[DNS] domain name news - 14 April

From: David Goldstein <goldstein_david§yahoo.com.au> Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:01:08 -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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The Continued Expansion Of Trademarks In Cyberspace by Paul Keating
http://www.domainnamenews.com/featured/continued-expansion-trademarks-cyberspace/4757

ICANN and the Hyper-Aggressive Trademark Owners: The "Monster Test" by Philip S Corwin
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090410_icann_aggressive_trademark_owners/

A Dot-Pol of Their Own
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/10/AR2009041002955.html

Olympics bullies ICANN with legal action threat over new gTLDs
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=7797
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/04/13/olympics-bullies-icann-with-legal-action-threat-over-new-gtlds/

uk: Nominet CEO:'My vision for the future of the internet'
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/04/09/235598/nominet-ceomy-vision-for-the-future-of-the-internet.htm

Conficker, the Internet's No. 1 threat, gets an update [IDG]
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131341

Conficker cashes in, installs spam bots and scareware and reveals its business model
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131380

'Ghostnet' and the New World of Espionage
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,618478,00.html

Jennifer Lopez wins cybersquatting case
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=7798
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/04/13/jennifer-lopez-wins-cybersquatting-case/

Bill Clinton Wants His Domain Names Back
http://gawker.com/5209000/bill-clinton-wants-his-domain-names-back

WebCam.com Sells for $1.02 Million
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/12/webcamcom-sells-for-102-million/

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RESEARCH PAPERS
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Net neutrality in the United States and the future of information policy by Bruce Harpham
The Internet has played a significant role in improving commerce, deepening social connections, stimulating scholarship and affording greater opportunities for leisure and activism. Increasingly, the set of computer systems commonly referred to as the Internet plays a critical role in connecting people with the information they need to work, live and access government. In light of the importance of the Internet in American life, government should play a role in ensuring that it suits the needs of society as a whole, rather than a single group. The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed a great burst of interest in developing Internet regulation, in contrast to the laissez-faire government approach of the 1990s when the Internet offered seemingly unlimited potential to revolutionize commerce and made some people billionaires in short order. As the Internet increasingly became a platform for market activity, the ownership and regulation of the
 system became politically important. The common assumption of the 1990s that the Internet was too revolutionary to govern or that it is impossible to govern is quickly fading. The U.S. government needs to implement Net neutrality regulation as part of a new unified communications strategy for the modern era, replacing the patchwork of policies currently in place.
http://fiq.ischool.utoronto.ca/index.php/fiq/article/view/30/84

Candidates, Squatters, and Gripers: A Primer on Political Cybersquatting and a Proposal for Reform by Matthew T. Sanderson [Election Law Journal]
During last year's election, were you hoping to read-up on Barack Obama?s abortion stance? Too bad, if you went to Obama ForPresident.com. It featured crossword puzzles and fantasy football rather than public-policy papers. Were you looking to volunteer for U.S. Senate candidate John Sununu? If you visited JohnSununu.com, it allowed you to sign up for a free online dating service but not to sign on to a political campaign. Did you want to help finance John McCain?s bid for the presidency? During much of the 2008 campaign season, a contribution submitted through the official-looking JohnMcain.com would have supported a man in Houston, Texas, without one nickel funding McCain?s run for the White House.
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/elj.2008.0013

The Good and the Bad of Top-Level Domains nu B. Leiba [sub req'd]
Abstract: ICANN has recently announced an "open season" on top-level domains, to start some time in 2009. This will dramatically expand the namespace for Internet domain names, and will allow cities, industries, and companies to register specific top-level domains for themselves. What effect will that have on the companies involved, and on the Internet users? In this column, the author explores that question and gives his opinion on the answer.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4747631

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - ICANN
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Expressions of Interest Sought for Bulk Transfer of Registrations
As the result of the pending de-accreditation of Parava Networks, Inc. dba 10-Domains.com ("Parava" IANA ID 94), ICANN is seeking Statements of Interest from ICANN-accredited registrars that are interested in assuming sponsorship of the gTLD names that are currently managed by Parava.
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-09apr09-en.htm

Public Comment: Proposed Registrar Disqualification Procedure
Updated on 9 April 2009 to extend the public comment period closing date: The Statement of Registrar Accreditation Policy establishes the standards applied by ICANN in granting gTLD registrar accreditation. In addition to setting minimum qualifications, the policy describes "matters potentially leading to ineligibility" for accreditation, including disqualification of a "registrar or registry administrator, or any officer, director, manager, employee, or owner (including beneficial owners) from being an ICANN-accredited registrar or registry administrator" in accordance with procedures established by ICANN.
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-3-27feb09-en.htm

Initiation of IDN ccPDP by ccNSO Council
At its meeting on 7 April 2009 the ccNSO Council initiated the IDN country code Policy Development Process (IDN ccPDP). The purpose of the IDN ccPDP is to develop and recommend to the ICANN Board a policy for the selection and delegation of IDN ccTLDs and identify, and if any recommend such, changes needed to Article IX and annexes in connection with such policy. The IDN ccPDP Issue Report, including the PDP timeline is available here.
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-13apr09-en.htm

Responses to Mexico City Question Box Published
Responses to just under 100 questions asked through an online question box in February and March have been published today. The question box went live two-and-a-half weeks prior to the start of ICANN's 34th international public meeting in Mexico City. Its aim is to give members of the community an opportunity to ask questions of ICANN's staff and Board without having to be physically present at the various public forum.
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-10apr09-en.htm

Mexico City question box responses published
Two-and-a-half weeks prior to the start of the Mexico City meeting, we opened an online Question Box, where community members could very simply ask questions of ICANN?s staff and Board without having to be physically present at the various public forum and speaking into a microphone.
http://blog.icann.org/2009/04/mexico-city-question-box-responses-published/

The Continued Expansion Of Trademarks In Cyberspace by Paul Keating
A panel of respected WIPO arbitrators recently issued their decision in Airborne Systems North America and Airborne Systems Group, Ltd. v. Virtual Point, Inc. (?airbornesystems.com?). The decision represents a further erosion of fairness in the UDRP procedure and highlights the alarming tendency among panelists to ignore both the clear language of the UDRP and the applicable laws governing the validity of trademark rights.
http://www.domainnamenews.com/featured/continued-expansion-trademarks-cyberspace/4757

ICANN and the Hyper-Aggressive Trademark Owners: The "Monster Test" by Philip S Corwin
We read and hear a lot of complaints from trademark interests about allegedly rampant cybersquatting and other forms of trademark infringement, but it's rare to see a story about reverse domain name hijacking and other abuses committed by them. That's what made it so refreshing to see an article in the Saturday, April 4th Wall Street Journal titled "The Scariest Monster of All Sues for Trademark Infringement?Fancy Audio-Cable Outfit Defends Its Brands; A Mini Golf Course Fights Back".
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090410_icann_aggressive_trademark_owners/

