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 December 13 edition of the news includes:

Internet Co-founder, Vint Cerf, Calls For New Environment to protect
society from abuses | How next billion will shape net by Michael Geist
| CEOs and Directors Need to Tackle Cyber Security Threats | CEOs urged
to make infosecurity a priority | Are domain name registrars
responsible for intellectual property infringement? | 'AKILL'
investigation continues





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





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The domain name news is supported by auDA



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Web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee warns of short-termism
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/51c753fe-a43f-11dc-a28d-0000779fd2ac.html

The Team That Put the Net in Orbit
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/business/09stream.html

NZ Internet Domain Name Disputes - Roundtable Discussion by Philip Greene
http://www.cyberlaw.org.nz/?p=30

What's up with 'whois'?
http://iht.com/articles/2007/11/14/business/PTEND15.php

Land Grab? ccTLDs and multilingual names by Milton Mueller
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/12/5/3392238.html

SWITCH is reducing the price for SWITCHbasic domain names from CHF 22 to CHF 17 on 1 February 2008 [news release]
http://switch.ch/about/news.html?id=155

Internationalised Domain Names (IDN) in .nz - Consultation
http://dnc.org.nz/story/30294-29-1.html

Brits lag behind European rivals in online brand protection
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2205410/brits-lag-european-online-brand

nz: Bot-boy caught in his own net
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10481058

NZ banks told to 'do their bit' to fight phishing attacks
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/6236AF0C78E98F34CC2573A9007438C5

DNSSEC: Once More, With Feeling! by Geoff Huston
http://www.circleid.com/posts/dnssec_once_more_with_feeling/

DNS attack could signal Phishing 2.0 [IDG]
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052198

au: ANZ takes aim at cyber squatters over use of websites
http://business.theage.com.au/anz-takes-aim-at-cyber-squatters-over-use-of-websites/20071207-1fqw.html

Microsoft Vista's IPv6 Raises New Security Concerns
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/140387/microsoft_vistas_ipv6_raises_new_security_concerns.html

Seussical-Sounding Web Site Names
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/technology/personaltech/06pogue-email.html
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/the-dr-seuss-jumble-naming-web-sites/

dotMobi auction points to directions in online mobile entertainment
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3424

Mobile to account for 30% of music retail value by 2011, leading to increased demand for .mobi domains
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3427


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GOVERNANCE
**********************
Web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee warns of short-termism
Internet companies are taking a dangerously short-term view and ignoring big potential risks and opportunities as the online medium becomes a more central part of everyday life, according to the man who invented the worldwide web. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who now oversees the development of new technology standards for the web as head of the World Wide Web Consortium, also criticised the lack of support for long-term research into these issues, which he said marks a break from the traditional approach technology companies have taken.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/51c753fe-a43f-11dc-a28d-0000779fd2ac.html

The Team That Put the Net in Orbit
As a young NASA engineer during the 1980s, Milo Medin liked to irritate his managers by building scientific computer networks using freely available Internet software that outperformed more costly commercial systems. He was a member of a rebel generation of engineers and scientists that created what would become the commercial Internet during a tumultuous decade. And this group did so by ignoring conventions and adopting a cooperative spirit that turned into the hallmark of the open source software movement.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/business/09stream.html

NZ Internet Domain Name Disputes - Roundtable Discussion by Philip Greene
On Thursday 6 December 2007, Victoria University?s School of Law hosted a seminar titled, ?Internet Domain Name Disputes: A Roundtable Discussion.? The 90-minute event, hosted in partnership with the Office of the Domain Name Commissioner and InternetNZ, was chaired by Philip Greene, InternetNZ?s Senior Research Fellow in Cyberlaw. Greene was joined by Debbie Monahan, the .NZ Domain Name Commissioner, and Sir Ian Barker, a world renowned domain name dispute expert, and a .NZ and WIPO UDRP domain name arbitration panelist.
http://www.cyberlaw.org.nz/?p=30

DNSSEC-Deployment Group Now Discussing Distributed Root Signing by Brenden Kuerbis
DNSSEC and the issue of signing the root have been hot topics in Internet governance over the past year. Most recently, the IGP co-sponsored workshop at IGF-Rio saw several interested parties (see the workshop writeup) vigorously debating if the root should be signed. Perhaps anticipating that discussion, ICANN released a ccNSO survey of 61 ccTLD operators on DNSSEC just before IGF-Rio. It highlighted that the majority of interviewed operators preferred ICANN/IANA sign the root, but numerous other arrangements were identified as well. In Rio, the CEO of the largest ccTLD argued that deploying DNSSEC at the root entails making a decision about whether to dedicate trust to one or multiple entities. She and a representative of CGI.br openly expressed concern about a single entity controlling such a critical piece of the DNS.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/12/5/3393603.html

Overlapping Sets: From Rio to Delhi by John Mathiason
The second Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro continued the slow but steady movement to clarify the critical Internet governance issues. The Forum discussed, for the first time, the initial issue that prompted the international focus on Internet governance, critical Internet resources. It also explored the other clusters that had been identified: openness, diversity, access and security and further refined these. But the main result, not as well noticed, is a growing recognition that the key issues have less to do with the clusters than with where they overlap and conflict.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/12/5/3393601.html

IGF Workshop Summary: DNSSEC: Securing a Critical Internet Resource by Brenden Kuerbis
This informative workshop, co-sponsored by the Internet Governance Project, CGI.br, and EuroISPA, drew approximately 80-90 attendees from government, civil society, the private sector and technical communities. While the multi-stakeholder panel brought a diversity of opinions regarding DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), they agreed that improving the security of the Internet?s infrastructure is an important activity which should be pursued.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/12/5/3393475.html

An IG Research Home: A Long Term Role for IGF? by Brenden Kuerbis
It is quickly becoming apparent that an important function of the UN's Internet Governance Forum could be to serve as a long term clearinghouse for knowledge acquisition and assessment concerning Internet governance. Despite its structural imperfections, the IGF is becoming a magnet for the academic community to discuss Internet governance ideas. As such, it may be finding its role in the global Internet governance regime.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/12/5/3393138.html

