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The domain name news is supported by auDA

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New Contracting Statistics Released ? CIRs Sent Through Priority 500
<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-2-23aug13-en>

Panel says .sport and .sports are confusingly similar
<http://domainincite.com/14268-panel-says-sport-and-sports-are-confusingly-similar>

Commonwealth Bank takes blame for gTLD name collision
<http://domainincite.com/14281-bank-takes-blame-for-gtld-name-collision>

Failures mount up as ICANN releases penultimate week of IE results
<http://domainincite.com/14288-failures-mount-up-as-icann-releases-penultimate-week-of-ie-results>

Do only 4 new TLDs have a chance of going live this year?
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/08/24/do-only-4-new-tlds-have-a-chance-of-going-live-this-year/>


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GOVERNANCE
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Time to Retire the Tunis Agenda by Milton Mueller
The deadline for public comments to the United Nations? Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation is only about a week away. For those unfamiliar with the arcane details of Internet governance processes, ?enhanced cooperation? is an unfulfilled promise that emerged out of the 2002-2005 WSIS.
<http://www.internetgovernance.org/>

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - ICANN
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DNS Security, Stability, and Resiliency Update Added to APWG eCrime 2013 Agenda
The Antiphishing Working Group (APWG) will host its 10th anniversary meeting 16-19 September in San Francisco. The working agenda for eCrime 2013 continues a trend of focusing greater attention on abuses or misuses of DNS and registration services.
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-22aug13-en.htm>

New Contracting Statistics Released ? CIRs Sent Through Priority 500
Below are the key Contracting statistics, as of today: ICANN has sent Contracting Information Request notifications to applicants holding priority numbers 1 - 500
<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-2-23aug13-en>

Initial Evaluation Results Released up to Priority 1800 ? 1,658 Have Passed
<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-23aug13-en>

DNS Risk Management Framework Report
Purpose (Brief): The Board-level DNS Risk Management Framework Working Group (DNS RMF WG) has received a final report from Westlake Governance following the ICANN Durban meeting. The Working Group is initiating a public comment cycle on the DNS Risk Management Framework report prior to sending the Framework to the ICANN Board and staff for implementation. Public comments are welcomed on the document and proposed approach to risk management for the areas described in the report.
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/dns-rmf-final-23aug13-en.htm>

ICANN to Participate in Central and East European Registar/Registry Conference
In two weeks, Central and East European registries and registrars will get together in Greece at their 6th annual meeting. We thought you might be interested in reading this article (in Russian) explaining what the regional meeting is all about, who participates and why. We republish this with the kind agreement of nic.ua.
<http://blog.icann.org/2013/08/icann-to-participate-in-central-and-east-european-registarregistry-conference/>

Letter from Bruce Cakebread, Napa Valley Vintners, to Steve Crocker
New gTLD applications for .WINE and .VIN
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/cakebread-to-crocker-08aug13-en>

Letter from Ken Burlington and Thomas J. Embrescia, National Association of Realtors and Real Estate Domains, LLC, to Cherine Chalaby
GAC Advice and the New gTLD Application for .REALTOR
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/burlington-embrescia-to-chalaby-12aug13-en>

Azerbaijan can enter ICANN leadership
ICANN has invited Azerbaijan to join the leadership of the organization.
<http://www.news.az/articles/tech/82015>

ICANN Spends Almost $1.5 Million On NON-STAFFERS To Attend Last Two ICANN Meetings; Including GAC Members
According to two reports published by ICANN.org its spent over almost $1.5 Million in transporting, housing, feeding and for Visa?s for 379 NON-ICANN staff to attend the last two ICANN meetings.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/08/24/icann-spends-almost-1-5-million-on-non-staffers-to-attend-last-two-icann-meetings/>

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 - ccTLD & gTLD NEWS
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Innovative Disruption: .CO Internet S.A.S?s New Take on an Old(er) Service
In 2009, the Colombian government entered into an agreement with .CO Internet S.A.S. (.CO Internet) to market and sell domain names within Colombia?s ccTLD, .CO. By the end of 2010, .CO Internet began targeting startups after initial registrations by Google (g.co), Twitter (t.co), Amazon (a.co, k.co for Kindle), and others.
<http://www.gtldstrategy.com/marketing-strategies/innovative-disruption-co-internet-s-a-ss-new-take-on-an-older-service-2>