A Dot-Pol of Their Own
Long before she began forming her campaign for governor of California, Meg Whitman got cybersquatted. Media speculation in early 2008 that the billionaire former chief executive of eBay would seek the state's highest office prompted a Santa Monica man to nab rights to several Web sites that evoke Whitman's name, including WhitmanForGovernor.com and MegWhitman2010.com.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/10/AR2009041002955.html

New Top Level Domains .mobi and .xxx Considered Harmful by Tim Berners-Lee
In 2004 there were proposals to create new top-level domains which included .mobi and .xxx. There are major problems with these proposals. There are costs in general to creating any new top level domain. There are specific ways in which the ".mobi" breaks the Web architecture of links, and attacks the universality of the Web. At their 14 May 2004 face-to-face meeting, the W3C Technical Architecture Group resolved to support this document, with Norman Walsh abstaining, and Paul Cotton recusing himself.
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/10/tim-berners-lees-thoughts-on-new-top-level-domain-names/

Olympics bullies ICANN with legal action threat over new gTLDs
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the latest organisation to express its displeasure with ICANN over the proposal to introduce new generic Top Level Domains, saying they are concerned about the possibility of a proliferation in cybersquatting of domains names related to the IOC.
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=7797
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/04/13/olympics-bullies-icann-with-legal-action-threat-over-new-gtlds/

Olympic Committee's strong arm tactics on new gTLDs
In a threatening letter posted as a comment on ICANN's Draft Applicant Guidebook V2 comment page, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says that "it reserves its right to take action against ICANN for damages resulting to the IOC or the Olympic Movement from the implementation of the gTLD proposal."
http://stephane-vangelder.com/archives/216-Olympic-Committees-strong-arm-tactics-on-new-gTLDs.html

Olympics to ICANN: We?ll Sue You
In a sternly worded letter to ICANN, International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it reserves the right to ?take action against ICANN for damages resulting to the IOC or the Olympic Movement from the implementation of the gTLD proposal.?
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/09/olympics-to-icann-well-sue-you/

ISOC responds to ICANN?s call for comments on forming a GSNO CyberSafety Constituency
The Internet Society this week lodged an official response to ICANN?s recent call for comments on a petition to form a a GSNO CyberSafety Constituency. ISOC?s response, developed in full consultation with the ISOC Board of Trustees, outlined the principles upon which ISOC was founded and is still driven by, and also stressed the importance of ICANN maintaining its specific, focused technical mission and mandate. In this context, ISOC?s response noted that the petition calls for a constituency that would ?seek to control or regulate content on the Internet?. On these grounds, ISOC opposes the proposal.
http://www.isoc.org/tools/blogs/membernews/?p=770

The Obama Administration Assembles its Team at NTIA
The U.S. Department of Commerce?s (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) oversees the current Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with ICANN and will be responsible for recommending whether that arrangement should be terminated or extended when the current JPA expires in September.
http://www.internetcommerce.org/node/175

ICA Tells ICANN To Implement RAA Amendments and Move Foreward on Registrants? Rights
Just over two years ago the domain world was abuzz when the scandal-tinged collapse of RegisterFly revealed serious inadequacies in the standard Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and in ICANN?s enforcement of that key contractual document.
http://www.internetcommerce.org/node/174

ICA Tells ICANN That Using the DNS For Content Zoning Is Unsafe
On April 5th ICA filed a comment letter with ICANN in regard to a proposal to establish a CyberSafety Constituency. While sharing concerns about pornography and other offensive and inappropriate content that children may be exposed when they access the Internet, we urged ICANN to reject the proposal.
http://www.internetcommerce.org/node/173

The dot-com world is about to explode
You've gotten pretty used to dot-com, dot-net and dot-gov. But your world is about to change in cyberspace with web addresses ending in far different worlds. And that change could turn your business on its head. Next year, the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is expanding domains available online, according to CIO-today.
http://www.fiercecio.com/story/dot-com-world-about-explode/2009-04-08

WIPO letter to ICANN on UDRP concerns
The World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) has, through our having administered over 15,000 administrative proceedings as a Dispute Resolution Service Provider (Provider) under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) concerning some 26,000 domain names , observed that for the most part, ICANN-accredited registrars act in a judicious manner consistent with the efficient and effecti ve functioning of the UDRP. This includes registrars providing relevant information used in day-to-day case administration1 as well as implementing, where appropriate, WIPO UDRP Panel Decisions.
http://wipo.int/export/sites/www/amc/en/docs/icann090409.pdf

New York: Deciding Between Domain Names and Trash Service
In comments to ICANN, New York City Senior Counsel Katherine Winningham says application fees for new top level domain names are too high:
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/13/new-york-deciding-between-domain-names-and-trash-service/

It?s D-Day for ICANN Comments
If you have an opinion (and you should) about the second draft of ICANN?s plans to inundate the web with more top level domain names, today is the deadline to submit comments.
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/13/its-d-day-for-icann-comments/

The Lowdown on new gTLDs
Opposition to ICANN's plan to flood the Internet with an unlimited number of new gTLDs continues to build. Yesterday, the International Olympic Committee put ICANN on notice, stating that the IOC is reserving the right to ?take action against ICANN for damages resulting to the IOC or the Olympic Movement from the implementation of the gTLD proposal.?
http://dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/04-10-09.htm

Latest plan for domain names as doomed as .coop, .mobi
Will a plan to allow on the Web next year succeed On the face of it, the plan has legs: Instead of .com addresses, people and businesses could create new endings such as "spiderman.movie," "wired.magazine," or "the.industry.standard" -- in theory, opening up many more possible URLs and reducing the competition for .com domains.
http://www.cio.de/index.cfm?pid=156&pk=880798

ICANN Terminates Parava Domain Name Registrar
It?s all over for Parava Networks, a domain name registrar that manages valuable domain names such as Marc Ostrofsky?s MutualFunds.com.
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/10/icann-terminates-parava-domain-name-registrar/

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 - ccTLD & gTLD NEWS
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Three million .eu domain names
Three years after its launch, the .eu top-level Internet domain continues to be a success story, the European Commission said this week.
http://www.the-news.net/cgi-bin/google.pl?id=1005-20

The .eu Top Level Domain: What is .eu?
.eu is Europe?s Top Level Domain (TLD). Available to all companies and organisations established in the European Union and to every resident's citizen, it does not replace the existing national country code TLDs (such as .fr, .de, .pl or .uk), but complements them and gives users the option of having a pan-European internet identity on their websites and e-mail addresses.
http://blogs.laverdad.es/encarnahernandez/2009/4/13/the-eu-top-level-domain