Land Grab? ccTLDs and multilingual names by Milton Mueller
The introduction of internationalized domain names (IDNs) offers the world one of the best opportunities it will ever have to introduce more diversity and competition into the domain name registry market. Unfortunately, the politics within ICANN are threatening that opportunity. There is a move afoot to give country code TLD registries a free gift of an IDN top level domain. Did I say "a" free gift? That implies only one. But as I will explain later, it may turn out to be two, or three, or maybe six or even twenty free gifts by the time ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee and CCNSO gets done with it.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/12/5/3392238.html

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - ICANN
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If you have the technical ability to manage a top-level domain, then Icann will give you the right to do it by Guy Kewney
Imagine that you?re a programmer. You speak Korean, not English, and all your life you?ve never used a Roman alphabet; instead you?ve used characters, ideograms. Suddenly, you have to get your head around words such as ?centre? and ?double precision? written in the Roman script.
http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-world/comment/2205375/dot-squiggle-breakthrough-3569719
http://www.whatpc.co.uk/personal-computer-world/comment/2205375/dot-squiggle-breakthrough-3569719

ICANN CEO Congratulates Community Member on Honor [news release]
Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN's President and CEO, congratulated former board member and current At-Large Advisory Committee member Vanda Scartezini on being named Brazil's most influential woman in information and communications technology.
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-10dec07.htm

Paul Twomey speech at Vint Cerf Gala event, October 2007
Speech by ICANN CEO Paul Twomey at Gala event to Vint Cerf on Tuesday 30 October 2007 at Sony Studios, 10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, Los Angeles.
http://blog.icann.org/?p=254

ICANN's Nom Com needs help!
The group in charge of recruiting the best candidates for ICANN's top jobs is seeking the help of an outside organisation to cope with its increasing workload.
http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/144/icann-s-nom-com-needs-help.php

Application Round Opens for Paris ICANN Meeting Fellowships
ICANN is putting out the call for fellowship program applications for its 32nd International Public Meeting to be held in Paris from 22-27 June 2008. "The fellowship program plays a key role in making sure that global voices are heard at the ICANN meeting and in our various public forums," said Theresa Swinehart, ICANN's Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships.
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-07dec07.htm

Making the Internet truly local
IDNs are the Internet's real star at the moment. But why do they matter? And why is ICANN putting so much effort into them? We asked Tina Dam, Director of ICANN's IDN program, to enlighten us.
http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/145/making-the-internet-truly-local.php

Technical Community Networking in the Middle East by Baher Esmat
Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in two consecutive but separate gatherings in the Middle East targeting the technical community of this region. The first was the second meeting of the Middle East Network Operators Group (MENOG), hosted by Q-tel and held in Doha, Qatar on 19-21 Nov. The other meeting was a technical training for ccTLD managers organized by ISOC and NSRC and hosted by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College of Business in Amman, Jordan on 26-29 Nov. Although the audience of both events was different, the aim was to get the techies of this region together so they could exchange views, share knowledge, and learn from experts as well as from each other?s experiences. Ultimately, the aim is to see networks of expertise in the Middle East actively engaged in discussions and participating in work taking place at various international fora.
http://blog.icann.org/?p=255

ICANN Blog en francais by Michele Neylon
In a multi-lingual and multicultural internet society it's nice to see that the ICANN blog is publishing content in languages other than English.
http://www.isquattedyour.eu/2007/12/06/icann-blog-en-francais/

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 - (cc)TLD NEWS
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Domain names show sustained growth
With a 31% increase year over year, the domain name market remains buoyant. There are now 146 million names registered worldwide. .COM and .NET registry Verisign has just published its latest "Domain Name Industry Brief", showing unabated growth for domain names in the third quarter of 2007. The new total of 146 million registered names is a 6% increase over 2007's second quarter and a 31% increase over the third quarter of last year.
http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/146/domain-names-show-sustained-growth.php

SWITCH is reducing the price for SWITCHbasic domain names from CHF 22 to CHF 17 on 1 February 2008 [news release]
It is the continuing stable growth in the number of domain names that has made a further price reduction possible. SWITCH reduced the price from CHF 27 to CHF 22 in September 2007 already. There were 1,046,387 domain names ending in .ch (Switzerland) and 50,379 domain names ending in .li (Principality of Liechtenstein) registered with SWITCH as per 6 december 2007.
http://switch.ch/about/news.html?id=155

Switch to lower annual fee for .ch, .li domains by CHF 5 [sub req'd]
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?id=195732

.NL sunrise for numerical domains commences
The sunrise period for numerical only domain names began for .NL SIDN, the .NL registry, announced. In the next five days 56 numerical only domain names were registered. The sunrise period finishes on 14 December, when the applicants of the numerical domain names will be assessed to ensure they meet the requirements by Deloitte. It is anticipated a landrush for numerical domain names will commence in late January or early February.
http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/12/09/nl-sunrise-for-numerical-domains-commences/

Internationalised Domain Names (IDN) in .nz - Consultation
Currently, domain names in the .nz space only allow the 26 basic English (Latin) alphabet characters a-z, digits and the '-' hyphen. The Maori alphabet has an additional five characters, the macronised vowels a, e, i, o, and u, which are currently not allowed in .nz domain names.
http://dnc.org.nz/story/30294-29-1.html

Brits lag behind European rivals in online brand protection
UK businesses are at major risk of brand damage online because of poor domain name registration practices, according to a new report from domain name management specialist NetNames reveals.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2205410/brits-lag-european-online-brand
http://www.infomaticsonline.co.uk/vnunet/news/2205410/brits-lag-european-online-brand
http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/2205410/brits-lag-european-online-brand
http://www.netimperative.com/news/2007/december/3/uk-brands-neglecting-brand-protection-online

British brands lag behind European rivals in online brand protection stakes
British businesses are at major risk of brand damage online because of poor domain name registration practices, the Cyberdaq report from domain name management specialist NetNames reveals. Leading UK brands are 24 per cent less protected online than their German rivals.
http://www.domaininformer.com/news/press/071207NetNames.html

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 - DNS SECURITY
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nz: Bot-boy caught in his own net
For a young man who has been described by a seasoned cyber policeman as bordering on genius, Owen Walker's immediate prospects are bleak. Extradition to the United States is a distinct possibility for the software whiz who was bullied at Mercury Bay Area Primary, home-schooled from age 13, and five years later finds himself the centre of attention of FBI and Dutch investigators.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10481058