NCCT tasks states, others on Nigeria?s domain name
TO further advance Nigeria?s course on the cyberspace, the National Council on Communication Technology (NCCT), has recommended that all state governments and their agencies should switch to the country?s domain name and adopt the gov.ng platform.
<http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/business-news/131024-ncct-tasks-states-others-on-nigerias-domain-name>

Choose .om and not .com to counter cyber threats: TRA
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has asked companies in Oman to opt for domain names with .om in place of .com as they are less prone to cyber attacks and spam.
<http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Oman/Choose-.om-and-not-.com-to-counter-cyber-threats-TRA-2hzx/(language)/eng-GB>

Registration now open for the 2013 UK Internet Governance Forum
We are pleased to be sponsoring the 2013 UK Internet Governance Forum which is taking place in London on Tuesday 10 September.
<http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/registration-now-open-2013-uk-internet-governance-forum>

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 - NEW TLDS
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Panel says .sport and .sports are confusingly similar
Olympics-backed new gTLD applicant SportAccord has won a String Confusion Objection against Donuts, with an arbitration panel finding that .sport and .sports are too similar to coexist.
<http://domainincite.com/14268-panel-says-sport-and-sports-are-confusingly-similar>

California wineries are a bit drunk over .wine top level domains
Two groups representing the same wineries take opposite views on .wine and .vin TLDs.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/08/22/california-wineries-are-a-bit-drunk-over-wine-top-level-domains/>

Napa Wine Association Letter to ICANN Makes It Clear They Should Have Applied For .Napa/.Wine Instead Of Just Whining
After reading the letter sent by Bruce Cakebread telling ICANN how the 500 members of the Napa Valley Vintners need protection from the new proposed gTLD?s of .Wine and .Vin, I walked away thinking that the wine producers of Napa simply missed their chance to apply for .Napa and/or .Wine and now just want to whine about it.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/08/22/napa-wine-association-letter-to-icann-makes-it-clear-they-should-have-applied-for-napa-wine-instead-of-just-whining/>

Bank takes blame for gTLD name collision
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which has applied for the new gTLD .cba, has told ICANN that its own systems are to blame for most of the error traffic the string sees at the DNS root.
<http://domainincite.com/14281-bank-takes-blame-for-gtld-name-collision>

Failures mount up as ICANN releases penultimate week of IE results
Eight new gTLD applications flunked Initial Evaluation this week, according to ICANN?s just-released results.
<http://domainincite.com/14288-failures-mount-up-as-icann-releases-penultimate-week-of-ie-results>

Do only 4 new TLDs have a chance of going live this year?
ICANN released updated contracting statistics for its new TLD program yesterday, and applicants will be sad to see that there are still just four signed registry agreements.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/08/24/do-only-4-new-tlds-have-a-chance-of-going-live-this-year/>

New gTLD ".jprs" Status Update
On August 19, 2013, JPRS announced that its application to operate the new gTLD ".jprs" has successfully passed ICANN's initial evaluation.
<http://jprs.co.jp/en/topics/2013/130819_2.html>

So what is a Name Collision in the new gTLDs?
After years of waiting, it seemed like we were on the verge of seeing the first new gTLDs delegated by the end of the summer holidays. The ICANN meeting in Durban came and went without the fireworks we saw in Beijing, after the Government Advisory Committee?s legendary Communique cast doubt on a whole host of new gTLD applications. As we moved into summer, ICANN busily worked through its ?to do? list, solving some of the issues the GAC had flagged, and even made a couple of bold decisions, such as the ruling over the application for .amazon.
<http://www.netnames.com/blog/2013/08/so-what-is-a-name-collision-in-the-new-gtlds/>

.vip and .now clear objections
The latest batch of Legal Rights Objection results has seen two proposed new gTLDs ? .vip and .now ? emerge unscathed from the objections phase of the new gTLD program.
<http://domainincite.com/14277-vip-and-now-clear-objections>

Verisign and PIR get wins for IDN top level domain names
Verisign and Public Interest Registry have successfully defended applications for internationalized domain names that are transliterations of existing TLDs.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/08/23/verisign-pir-idn-transliteration/>