AFNIC creates the International College Fund
In keeping with its commitment to promote co-development and sharing of knowledge, AFNIC has launched the International College Fund as of 3 April 2009. The objective of the Fund is to promote the activities and achievements of members of the International College to assist in strengthening their roles with respect to facilitating development of the digital economies in their respective countries and regions.
http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/215/afnic-creates-the-international-college-fund.html

New Framework Proposed For Ireland?s .ie Top Level Domain
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

kg: State Patent Service not to interfere in websites? content
?The Kyrgyz State Patent Service will not interfere in content of the websites,? chief of the Kyrgyzpatent, Ulan Melisbek, informed the press conference at the news agency ?24.kg? on Friday, April 10. He together with his colleagues explained reasons and consequences of the Kyrgyz president?s decree on transmission of kg domains? administration to the state service.
http://eng.24.kg/community/2009/04/10/7669.html

KG-Internet: State Starts and Wins
On 8th April, the Association of communication operators, Internet service provider and the current registrar of domain zone. Kg ?AsiaInfo?, the non-government organization ?Civil Initiative on Internet Policy? suggested to establish a special board for the management of the domain zone of Kyrgyzstan.
http://kyrgyzstan.neweurasia.net/2009/04/09/kg-internet-state-starts-and-wins/

100 000 .lt domains milestone reached
KTU ITPI, the .lt domain registry, is proud to announce the milestone of 100 000 registered .lt domains. This number of .lt domains was reached just over two years after new .lt registry system deployment.
http://nic.lt/public?pg=85D44E&loc=en
https://www.centr.org/main/news/4990-CTR.html

mobi: New study of mobile Web trends demonstrates strong growth of mobile content availability
dotMobi announced highlights of a new study on mobile Web trends that shows mobile Web content creation continues to explode. Based on a review of the largest top-level Internet domains, dotMobi has seen a sevenfold growth in the number of mobile Web sites in the past year, proving that a revolution in mobile content availability is at hand.
http://mtld.mobi/node/1367

.NL confirms plans to open up to non-Dutch registrants
In January, I gave kudos to the Dutch registry SIDN for coming up with a clever solution to open up .NL to registrants that don't have an address in Holland. Yesterday, the DomainesInfo editorial team got confirmation from SIDN that the plan is going ahead.
http://domainesinfo.fr/english/267/nl-confirms-plans-to-open-up-to-non-dutch-registrants.php

Hacking dotPH: The story behind the Sulit.com.ph hacking incident
So let's say you run a website with huge, huge traffic. You have a big, dedicated community, and you're raking in the ad money. Then one day, you see that your site has been hacked. You can't find a way to get inside to fix it, and your formerly awesome site is now one big ad generating revenue for somebody. That sucks, right? That is what happened to Sulit.com.ph, the largest free classified ads site in the company.
http://dotph.domains.ph/hacking-dotph

RegistryPro Elevates the .PRO Experience with New Corporate Web Site
RegistryPro, the exclusive operator of the .PRO top-level domain (TLD) on the Internet, announced today the launch of an entirely redesigned and refocused corporate Web site, registry.pro. The new site features a streamlined layout, intuitive navigation and new features designed to help business and service professionals and ICANN-accredited registrars maximize this rapidly expanding TLD.
http://registry.pro/press-releases/2009/0401.shtml

uk: Nominet CEO:'My vision for the future of the internet'
My vision for Nominet over the next three years and my vision for the internet industry follow similar lines: Nominet's mission is to help shape the internet to ensure it has a positive impact on its end-users. We want to do all we can to ensure that the internet is a trusted and safe space that everyone can be part of, writes Lesley Cowley, CEO at Nominet, the internet registry for .uk domain names.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/04/09/235598/nominet-ceomy-vision-for-the-future-of-the-internet.htm

uk: Changes to poor quality data notification process
In our software release on 7 April 2009 we have made some changes to the process for amending poor quality registrant data.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=6215

uk: Phishing lock
On 5 May 2009 we will be introducing a new function that will allow registrars to lock a domain name that they suspect is involved in phishing activity.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=6350

uk: Changes to data requirements and welcome email
Our software release on 7 April 2009 makes a number of changes to the contact data that we store.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=6240

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 - DNS SECURITY
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us: Federal Authority Over the Internet? The Cybersecurity Act of 2009
There's a new bill working its way through Congress that is cause for some alarm: the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, introduced by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The bill as it exists now risks giving the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily improving security in the ways that matter most. It should be opposed or radically amended.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/cybersecurity-act

Conficker, the Internet's No. 1 threat, gets an update [IDG]
Security researchers say a worm that has infected millions of computers worldwide has been reprogrammed to strengthen its defenses while also trying to attack more machines.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131341
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162848/.html

Researchers say Conficker is all about the money
The Conficker worm that has infected millions of Windows-based computers will likely be used to send spam and steal data much like one of the nastiest botnets on the Internet does, researchers said on Thursday after finding links between the two worms.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10216205-83.html

Conficker cashes in, installs spam bots and scareware and reveals its business model
The makers of Conficker, the worm that has infected millions of PCs, have begun to do what all botnet owners do -- make money -- security researchers said Thursday as they started analyzing the malware's newest variant.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131380
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162891/.html

Conficker botnet could flood Web with spam
Windows PCs infected with the Conficker worm have turned into junk mail-spewing robots capable of sending billions of spam messages a day, a security company warned today.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131448
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162988/.html

Huge computer worm Conficker stirring to life [AP]
The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm's authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/09/AR2009040903199.html

ICANN Continues Collaborative Response to Conficker Worm
The Conficker worm that has infected hosts across the Internet continues to evolve. At this point, we do not believe cause exists for general alarm, but the Internet community must continue to take action against Conficker. ICANN continues to engage in collaborative efforts with security researchers, software & anti-virus vendors and with registries and registrars throughout the DNS community to disseminate information about how the malicious code may seek to leverage the DNS system.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=sa&id=1628

China denies cyberattacks on U.S. power grid [IDG]
China denied involvement in malware attacks designed to shut down the U.S. electrical grid in a time of war, China said Thursday.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131418
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041009-china-denies-cyberattacks-on-us.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162912/.html

US Electric Utilities May Be Vulnerable to Cyberattack
The nation's electric utilities have failed to fully survey the vulnerability of their equipment to computer-based attacks from foreign countries and hackers, a government-authorized regulatory group concluded this week. That assessment came as senior U.S. officials renewed warnings that experts from Russia, China and other nations have been trying for years to probe and exploit those vulnerabilities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040803904.html

'Ghostnet' and the New World of Espionage
The German government is constantly the target of hackers seeking to insert spy programs into its computer systems. The attacks, often originating in China, are becoming more and more sophisticated.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,618478,00.html

