Don't forget to check out http://www.auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the archive of the last 3 months of the news. And see my website - http://GoldsteinReport.com/ - for daily updates in between postings. *************************************************** The domain name news is supported by auDA *************************************************** The US Commerce Dept position paper for the ICANN Board negotiations by Milton Mueller http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2011/1/29/4737705.html So what does that weird GAC wording actually mean? http://kierenmccarthy.com/2011/01/27/so-what-does-that-weird-gac-wording-actually-mean/ RU-CENTER Statement on Findings Made by the Committee on Analysis of .?? Launch http://www.nic.ru/news/en/2011/rf_issue.html US wants veto power over new TLDs http://domainincite.com/us-wants-veto-power-over-new-tlds/ us: Homeland Security moves full-speed-ahead on Einstein cybersecurity tool http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110128_3394.php Cyber-attacks now the most feared EU energy threat http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/cyber-attacks-feared-eu-energy-threat-news-501547 The Difference Engine: No more addresses http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/01/internet_architecture IPv4 Countdown ? the end is nigh http://blog.auda.org.au/2011/01/18/ipv4-countdown-?-the-end-is-nigh/ Internet gets ready for impending 'IPocalypse' http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/28/3124289.htm Egypt severs internet connection amid growing unrest http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12306041 NZ slips in global state-of-the-internet report http://nbr.co.nz/article/nz-slips-global-state-internet-report-ck-84542 ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** US Republican Moves to Keep UN Away From Internet Governance The Republicans in the US are working hard to keep the UN's mitts off internet governance, with Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., reintroducing "a nonbinding resolution calling on President Obama to oppose any efforts by the United Nations to take over governance of the Internet," reports Tech Daily Dose. http://goldsteinreport.com/article.php?article=13524 http://www.domainpulse.com/2011/01/27/us-republican-moves-to-keep-un-away-from-internet-governance/ http://domainnews.com/en/us-republican-moves-to-keep-un-away-from-internet-governance.html ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** ********************** - ICANN ********************** The US Commerce Dept position paper for the ICANN Board negotiations by Milton Mueller IGP has obtained a copy of the US Commerce Department's position paper for its February 28 negotiations with the ICANN Board over the new top level domain program. The USG Submission to the GAC Scorecard shows that the U.S. Commerce Department's ICANN crew has gone off the rails. It supports direct governmental veto power over domains and demands that ICANN completely rewrite most of the consensus policies developed over 4 years. http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2011/1/29/4737705.html So what does that weird GAC wording actually mean? The ICANN Board just published the minutes from its meeting on Tuesday and intriguingly it has formally ?triggered? the GAC-Board consultation that is explained in greater depth below. http://kierenmccarthy.com/2011/01/27/so-what-does-that-weird-gac-wording-actually-mean/ Analysis of ICANN's "eAffirmation of Commitments" by A. Michael Froomkin, University of Miami Abstract: This article examines the legal and political effects of the "Affirmation of Commitments" between the United States Department of Commerce and ICANN. The agreement purports to recast the public-private relationship at the heart of the management of the DNS. http://www.markle.org/sites/default/files/attachments/weeklydigest_vol.10_issue04.pdf ICANN sets March deadline for new TLDs ICANN appears determined to put debates about its new top-level domains program to bed at its San Francisco meeting in March. http://domainincite.com/breaking-icann-sets-march-deadline-for-new-tlds/ New TLD Guidebook May Be Approved in March After All After what seemed like disappointing news last week, now things are looking up for potential new top level domain name applicants. http://domainnamewire.com/2011/01/27/new-tld-guidebook-may-be-approved-in-march-after-all/ ICANN Briefing Documents Still Full of Redactions ICANN is continuing to redact large portions of its board briefing documents, despite the recommendations of its Accountability and Transparency Review team. http://domainnamewire.com/2011/01/27/icann-briefing-documents-still-full-of-redactions/ ICANN Board to Meet With GAC Feb 28 in Brussels ICANN announced Friday that a meeting between the corporation's board of directors and the Government Advisory Committee has been scheduled for Feb. 28 and March 1 in Brussels, at the Square Brussels Meeting Centre, Mont des Arts?Kunstberg, Brussels. http://business.avn.com/articles/technology/ICANN-Board-to-Meet-With-GAC-Feb-28-in-Brussels-423965.html ********************** - ccTLD & gTLD NEWS ********************** 10 February 2011: IDN workshop organised by AFNIC As part of the opening of the .fr TLD to Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), AFNIC is organising a workshop on the issue in Paris on 10 February 2011. In addition to being a venue for exchanging and sharing information, the workshop is organised around two keynote presentations: http://www.afnic.fr/actu/nouvelles/271/10-february-2011-idn-workshop-organised-by-afnic .my DOMAIN REGISTRY now supports Internationalized Domain Names for Jawi at the Second Level We are proud to announce that .my DOMAIN REGISTRY now supports Internationalized Domain Name. http://domainregistry.my/readnews.php?id=110 ISO27001 certificate for SIDN On Tuesday 25 January, SIDN, the .nl registry, was awarded an ISO27001 certificate by DEKRA. SIDN is one of the first registries in the world to gain recognition for ensuring that its operations meet this international quality standard, which focuses on internal information security. https://www.sidn.nl/en/news/news/article/iso27001-certificaat-voor-sidn-1/ RU-CENTER Statement on Findings Made by the Committee on Analysis of .?? Launch The mass media have brought findings of the Committee on Analysis of .?? Launch set up by the Coordination Center for TLD RU. On January 26, 2011 it was presented to the Coordination Center Council members. Now we are looking forward to the resolution text to be published by the Coordination Center Council which has reviewed the committee findings and made several decisions on some specific proposals. http://www.nic.ru/news/en/2011/rf_issue.html The CC?s Board meeting to review findings of the commission on examination of the curent situation with the open registration of domain names in IDN tld .?? On 26 January 2011 the CC?s Board extra meeting was held to review findings of the Commission on Examination of the Current Situation with the Open Registration of Domain Names in IND TLD .??. The next day, on 27 January 2011, at the press conference held by the Coordination CENTR for ccTLD .RU the Conclusion of the Commission and the rulings of the CC?s Board meeting were announced. The Commission comprised representatives from the CC, the Internet community and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. http://cctld.ru/en/news/news_detail.php?ID=1260 On 27 January Commission on examination of the curent situation with the open registration of domain names in cctld .?? will make public its findings On 27 January at 10am the Coordination Center for ccTLD .RU will hold a press conference to announce rulings of the CC?s Board meeting on findings by the Commission on Examination of the Current Situation with the Open Registration of Domain Names in ccTLD .??. The Commission comprised representatives from the CC, the Internet community and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. http://cctld.ru/en/news/news_detail.php?ID=1246 Mobile applications handy to register domain names in ccTLD .RU ? .?? keep coming out New mobile applications for iPhone and Android that ensure complete access to all types of operations with domain names have been put on the market. REG. RU, domain names registrar, has produced the applications. http://cctld.ru/en/news/news_detail.php?ID=1242 ICANN approves short and numeric-only .tel domain names Telnic Limited today announced that, following the ICANN board meeting conducted in January 2011, ICANN has now approved the release of both short (such as jj.tel) and numeric-only (such as 442074676450.tel or 88.tel) .tel domain names for registration. http://telnic.com/downloads/Short_and_numeric_tel_domains.pdf Numeric Only Domains Coming to .Tel Soon you?ll be able to register .tel domain names existing solely of two or more digits. http://domainnamewire.com/2011/01/27/numeric-only-domains-coming-to-tel/ ********************** - NEW TLDS ********************** US wants veto power over new TLDs The United States is backing a governmental power grab over ICANN?s new top-level domains program. http://domainincite.com/us-wants-veto-power-over-new-tlds/ India Gets 7 IDN County Code Domain Names India gets seven IDN ccTLDS and more good news for IDN domain name supporters. http://domainnamewire.com/2011/01/27/india-gets-7-idn-county-code-domain-names/ ********************** - DNS SECURITY ********************** us: Homeland Security moves full-speed-ahead on Einstein cybersecurity tool The Homeland Security Department will finish by 2012 installing a somewhat controversial system, called Einstein 2, that monitors traffic on federal computer networks for potential intrusions, and will start the next phase of the application, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said during an address on the state of the agency. http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110128_3394.php Cyber-attacks now the most feared EU energy threat In the wake of last week's cyber-fraud on the world's carbon market, a senior EU official has told EurActiv that of all threats to Europe's energy supply, cyber-attacks are "probably the most to be feared". http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/cyber-attacks-feared-eu-energy-threat-news-501547 us: Half of federal Web sites fail DNS security test Half of U.S. government Web sites are vulnerable to commonplace DNS attacks because they haven't deployed a new authentication mechanism that was mandated in 2008, a new study shows. http://www.cio.de/news/cio_worldnews/2011/2262779/index.html Conficker thwarted, but worm remains on millions of PCs [AFP] A unified effort has lopped the head off a treacherous Conficker computer worm but the malicious computer code lives on in infected machines. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10702678 ********************** - IPv4/IPv6 ********************** The Difference Engine: No more addresses REMEMBER the panic over the ?millennium bug?, when computers everywhere were expected to go haywire on January 1st 2000 thanks to the way a lot of old software used just two digits to represent the year instead of four? Doomsters predicted all sorts of errors in calculations involving dates when the clocks rolled over from 99 to 00. In the event, the millennium dawned without incident. That may have been because of the draconian preparations undertaken beforehand. Or perhaps, as many suspected, the problem was grossly exaggerated in the first place. Certainly, the computer industry made a packet out of all the panic-buying of new hardware and software in the months leading up to the new millennium. http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/01/internet_architecture Internet gets ready for impending 'IPocalypse' In the coming week, the global authority that allocates internet addresses is expected to run out of stock. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/28/3124289.htm IPv4 Countdown ? the end is nigh Anyone with even a passing interest in the technical workings of the Internet will be well aware of the ongoing, rapid depletion of IPv4 addresses. http://blog.auda.org.au/2011/01/18/ipv4-countdown-?-the-end-is-nigh/ Net approaches address exhaustion The last big blocks of the net's dwindling stock of addresses are about to be handed out. The event that triggers their distribution is widely expected to take place in the next few days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12306573 ********************** - MISCELLANEOUS ********************** Egypt severs internet connection amid growing unrest ... Egyptian authorities are also reported to have stunted net access by shutting down official Domain Name Servers (DNS) in Egypt. These act as address books and are consulted by web browsing software to find out the location of a site a user wants to visit. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12306041 DNS not to blame for Egypt blackout Egypt got disconnected from the internet last night, but it does not appear that DNS is to blame. http://domainincite.com/dns-not-to-blame-for-egypt-blackout/ MasterCard?s Support for COICA Threatens A Free And Open Internet In the last months of 2010, the WikiLeaks wars reminded transparency activists of something copyright and trademark lawyers know all too well ? online speech is only as strong as the many service providers on which it depends. All too often web hosts, domain name registrars and other service providers cave at the slightest legal or government pressure, with disastrous consequences for their users. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/01/mastercards-support-for-coica Domain pulse on 17 and 18 February 2011 in Vienna Domain pulse is the most significant event in the German-speaking world for current topics and trends associated with all aspects of domain names. In cooperation with the registries for Switzerland (SWITCH) and Germany (DENIC), the Austrian Registry (nic.at) hosts this year's Domain pulse conference on 17 and 18 February 2011 in Vienna. http://www.switch.ch/about/news/2011/Domainpulse11.html NZ slips in global state-of-the-internet report US company Akamai has released its latest global state-of-the-internet report, covering the third quarter of 2010. The report finds: New Zealand has over 1.4 million unique IP addresses with an average connection speed of 3.2Mbit/s (up from 2.97Mbit/s in Q2); New Zealand drops two spots from the second quarter to 41st; Australia maintains global rank for 48th fastest broadband speed; Australia reports more than 9.3 million unique IP addresses with an average connection speed of 2.9Mbit/s http://nbr.co.nz/article/nz-slips-global-state-internet-report-ck-84542 Verisign Reports 10% Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth in 2010 VeriSign ... reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010 and year ended December 31, 2010. ... Verisign Registry Services ended the quarter with approximately 105.2 million active domain names in the adjusted zone for .com and .net, representing a 9% increase year-over-year. In the fourth quarter, Verisign added 7.6 million new domain name registrations, representing a 4% increase year-over-year. https://press.verisign.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=AFC0FF0DB5C560D3&version=live&prid=713306&releasejsp=custom_97 The State of the Industry January 2011: 19 Industry Leaders Identify 2010's Most Important Trends and Predict What Lies Ahead This Year These in-depth January reports are the most ambitious project we take on each year and we believe the time invested in reading what a broad cross section of industry leaders has to say will benefit anyone whose business depends on staying abreast of the latest developments in the domain world. http://dnjournal.com/cover/2011/january.htm ********************** - DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET ********************** AfternicDLS Rings Up a Half Dozen Five-Figure Sales Including the Week's Biggest The AfternicDLS is off to a quick start in 2011 with the top three sales on our first Year-To-Date Chart of the New Year (combining sales from the first two weeks of 2011). On the aftermarket's second lap around the New Year track over the past seven days, the AfternicDLS rang up four of the top eight sales, including the biggest - MAAC.com at $63,000. They took six places overall on our latest weekly all extension Top 20 Sales Chart. http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2011/20110126.htm ********************** REPORTS & RESEARCH PAPERS ********************** How Do Advertising Standards Affect Online Advertising? by Avi Goldfarb & Catherine Tucker Abstract: The technological transformation and automation of delivery has revolutionized the advertising industry. Increased reliance on technology has also led to requirements for standardization of advertising formats. This paper examines how the memorability of banner advertising changed with the introduction of new standards regularizing the size of display advertising. Using data from randomized field tests, we find evidence that for most ads, recall of banner advertising declines as a result of standardization. The decline is much weaker when a standardized ad is the only ad on the page, and when the ads appear to be more original, so a likely explanation is that standardization makes it harder for basic ads to distinguish themselves from their competition. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1745645 Anonymous Defamation by Internet by James B. Astrachan [The Daily Record, Legal ADvice column] Abstract: This article discusses possible courses of legal action if defamed by an anonymous internet poster, and protection afforded to certain potential defendants by the Communications Decency Act. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1747113 ********************** INTERNET USE ********************** Italy Gets Wired with Free W-LAN Efforts in Germany to establish free Wi-Fi networks in big cities have so far failed. Not so in Italy, where pilot projects in Rome and Florence show that a bit of creative thinking can make widespread free Internet access possible. http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,741961,00.html ********************** SOCIAL NETWORKING ********************** Will Google Survive Facebook? "How can we not be happy?" Google CFO Patrick Pichette asked rhetorically last week as the Internet search giant unveiled stellar earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter and full year 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703399204576108382828947182.html ************************************************ CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION ************************************************ us: Court Rejects Judge's Assertion of a Child Pornography Gene A federal appeals court in Manhattan overturned a six-and-a-half-year sentence in a child pornography case on Friday, saying the judge who imposed it improperly found that the defendant would return to viewing child pornography ?because of an as-of-yet undiscovered gene.? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/nyregion/29ruling.html ********************** ONLINE TV & MUSIC ********************** EU in 'secret talks' to stop illegal downloads The European Commission stands accused of reneging on copyright rules as it is reportedly discussing a private deal to allow companies to disconnect users from the Internet for suspected piracy. http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/eu-secret-talks-illegal-downloads-news-501715 ********************** MOBILE/WIRELESS ********************** Mobile app revenue will triple to $15 billion this year, Gartner says Gartner Inc. on Wednesday predicted that mobile application revenue will nearly triple in 2011, to $15.1 billion, from $5.2 billion last year. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/mobile-app-revenue-to-triple-this-year-to-15-billion-gartner-says.html App sales worth $15bn in 2011, say analysts Last weekend, a woman in Kent downloaded the free mobile phone game, Paper Glider, from Apple's App Store. It was the 10 billionth application downloaded in just two-and-a-half years. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/app-sales-worth-15bn-in-2011-say-analysts-2195454.html Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Application Store Revenue Forecast to Surpass $15 Billion in 2011; Revenue Between 2010 and 2014 is Forecast to Grow 1,000 Percent to Reach $58 Billion [news release] Worldwide mobile application store downloads are forecast to reach 17.7 billion downloads in 2011, a 117 percent increase from an estimated 8.2 billion downloads in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. By the end of 2014, Gartner forecast over 185 billion applications will have been downloaded from mobile app stores, since the launch of the first one in July 2008. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1529214 Calif. man files class action suit against Apple over broken iPhone 4 glass The California resident filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday against Apple Inc. alleging that Apple's iPhone 4 has a manufacturing defect that causes its glass housing to break after "reasonable use." http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/calif-man-files-class-action-suit-against-apple-over-broken-iphone-4-glass.html Mobile Phone Market Grows 17.9% in Fourth Quarter, According to IDC [news release] The worldwide mobile phone market grew 17.9% in the fourth quarter of 2010 (4Q10), a new quarterly high driven by smartphones. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 401.4 million units in 4Q10 compared to 340.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009. Vendors shipped a total of 1.39 billion units on a cumulative worldwide basis in 2010, up 18.5% from the 1.17 billion units shipped in 2009. http://www.idc.com/about/viewpressrelease.jsp?containerId=prUS22679411 ********************** SPAM ********************** How Facebook Killed (Most) Spam Using Smart Filters Facebook announced this week that they cut down the number of annoying messages you receive from the likes of FarmVille and Mafia Wars by 95% last year. Here's how they did it. http://www.fastcompany.com/1721252/how-facebook-killed-spam http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/01/27/facebook.spam/index.html How you and Google are losing the battle against spam in search results Earlier this month, my friend Rebecca Skloot replaced her hulking big-box TV - I can vouch for its girth, having moved it once - with a flat-screen no thicker than an iPad. She turned it on and, horror of horrors, the picture was lousy. ... Data seem to back them up. Google's success rate, as measured by the percentage of users visiting a Web site after executing a search, fell 13 percent last year, according to Experian Hitwise, which monitors Web traffic. Microsoft's Bing search engine increased its search efficiency by 9 percent over the same period. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/28/AR2011012803849.html Aussie spam levels drop Australia's spam rate has fallen by more than 15 per cent since July 2010, and it's now 1.3 percentage point below the average 78.6 per cent registered globally, according to a report published today by Symantec's MessageLabs division. http://www.zdnet.com.au/aussie-spam-levels-drop-339308808.htm ********************** DIGITAL DIVIDE ********************** Mobile services in poor countries: Clever services on cheap mobile phones make a powerful combination-especially in poor countries Counterfeit drugs can make up around a quarter of all those sold in poor countries, according to some estimates. They provide a lucrative and lethal business, against which most consumers are powerless. ?If your anti-malaria pill is made of any old white powder, you may not survive,? says Bright Simons, one of the founders of mPedigree, an advocacy group from Ghana. http://www.economist.com/node/18008202?story_id=18008202 ************************** ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL ************************** us: Homeland Security moves full-speed-ahead on Einstein cybersecurity tool The Homeland Security Department will finish by 2012 installing a somewhat controversial system, called Einstein 2, that monitors traffic on federal computer networks for potential intrusions, and will start the next phase of the application, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said during an address on the state of the agency. http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110128_3394.php Cyber-attacks now the most feared EU energy threat In the wake of last week's cyber-fraud on the world's carbon market, a senior EU official has told EurActiv that of all threats to Europe's energy supply, cyber-attacks are "probably the most to be feared". http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/cyber-attacks-feared-eu-energy-threat-news-501547 Opinion: 25 Years of Digital Vandalism In January 1986, Basit and Amjad Alvi, sibling programmers living near the main train station in Lahore, Pakistan, wrote a piece of code to safeguard the latest version of their heart-monitoring software from piracy. They called it Brain, and it was basically a wheel-clamp for PCs. Computers that ran their program, plus this new bit of code, would stop working after a year, though they cheerfully provided three telephone numbers, against the day. If you were a legitimate user, and could prove it, they?d unlock you. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/opinion/27Gibson.html uk: Police arrest five over Anonymous WikiLeaks attacks Five people were arrested yesterday in connection with a spate of online attacks last month in support of WikiLeaks. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/27/anonymous-hacking Five arrested over 'Anonymous' web attacks Five men have been arrested over a spate of recent web attacks carried out in support of Wikileaks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12299137 Anonymous: UK arrests are a 'declaration of war' Anonymous has issued a warning to the UK government after five young men suspected of being connected to the group were arrested on Thursday. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/security-threats/2011/01/28/anonymous-uk-arrests-are-a-declaration-of-war-40091602/ uk: Teens arrested over cyber attacks on anti-WikiLeaks companies [The Times] Three teenagers are among five males arrested on suspicion of carrying out cyber attacks on the websites of companies that have refused to do business with WikiLeaks. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/teens-arrested-over-cyber-attacks-on-anti-wikileaks-companies/story-e6frg6so-1225995900873 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/technology/article2890631.ece UK police arrest WikiLeaks backers for cyber attacks British police arrested five young men on Thursday following an investigation into Internet activists who carried out cyber attacks against groups they viewed as enemies of the WikiLeaks website. http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/01/27/idINIndia-54454620110127 F.B.I. Warrants Into Service Attacks by WikiLeaks Supporters The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had executed more than 40 search warrants in the United States on Thursday as part of an investigation into an international group of computer hackers who attacked corporate Web sites last year in a show of support for WikiLeaks. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/us/28wiki.html FBI Targets Cyber Attackers Supporting WikiLeaks The FBI announced Thursday that it has executed 40 search warrants throughout the country in connection with a series of coordinated cyber attacks against "major companies and organizations." http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2011/01/fbi-targets-cyber-attackers-su.php Police arrest WikiLeaks backers for Web attacks Police arrested five young men on Thursday as they and U.S. authorities conducted searches as part of a probe into Internet activists who carried out cyber attacks against groups they viewed as enemies of the WikiLeaks website. http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE70Q4N120110127 Search Warrants Executed in the United States as Part of Ongoing Cyber Investigation [news release] FBI agents today executed more than 40 search warrants throughout the United States as part of an ongoing investigation into recent coordinated cyber attacks against major companies and organizations. Also today, the United Kingdom?s Metropolitan Police Service executed additional search warrants and arrested five people for their alleged role in the attacks. http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/warrants_012711 Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and the German Hacker Heist A few young Germans have the world's biggest record companies at their knees. After hacking into the computers of famous recording artists and their managers, they have placed unreleased songs by the likes of Lady Gaga and Shakira on the Internet. Two have been caught, but the others are still at work. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,741667,00.html ************************** PRIVACY ************************** us: Groups, Firms Weigh In On Privacy Report Happy Data Privacy Day! It is a day celebrated in Canada, most of Europe and the United States to raise awareness and discussion about data privacy and protection. Whether it was meant to coincide with Data Privacy Day or not, Friday is also the deadline for comments on the Commerce Department's draft privacy report. http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2011/01/groups-firms-weigh-in-on-priva.php http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110129_8556.php Mozilla Leads the Way on Do Not Track Earlier today, Mozilla announced plans to incorporate a Do Not Track feature into their next browser release, Firefox 4.1. Google also announced a new privacy extension today, but we believe that Mozilla is now taking a clear lead and building a practical way forward for people who want privacy when they browse the web. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/01/mozilla-leads-the-way-on-do-not-track Protect your personal information because the Internet never forgets, Privacy Commissioner of Canada says [news release] The Internet lets you share information with anyone, anywhere, at any time, but not without some peril to your privacy, Canada?s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart warned today. http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2011/nr-c_110127_e.cfm ********************** CENSORSHIP ********************** Spotlight Again Falls on Web Tools and Change Fear is the dictator?s traditional tool for keeping the people in check. But by cutting off Egypt?s Internet and wireless service late last week in the face of huge street protests, President Hosni Mubarak betrayed his own fear ? that Facebook, Twitter, laptops and smartphones could empower his opponents, expose his weakness to the world and topple his regime. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/weekinreview/30shane.html Egyptian protesters are not just Facebook revolutionaries The internet has galvanised dissidents, but the key events that fuelled the uprising happened offline http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egyptian-protesters-facebook-revolutionaries Egypt Cuts Off Most Internet and Cell Service Autocratic governments often limit phone and Internet access in tense times. But the Internet has never faced anything like what happened in Egypt on Friday, when the government of a country with 80 million people and a modernizing economy cut off nearly all access to the network and shut down cellphone service. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/technology/internet/29cutoff.html How Egypt pulled out of the Internet Renesys, an internet security firm based in Manchester, N.H., has given its commentary on how Egypt managed to shut down all Internet access in the country. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2011/01/how_egypt_fell_off_the_interne.html Experts condemn Egypt's web shutdown [AFP] Egypt's crackdown on the net and mobile phones amid protests against President Mubarak is unprecedented in the history of the web, experts said. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/experts-condemn-egypts-web-shutdown/story-e6frgakx-1225997277345 http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/egypt-shutdown-worst-in-internet-history-experts-20110130-1a99z.html http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-technology/egypt-shutdown-worst-in-internet-history-experts-20110130-1a99z.html Egyptians Find New Routes to the Web [IDG] "When countries block, we evolve," an activist with the group We Rebuild wrote in a Twitter message Friday. http://www.pcworld.com/article/218179/.html Egypt Withdraws From Web, Blocks Phones After Protesters Take to Streets Egypt, following days of anti- government protests, ?withdrew? from the Internet after Egyptian authorities shut connections to the outside world. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-28/egypt-withdraws-from-web-blocks-phones-after-protesters-take-to-streets.html Egypt Internet, social media users find some relief, Cairo blogger says Cairo-based Egyptian blogger and journalist Wael Abbas tweeted Saturday that some social media users had been able to access the Internet in the capital city on the fifth day of growing unrest there. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/egypt-internet-social-media.html Egypt severs internet connection amid growing unrest Internet connections across Egypt have been cut, as authorities geared up for a day of mass protest. Net analysis firms and web watchers have reported that the vast majority of the country's internet has become unreachable. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12306041 When Egypt turned off the internet About a half-hour past midnight on Friday in Egypt, the internet went dead. Almost simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the internet into and out of Egypt went dark as protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of president Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, experts said. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011128796164380.html Internet Security Savvy is Critical as Egyptian Government Blocks Websites, Arrests Activists in Response to Continued Protest As we've seen in Iran and Tunisia, social networking tools have given activists in authoritarian regimes a powerful voice, which can be heard well beyond their own country. But the use of social networking tools has also given their governments ways to identify and retaliate against them. This week we are watching the same dynamic play out in Egypt. This is why it is critical that all activists ?in Egypt and elsewhere?take precautions to protect their anonymity and freedom of expression. The protests in Egypt this week also highlight another important point: authoritarian governments can block access to social media websites, but determined, tech-savvy activists are likely to find ways to circumvent censorship to communicate with the rest of the world. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/01/egypt-blocks-websites-arrests-bloggers-and CDT Statement on Egypt Shutting Down Internet Access Today, the Center for Democracy & Technology released the following statement in response to the news that Egypt had cut Internet access and mobile services throughout the country: http://cdt.org/pr_statement/cdt-statement-egypt-shutting-down-internet-access Egypt shuts off the Internet - Sen. Lieberman take note by Milton Mueller By now almost everyone connected to the Internet knows that Egypt has literally cut off the entire country from Internet access and mobile telecommunication. Aside from joy at the contagious challenge to dictators we see unfolding in the region, and concern about the safety of the people there, we have two immediate observations. http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2011/1/28/4737291.html Egypt?s net and phones fall silent Egypt faced an internet and mobile-phone blackout on Friday, as authorities attempted to restrict communication between anti-government protesters and the watching world. http://blogs.ft.com/fttechhub/2011/01/egypt-internet-blackout/ Online activism fuels Egypt protest Egyptian authorities have blocked internet and mobile services in a bid to quell anti-government protests, but the measures may have come a bit too late. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011128102253848730.html In Egypt, should Internet access be an inalienable right? Riots and unrest in Egypt have been ongoing all week, but the Internet only seemed to take notice when it affected the Internet. On Friday, news reports revealed that the government had shut down Internet access to its 80 million citizens, also blocking text messaging and mobile services. Access to the outside world was gone, as was the ability to organize protests from within. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2011/01/28/ST2011012806871.html Without Internet, Egyptians find new ways to get online [IDG] "When countries block, we evolve," an activist with the group We Rebuild wrote in a Twitter message on Friday. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9207058/Without_Internet_Egyptians_find_new_ways_to_get_online How Egypt Killed the Internet How do you turn off the Internet in an entire country? In the case of Egypt, it was probably done with a few phone calls, says Jim Cowie, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Renesys Corp., a company that analyzes how the Internet is performing around the world. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/01/28/how-egypt-killed-the-internet/ How Egypt pulled its Internet plug To sever its link with the outside digital world, Egypt "raised the drawbridge" in mere minutes by forcing the country's providers to make simple changes to their routers, experts said on Friday. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9207040/How_Egypt_pulled_its_Internet_plug http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/012811-how-egypt-pulled-its-internet.html Egypt moves to cut access to Internet Opposition activists in Egypt vowed to defy a government ban and turn out by the thousands for demonstrations Friday, prompting authorities to apparently cut access to the Internet in an attempt to limit their ability to organize. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012500866.html Egypt cuts off internet access Egypt appears to have cut off almost all access to the internet from inside and outside the country from late on Thursday night, in a move that has concerned observers of the protests that have been building in strength through the week. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/28/egypt-cuts-off-internet-access UNESCO hosts discussions on freedom of expression and journalism ethics An International Symposium on Freedom of Expression is bringing together today an impressive group of international experts and an audience of key stakeholders to examine issues central to UNESCO?s mandate to promote ?the free flow of ideas by word and image". http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31190&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html China tightens grip on press freedom Leading journalist Zhang Ping was this week forced out of his job at Southern Media Group http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/china-press-freedom Malaysian govt under fire for online media controls The Malaysian government's move to introduce policies that will provide more control over online content has come under fire from opposition politicians and industry watchers. http://www.zdnetasia.com/m-sian-govt-under-fire-for-online-media-controls-62206345.htm ************************** GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY ************************** us: Homeland Security moves full-speed-ahead on Einstein cybersecurity tool The Homeland Security Department will finish by 2012 installing a somewhat controversial system, called Einstein 2, that monitors traffic on federal computer networks for potential intrusions, and will start the next phase of the application, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said during an address on the state of the agency. http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110128_3394.php FCC Backs Net Neutrality Against Recent Lawsuits The Federal Communications Commission filed motions on Friday to dismiss what it calls "premature" lawsuits from Verizon and, more recently, MetroPCS over net neutrality. http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/01/28/33733.htm ********************************* MISCELLANEOUS ********************************* Dealing With Assange and the Secrets He Spilled This past June, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, phoned me and asked, mysteriously, whether I had any idea how to arrange a secure communication. Not really, I confessed. The Times doesn?t have encrypted phone lines, or a Cone of Silence. Well then, he said, he would try to speak circumspectly. In a roundabout way, he laid out an unusual proposition: an organization called WikiLeaks, a secretive cadre of antisecrecy vigilantes, had come into possession of a substantial amount of classified United States government communications. WikiLeaks?s leader, Julian Assange, an eccentric former computer hacker of Australian birth and no fixed residence, offered The Guardian half a million military dispatches from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. There might be more after that, including an immense bundle of confidential diplomatic cables. The Guardian suggested ? to increase the impact as well as to share the labor of handling such a trove ? that The New York Times be invited to share this exclusive bounty. The source agreed. Was I interested? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Wikileaks-t.html Closed Apple headed for trouble as Jobs's ego bites: Netgear CEO The global chairman and CEO of home networking giant Netgear has launched into a scathing attack on Apple and its founder Steve Jobs, criticising Jobs's "ego" and Apple's closed up products. http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/closed-apple-headed-for-trouble-as-jobss-ego-bites-netgear-ceo-20110131-1aap8.html http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/closed-apple-headed-for-trouble-as-jobss-ego-bites-netgear-ceo-20110131-1aap8.html NZ 'a tourist death trap' says hate website A hate-filled website has appeared on the internet warning foreigners they risk murder, rape or being killed in a car crash if they visit New Zealand. http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/new-zealand/4598148/NZ-a-tourist-death-trap-says-hate-website TOMORROW FOCUS and comScore Announce Results of ?Brand Advertising Online in Germany? Study at DLD Conference [news release] TOMORROW FOCUS AG and comScore, Inc. presented the results of a study showing the potential of the internet as a brand building channel at the DLD (Digital Life Design) conference in Munich. The study, building upon previous research which shows that click-through rates are extremely low across the world and have continually declined over the past few years, found that measuring campaign effectiveness using click-through rates (CTRs) alone under-values the ability of the online channel to build brands. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/TOMORROW_FOCUS_and_comScore_Announce_Results_of_Brand_Advertising_Online_in_Germany_Study_at_DLD_Conference ********************** TELECOMMUNICATIONS ********************** ACMA amends numbering rules to accommodate VoIP services [news release] The Australian Communications and Media Authority has changed the geographic numbering rules to improve flexibility in the Numbering Plan to recognise the realities of newer services, such as voice over internet protocol (VOIP) services. http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_312426 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (c) David Goldstein 2011 --------- David Goldstein email: goldstein_david§yahoo.com.au web: http://davidgoldstein.tel/ http://goldsteinreport.com/ phone: +61 418 228 605 - mobile; +61 2 9665 5773 - office/home "Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim FlanneryReceived on Sun Jan 30 2011 - 21:28:45 UTC
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