Russian Registrar Regtime Ltd. Lose Two Legal Rights Objections To PIR?s .OPR & .Verisign?s .KOM
Regtime Ltd. and Legato Ltd of the Russian Federation just lost two separate Legal Rights Objections at WIPO on the new gTLD strings .OPR and .KOM
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/08/23/russian-registrar-regtime-ltd-lose-two-legal-rights-objections-to-pirs-opr-verisigns-kom/>

National Association Of Realtors Reminds ICANN .Realtors Is a Brand App & Should be Outside Of GAC Advice
In a letter sent to the Chair of the new gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) The National Association Of Realtors reminded ICANN that its application for the new gTLD .Realtors is a brand application, not a generic application and should be freed from GAC Advice.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/08/22/national-association-of-realtors-reminds-icann-realtors-is-a-brand-app-should-be-outside-of-gac-advice/>

ICANN Denies Booking.com Request To Reconsider String Similarity Panel Ruling; Bad News On Cam Vs Com?
In turning down Booking.com request for reconsideration the ICANN Board appears to also have bad news for those that think the Board will step into settle the .Com Vs .Cam split decisions.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/08/22/icann-denies-booking-com-request-to-reconsider-string-similarity-panel-ruling-sounds-like-bad-news-on-cam-vs-com/>

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 - DNS SECURITY
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DNS Amplification Attacks: Out of Sight, Out of Mind? by Bruce Van Nice
Geoff Huston's recent post about the rise of DNS amplification attacks offers excellent perspective on the issue. Major incidents like the Spamhaus attack Geoff mentions at the beginning of his post make headlines, but even small attacks create noticeable floods of traffic. These attacks are easy to launch and effective even with relatively modest resources and we see evidence they're occurring regularly. Although DNS servers are not usually the target of these attacks the increase in traffic and larger response sizes typically stress DNS infrastructure and require attention from operation teams.
<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20130823_dns_amplification_attacks_out_of_sight_out_of_mind/>

APNIC boffins may enlist TCP to defend DNS
Could defending the Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure against amplification attacks be as simple as switching protocols in resolvers? Probably not ? but an experiment conducted at APNIC has far-reaching implications.
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/22/can_tcp_help_defend_the_dns/>

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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That?s a Mouthful (Er, Browserful?)
Sometimes filing a UDRP is the wrong move because you don?t have all the ammo you need to win ? maybe the Respondent actually registered the domain name before you had rights to the trademark, or maybe the Respondent has a legitimate use for the domain name and can?t be accused of filing in bad faith. And sometimes filing a UDRP is the wrong move because, well, the domain name may not be worth reclaiming: take as an example the domain name atualizacaocadastralbradescocliente.com.
<http://domainnamestrategy.com/2013/08/19/thats-a-mouthful-er-browserful/>

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 - MISCELLANEOUS
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Brand Protection Fails: This Weeks Trademark Infringing Domains That Brands Let Drop & Get Registered By Others
Welcome to another installment in our continuing series of trademark infringing domain names that Brands allowed to let drop and wind up in third parties hands.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2013/08/25/brand-protection-fails-this-weeks-trademark-infringing-domains-that-brands-let-drop-get-registered-by-others/>

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 - WEBHOSTING
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Estimating the value of hosting companies by counting computers
Is it possible to estimate the revenue of a hosting company based on its public presence ? that is, is the number of websites it hosts directly proportional to its market value? By using the market capitalisation (or acquisition purchase price, where appropriate) as a valuation and examining the number of web-facing computers, a striking patterns emerges. 
<http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2013/08/22/estimating-the-value-of-hosting-companies-by-counting-computers.html>

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 - DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET
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DomainNameSales.com announces new hybrid domain name brokering approach
A common complaint about domain name marketplaces is that your parked domain names are generated all of their leads. Why should you pay the marketplace when someone first expresses interest by clicking a link on your parked domain name?
<http://domainnamewire.com/2013/08/22/domainnamesales-com-announces-new-hybrid-domain-name-brokering-approach/>