Cyber spying a threat and everyone in on it [AP]
Ghost hackers infiltrating computers of Tibetan exiles and the U.S. electric grid have pulled the curtain back on 21st-century espionage as nefarious as anything from the Cold War -- and far more difficult to stop.
http://technewsworld.com/story/security/66782.html
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/security/66782.html
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090410/cyber_spying_090410/20090410?hub=TopStories&s_name=

Spies 'infiltrate US power grid'
The US government has admitted the nation's power grid is vulnerable to cyber attack, following reports it has been infiltrated by foreign spies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7990997.stm

Russian President warns of foreign threat to 'Net security [IDG]
Foreign investors in Internet companies pose a potential threat to national security, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned members of the United Russia political party at a meeting on Wednesday.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041009-russian-president-warns-of-foreign.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162916/.html

Crypto-politics creeps into DNSSEC by Brenden Kuerbis
While the fight over using cryptography to protect personal communications was allegedly "won" during the late 1990s, the battle over using it to protect critical Internet resources is just heating up. News from the recent IETF in San Francisco and RANS conference in Moscow suggests that national crypto laws are now complicating efforts to secure the DNS.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2009/4/6/4142793.html

Pentagon forks out $100m for cyberattack cleanup
The Pentagon spent more than $100m in the past six months cleaning up after internet attacks and network issues, US military leaders said on Tuesday.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10214416-83.html
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39638241,00.htm

Estonia leads the way in countering cyber-attacks 
Estonia, which recently suffered what appeared to be the largest political cyber-attack ever seen on EU soil, is organising an EU ministerial meeting on the protection of vital infrastructure against cyber-crime, the European Commission has announced.
http://euractiv.com/en/infosociety/estonia-leads-way-countering-cyber-attacks/article-181172

The Cybersecurity Act of 2009
Four senators (Rockefeller, Bayh, Nelson, and Snowe) have recently introduced S.773, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009. While there are some good parts to the bill, many of the substantive provisions are poorly thought out at best. The bill attempts to solve non-problems, and to assume that research results can be commanded into being by virtue of an act of Congress. Beyond that, there are parts of the bill whose purpose is mysterious, or whose content bears no relation to its title.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090413_cybersecurity_act_of_2009/

CADNA Supports the Introduction of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 [news release]
The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) enthusiastically welcomes the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 as introduced by Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller and Senator Olympia Snowe."This bill signals the United States? dedication to national security and to the safety and integrity of the Internet," said Josh Bourne, President of CADNA.
http://www.cadna.org/en/newsroom/press-releases/cadna-supports-introduction-of-cybersecurity-act2009

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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Jennifer Lopez evicts cybersquatters [Reuters]
American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has won a cybersquatting case against a U.S. web operator who registered two internet addresses that used her name for commercial profit, a U.N. agency said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE5384MP20090409
http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-38986920090410
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTRE5384LX20090409
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/web/jennifer-lopez-evicts-cybersquatters/2009/04/10/1239223029902.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/web/jennifer-lopez-evicts-cybersquatters/2009/04/10/1239223029902.html
http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/jennifer-lopez-wins-cybersquatting-case-2634462
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2328165/Jennifer-Lopez-evicts-cybersquatters

Jennifer Lopez wins cybersquatting case
American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez won a cybersquatting case against a US-based website operator who registered two domain names that used her name for commercial profit, WIPO said on Thursday in a UDRP decision.
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=7798
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/04/13/jennifer-lopez-wins-cybersquatting-case/

German Wikileaks Suspension Not Related To Police Raid
Pr?sentation : An anonymous reader writes "Contrary to what we discussed four days ago, Germany's registration authority, DeNIC, did not suspend access to wikileaks.de.
http://www.secuobs.com/revue/news/82981.shtml

German Wikileaks domain name deleted by DENIC
According to a news release from the German Wikileaks and German media reports, DENIC, the registry for the .DE ccTLD, deleted the wikileaks.de domain name without warning on April 9. This follows the recent leaking of a list of domain names on the Wikileaks website of websites that were banned in Australia by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=7794
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/04/12/german-wikileaks-domain-name-deleted-by-denic/

Wikileaks.de taken offline by German registry
Germany and Wikileaks may be going at it again. The latest kerfuffle comes courtesy of German registration authority, DENIC, which has removed the domain registration for wikileaks.de. The domain, which is still unavailable as of publication, is held by Theodor Reppe of Dresden, Germany, whose home was raided last month by German police.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/wikileaksde-taken-offline-by-german-registrar.ars

Germany deletes WikiLeaks.de domain after raid [news release]
On April 9th 2009, the internet domain registration for the investigative journalism site Wikileaks.de was suspended without notice by Germany's registration authority DENIC. The action comes two weeks after the house of the German WikiLeaks domain sponsor, Theodor Reppe, was searched by German authorities. Police documentation shows that the March 24, 2009 raid was triggered by WikiLeaks' publication of Australia's proposed secret internet censorship list. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) told Australian journalists that they did not request the intervention of the German government.
http://www.wikileaks.com/wiki/Germany_deletes_WikiLeaks.de_domain_after_raid

Wikileaks German Domain Suspended
As a growing number of countries and ISPs attempt to filter the Internet of all its naughty bits, whistle-blowing and document sharing website Wikileaks has been ruining their party by posting a list of all the filtered URLs.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Wikileaks-German-Domain-Suspended-101877
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/Wikileaks-German-Domain-Suspended-101877

Conroy Wins - Germany De-Registers Wikileaks.de
Last Friday, the WikiLeaks organisation confirmed that their wikileaks.de domain registration had been cancelled by the German domain registrar DENIC.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24402/1231/

Blogger Fights Big Bank Goldman Sachs Over Threat [IDG]
A blogger in the U.S. filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs on Monday to prevent the big investment bank from taking his domain names. Blogger Mike Morgan hopes to protect anti-Goldman Web sites, including www.goldmansachs666.com and www.goldmansachs13, from trademark action threatened by the powerful bank.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/163047/.html

Bill Clinton Wants His Domain Names Back
In the late '90s, private investigator Joe Culligan registered presidentbillclinton.com and other Clintonesque domain names as a joke. Now Bill Clinton's lawyer is pursuing legal action to get the website addresses. It's payback, says Culligan.
http://gawker.com/5209000/bill-clinton-wants-his-domain-names-back

Brand owners in a tizz over occasional WIPO decisions
Global brands are not always winning disputes over domain names including their brand names they felt were infringing their rights, sending lawyers dealing with these disputes into a tizz.
http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=7795
http://www.domainpulse.com/2009/04/12/brand-owners-in-a-tizz-over-occasional-wipo-decisions/

