Don't forget to check out my website - http://technewsreview.c
om.au/ - for daily updates in between postings.
**********************************************************
Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
http://www.ntu.edu.sg
/sci/sirc/
**********************************************************
th: Stop suffocating internet freedom
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/03Oct2007_news20.php
Burma junta unplugs Internet
ht
tp://iht.com/articles/2007/10/04/asia/04info.php
Bloggers silenced as curbs bring internet blackout
http://m
edia.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2180971,00.html
What's the Biggest Threat to Free Speech in America
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ti
mothy-karr/whats-the-biggest-threat_b_66708.html
us: Editorial - The Verizon Warning
htt
p://nytimes.com/2007/10/03/opinion/03wed1.html
The notional paedophile now dictates what we can look at
http:
//www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2183042,00.h
tml
uk: What's the difference between art and porn?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7016651.stm
nz: 400 claims of text bullying
http://stuff.co.nz
/4224847a11.html
fj: The net and children
http://islandsbusines
s.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=
MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=17659/overideSkinName=issueArticl
e-full.tpl
au: ACCC drops case against Google
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191
091237961.html
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKS
YD29387020071004
http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;17819311
43;fp;2;fpid;1
au/us: Use My Photo? Not Without Permission
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/01/technology/01link.html
au: 'Phishing' catches Australians online [AAP]
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191091252
153.html
Survey: Consumers Only Think They're Cyber Safe [IDG]
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,137906-c,onlinesecurity/article.html
us/Africa: Spam-scam crackdown nets US$2 billion in fake
checks [Reuters]
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/i
dUKN0322778920071003
A turn in the antispyware war?
http:
//news.zdnet.com/2010-1009_22-6211302.html
EU agrees to check Internet but differs over how [Reuters]
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL
0190331320071001
Europe Revives Qualcomm Antitrust Inquiry
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/02/technology/02chip.html
Japan becomes broadband paradise, but is the speed worth the
cost?
http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/02/business/broadband.p
hp
Malaysia to get high speed broadband
http:/
/www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,620329
28,00.htm
Searching Beyond Google
http://ww
w.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1668035,00.html
Yahoo overhauls its search engine
http://computerworld.co
m/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9
040478
Want Better Internet On Your Mobile Phone? So Do Nearly Half
Of Users
http://informationweek.com/blog/main/a
rchives/2007/10/want_better_int.html
Mobile phones and development: The future in new hands?
ht
tp://www.id21.org/insights/insights69/index.html
ps: Nablus' online link to the world
http://www.guardian.co.
uk/technology/2007/oct/04/guardianweeklytechnologysection.in
ternet
Bhutan Telecom ditches donkeys
http://stuff
.co.nz/stuff/4221636a28.html
British ISP powered by the sun
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,137890-c,recycling/article.html
Microsoft looks to become major player in ad world
http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/02/technology/msft.php
Microsoft as Media King?
http:/
/www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,509233,00.
html
CSIRO hinders new wi-fi system
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191091041
867.html
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,137871-page,1/article.html
**********************
CENSORSHIP
**********************
th: Stop suffocating internet freedom
Since the military coup of Sept 19, 2006, Thailand has
almost caught up with China as a world leader in the field
of internet censorship and control, particularly with regard
to freedom of political expression. This is a completely
unacceptable environment for the promised return to
democracy at the end of this year.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/03Oct2007_news20.php
Burma junta unplugs Internet
It was about as simple and uncomplicated as shooting
demonstrators in the streets. Embarrassed by smuggled video
and photographs that showed their people rising up against
them, the generals who run Myanmar simply switched off the
Internet.
ht
tp://iht.com/articles/2007/10/04/asia/04info.php
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/04/world/asia/04info.html
Bloggers silenced as curbs bring internet blackout
The shutdown of communications in Burma has slowed
information to the outside world to a trickle, with the
number of reports to one exile group cut by half and
websites with the .mm Burma suffix being unavailable,
campaigners said yesterday.
http://m
edia.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2180971,00.html
Bloggers who risked all to reveal the junta’s brutal
crackdown in Burma
Internet geeks share a common style, and Ko Latt and his
four friends would not be out of place in cyber cafés across
the world. They have the skinny arms and the long hair, the
dark T-shirts and the jokey nicknames. But few such figures
have ever taken the risks that they have in the past few
weeks, or achieved so much in a noble and dangerous cause.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/a
sia/article2563937.ece
Internet shows face of Burma's junta
The world's reaction to the protests against the Burmese
military junta has been so different to that of the last
uprising 19 years ago because of the internet, a veteran of
the 1988 protest has said.