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REPORTS & RESEARCH PAPERS
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Lawful Hacking: Using Existing Vulnerabilities for Wiretapping on the Internet by Steven M. Bellovin, Matt Blaze, Sandy Clark & Susan Landau
Abstract: For years, legal wiretapping was straightforward: the officer doing the intercept connected a tape recorder or the like to a single pair of wires. By the 1990s, though, the changing structure of telecommunications ? there was no longer just ?Ma Bell? to talk to ? and new technologies such as ISDN and cellular telephony made executing a wiretap more complicated for law enforcement. Simple technologies would no longer suffice. In response, Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which mandated a standardized lawful intercept interface on all local phone switches. Technology has continued to progress, and in the face of new forms of communication ? Skype, voice chat during multi-player online games, many forms of instant messaging, etc.? law enforcement is again experiencing problems. The FBI has called this ?Going Dark?: their loss of access to suspects? communication. According to news reports, they want changes to the wiretap laws to require a CALEA-?like interface in Internet software.
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=2312107>

Baywatch: Two Approaches to Measure the Effects of Blocking Access to the Pirate Bay by Joost Poort, Jorna Leenheer, Jeroen Van der Ham & Cosmin Dumitru
Abstract: In the fight against the unauthorised sharing of copyright protected material, aka piracy, Dutch Internet Service Providers have been summoned by courts to block their subscribers? access to The Pirate Bay (TPB) and related sites. This paper studies the effectiveness of this approach towards online copyright enforcement, using both a consumer survey and a newly developed non-infringing technology for BitTorrent monitoring. While a small group of respondents download less from illegal sources or claim to have stopped, and a small but significant effect is found on the distribution of Dutch peers, no lasting net impact is found on the percentage of the Dutch population downloading from illegal sources.
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=2314297>

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INTERNET USE
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Banish the trolls but web debate needs anonymity
So the proprietor of the Huffington Post has decided to ban anonymous commenting from the site, starting in mid-September. Speaking to reporters after a conference in Boston, Arianna Huffington said: "Trolls are just getting more and more aggressive and uglier and I just came from London where there are rape and death threats. I feel that freedom of expression is given to people who stand up for what they say and [are] not hiding behind anonymity. We need to evolve a platform to meet the needs of the grown-up internet."
<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/25/web-trolls-anonymity-huffington-post>

How Google's Autocomplete Was ... Created / Invented / Born
Few things merge technology and philosophy as elegantly as autocomplete. The feature is not merely one of the microinteractions that subtly standardize our experience of the Internet; it's also a kind of meta-interaction -- one that puts the "world" in "World Wide Web." Type in a search query -- or type in, rather, part of a search query -- and you get a textual snapshot of humanity's collective psyche. You see your desires and wonderings and wanderings, measured against the desires and wonderings and wanderings of everyone else who has ever used Google. Sometimes, as a result of all this, you get sadness. Sometimes you get silliness. Sometimes you get poetry. But you always get insight.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/how-googles-autocomplete-was-created-invented-born/278991/>

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CHILD PROTECTION & ONLINE SAFETY
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Teenage mobile users do worry about privacy, says Pew
Teenagers who use mobile apps do take steps to safeguard their privacy, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project.
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57599714-94/teenage-mobile-users-do-worry-about-privacy-says-pew/>

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DIGITAL DIVIDE
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Mark Zuckerberg's push to expand Internet access has big hurdles
Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's ambitious plan to provide Internet access to billions of people around the globe will face challenges that extend far beyond solving technical and financial issues.
<http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-facebook-internet-20130822,0,4286369.story>

Pacific Nations on the crest of an Internet wave
Wellington recently had one of the worst storms in recent memory.  The 200 kilometres an hour winds caused damage to both personal as well as public infrastructure.  Luckily my family and I were out of the region at the time and it was only when we returned three days later that I encountered a technological wasteland in my neighbourhood. The power that supplied my local exchange cabinet had been down for three days and my neighbours each had different stories about how this Internet outage had affected their everyday lives.
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/weekend-review-pacific-nations-crest-internet-wave-ts-144596>

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ONLINE CRIME & LEGAL
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Court Rules Accessing a Public Website Isn't A Crime, But Hiding Your IP Address Could Be
In the ongoing legal battle between craigslist and 3taps, a new court opinion makes clear that people are "authorized" under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to access a public website. But what the court gave with one hand it took with the other, as it also ruled that sending a cease-and-desist letter and blocking an IP address is enough to "revoke" this authorization.
<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/court-rules-accessing-public-website-isnt-crime-hiding-your-ip-address-could-be>

