[DNS] domain name news - 26 March

From: David Goldstein <goldstein_david§yahoo.com.au> Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:48:25 -0700 (PDT) · This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Sat Sep 09 2017 - 22:00:10 UTC

Don't forget to check out http://www.auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the archive of the last 3 months of the news.

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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What Were They Thinking ? DC Think Tank Proposes to Let Registries and Registrars Run ICANN While Tilting UDRP
http://www.internetcommerce.org/node/169

Pentagon should establish fourth military service to wage cyberwars
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090323_6135.php

Conficker time bomb ticks, but don't expect fireworks
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10204590-83.html

CIRA working with international partners to counter Conficker C [news release]
http://www.cira.ca/pr-conficker-c/

Will PC worm turn nasty on April Fool's Day?
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5960303.ece

WIPO Proposes to ?Compliment? UDRP at New gTLDs With New RPMs That Will Accelerate Trademark Rights
http://www.internetcommerce.org/node/170

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GOVERNANCE
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OECD Welcomes Formation of The Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) [news release]
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has welcomed representatives from the pre-eminent Internet technical organisations as partners in its work on communications policy issues ? a step seen as highlighting the vital need for multistakeholder inputs into Internet-related discussions and the continued evolution of enhanced cooperation among stakeholders.
http://www.internetac.org/?p=22

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - ICANN
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ICANN: Travel Support Public Comment Request
A public comment period has opened today for 30 days on the topic of travel support. Last year, ICANN created travel procedures to clarify which members of the ICANN community were to receive travel support for that fiscal year (2009). At the same time, it was announced that they would be reviewed after the first year of use.
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-25mar09-en.htm

ICANN?s Implementation Recommendation Team for New gTLDs: Safeguards Needed by Michael D. Palage
During the recent ICANN Board meeting in Mexico City, the Board authorized the creation and funding of an Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT). This team was to be comprised of "an internationally diverse group of persons with knowledge, expertise, and experience in the fields of trademark, consumer protection, or competition law, and the interplay of trademarks and the domain name system to develop and propose solutions to the overarching issue of trademark protection in connection with the introduction of new gTLDs." This IRT is tasked to produce a report for consideration by the ICANN community at the Sydney meeting.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090324_icanns_implementation_recommendation_team_new_gtlds/

What Were They Thinking ? DC Think Tank Proposes to Let Registries and Registrars Run ICANN While Tilting UDRP
The Technology Policy Institute, a Washington-based ?think tank?, has just released a report titled ?ICANN At A Crossroads: A Proposal for Better Governance and Performance?. ... While much of the report is a thoughtful analysis of ICANN?s history, present operations, virtues, and shortcomings, its recommendations are sure to set off teeth-gnashing among domainers and within many other corners of the ICANN ?community?.
http://www.internetcommerce.org/node/169

Is username squatting the next online brand nightmare?
Everybody knows about cybersquatters; those dreaded 'entrepreneurs' who register domain names related to brand names and trademarks that they have no rights to.
http://econsultancy.com/blog/3540-is-username-squatting-the-next-online-brand-nightmare

African countries stress importance of managing their TLDs [sub req'd]
The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) forum on internet governance held in Mauritius during 17-19 March culminated in a common declaration by delegates from around 20 countries. The signatories stressed the importance for each African country...
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/

Brand Owners and U.S. Government Tell ICANN: Domain Name Plan Will Confuse Consumers and Hurt Us ? Especially in These Tough Economic Times [reg req'd]
By the time Paul Twomey, President of ICANN, walked out of his office on January 7, 2009, he had received over 300 comments on his organization's new gTLD plan, many from angry representatives of the world's top companies and some from the U.S. government, including the Departments of Commerce and Justice.
http://mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=76434

Consider Planning Now for Internationalized Top-Level Domains by MarkMonitor
By now, most companies have begun the process to understand how the introduction of new gTLDs (Generic Top-Level Domains) will impact their respective businesses. Some companies are considering submitting applications to operate their own branded gTLDs.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090324_planning_for_internationalized_top_level_domains/

