[DNS] domain name news - 27 August

[DNS] domain name news - 27 August

From: David Goldstein <goldstein_david§yahoo.com.au>
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:26:09 -0700 (PDT)
Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for today's
edition of the complete domain news, including an RSS feed - already
online!





The August 30 edition of the news is the 500TH EDITION of the news I
have compiled since I commenced compiling the news with auDA's support.
It has grown dramatically, with the first few editions including only
around a dozen news items!





Headlines from the 500th edition of the news, the 30 August edition, include:

Vint Cerf on the future | Call to regulate the net rejected by Vint
Cerf | Google: censorship is not up to us | The Council of Europe
contributes to 2007 IGF | Latest VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief
Underscores Growth of Internet Internationally | All of world's biggest
firms hit by typosquatting | ICANN's Whois privacy reforms stalled
again | If WHOIS Privacy is a Good Idea, Why is it Going Nowhere? by
John Levine | .cat - 24,000 registrations in first year | ch:
Switzerland's one-millionth domain name: www.ez14.ch | Now more than
2.5 million .eu registrations | li.com sells for US$500,000





And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings.





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The domain name news is supported by auDA.



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Vint Cerf, aka the godfather of the net, predicts the end of TV as we know it
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/27/news.google

The Tech Lab: Vint Cerf on the evolution of the internet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6960896.stm

The future of the Internet
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/edbaadba-524b-11dc-a7ab-0000779fd2ac.html

nz: Victoria Uni tech leads internet attack study
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/54EB43981E198CCBCC257340007D86C0

The Globe on Terror Goes Digital by Michael Geist
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2185/125/

New Paper Discusses Global City TLD?s in the Public Interest by Tom Lowenhaupt
http://www.circleid.com/posts/87239_global_city_top_level_domains/

Intellectual Property Holders Press For Access To WHOIS Data
http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201802102

Timeline of the WHOIS saga by Milton Mueller
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/8/22/3175376.html

Whois Privacy Stalemate...Again by Milton Mueller
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/8/22/3174023.html

nz: Maori bilingual Net call
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4178352a28.html

.nz Newsletter - August 2007
http://dnc.org.nz/story/30288-34-1.html

Businessman loses battle for gripe site domain name
http://out-law.com/page-8404

in: Govt expects users to migrate to IPV6 in 3 years
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/aug/aug360.php

The Hidden Wealth in Domain Names
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/V07c9hnAfpAMy7/The-Hidden-Wealth-in-Domain-Names.xhtml


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GOVERNANCE
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Vint Cerf, aka the godfather of the net, predicts the end of TV as we know it
Talking at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, Vint Cerf said that the television industry would change rapidly as it approached its "iPod moment". Cerf told an audience of media moguls that TV was rapidly approaching the same kind of crunch moment that the music industry faced with the arrival of the MP3 player.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/27/news.google
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2898444.ece
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10460083
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1358612007

The Tech Lab: Vint Cerf on the evolution of the internet
Vint Cerf, is known as one of the founder fathers of the internet, and played a key role in the development of the protocols which underpin the global net. In this BBC article, Vint addresses topics such as the growth and evolution of the internet, robustness and security of the internet including introducing DNSSEC, the non-trivial exercise to bring IPv6 online in parallel with the present IPv4 system, the future of the net and the opportunities it poses for society as a whole and the proliferation of mobile devices and improvements in the ability of those devices to access the web will accelerate access to information.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6960896.stm

The future of the Internet
What are the biggest challenges facing the internet?s growth and stability, and how should they be tackled? How will the rapid rise of video affect internet infrastructure and drive the net neutrality debate? Will the pursuit of ever more personal information by companies such as Google be welcomed by users? ... Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the FT?s Media Editor, will put a selection of readers? questions to Prof Cerf in a video interview that will go live on Thursday August 30.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/edbaadba-524b-11dc-a7ab-0000779fd2ac.html