Domain name battles are a legal minefield for retailers, warns solicitor
Ravi Mohindra, partner and intellectual property specialist at law firm Clarke Willmott, has warned that a string of recent cases have highlighted dangers facing brand owners when disputing the use of trade marks online.
http://www.internetretailing.net/news/domain-name-battles-are-a-legal-minefield-for-retailers-warns-solicitor

World Intellectual Property Organization Announces 2008 Was A Record Year For Cybersquatting Cases
On March 16, 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that a record number of domain name dispute complaints were filed with WIPO in 2008. The 2,329 complaints filed in 2008 represent an 8% increase over the number of cases filed in 2007.
http://mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=77714

**********************
 - MISCELLANEOUS
**********************
Thomas Cady Named ARIN President & CEO [news release]
After a comprehensive search process, the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is pleased to announce that Thomas Cady has been named President and CEO.
https://www.arin.net/announcements/2009/20090406.html

RFC on EAI Co-Authored by JPRS Engineers Was Published [news release]
On 31 March 2009, an RFC which specifies a standard for E-mail Address Internationalization (EAI) and was co-authored by two (2) engineers of JPRS was published. This means that EAI is prepared for the field tests toward the actual utilization.
http://jprs.co.jp/en/topics/090406.html

A Tribute to the Father of the RFC, Dr. Stephen D. Crocker
40 years ago the Request for Comments (RFC) process for the Internet was born. The RFC process continues to be the way Internet protocols are expressed today. We have one very special man to thank for this and his name is Dr. Stephen D. Crocker. For the history behind the RFC process read Steve's article in The New York Times "How the Internet Got Its Rules."
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090410_tribute_to_ather_of_rfc_steve_crocker/

Netcraft April 2009 Web Server Survey
In the April 2009 survey we received responses from 231,510,169 sites. This represents an increase of over 6 million sites when compared with last month, with Google and nginx accounting for almost all of the changes. Apache remains in the lead, as it has since 1996, with a total of over 106 million sites, followed by Microsoft-IIS with over 67 million and QQ with almost 29 million.
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2009/04/06/april_2009_web_server_survey.html

**********************
 - DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET
**********************
White Paper on value of generic domain names published
Veteran domainer Edwin Hayward who operates MemorableDomains.co.uk, has just published an ambitious White Paper that underscores the value of generic domain names, especially with respect to using them to improve results from search engine advertising campaigns. His study showed that ads featuring a generic domain name produce up to 105% more clicks than identical ads using non-generic domains. Hayward noted, ?We finally have some hard numbers to back up the long-standing belief that generic domain names attract more clicks in search engine listings.?
http://dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/04-09-09.htm

WebCam.com Sells for $1.02 Million
Rick Latona wasn?t happy with the live portion of his company?s adult domain name auction. But he should be feeling a lot better now that WebCam.com sold for $1,020,000 in the silent auction.
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/12/webcamcom-sells-for-102-million/

Study Shows Generic Domains Improve PPC Campaign Results
Many internet marketers have speculated that generic domains are favorable for pay-per-click marketing because of their increased relevancy, however one domain name reseller has decided to prove it. MemorableDomains.co.uk, a seller of high quality generic domain names, has released a study comparing three identical PPC ads featuring different domain names ? one generic name with an exact match to the product, one alternative generic, and one non-generic ? to measure which style of domain name attracts the most clicks.
http://www.domainnamenews.com/ppc-industry/study-shows-generic-domains-improve-ppc-campaign-results/4768

Domain Appraisal Scam Migrates to TropicalNames.com
The domain name appraisal scam ? which was reborn with a different tact last month ? has changed its target domain name appraisal service. A new scam email requests a domain name appraisal from TropicalNames.com. TopicalNames.com was just registered on April 2.
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/04/13/domain-appraisal-scam-migrates-to-tropicalnamescom/

Voodoo.com Casts a $300,000 Spell to Claim the Top Spot on This Week's Domain Sales Chart 
The $300,000 sale of Voodoo.com was completed this week allowing that domain to ascend to the #1 spot on our weekly Top 20 Chart. The name had been auctioned off by Aftermarket.com at the Domainer Mardi Gras conference in February and just closed.
http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2009/04-07-09.htm

Physicians.com sells for $250K
You can stop calling Richard Gabriel now! I had been hearing rumors that Physicians.com was sold for $250,000 earlier this week. That was confirmed this morning when the buyer, Richard Gabriel, called me and asked that I make the deal public so people would stop calling him at all hours of the day asking him if the rumors were true!
http://dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/04-10-09.htm

Dell had change of heart for Web domain
Is $750 too much for a $61 billion computer maker to pay for a domain name ? especially when it involves one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry?s business? It was for Dell Inc.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/04/13/story2.html

Official Domain Madness Auction Results Announced
... In the final tally, Domain Madness auction sold 25 of 48 names offered in the catalog for a total just below $150,000. And this after only initially selling 16 in the live event. But we put forth a new strategy and believe it paid off.
http://blog.domaintools.com/2009/04/official-domain-madness-auction-results-announced/

Rick Latona Adult Domain Auction Yields Mixed Results
Domain auctions can be fascinating to watch and predict - though they can be a little dangerous to get involved with.
http://www.isquattedyour.eu/2009/04/05/rick-latona-adult-domain-auction-yields-mixed/

**********************
RESEARCH PAPERS
**********************
Beyond Google and evil: How policy makers, journalists and consumers should talk differently about Google and privacy by Chris Jay Hoofnagle
Abstract: Google has come to symbolize the tensions between the benefits of innovative, information-dependent new services and the desire of individuals to control the contexts in which personal information is used. This essay reviews hundreds of newspaper articles where Google speaks about privacy in an effort to characterize the company?s handling of these tensions, to provide context explaining the meaning of the company?s privacy rhetoric, and to advance the privacy dialogue among policy makers, journalists, and consumers.
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2326

China?s Censorship 2.0: How companies censor bloggers by Rebecca MacKinnon
Abstract: This study explores an under-studied layer of Chinese Internet censorship: how Chinese Internet companies censor user-generated content, usually by deleting it or preventing its publication. Systematic testing of Chinese blog service providers reveals that domestic censorship is very decentralized with wide variation from company to company. Test results also showed that a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and that chances for its survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy. The study concludes that choices and actions by private individuals and companies can have a significant impact on the overall balance of freedom and control in the Chinese blogosphere.
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2378

Too far down the Yellow Brick Road ? Cyber-hysteria and Virtual Porn by Maureen Johnson & Kevin M Rogers
Abstract: 'Cyberporn' is one of the great moral panics of our age. Indeed, the development of Web 2.0 and the rapid increase of user generated content have opened the floodgates to the number of pornographic websites available. Everybody is familiar, and most are in agreement with the argument against indecent images of children. Few would argue ?none successfully ? for the law to go easier on those who produce and circulate such images, but an increasingly complicated legal landscape is in danger of stretching the limits of legislation to include what are essentially drawings of children found online or in virtual communities and criminalise those who produce, possess or view them. This paper will consider the necessary response of the United Kingdom?s legislature to these problems.
http://jiclt.com/index.php/JICLT/article/view/88

Should Anti-Cyberbullying Laws Be Created? by Matthew C. Ruedy [North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology]
Abstract: In 2006, thirteen-year-old Megan Meier met a teenage boy named Josh Evans on the social networking website MySpace. The two had an amicable relationship until Josh began making derogatory comments to Megan. The correspondence ultimately resulted in her suicide. Months later, ?Josh? was revealed to be the collective creation of forty-seven-year-old Lori Drew, her teenage daughter, and her part-time employee, Ashley Grills. Megan?s suicide has pushed forward legislation for the criminalization of cyberbullying, which can be defined as action or behavior on the Internet intended to hurt or harass another person. This Comment discusses the issues and challenges associated with creating cyberbullying laws, from the decision to create such laws in the first place, to the difficult First Amendment restrictions posed by the ?true threat? and ?imminent incitement? doctrines.
http://jolt.unc.edu/abstracts/volume-9/ncjltech/p323

The Mobile Difference
Overview: Some 39% of Americans have positive and improving attitudes about their mobile communication devices, which in turn draws them further into engagement with digital resources ? on both wireless and wireline platforms.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/5-The-Mobile-Difference--Typology.aspx

Generations Online in 2009
Overview: Over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009.aspx

Twitter and status updating
Overview: In the past three years, developments in social networking and internet applications have begun providing internet users with more opportunities for sharing short updates about themselves, their lives, and their whereabouts online. Users may post messages about their status, their moods, their location and other tidbits on social networks and blogging sites, or on applications for sending out short messages to networks of friends like Twitter, Yammer and others.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Twitter-and-status-updating.aspx

The Mind Gangsters: Why We Should, and How We Can, Limit Surveillance of Digital Reading Habits by Thomas Nosewicz
It is not alarmist to say that the Internet is the first truly panoptic system of the mind. Dumbfoundingly dense databanks can?and do?gorge themselves on one?s every move across a webpage. Web tools monitor every specific article a visitor reads, how she was referred to that article, and how long she spent reading it. These tools allow website owners to compile a comprehensive set of statistics about visitors to their websites, including how often they visit, their domains and countries of origin, what pages they view the most, and the operating system and web browser they use to access the website. This surveillance is omnipresent, all-knowing, and perfectly concealed.
http://stlr.stanford.edu/2009/04/note_the_mind_gangsters_why_we.html

**********************
INTERNET USE
**********************
Street View UK is here to stay, says boss of Google Maps
Google will continue to take pictures of the streets of Britain and put them online for its controversial Street View mapping service, the head of Google Maps has told The Times.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6058197.ece

Chinese online gaming nears $3 billion annually
Pearl Research reports in its latest Online Games Market in China study, that the Chinese online gaming market reached $2.8 billion in 2008, an increase of roughly 63 percent over the previous year. The study predicts that the Chinese market will reach $5.5 billion by 2012.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10216152-62.html

Australian Family Court includes Skype access in decisions
The Family Court is allowing mothers to leave the country with their children, provided they agree to sign up for the internet-based video telephone service Skype.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25324942-643,00.html
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25326445-15306,00.html

The A.P. Was the First Web 2.0 Company
So much of the Internet commentary about the radical interpretation of copyright law being asserted by The Associated Press has made a critical error: They are saying the entire organization is obsolete, not just its plan to limit the fair use of its articles. The A.P., some say, is an irrelevant middleman trying to control intellectual property in the age of networked open information, just like record labels.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/the-ap-was-the-first-web-20-company/

Can the AP Out-Google Google?
The Associated Press is hopping mad over what it calls "misappropriation" of its content online. But the news service isn't just complaining about it or threatening legal action against Web sites that it says unlawfully reproduce its news stories.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc2009047_310532.htm

Japanese Internet Users Glued to Entertainment Sites [news release]
comScore released a report on the top entertainment sites in Japan based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service. In February 2009, nearly 74 percent of Japan?s online population visited a site in the Entertainment category. Japanese Internet users spent nearly 15 percent of their total time online during the month on these sites, making the Entertainment category one of the most popular and engaging content categories.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2769

China's Search Engine for the Elderly
Google may be offering free music downloads in China, but rival Baidu.com has its sights on the country?s untapped audiences. Baidu, China?s market-leading search engine, launched a search engine especially designed for older Web users last month, Sina.com reports (in Chinese), the first new search product rolled out by Baidu this year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/04/10/chinas-search-engine-for-the-elderly/

**********************
SOCIAL NETWORKING
**********************
Does Facebook?s Business Plan Include Premium Memberships?
The world?s largest social network sometimes gets flack from bloggers and industry pundits for not having much of a business model. It?s true that for now, Facebook is more focused on growing its number of users ? which passed 200 million this week ? than its bottom line. But the company is generating revenue from advertising, as chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg pointed out in her talks with BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Stephen Adler on Apr. 7:
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/04/does_facebooks.html

Facebook fans do worse in exams
Facebook users may feel socially successful in cyberspace but they are more likely to perform poorly in exams, according to new research into the academic impact of the social networking website.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article6078321.ece

Facebook fixation harms student grades
It begins innocently enough: that overdue history essay is momentarily flicked to one side, so you can check your Facebook messages. ... Now academic research has validated the nagging suspicions of many such students that Facebook is having a detrimental effect on their university results.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25325762-5013404,00.html

Facebook students underachieve in exams
Students who use Facebook, the social networking site, are underachieving in exams, research suggests. An American study has found that students who spend their time adding friends, chatting and "poking" others on the website may devote as little as one hour a week to their academic work.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5145243/Facebook-students-underachieve-in-exams.html

Andrew Keen: Friendfeed is the new social network ? but you didn't hear it first
Twitter might be the newest new thing for millions of internet users but, for most of Silicon Valley's geekerati, it is Friendfeed (www.friend feed.com) that remains the hottest social networking application. If Twitter is emerging as the Microsoft of the emerging real-time web, then Friendfeed ? which unveiled a major upgrade to its interface last week ? is akin to Apple in its ability to muster a noisy following of hardcore evangelists. Friendfeed is a real-time aggregation service that automatically incorporates updates from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and any other online content published with a RSS feed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/andrew-keen-friendfeed-is-the-new-social-network-ndash-but-you-didnt-hear-it-first-1667812.html