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SECURITY
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Cybercrooks use DDoS attacks to mask theft of banks' millions
Analyst says three unidentified US banks have been hit with "low powered" DDoS attacks to cover fraudulent wire transfers.
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57599646-83/cybercrooks-use-ddos-attacks-to-mask-theft-of-banks-millions/>

Popular download management program has hidden DDoS component, researchers say [IDG]
Recent versions of Orbit Downloader, a popular Windows program for downloading embedded media content and other types of files from websites, turns computers into bots and uses them to launch DDoS attacks, according to security researchers.
<http://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/524478/popular_download_management_program_has_hidden_ddos_component_researchers_say/>
<http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241823/Popular_download_management_program_has_hidden_DDoS_component_researchers_say>

Ex-Soviet hackers play outsized role in cyber crime world
If you want to hack a phone, order a cyber attack on a competitor's website or buy a Trojan program to steal banking information, look no further than the former Soviet Union.
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/22/net-us-russia-cybercrime-idUSBRE97L0TP20130822>
<http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/22/uk-russia-cybercrime-idUKBRE97L0TN20130822>

The Pentagon as Silicon Valley?s Incubator
In the ranks of technology incubator programs, there is AngelPad here in San Francisco and Y Combinator about 40 miles south in Mountain View. And then there is the Pentagon.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/technology/the-pentagon-as-start-up-incubator.html>

$6B DHS Cybersecurity Contract Sets Off Race to Supply Real-Time Monitoring to Feds
The Department of Homeland Security's $6 billion cybersecurity award last week to a slew of contractors and vendors sets in motion a contest among them to sell federal agencies on new network monitoring, vulnerability assessment and mitigation technologies.
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/082313-cybersecurity-contract-273148.html>
<http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/524609/_6b_dhs_cybersecurity_contract_sets_off_race_supply_real-time_monitoring_feds/>
<http://www.cio.com/article/738682/_6B_DHS_Cybersecurity_Contract_Sets_Off_Race_to_Supply_Real_Time_Monitoring_to_Feds>

Deep cyberattacks cost U.S. banks millions [IDG]
At least three U.S. banks have lost millions of dollars after fraudsters gained control of payment applications that control wire transfers.
<http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047299/deep-cyberattacks-cause-millions-in-losses-for-us-banks.html>

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PRIVACY & SURVEILLANCE
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uk: Coalition battle looms over anti-terror laws after Greenwald partner detention
Nick Clegg and Theresa May are heading for a confrontation over the future of Britain's anti-terror laws in the aftermath of the controversy over the detention of the partner of the Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald.
<http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/21/coalition-debate-detention-laws-miranda>

Internet launches fightback against state snoopers
Key architects of the internet have started to fight back against US and UK snooping programmes by drawing up an ambitious plan to defend traffic over the world wide web against mass surveillance.
<http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ab28f708-0a7e-11e3-aeab-00144feabdc0.html>

Exclusive: Edward Snowden leaks reveal UK?s secret Middle-East internet surveillance base
Britain runs a secret internet-monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept and process vast quantities of emails, telephone calls and web traffic on behalf of Western intelligence agencies, The Independent has learnt.
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/exclusive-edward-snowden-leaks-reveal-uks-secret-middleeast-internet-surveillance-base-8781082.html>

NSA paid millions to cover Prism compliance costs for tech companies
The National Security Agency paid millions of dollars to cover the costs of major internet companies involved in the Prism surveillance program after a court ruled that some of the agency's activities were unconstitutional, according to top-secret material passed to the Guardian.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/nsa-prism-costs-tech-companies-paid>

NSA gathered thousands of Americans? e-mails before court ordered it to revise its tactics
For several years, the National Security Agency unlawfully gathered tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-revised collection method, according to a 2011 secret court opinion.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-gathered-thousands-of-americans-e-mails-before-court-struck-down-program/2013/08/21/146ba4b6-0a90-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html>

NSA illegally collected thousands of emails before Fisa court halted program
The secretive court that oversees surveillance programs found in 2011 that the National Security Agency illegally collected tens of thousands of emails between Americans in violation of the fourth amendment to the US constitution.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/21/nsa-illegally-collected-thousands-emails-court>

