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The domain name news is supported by auDA

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Two decades on, we must preserve the internet as a tool of democracy
<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/12/web-tool-democracy-tim-berners-lee>

The Brazil meeting X-rayed by Milton Mueller
<http://www.internetgovernance.org/2014/01/14/the-brazil-meeting-x-rayed/>

Registrar Accreditation Agreement and potential scams
<http://www.netnames.com/blog/2014/01/registrar-accreditation-agreement-and-potential-scams/>

Consumer alert: WHOIS verification phishing scams hit Australia by George Pongas
<http://www.ausregistry.com.au/news/consumer-alert-whois-verification-phishing-scams-hit-australia>

Web IP & ARI Registry Services join forces on enterprise DNS in Australia
<http://www.ariservices.com/news-Web-IP-&-ARI-Registry-Services-join-forces-on-enterprise-DNS-in-Australia.php>

Today You Use .COM. What Will You Use Tomorrow??
<http://gtldstrategy.com/2014/01/15/today-you-use-com-what-will-you-use-tomorrow/>

Uni drops .edu to .monash in Aussie first
<http://www.afr.com/p/technology/uni_drops_edu_to_monash_in_aussie_vbNBYFc2FOUhadw87prJHM>

Domain Name Importance in Ranking
<http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/webmaster/archive/2014/01/15/domain-name-importance-in-ranking.aspx>


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GOVERNANCE
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Two decades on, we must preserve the internet as a tool of democracy
If the internet is the road system for the digital world, then the world wide web is the car ? the tool we use daily for work and play. It seems almost impossible to remember what unconnected life was like; some of us are old enough to remember living without the web, old enough to have used typewriters at university, microfiches in the school library and can recall the first mention of something called "Hotmail".
<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/12/web-tool-democracy-tim-berners-lee>

The Brazil meeting X-rayed by Milton Mueller
You?re hearing a lot about the upcoming Brazil Conference on the Future of Internet Governance. Trying to make sense of it? A new paper by IGP?s Milton Mueller and Ben Wagner of the Center for Global Communication Studies analyzes what it might mean for the future of global Internet governance.
<http://www.internetgovernance.org/2014/01/14/the-brazil-meeting-x-rayed/>

The Internet Governance landscape
CENTR has published a paper on the topic of Internet Governance. The paper provides an analytical and historical account of the Internet Governance landscape including many of the contributing elements to the global dialogue, such as:
<http://centr.org/news/igf/01-14-2014/3207/internet-governance-landscape>

Internet Governance: An Introduction by Bart W. Schermer & Arno R. Lodder [Handbook on ICT Law]
Abstract: Due to the globalisation which took place at the beginning of the 20th century and which ultimately culminated in the great world wars, the realisation for the need of governance at the global level, so?called global governance grew. Global governance is concerned with global issues that cannot be solved within the context of an individual nation. Examples of these issues are world peace, international security, economic development and wealth distribution, environmental issues and ? now ? the regulation of the internet. Internet governance is as much a part of and a catalyst for global governance. 
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=2378037>

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - ICANN
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WEBINAR: ICANN Strategy Panel on Identifier Technology Innovation
You are invited to an update on the activities of the Strategy Panel on Identifier Technology Innovation. ICANN Strategy Panels' work will inform ICANN's new, overarching vision and five-year strategic plan.
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-17jan14-en.htm>

New Contracting Statistics Released
Below are the key Contracting statistics, as of 17 January 2014:
<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-17jan14-en>

Registrar Accreditation Agreement and potential scams
As of the 1st January the new Registrar Accreditation Agreement came into force, meaning that domain name registrars now need to take steps to verify exactly who is actually registering domain names.  The new changes have been driven by law enforcement agencies to try and help unmask criminals who have previously hidden behind bogus contact details within the WHOIS database. The new rules mean that the contact details have to be verified by Registrars within a short period post application for a domain name.
<http://www.netnames.com/blog/2014/01/registrar-accreditation-agreement-and-potential-scams/>

Craig S. Schwartz, Coordinator | Community TLD Applicant Group (CTAG), to Christine Willett
Community Priority Evaluation 	 
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/schwartz-to-willett-10jan14-en>

Elisa Cooper, Chair | ICANN Business Constituency, to the New gTLD Program Committee
Plural and Singular Forms of TLD Strings
<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/cooper-to-ngpc-30dec13-en>

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 - ccTLD & gTLD NEWS
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Consumer alert: WHOIS verification phishing scams hit Australia by George Pongas
A New Year and another domain name related scam is doing the rounds in an attempt to deceive registrants into providing account details.
<http://www.ausregistry.com.au/news/consumer-alert-whois-verification-phishing-scams-hit-australia>

Web IP & ARI Registry Services join forces on enterprise DNS in Australia
Major businesses will now have access to a locally managed global Anycast DNS network to support their website, email and critical online applications following the announcement of an Australian first alliance today.
<http://www.ariservices.com/news-Web-IP-&-ARI-Registry-Services-join-forces-on-enterprise-DNS-in-Australia.php>

JPRS Revised DNSSEC Practice Statement for the JP Zone (JP DPS)
On January 17th, JPRS revised "DNSSEC Practice Statement for the JP Zone (JP DPS)". This action is a consequence of annual re-examination of JP DPS, which is regulated in section 1.4.3 of JP DPS itself.
<http://jprs.co.jp/en/topics/2014/140117.html>

DOT RF becomes a registered trademark
Russia's Federal Service for Intellectual Property has successfully registered the .?? trademark. The trademark registration request was filed by the Coordination Center for ccTLD RU/??.
<http://cctld.ru/en/news/news_detail.php?ID=5377>

2,187 malicious domains suspended in 2013 in Russia
In December 2013, Group-IB, an Internet security company, has filed 91 suspension notices to Russian registrars, resulting in 83 suspended domain names. EIght domain names remain delegated, as the owners have removed the malware that could lead to suspension; these were unsuspended by a special request made by CERT-GIB.
<http://cctld.ru/en/news/news_detail.php?ID=5401>

Dutch The Most Enthusiastic .EU Registrants But Germany Has The Most
There are more than twice as many .eu domain names registered in Germany than the Netherlands, who has the second highest number of registrations, but the Dutch have more than twice as many .eu domain names per person than the Germans.
<http://brandshelter.com/english/News/Current News.html>

uk: Nominet Supports the Launch of Cyber Streetwise
We have always been committed at Nominet to contributing to make the UK internet as safe, secure and as trusted as possible, while also playing our part in the fight against cyber crime.
<http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/blog/nominet-supports-launch-cyber-streetwise>

Nominet Trust announces latest round of ?50,000 winners to benefit from Social Tech, Social Change entrepreneur fund
The latest round of winners to receive financial backing from the Social Tech, Social Change fund have been announced and each has been awarded ?50,000 to invest into their venture.
<http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/01/16/nominet-trusts-announces-latest-round-50000-winners-benefit-social-tech-social>

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 - NEW TLDS
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Today You Use .COM. What Will You Use Tomorrow??
We at FairWinds Partners are abuzz about an industry-defining conference we will host in Washington D.C. on February 19, 2014, at the Newseum. The conference is a chance to examine how new top-level Internet domain names will change the way users navigate, search, shop, brand themselves, target customers, protect trademarks, and remain safe online.
<http://gtldstrategy.com/2014/01/15/today-you-use-com-what-will-you-use-tomorrow/>

ARI Registry Services adds world?s first .brand to the Internet
Monash University has trumped the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple and over 600 other major brands around the world to become the first ever globally recognised organisation to have its own TLD added to the Internet. 
<http://ariservices.com/news-ARI-Registry-Services-adds-world?s-first-.brand-to-the-Internet.php>

Uni drops .edu to .monash in Aussie first
Melbourne?s Monash University can now say it has its own, private slice of the internet. The university became the first Australian organisation on Sunday night to be awarded a gTLD, allowing it to replace the ?.edu? it currently appends to the end of its web address with the customised .monash.
<http://www.afr.com/p/technology/uni_drops_edu_to_monash_in_aussie_vbNBYFc2FOUhadw87prJHM>

Monash gets first branded TLD
Monash University has received the .monash TLD, becoming the first global organisation to be delegated a brand-name TLD by ICANN.
<http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/536287/monash_gets_first_branded_top-level_domain/>

New gTLDs top 100 as first dot-brands hit the root
There are now 106 new gTLDs live on the internet, following the latest batch of delegations.
<http://domainincite.com/15595-new-gtlds-top-100-as-first-dot-brands-hit-the-root>

Now you can register a domain name in Japanese script, all thanks to Google
Google announced this afternoon that internet users can now apply for the domain name .??? , (pronounced ?mee-n-nuh? according to the company), which translates to ?everybody? written in hiragana, a component in Japanese script.
<http://www.techinasia.com/register-domain-japanese-script-hiragana-google/>

ICANN BC Committee Tells ICANN Not To Allow Singular & Plurals Strings (Again)
Elisa Cooper the Chair of the ICANN Business Constituency has told ICANN (again) not to allow singular and plural?s strings of the same word.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2014/01/19/icann-bc-committee-tells-icann-not-to-allow-singular-plurals-strings-again/>

How to get the latest information on New Domains
New Domains are finally here, and literally hundreds more will be released over the next year. It's an exciting time for the internet, because the New Domains present incredible new opportunities for registering unique, memorable domain names.
<http://www.name.com/blog/general/domains/2014/01/how-to-get-the-latest-information-on-new-domains/>

YogaGlo gets defensive with domains after patent backlash
YogaGlo, which provides yoga classes via the web, has faced quite the backlash since it received a patent for its way of recording a yoga class and delivering it over the web.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2014/01/17/yogaglo-gets-defensive-with-domains-after-patent-backlash/>

.Health applicants survive community objections
The objection process against .health TLDs is over.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2014/01/17/health-applicants-survive-community-objections/>

Donuts loses .Insurance but can keep .Insure
New TLD mega-applicant Donuts is no longer in the running for the .insurance TLD as a result of a community objection decision. But it has survived an objection against its .insure application, for which it is not in a contention set.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2014/01/17/donuts-loses-insurance-but-can-keep-insure/>

Top 5 Reason Domainers Resist New gTLDs
... And as usual I found that the responses where almost always negative towards the new expansion. The reasons for this are almost always the same usual responses too and I realised that there are two separate schools of thought at play which are worth noting because in my opinion it highlights the fact that potentially both parties (TLD industry and domainers) have not figured out how to communicate this expansion in a way that benefits both. In fact I would go as far to say that it appears to me like a case of ?doing what we have always done? on both sides of the fence.
<http://slamstrategy.com.au/top-5-reason-domainers-resist-new-gtlds/>

Donuts Comments On ICANN Last Resort Auction Rules
Donuts filed a comment with ICANN over the ICANN Last Resort Auction Rules which were up for public comment.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2014/01/19/donuts-comments-on-icann-last-resort-auction-rules/>

Google Registry Tells ICANN They Should Finish Off Last Resort Auctions In Six Months
Google Registry in its comment filed on the ICANN Last Resort says ICANN plan to conduct all of the Last Resort Auctions within one year is too long.
<http://www.thedomains.com/2014/01/16/google-registry-tells-icann-they-should-finish-off-last-resort-auctions-in-six-months/>

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 - DNS SECURITY
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Connected TVs, fridge help launch global cyberattack
It's bad enough that we have to fear identity thieves who are trying to scam us with malicious messages sent from PCs.
<http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/17/tech/gaming-gadgets/attack-appliances-fridge/index.html>

Fridge sends spam emails as attack hits smart gadgets
A fridge has been discovered sending out spam after a web attack managed to compromise smart gadgets.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25780908>

Is your refrigerator really part of a massive spam-sending botnet?
Security researchers have published a report that Ars is having a tough time swallowing, despite considerable effort chewing?a botnet of more than 100,000 smart TVs, home networking routers, and other Internet-connected consumer devices that recently took part in sending 750,000 malicious e-mails over a two-week period.
<http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/01/is-your-refrigerator-really-part-of-a-massive-spam-sending-botnet/>

Attacks spur cyber insurance sales surge
Immature market boosted by data breaches at high-profile targets
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/94358fee-7d55-11e3-a48f-00144feabdc0.html>

Malware Distributors Using Major US Cloud Computing Services: Report
Malware distributors are adopting cloud computing, either by buying services directly or by compromising legitimate accounts, as a quick and cost-effective way to bring their malware online, according to a new report. Major hosting providers such as Amazon and GoDaddy (which host 16 percent and a 14 percent of malware, respectively) can also help malware avoid blacklisting by hiding behind these providers? reputations.
<http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/malware-distributors-using-major-us-cloud-computing-services-report>

Cyber-Criminals Turn to Big U.S. Web Hosts to Spread Malware
Two studies, one produced by Cisco and the other by Solutionary, find that cyber-attackers increasingly use popular U.S. cloud services as a launching point for malware.
<http://www.eweek.com/security/cyber-criminals-turn-to-big-u.s.-web-hosts-to-spread-malware.html>

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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Both Sides of the Table
Certain keywords are so valuable that they often become the subject of cybersquatting again and again. A recent case from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) came to my attention for just this reason. The complaint was filed by DSG Retail Limited against Mr. Adrian Timofticiuc over the domain name knowhowinsurance.com. According to Google, the term ?Insurance? ranks as the number one most expensive keyword in AdWords Advertising, with a cost of $54.91 per click.
<http://domainnamestrategy.com/2014/01/13/both-sides-of-the-table/>

UDRP complainant successfully asserts common law trademark rights [registration]
In two decisions issued by the same single-member panel under the UDRP, Milanoo.com Limited - a China-based company which operates an online marketplace - has obtained the transfer of the domain names ?milanoo.cc? and ?milanoo.me?. The panel accepted Milanoo.com?s assertions of common law trademark rights, especially in light of the fact that its trademark was very distinctive.
<http://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/daily/Detail.aspx?g=e5f024d4-7797-495b-ae9f-9b1f7e91088a>

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 - IPv4/IPv6
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IPv6 is Everywhere at Cisco Live Milan
IPv6 deployment is accelerating at a fast pace. It?s exciting to see that the global IPv6 deployment figures show a continuing upward trend:
<http://blogs.cisco.com/getyourbuildon/ipv6-is-everywhere-at-cisco-live-milan/>

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 - MISCELLANEOUS
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Domain Name Importance in Ranking
It?s been great attending Namescon this week, though a couple side-bar conversations had me scratching my head. In fact, on three instances I?ve heard people discussing this topic and someone stating that having keyword rich and exact match domain names is where it?s at. This choice alone can make or break you. And they were thinking of developing sites, not parking domains.
<http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/webmaster/archive/2014/01/15/domain-name-importance-in-ranking.aspx>

In memory of Jon Bing
It was with deep sorrow that Norid received the message that Jon Bing, dr. juris and a professor of at the University of Oslo, has passed away. Norway has lost a great personality and professional.
<http://www.norid.no/nytt/jonbing.en.html>

Norway mourns three losses
Norway?s cultural and academic circles were in mourning this week after the deaths of three well-known and respected media and music experts on the same day. Jon Bing, Tor Milde and Per Eirik Johansen were all relatively young, aged 54 to 69. ... Bing had suffered health problems for the past decade and died Wednesday in Oslo, age 69. He was a sought-after speaker, consultant and adviser and headed a center for IT law at the University of Oslo. He became a member of ICANN in 2006, the international organization that administers the Internet, including global distribution of domaines and IP addresses.
<http://www.newsinenglish.no/2014/01/17/norway-mourns-three-losses/>

Interest in Bitcoin Reflected by Domain Registrations
Bitcoin, the crypto-currency that has captured the imaginations of technologists and economists around the world, has received a considerable amount of attention over the past couple of weeks.
<http://blogs.verisigninc.com/blog/entry/interest_in_bitcoin_reflected_by>

Juan Diego Calle of .CO: Want to Control Your Brand Experience? Look to TLDs [VIDEO]
With the gradual release of new TLDs, 2014 is going to be a big year for the Internet. It?s all very exciting for Juan Diego Calle, the CEO of .CO, who believes that access to new TLDs will bring about new business innovation and improve control of a business? brand experience.
<http://tech.co/juan-diego-calle-co-control-brand-experience-top-level-domains-2014-01>

RIPE NCC Member Update January 2014
The latest issue of the RIPE NCC Member Update features an interview with Hans Petter Holen, Deputy RIPE Chair of RIPE, an update on RIPE Policy Development, as well as articles on the RIPE Academic Cooperation Initiative (RACI), RPKI, and RIPE Atlas anchors.
<http://www.ripe.net/internet-coordination/news/about-ripe-ncc-and-ripe/ripe-ncc-member-update-january-2014>

Data Driven Platforms to Support IoT, SDN, and Cloud
More and more enterprises are managing distributed infrastructures and applications that need to share data. This data sharing can be viewed as data flows that connect (and flow through) multiple applications. Applications are partly managed on-premise, and partly in (multiple) off-premise clouds. Cloud infrastructures need to elastically scale over multiple data centers and software defined networking (SDN) is providing more network flexibility and dynamism.
<http://blogs.cisco.com/perspectives/data-driven-platforms-to-support-iot-sdn-and-cloud/>

Domain Registrars And ISPs: The Soft Underbelly Of Coercive Control
When I first got into this business I frequently wondered why the domain-policy mailing lists I was getting involved in attracted a lot of activist types.
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140116/16464725911/domain-registrars-web-hosts-isps-dns-providers-soft-underbelly-coercive-control.shtml>

W3C/IAB "Strengthening the Internet" Workshop: Deadline Monday to Submit Position Papers by Dan York
How can the open standards organizations of the IETF and W3C "strengthen the Internet" against large-scale pervasive monitoring? That is the topic up for discussion at the "Strengthening the Internet Against Pervasive Monitoring (STRINT)" workshop planned for February 28 and March 1, 2014, and jointly sponsored by the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the W3C. The workshop is by invitation-only and has a deadline of Monday, January 20, 2014 (by 11:59 UTC) for submission of either position papers or Internet drafts.
<http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140116_w3c_iab_strengthening_the_internet_workshop/>

GoDaddy Launches Managed WordPress Hosting Service
GoDaddy will start offering managed WordPress hosting on Friday, according to an announcement by the company. GoDaddy plans to officially launch the product at the Wordcamp Phoenix event tomorrow.
<http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/godaddy-launches-managed-wordpress-hosting-service>

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 - DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET
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GoDaddy 'Parked Pages' Lawsuit Heats Up
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' suit against GoDaddy for allegedly trafficking in unauthorized trademarks heated up again this week after the Academy's attorneys called the registrar's latest legal actions "outrageous and sanctionable."
<http://newswire.xbiz.com/view.php?id=173684>

You might find irony in what Sedo?s founder is doing now
It?s been a few years since Tim Schumacher, co-founder of Sedo, left the company.
<http://domainnamewire.com/2014/01/16/you-might-find-irony-in-what-sedos-founder-is-doing-now/>

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INTERNET USE
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Technology Is Not Driving Us Apart After All
In September 2008, two graduate students working for Keith Hampton, a professor at Rutgers, raised a camera atop a 16-foot tripod to film down into Bryant Park, the sprawling green space behind the main branch of the New York Public Library. They hit record, then milled about nearby pretending they had nothing to do with the rig, as it semi-surreptitiously filmed the comings and goings of hundreds of New Yorkers. The charade didn?t last. After an hour, Lauren Sessions Goulet, the more senior of the pair, found herself talking to the park?s private security force, which sent her to see their bosses, the Bryant Park Corporation. She was nervous.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/magazine/technology-is-not-driving-us-apart-after-all.html>

China now has half a billion mobile web users, 618 million total internet users
China now has 618 million internet users and 500 million mobile web users, according to new figures today from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
<http://www.techinasia.com/cnnic-china-500-million-mobile-web-users-and-618-internet-users-2013/>

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MOBILE/WIRELESS
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au: Costly mobile apps worry ACCC
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has expressed concern about misleading mobile applications after US regulators forced Apple to repay at least $US32.5 million to customers hit by unexpected credit-card payments.
<http://www.afr.com/p/technology/costly_mobile_apps_worry_accc_2eQHqtm9LW3niurreUWMdO>

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PRIVACY & SURVEILLANCE
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Report: NSA 'collected 200m texts per day'
The US National Security Agency (NSA) has collected and stored almost 200 million text messages a day from around the world, UK media report.
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-25770313>

NSA collects millions of text messages daily in 'untargeted' global sweep
The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/16/nsa-collects-millions-text-messages-daily-untargeted-global-sweep>

Obama Outlines Calibrated Curbs on Phone Spying
President Obama, acknowledging that high-tech surveillance poses a threat to civil liberties, announced significant changes on Friday to the way the government collects and uses telephone records, but left in place many other pillars of the nation?s intelligence programs.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/politics/obama-nsa.html>

Obama Says NSA's Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Data Will End
President Barack Obama's plan to curtail the government's mass collection of American phone data shakes up U.S. spying practices amid a world-wide firestorm over revelations about the nation's surveillance programs.
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304603704579326333792513314>

With Plan to Overhaul Spying, the Divisiveness Is in the Details
The roiling debate over security and liberty did not end with President Obama?s newly announced overhaul of surveillance practices. Rather, it now enters a volatile next phase as intelligence agencies and a divided Congress try to turn principles into policy.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/us/politics/with-plan-to-overhaul-spying-the-divisiveness-is-in-the-details.html>

Obama Says NSA's Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Data Will End
President Barack Obama's plan to curtail the government's mass collection of American phone data shakes up U.S. spying practices amid a world-wide firestorm over revelations about the nation's surveillance programs.
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304603704579326333792513314>

Obama Addresses Economic Damage Caused by Snowden NSA Leaks
Brookings Institution fellow Cameron Kerry says President Obama?s speech on Friday ?accomplished a great deal? in the effort to rebuild trust in U.S. companies, which was badly shaken by Edward Snowden?s leaks about NSA surveillance and its connections to U.S.-based tech giants.
<http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/01/17/obama-addresses-economic-damage-caused-by-snowden-nsa-leaks/>

Obama NSA reforms receive mixed response in Europe and Brazil
Europeans were largely underwhelmed by Barack Obama's speech on limited reform of US espionage practices, saying the measures did not go far enough to address concerns over American snooping on its European allies.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/obama-nsa-reforms-reaction-europe-brazil>

US telecoms giants express unease about proposed NSA metadata reforms
US telecoms giants expressed concern Friday about president Barack Obama?s reform of the National Security Agency?s bulk collection of American citizens? phone records.
<http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/17/telecoms-giants-concern-nsa-metadata-reforms>

Apple, Google Gear Up to Lobby Congress on NSA Reform
Apple Inc., Google Inc. and other technology companies are gearing up to bring their fight over U.S. surveillance to Congress after President Barack Obama offered no specific proposals on their central request: to tell customers more about what the government is doing.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-18/apple-google-gear-up-to-lobby-congress-on-nsa-reform.html>

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MISCELLANEOUS
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The new GE: Google, everywhere - With a string of deals the internet giant has positioned itself to become a big inventor, and reinventor, of hardware
At Google they call it the toothbrush test. Shortly after returning to being the firm?s chief executive in 2011, Larry Page said he wanted it to develop more services that everyone would use at least twice a day, like a toothbrush. Its search engine and its Android operating system for mobile devices pass that test. Now, with a string of recent acquisitions, Google seems to be planning to become as big in hardware as it is in software, developing ?toothbrush? products in a variety of areas from robots to cars to domestic-heating controls.
<http://www.economist.com/news/business/21594259-string-deals-internet-giant-has-positioned-itself-become-big-inventor-and>

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ONLINE CHILD ABUSE ARRESTS/COURT CASES
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Philippines child sex ring cracked with three Australians arrested
Three Australians have been arrested after federal police helped crack an organised crime ring that streamed live footage of child sex abuse from the Philippines.
<http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/16/philippines-child-sex-ring-cracked-with-three-australians-arrested>

100 Britons under investigation over Philippines child sexual abuse
More than 100 Britons are under investigation for streaming live child abuse from the Philippines, according to the National Crime Agency.
<http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/15/philippines-child-sexual-abuse-inquiry>

Philippines web abuse ring smashed in UK-led operation
A paedophile ring that streamed live child abuse from the Philippines over the internet has been broken up after an operation by UK police and their counterparts in Australia and the US.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25749326>

au: Net predator poased as girl, to lure teen
A Sydney man has been charged by police after he allegedly solicited a 14-year-old American boy to engage in sexual acts over a webcam.
<http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-man-poses-as-girl-to-get-us-boy-to-perform-sex-acts-into-webcam-police-20140117-30za5.html>

------
David Goldstein

 email: david at goldsteinreport.com

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"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