NZ banks told to 'do their bit' to fight phishing attacks
New Zealand banks could protect customers from phishing attacks by making a simple change to their internet address protocols at little or no cost, says Thom Hooker, director of operations at SMX, an Auckland based anti-spam and anti-virus email service provider. ?They?re putting a lot of onus on the users but they should be doing their bit at their end,? he says. The owner of an internet domain address can specify who is allowed to send email using that domain address. Internet service providers such as Xtra can then identify and reject as spam emails which purport to be from banks.
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/6236AF0C78E98F34CC2573A9007438C5

DNSSEC: Once More, With Feeling! by Geoff Huston
After looking at the state of DNSSEC in some detail a little over a year ago in 2006, I've been intending to come back to DNSSEC to see if anything has changed, for better or worse, in the intervening period... To recap, DNSSEC is an approach to adding some "security" into the DNS. The underlying motivation here is that the DNS represents a rather obvious gaping hole in the overall security picture of the Internet, although it is by no means the only rather significant vulnerability in the entire system. One of the more effective methods of a convert attack in this space is to attack at the level of the DNS by inserting fake responses in place of the actual DNS response.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/dnssec_once_more_with_feeling/

DNS attack could signal Phishing 2.0 [IDG]
Researchers at Google Inc. and the Georgia Institute of Technology are studying a virtually undetectable form of attack that quietly controls where victims go on the Internet. The study, set to be published in February, takes a close look at "open recursive" DNS servers, which are used to tell computers how to find each other on the Internet by translating domain names like google.com into numerical Internet Protocol addresses. Criminals are using these servers in combination with new attack techniques to develop a new generation of phishing attacks.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052198
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140465-c,onlinesafety/article.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/11/DNS-attack-could-signal-Phishing-2.0_1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/11/AR2007121100722.html

Top 10 Best & Worst Anti-Phishing Web Registrars
Web site domain name registrars are increasingly finding themselves at the forefront of the never-ending slog against online con artists and phishers. But there is little consensus on how far registrars should go to police their pool of names for fraudulent activity, and the performance of registrars in decommissioning domain names connected to fraud scams is all over the map. Such was one of the many findings in a "brandjacking" report released last month by brand security firm MarkMonitor. November's report, which detailed online fraud trends for Q3 of 2007, was the first to include a list of the top 10 best and worst lists of registrar performance in revoking domain names connected to phishing scams.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/12/top_10_best_worst_antiphishing.html

China Link Suspected in Lab Hacking
A cyber attack reported last week by one of the federal government?s nuclear weapons laboratories may have originated in China, according to a confidential memorandum distributed Wednesday to public and private security officials by the Department of Homeland Security.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/us/nationalspecial3/09hack.html
http://www.news.com/2100-7349_3-6222069.html
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/121107-dns-attack-could-signal-phishing.html

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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au: ANZ takes aim at cyber squatters over use of websites
ANZ Bank has taken action to reclaim two websites from Asian cyber squatters who used the bank's name to attract visitors, but made money by selling links to the ANZ's competitors and pornography.
http://business.theage.com.au/anz-takes-aim-at-cyber-squatters-over-use-of-websites/20071207-1fqw.html

WIPO End Report on Case Administration under the Sunrise Challenge Policy for .mobi and the Premium Name Trademark Application Rules for .mobi
Between September 2006 and March 2007, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center processed 18 challenges under the Sunrise Challenge Policy for .mobi ("Sunrise Policy") and the Rules for Sunrise Challenge Policy ("Sunrise Rules"), and 105 applications under the Premium Name Trademark Application Rules for .mobi ("Premium Name Rules"). The present WIPO Report provides a resume of the Center's administration of challenges under the Sunrise Policy and Rules and of applications under the Premium Name Rules. Both of these mechanisms were created by the Center in collaboration with the .mobi registry operator.
http://wipo.int/amc/en/domains/reports/mobi

'Freedom Of Speech' Domain Names Acceptable - WIPO [AHN]
"Freedom of speech" domain names are acceptable, says the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), citing a person's right to register a company's name as a domain name to voice negative opinions about that company.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009382355

Bodog Foils Legal Ploy in Latest Ruling
Bodog was the winner in the latest ruling in a patent-infringement lawsuit that has developed more twists and turns than San Francisco's famed Lombard Street. On August 31, 1st Technology Inc. filed an Ex-Parte Application for Order Allowing Examination of Judgment Debtor, which would have compelled Bodog owner Calvin Ayre to appear at their US attorney's offices. Knowing anything about the current legal climate for principals of online sports betting sites might have lead them to believe that Calvin Ayre would be hard pressed to make a scheduled appearance in the US. If the court sided with 1st Technology and Ayre failed to show, they were ready with a motion for contempt.
http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/12/bodog-foils-latest-legal-ploy.htm

Vegas judge in favour of Bodog Entertainment S.A.
A federal judge In Las Vegas has ruled in favour of a motion presented by Bodog Entertainment S.A. in their ongoing case with 1st Technology. The motion initiated by the defence team stated that as the company is not resident in Nevada, it should not be subject to examination under Nevada law.
http://www.casinowire.com/?p=367

uk: New row over Mathew Street Festival - this time over a domain
ONE of the men primarily blamed for the cancellation of the Mathew Street Festival has become embroiled in a row over the ownership of the domain names for the event?s website.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2007/12/07/new-row-over-mathew-street-festival-this-time-over-a-domain-64375-20215934/

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 - IPv4/IPv6
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The Year IPv6 Made it to Major League By Yves Poppe
May 6th 2007: ARIN board of trustees passes a resolution advising the Internet community that migration to a new version of the internet protocol, IPv6, will be necessary to allow continued growth of the internet.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/71269_year_ipv6_made_major_league/

Microsoft Vista's IPv6 Raises New Security Concerns
Members of the Internet engineering community have raised several new security concerns about Teredo, a mechanism for sending IPv6 traffic over IPv4 networks that comes turned on by default in Microsoft's Vista software.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/140387/microsoft_vistas_ipv6_raises_new_security_concerns.html