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 - ccTLD & gTLD NEWS
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ca: When Did CIRA Become the Commercial Internet Registration Authority? by Michael Geist
Nearly ten years ago, the Government of Canada wrote a letter to the chair of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) that set out the framework for the management of the dot-ca domain. The government articulated a vision of the dot-ca domain as a "key public resource" and called on CIRA to act in an open and transparent manner. CIRA has long sought to live up to those standards, but in recent months the organization has shown an unmistakable shift toward prioritizing commercial gain over the public interest along with a troubling move toward secret decision making.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090324_when_did_cira_become_commercial_internet_registration_authority/

New Framework Proposed For Ireland?s .ie Top Level Domain [reg req'd]
ComReg has announced that it will appoint IEDR as the authority authorised to register .ie domain names under the Communications Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007, amending the Electronic Commerce Act 2000, which transferred to ComReg powers to make regulations affecting the management and administration of Ireland's .ie ccTLD.
http://mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=76704

.Me Fastest growing domain extension
When the Eastern European country of Montenegro became independent in 2006, leading to the launch of its .me domain two years later, it introduced one of the most popular domains yet seen on the Internet, with sales of domains ending in the .me extension that continue to soar.
http://www.recentpoker.com/news/me-domains-2373.html

For Whom the .Tel Tolls
The .tel top-level domain opened its doors to the general public this week, and on the first day, about 250,000 applications were filed for 70,000 unique domain names, said Justin Hayward, the communications director at Telnic, the operator of the .tel registry.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/for-whom-the-tel-tolls/

tel: Gaming The Global Phonebook
The Web is an alphabet soup of domain names, ranging from the familiar .com and .net to the European .eu and mobile-focused .mobi.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/24/dot-tel-domains-technology-internet-dot-tel.html

Did I get it? You .tel me
The .tel TLD finally went live today, in a proper, non-sunrise-period sort of way.
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10012422o-2000331761b,00.htm

In .tel domain ramp-up, Telnic links with MySpace
Identity management service Telnic, which runs the .tel domain, announced on Tuesday that registering for a .tel domain has gone from its initial "land rush" phase into general availability.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10203003-36.html

Telnic releases .tel domain for general use
Registrations for the new communications focused .tel TLD have been opened up the general public this week.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2239188/tel-domain-goes-live-general
http://www.infomaticsonline.co.uk/vnunet/news/2239188/tel-domain-goes-live-general
http://www.whatpc.co.uk/vnunet/news/2239188/tel-domain-goes-live-general
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/NewsStory.aspx?story=99586

.Tel Expands Distribution Capability
When I last saw Telnic?s Justin Hayword, he told me the company had something in the works that would address one of my chief concerns about .tel: getting to critical mass quickly.
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/03/25/tel-expands-distribution-capability/

.tel Domain Becomes Generally Available
The .tel domain became generally available beginning at 15:00 GMT Monday, allowing ICANN-accredited registrars to accept applications for .tel domains without stipulating a three-year minimum term and premium fees meant to discourage domain squatters.
http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/032409_Tel_Domain_Becomes_Generally_Available

The Lowdown on .tel
The newest global domain extension .tel opened for public registration today. .Tel is an odd bird in that, unlike other extensions, you cannot host a website on it. Instead it is meant to allow you to present your contact information on the web via a page that is hosted at no additional charge by the central registry.
http://dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/03-24-09.htm

.tel domains open to public
The new communications-focused .tel top level domain is now open to the public.
http://www.netimperative.com/news/2009/march/.tel-domains-open-to-public

tel: MySpace and BT to offer Web domains [Reuters]
Social network MySpace and telecoms provider BT will be among the first companies to offer a new type of Web domain for their users to manage their contact details live online.
http://iht.com/articles/reuters/2009/03/25/business/OUKBS-UK-INTERNET-DOMAINS-COMMUNICATIONS.php
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2009/03/25/business/myspace-and-bt-to-offer-web-domains.html&template=/business/feeds/story-template-reuters.html

Telnic's .tel: The webless web
Gone are the days of dotcom boom and and gone will be those of social networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut, when you can host your identity on the go on the world wide web, that too without a website!
http://www.ciol.com/Technology/Mobility/Interviews/Telnics-tel-The-webless-web/25309117647/0/
http://www.ciol.com/Technology/Mobility/Interviews/Telnics-tel-DNS-for-the-fast-goers/26309117673/0/