Twitter: midlife chatterers show they prefer to keep it short and tweet
Twitter appears to be the embodiment of youth culture with tech-savvy and fast-thumbed teens firing off short updates filled with abbreviations about their lives. But it turns out that the keenest users are the greying brigades of the middle-aged.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6083154.ece

Twits who ruin Twitter: Why some stars and PRs miss the point of tweeting
I'm waiting for the first big Twitter catastrophe. And if you think it came from the hackers who worked into the instant messaging site in January and gave away access to the live output of celebrity Twitterers ? from Barack Obama to Britney Spears ? you'd be wrong.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/twits-who-ruin-twitter-why-some-stars-and-prs-miss-the-point-of-tweeting-1667816.html

Putting Twitter?s World to Use
The first reaction many people have to Twitter is befuddlement. Why would they want to read short messages about what someone ate for breakfast? It?s a reasonable question. Twitter unleashes the diarist in its 14 million users, who visited its site 99 million times last month to read posts tapped out with cellphones and computers.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/14/technology/internet/14twitter.html

Twitter fights off computer worm [AFP]
Micro-blogging service Twitter was targeted by a wave of attacks by a computer worm over Easter weekend, a co-founder of the web messaging company said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/14/2542006.htm

Twitter Visited By Worms Instead Of Bunnies
Over the weekend, a computer worm attacked the Twitter messaging service in three distinct attacks, generating almost 10,000 spam tweets -- as online posts are called in Twitter's twee terminology -- and compromising at least 190 accounts.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216500422

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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
************************************************
FCC Implements Child Safe Viewing Act by Seeking Comment on Parental Control Technologies for Video or Audio Programming
This Notice of Inquiry (?NOI?) implements the Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007, adopted December 2, 2008, which directs the Commission to initiate a proceeding within 90 days after the date of enactment to examine ?the existence and availability of advanced blocking technologies that are compatible with various communications devices or platforms.? Congress defined ?advanced blocking technologies? as ?technologies that can improve or enhance the ability of a parent to protect his or her child from any indecent or objectionable video or audio programming, as determined by such parent, that is transmitted through the use of wire, wireless, or radio communications.? Congress?s intent in adopting the Act was to spur the development of the ?next generation of parental control technology.? In conducting this proceeding, we will examine blocking technologies that may be appropriate across a wide variety of distribution platforms and devices,
 can filter language based upon information in closed captioning, can operate independently of pre-assigned ratings, and may be effective in enhancing a parent?s ability to protect his or her child from indecent or objectionable programming, as determined by the parent. The Act directs the Commission to issue a report to Congress no later than August 29, 2009 detailing our findings in this proceeding.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-14A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-14A1.doc

'Sexting' hardly constitutes child endangerment
The fate of a 14-year old New Jersey student, arrested a few weeks ago on charges of posting pornographic photos of herself online, now rests on the scales of the justice system. The allegations against her follow those in a similar case in which a federal court recently blocked a Pennsylvania prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against teenage girls shown topless or wearing underwear in photos found on the cell phones of some boys.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2009/04/sexting_hardly_constitutes_chi.html

Counter Intelligence: Making Teen "Sexting" Legal
See what state is considering making teen "sexting" legal and check out our list of must-reads that will have you chatting at the lunch counter, over IM or wherever it is that people actually talk these days.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/us_world/Counter-Intelligence-0413.html

'Sexting' is latest tech risk for parents, kids to guard against, expert says
Now, it may not be enough to have the sex talk with your kids. You may have to have the "sexting" talk. This year, more than two dozen teens in at least six states have been investigated by police for "sexting" ? sending nude pictures of themselves in cellphone text messages ? which carries a charge of distributing child pornography.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-commonsense_0413gd.ART.State.Edition1.4a4eec2.html

Senator Conroy Blacklists His Own Policy
To the complete astonishment of many listeners, Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, made an amazing statement under questioning by Kate O?Toole on Triple J?s Hack programme on 7 April 2009: | Senator Conroy? As we?ve always said, this is about Refused Classification. This is about material that is currently Refused Classification like child pornography, bestiality.
http://newmatilda.com/polliegraph/?p=567

Keep tabs on your kids online
Parents should not shy away from using tools like Google Alerts to track their children's online lives, but traditional parenting is still the key to understanding the dangers they face, a child psychologist says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2328072/Keep-tabs-on-your-kids-online

us: Cyber stalking and sexual predator conference scheduled for April 14
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault is sponsoring a mini-conference on cyber stalking and sexual predators. Community agencies, social services workers, educators and parents are encouraged to attend. The mini-conference takes place on Tuesday, April 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Kern superintendent of schools building, located at 1300 17th Street Room 1A in Bakersfield.
http://www.kvsun.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/doc49d24eeb20ed2293351509.txt

uk: IWF Announces New Independent Chair [news release]
The Internet Watch Foundation is delighted to announce the appointment of a new independent Chair of its Board. Eve Salomon brings vast experience to the role including national and European level expertise in regulatory structures, law, media, and communications and is a committed and eminent advocate of the UK?s better regulation agenda. Eve takes up her role on 1st April 2009.
http://iwf.org.uk/media/news.255.htm

nz: Helpline details for bullying 
Following Sunday's cyber bullying story, if you or someone you know has been affected the organisations below may be able to help.
http://tvnz.co.nz/sunday-news/helpline-details-2625448

**********************
ONLINE TV & MUSIC
**********************
Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?
Is Internet access a fundamental human right? Or is it a privilege, carrying with it a responsibility for good behavior? That is the question confronting policy makers as they try to bring Internet access to the masses while seeking to curb illegal copying of digital music, movies and video games.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/13/technology/internet/13iht-piracy13.html

Google Disables Uploads, Comments on YouTube Korea [IDG]
Google has disabled user uploads and comments on the Korean version of its YouTube video portal in reaction to a new law that requires the real name of a contributor be listed along each contribution they make.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162989/.html
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=114168
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041309-google-disables-uploads-comments-on.html

YouTube Korea squelches uploads, comments
Citing free-speech concerns about an anonymity-blocking law in South Korea, Google has disabled the ability to upload YouTube videos or comment on them in the country.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10218419-93.html

YouTube and Universal to Create a Hub for Music
YouTube, the most popular online video site, and Universal Music Group, the world?s largest music company, said on Thursday that they would create an online hub for music videos and related content, called Vevo.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10google.html

YouTube Announces Music Video Service with Universal Music Group
In the latest of several announced and rumored deals with major studios, Google?s video sharing service YouTube has just announced a partnership with Universal Music Group. Set to launch later this year, the service, called VEVO, will be a ?premium online music video hub? that will include UMG?s catalog of top artists and content. This will be the first time YouTube has operated a separate site outside YouTube itself, and Google says it hopes this will be a new model for partnerships with studios.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/04/ever_since_goog_1.html

YouTube and Universal partner on pro music video site VEVO
Universal Music Group and Google today announced a deal to keep Universal's music available for user-generated content on YouTube, along with a plan to move its music videos offsite to a new (and hopefully more lucrative) home.
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/youtube-and-universal-partner-on-pro-music-video-site-vevo.ars

Cathode ray YouTube
Online content is about to enter your home in its most accessible format yet, as the big TV makers switch on to supplying an internet widget as standard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/08/intenet-on-demand-tv-youtube

French MPs reject controversial plan to crack down on illegal downloaders
French politicians have unexpectedly rejected a bill that would have cut off the internet connections of anyone found to be repeatedly downloading music or videos without paying for them. The legislation would also have led to the creation of the world's first state surveillance system on web pirates.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/09/france-illegal-downloads-state-surveillance

France Rejects Plan to Curb Internet Piracy
In what the French government denounced as a ?sad comedy,? lawmakers on Thursday rejected President Nicolas Sarkozy?s plan to bolster the movie and music industries by cutting off the Internet connections of persistent copyright pirates.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10net.html

Setback for Sarkozy as French parliament rejects controversial internet law
President Sarkozy suffered an embarrassing setback in his efforts to curb illegal downloading when an opposition ploy led Parliament to reject a controversial new law that would cut off internet service to offenders.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6067641.ece

French reject internet piracy law
French politicians have rejected a bill which proposed that people caught downloading music illegally three times should be cut off from the internet. The legislation, backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, would have set a tough global precedent in cracking down on internet piracy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7992262.stm

French Lawmakers Reject Bill to Curb Internet Piracy
French lawmakers unexpectedly rejected a bill that would have established a "three-strikes" law under which people who repeatedly pirate music, movies or TV shows could have their Internet connections cut off for as long as a year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123928254646404963.html

France rejects three-strikes internet antipiracy law
A French law with parallels to S92 has failed, unexpectedly, at the last hurdle. ?Le journal n?o-z?landais The National Business Review? makes a cameo appearance in the debate - but in the end the law fails for an unexpected reason.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/france-rejects-three-strikes-internet-antipiracy-law-101155

French parliament unexpectedly kills Net piracy bill
The French parliament on Thursday voted down an Internet piracy law, which had largely been expected to pass.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10215937-38.html
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62053061,00.htm

French Internet piracy law defeated in parliament
France's parliament rejected a bill on Thursday that proposed disconnecting Internet users if they download music or films illegally, with the ruling UMP party failing to turn out in force to approve the law.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5384IB20090409
http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-38973620090410
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTRE5383EY20090409

France says au revoir to three strikes legislation
Only last week the French Parliament passed a law similar to the controversial Section 92A that almost came to be in New Zealand. Like its ill-fated antipodean counterpart, the French law would have required internet service providers cut off internet access for repeat copyright infringers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10566568

French parliament rejects new piracy laws
A bill before the French parliament that would enforce a ?three strikes and you?re out? rule on internet users suspected of piracy has been defeated in a surprise turnaround.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2240225/french-parliament-rejects

iiNet thumbs nose at AFACT
iiNet has not admitted that any particular users have been infringing copyright in the next step for the court case brought against it by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT).
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/iiNet-thumbs-nose-at-AFACT/0,130061791,339295930,00.htm

President Obama Backs RIAA In Online File-Sharing Case
President Obama?s US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed a legal brief in support of damages sought by an affiliate of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), prompting some observers to speculate on the Obama administration?s impartiality in the RIAA?s file-sharing litigation campaign.
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/04/07/president-obama-backs-riaa-in-online-file-sharing-case/

Pete Waterman: 'I was exploited by Google'
Pete Waterman, the force behind dozens of multi-million selling chart hits, claims he is being "exploited" by internet giant Google.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/5130427/Pete-Waterman-I-was-exploited-by-Google.html

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MOBILE/WIRELESS
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Mobile phone deal will bring more gambling games to thousands of players
A deal struck between two technology companies could see hundreds of thousands of mobile games made available to punters as the gambling market continues to boom.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/13/mobile-phone-gambling-deal

Court battle over SMS allegations against Telstra
Telstra has been accused of breaching federal regulations for the supply of premium SMS mobile services as part of a wholesale contract dispute before the Federal Court.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25329470-5013041,00.html

Asian cellular subscriber growth drops 21 percent
Mobile subscriber growth in the Asia-Pacific telecom market fell 21 percent in Q4 2008, the region's lowest growth rate in seven quarters, research firm Informa Telecoms and Media said.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090413_496727.htm
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62053125,00.htm

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SPAM
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Filters getting better at blocking spam
You might not believe it after glancing at your e-mail inbox, but professional spam fighters say they're making progress in the war on digital junk mail.
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/04/11/filters_getting_better_at_blocking_spam/

Cybercriminals are profiting from spam and 'scareware'
"Scareware" is a fast-growing threat to computer users, with cybercriminals promoting fake security software to exploit users' desire to keep their computers protected, according to Microsoft's sixth Security Intelligence Report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/08/spam-malware-online-security

Australian's Spam Act 2003
Australia?s Spam Act of 2003 regulates the practice of sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages, as well as the use of address-harvesting software. Violators are subject to civil penalties and injunctions. The Australian Spam Act entered into force on April 11, 2004, and was revised in December 2005. Following, there is a brief description of the scope of this act.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=A4EB1494-52ED-4C64-825D-3B162F399609

Australia del Spam Act 2003
Spam de la Ley de Australia de 2003 regula la pr?ctica de enviar mensajes electr?nicos comerciales no solicitados, as? como el uso de la direcci?n de recolecci?n de software. Los infractores est?n sujetos a sanciones civiles y medidas cautelares. El australiano Spam ley entr? en vigor el 11 de abril de 2004, y fue revisado en diciembre de 2005. A continuaci?n, se realiza una breve descripci?n del alcance de este acto.
http://www.ibls.es/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=A4EB1494-52ED-4C64-825D-3B162F399609

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ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
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Extremist Web Sites Are Using U.S. Hosts
On March 25, a Taliban Web site claiming to be the voice of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" boasted of a deadly new attack on coalition forces in that country. Four soldiers were killed in an ambush, the site claimed, and the "mujahideen took the weapons and ammunition as booty." Most remarkable about the message was how it was delivered. The words were the Taliban's, but they were flashed around the globe by an American-owned firm located in a leafy corner of downtown Houston.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040804378.html

us: Federal Authority Over the Internet? The Cybersecurity Act of 2009
There's a new bill working its way through Congress that is cause for some alarm: the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, introduced by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The bill as it exists now risks giving the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily improving security in the ways that matter most. It should be opposed or radically amended.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/cybersecurity-act