via webcam. He wants her to take her clothes off or to perform a sex act. It's just between them, he tells her. He won't share it. She is reluctant but trusts him. Weeks later, they break up and the images are posted online with a potential audience of millions. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/19/1192301048347.html uk: How far would you go? She's 14, looks 18, and is full of attitude. You want to find out what's going on in her world ... Sophie Radice talks to parents who snoop on their teens' cyber secrets http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,,2195310,00.html ************************** ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL ************************** Media companies unveil copyright guidelines for online content Some of the world's biggest Internet and media companies have joined together to offer a set of guidelines aimed at protecting copyrights online. The idea is to enable the growth and development of user-generated content online without violating the copyrights of the content owners, according to a statement released by CBS Corp., Dailymotion, Fox Entertainment Group, Microsoft Corp., MySpace, NBC Universal, Veoh Networks Inc., Viacom Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9043251 http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138644/article.html Media companies in copyright pact, Google absent [Reuters] Viacom Inc., Walt Disney Co., Microsoft Corp. and other media companies have agreed to a set of guidelines to protect copyrights online but Google Inc., owner of the Web's biggest video site, was notably absent from the pact. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN1844627720071018 http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-copy19oct19,1,4576010.story Media, Web Companies Set Copyright Rules Conspicuously absent was Google Inc., whose YouTube Web site this week rolled out its own technology to filter copyrighted videos once they've been posted. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1673727,00.html Media groups challenge Google on copyright Media groups including Disney, News Corp and Microsoft agreed a set of standards to govern the way that copyright law and anti-piracy measures should be applied to video and music on the internet http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e1cd1c0e-7d89-11dc-9f47-0000779fd2ac.html uk: Warning to abusive bloggers as judge tells site to reveal names Disgruntled fans of Sheffield Wednesday who vented their dissatisfaction with the football club's bigwigs in anonymous internet postings may face expensive libel claims after the chairman, chief executive and five directors won a high-court ruling last week forcing the owner of a website to reveal their identity. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/22/news.blogging Research Shows Image-Based Exploits on the Rise Until recently, steganography, the stealth technique of hiding text or images within image files, has mostly been considered too complex -- and conspicuous -- to be much of a threat. But some forensics experts now worry that the bad guys are starting to use the tactic more frequently, especially in child pornography and identity theft trafficking. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=136702 In millions of Windows, the perfect Storm is gathering A spectre is haunting the net but, outside of techie circles, nobody seems to be talking about it. The threat it represents to our security and wellbeing may be less dramatic than anything posed by global terrorism, but it has the potential to wreak much more havoc. And so far, nobody has come up with a good idea on how to counter it. It's called the Storm worm. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2195730,00.html What to Do About Pixels of Hate One by one, starting a few weeks ago, 40 militant Islamist Web sites got knocked off the Internet. Gone were some of the world?s most active jihadi sites, with forums full of extremist chatter. This disappearance mystified American counterterrorism officials. They hadn?t shut them down, they knew, so who had? http://nytimes.com/2007/10/21/weekinreview/21moss.html ca: Sheet music site forced offline A Canadian website which offered versions of sheet music - mostly from long dead composers - has been forced to close after receiving a cease and desist letter from lawyers representing a German music publisher. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/22/music_scores_taken_down/ ************************** PRIVACY ************************** Canadians continue to think personal information not well protected: Tabling of Privacy Commissioner of Canada?s Annual Report on the Privacy Act [news release] Canadians overwhelmingly feel their personal information is less well protected than it was a decade ago, and they are right to be worried, says the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart. http://privcom.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2007/nr-c_071017_e.asp ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** Czech president endorses bill punishing child porno possession Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed a bill stipulating punishment for the possession of child pornography into law today, Klaus's spokesman Petr Hajek told CTK today. Under the bill that was passed by the Chamber of Deputies in September people will face up to two years in prison for "keeping photographic, film, computer, electronic or other pornographic material made with children as models or for abusing children in any other way." http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=277113 eu: Microsoft to carry out EU ruling Microsoft agrees to comply with the European Commission's 2004 anti-monopoly ruling against it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7056288.stm us: Wiretapping Compromise Was Months in the Making Last June, in a phone conversation with Vice President Dick Cheney, John D. Rockefeller IV, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, set down his conditions for revising the law governing the National Security Agency?s eavesdropping. Only when the committee got access to secret administration documents authorizing surveillance without court warrants, Mr. Rockefeller told the vice president, would it consider such legislation. http://nytimes.com/2007/10/20/us/nationalspecial3/20nsa.html Editorial: With Democrats Like These ... Every now and then, we are tempted to double-check that the Democrats actually won control of Congress last year. It was particularly hard to tell this week. Democratic leaders were cowed, once again, by propaganda from the White House and failed, once again, to modernize the law on electronic spying in a way that permits robust intelligence gathering on terrorists without undermining the Constitution. http://nytimes.com/2007/10/20/opinion/20sat1.html us: Immunity for Telecoms May Set Bad Precedent, Legal Scholars Say When previous Republican administrations were accused of illegality in the FBI and CIA spying abuses of the 1970s or the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s, Democrats in Congress launched investigations or pushed for legislative reforms. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102101041.html us: Conmen hijack eBay user identities Foreign criminals are stealing the credentials of British users of the internet auction site eBay to perpetrate large-scale fraud. An investigation has identified one German-based fraudster who hijacked more than 30 accounts and used them to fleece UK car buyers. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2702642.ece us: Proposed Law Could Be a Cold Shower for YouPorn YouPorn is the highest trafficked adult website in the world and boasts a higher Alexa rating than both CNN and Weather.com, reports Portfolio. Saw that one coming, didn't we? But YouPorn and other blue Web 2.0 startups could be out of business in the near future if proposed changes to 18 U.S.C. 2257 are accepted into law. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/10/sexdrive_1019 us: The Role of Competition in a National Broadband Policy [news release] There is perhaps no issue more central to the debate about broadband policy than the state of and role of competition. Indeed, the issue of competition drives many of the debates over broadband, including net neutrality, wireless spectrum auctions, municipal broadband, and unbundling proposals. Although some advocates claim that the current state of broadband competition is more than adequate, others decry market conditions and seek proactive public policies to spur more competition. Yet almost everyone involved in broadband policy in the United States agrees that regardless of the current state of competition, more competition is better. The stated reason is that more competition leads to lower prices, higher speeds, broader deployment, more innovation, and better customer service. http://innovationpolicy.org/index.php?id=87 us: Broadband Regulation Needed to Improve Access Competition may not fix problems with broadband speed and cost in the U.S., because of the high cost of entry into the market, the leader of a technology think tank said Friday. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/138711/broadband_regulation_needed_to_improve_access.html Austria plans to start conducting secret online searches in 2008 It is planned that the police will use online searches in Austria from autumn 2008 onwards. According to a report of the radio station ?1, the Minister of Justice, Maria Berger (SP?) [Social Democratic Party of Austria] and her colleague, the Minister for Internal Affairs, G?nther Platter (?VP) [Austrian People's Party] have agreed to this. http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/97595 ********************** INTERNET USE ********************** Google Under Fire in Brazil Over a Controversial Site Google Inc. makes billions marrying advertising to the Web. Just yesterday, it reported yet another surge in revenue and profit. But here in Brazil, the Internet powerhouse is embroiled in an embarrassing episode over its efforts to profit from social networking, one of the fastest-growing activities online. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119273558149563775.html Australian government rejects broadband claim The government has bristled at claims it has left Australia in an electronic dark age, after Labor released research placing it 26th out of 30 developed countries for broadband internet transfer speeds. The study by the Washington-based independent think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said Australia pays nine times more for broadband than most other western nations. It also claimed Australian broadband was 35 times slower. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/20/1192301085419.html Broadband a Third World joke Australians are paying nine times more for broadband that trundles along 35 times slower than the world's fastest networks. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22616385-2,00.html Broadband at Third World standards: Labor Federal Labor says its plan for Australia's broadband network will produce speeds 40 times faster than the current standards. A new report from the US has found Australians are paying nine times more for broadband than other western nations, and download speeds are 35 times slower than the leader Japan. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/20/2064984.htm Allensbach analysis shows television is losing viewers to the internet in Germany The ACTA 2007 analysis of computer and technology usage, presented on Tuesday, is based on a survey of 10,000 people by the Allensbach opinion polling institute. According to the report, 84 percent of under 65s have a computer in the home. 66 percent access the internet at home. Whilst the proportion of private internet users in general rose by just 6 percent to 35.8 million, the number with a DSL connection rose from 35 to 48 percent. As the study notes, this is a significantly larger rate of increase than would be expected from the number of people expressing buying intentions a year ago. http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/97520 ********************** SOCIAL NETWORKING ********************** Why eBay Isn't More Social Is eBay missing the boat by not throwing itself into the blossoming social networking space? That was the question posed in myriad ways to Meg Whitman, the online auction giant's chief executive, at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Thursday morning. Timing matters: A day earlier, eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) reported a $937 million third-quarter loss due to charges related to its Skype phone service. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/10/18/ebay-whitman-web-technology-internet-cx_wt_1018ebay.html MySpace Is a Treasure Chest for Cases At Malbrough & Lirette in Houma, La., a secretary browses MySpace and Facebook Web sites each day. She's not checking the online social networking sites for personal reasons; she is performing one of her job duties. "It's an everyday occasion," said Joan Malbrough, a partner at the three-attorney firm, which handles family law, personal injury and corporate law matters. "Every new client we do a MySpace and Facebook search on to see if they or their spouse have any useful information." http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1192611803361 Internet companies: Social graph-iti A new fad is sweeping across Silicon Valley, causing excitement, confusion and hyperbole not seen since the dotcom bubble. It began in May, when Mark Zuckerberg, ten days after turning 23, took the stage in a San Francisco warehouse and announced that he was opening up Facebook, the social network he founded at Harvard University, to outside programmers. Anyone can now build little programs, or ?widgets?, into the network. To illustrate his idea, Mr Zuckerberg projected onto the wall behind him a ?social graph??a pattern of nodes representing Facebook users and the links among them. http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9990635 ********************** NEW TECHNOLOGIES ********************** Apple now sells 1 in 12 U.S. computers Apple Inc.'s share of the U.S. computer market climbed again last quarter, two research firms said today, and the company now has a solid lock on third place behind Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9043244 Technology giants spark innovation free-for-all The starting gun was fired today by the world's leading technology companies in the race to offer services via the 'internet of the future'. Apple, MySpace, and Nokia, three of the biggest technology firms offering internet or internet-related services, have announced they would allow other companies to provide products which would work on their web platforms. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2684363.ece Tag, You're It - RFID tags You've probably never seen an RFID tag, but chances are there's one within 10 ft. of you. An RFID tag--it stands for radio-frequency identification--is a tiny device consisting of a very small chip attached to a very small antenna. The chip is no great shakes, but it doesn't have to be; it just stores one very large number. When the RFID tag hears a particular radio signal, it responds by broadcasting back the number in its chip. That's its entire purpose in life. Some prototype RFID tags are about the size of a grain of ground pepper. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1673283,00.html ********************** SPAM ********************** Spammers pump up volume with major spoken scam slam Spammers started delivering spoken messages last night, the newest twist on the ongoing pump-and-dump scam, several security researchers said today. According to analysts, the spam is coming from the individual or gang responsible for the Storm Trojan, and is being sent from a piece of the Storm-built botnet that was recently split off from the core group of compromised computers. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9043242 http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1948437951;fp;2;fpid;1 Spammers' new MP3 trick may be short-lived [IDG] A variation of spam is sliding past spam filters into inboxes, but it's not likely the new trick will be successful much longer, a security expert said Thursday. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/18/Spammers-new-MP3-trick-may-be-short-lived_1.html http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;504328614;fp;2;fpid;1 Do Spammers Change Their Tactics Based on Recipient Verification? Yes, They Do by Terry Zink Or, to be more precise, it sure looks like they do. I wrote on another post on a publicly available spam tool, and I mentioned that I came across a page that allowed people to verify whether or not an email address is actually live. The question naturally arises: do spammers clean up their email contact lists based upon whether or not the address is legitimate? Spammers would have an incentive to do this... Do we actually observe spammers changing their sending patterns? I believe that we have evidence that they do. http://www.circleid.com/posts/7101914_spammers_tactics_recipient_verification/ ********************** FILE SHARING ********************** YouTube's Filter Fails to Please Last April, Googler-in-Chief Eric Schmidt assured an audience at the Web 2.0 Expo that the issue fueling Viacom's massive lawsuit against his company--alleged copyright infringement on YouTube--would become "moot" as soon as Google rolled out a new tool for managing content. On Monday, Google announced the arrival of that panacea, a new video filter designed to stem the massive flow of copyright-violating clips mixed into YouTube's user generated content. Schmidt's promise that the filter would sort out YouTube's mounting legal problems, however, hasn't materialized. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/10/18/google-viacom-video-tech-cx_ag_1018youtube.html Rejoice! Every "Daily Show" ever is now online Hallelujah, every episode of "The Daily Show" will soon be online! Indeed, a great many episodes are here already. If you're at work today or are taking care of small children, please do not click on this link. It takes you to the amazing new site -- thedailyshow.com -- that Viacom has built for Jon Stewart and his pals, a place where you can find thousands of clips representing every instant of the show since 1999. http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/10/18/daily_show/ Viacom to offer all clips of 'Daily Show' online Media giant Viacom Inc. is suing YouTube Inc., but it's also taking lessons from the online video service. In the ongoing quest to make Internet popularity pay, Viacom's Comedy Central channel today will unveil a website for "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" that's designed to satisfy the most avid fans of the mock-news show with oceans of free video clips. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-mtv18oct18,1,5303762.story http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138605-page,1/article.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/18/viacom-unveils-new-daily_n_68940.html With Enough ?Daily Show? Clips, You?ve Got a Whole Program Much of the coverage of Viacom?s new Web site for ?The Daily Show? focuses on the vast archive of clips from past shows it offers. But perhaps more significant is the fact that you can also watch last night?s program more or less from start to finish. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/with-enough-daily-show-clips-youve-got-a-whole-program/ ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* Google, Intel, Nokia boost sector hopes [IDG] Earnings season is in full swing, and results this week from bellwethers like Google, Intel, and Nokia are fueling hopes for a strong fourth quarter while confirming the investor confidence that has led to a rebound in share prices of technology vendors. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/18/Google-Intel-Nokia-boost-sector-hopes_1.html Google profit soars 46 percent Google said Thursday that third-quarter profit rose 46 percent after extending its lead over Yahoo and selling more ads on YouTube. http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/18/business/google.php Google Earnings Beat Estimates?Again As a company that regularly beats Wall Street's earnings estimates, Google needed to blow away expectations on Oct. 18 to impress investors who have propelled the stock to record highs in recent days in anticipation of yet another blockbuster quarterly announcement. Anything less and investors would sell off the stock as they had in past quarters when Google just met or narrowly exceeded analysts' projections. http://businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2007/tc20071018_203626.htm Google's chiefs face questions following powerful stock surge By not splitting its stock, Google risks hurting itself and the internet sector. This was the thunderous conclusion of research this week by the technology analyst Mark May at Needham & Co, who has become alarmed at the headlines surrounding the Google share price's surge through $600 ? barely three years after they were floated at $85. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3070636.ece Nokia Profit Surges 85 Percent Strong demand for low-cost phones in Africa, the Middle East and Asia lifted the company?s share of the global market to almost 40 percent. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/technology/18cnd-nokia.html http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/18/business/nokia.php http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/18/Nokia-profit-leaps-on-higher-phone-sales_1.html Economist to put archive online More than 160 years of articles from the Economist are set to become available online with the launch of The Economist Historical Archive 1843-2003. http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,,2193231,00.html US Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections. http://nytimes.com/2007/10/22/technology/22library.html Network Solutions Releases White Paper Explaining the Importance of Hiring a Professional Web Site Designer [news release] Network Solutions provides guidance to small businesses when it comes to the important task of establishing an online presence. In a new white paper, ?Why Hire a Professional Web Designer?? Network Solutions discusses the importance of a Website with a professional Web site design, as well as helps small businesses determine why and how to hire a professional Web designer. http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=NetworkSolutions&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=212608&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True&Merge= ********************** TELECOMMUNICATIONS ********************** InternetNZ calls for thorough analysis of rural broadband options [news release] InternetNZ calls on the Government to undertake a thorough analysis of options for improving rural broadband, carving this project out from the current Telecommunications Service Obligations (TSO or ?Kiwi Share?) telephony and dial-up reconsiderations. http://www.internetnz.net.nz/media/mediareleases/ruraltsosub InternetNZ uncertain if TSO should cover broadband InternetNZ says it has been unable to decide whether the Telecommunications Service Obligation should be extended to guarantee access to broadband as well as phone lines and free local calling. http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4246659a28.html ********************** MOBILE/WIRELESS ********************** More than 100 times faster than Wi-Fi? Radio scientists at IBM Research and MediaTek are teaming up to develop a wireless transmission protocol that will deliver files more than 100 times faster than Wi-Fi. http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62033597,00.htm ITU Approves WiMax as Global Standard Once technology rivals, WiMax and 3G are now on the same wireless road after the International Telecommunications Union on Oct. 19 agreed to include WiMax-derived technology in the IMT-2000 set of standards. The decision puts WiMax on equal footing with 3G as a radio interface. IMT-2000 is a global standard set by the ITU that defines the radio interfaces of advanced wireless communications systems. The decision to approve the WiMax as an IMT-2000 technology escalates opportunities for global deployment, especially within the 2.5-2.69GHz band, to deliver mobile Internet to satisfy demand in both rural and urban markets. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2203257,00.asp WiMAX Garners U.N. Endorsement A wireless technology called WiMAX got a key endorsement from a United Nations agency, improving the odds it will be widely deployed. The decision by the International Telecommunications Union came after a lengthy lobbying battle, which pit Intel Corp. and other WiMAX supporters against an opposing camp that included Qualcomm Inc. and Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119281823806765074.html WiMax approved as a global third-generation communications standard The ITU gave the upstart technology called WiMax a vote of approval, a sizable victory for Intel and something of a defeat for competing technologies from Qualcomm and Ericsson. http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/19/business/wimax.php http://nytimes.com/2007/10/20/technology/20wimax.html Wi-fi security system is 'broken' More holes have been picked in the security measure designed to protect the privacy and data of wi-fi users. The latest attack lets criminals defeat firewalls and spy on where someone goes and what they do online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7052223.stm us: In Search of Wireless Wiggle Room I recently watched a YouTube clip of a young man removing the memory chip from his iPhone with his teeth, in an attempt to ?unlock? the device for use on a network other than the AT&T system for which the phone was exclusively sold. His gyrations were a particularly vivid reminder of the limits imposed on cellphones by the companies that run national wireless networks in the United States. But there are signs that the existing order in the wireless world may finally be changing. http://nytimes.com/2007/10/21/business/media/21view.html ********************************** ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN ********************************** Paedophile suspect Neil arrested A Canadian paedophile suspect who sparked a global manhunt has been arrested in Thailand, police say. Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old teacher, was held in the north-east of the country, a police spokesman said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7052065.stm Thai police arrest paedophile suspect A Canadian schoolteacher suspected of sexually abusing young boys across south-east Asia was seized by Thai police today after an unprecedented global manhunt by Interpol. http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2194830,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2195461,00.html http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2692664.ece http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/asia/20thai.html au: 70yo charged over child porn, weapons A 70-year-old man has been charged with the possession of child pornography and firearms after a raid on his western Sydney home yesterday. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/19/2063761.htm http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22612527-5001028,00.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/19/1192300985316.html au: Child porn farmer goes free A Bute farmer, who accessed child pornography over the internet to escape stress in his private life, has walked from court with a suspended jail sentence. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22609874-2682,00.html au: Child porn guilty plea over 85,000 images An Adelaide man faces a possible jail term after admitting he took part in an international child pornography racket. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/22/2066681.htm uk: Chris Langham loses appeal on sentence An appeal by actor Chris Langham for a reduction in his 10-month jail sentence for downloading child pornography has been rejected by the Court of Appeal. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/7052364.stm http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/19/nlangham119.xml +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (c) David Goldstein 2007 --------- David Goldstein address: 4/3 Abbott Street COOGEE NSW 2034 AUSTRALIA email: Goldstein_David §yahoo.com.au phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home) "Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery Sick of deleting your inbox? Yahoo!7 Mail has free unlimited storage. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.htmlReceived on Thu Oct 25 2007 - 10:22:27 UTC
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