htt
p://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7023802.stm
Internet blackout in Myanmar stalls citizen reporting [IDG]
The loss of Internet access in Myanmar has slowed the tide
of photos and videos shared with the rest of the world but
people outside of the troubled country continue to use new
media sites and other technologies to protest military
activity in the Southeast Asia country.
http://www
.infoworld.com/article/07/10/01/Internet-blackout-in-Myanmar
-stalls-citizen-reporting_1.html
What's the Biggest Threat to Free Speech in America
If you thought phone companies were simply supposed to get
you connected, think again. Over the last week we learned
that the nation's two largest telecommunications firms want
to get into the business of censorship as well - blocking
the free flow of information sent over phones and the
Internet.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ti
mothy-karr/whats-the-biggest-threat_b_66708.html
us: Editorial - The Verizon Warning
We have long been concerned about the potential threat to
free speech and a free press as communications migrate from
old-fashioned telephone lines, TV broadcasts and printing
presses to digital networks controlled by unregulated
private companies. The threat stopped being theoretical
recently when Verizon Wireless censored political speech on
one of its mobile services.
htt
p://nytimes.com/2007/10/03/opinion/03wed1.html
************************************************
CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
************************************************
The notional paedophile now dictates what we can look at
Whatever the artistic import, images of naked children are
now viewed by society exclusively through a sexual filter
http:
//www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2183042,00.h
tml
uk: What's the difference between art and porn?
Sir Elton John has defended a photograph he owns after it
was seized from an art gallery amid claims it could breach
child pornography laws. When does a nude picture become a
salacious artefact?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7016651.stm
nz: 400 claims of text bullying
About 400 calls from victims of text and internet bullying
have been made to internet safety watchdog NetSafe this
year. NetSafe communications manager Rachel Harrison said
there had been 123 text-bullying complaints from people
under 18 and 152 from people over 18.
http://stuff.co.nz
/4224847a11.html
fj: The net and children
... Closer to home, a highly placed source at a police
department in one of the Pacific islands countries confirmed
to ISLANDS BUSINESS that a team of investigators is closely
following trails of a suspected paedophile ring operating
locally and reaching children by chatting them up via an
online social network.
http://islandsbusines
s.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=
MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=17659/overideSkinName=issueArticl
e-full.tpl
uk: Anti-bullying study in 30 schools
Thousands of school children are taking part in a council
survey as part of a crackdown on bullying.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/sussex/7
022471.stm
Miss America promotes Net safety [AP]
Seven years ago, 13-year-old Lauren Nelson and a few friends
were at a sleep-over when they entered an Internet chat
room. Within a week, an online predator was e-mailing one of
them lurid photos.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191
091217809.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191091217
809.html
http://www.usatoday.c
om/tech/news/internetprivacy/2007-10-03-miss-america-net-bro
wser_N.htm
New, free Miss America browser aims to keep kids safe on the
Internet [AP]
In an effort that traces its roots back to when she was 13,
the reigning Miss America is the centerpiece of a new
child-friendly Internet browser desgined to keep children
away from dangerous online sites and contacts.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191
091220132.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191091220
132.html
**************************
ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
**************************
au: ACCC drops case against Google
The competition regulator has dropped its misleading conduct
case against Google's Australian and Irish subsidiaries. In
Federal Court this morning, the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission said it would now only target Google's
US parent company and Trading Post.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191
091237961.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191091237
961.html
Australian watchdog to only target Google parent [Reuters]
Australia's competition regulator agreed on Wednesday to
only target parent firm Google Inc, and not its Australian
and Irish arms, in court action over alleged sponsored
advertising links it says are misleading.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKS
YD29387020071004
ACCC drops case against Google subsidiaries
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has
discontinued proceedings against two of the four respondents
in it's case against Google and the Trading Post Australia
which alleged that Google failed to distinguish between
sponsored and 'organic' search results.
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1781931143;f
p;2;fpid;1
http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;17819311
43;fp;2;fpid;1
au/us: Use My Photo? Not Without Permission
This is no “star is born” story for the digital age, though
at first it may seem like one. One moment, Alison Chang, a
15-year-old student from Dallas, is cheerfully goofing
around at a local church-sponsored car wash, posing with a
friend for a photo. Weeks later, that photo is posted online
and catches the eye of an ad agency in Australia, and Alison
appears on a billboard in Adelaide as part of a Virgin
Mobile advertising campaign. Four months later, she and her
family are in Federal District Court in Dallas suing for
damages.