Is the Internet Doomed to Self-destruct?
The Internet exploded like few other tech revolutions, and the digital clouds are still swirling with no indication of settling soon. But there's a problem. According to Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University, England, the seeds of the Net's destruction are being sown in the same wind streams that are now scattering its influence.
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=74754

UN Secretary-General confirms IGF advisory group members from business
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week confirmed the 47 members of the multistakeholder advisory group who will help prepare a global gathering to discuss issues of critical importance to the Internet. Several ICC/BASIS representatives are among the names selected to lend business expertise to the planning of the UN-linked Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which will take place in Rio de Janeiro in November.
http://www.huliq.com/31408/un-secretary-general-confirms-igf-advisory-group-members-from-business

IGF's MAG renewed, governments flex muscles? by Jeanette Hofmann
Finally, the UN Secretary-General has renewed the mandate of the multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) for the Internet Governance Forum. Officially, the Advisory Group's mandate expired with the closure of the IGF's first meeting in Athens in November 2006. Since then, the Advisory Group's status has been in limbo. What looked like an understandable delay for some time - there was a changeover of leadership in the UN headquarters in early 2007 - became a problem in May this year. Following open consultations in Geneva, the Advisory Group was supposed to meet to discuss the agenda for the IGF's Rio meeting in November.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/8/23/3178807.html

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DOMAIN NAMES
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 - DOMAIN SECURITY
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nz: Victoria Uni tech leads internet attack study
The international Honeynet Project has used honeypot technology developed at Victoria University to track web-based security attacks.
Even seemingly safe web addresses are rife with attack code aiming at vulnerable clients, according to the Honeynet Project study based on the technology. The authors say that methods such as blacklists can be surprisingly successful in stopping client-side attacks.
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/54EB43981E198CCBCC257340007D86C0

America's Hackable Backbone
The first time Scott Lunsford offered to hack into a nuclear power station, he was told it would be impossible. There was no way, the plant's owners claimed, that their critical components could be accessed from the Internet. Lunsford, a researcher for IBM's Internet Security Systems, found otherwise. "It turned out to be one of the easiest penetration tests I'd ever done," he says. "By the first day, we had penetrated the network. Within a week, we were controlling a nuclear power plant. I thought, 'Gosh. This is a big problem.'"
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/08/22/scada-hackers-infrastructure-tech-security-cx_ag_0822hack.html

Internet ramraiders rear-end domain parking service
Domain name parking service NameDrive restored its services on Friday after coming under a concerted and ferocious denial of service attack from unidentified hackers. The motives for the attack remain unclear but NameDrive reckons crackers expanded vast resources to flood its website with spurious traffic.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/namedrive_ddos_attack/

Types of Phishing Attacks
Numerous different types of phishing attacks have now been identified. Some of the more prevalent are listed in this story.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,135293-c,privacysecurity/article.html

India ranks 14th in phishing attacks
The rising graph of cyber crime in India has raised serious questions regarding the freedom that should be allowed on the Internet given the vulnerability of the new generation. IAMAI workshop was a forum to raise these issues.
http://merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=126099

The Globe on Terror Goes Digital by Michael Geist
The Globe and Mail published an embarrassing feature story on the weekend focusing on terror groups' use of the Internet and a "Canadian connection." A story on terror group use of the Internet would have made for an interesting (albeit unoriginal) story, so it appears that the Globe tried to generate greater interest in the story by adding a Canadian connection. The article begins with "Welcome to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia - pivotal battleground in the global jihad."
...
First, just because the registrant information is not posted publicly on the WHOIS database, does not mean that the information has not been collected.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2185/125/

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 - ICANN
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ICANN squashes Internet rumours about North Korean domain
ICANN has published an official rebuttal of stories circulating the Net about soon-to-be-approved .KP, after some domain bloggers suggested that an official green light was about to be given to North Korea's domain.
http://domainesinfo.fr/english/091/icann-squashes-internet-rumours-about-north-korean-domain.php
http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?breve353
http://www.csccorporatedomains.com/industry-news.asp?ItemID=18251998

New Paper Discusses Global City TLD?s in the Public Interest by Tom Lowenhaupt
"The Internet?s impact on cities grows daily as it electronically enables the meeting, movement, and exchange of people, ideas, products, and cultures at a range and frequency never before possible, creating what Marshall McLuhan called the ?global village?.? So begins a paper in which Dr. Michael Gurstein and I present a short review of the history of TLDs and the negative effects their omission from the Internet?s naming schema is having on cities. We then identify 12 areas where city-TLDs will benefit Global Cities if planned and developed in the public interest.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/87239_global_city_top_level_domains/

Intellectual Property Holders Press For Access To WHOIS Data
The seven-year-old battle over access to WHOIS data remains a stalemate this week, leaving reforms undone. The conflict pits individuals and groups that favor privacy protections against organizations and law enforcement agencies that favor data access to police intellectual property and to curtail cybercrime. In a blog post on the Internet Governance Project's site, Milton Mueller details the Final Outcomes Report of the WHOIS Working Group, published on Tuesday, and inability of the various stakeholders to reach any kind of consensus.
http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201802102
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070824/tc_cmp/201802102
http://itnews.com.au/News/NewsStory.aspx?story=59793

Timeline of the WHOIS saga by Milton Mueller
Researchers at IGP have prepared a comprehensive timeline of the Whois service and the controversy over Whois and privacy, with links to relevant documents. The timeline was prepared by Dr. Milton Mueller and doctoral student Mawaki Chango as part of their draft paper for the annual Telecommunication Policy Research Conference at the end of September.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2007/8/22/3175376.html

WHOIS privacy reform reaches dead end
Reforms to the WHOIS database in order to address growing privacy concerns have once again come to a halt, leaving a seven-year-old debate to continue on how much personal information should be displayed to the public.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070824-whois-privacy-reform-reaches-dead-end.html
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/24/1159208

Not Just for Internet Geeks
Keep the Core Neutral is an advocacy group seeking to restrain moves at ICANN towards censoring domain names.
http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/08/25/weekend-reader-19/
http://www.csccorporatedomains.com/industry-news.asp?ItemID=18253768

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 - (cc)TLD NEWS
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be: Cepina is reviewing its rules concerning domain names:
In Dutch: Cepina herziet zijn reglement inzake domeinnamen; and in French: Le Cepani revoit son r?glement en mati?re de noms de domaine
http://www.dns.be/en/home.php?n=2000

my: MCMC-MYNIC Seminar & Exhibition--Southern Corridor Roadshow 2007
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and MYNIC Berhad, the .my domain name registrar is proud to present MCMC-MYNIC Seminar & Exhibition - Southern Corridor Roadshow 2007 on 6th September 2007 (Thursday) at Persada Johor International Convention Centre in Johor Bahru with the theme "Get Online: Empower Yourself on the Internet". The objective of this event is to provide a platform for all communities to have an online presence and learn the benefits of having a .my domain name and a website. They will also be given tips on how to develop an effective website that will enable them to showcase their products, businesses and services to the global community.
http://mynic.net.my/newhp/announcements/mynic-20aug07.html

nz: Maori bilingual Net call
The Maori Internet Society has asked that second-level domains such as "co.nz" be available in Maori as well as English to "represent that Aotearoa/New Zealand is a legally bilingual country and to support its indigenous people's cultural and linguistic requirements".
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4178352a28.html

.nz Newsletter - August 2007
The August 2007 .nz newsletter is available from the Domain Name Commissioner, and includes the number of active .nz domain names (increased from 286,539 to 291,817), a breakdown of registrations for all .nz 2LDs (249,984 of the domains registered are .co.nz domains), the wholesale domain name fee was dropped from NZ$1.75 to $1.50 outages and a job vacancy.
http://dnc.org.nz/story/30288-34-1.html

uk: Nominet renewals survey [news release]
Nominet is currently sending out a survey request to find out why people renew or do not renew .uk domain names.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=4333

GoDaddy and Afilias aim for .US
Registrar and registry operator join forces to try and wrestle .US management away from current registry operator Neustar.
http://domainesinfo.fr/english/090/godaddy-and-afilias-aim-for-us.php

VeriSign Board Elects Jim Bidzos as New Chairman [news release]
VeriSign announced that the board of directors has elected D. James Bidzos to become chairman, replacing Edward A. Mueller who has resigned after his recent selection as the chairman and CEO of Qwest Communications International.
http://www.verisign.com/press_releases/pr/page_042705.html

Fee rise for .com/.net domain names
VeriSign is going to raise fees for the registration of the names.
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/3a8a80d6f705f8cc/id/276871/cs/1/

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 - DOMAIN DISPUTES
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British businessman loses battle for gripe site domain name
The figure behind controversial business schemes has failed in his bid to gain control of the .com internet address consisting of his name. A site that criticises his activities has been allowed to keep the name. In arguments before the WIPO domain name arbitration panel, Australian body Consumer Protection described the man, Stephen Cleeve, as a con man. Its website contains links to and excerpts from a number of articles from the BBC, News of the World, and others detailing Cleeve's business exploits.
http://out-law.com/page-8404
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/wipo_cleeve_domain_decision/

za: Telkom wins domain name dispute
Telkom has won another battle in its war against cyber squatters. Less than six weeks after Telkom won its first domain name dispute in terms of the new alternative dispute resolution rules that govern .co.za domain name disputes, an adjudicator again decided in Telkom's favour.
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2007/0708241042.asp?S=Business&A=BUS&O=FPTOP

Subdomain Patent Faces EFF Challenge
A company called Ideaflood has been demanding payment from Internet hosting companies like LiveJournal for offering virtual, personalized subdomains, a concept on which Ideaflood holds a challenged patent. The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced its opposition to Ideaflood's patent, calling it "bogus" and "illegitimate."
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/08/22/subdomain-patent-faces-eff-challenge

us: DA: No crime in domain name tiff
A Schuylkill County controller candidate's hoarding of his opponent's Internet domain names, then trying to cover up his actions, was "deceitful and wrong" but was not a crime, District Attorney James P. Goodman said Wednesday.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_1domain.6007303aug23,0,6425932.story
http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18739616
http://www.tnonline.com/node/204357

us: Politics trickster pilfers Pollard's name site spins a web of intrigue
Who owned www.albert pollard.com? That's a question Albert Pollard Jr. himself is asking. Last week, anyone typing in albertpollard.com would reach not Pollard's campaign Web site, but the Stafford Republican Party's site.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/082007/08262007/311267

Saba's wins right to use domain name sabas.com
A national arbitration panel recently ruled that the Arizona Western-clothing store, which has used the name Saba's since 1927, is entitled to the domain, according to a statement from Phoenix attorney Glenn Bacal.
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0822biz-talker0823.html

FloridaWeekly.com Stands Up to CyberBully
Semoran LLC, which owns the web site and domain name FloridaWeekly.com, has filed a lawsuit against a Florida media company in response to that company?s request for the FloridaWeekly.com domain name.
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/08/24/floridaweeklycom-stands-up-to-cyberbully/

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 - IPv4/IPv6
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in: Govt expects users to migrate to IPV6 in 3 years
The government of India is proactively pushing for users of the Internet space to migrate towards the IPv6. The government users have been mandated to migrate and there should be major transition over the next two or three years.
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/aug/aug360.php

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 - MISCELLANEOUS
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NetNation Launches WhoisProtector Lite
NetNation, Canada's top-ranked Web host, has recently launched a new product that protects customers' personal information from the public. With WhoisProtector Lite, a customer?s name, address and other personal information is kept private; only the email address is displayed for legitimate business inquiries.
http://emediawire.com/releases/2007/8/emw548693.htm

Neustar launches Korean domain names in .BIZ TLD
Neustar has deployed IDNs for the Korean language in the .BIZ TLD as of August 19, 2007.
http://digitalmediaasia.com/default.asp?ArticleID=26447

NeuStar Launches Korean Language Domain Names in .BIZ TLD [news release]
NeuStar announced that it has deployed IDNs for the Korean language in the .BIZ top-level Internet domain as of August 19, 2007. IDNs in .BIZ enable companies and for-profit organizations worldwide to register domain names in their languages of choice using Unicode characters that are not available in ASCII.
http://neustar.biz/pressroom/announcements/press_release.cfm?press_id=1296

Dotcom Falls Into Baby Name Domain
This is a topic close to my heart and I have to say I agree whole-heartedly ? well, it's a good idea, anyway. Parents are picking baby names based upon the availability of a domain name that matches.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/08/24/dotcom-falls-into-baby-name-domain

What Orkut Really Needs
Google's software engineers report that they've been busy giving Orkut, the company's social networking service, a face-lift. But perhaps what the site really needs is a new name for the U.S market. It's true that short, memorable domain names are hard to come by, but if ever there was a Google product in need of re-branding, it's Orkut.
http://informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/08/what_orkut_real.html

Go Daddy explains suspension of sites, denies political pressure
Go Daddy has denied receiving any form of pressure from the Chinese authorities. The initial story was published before Go Daddy was directly asked for a response. ... Reporters Without Borders today called on US web hosting provider Go Daddy to explain why it suddenly withdrew hosting for several Chinese sites specialising in human rights in China. According to a report on the news website Boxun , around 10 Chinese human rights sites were suspended without explanation on 17 August.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23349

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 - DOMAINING
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The Hidden Wealth in Domain Names
When will the ad industry and its clients wake up to the value of domains? When asked that question at 1:30 a.m. on the Domain Roundtable Conference's first night, conference chair Jay Westerdal responded: "They're going to wake up when it's too late." Most of those interviewed at the conference confirmed his views.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/V07c9hnAfpAMy7/The-Hidden-Wealth-in-Domain-Names.xhtml

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RESEARCH PAPERS
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UK benefits from communications anytime, anywhere and at a lower cost [news release]
Ofcom published its annual Communications Market Report 2007 which reveals new trends in the UK's ?50bn electronic communications sector. UK consumers now spend 50 hours per week on the phone, surfing the internet, watching television or listening to the radio. Average daily internet use in 2006 (36 minutes) was up 158% on 2002 and time spent on the mobile phone (almost 4 minutes per day) was up 58%. Time spent watching TV was down 4% at 3 hours and 36 minutes, listening to radio was down 2% at 2 hours and 50 minutes and time spent on a fixed line phone was down 8% at 7 minutes.
http://ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2007/08/nr_20070823

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CENSORSHIP
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Yahoo and MSN agree to censor China blogs
Yahoo and MSN, the internet giants, have confirmed they had signed up to new attempts by the Chinese government to censor and control blogs behind the country?s ?Great Firewall?.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/24/wblog124.xml

Ban gang videos, says British MP
Video clips glamorising gang culture posted on popular internet sites such as YouTube should be blocked, a government minister and a leading children's charity said last night. The calls come amid growing fears about the glorification of violence among young people sparked by the fatal shooting of Rhys Jones, 11. He was shot dead last Wednesday in Croxteth Park, Liverpool, an area plagued by gangs.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,2156545,00.html

Turkey blocks access to blog site Wordpress.com
Turkey has blocked access to the blog site Wordpress.com due to an alleged insult directed at the Islamic creationist Adnan Oktar. This has been ordered by a court in Istanbul, reported one of Oktar's lawyers on Monday to the German Press Agency dpa in Ankara
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/94686

Malaysian minister likens bloggers to bad karaoke stars: report
Malaysia's information minister Friday compared the nation's Internet bloggers, under fire for their outspoken views, to washed-up karaoke singers who have no influence, a report said.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/25/1187462547529.html

au: PM 'not behind Wikipedia edits'
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet says Prime Minister John Howard did not ask any of his staff to edit online public encyclopedia Wikipedia.
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/24/2013984.htm

PM's staff edited Wikipedia
STAFF in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have been editing Wikipedia to remove details that might be damaging to the Government. WikiScanner points to the department as the source of 126 edits on subjects ranging from the children overboard affair to the Treasurer, Peter Costello.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/23/1187462441687.html

Australian government caught editing Wikipedia
Australian Prime Minister John Howard's staff were Friday accused of editing entries in the online Wikipedia to remove potentially damaging details. A spokesman for the prime minister said Howard had never asked staff to remove unfavourable comments from the website, which allows anyone to make contributions.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/24/1187462501800.html

au: Iemma's Wiki wipeout
If you believe the NSW Premier's Department's version of history, a profanity-laden outburst Morris Iemma had at a media conference last year never happened.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/24/1187462487818.html

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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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us: Pa. Court: Viewing Child Porn on Computer Enough for Possession
The Pennsylvania Superior Court isn't buying the argument that a man who viewed child pornography on his computer, but didn't save the images, couldn't be charged with possession of child pornography. A 7-2 en banc Superior Court panel in Commonwealth v. Diodoro reversed a prior three-judge panel that found there was not sufficient evidence to show Anthony Diodoro downloaded or saved the images of child pornography he viewed.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1187859734533

au: Student cracks $84m porn filter
A Melbourne schoolboy has cracked the Federal Government's new $84 million internet porn filter in minutes. Tom Wood, 16, said it took him just over 30 minutes to bypass the Government's filter, released on Tuesday.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22304224-2,00.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/08/25/1187462562907.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/25/1187462562907.html
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/27/2015813.htm

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SOCIAL NETWORKING
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Facebook to open goldmine of data to advertisers
Facebook is preparing an advertising model that would allow advertisers to target its users based on information that they reveal about themselves on the social networking website.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2317509.ece

Why Facebook Is the Future
On Aug. 14 a computer hacker named Virgil Griffith unleashed a clever little program onto the Internet that he dubbed WikiScanner. It's a simple application that trolls through the records of Wikipedia, the publicly editable Web-based encyclopedia, and checks on who is making changes to which entries. Sometimes it's people who shouldn't be. For example, WikiScanner turned up evidence that somebody from Wal-Mart had punched up Wal-Mart's Wikipedia entry. Bad retail giant.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655722,00.html

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ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
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Hacking Germany's New Computer Crime Law
Be careful what you joke about at the water cooler in Germany these days -- even a dig about a password stuck to a PC monitor could be considered breaking a new anti-hacker law that went into effect this month. Under the new law, such a joke could be construed as making the password "accessible." And that's just the beginning. If a customer tells a sales clerk at a German office supply store that he's going to use his newly-purchased Windows XP software to hack into a bank, the clerk could get busted for selling him the OS.
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=132255

Slammer, Other Older Threats Making A Comeback
If you think Slammer is dead and you're immune, think again: The 2003 worm is actually alive and well and more widespread than in its heyday in 2003, researchers say.
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=132301
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/08/23/ibm-ie-networks-tech-cx_0823darkreading.html

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PRIVACY
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uk: Privacy and law: 10 ways to win public trust in a surveillance society
OPINION: The Data Protection Act is not strong enough to protect privacy in today's surveillance society. Dr Chris Pounder proposes 10 universal standards to buttress the Act and create balance whenever there is interference in private and family life.
http://out-law.com/page-8412

nz: Privacy Commissioner boosts breach disclosure drive with guidelines
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff will today announce a draft guide for the management of data breaches in business and government, in what could be the first step towards introducing data breach disclosure laws to New Zealand.
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/55C4F59E7E9F94A3CC257340007E7D52

The Monster.com Mess
The last thing you need when you're unemployed is a bank account that's suddenly emptied. But that's exactly what some unwary users of employment search site Monster.com faced after identity thieves made off with the personal information of more than a million people looking for jobs.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136387/article.html

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GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
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U.S. confirms telecoms' role in eavesdropping
The Bush administration has confirmed for the first time that American telecommunications companies played a key role in the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program after asserting for nearly two years that any role played by the companies was a "state secret."
The acknowledgment came in an interview that Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, conducted with The El Paso Times last week in which he discussed a number of sensitive issues that the administration has long insisted were classified and has refused to discuss publicly.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/08/23/news/spy.php
http://nytimes.com/2007/08/24/washington/24nsa.html

Bill On Broadcast Media Had Many Draconian Clauses
Information and Communications minister Mutahi Kagwe made a bold move on Wednesday when he declared his intention to withdraw the Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill from Parliament.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200708231170.html

nz: Govt releases rural broadband proposals
Rural New Zealanders may get better access to the internet under proposals released by the Government.
http://nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=18783

nz: Clark has Wikipedia page protected
As Australia's Prime Minister cops flak over alleged changes to his page in an online-encylopedia, Helen Clark has had references to herself on the site protected.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/1321505

**********************
INTERNET USE
**********************
us: Internet Users Experience More Content, Less Talk
As of May 2007, Internet users spent 47% of their time online consuming content, compared with 34% in 2003, according to the Center for Media Research.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201802304

Google turns its attention to the stars
Google, having brought the earth into the living room, has turned its eye to the heavens to bring the sky at night indoors. ... The internet facility has now been expanded to offer a glimpse of 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies as part of the Google Sky initiative. 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2308536.ece

uk: It's arrived: the feminisation of the net
Forget the 20-something man playing online fantasy football and selling motorbike parts on eBay. The internet has a new user. For years cyberspace has been tailored to an audience of mainly young men but for the first time women webusers have taken the lead in key age groups. At the same time an army of silver surfers has emerged and the over 65s are spending more hours online than any other age group.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2154494,00.html
http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2154392,00.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/ofcom_annual_report_2007/

uk: Silver surfers take over the internet
The internet is now dominated by silver surfers who spend more time online than any other group, according to a comprehensive study by the communications watchdog. The over-65s spend 42 hours a week online, four hours more than the most active users who are aged between 18 and 24, according to Ofcom?s annual report into the industry.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/23/nofcom123.xml

uk: Move over geeks, women are top web users
Women aged between 25 and 49 are now spending more time on the internet than men as they become hooked on keeping in touch with friends online, according to figures published yesterday by the communications regulator Ofcom. The figures are particularly pronounced in the 25 to 34 age group, in which women now account for 55 per cent of time spent online ? demon-strating that the medium once thought of as dominated by solitary, glass-wearing male nerds is rapidly being feminised.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2310548.ece

Britain enjoying 'digital boom'
The net, mobile phones and MP3 players are revolutionising how Britons spend their time, says Ofcom's annual report. It reveals that older media such as TV, radio and even DVDs are being abandoned in favour of more modern technology. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6959864.stm

**********************
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
**********************
uk: Mobile phones 'eroding landlines'
Mobile phone use is continuing to reduce the amount of time people spend using landlines, according to a report by the UK communications watchdog. For the first time, calls from mobiles now account for more than a third of time spent on phone calls, Ofcom said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6959049.stm

**********************
SPAM
**********************
Spam fighters hit criminals' weak spot [IDG]
Is the fight against spam horribly misguided? For years, spam haters have relied on junk-mail filters and Internet blacklists, but lately, some are saying it's time for a change in tactics. Their answer: follow the money. And that means going after the Web sites where spammers sell their pharmaceuticals and watches and male enhancement products.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=17&articleId=9032522
http://cio.com/article/132904/Spam_Fighters_Hit_Criminals_Weak_Spot
http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;224654651;fp;4;fpid;1398720840

nz: Legislation won't stop spam, says marketer [NZPA]
An email marketer says new anti-spam legislation will not have much impact in New Zealand because most of the spam is coming from overseas.
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4176903a28.html
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200708261545/full_email_boxes_predicted_before_anti-spam_law_takes_affect

nz: Firms 'overreact' to spam act
An anti-spam law that makes it illegal to send any unsolicited commercial e-mails comes into effect on Wednesday next week but Keith Norris, executive director of the Marketing Association, says most businesses have no need to panic.
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4178348a28.html

au: Email scam targets ACT Office of Fair Trading
Hoax email that claims to originate from the ACT Office of Fair Trading targets recipients for identity theft.
http://itnews.com.au/News/NewsStory.aspx?story=59781

*********************************
COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
*********************************
The iPhone bill that?s as thick as a novel
It is one of the most sophisticated communications devices on the market, and yet the almost one million Americans who bought an iPhone since its launch in June are astonished by the weight of paper it generates. Thanks to an archaic billing system one customer received a 300-page, double-sided invoice. The bill - which had twice as many pages as The Great Gatsby, and almost three times as many pages as the iPhone manual - chronicled in scientific detail every last bite of information uploaded or downloaded from her phone.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article2317395.ece

With Software and Soldering, a Non-AT&T iPhone
AT&T is paying millions to be the exclusive United States provider of Apple?s much-hyped and glowingly reviewed gadget, the iPhone. It took 17-year-old George Hotz two months of work to undermine AT&T?s investment. Mr. Hotz, a resident of Glen Rock, N.J., published detailed instructions online this week that he says will let iPhone owners abandon AT&T?s service and use their phones on some competing cellular networks.
http://nytimes.com/2007/08/25/technology/25iphone.html
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article2326835.ece
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6963696.stm

NJ teen untethers iPhone from AT&T network [AP]
A 17-year-old hacker has broken the lock that ties Apple Inc.'s iPhone to AT&T's wireless network, freeing the most hyped cellphone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-iphone25aug25,1,223100.story
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/25/1187462541816.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/25/1187462563517.html

Apple iPhone hacked wide open [Reuters]
Hackers have found a way to use Apple's iPhone on networks other than AT&T's, opening up the coveted device to rival carriers and overseas customers, according to a web report. A group called iPhoneSIMfree.com said it had developed a piece of software that, when installed on an iPhone
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10459834
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN2436004320070824

iPhone Unlockers Lining up [IDG]
Two software-based hacks, as well as one that involves hardware modifications, are set to allow iPhone owners to swap in SIM cards from providers other than AT&T.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136371-c,iphone/article.html

NZ World Summit e-Content entrants announced
New Zealand will compete in all eight categories of the 2007 World Summit Awards - a bi-annual global initiative launched by the United Nations to select and promote the world's best e-Content.
http://m-net.net.nz/1874/latest-news/latest-news/nz-world-summit-e-content-entrants-announced.php

**********************
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
**********************
nz: Telecom slammed by Chamber of Commerce [NZPA]
Businesses deserve better than what Telecom is offering, Auckland Chamber of Commerce says.
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4175496a6430.html

eu: Commission boost for mobile satellite services paves the way for EU-wide high speed data communications [news release]
The Commission today has adopted a proposal to select systems for mobile satellite services at European level. If adopted by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Telecom Ministers, this new selection mechanism will allow innovative services, such as mobile TV, broadband data and emergency communications to develop smoothly throughout Europe as of 2009.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=3554

Southern Cross Cable capacity to double
The Southern Cross Cable that carries most telecommunications traffic to and from New Zealand, Australia and the United States will be nearly doubled in capacity to cope with a surge in demand for bandwidth from video-hungry broadband users.
http://stuff.co.nz/4175695a13.html

**********************
MOBILE/WIRELESS
**********************
The Road To WiMAX
How Intel's Sean Maloney shepherded through the technology that's poised to rewrite the rules of wireless
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_36/b4048401.htm


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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 &#167;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





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