Secret Court Rebuked N.S.A. on Surveillance
A federal judge sharply rebuked the National Security Agency in 2011 for repeatedly misleading the court that oversees its surveillance on domestic soil, including a program that is collecting tens of thousands of domestic e-mails and other Internet communications of Americans each year, according to a secret ruling made public on Wednesday.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/us/2011-ruling-found-an-nsa-program-unconstitutional.html>

Declassified 2011 FISC Opinion Shows Court Found Some NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional
Newly declassified documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the EFF show that the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2011 declared that the National Security Agency?s techniques for collecting upstream Internet communications was unconstitutional and illegal.
<http://threatpost.com/declassified-2011-fisc-opinion-shows-court-found-some-nsa-surveillance-unconstitutional/102059>

NSA Officers Spy on Love Interests
National Security Agency officers on several occasions have channeled their agency?s enormous eavesdropping power to spy on love interests, U.S. officials said.
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/23/nsa-officers-sometimes-spy-on-love-interests/>

NSA analysts 'wilfully violated' surveillance systems, agency admits
The National Security Agency has admitted that some of its analysts deliberately abused its surveillance systems, with one analyst disciplined for using NSA resources to track a former spouse.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/24/nsa-analysts-abused-surveillance-systems>

Edward Snowden NSA files: secret surveillance and our revelations so far
In the 11 weeks since the Guardian published its first revelations from top-secret material leaked by the NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the paper has published more than 300 stories on the surveillance state and the political fallout from the revelations.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/21/edward-snowden-nsa-files-revelations>

New Zealand appears to have used NSA spy network to target Kim Dotcom
A new examination of previously published affidavits from the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)?the New Zealand equivalent of the National Security Agency (NSA)?appears to suggest that the GCSB used the ?Five Eyes? international surveillance network to capture the communications of Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload.
<http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/new-zealand-appears-to-have-used-nsa-spy-network-to-target-kim-dotcom/>

US intelligence services go 'on the record' with new Tumblr blog
As scrutiny of the activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA) continues, a new Tumblr blog launched by the Office of the Director of National Security is promising more transparency on "lawful foreign surveillance activities" carried out by US agencies.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/us-intelligence-community-tumblr-surveillance>

NSA Responds To Criticism Over Surveillance Programs
The NSA has hit back after mounting criticism about its ability to intercept Web communications domestically, claiming that reports of its capabilities are "inaccurate and misleading."
<http://www.darkreading.com/privacy/nsa-responds-to-criticism-over-surveilla/240160334>

UK government given Tuesday deadline over David Miranda data
The high court has given the government until Tuesday night to provide detailed evidence about why it wants the right to trawl and share data seized using terror laws from the partner of a Guardian journalist.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/government-david-miranda-data>

Guardian Editor: 'British More Complacent' about Surveillance
The Guardian has been on the front lines of exposing vast surveillance undertaken by the US and the UK -- and has been targeted by the authorities as a result. In an interview, Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger talks about his confrontation with the government and why the scandal isn't making waves in Britain.
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-guardian-editor-rusbridger-on-snowden-information-a-918059.html>

Here?s how privacy advocates shined light on the NSA?s unconstitutional surveillance
After a legal battle that went on over a year, the federal government was forced to reveal a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court (FISC) opinion that showed the National Security Agency (NSA) engaged in unconstitutional surveillance practices, including the collection of tens of thousands of Americans? online communications. The Switch talked to Mark Rumold, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) who worked on the case, hours after the opinion was released Wednesday night. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/22/heres-how-privacy-advocates-shined-light-on-the-nsas-unconstitutional-surveillance/>

New Zealand rights group blasts new law extending surveillance powers
A New Zealand civil liberties group denounced a new law permitting wider surveillance of citizens on Thursday, saying authorities were "buying into" the monitoring exposed by fugitive former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
<http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/08/22/newzealand-security-idINDEE97L06J20130822>

nz: Mega: Don?t expect privacy online
Sending an email is like physically sending a postcard which the postal system and postie can read, warns Mega CEO Vikram Kumar.
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/node/144883>

German government denies Windows 'back door' claims
The German government doles out common-sense advice on using Windows 8 and TPM 2.0 chips in conjunction, but it's distorted by some observers into wild claims of "back doors."
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57599735-83/german-government-denies-windows-back-door-claims/>

