Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the most recent edition of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online! Headlines from the 26 edition of the news include: Podcaster loses cybersquat of 'Simpsons Movie' site | WIPO Rules for 'The Simpsons' | Internet Core Neutrality: Drawing a Line in the Sand at ICANN by Dan Krimm | Users urged to patch serious hole in BIND 9 DNS server | A revamp of ICANN?s public comment process | ICANN NomComm: Leave It Alone by Bret Fausett | nz: UK internet defamation case resonates here | Dot TK cleans up Tokelau?s web domain | Why Is Uncle Sam Dictating .Us Policy? by Larry Seltzer | Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse to combat cybersquatting | GayCalifornia.com acquired for a Cool Quarter Million Dollars The domain name news is supported by auDA. And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Cyber squatters ride on Sochi's Olympic success http://russiatoday.ru/scitech/news/11223 Is IT losing the battle against DNS attacks? http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-it-losing-battle-against-dns-attacks.html Web of confusion between domain names and trademarks Mark Bender's guides us through the confusing array of rights attached to business names. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/07/19/1184559956079.html The Web: Are You Truly Master Of Your Domain? by David M. Kelly (Boston Business Journal)(reg req'd) http://mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=50162 The Most Expensive Web Addresses http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2007/06/28/google-news-corp-ent-tech-cx_ll_0629webaddresses.html ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** Netizens and WSIS: Welcome to the 21st Century In the early 1990s, Michael Hauben and Ronda Hauben began to document the history and social impact of Usenet and the Internet. In 1994, they put their research online as the netizens netbook. Its title was "Netizens and the Wonderful World of the Net." Then, in 1997 there appeared a print edition, Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet,(1) A small gathering was help on July 14, 2007 in New York City to celebrate its tenth anniversary. http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=423851 http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=373298 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits ITU: Call to broaden ITU?s agenda to meet long-term development needs UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon visited ITU headquarters on Friday, 6 July during his visit to Geneva in connection with the high-level ECOSOC meeting and the Global Compact Summit. He brought a clear message of support to ITU, which he termed "one of the most powerful organizations in the UN system". The UN Secretary-General emphasized the need for connectivity without which "the whole world would be in darkness" and we would continue to live in a medieval age without the means of communication. He said the work of ITU will act as a catalyst in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015, and pointed to ITU?s work in bridging the digital divide, enhancing cybersecurity and strengthening emergency communications for disaster prevention and relief. http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2007/17.html Second Meeting of the United Nations Group on the Information Society; UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France; 17 July 2007; Remarks by ITU Secretary General Dr Hamadoun I. Tour? Introduction: As Chairman of the United Nations Group on the Information Society during its inaugural year, it a great pleasure to be here this morning at UNESCO to address this second meeting of the Group. WSIS has been an important landmark in the global effort to eradicate poverty and achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. WSIS has placed ICTs at the center of the UN Agenda. A few weeks ago, I had the honour to welcome UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon to the ITU. I was very pleased to learn that ICTs were one of his 6 priorities. http://www.itu.int/net/ITU-SG/speeches/2007/jul17.aspx Online Public Consultation on the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy The OECD Online Public Consultation provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to comment on the topics and issues to be discussed at the OECD?s Ministerial meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy. The Ministerial represents an opportunity for high-level stakeholders from government, business, the technical community, and civil society to consider broad social, economic and technical trends shaping the development of the Internet Economy, and to discuss policies that can respond to evolving societal needs. The participation of all players in the dialogue is important to ensure that the Ministerial is able to benefit from a wide range of viewpoints and expertise. http://www.oecd.org/document/9/0,3343,en_21571361_38415463_38985417_1_1_1_1,00.html OECD Recommendation on Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress On 12 July 2007, OECD Member countries adopted a Recommendation on Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress to provide governments with a framework to help consumers resolve disputes and settle claims with business. The framework covers disputes in both domestic and cross-border transactions. It was developed to deal with issues arising from the rapid growth in electronic commerce, but it will also benefit consumers making traditional types of purchases. http://www.oecd.org/document/53/0,3343,en_2649_33703_38960053_1_1_1_1,00.html FTC, Partners Offer Framework for Consumer Redress and Dispute Resolution The Federal Trade Commission, together with other members of the OECD, adopted a Recommendation on Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress. http://ftc.gov/opa/2007/07/redress.shtm ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Cybersquatters ride on Sochi's Olympic success With Sochi nominated to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, a wealth of websites containing the name of the Black Sea resort have been created, including the website Sochi.info which was bought for for less than ?100 and is now on sale for ?3m. http://russiatoday.ru/scitech/news/11223 ********************** - DOMAIN SECURITY ********************** Is IT losing the battle against DNS attacks? Few things can strike fear into the heart of the IT department like an attack on a company's Domain Name System servers. That may explain why companies are spending so much time to deploy myriad, complex security measures to keep their DNS protected from malicious attackers. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-it-losing-battle-against-dns-attacks.html http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9027345 ********************** - ICANN ********************** Updated IDN .test Evaluation Plan ICANN updates the IDN .test Evaluation Plan based on comment to the previously posted version of the plan for the insertion of evaluation IDN TLDs in the root zone http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-19jun07.htm Independent Evaluator Seeks Public Input to Nominating Committee Review Interisle Consulting Group was selected by ICANN's Board of Directors to conduct an independent review of the Nominating Committee (NomCom) in accordance with Terms of Reference approved by the Board. Interisle's review team is gathering information from many different sources, including interviews with people who have participated in or closely observed the NomCom process, and seeks public input from anyone who has information or observations to contribute concerning any aspect of the role, structure, or operation of the NomCom. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-19jul07.htm Paris and Belgrade both want to host ICANN meeting Next year's second ICANN meeting is scheduled for the European region. Two candidates have stepped forward: Paris and Belgrade. A final decision is expected in September. http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/78/paris-and-belgrade-both-want-to-host-icann-meeting.php ********************** - (cc)TLD NEWS ********************** au: Web of confusion between domain names and trademarks Mark Bender guides us through the confusing array of rights attached to business names: Disputes between registered trademark owners and domain name registrants are likely to grow because of misunderstandings among business owners. Business owners are not always aware of the significance, consequences and differing entitlements and protections that are attached to the confusing array of names, registrations and rights. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/07/19/1184559956079.html .eu - Less than 16% Of Websites Actively Developed? by John McCormac The figure for active web development in .eu is now close to 16%. I?ve been refining the parsing (classifying holding pages and redirects based on frame src tags, duplicate content checking etc) and the active web figure now stands at 286222 websites out of the initial 1.436M websites. That?s 19.94% of the websites and 16.16% of the total resolving .eu domains. The .eu ccTLD is a disaster zone compared to real ccTLDs. In comparison, the .ie figure is around 57% of websites actively developed - a far higher figure. http://blog.whoisireland.com/2007/07/17/eu-less-than-16-of-websites-actively-developed/ Official Report on the implementation, functioning and effectiveness of the .eu TLD You read it here first: The European Commission is satisfied with the way the .eu TLD works http://domaine.blogspot.com/2007/07/official-report-on-implementation.html Norid 2007 registrar survey: Minor changes since 2004 (news release) The general findings from the 2007 registrar survey is that the satisfaction with Norid's services is at about the same level as it was after the last survey in 2004. Also this time the larger registrars are less satisfied with some services than the smaller ones, which confirms that the needs of the two groups to some extent are quite different. http://www.norid.no/registrar/opps-regundersokelse-2007.en.html '.asia' open for booking Companies that want domain names with the extension ".asia" can start applying for them now. http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2007/7/19/technology/20070719114650&sec=technology DE domain breaks new registration record Germany's Internet extension reaches new heights by crossing the 11 million registered domain mark. http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/80/de-domain-breaks-new-registration-record.php ********************** - DOMAIN DISPUTES ********************** The Web: Are You Truly Master Of Your Domain? by David M. Kelly (Boston Business Journal) The Internet provides an important marketing and sales tool for many businesses. Companies large and small contract out to vendors various services relating to their lnternet presence, including Web site design and hosting and domain-name registration. It?s not unusual for these vendors to register, in their own names, domain names containing business trademarks. In most cases, the vendors? ownership of the domain names poses no problems, for the parties have a good working relationship. But when the relationship sours or ends, the vendor?s ownership and control of valuable domain names, associated e-mail addresses, and possibly even Web site content become an important issue, frequently leading to costly litigation. http://www.finnegan.com/publications/news-popup.cfm?id=2046&type=article http://mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=50162 us: Fanning Usher's ire You know things are rough when you're fighting with your own No. 1 fan site. Sources say Usher is trying to shut down usherforever.com because the woman behind the site, Erika Jackson, doesn't care for his fiancee, Tameka Foster. "He's had his lawyer send her papers," said an insider. http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/bwiddicombe/2007/07/18/2007-07-18_fanning_ushers_ire_.html us: Usher F**ks With the Wrong Fan Usher Raymond is determined to sanitize all the Usher news around, even if he's got to strong-arm his biggest fan site with legal action in order to keep it that way. But the webmaster of the site tells TMZ she's willing to slug it out in court with her fave R&B star, just to make her point. Erika Jackson, webmaster of usherforever.com, tells TMZ that she's been hit with a full-scale legal blitz from a tag-team of both Usher's personal lawyer and his label's lawyers, and claims that the trouble started earlier this year when she refused to turn her site -- the self-proclaimed "biggest Usher site" on the Internet -- into a sanitized official site. http://wwwww.tmz.com/2007/07/19/usher-f-ks-with-the-wrong-fan/> VSNL wins vsnlinternet.com Telecom service provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) has won the battle over the ownership of vsnlinternet.com, a domain name registered by a cybersquatter, whose identity was hidden by Whois IDentity Shield, Vancouver, Canada. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Internet_/VSNL_wins_vsnlinternetcom_/articleshow/2218998.cms ********************** - DOMAIN MONETISATION ********************** Network Solutions and Google Announce Joint Webinar on Pay Per Click Services With their new joint Webinar, ?Discover a New Audience with Pay Per Click,? Google and Network Solutions seek to help businesses increase their online visibility. This Webinar, which will be held on Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 2pm Eastern Daylight Time, will spotlight the differences between pay per click and organic search results and help business owners improve click-to-close rates. http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=NetworkSolutions&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=198162&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True&Merge= ********************** - DOMAIN SALES ********************** The Most Expensive Web Addresses ... Growth in online advertising and the shrinking pool of available names are pushing URL price tags to new heights. Three of the top five deals in history happened in the last two years. "You're seeing a perfect storm created by converging factors that are resulting in an increase in domain values," says Bentley. Sex.com broke the eight-figured barrier in 2005 by nabbing $12 million, according to DN Journal, which tracks the domain name industry. Porn.com came in next, at $9.5 million last month, followed by Business.com ($7.5 million in 1999), Diamond.com ($7.5 million in 2006) and Beer.com (a reported $7 million in 1999). http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2007/06/28/google-news-corp-ent-tech-cx_ll_0629webaddresses.html Dictionary.com Shows the Rational Side of the Internet ... All of which suggests that the real value of the company comes from its generic and highly-trafficked domain names. One has to give credit to the folks at Lexico, who first launched the dictionary.com and thesaurus.com websites in May, 1995, when the Web was in its true infancy. http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2007/07/16/dictionarycom-shows-the-rational-side-of-the-internet/ Take Domain Name Appraisals with a Grain of Salt Domain name owners should not get overly excited ? or dejected ? about an appraisal of their domain names. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/07/19/take-domain-name-appraisals-with-a-grain-of-salt/ Sedo Closes Highest .Info Sale Sedo recently announced they have closed the highest .INFO sale to date, with Travel.info selling for US$116,000. http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/0020070720/sedo-closes-highest-info-sale/ http://domainnamenews.com/domain-sales/sedo-brokers-biggest-info-sale-to-date/733 http://domainnamewire.com/2007/07/20/travelinfo-sells-for-116000/ For Sale: ?.com - The British Pound's Home on the Net Another prominent domain name for sale, and this time ?.com. http://www.prweb.com/releases/internet/domain/prweb541257.htm http://emediawire.com/releases/2007/7/emw541257.htm More Than $680,000 in Premium Domain Names Sold During the Affiliate Summit East Domain Name Auctions (news release) Moniker announced that it sold more than U.S. $680,000 in premium domain names during its inaugural Live and online Silent domain name auctions at the Affiliate Summit East at the Hotel Intercontinental, Miami. http://sev.prnewswire.com/advertising/20070720/CLF05220072007-1.html us: Internet Brands Files for US$100M IPO Internet Brands, Inc. has filed for a US$100M initial public offering, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company started its life as CarsDirect, but then switched to the generic ?Internet Brands? name when it diversified. Internet Brands focuses on big ticket purchases including autos, homes and home improvement, and travel. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/07/20/internet-brands-files-for-100m-ipo/ ********************** RESEARCH PAPERS ********************** The Spam Index Report: Comparing Real-World Performance of Anti-Spam Technologies (Brockmann & Company) The Spam Index is the first method for factoring a users' actual experience in assessing the effectiveness of various anti-spam technologies. Based on the experience of over 520 business users, the users of challenge-response technology have the lowest average Spam Index, the most consistent Spam Index and the highest user satisfaction with the email experience. CONCLUSION: Some technologies consistently generate lower Spam Index results than others. ... Brockmann & Company research shows that improving the user?s email experience is not about tighter content filters or better reputation services, it is about assuring reliable delivery for regular communicants, minimum of time spent dealing with spam and simply denying access to the users? email inbox for the inappropriate, anonymous, bulk and irrelevant messages of spammers. Challenge-response technology has the best ability to do exactly this. http://brockmann.com/family/peter/Brockmann_SpamIndex_071707.pdf Reduce poverty by narrowing technology gap, UNCTAD'S Least Developed Countries report 2007 urges (news release) Science, technology and innovation are necessities, not luxuries, for the world?s 50 poorest nations, study says Unless their domestic businesses and farmers can acquire knowledge and technology that enable them to catch up with the rest of the world, the world?s 50 poorest nations will not be able to achieve the sustained economic growth necessary to reduce poverty, Least Developed Countries Report 2007. http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=8578&intItemID=1634?=1 Telecoms advances throw up new challenges for operators, says OECD (news release) Telecommunications investment continues to rise and consumers are generally paying less for more and better services across the OECD area but technology developments are presenting new challenges to telecoms operators, according to a new OECD report. http://www.oecd.org/document/43/0,3343,en_2649_201185_38949291_1_1_1_1,00.html 'Shooting the Messenger' Myth vs. Reality: U.S. Broadband Policy and International Broadband Rankings The simple fact is that international rankings do matter. This is not just a point of pride. Each spot the United States slips represents billions in lost producer and consumer surplus, and potentially millions of real jobs lost to overseas workers. The international studies highlight the fact that the status quo in the U.S. broadband marketplace is unacceptable. U.S. policymakers must reject the ?shoot the messenger? rhetoric and move toward an honest assessment of our problems. This paper exposes the myths put forward to excuse the shortcomings of the U.S. broadband market. The facts speak for themselves: More than 10 million U.S. households remain unserved, and nearly 50 million homes could subscribe but choose not to because the connection available is too expensive or too slow. The 50 million homes that do have broadband face, at best, a duopoly choice between the local phone or local cable company. We have two fundamental problems in our broadband market ? availability and competition. These are real issues where American policymakers can make a difference by helping to foster a truly competitive marketplace like that found in many European and Asian nations. http://freepress.net/docs/shooting_the_messenger.pdf ********************** OTHER INTERNET NEWS ********************** Internews Celebrates 25 Years of Fostering Independent Media and Access to Information In the remote tribal region of Waziristan along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, local reporter Sumera Rebab interviews villagers about the custom of ?ghag,? in which a man can lay claim to a girl for life simply by going to her house and firing some shots in the air. Meanwhile, at a tiny community radio station in Chad, in central Africa, 25-year-old Houda Malloum presents a radio news program every day at noon for refugees who have fled neighboring Darfur, providing essential information such as how to stay safe while gathering firewood around the camps. http://internews.org/prs/2007/20070720_25th.shtm Google's Free Trade Agenda For the past several months, Google has been quietly lobbying the U.S. government to include restrictions against Internet censorship as a stipulation in free trade agreements with other countries. Google says that barriers to the free flow of information over the Web restrict commerce and economic development, and should therefore be considered barriers to free trade as well. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/07/18/google-washington-congress-biz-wash-cx_bw_0719trade.html Study: 1 in 25 Youths Asked for Sex Pics (AP) Four percent of American youths online have been asked to send a sexually explicit photo of themselves over the Internet, researchers say in a new study. Of the 65 youths in the study who reported receiving a request, only one actually complied. But researchers say that's still a troubling number: With millions of youths online, that projects to potentially thousands across the country. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/20/1184559990110.html http://www.thestate.com/367/story/123332.html au: Teens easy prey for web vultures Teens are putting themselves at risk from internet predators by posting personal information on their MySpace pages. Randomly visiting MySpace profiles, the Herald Sun discovered scores of young Victorians posting their dates of birth, surnames, suburbs, high schools and workplaces. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22107817-661,00.html Internet jihad: A world wide web of terror Al-Qaeda's most famous web propagandist is jailed, but the internet remains its best friend: ... Nevertheless, the capability of the internet to promote terrorism is worrying intelligence agencies. According to America's National Intelligence Estimate in April 2006, ?The radicalisation process is occurring more quickly, more widely and more anonymously in the internet age, raising the likelihood of surprise attacks by unknown groups whose members and supporters may be difficult to pinpoint.? http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9472498 Digital DNA could finger Harry Potter leaker A few lines of 'digital DNA' could allow the publishers of Harry Potter to find and finger the person apparently responsible for leaking the final adventures of the boy wizard. A leaked version of what is claimed to be the latest Harry Potter novel, painstakingly photographed page by page, has been posted on the internet before the book's worldwide release on Friday and circulated via file-sharing networks. But computer experts said today that the identity of the person behind the leak could be revealed by tracing the digital camera that was used. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2104250.ece http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005371.php Belgian ISP will appeal order to block file-sharing Belgian ISP Scarlet has appealed against a surprise court ruling forcing it to filter customers' traffic for unlawful file-sharing. The Belgian ISP Association says that the trial judge did not examine the law closely enough. http://out-law.com/page-8320 Hackers Can Now Deliver Viruses via Web Ads Web ads are becoming a delivery system of choice for hackers seeking to distribute viruses over the Internet. In a development that could threaten the explosive growth of online advertising, hackers have started to exploit security holes in the online-advertising chain to slip viruses into ads. Just going to a site that shows such an ad can infect a user's computer. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118480608500871051.html Net criminals shun virus attacks Hi-tech criminals have found novel ways to carry out web-based attacks that are much harder to spot and stop, warn security experts. Some cyber criminals have exploited file-sharing networks and popular webpages to attack targets. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908064.stm Google cookie expiration plans called 'worthless' Googles plans to shorten the life span of cookies installed on a user's computer, ostensibly to improve user privacy, is being dismissed by some as complete hype. Apart from making it appear that the company is taking steps to address growing privacy concerns related to its data storing habits, in reality, the move changes very little, observers said. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9027411 Search engines race to update privacy policies The major search engines are racing to outdo each other in updating their data retention policies in an attempt to assuage concerns that they keep consumer search data too long. The latest to go public with their moves are Microsoft and Yahoo. Microsoft and Ask.com also are proposing an industry effort to create voluntary standards for protecting consumer privacy with search and online ads, a move that is likely spurred by Google's plan to acquire a leader in the online ad market. http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6198053.html http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6198053.html http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN2235546620070723 Ask.com Plans Anonymous Search AskEraser will provide Ask users with privacy controls that will prevent their searches from being retained on the company's servers. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201200282 us: Congress to Sift Through Google-DoubleClick Deal Details After months of controversy and global outcry, Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick will undergo congressional scrutiny later this year in a planned closed hearing before the House of Representatives' Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), chairman of the subcommittee, on Tuesday announced his intention to hold the hearing in a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Majoras. Rush also requested a briefing on the FTC's investigation of the proposed merger, which was launched in May. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/19/business/google.php http://ecommercetimes.com/story/58401.html http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/19/Congress-investigate-GoogleClick_1.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/20/1184559969070.html The Top Countries For Cybercrime According to a Symantec report at the end of 2006, Beijing is now home to the world's largest collection of malware-infected computers, nearly 5% of the world's total. Research by the security company Sophos in April showed that China has overtaken the U.S. in hosting Web pages that secretly install malicious programs on computers to steal private information or send spam e-mails. And another report from Sophos earlier that month showed that Europe produces more spam than any other continent; one Polish Internet service provider alone produces fully 5% of the world's spam. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologynews/view/289328/1/.html Faceoff! In an American courtroom this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will stand accused of stealing the idea for the site from three fellow Harvard students. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2132114,00.html au: Turkish hackers bring down insurer's site AAMI, one of Australia's largest insurance companies, says it has restored its website after it was hacked by "turkish defacers" earlier this morning. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/20/1184559999284.html OECD Recommendation on Electronic Authentication and Guidance for Electronic authentication On 12 June 2007, the OECD Council adopted a Recommendation encouraging efforts by Member countries to establish compatible, technology-neutral approaches for effective domestic and cross-border electronic authentication of persons and entities. This Recommendation reaffirms the important role of electronic authentication in fostering trust online and the continued development of the digital economy. http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,3343,en_2649_33703_38909639_1_1_1_1,00.html EU approves German plan to subsidise Internet search engine project Germany won European Commission approval Thursday to put ?120 million into an Internet search system being developed by companies including Bertelsmann and Thomson. The benefit to the public of creating new technologies and putting more cultural material onto the Web outweighs the risk of giving selected companies an unfair advantage via subsidies, the top EU body ruled in Brussels. http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/19/business/search.php http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/20/1184559994889.html au: v0te, lol by Peter Chen It wasn't that long ago that Liberal Party frontbenchers were warning us about the risks of 60-year-old men wanting "get to know" our children on the Internet. Now, it seems, they want to be those special friends. This year's federal election campaign has seen a dramatic growth in the adoption of new media by our political leaders. The use of myspace by members of the major parties, as well as the recent youTube announcement by the Prime Minister, shows that election campaigning may be moving online in earnest, no longer the preserve of "outsider" groups like GetUp! or New Matilda. Thus, after more than 15 years of increasingly mainstream acceptance, it appears that the net has finally arrived politically. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/23/1985154.htm Digital Opportunity in Europe, 2005/2006 Europe puts in a solid performance in the latest analysis of digital opportunity by the ITU. Although Europe loses out on the first two places in digital opportunity to the broadband kings of Asia (the Rep. of Korea and Japan), five out of the top ten countries are European. Denmark ranks at Number three and, alongside Japan, is a top contender for first place next year, if its current growth rates in broadband subscribers (fixed and mobile) continue. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Digital+Opportunity+In+Europe+20052006.aspx Digital Opportunity in Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific continues to lead the world in digital opportunity, home to five of the top ten countries in digital opportunity. The Republic of Korea ranks first in digital opportunity with a DOI score of 0.80, but its lead is being fast eroded by Japan's strong gains in mobile broadband subscribership, which boosted its DOI score to 0.77. If current growth rates continue, Japan could overtake the Republic of Korea as early as next year. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Digital+Opportunity+In+AsiaPacific.aspx Digital opportunity in the Americas, 2005/2006 The ITU has published its latest evaluation of digital opportunity for the Americas. In line with the concerns of the US Federal Communications Commission over the United States' lacklustre performance in fixed broadband - in 2006, the US FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps noted that the United States came twenty-first in the ITU's DOI 2005 - Canada continues to lead the Americas in digital opportunity, although its lead over the United States has narrowed considerably from 0.03 in the DOI 2005 to 0.01 in 2006. This is due to strong gains by the United States in mobile penetration (which rose from 61 mobile subscribers per 100 capita to 70 per 100 capita in 2005) and an increase in broadband subscribers over the same period of over 12 million. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Digital+Opportunity+In+The+Americas+20052006.aspx Digital opportunity in Africa ITU has published its latest evalution of digital opportunity across the continent of Africa. The Digital Opportunity Index assesses countries on eleven different indicators, organised into three clusters of Opportunity, Infrastructure and Utilization. Measurements of digital opportunity for Africa show that, whereas last year, only three countries had a DOI score in excess of 0.40 (Mauritius, Seychelles and Morocco), in 2006, seven countries had DOI scores greater than 0.40 (in addition to these three, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia joined them with a DOI score of above 0.40). http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Digital+Opportunity+In+Africa.aspx Nielsen: Web TV Watchers Haven't Eclipsed Traditional Tube Viewers Watching TV programs on the Internet has jumped 16 percent in six months, but it hasn?t cannibalized the traditional TV audience, according to a new study conducted by Nielsen for The Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM). http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/media_agencies/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003614713 Asia leads the world in fibre-to-the-home penetration (news release) Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan are the world leaders in the percentage of homes that receive broadband communications services over direct fiber optic connections, according to a new global ranking of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) market penetration issued jointly by the FTTH Councils of Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. According to this first ever official ranking of FTTH deployments in the world?s economies, 21.2 percent of homes in Hong Kong are wired with FTTH, followed by South Korea at 19.6 percent and Japan at 16.3 percent. Scandinavian countries occupy the next three positions, with Sweden having 7.2 percent of its households connected to FTTH, Denmark at 2.9 percent and Norway at 2.5 percent. http://ftthcouncil.org/?t=231 Asia storms ahead in fibre-to-the-home Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan are the world leaders in connecting homes via fibre optics, according to a global ranking of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) market penetration. The ranking was issued jointly by the FTTH councils of Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2194681/asia-storms-ahead-fibre-home kr: High-speed internet keeps drawing users Many believed Korea's high-speed Internet market hit a saturation mark in early 2005 when 12 million homes were connected to the broadband for a penetration rate of 75 percent. http://asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=74233 us: New Report Busts Telco Myths about U.S. Internet A report released today decisively shoots down many of the myths that telecommunications lobbyists and shills have manufactured about the health of America's Internet. The report, "Shooting the Messenger," urges policymakers to focus on the real problems that have caused America to fall dangerously behind the rest of the world in Internet adoption -- competition and availability. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/new-report-busts-telco-my_b_56878.html au: Cyberspace: it's the new toilet wall The internet has given people the anonymity to say what they like - as rudely as they like: John Howard dipped his toe in some murky cyber-waters this week when he posted his first YouTube video. Instead of biting it off, the piranhas that scour the web dragged the Prime Minister, and his family, into their milieu: the chat rooms, forums and discussion sites where all stand equal before the keyboard and no one's reputation is safe. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/20/1185042954793.html Podcasters Unite to Figure Out a Role for Ads Industry executives say they have closed in on a solution as to how to make advertising a viable revenue source for podcasting. http://nytimes.com/2007/07/23/business/media/23ecom.html Mobile television - The third screen: Having spread to computers, television is starting to reach mobile phones (AP) An underappreciated feature of the iPhone, Apple's fancy new handset, is its ability to mesmerise a toddler in her terrible twos long enough for a parent to take an espresso break. Just call up a YouTube video?tots love the dog on a skateboard?and put the sleek, high-resolution screen on the table. After a few minutes, tap on another clip?of a man dancing in exotic places, say. The quality of iPhone's video ?experience? points the way to what the industry sees as the next step: not just video clips but live television on mobile phones. Except for islands of early adopters, such as South Korea, consumers have so far shown little interest in watching TV on their handsets. Once they see the ease and fun of the iPhone clips, the logic goes, they will want video on their phones too. http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9519417 Asia: Tuning into Mobile TV A broadcast technology that beams digital TV to millions of mobile handsets in Japan and Korea will make its debut in Indonesia http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2007/gb20070717_080107.htm How big is Apple's tax on iPhone users? by Jack Schofield Apple is starting to redefine the economics of the mobile phone business for its own benefit, and many analysts believe it is collecting a monthly tax on every iPhone user. This is thought to be one reason why it ended up locking users to AT&T's inferior Edge service: other phone networks didn't want to pay Apple a rake-off, as well as being cut out of any music sales. But does anyone want to put a price on it? http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2007/07/22/how_big_is_apples_tax_on_iphone_users.html uk: 'Carbon neutral' PC uses more wood, fewer watts Computer retailer PC World says its environmentally friendly Vista desktop machine should be in stores by October http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39288145,00.htm Vista use grows as Mac OS X stays flat Windows Vista's share of online users has increased every month this year, while rival Mac OS X -- to which Vista has often been compared -- has shown little, if any, growth, a metrics company reports. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9027558 Anti-spam solutions get battering from business Most businesses are unhappy with the performance of their anti-spam technologies, a survey has found. The survey, entitled The Spam Index Report, found that most customers were not fully satisfied with the service they received from anti-spam vendors. ... Respondents found anti-spam services provided by ISPs to be the least effective of all solutions. Spam filters were found to be the next most ineffectual method of killing spam. Only 21 percent of respondents were "very satisfied" with their user-trained PC email client spam filters. Open-source and proprietary email client filters were almost equally ineffectual, according to the survey. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39288126,00.htm Free laptops help kids juggle smut, studies Now that we are breaking down the digital divide by getting computers to children in impoverished regions of the world, let's take a look at what the kids are doing with their new laptops. It turns out they are using them the same way most of the people surfing the Net use them: searching for pornography. A reporter for the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) found that pornographic images were stored on many of the laptops donated by the One Laptop Per Child project. http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9747884-7.html http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10453292 '$100 laptop' production begins Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called $100 laptop is poised to go into mass production. Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build millions of the low-cost machines. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908946.stm Technological neglect traps poorest nations in poverty: UNCTAD The world's poorest countries are being sapped of the technological capacity they need to break out of the poverty trap and catch up with the rest of the world, the UN's trade and development agency said Thursday. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/20/1184559980916.html Africa, Offline: Waiting for the Web On a muggy day in Kigali in 2003, some of the highest-ranking officials in the Rwandan government, including President Paul Kagame, flanked an American businessman, Greg Wyler, as he boldly described how he could help turn their small country into a hub of Internet activity. http://nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22rwanda.html http://iht.com/articles/2007/07/22/africa/22rwanda.php Top EU Court Bruises Music Industry in P2P Case Music file sharers and ISPs in Europe were triumphant after an advisor to the European Union's Court of Justice said Wednesday that, in civil cases, telecommunication companies in Europe are not required to provide data on clients thought to be illegally sharing music files. A Spanish court sought the advice of the EU's top court in a case launched by Promusicae, a music and audiovisual association in Spain -- think Spanish RIAA -- after Telefonica, an Internet service provider, refused to release the names and addresses of subscribers suspected of using file sharing programs. http://ecommercetimes.com/story/58423.html 'I don't think bloggers read' says Andrew Keen Andrew Keen says the internet is populated by second-rate amateurs - and that it is swiftly destroying our culture. Tim Dowling meets the man cyberspace loves to hate: ... In fact, the book, he insists, isn't really about the internet. It's more about personal responsibility: "It's not against technology. It's simply saying that we make technology and we need to control it. When we look at the internet we're looking at ourselves." http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2130644,00.html Full Text: Keen vs. Weinberger This is the full text of a "Reply All" debate on Web 2.0 between authors Andrew Keen and David Weinberger. Mr. Keen begins: So what, exactly, is Web 2.0? It is the radical democratization of media which is enabling anyone to publish anything on the Internet. Mainstream media's traditional audience has become Web 2.0's empowered author. Web 2.0 transforms all of us -- from 90-year-old grandmothers to eight-year-old third graders -- into digital writers, music artists, movie makers and journalists. Web 2.0 is YouTube, the blogosphere, Wikipedia, MySpace or Facebook. Web 2.0 is YOU! (Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2006). http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118460229729267677.html The Price of Anonymity Over the course of eight or nine years, until last August, someone with the handle "rahodeb" posted regularly about the company Whole Foods on Yahoo!'s finance bulletin boards. Rahodeb liked Whole Foods. He didn't care for its competitor Wild Oats. Rahodeb particularly liked Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. "While I'm not a 'Mackey groupie,'" rahodeb wrote, "I do admire what the man has accomplished." This was true, as far as it went. Rahodeb was not a Mackey groupie. Rahodeb was Mackey. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1645168,00.html Australia's broadband spend-up by Peter Griffin Peter Griffin says he "spent an interesting few days in Sydney catching up with some of the developments around Government-funded broadband projects and the private investment these initiatives are attracting." http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10452801 Google's $4.6 billion plan for an open wireless Internet Would that all kings were so benevolent. Google announced today it would set aside at least $4.6 billion to purchase a slice of the public airwaves in an upcoming government auction of radio spectrum. The company is imposing one condition on its money: It will only participate, it says, if the Federal Communications Commission requires that all bidders for the radio waves be forced to adhere to principles of Internet "openness." http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/07/20/google_fcc/index.html us: When Mobile Phones Aren?t Truly Mobile Wireless carriers in the United States are spiritual descendants of dear Ma Bell: they view total control over customers as their inherited birthright. The younger generation ? Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and the namesake child AT&T ? would make their hallowed matriarch proud. They do everything they can to keep power firmly in their own hands. It is entirely at the carriers? discretion to permit, or disable, the features that a factory loads into the newest phones. They also decide which software can be installed and how it may be used. Many wireless subscribers have ruefully become acquainted with gotcha clauses in their contracts. In most European and Asian countries, a customer can switch carriers in a few seconds by removing a smart card from a cellphone and inserting a different one from a new provider. In the United States, wireless carriers have deliberately hobbled their phones to make flight to a competitor difficult, if not impossible. http://nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22digi.html eu: "Mobile broadcasting is a tremendous opportunity for Europe to maintain its leadership" (news release) The Commission has adopted a strategy favouring the take-up of mobile TV across the 27 EU Member States. The Commission urges Member States and industry to facilitate and accelerate the deployment of mobile TV across Europe and to encourage the use of DVB-H as the single European standard for mobile TV. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=3535 Top Operators in WiMAX WiMAXCounts.com provides data on the top operators in terms of BWA/WiMAX subscriber numbers as of Q1 2007. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Top+Operators+In+WiMAX.aspx Number of WiMax subscribers set to surpass one million WiMaxCounts.com suggest that the total number of WiMax subscribers worldwide is set to break through the one million subscriber count anytime soon. WiMaxCounts.com records 950 million WiMax subscribers by the end of Q1 2007, 17.5% up on December 2006 and equivalent to 85% growth year-on-year over Q1 2006. At the start of 2007, the market for WiMAX was growing at a rate of 150,000 subscribers per quarter. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/Number+Of+WiMax+Subscribers+Set+To+Surpass+One+Million.aspx VoIP, wireless LAN network skills in demand Network analysts, database administrators and computer research scientists top the list of in-demand jobs http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-voip-wireless-lan-network-skills.html us: VoIP woes: Losing service without warning VoIP is heralded as a new age of free-market competition in the telecom industry, but it is still not without significant drawbacks On Monday evening, my wife reached me on my mobile phone. She was spending a long weekend with her family in Maine. "I've called our home phone several times," she said. "And I keep getting a busy signal." That night, I didn't think twice about the phone problem. We have been VoIP customers for more than a year, and flaky service has been standard operating procedure. I reset my VoIP converter box and crossed my fingers. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/19/VoIP-woes-losing-service-without-warning_1.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072200013.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (c) David Goldstein 2007 --------- David Goldstein address: 4/3 Abbott Street COOGEE NSW 2034 AUSTRALIA email: Goldstein_David §yahoo.com.au phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home) "Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.cynosure.com.au/mailman/private/dns/attachments/20070726/97c33f82/attachment-0001.htmReceived on Thu Jul 26 2007 - 08:55:14 UTC
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