.vla TLD: Not So Fast, Says Flemish Government
As reported last July, there is a proposal from some Flemish politicians to create a .vla top level domain under the new gTLD process launched by ICANN. The proposal further elaborated that the Flemish government would have to cover the costs.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090325_vla_tld_flemish_government/

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 - DNS SECURITY
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Pentagon should establish fourth military service to wage cyberwars
The United States, engaged in a cyberspace Cold War in which government networks are under constant attack, must establish a fourth military service to conduct cyberwarfare, according to an article in the most recent issue of a Defense newsletter.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090323_6135.php

Senate committee demands DHS explain alleged lack of support for cybersecurity office
The Senate Homeland Security Committee's senior-most Republican is asking DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to explain why the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), set up within the department last year, has seemingly been marginalized by the agency.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9130519

Number of infected Web sites sharply increases in 2008
The number of seemingly legitimate Web sites infected with malicious code that enables hackers to steal passwords to access computer networks is increasing, with one organization reporting an 827 percent jump in compromised sites in 2008.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090323_9103.php

Conficker time bomb ticks, but don't expect fireworks
There's been lots of hype about the fact that the latest variant of the Conficker worm is set to start communicating with other computers on the Internet on April 1--like an April Fool's Day time bomb with some mysterious payload.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10204590-83.html

Will PC worm turn nasty on April Fool's Day?
The Conficker C internet worm could strike at infected computers around the world on April 1, a security expert warned on Monday. Conficker C is a sophisticated piece of malicious computer software, or malware, that installs itself on a PC hard drive via specially written web pages. It then conceals itself on a computer.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5960303.ece

Conficker's next move a mystery to researchers
Security researchers are in the dark about what will happen next week when the newest variant of Conficker, 2009's biggest worm by a mile, begins trying to contact its controllers.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9130228
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/1F06A018DB681899CC2575830013EC0A

Conficker computer worm threatens chaos
Somewhere out there, perhaps in Eastern Europe, perhaps next door to us, a very clever hacker is spreading a sophisticated little computer worm called Conficker.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/technology&id=6728349

Conficker worm no April Fool's day joke
Users are being warned the Conficker worm is ready for action on the 1 April - although no one is certain what the worm will do.
http://www.crn.com.au/News/99562,conficker-worm-no-april-fools-day-joke.aspx

CIRA working with international partners to counter Conficker C [news release]
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, the non-profit organization responsible for operating the dot-ca Internet domain, today announced it is taking prudent steps to counter possible misuse of the dot-ca domain by the Conficker C worm.
http://www.cira.ca/pr-conficker-c/

Canadian .ca domain prepares united Conficker.C defense
April 1, 2009 is approaching and the Conficker.C worm is prepping to go live on that day. Canada has announced that it's taking preemptive action to limit the worm's ability to spread?hopefully we'll see this infection retarded from birth.
http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/03/canadian-ca-domain-prepares-united-confickerc-defense.ars

ca: Group warns of new Internet worm [Canadian Press]
A malicious cyber worm could wreak havoc on millions of potentially infected computers April 1 ? or it could all be one big April Fool?s joke. But the Canadian Internet Registration Authority isn?t taking any chances when it comes to the latest variant of the Conficker worm.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090324.wgtworm0324/BNStory/Technology/
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2009/03/24/8869726.html
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/03/25/8873371-sun.html

Computer worm set to strike April 1 [Canwest]
A malicious computer worm, which has already infected potentially millions of computers around the world, could cause major cyber headaches on April 1, say computer experts.
http://www.canada.com/news/Computer+worm+strike+April/1423412/story.html

Group launches strategy to block Conficker worm from .ca domain [CBC News]
The group that manages Canada's .ca internet domain is working to foil an internet worm set to attack starting April Fool's Day. "We're going to do everything possible to make this extremely inhospitable terrain for any worm, this one in particular," said Byron Holland, CEO of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, a non-profit organization that represents those who hold a .ca domain.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/03/24/tech-090314-conficker.html

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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Wikileaks raided by German police
The owner of whistleblower Web site wikileaks has been raided by German police days after it controversially published the Australian government's Internet blacklists. The home of Theodor Reppe, who owns the domain wikileaks.de used by the site, was raided early this week under the guise of a search for pornographic material.
http://computerworld.com.au/article/296861/
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/article/296861/
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/AD84CE87F3D3D69FCC2575840081A2EF
http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/F47622C83C21B6E1CC257584007BC453

de: Police raid Wikileaks.de domain owner Theodor Reppe's home
Police have raided a Wikileaks associate's homes in Dresden and Jena after the website published a list of banned websites. Theodor Reppe owns the German domain registration for "wikileaks.de", one of the many URLs used by the whistleblowing website.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25240192-2,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25240381-663,00.html

WIPO Proposes to ?Compliment? UDRP at New gTLDs With New RPMs That Will Accelerate Trademark Rights
Domainers may think that RPMs are something they can check on their car?s tachometer, but WIPO is proposing a new species of RPMs that have the potential to fundamentally change the domain name dispute arbitration process -- and substantially increase the risk of reverse domain name hijacking ? first at new gTLDs, and later at incumbent gTLDs.
http://www.internetcommerce.org/node/170

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 - IPv4/IPv6
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Pentagon scraps IPv6 testing program
The U.S. Defense Department is halting a five-year-old effort to test off-the-shelf network hardware and software products for compliance with IPv6, the next-generation Internet protocol.
http://www.itworld.com/networking/64950/pentagon-scraps-ipv6-testing-program

Internet Society promotes IPv6 as IETF extends IPv4
At the IETF meeting in San Francisco this week, the Internet Society told the press about the virtues of the next generation Internet Protocol, while the IETF looked at ways to keep IPv4 running when address space runs out.
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/03/internet-society-promotes-ipv6-ietf-extends-ipv4-lifetime.ars

Fatal flaw for IPv6: It's not backwards compatible
The Internet engineering community says its biggest mistake in developing IPv6 - a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol - is that it lacks backwards compatibility with the existing Internet Protocol, known as IPv4.
http://www.itworld.com/networking/65046/fatal-flaw-ipv6-its-not-backwards-compatible

Google: IPv6 is easy, not expensive
Google engineers say it was not expensive and required only a small team of developers to enable all of the company's applications to support IPv6, a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol.
http://www.itworld.com/networking/65092/google-ipv6-easy-not-expensive

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 - MISCELLANEOUS
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Africa to benefit from ISOC, AfriNIC infrastructure project
The Internet Society (ISOC) and AfriNIC (African Network Information Center) have rolled out a collaborative project seeking to strengthen Internet infrastructure on the continent.
http://computerworld.co.ke/articles/2009/03/24/africa-benefit-isoc-afrinic-infrastructure-project

OneWebDay Founder Tapped By Obama
Internet law expert Susan Crawford has joined President Barack Obama's lineup of tech policy experts at the White House, according to several sources. She will likely hold the title of special assistant to the president for science, technology, and innovation policy, they said.
http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2009/03/onewebday-founder-tapped-by-ob.php

Susan Crawford to the White House on Ada Lovelace Day
Just in time for Ada Lovelace Day comes the news that Susan Crawford (Wikipedia, CircleID) is headed to the White House as special assistant to the president for science, technology, and innovation policy.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090324_susan_crawford_white_house_ada_lovelace_day/

Obama's Missed Opportunity
According to National Journal, Susan Crawford is joining the Obama administration in a significant new role: "Internet law expert Susan Crawford has joined President Barack Obama's lineup of tech policy experts at the White House, according to several sources. She will likely hold the title of special assistant to the president for science, technology, and innovation policy, they said."
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090324_crawford_bad_for_the_internet/

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 - DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET
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Body.com Big Seller for Sedo
Body.com was easily the biggest seller for Sedo in the week to March 16, selling for US$400,000. Second biggest sale for the week was gonghui.com that sold for $63,000 while the third biggest sale was lol.de, the biggest ccTLD sale of the week, sold for ?35,000 ($47,250).
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/03/25/bodycom-big-seller-for-sedo/
http://www.domainnews.com/en/general/body.com-big-seller-for-sedo.html

Domain Roundtable 2009 to Be Held in Washington DC [news release]
Thought Convergence is proud to announce the fifth annual Domain Roundtable conference, set to take place June 14-17, 2009, at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington DC. This year?s theme, Reaching Beyond: Shaping our Future Together, looks to assemble key players and decision makers from the domain, financial, legal and Internet technology sectors. Interested parties should visit www.DomainRoundtable.com for the latest registration information.
http://www.domainnews.com/en/general/domain-roundtable-2009-to-be-held-in-washington-dc.html
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/03/24/domain-roundtable-2009-to-be-held-in-washington-dc/

The Next Big Thing in Domain Monetization?: New Companies Are Making the Dream of Affordable Mass Development a Reality
Domain name portfolio owners have long dreamed of a day when it would be possible to affordably develop a large number of their names at once. That day is now here, but there are still many questions to be asked. The most important one being "will mass produced mini-sites make more money for me than the traditional solution, domain parking?"
http://dnjournal.com/cover/2009/march.htm

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INTERNET USE
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Mobile use up, consumer prices down: Europe's telecoms sector weathering economic downturn, says Commission report [news release]
Europe leads the world in mobile phone services with the number of subscriptions in 2008 at 119% of the EU population (up 7 percentage points from 2007), well ahead of the US (87%) and Japan (84%). This is a finding of today's Commission progress report on the single telecoms market. Despite the economic crisis, the EU's telecoms sector (worth about 3% of EU GDP) continued to grow in 2008 with revenues estimated at above ?300 billion, up 1.3% compared to 2007 and outperforming the rest of the economy (up by 1% only). 
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/473

Faster and cheaper broadband: Commission study shows significant fall in prices in 2008 in Europe [news release]
European consumers paid less for their fixed broadband internet access (DSL, cable modem, fibre) in 2008 than a year ago according to a study released today by the European Commission. However, there are significant differences between Member States in broadband retail prices and cost structure for similar products. EU rules should be consistently applied in a telecoms single market for all businesses and consumers equally.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/129

Google's surveillance is taking us further down the road to hell
Google recently took another step along the path of surveillance as a service, launching what it called "interest-based advertising", and which everyone else calls "behavioural targeting". These are systems that collect extensive personal data, for marketing purposes. To best understand the issues, it's important to separate out the social ends ? refining ads ? from the technological means, which is massive monitoring of user activity. Too many discussions of the topic get bogged down in what's essentially an argument of "the end justifies the means", where a nominally beneficial goal of better advertising is presented as sufficient to trump all further implications.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/26/seth-finkelstein-google-advertising

Google ups stakes in search engine battle
Google has upped the stakes in the battle to provide the best search results for internet users with two improvements to its service.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5971181.ece

Google adds new depth to complicated searches
Google on Tuesday announced it has broadly released changes that it expects will produce better results for complicated searches.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10203114-2.html

Google search gets Aussie algorithm update
Google is today rolling out a key upgrade to the algorithm powering its search engine which is based on "Australian-made" technology originally developed by a PhD student at the University of New South Wales.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/03/25/1237656934426.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/03/25/1237656934426.html

The new Explorer will appeal to ordinary mortals
Internet Explorer 8 is much snappier and far more secure than IE6 and IE7, has many usability improvements, and some innovative features that are not available elsewhere
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/26/internet-explorer-8

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SOCIAL NETWORKING
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Now 'Big Brother' targets Facebook
Millions of Britons who use social networking sites such as Facebook could soon have their every move monitored by the Government and saved on a "Big Brother" database. Ministers faced a civil liberties outcry last night over the plans, with accusations of excessive snooping on the private lives of law-abiding citizens.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/now-big-brother-targets-facebook-1653407.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10563504

Facebook, Bebo and MySpace 'to be monitored by security services'
The private correspondence of millions of people who use social networking sites could be tracked and saved on a ?big brother? database, under new plans being drawn up by the UK government.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5973731.ece

UK monitoring may extend to social networking sites
The Government may expand its plans to keep a record of all email, internet and phone communications to include communication over social networking sites. Users of services such as Facebook and Bebo can send each other messages via the sites.
http://out-law.com/page-9905

Facebook attacks UK govt Web-monitoring plans
Social-networking site Facebook has criticised government suggestions that intelligence services should monitor the web communications of all U.K. citizens.
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62052487,00.htm

UK Govt may spy on Facebook to fight terrorism
Social networking websites like Facebook could be forced to pass on details of users' friends and contacts under British Government proposals to fight terrorism.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/26/2526412.htm

British pupils to study Twitter and blogs in primary schools shake-up
Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/25/primary-schools-twitter-curriculum

Firms Seek Profit in Twitter's Chatter
In the three years since its launch, the messaging service Twitter has attracted millions of users, but its fast growth hasn't translated into significant revenue. Now, other companies are trying to profit from Twitter's popularity by experimenting with business models that incorporate parts of the free messaging service.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123793945676332341.html

Social websites face transparency questions [AP]
Yelp.com prides itself on being a site where people can write reviews about pretty much anything and connect with similarly critical peers. Yet as the site grows, some of the businesses scrutinised on Yelp are turning the tables and griping about the company itself.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10563465

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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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Germany Cracks Down on Child Porn Sites But Critics Want More Action
Plans to make it harder for pedophiles to access Internet child pornography were agreed Wednesday by the German cabinet, but critics claim that the proposed changes will have only a limited effect on hardcore consumers.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4126813,00.html

EU acts against child sex abuse
The European Commission - the EU's executive arm - has set out plans for tightening EU law to protect children from sexual predators. The proposals - yet to be adopted by the 27 member states - would make online grooming and the viewing of child pornography criminal offences.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7963902.stm

The EU Commission cracks down on modern slavery and child sexual abuse [news release]
The European Commission has today adopted two proposals for new rules to step up the fight against trafficking in human beings and child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and child pornography. These new proposals replace existing legislation which has been in place since respectively 2002 and 2004. The new proposals will guarantee full alignment with the highest European standards, provide better assistance for victims and tougher action against criminals responsible for child sexual abuse and trafficking. The proposals also deal with the rapidly changing technologies in the cyberspace.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/472

uk: Thousands turn to cyberbully site
A new website set up to help people being cyberbullied has already prompted tens of thousands of children to look for help.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7959000/7959947.stm

Bullying made Calzaghe a 'wreck'
Retired world champion boxer Joe Calzaghe has described how school bullies turned him into a "introverted wreck" as a youngster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7960615.stm

Joe Calzaghe fronts anti-bullying campaign
A high-profile anti-bullying ad campaign is to be launched today by undefeated former boxing champion Joe Calzaghe, himself a victim of bullying in his youth, featuring images of young people committing suicide as the result of taunts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/24/joe-calzaghe-bullying

Sexting and the Law of Unintended Consequences
Sexting -- teens sending sexually explicit photos of themselves via cell phones -- has become the latest in a line of highly charged issues involving kids and the internet. A recent survey on sexting has claimed that one in five teens have sent nude or semi-nude photos of themselves, although at least one academic has questioned this finding.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-balkam/sexting-and-the-law-of-un_b_178223.html

Kiwi government's about-face over Internet content throws Australian regime's authoritarian inclinations into harsh relief
As the Australian government digs an ever bigger and deeper hole for itself over its plans to protect its citizens from troublesome reality by censoring the Internet on their behalf (whether they want it or not) across the Tasman Sea the administration in New Zealand has decided to dump proposals to police illegal online file-sharing that, had they been passed into law, would have forced the country's ISPs to disconnect repeat offenders, reports Martyn Warwick.
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44699&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

Website watchdog ACMA says it wasn't behind German police raid of Wikileaks.de
THE Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has denied it was behind a raid on whistleblowing website Wikileaks.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25244836-5014239,00.html

Wikileaks taken offline after publishing Australia's banned websites
Whistleblowing website Wikileaks has gone offline just hours after publishing what appeared to be a complete list of the websites banned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/mar/19/wikileaks-banned-australian-websites

Wikileaks raided by German police
The owner of whistleblower Web site wikileaks has been raided by German police days after it controversially published the Australian government's Internet blacklists. The home of Theodor Reppe, who owns the domain wikileaks.de used by the site, was raided early this week under the guise of a search for pornographic material.
http://computerworld.com.au/article/296861/
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/article/296861/
http://techworld.com.au/article/296861/
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/296861/
http://www.itworld.com/internet/65056/wikileaks-raided-german-police
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/AD84CE87F3D3D69FCC2575840081A2EF
http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/F47622C83C21B6E1CC257584007BC453

de: Police raid Wikileaks.de domain owner Theodor Reppe's home
Police have raided a Wikileaks associate's homes in Dresden and Jena after the website published a list of banned websites. Theodor Reppe owns the German domain registration for "wikileaks.de", one of the many URLs used by the whistleblowing website.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25240192-2,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25240381-663,00.html

Govt undeterred by blacklist leaks
Further leakages of the government's Web site blacklist will not affect plans to deploy a national Internet content filter, according to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. Speaking at a Sydney press conference this morning, Conroy said the leaked list would serve only to publicise Web sites that promote terrorism, hate and child porn.
http://computerworld.com.au/article/296839/
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/296839/
http://www.cio.com.au/article/296839/
http://techworld.com.au/article/296839/

URL blacklist 'creep' possible: Conroy
Federal communications and IT minister Stephen Conroy has admitted public concern about the possibility of ACMA's Internet filtering blacklist ?creeping? to include legal content Web sites is justified, but stopped short of guaranteeing the government will be able to prevent it. 
http://computerworld.com.au/article/296842/
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/article/296842/
http://techworld.com.au/article/296842/
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/032509-url-blacklist-creep-possible.html

ISPs 'profit' from lack of filter [AAP]
Australian internet service providers are against any internet filter because they reap large profits from content downloads, a RMIT academic said this week. "It is possible" to regulate the internet, Dr Mark Gregory from RMIT University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering said, likening the web to the "wild west" before criminals were brought into line.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/ISPs-profit-from-lack-of-filter/0,130061791,339295623,00.htm

ISP pulls out of internet filter trial
Australia's third largest internet service provider has dealt the Rudd Government's plans for a mandatory internet filter another blow only days after a top-secret blacklist of banned web pages was leaked.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,25230591-5013040,00.html

Stephen Conroy says leaked list of banned websites 'seems like ACMA's blacklist'
Despitedenial last week, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy claims the leaked website blacklists published on Wikleaks now closely resemble the Government watchdog's official list.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25240699-5014239,00.html

iiNet pulls out of net censorship trials
Australia's third largest internet provider, iiNet, has withdrawn from the Government's internet censorship trials, saying it could not "reconcile participation in the trial with our corporate social responsibility".
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/03/23/1237656833566.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/03/23/1237656833566.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2287764/

iiNet pulls out of Govt 'censorship' trials
Australia's third largest internet provider, iiNet, has pulled out of negotiations with the Federal Government over the proposed internet filtering trial.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/23/2524090.htm

Minchin attacks internet filtering trial after iiNet pulls out
The Federal Opposition has stepped up its attack on the Government's internet filtering trial following the withdrawal of the country's third largest internet provider.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/24/2524199.htm

More doubts surface over enforceability of ACMA's blacklist
With the leaking of the supposed Australian Communication & Media Authority's (ACMA) URL ?blacklist?, further doubts have been raised over whether such a list, and even Web Filtering itself, can successfully achieve the federal government's goal of protecting Australians from undesirable content like child pornography.
http://computerworld.com.au/article/296656/
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/article/296656/

ISPs show support for Internet filter trial
The remaining ISPs participating in the Federal Government?s Internet filtering trial have declared their continuing support for the controversial scheme.
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/296613/
http://computerworld.com.au/article/296613/
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/article/296613/
http://techworld.com.au/article/296613/

ISP: Internet filter trial has been misconstrued
A NEW blacklist of websites has appeared online just days after the Government was left red-faced by a similar leak.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25235298-5005961,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25235298-5001028,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25235298-5005962,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25235298-5003402,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25235298-12377,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25235298-1702,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25235262-5014239,00.html

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ONLINE TV & MUSIC
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As Rights Clash on YouTube, Some Music Vanishes
In early December, Juliet Weybret, a high school sophomore and aspiring rock star from Lodi, Calif., recorded a video of herself playing the piano and singing ?Winter Wonderland,? and she posted it on YouTube. Weeks later, she received an e-mail message from YouTube: her video was being removed ?as a result of a third-party notification by the Warner Music Group,? which owns the copyright to the Christmas carol.
http://nytimes.com/2009/03/23/business/media/23warner.html
http://iht.com/articles/2009/03/23/technology/warner.php

iiNet readies copyright defence
Perth internet service provider iiNet stuck to its guns yesterday, refusing to admit its customers engaged in illegal file sharing, as its battle against piracy claims headed for another Federal Court hearing.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25244104-15306,00.html

iiNet faces the music in landmark case
iiNet is steadfastly refusing to admit that any of its users engaged in illegal downloading, despite forensic evidence presented by movie studios that apparently shows the date and time of thousands of individual copyright infringements.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/03/25/1237656984092.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/03/25/1237656984092.html

Crux of iiNet defence due by April
ISP iiNet undertook today to stop sitting on the fence on whether it will admit that its users have been infringing copyright, in a Federal Court hearing today for the court case brought against it by the Australian Federation for Copyright Theft.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Crux-of-iiNet-defence-due-by-April/0,130061791,339295644,00.htm

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MOBILE/WIRELESS
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SMS to Drive African, Middle East Mobile Data Uptake
The way crusade for mobile broadband is going, one would think that such mobile features like the text messages would either go into extinction or at best be brushed aside for a while. The basic functionalities expected to lead the market and incidentally become trendy as the world embraces 3G are Multimedia Messaging, file sharing and mobile data processing among other features.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/31678/88/
http://allafrica.com/stories/200903231001.html

Asia to drive mobile broadband Internet access [AFP]
Broadband-service providers will see their revenue from mobile services jump to 137 billion US dollars worldwide by 2014, up 450 percent from 2008, a report said Thursday.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/asia-to-drive-mobile-broadband-internet-access-20090326-9c1w.html
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-technology/asia-to-drive-mobile-broadband-internet-access-20090326-9c1w.html

EU Telecoms Commissioner calls for consumer right to change phone operator in 1 day [news release]
In a video message posted this morning on her website, Viviane Reding, the EU's Telecoms Commissioner, calls on the European Parliament and the Council of EU Telecoms Ministers to be ambitious in the coming days as they enter the final negotiations on a new set of EU rules strengthening competition and consumer rights in a single market for telecoms like mobile phone services and internet connections. While consumers in all 27 Member States currently have the right to change their (fixed and mobile) phone operator while keeping their number, at the moment not everyone can expect it to happen in one day, and some face a wait of two to three weeks, reducing the impact of this important right on competition and consumer choice. On average across the EU, it takes 8.5 days for a mobile number and 7.5 days for a fixed number to be ported.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/126

iPhone Drives 50% Of U.S. Mobile Web Traffic
Apple iPhone users in the United States are more likely to surf the Web than Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile users, according to data released by AdMob.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/reporting/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216300020

Killer SMS rumours sweep Egypt [AFP]
The Egyptian Government has sought to dispel rumours that a mobile phone text message "from unknown foreign quarters" is spreading around the country and killing those who receive it.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/26/2526411.htm

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SPAM
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ACMA issues formal warning to PR Marketing and Media Group for allegedly sending unsolicited SMS messages [news release]
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has issued a formal warning to PR Marketing and Media Group Pty Ltd, a mobile telephone subscription chat service, for allegedly contravening the Spam Act 2003.
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311682

Australian Firm Warned to Stop Sending Spam SMS
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has issued a formal warning to PR Marketing and Media Group Pty Ltd, a mobile telephone subscription chat service, for allegedly contravening the Spam Act 2003.
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/36669.php

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ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
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Conficker time bomb ticks, but don't expect fireworks
There's been lots of hype about the fact that the latest variant of the Conficker worm is set to start communicating with other computers on the Internet on April 1--like an April Fool's Day time bomb with some mysterious payload.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10204590-83.html