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GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
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Vikram Kumar: Response to ICT Minister Amy Adams on the TICS Bill by Vikram Kumar
Aka, the "sweaty T-shirt brigade" strikes back. I?ve been on the other side - explaining and defending a Bill. I fully appreciate how the Minister and policy makers look at a Bill through the lens of what they intended the words to say.
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/vikram-kumar-response-ict-minister-amy-adams-tics-bill-ck-144891>

nz: Mega seeks CloudCode signatory status
Mega, the seven-month-old file storage service that rose from the ashes of Kim Dotcom?s Megaupload, is one of first cabs off the rank in seeking New Zealand CloudCode signatory status.
<http://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/524415/mega_seeks_cloudcode_signatory_status/>
<http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/524415/mega_seeks_cloudcode_signatory_status/>

Concerns new spy bill will hold Kiwi ICT companies back
Another spy bill making its way through Parliament is raising concerns for the future of the technology sector in New Zealand.
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/concerns-new-spy-bill-will-hold-kiwi-ict-companies-back-ts-144889>

nz: GCSB Bill secret backdoor revelation - Govt rebuttal cuts no ice with Kumar
Vikram Kumar is dismissive of the government's response to his NBR article over the weekend. After firing off a series of Official Information Act requests, Mr Kumar learned the Crown plans to force service providers to create interception capability for surveillance agencies whence the Telco Intercept Bill becomes law - and then possibly issue a gag order on the provider.
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/gcsb-bill-secret-backdoor-revelation-govt-rebuttal-cuts-no-ice-kumar-ck-p-144640>

Why the TICS Bill could put New Zealand ICT companies out of business
As the TICs Bill moves closer to becoming law the focus is moving from the GCSB law, now passed, to the impact of the TICs on the New Zealand ICT Industry. As I?ve commented before, the lost opportunity, what could have been, could be as high as $750m a year. Without revisiting that, its because the GCSB and TICs bills, combined, no longer make New Zealand a perceived safe haven for data. Vikram Kumar, desperately trying to protect the Mega business has been vociferous in his opposition, and that pushed me to do some research on how else TICS could damage the ICT Industry in New Zealand.
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/why-tics-bill-could-put-new-zealand-ict-companies-out-business-ck-144864>

Vikram Kumar: Response to ICT Minister Amy Adams on the TICS Bill
ICT Minister Amy Adams did a superb political job on Q+A this morning in ?forcefully defending? the TICS Bill. She successfully pushed the TICS Bill out of mainstream Kiwi concerns to the ?sweaty T-shirt brigade? (aka the ICT community).
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/vikram-kumar-response-ict-minister-amy-adams-tics-bill-ck-144891>

As GCSB Bill becomes law, focus turns to Telco Intercept Bill - which has a protectionist twist
The bungled Kim Dotcom raid might have highlighted illegal domestic surveillance. But despite the giant German's public campaigning it has, ironically, led to a tightening of our spy laws.
<http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/raw-data-third-reading-speech-gcsb-legislation-john-keys-speech-ck-144709>

NZ segment of Cloud Security Alliance calls for transparency, security
The New Zealand chapter of the Cloud Security Alliance is calling for transparency of security practices within cloud providers.
<http://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/524392/nz_segment_cloud_security_alliance_calls_transparency_security/>
<http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/524392/nz_segment_cloud_security_alliance_calls_transparency_security/>

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MISCELLANEOUS
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Interview: Vint Cerf: The internet and 40 years of openness
The father of the internet Vint Cerf, chief internet evangelist, Google, speaks to Computer Weekly about tapping, privacy and IP addresses
<http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240203924/Vint-Cerf-the-internet-40-years-of-openness>

Tech giants may be huge, but nothing matches big data
"Data is the new oil," declared Clive Humby, a Sheffield mathematician who with his wife, Edwina Dunn, made ?90m helping Tesco with its Clubcard system. Though he said it in 2006, the realisation that there is a lot of money to be made ? and lost ? through the careful or careless marshalling of "big data" has only begun to dawn on many business people.
<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/23/tech-giants-data>
------
David Goldstein

 email: david at goldsteinreport.com

 web:   http://goldsteinreport.com / http://davidgoldstein.tel/
 phone: +61 418 228 605 ? mobile / +61 2 9663 3430 - office/home

"Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery