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! Headlines from the February 10 edition of the news include: 2nd Summer School on Internet Governance, Germany, July 2008 | ICANN 31st International Public Meeting in New Delhi [This] Week | Conclusion of JPA: ICANN CEO's message | ICANN Recovers Large Block of Internet Address Space | Update on the 2008 ICANN Nominating Committee | What is the JPA? by Bret Fausett | .Asia Sunrise Completed with Over 30,000 Domain Applications | Chinese hackers attack Australian govt networks | Ricky Ponting settles fake website case | Beware of Fake Domain Name Renewal Notices by Tucows' James Koole | Domain Name Game Still Going Strong; Tad Less Secretive And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. *************************************************** The domain name news is supported by auDA *************************************************** ********************** INTERNET USE ********************** Keeping a cool profile on Myspace could just cost you your next post Ready to upload a graphic account of the weekend on to your Facebook profile? Not so fast. A leading recruitment firm has cautioned that online social networking could seriously damage your career prospects, and urged those looking for a new job to be careful how much of their personal life was on public view. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3300531.ece Global spike in text messaging over new year Global SMS traffic over the 2007/2008 New Year period increased by 30% compared to the same period last year 43 billion text messages sent. http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2008/2/1/technology/20080201172832&sec=technology Work begins to repair severed net in Mediterranean Sea Work has begun to repair two damaged internet cables in the Mediterranean Sea that were severed last week. Flag Telecom, one of the firms responsible for the cables, says it will take about a week to be fixed. The break in cables has caused disruption to net services in the Middle East and India. The cause is still not known. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7228315.stm Conspiracy theorists ponder ongoing web outage One of the most intriguing internet mysteries of recent times - which has puzzled conspiracy theorists and experts alike - deepened today when experts said they were still no closer to establishing why a cable under the Mediterranean broke last week, causing a serious disruption to the world's internet traffic. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3319364.ece Cable Cut Fever Grips the Web Are underseas telecom cable cuts the new IEDs? After two underwater cable cuts in the Middle East last week severely impacted countries from Dubai to India, alert netizens voiced suspicions that someone -- most likely Al Qaeda -- intentionally severed the cables for their own nefarious purposes, or that the U.S. cut them as a lead-in to an attack on Iran. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/who-cut-the-cab.html Conspiracy theories emerge after internet cables cut Is information warfare to blame for the damage to underwater internet cables that has interrupted internet service to millions of people in India and Egypt, or is it just a series of accidents? When two cables in the Mediterranean were severed last week, it was put down to a mishap with a stray anchor. Now a third cable has been cut, this time near Dubai. That, along with new evidence that ships' anchors are not to blame, has sparked theories about more sinister forces that could be at work. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153974.htm Ruptures call safety of Internet cables into question Four undersea communication cables have been cut in the past week, raising questions about the safety of the oceanic network that handles the bulk of the world's Internet and telephone traffic. Most telecommunications experts and cable operators say that sabotage seems unlikely, but no one knows what damaged the cables or whether the incidents were related. http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/04/technology/cables.php http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/business/worldbusiness/04cnd-cable.html Egypt says Internet back to normal in 10 days [Reuters] Internet services in Egypt will not be restored to normal for at least 10 days after two undersea cables were cut earlier this week, causing severe disruptions, the telecommunications ministry said on Saturday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL0236548720080202 ********************** SOCIAL NETWORKING ********************** Dating sites see a bright future amid competition Love, Internet-style, is blooming, and that means online dating sites are trying harder than ever to win your heart. But have they met their match in social-networking sites? Worldwide, 97 million people visited Web sites devoted to matchmaking in December, according to figures from ComScore. That number is a 10 percent drop from a year earlier, perhaps a sign that free sites like Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and others - where socializing, rather than romance, is the stated priority - are having an impact. http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/06/technology/ptend07.php ********************** NEW TECHNOLOGIES ********************** us: FTC to Host Town Hall Meeting to Explore the Mobile Marketplace [news release] The Federal Trade Commission will host a two-day Town Hall meeting to explore the evolving mobile commerce (M-commerce) marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. http://ftc.gov/opa/2008/02/townhall.shtm No cancer link but mobiles can hit your sperm count Spending hours on a mobile phone each day may affect the quality of a man's sperm, preliminary US research suggests. In a study of 361 men seen at their infertility clinic, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found an association between the patients' mobile phone use and their sperm quality. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/02/07/1202234006768.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/02/07/1202234006768.html Mobiles do not increase cancer risk, says Japanese study Mobile phone users have no greater risk of developing brain tumours than people who have never used them, according to a detailed study of cancer patients. Scientists questioned more than 1,000 people, 322 of whom had been diagnosed with brain tumours, about their phone usage and found no link between cancer and the length of time they had owned a mobile phone or the amount they used it. The study, by researchers in Japan, follows last year's report from the Mobile Telecommunications Health Research Programme. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/06/mobilephones.health Japanese study clears mobiles of brain cancer risk [Reuters] Using a mobile phone does not increase your risk of brain cancer, according to a new Japanese study that is the first to consider the effects of radiation on different parts of the brain. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKL0527283020080205 Chips pass two billion transistors milestone The first chip to pack more than two billion transistors has been launched by silicon giant Intel. The quad-core chip, known as Tukwila, is designed for high-end servers rather than personal computers. It operates at speeds of up to 2GHz, the equivalent of a standard PC chip. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7223145.stm Intel squeezes 2 billion transistors onto new Itanium chip Intel Corp. is slated to divulge new information on Tukwila, its upcoming quad-core Itanium processor, at the International Solid State Circuits Conference today in San Francisco. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9060900 ********************** SPAM ********************** Spam continues to increase, Symantec says Spam now accounts for 78.5 percent of all email traffic, according to a new report from Symantec. That's up from previous months. And Europe, not the United States, can now claim to be the source of most spam. http://www.news.com/8301-10789_3-9865282-57.html Europe overtakes US for spam More spam emanated in Europe than US in January which highlights a major shift, according to Symantec's Monthly Spam Report. http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/02/05/229276/europe-overtakes-us-for-spam.htm us: Judge Agrees with FTC, Orders Spammers to Pay More Than $2.5 Million and Stop Selling Bogus Weight-Loss and Anti-Aging Products [news request] At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal judge has ordered Sili Neutraceuticals, LLC and Brian McDaid to pay more than $2.5 million for making false advertising claims and sending illegal e-mail messages in violation of the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act). http://ftc.gov/opa/2008/02/sili.shtm ********************** DIGITAL DIVIDE ********************** Rich-poor "digital divide" still broad, says UNCTAD [Reuters] The digital divide between rich and poor countries is narrowing as mobile phones and Internet use become more available, but the developing world still lags far behind, a United Nations report said on Wednesday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKL0669876920080206 http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/RichPoor-Digital-Divide-Still-Broad-Says-UNCTAD/ http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6229421.html Mobile phone technology vital to growth in the developing world Mobile phones, the internet and telecentres play a vital role in supporting the livelihoods of the poor and spurring growth in developing countries, a report by the UN said yesterday. But the digital divide between the developing and developed world is still wide, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development warned, and it urged governments and overseas aid to target policies for expanding information and communication technology. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/07/globaleconomy.mobilephones Crime fears as cheap PCs head for Africa What if the plans to spread low-cost One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and Intel Classmate computers to the developing world work? What if in a few years there are hundreds of millions of them out there? Many might applaud. But among computer security experts, there's growing concern that those scheme could inadvertently lead to a huge increase in computer crime. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/07/olpc.security ************************** ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL ************************** us: CIA Monitors YouTube For Intelligence In keeping with its mandate to gather intelligence, the CIA is watching YouTube. U.S. spies, now under the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), are looking increasingly online for intelligence; they have become major consumers of social media. "We're looking at YouTube, which carries some unique and honest-to-goodness intelligence," said Doug Naquin, director of the DNI Open Source Center. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206105311 ca: When hate crimes go online A Canadian court handed down a rare conviction to a white supremacist for posting hate material on the Internet, police said on Tuesday. A judge ruled that Keith Francis William (Bill) Noble, 31, did "wilfully promote hatred against identifiable groups, namely Jews, Blacks, homosexual or gay persons, non-whites and persons of mixed race or ethnic origin," said a police statement. http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=4241490 au: Woman 'felt suicidal' over internet dating scam A Gold Coast woman who fell victim to an internet romance scam is hoping others like her come forward. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/05/2155248.htm us: Woman Charged After Posting Craigslist Ad for a Killer A Michigan woman has been charged with using the Craigslist classified-advertisement Web site to find a killer for a romantic rival. The job title? Freelance. The price? $5,000. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142237-c,sites/article.html us: California court bars unmasking of Web critic [Reuters] A California appeals court on Wednesday said an anonymous Internet poster does not have to reveal his identity after being sued for making "scathing verbal attacks" against executives at a Florida company on a Yahoo message board. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6229488.html Jurisdiction policies regarding the internet in the EU and in THE US E-commerce and the Internet in general give a new significance to an old problem in international law: the problem of jurisdiction. Jurisdiction can be defined as the geographical area over which a court has the power and right to exercise authority. Practically, the issue is to decide when a citizen of one country or a corporation with its place of business in one country fall under the jurisdiction of the courts of another country. Although the EU and the US originally adopted totally distinct policies regarding jurisdiction, there is some hope that these policies will be harmonized in the future. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=97EABB2B-9FCB-49DC-95DB-C9B6AC45EBA6 ************************** PRIVACY ************************** Privacy head says Google may budge on privacy The head of Europe's privacy watchdogs said that he is still in negotiations with Google about a major data retention dispute and is confident that the search giant will change its policies. http://out-law.com/page-8846 Privacy on hold in cellphone business The mobile phone industry sees location-based services on handsets as a certain money-maker in the future. But the same technology that can send a targeted advertisement to a cellphone in the vicinity of a clothes store also lets the phone company know a lot more about its clients. http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/06/technology/wireless07.php ********************** CENSORSHIP ********************** Hackers declare war on Scientologists amid claims of heavy-handed Cruise control ... Yet the church has appeared powerless to stop the online sabotage. Guerrilla action has so far included the temporary disabling of its international website and "Google bombing", a manipulation of the search engine which has resulted in the website being the first result returned by Google when users type "dangerous cult". Scientology's UK website has been unavailable and in the US the FBI were investigating what they said was the hoax dispatch of white powder in envelopes to 19 churches in the Los Angeles area. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/04/news Scientology feud with its critics takes to Internet A long-simmering dispute over digital copyrights between the Church of Scientology and its critics has boiled over in recent weeks after video clips turned up on the Internet from a 2004 interview by the church's most famous member, actor Tom Cruise. When Scientology officials complained the clips were copyrighted and requested their removal from YouTube and other websites, a shadowy organization of online troublemakers sprang into action. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-scientology5feb05,1,4813130.story Hackers declare Scientology D-day Anonymous internet users who have previously crashed Church of Scientology websites have named February 10 as a worldwide day of protest in a bid to "destroy" the controversial religion. The group - called Anonymous - which includes skilled computer hackers, has posted a message on YouTube declaring war on Scientology, accusing it of trying to censor the internet and conducting "campaigns of misinformation". http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/02/07/1202234012004.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/02/07/1202234012004.html Great Firewall of China Faces Online Rebels ... But growing numbers of others are becoming increasingly resentful of restrictions on a wide range of Web sites, including Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace (sometimes), Blogspot and many other sites that the public sees as sources of harmless diversion or information. The mounting resentment has inspired a wave of increasingly determined social resistance of a kind that is uncommon in China. This resistance is taking many forms, from lawsuits by Internet users against government-owned service providers, claiming that the blocking of sites is illegal, to a growing network of software writers who develop code aimed at overcoming the restrictions. An Internet-based word-of-mouth campaign has taken shape, in which bloggers and Web page owners post articles to spread awareness of the Great Firewall, or share links to programs that will help evade it. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/world/asia/04china.html Dissident Chinese professor to sue Yahoo! and Google for erasing his name A former Chinese university professor who was dismissed after he founded a democratic opposition party, plans to sue Yahoo! and Google in the United States for blocking his name from search results in China. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3319051.ece China tightens rules on online video sector China has banned privately owned companies from entering the country?s fast-growing online video sector but will allow existing providers to continue to operate as long as they carefully monitor footage posted on their websites. The move highlights Beijing?s efforts to tighten controls on internet content amid concerns that popular local online video websites modelled on YouTube are an increasingly popular alternative to traditional state television. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1548bee4-d33e-11dc-b861-0000779fd2ac.html Govt Blocked Freedom Newspaper And AllGambian.net IP Addresses in June- CPJ Report Reveals "Domestic access to two U.S.-based, exile-run Web sites-Freedom Newspaper and All Gambian-was blocked for a month beginning in June, according to Internet site providers. Journalists for the Web sites, both of which are critical of the Jammeh administration, blamed the government. A government spokesman told CPJ that he was not aware that authorities had taken steps to block the sites." according to a statement issued by the New York based media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ in its 2007 report titled "attacks on the press in 2007" classified The Gambia as a hostile place for plasticizing journalists. http://allafrica.com/stories/200802061057.html ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ Chat rooms, IM riskier than social networking sites for kids Parents who are concerned about their children being exposed to sexual predators and harassment on the Internet need to stop thinking of social networking sites, such as MySpace.com and Facebook, as the biggest threats. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9061300 Kids safer in 'networks' than chat rooms [AAP] Social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook are safer places for children to chat than other types of internet sites, according to a new survey. The survey, which involved 1,588 children between the ages of 10 and 15 years old, found 28 per cent had been harassed via a social networking site, compared to 33 per cent for the internet as a whole. http://au.news.yahoo.com/080206/2/15r14.html http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/1572533 Australia Net Censorship Plan Under Fire On paper, the policy looked like a sound one. Australia's newly elected Labor Party government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would protect children online by preventing access to Web sites containing images of child pornography. But the decision to press ahead with a policy of mandatory filtering of Web content by Internet service providers has brought howls of derision from the Australian Internet industry and free speech advocates, who have claimed it will turn Australia into a nanny state, debase the democratic principles on which the nation was founded, and impair the speed and utility of the Internet itself. http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2008/gb2008026_169365.htm au: No case against nudity vs porn teacher A teacher who told a class of teenage boys to research pornography online has been allowed to keep teaching. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23167923-421,00.html au: Telstra launches $2m cyber safety fund Telstra hopes to stamp out bullying of children via the internet and mobile phones by establishing a $2 million program. Annual grants from $75,000 over three years will be provided to organisations to combat online and mobile harassment, as well as internet addiction and identity theft, the company said. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,23157607-15306,00.html http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23158891-662,00.html Telstra Foundation gives $2M to reduce online bullying Telstra has set aside $2 million for a new program aimed at reducing bullying and harassment of children using the internet and mobile phones across Australia. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/NewsStory.aspx?story=69466 nz: Concerns raised after teen Bebo users commit suicide Social networking sites may be virtual but for many young people they have very real implications in terms of their safety and well-being. Internet safety groups want sites like Bebo and Facebook to take responsibility for potentially deadly consequences they may be connected to. http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/ScienceTechnologyNews/Story/tabid/412/articleID/45178/cat/73/Default.aspx http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/Story/tabid/209/articleID/45178/cat/41/Default.aspx us: Joint CDT, PFF Project Tracks Online Child Protection and Free Speech Legislation A joint project of the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Progress & Freedom Foundation tracks more than 30 pieces of federal legislation that seek to protect children online, some of which pose serious threats to free speech. The reports released today summarize and categorize child online safety bills introduced in the 110th Congress, analyze free speech implications of key bills, and provide recommendations to Congress on how it can promote child online safety without impinging on First Amendment rights. http://www.cdt.org/speech/20080206freespeechincongress.pdf ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** In '08 presidential race, who's the most tech-friendly? Who would be the most tech-friendly president? The short answer: it depends. Do you like the idea of Net neutrality so much that you'd hand the Federal Communications Commission the authority to levy open-ended Internet regulations? Do you support pro-fair use changes to copyright law, which many programmers and computer scientists do--but which practically all software and video game companies oppose? http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9864581-38.html ug: New Pornography Law in Place to Curb the Vice In every Kampala suburb, town or trading centre, there is an Internet caf?, where users pay to browse and surf the web. The cafes are open to all people regardless of age, gender and social status. http://allafrica.com/stories/200802050075.html ********************** FILE SHARING ********************** Record labels sue China's top search engine Three major record labels have launched court actions against three Chinese internet companies accusing them of building a business on copyright infringement. One of them is China's biggest search engine, Baidu.com. Music trade body The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI) said that it, Warner, Sony BMG and Universal have all filed suits against Baidu, Sohu and a company associated with it, Sogou. http://out-law.com/page-8853 Music companies sue China's Baidu, Sohu over Internet piracy complaints [AP] Music companies have launched a new battle with China's Internet industry over music piracy, filing lawsuits accusing popular Web sites Baidu.com and Sohu.com of aiding illicit online copying, an industry group said Wednesday. http://news.smh.com.au/music-companies-sue-chinas-baidu-sohu-over-internet-piracy-complaints/20080206-1qkj.html http://news.theage.com.au/music-companies-sue-chinas-baidu-sohu-over-internet-piracy-complaints/20080206-1qkj.html China vows to crack down on internet piracy China has vowed to improve the "grave situation" of music piracy in the country, as it hosted the annual music industry event here to learn and exchange ideas with companies from around the world. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/27/2147610.htm Google planning China online music tie-up: report [Reuters] Google is planning to boost its presence in China by tying up with a Chinese online music company to provide free music downloads, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0523556620080206 95% of music downloads are illegal An increase in legitimate music sales over the past year did not come close to offsetting the billions of dollars being lost to music piracy, with illegal downloads outnumbering the legal ones sold online by a factor of 20 to 1. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/24/1201025084723.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/01/24/1201025084723.html IFPI wins Danish block on Pirate Bay The record industry's anti-piracy lobby has won a court victory to force Tele2 Denmark, a large ISP, to block access to the Swedish BitTorrent tracker site Pirate Bay. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/05/ifpi_pirate_bay_denmark/ Danish ISP may fight order to kill access to Pirate Bay P2P site [IDG] One of Denmark's largest Internet service providers is considering fighting a court order to shut off its subscribers' access to The Pirate Bay, the embattled file-sharing search engine. Tele2 AB was ordered to shut off access last week after a court concluded that The Pirate Bay facilitates the trading of copyright material without the permission of rights holders, according to a translation by the Danish Pirate Party, a digital rights activist group. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9061279 http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1837382336;fp;2;fpid;1 http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142223-c,copyright/article.html ********************************* COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS ********************************* Google Works to Torpedo Microsoft Bid for Yahoo In an unusually aggressive effort to prevent Microsoft from moving forward with its $44.6 billion hostile bid for Yahoo, Google emerged over the weekend with plans to play the role of spoiler. Publicly, Google came out against the deal, contending in a statement that the pairing, proposed by Microsoft on Friday in the form of a hostile offer, would pose threats to competition that need to be examined by policy makers around the world. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/technology/04yahoo.html http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/04/business/google.php Yahoo said to step up talks with Google Yahoo Inc.'s negotiations with Google Inc. have intensified as Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang races to find alternatives to Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited $44.6-billion takeover offer, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-yahoo7feb07,1,6729518.story Google goes straight at Microsoft over Yahoo ... Now, the anxious efforts by Google, led by its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, to try to scuttle Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo may well seem like a bout of Valley paranoia. After all, many industry analysts view the acquisition plan, announced Friday, as a desperation move by Microsoft to buy a bigger stake in the online advertising and Internet search markets, even as it and Yahoo fade further behind Google. http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/06/technology/google.php Google and Microsoft Take Up Battle Stations It could be payback time. An expensive legal and political campaign last year by Microsoft helped delay completion of Google?s $3.1 billion bid for the online advertising company DoubleClick. Microsoft filed briefs against the deal in the United States and abroad, testified against it in Congress, and worked with a public relations firm to generate opposition. Now Google is preparing to strike back. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/technology/05regulate.html Microsoft, Google Come Out Lobbying Microsoft has begun lobbying Congress even before its $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo has been accepted, while Google, the real object of Microsoft's concern, has started to raise objections on Capitol Hill. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/04/ST2008020403403.html Google cries foul over Microsoft's Yahoo bid Microsoft's $44.6bn bid for Yahoo raises "troubling questions" about the future of the internet, Google has warned. A takeover would also create a business with an "overwhelming share" of online communications services of web-based email and instant messaging, David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer wrote in an uncharacteristically forthright post on the official Google blog last night. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/04/microsoft.microsoft Google proposes Yahoo tie-up Google has thrown a lifebelt to its floundering rival Yahoo by proposing a partnership between the two internet search rivals as a way to escape Microsoft's $44.6bn (?22.4bn) hostile takeover bid. Intent on upsetting Microsoft's offer for Yahoo, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt made a personal phone call to Yahoo's founder, Jerry Yang, to propose working together. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/04/microsoft.technology How Google Could Keep Yahoo From Microsoft Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, is offering Yahoo ? and, it seems, anyone else ? whatever help he can to make sure Yahoo isn?t swallowed by Microsoft. What sort of help could that be? Lots of money for the right to sell ads on Yahoo?s search results, most likely. Google would have a very hard time buying Yahoo outright, for antitrust reasons. But if Google offered a long-term guarantee for advertising revenue on Yahoo?s search pages, there would be a pot of money that could help finance a bid for Yahoo by a private equity firm or a media company. Yahoo also could try to stay independent by cutting such a deal and giving part of the money from Google back to shareholders in the form of a share buyback or special dividend. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/how-google-could-keep-yahoo-from-microsoft/ Yahoo's Joyful, Difficult Journey For a company whose very name is a joyous exclamation, it's almost unbelievable that Yahoo! may end up going out with a whimper. Yahoo's possible purchase by Microsoft, which launched an unsolicited $44.6 billion bid on Feb. 1, would end one of the technology world's iconic fairy tales. If the deal happens, the company that put a friendly face on the wild and woolly Internet would be reduced to nothing more than a brand within the bowels of an old-guard technology titan. http://businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2008/tc2008021_118209.htm Microsoft-Yahoo Faces an Approval Gauntlet Third place is nothing to crow about?unless you're an attorney for Microsoft. The world's largest software maker has never been proud of being a laggard in Internet search and advertising. But Microsoft's weakness on the Web may very well ensure it gains government approval for its proposed $44.6 billion acquisition of Yahoo!. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2008/tc2008021_107540.htm Google Says Yahoo Sale Could Stifle Competition Google executives are urging trade regulators around the world to look closely at Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo, a $44.6 billion proposal that they say threatens to quash competition, stifle Internet innovation and shrink consumer choice. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020302675.html Yahoo may consider Google alliance: source [Reuters] Yahoo Inc would consider a business alliance with Google Inc as one way to rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source familiar with Yahoo's strategy said on Sunday. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0362915520080205 Microsoft hits back at Google Microsoft hit back at Google on Monday over the search company?s attempt to derail its bid for Yahoo, threatening to fight back through the regulators if its ambitions were stymied by any partnership between the two. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dd31cbd2-d355-11dc-b861-0000779fd2ac.html Microsoft is ready to oust Yahoo! board to achieve swift takeover Microsoft is threatening to launch a boardroom coup at Yahoo! within six weeks if the internet search engine fails to either accept its $45 billion (?23 billion) hostile takeover proposal or to start serious merger talks, The Times has learnt. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3300964.ece Silicon Valley Donations: Microsoft Loves Hillary; Google, Obama Microsoft employees support New York senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president, while Google and Yahoo staffers are for Illinois senator Barack Obama, according to recently updated 2007 filings with the Federal Election Commission. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/silicon-valley.html ********************** TELECOMMUNICATIONS ********************** au: ISPs label OPEL a feeble overbuild of existing infrastructure Regional ISPs have dubbed the OPEL WiMax network a token gesture and said local operators should have been awarded the government funds to extend solutions already operational. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1807537284;fp;2;fpid;1 http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1807537284;fp;2;fpid;1 Is OPEL overbuild good for Aussie broadband? Network overbuild between OPEL's planned WiMax deployment and existing broadband networks need not be a bad thing, according to analysts. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Is-OPEL-overbuild-good-for-Aussie-broadband-/0,130061791,339285665,00.htm Keep pushing for FTTH, says InternetNZ president Some InternetNZ members doubt the kerbside cabinets planned by Telecom will be sufficient to meet growing demand for high-resolution video, especially when three or four people in one household might want to watch different programmes. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/netw/79B1D05DE5BFC054CC2573E200109A5B +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (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 Get the name you always wanted with the new y7mail email address. www.yahoo7.com.au/y7mailReceived on Mon Feb 11 2008 - 01:56:59 UTC
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