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 - MISCELLANEOUS
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Seussical-Sounding Domain Names
Could it possibly be true? Has all wit and cleverness already dried up in the naming of Web sites, less than 15 years after the Internet was opened to the public? In the beginning, Web sites announced their own names. You pretty much know what you?re going to find at Sears.com, Staples.com, McDonalds.com and Microsoft.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/technology/personaltech/06pogue-email.html
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/the-dr-seuss-jumble-naming-web-sites/

Coming up short in domain name game
When the Hollywood studios say they don't know enough about the Internet to pay writers what they seek for the streaming and downloading of their shows, they might not be kidding. That was made embarrassingly clear Monday when a group of opportunistic writers unveiled a website lampooning the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios in labor negotiations. The alliance neglected to register two key domain names, an oversight seized upon by the writers, who are now in the sixth week of a strike.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-strike11dec11,1,3597536.story

First Passport, now fraud: ex-MS employee charged [IDG]
The former Microsoft employee associated with the company's notorious December 1999 Hotmail outage has been charged with fraud. Carolyn Gudmundson was indicted Thursday on charges that she raked in more than $1 million during a four-year period by falsifying expense reports she filed for domain name registration charges.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/07/First-Passport-now-fraud-ex-MS-employee-charged_1.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140415-pg,1/article.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/08/AR2007120800729.html

Ex-Microsoft manager faces 20 years for doctoring expense reports
A former Microsoft manager who acquired, registered and retired the company's Internet domain names was arrested Thursday and charged with stealing more than $1 million from Microsoft Corp., travel site Expedia.com, and a California company, federal prosecutors said Friday.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9051878

VeriSign Releases Q2 Domain Brief
VeriSign announced on Wednesday it released its third quarter 2007 Domain Name Industry Brief, revealing some 12 million new domain names were added over the past quarter. The total number of domain name registrations worldwide across all TLD names is 146 million, showing a 31 percent increase over the same quarter last year.
http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/120607_VeriSign_Releases_Q2_Domain_Brief.cfm

ENUM Summit Raises Questions, Concerns
ENUM is rolling right along with a conference here and a discussion panel there. The most recent was the ENUM Summit in Boston. It was a well attended and professionally structured conference with a mix of theorists, scientists, and some people with real revenue generating service awareness to bring to the party. This combination of elements created an interesting reaction.
http://www.tmcnet.com/news/2007/12/06/3145987.htm

Internet Society Honours Nii Quaynor No Category
The Internet Society delivered it's most prestigious award to Nii Quaynor for his groundbreaking work in launching the earliest Internet technologies in Ghana, turning them into a powerful force throughout Africa and creating an entire movement of technologists who continue to drive Internet innovation and represent Africa's interests globally.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712070425.html
http://hana.ru.ac.za/article.cfm?articleID=1802

Striking Writers Use Domain Name to Lampoon Studios
Writers acquire .com version of studios? domain name.
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/12/11/striking-writers-use-domain-name-to-lampoon-studios/

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 - DOMAINING
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New Domain Name Generator Lets You Find Available .com Domains [news release]
The domain name ideas generator at randomainer.com uses word proximity search and semantic analysis to find unregistered domain names instantly. MakeWords, a New York company, announced today the launch of its innovative domain name generator and search engine at available domains and see if any of the names suit their needs, or they can continue their search by clicking on the related words. Depending on the requirements, you may come up with a perfect match in a mere few minutes.
http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/12/11/new-domain-name-generator-lets-you-find-available-com-domains/
http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/2007121202/new-domain-name-generator-lets-you-find-available-com-domains/

ExpiredDomainSecret.com Teaches How to Grab Profitable Expired Domains [news release]
Everybody is after the proverbial 'golden niche' when it comes to online businesses. And for the past three years, the expired domain names market has been this niche. It is the most comprehensive guide on purchasing expired available domains ever compiled. It covers the most basic questions one can have about expired domains so it?s for beginners, and then the eBook shares insider strategies for maximum profits so it?s also for the more advanced expired domain buyer too In 2005, sales of 5,851 domain names generated almost US$29 million. In 2006, sales surpassed the US$100 million mark. To date, there have already been six expired domains bought for over US$1 million each (one of them was sold for almost US$10 million!). And these statistics cover just the public domain name aftermarket. Private sales of expired domains are said to be bring in higher figures.
http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/2007121114/expireddomainsecretcom-teaches-how-to-grab-profitable-expired-domains/
http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/12/11/539/

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 - AFTERMARKET
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The US$345 million web address
Jake Winebaum surprised many when he paid $7.5 million for a web address in 1999 ? but business.com has grown into a successful company
Back in 1999, the internet entrepreneur Jake Winebaum and his associates paid $7.5 million for the domain name business.com ? a seemingly crazy price for a simple web address. But the company Winebaum built with the name ? a business-to-business directory and advertising network - was recently sold for an impressive $345 million, which shows at the very least that paying a lot of money for a web address can sometimes be worthwhile. In fact, web addresses have turned out to be a windfall for shrewd speculators, as we predicted in the very first cover story of the Industry Standard back in 1997. The world of "domainers," as such speculators are known, is secretive, and the terms of most domain transactions are never known publicly. But a public company called Marchex has revealed that it acquired more than 100,000 addresses from a secretive Chinese-Canadian domainer for an incredible $160 million.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3018769.ece

dotMobi auction points to directions in online mobile entertainment
dotMobi logoDotMobi are especially pleased with their recent auction of dotMobi names with a record-breaking auction that generated approximately US$2.3 million in domain name sales.
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3424
http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/12/11/dotmobi-auction-points-to-directions-in-online-mobile-entertainment/
http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/2007121122/mobile-to-account-for-30-of-music-retail-value-by-2011-leading-to-increased-demand-for-mobi-domains/

Mobile to account for 30% of music retail value by 2011, leading to increased demand for .mobi domains
Mobile music is on the rise, currently representing around 13% of global recorded music retail value according to a new industry report from Understanding & Solutions. The report forecasts an increase to almost 30% by 2011, amounting to US$11 billion and helping to offset some of the decline in packaged music revenues. This rapid growth is no doubt reflected in the recent sale of music.mobi for US$616,000.
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=3427
http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/2007121122/mobile-to-account-for-30-of-music-retail-value-by-2011-leading-to-increased-demand-for-mobi-domains/
http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/12/11/mobile-to-account-for-30-of-music-retail-value-by-2011-leading-to-increased-demand-for-mobi-domains/

Irish business chamber launches .mobi websites
Chambers Ireland logoMobile communications are striding ahead, and the demand for dotMobi domain names with subsequent websites seems to be on a strong upward curve. The recent dotMobi auction where music.mobi and games.mobi sold for US$616,000 and $401,500 respectively are strong indicators of this. Now Ireland?s largest business network Chambers Ireland has launched 23 websites using the .mobi Internet address created specifically for mobile phones.
http://www.domainpulse.com/2007/12/11/irish-business-chamber-launches-mobi-websites/
http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007121118/irish-business-chamber-launches-mobi-websites/
http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=11603

Music.mobi ?Winner? Vows Lawsuit Against Sedo
Constantine Giorgio Roussos thought he was the winner of Music.mobi in yesterday?s .mobi auction at Sedo. He bid $66,000. The auction ended and he received an automated invoice from Sedo. He then received a ?personal? e-mail from a Sedo employee (which also may have been automated).
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/12/07/musicmobi-winner-vows-lawsuit-against-sedo/

Third .mobi 'Premium Domain Name' Online Auction Shatters Existing Price Records [news release]
dotMobi closed its 2007 online auction series on December 5 with a record-breaking auction that generated approximately $2.3 million for the continued creation of mobile content tools like dotMobi's popular http://ready.mobi/ and http://site.mobi/ tools and its forthcoming device database.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,239487.shtml

Grandpa.com Sells for US$55,000 to Lead WebmasterWorld PubCon Auction
Moniker?s live auction at WebmasterWorld PubCon brought in $245,500 in sales. 60 lots sold with a median price of $1,100 and an average price of $4,092.
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/12/06/grandpacom-sells-for-55000-to-lead-webmasterworld-pubcon-auction/

Computer.com Closes at US$2.1 Million in 2nd Largest Deal Reported This Year and Another Sale Hits the Million Dollar Mark
Another big wave of completed sales from last month's Moniker/T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East auction were closed this week, including the auction's Big Kahuna - Computer.com at $2.1 million. That's the second largest sale reported so far in 2007, trailing only Porn.com (a name Moniker sold for $9.5 million in May). You may recall that the high bid for Computer.com was $2.2 million but the foreign investment group that placed that bid was unable to get the cash transferred in a timely manner so the runner-up bidder took the opportunity to take the name for $100,000 less.
http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2007/domainsales12-05-07.htm

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INTERNET USE
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eu: Internet usage in 2007 Households and individuals in the EU
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-QA-07-023/EN/KS-QA-07-023-EN.PDF

More Europeans Are Going Online [AP]
More than half of European homes went online this year as the number using a hi-speed broadband connection to connect to the Internet rose sharply, the EU statistical agency Eurostat said Monday. One in two people use an Internet search engine while 15 percent of individuals use the net to make phone calls and 13 percent use peer-to-peer file sharing software to swap movies and music, according to the survey based on national figures for the first three months of 2007.
http://news.theage.com.au/more-europeans-are-going-online/20071204-1eoc.html
http://news.smh.com.au/more-europeans-are-going-online/20071204-1eoc.html

Young Europeans prefer Internet to TV: poll [AFP]
Young Europeans prefer the Internet over television, and nearly half say they watch less TV because of surfing the web, a poll of 10 European countries showed Wednesday. More than 7,000 people were questioned as part of the survey released by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA).
http://news.theage.com.au/young-europeans-prefer-internet-to-tv-poll/20071206-1f9i.html
http://news.smh.com.au/young-europeans-prefer-internet-to-tv-poll/20071206-1f9i.html

Mobile Gaming To Hit $6 Billion By 2011
Mobile gaming is expected to outpace console and handheld gaming to reach $6 billion in sales by 2011, nearly doubling the $3.6 billion the market is expected to take in globally this year, according to Understanding & Solutions, a British consulting company said Tuesday.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204801067

Men are from Mars, women from Venus when it comes to online shopping
When it comes to making impulse purchases online this holiday season, men and women in the U.S. act differently, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. for GSI Commerce Inc. Women are more likely to make impulse online purchases during the holidays based on limited-time offers, according to the survey. The Online Holiday Shopping survey was conducted online between Oct. 19 and 23 among 2,818 adults 18 and over.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052078

Indian internet users increase by 40%, reach 46 million
The number of internet users in India in the ever-user or claimed-user category touched 46 million in September, up 40 per cent from 32.2 million in September 2006, a study said. During the same period, the number of active internet users reached 32 million,according to a report published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International,a pioneer in market research.
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG5_sub.asp?ccode=ENG5&newscode=9537

Internet Society CEO sets sights on next 'Net users
The Internet has 1.3 billion users, but that's not enough for Lynn St. Amour. As CEO of the Internet Society, she is expanding the nonprofit group, which promotes development of the Internet globally. St. Amour doubled the group's staff in 2007 and beefed up its outreach activities in Africa, South America and Asia in her bid to add another billion Internet users worldwide. National Correspondent Carolyn Duffy Marsan sat down with St. Amour this week at a meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force, an ISOC-funded standards group.
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1813103607
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1813103607
http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;1813103607;fp;4194304;fpid;1

Net dumbs us down says Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing
New Nobel laureate Doris Lessing has used her acceptance speech to rail against the internet, saying it has "seduced a whole generation into its inanities" and created a world where people know nothing. ... "We are in a fragmenting culture, where our certainties of even a few decades ago are questioned and where it is common for young men and women, who have had years of education, to know nothing of the world, to have read nothing, knowing only some speciality or other, for instance, computers," she said in the speech read out by Lessing's British publisher as she was too ill to travel to Sweden for the Nobel festivities.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/12/10/1197135340009.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/10/1197135340009.html

Web access and e-mail for some U.S. airlines
Passengers may soon hear a new in-flight announcement: "You can now log on." Starting next week and over the next few months, several United States airlines will test Internet service on their planes. On Tuesday, JetBlue Airways will begin offering a free e-mail and instant messaging service on one of its planes, while American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer broader Web access in coming months, probably at a cost around $10 a flight.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/07/technology/07air.php

How Four Airlines Plan to Connect Fliers to the Web
In this overview of in-flight Internet capabilities, we take a look at what various airlines say they'll be offering to their customers, which companies are building networks, and when we can expect to get full Web connections on planes.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140416/article.html

British Court Restricts Teen's Net Use
An English court has banned a teenage boy from posting abusive or insulting comments on a social networking website after judging his participation in the network to be anti-social. Norwich Youth Court in eastern England issued an Anti-Social Behavior Order (Asbo) against a local 17-year-old implicated in petty criminal boasting on the online community Bebo.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1692339,00.html

Youth seduced by internet's 'inanities', says Lessing
The winner of this year's Nobel prize for literature, Doris Lessing, has warned of the dangers of the internet, and defended the continued importance of books.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/08/2113445.htm

uk: Child porn addict's web ban
AN engineering student with a "compulsive addiction" to child porn has been banned from using the internet. Edward Kiernan, 39, was found with indecent pictures and videos of children on his computer during a raid at his home.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1917222007

Real and virtual worlds - Better together: The internet, supposedly a new realm, is most useful when coupled to the real world
In the early days of the internet, the idea that it represented an entirely new and separate realm, distinct from the real world, was seized upon by both advocates and critics of the new technology. Advocates liked the idea that the virtual world was a placeless datasphere, liberated from constraints and restrictions of the real world, and an opportunity for a fresh start. This view was expressed most clearly in the ?Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace? issued by John Perry Barlow, an internet activist, in February 1996. ?Governments of the industrial world, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from cyberspace, the new home of mind,? he thundered. ?Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Our world is different. We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.?
http://economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251972

No slowdown seen in ad spending on the Internet
For Internet companies, or nearly any media owner in a developing country, the outlook for advertising spending for 2008 looks rosy, with several leading forecasters predicting a strong acceleration.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/09/technology/ad10.php

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SOCIAL NETWORKING
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Facebook Doesn't Budge on Beacon's Broad User Tracking
Facebook's CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg has profusely apologized for missteps in the design and deployment of the Beacon ad system, but he remains unrepentant about what privacy advocates consider a particularly egregious feature.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140385/article.html

Nielsen, Digimarc in Web venture
The Nielsen Co. and digital rights management company Digimarc Corp. are launching a new service that will monitor and manage media content across the Web. The service, called Nielsen Digital Media Manager, will enable media companies to track their content throughout the Internet using digital watermarking and fingerprinting technology. In addition, it will allow content companies, peer-to-peer services, social networks and user generated content sites to manage and monetize online media streams.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i1dd5aa717be94419d4755f484efdaf5b

nz: Social networking scares Kiwis
New Zealanders are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with posting personal information online. That is the conclusion of a new survey by Unisys examining our internet habits.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/1498702

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NEW TECHNOLOGIES
**********************
Five Tech Trends to Watch in 2008
As 2008 approaches, WiMax is at a crossroads. Will it become the most popular next-generation wireless WAN transport that supporters envisioned, or will it wither on the vine? "WiMax will gain a great deal of acceptance in underserved countries, but will not be as popular in industrialized nations like the U.S. and Europe," analyst Craig Mathias told TechNewsWorld.
http://technewsworld.com/story/Five-Tech-Trends-to-Watch-in-2008-60697.html
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/60697.html?welcome=1197383025

US traffic goes coast-to-coast at 40 gigabits
AT&T has switched on its high-speed backbone network, which is designed to ferry data traffic across the US four times faster. AT&T has begun placing traffic on its so-called "ultra-long haul" network, which boasts a capacity of 40 gigabits per second, meaning consumers will be able to download large files quicker and more easily stream online videos to their computers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10481671

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SPAM
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Taking down spammers: Successful spam fighting via legalization, regulation and economics by Gadi Evron
Working in the Israeli city of Netanya, next door to our offices was a spam operation with roughly 30 employees. One day they weren?t there anymore. They were blog comment spammers, but officially were doing Search Engine Optimization or SEO. Instead of optimizing content, they posted illicit comments on many blogs with commercial or misleading messages leading to their clients? web sites, mainly for the purpose of increasing their clients? web sites visibility in search engines such as Google. They would do this using an illegal tool such as botnets, and make quite a bit of money.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=720

Spam Tidal Wave Hits UK
British e-mail correspondents are drowning in 20 billion spam messages daily, a filtering firm says. The U.K. now receives 20 billion spam emails a day, roughly one sixth of the daily global total, filtering company IronPort has said.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140420-c,spam/article.html

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DIGITAL DIVIDE
**********************
Digital gap concerns Malaysia PM [reg req'd]
A lack of local content for developing countries and the dominant use of the English on the Internet are key factors widening the global digital divide. These are concerns raised by the Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in a speech read on his behalf by deputy, Dato Najib Tun Razak. The conference theme Emerging People, Emerging Markets, EmergingTechnologies focuses on issues related to knowledge for development (K4D) and Information Communication Technology for Development (ICTD4) within the context of our evolving societies, economies and technologies worldwide.
http://hana.ru.ac.za/article.cfm?articleID=1807

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ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
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German Wikipedia accused of promoting Nazism
A German politician who filed charges against Wikipedia accusing it of promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols has bowed to pressure and withdrawn her claims against the online encyclopaedia. Katrina Schubert, deputy leader of the Left Party, had encouraged police in Berlin to press charges against the German-language version of Wikipedia, saying that the site's operators allowed too much Nazi-related imagery and content to appear on the site.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3017069.ece

German politician pulls Nazi symbol charges against Wikipedia [Reuters]
A left-wing German politician withdrew charges against online encyclopedia Wikipedia on Friday for promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols in Germany. Katina Schubert, a deputy leader of the far-left Left party, had filed the charges with Berlin police on Thursday. He argued that Wikipedia's German language site contained too much Nazi symbolism, particularly an article on the Hitler Youth movement.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0616923220071207
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKL0616923220071207
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4317153a28.html

German Politician files Wikipedia charge over Nazi symbols [Reuters]
A left-wing German politician has filed charges against online encyclopedia Wikipedia for promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols in Germany. Katina Schubert, a deputy leader of the Left party, said she had filed the charge with Berlin police on the grounds that Wikipedia's German language site contained too much Nazi symbolism, particularly an article on the Hitler Youth movement.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0616923220071206

Porn producer sues YouTube knockoff
A major porn producer filed a lawsuit Monday against an X-rated knockoff of YouTube, alleging that it profited from piracy by allowing its users to post videos that include copyrighted material. Vivid Entertainment Group filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court against PornoTube and its parent, Data Conversions Inc., which does business in Charlotte, N.C., as AEBN Inc.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-vivid11dec11,1,7976985.story

Web warning on flirty Russian robot
Be careful next time you get accosted by a flirty stranger in an internet chatroom: it could just be a Russian chat-up bot out to steal your identity. Internet security experts say that Russian programmers have created a piece of software known as CyberLover that can infiltrate dating sites and chatrooms and patiently seduce its victims.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3030066.ece

au: Queensland Net connection 'hijacked'
A MAN who allegedly tried to extort money by hijacking the internet connections of unsuspecting users to send threatening emails has been arrested in an undercover police sting.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22899063-16123,00.html

Report: Cybercrime Stormed the Net in 2007
Security researchers say 2007 was the year online criminals showed off how smart and dangerous they can be. Anti-virus vendor F-Secure added 250,000 new signatures to its malware database this year -- as many as the company added in its first 20 years combined. "The driving force is that the malware is being done at a professional level," according to Patrik Runald, security response manager for F-Secure, speaking about the company's end-of-the-year report, released this week.
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/12/2007_security

au: Net shooting threat: Australian man held
AN AUSTRALIAN has been arrested in Melbourne for allegedly posting a threat on the internet warning that a shooting would occur at a shopping centre in the US. Victorian police arrested the man, identified by authorities in Los Angeles, as Jarrad Willis, 20, on Friday night.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/08/1196813079398.html

us: Adult-Oriented Online Social Networking Operation Settles FTC Charges; Unwitting Consumers Pelted With Sexually Graphic Pop-Ups [news release]
An operation that foisted sexually explicit online pop-up ads on unwitting consumers has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the practice violated federal law. The settlement bars the defendant from displaying sexually explicit online ads to consumers who are not seeking out sexually explicit content. According to the FTC, AdultFriendFinder.com, which touts itself as ?The World?s Largest Sex & Swingers Personal Community,? and its affiliates use pop-up ads to drive traffic to its Web sites. Some of the ads have included graphic depictions of sexual behavior, exposing consumers, including children, to sexually explicit images. Such ads were displayed to consumers who were searching online using terms such as ?flowers,? ?travel,? and ?vacations.? In some cases, defendant?s sexually explicit ads were distributed using spyware and adware.
http://ftc.gov/opa/2007/12/afriendfinder.shtm

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PRIVACY
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Web Leaders Seek More Searchable Government
These days you can Google just about anything, from your favorite celebrity's pet to your boss's middle name. But using the biggest search engine to get information about the government often falls short. That's what leaders from Google and Wikipedia plan to tell the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today, urging Congress to require federal agencies to make their Web sites, records and databases more searchable.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/10/AR2007121001663.html

uk: Privacy watchdog to push data safeguards
Organisations and individuals must take step up the fight against identity fraud, the Information Commissioner's Office will say on Tuesday. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will say that the data-security problems at Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) were a watershed and call for organisations to implement new safeguards to help protect individuals' privacy.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39291433,00.htm

Ask rolls out search privacy tool
Search engine Ask has launched a feature that it hopes will prove a selling point for consumers concerned about their online privacy. AskEraser allows users to immediately delete search queries stored on Ask's servers, in contrast to rivals such as Google which stores data for 18 months.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7138260.stm

Ask search engine guarantees privacy
Search engine Ask has come up with a new weapon in its battle to win more users: privacy. The search website, which is owned by media mogul Barry Diller's InterActive Corp, today announced the launch of a new online tool that helps surfers keep their internet search history private. The system, called AskEraser, allows users delete any record of the searches they have made using the Ask site ? including removing the information from the company's servers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/dec/11/ask.privacy

Ask.com places a bet on online privacy
Will privacy sell? Ask.com is betting it will. The fourth-largest search-engine company was starting a service Tuesday called AskEraser, which allows users to make their searches more private.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/12/11/business/privacy.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/technology/11ask.html

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CENSORSHIP
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Syria blocks Facebook access, citing Israeli 'infiltration' [AP]
Syrian authorities have blocked Facebook, the popular Internet hangout, over what seems to be fears of Israeli "infiltration" of Syrian social networks on the Net, according to residents and media reports. Residents of Damascus said that they have not been able to enter Facebook for more than two weeks. An Associated Press reporter got a blank page when he tried to open Facebook's home page Friday from the Syrian capital.
http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/07/news/Syria-Facebook.php
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Syria-Facebook.html
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_7661229

More than 100 websites blocked in growing wave of online censorship
Reporters Without Borders is concerned that the number of websites to which access is blocked in Syria has been growing steadily for the past month. More than 100 websites, including the video-sharing site YouTube, the blog platform Blogspot and the email service Hotmail, are now inaccessible.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24671

World views on free press mixed
World opinion is divided on the importance of having a free press, according to a poll conducted for the BBC World Service. Of those interviewed, 56% thought that freedom of the press was very important to ensure a free society.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7134918.stm

US free speech group wants to end China's Internet censorship [AP]
A California free-speech group wants to force China to end Internet censorship and remove barriers to American e-commerce companies hoping to do business in China. In a presentation Monday to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington, the San Rafael, California-based California First Amendment Coalition argued that China's blatant and sophisticated censorship of the Internet violates China's obligations under the World Trade organisation.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/11/1197135426221.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/12/11/1197135426221.html

us: Groups to Press FCC To Prohibit Blocking Of Text Messages
A consortium of consumer groups is planning to urge federal regulators to clarify how much control cellphone companies can have over the messages and services delivered over their networks. In a petition to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission today, these groups say the agency should prohibit wireless carriers from blocking text messages sent by any company, nonprofit group or political campaign. These groups -- including Public Knowledge, Free Press, Media Access Project, Consumers Union and the New America Foundation -- also say carriers should deliver all text messages to their customers, including those sent by competing phone services.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/10/AR2007121001634.html

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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
************************************************
nz: Kiwi cyber safety advances on show
New Zealand's innovative advances in cyber safety are being presented to the world at an international technology conference in Malaysia next week. Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker, InternetNZ executive director Keith Davidson, Westpac New Zealand's manager of e-business Stu Wollett, and Douglas Harre, senior ICT adviser at the Education Ministry, are on a panel presenting to the Global Knowledge Partnership's (GKP) GK3 conference in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/waikatotimes/4315715a6415.html

au: IIA ready for new censor battle
Australia's peak internet industry group will this week launch its bid to force Labor to rethink its internet filtering policy. Internet Industry Association's Peter Coroneos said the organisation would meet Labor's new Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy this week to brief the federal Government on mandatory ISP-level internet filtering.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22902114-16123,00.html

us: Wi-Fi 'illegal images' politician defends legislation
The Democratic sponsor of a bill forcing anyone with an open Wi-Fi connection to report illegal images--or pay fines of up to $300,000--says a recent Internet outcry over the legislation misses the point. Rep. Nick Lampson of Texas, who drafted the bill that the House of Representatives approved this week, said through a spokesman on Thursday that he didn't actually mean to target Americans who happen to have Wi-Fi access points at home. The legislation also covers social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail.
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9830648-38.html

us: New Bill Demands ISPs Report Online Child Exploitation
The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a new bill putting ISPs on notice they face big penalties for not reporting child pornography and other illegal exploitation of children online. The Securing Adolescents From Exploitation Online (SAFE) Act carries a maximum fine of $150,000 for first-time offenders found guilty of "knowing and willful failure to make a report." Repeat offenders can fines of up to $300,000.
http://www.internetnews.com/wireless/article.php/3715481

us: Child Porn Bill Could Turn Net Access Into Compliance Minefield
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday rushed through a bill that puts increased responsibility on the shoulders of Internet service providers to police the Internet for child pornography. H.R. 3791, also known as the SAFE Act, requires that anyone providing Internet access -- apparently including coffee shops, hotels and others offering WiFi service -- report illegal online images involving children.
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Child-Porn-Bill-Could-Turn-Net-Access-Into-Compliance-Minefield-60649.html

us: House Triples Fines for Online Child Porn
Legislation passed by the House Dec. 5 would triple the penalties for ISPs that knowingly fail to report child pornography on their service and expand the reporting requirements to cover all communications providers, including Wi-Fi operators that offer open connections to the public.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2229324,00.asp

Texas AG Files Complaint Against Web Sites Aimed at Children [AP]
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed two civil complaints in federal district court Dec. 5 accusing two Web sites aimed at children of failing to protect their users' privacy and safety. According to Abbott, Texas is the first state to file complaints under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a 1998 federal law intended to prevent Web sites from unnecessarily collecting personal information from children under 13.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1196935472235

us: Video game 'report card' cites 'backwards' steps [AP]
Graphic scenes of gunshot victims spurting blood and a jailer urinating into a prisoner's cell are included among the 10 video games that a media watchdog group warns should be avoided by kids and teens under 17.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-12-04-video-games-report-card_N.htm

US kids find it easy to buy adult-rated videogames: survey [AFP]
The video-game rating system restricting the sale of violent games to minors has not been applied correctly in the United States, where teenagers can easily buy them in stores, a family group said Tuesday. In its annual survey, the National Institute on Media and the Family reported that only 55 percent of retailers efectivaly banned the sale of mature, or "M" rated videogames to children under 17.
http://news.smh.com.au/us-kids-find-it-easy-to-buy-adultrated-videogames-survey/20071205-1f52.html
http://news.theage.com.au/us-kids-find-it-easy-to-buy-adultrated-videogames-survey/20071205-1f52.html

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FILE SHARING
**********************
Mobile Gaming To Hit $6 Billion By 2011
New developments will allow consumers' gaming behavior to evolve and create new business models, says Understanding & Solutions, a British consulting firm.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204801067

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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Broadcasters meet for DTV roadmap review
Several broadcasting chiefs from Asia have gathered in Kuala Lumpur for a three-day meeting to review their progress in adopting digital television (DTV) technology and preparing for analogue transmission switch-off in their respective countries.
http://www.abu.org.my/public/dsp_page.cfm?articleid=3283&urlsectionid=1061&specialsection=ART_FULL&pageid=247&PSID=3372

WiMax tipped for 80 million subscribers
Global adoption of mobile WiMax broadband services are tipped to reach five million subscribers in the next five years, with 2010 suggested as the year the technology will really begin to take off. According to Juniper Research, the value of mobile WiMax service revenues globally will grow to over US$23bn a year by 2013.
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single9834
http://www.juniperresearch.com/shop/viewreport.php?id=97 [report]

Twenty thousand WiMAX subscribers in Africa at the end of 2007
WiMAX Counts.Com reports that WiMAX has expanded rapidly in Africa over 2006-2007. At the beginning of 2006, the WiMAX subscribers in Africa numbered just a few thousand. But by the end of 2007, Africa accounts for more than 20,000 WiMAX subscribers. Users are mostly business customers, who have access to 10?s or 100?s of internal users, in contrast to residential access. Over this year, the subscriber numbers have grown at an average rate of 28% per quarter, and the growth from Q2 to Q3 2007 alone was 36%.
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Twenty+Thousand+WiMAX+Subscribers+In+Africa+At+The+End+Of+2007.aspx

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VoIP
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uk: Ofcom rules that VoIP must do emergency calls
The UK telecoms regulator has, as expected, ruled that customers must be able to call the emergency services using voice over IP (VoIP).
http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?NewsID=10872

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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
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au: Child porn charges after Surry Hills raid
A woman has been charged with child porn and drug offences after a raid in inner Sydney, police say. The woman was arrested at a house in Denham Street, Surry Hills, at about 6pm (AEDT) yesterday after police were given a tip-off.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/07/1196812959170.html


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



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(c) David Goldstein 2007 
--------- 
David Goldstein
 address: 4/3 Abbott Street
           COOGEE NSW 2034
           AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David &#167;yahoo.com.au
 phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home)
 
"Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery





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