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/01/technology/01link.html
au: 'Phishing' catches Australians online [AAP]
Alarming numbers of Australians still don't know what the
internet scam called 'phishing' is, nor are they adequately
protected against it, a Galaxy survey has found.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191091252
153.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/04/1191
091252153.html
http://ww
w.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22529161-15306,
00.html
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/sof
tware/soa/-Phishing-catches-Australians-online/0,1300617
33,339282567,00.htm
Survey: Consumers Only Think They're Cyber Safe [IDG]
Most U.S. consumers believe they're protecting their
computers against cyberattacks, but their actions indicate
they aren't as safe as they think, according to a study
released Monday.
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,137906-c,onlinesecurity/article.html
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1573001414;f
p;2;fpid;1
Chinese man arrested for Olympic Internet fraud [Reuters]
A Chinese man who cloned an Olympics Web site and made
around $50,000 (24,000 pounds) from fake prize draws has
been arrested by police in the island province of Hainan,
state media reported.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKPE
K9980220071001
us: Apple sued for US$1m over $200 iPhone discount
Apple guilty of 'price discrimination, underselling,
discrimination in rebates and other wrongdoings,' alleges an
irked iPhone buyer
http://technology
.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/
article2575988.ece
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/10/02/apple.ip
hone.lawsuit.ap/index.html
eBay: Phishers getting better organized, attacking Linux
[IDG]
When it comes to launching online attacks, criminals are
getting more organized and branching out from the Windows
operating system, eBay Inc.'s security chief said Tuesday.
eBay recently did an in-depth analysis of its threat
situation, and while the company is not releasing the
results of this analysis, it did uncover a huge number of
hacked, botnet-inducted computers, said Dave Cullinane,
eBay's chief information and security officer, speaking at a
Microsoft-sponsored security symposium at Santa Clara
University.
http://computerworld.co
m/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9
040838
Web's 'dark corners' are everywhere, group says [IDG]
It's getting harder and harder to know who to trust on the
World Wide Web, according to online safety advocates
StopBadware.org. On Tuesday, the group released its 2007
Trends in Badware report, saying the bad guys are finding
new ways to place their malicious software on our computers
-- often by compromising Web sites that we trust.
http://computerworld.co
m/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9
040638
us: Sacked worker blames porn on malware
A US district judge has upheld a motion to dismiss in the
case of hospital respiratory therapist David Farr, who filed
a lawsuit against his former employer for unlawful
termination after losing his job in August 2005.
http:
//news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6211377.html
us/Africa: Spam-scam crackdown nets US$2 billion in fake
checks [Reuters]
An international crackdown on Internet financial scams this
year has yielded more than $2.1 billion in seized fake
checks and 77 arrests in the Netherlands, Nigeria and
Canada, U.S. and other authorities said on Wednesday.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/i
dUKN0322778920071003
http:
//news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6211585.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.
cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10467817
A turn in the antispyware war?
In a case that threatened to undermine the effectiveness of
antispyware technology, a federal court last month sided
with consumers when it ruled that companies can't be sued
for providing Internet users with effective tools to protect
themselves against online threats. The case pitted Kaspersky
Lab--which offers a range of antispyware and antivirus
tools--against notorious adware distributor Zango.
http:
//news.zdnet.com/2010-1009_22-6211302.html
**************************
GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
**************************
us: Telecoms Pressed on Surveillance
Key Democratic lawmakers are pressing telephone companies to
disclose how they shared Americans' calling and Internet
data with the government, part of an inquiry into domestic
surveillance efforts such as the National Security Agency's
warrantless wiretapping program.
http://www.washingtonpost.co
m/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202332.html
ACLU Asks Supremes to Let Anti-NSA Spying Case Continue
The ACLU asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to allow
journalists and lawyers challenging the government's
warrantless spying program to have their day in court even
though they can not prove they were targeted by the nation's
spooks.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/aclu-asks-
supre.html
German watchdog opposes Google purchase of DoubleClick
The proposed $3.1 billion merger of search giant Google and
online advertising company DoubleClick would lead to "a
massive violation of data privacy rights", a German
privacy watchdog has warned.
http://out-law.com/page-
8522
UK data retention law makes little difference to telcos,
says trade body
UK telecoms firms must keep phone call logs for a year under
legislation which comes into force on 1 October. But an
industry trade association said the new rules will make
"little practical difference" to telecoms
providers that already store such data for billing purposes.
... The new rules do not apply to internet activity, so
details of websites visited, emails sent and received and
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls need not be
kept. That will change, though. The Directive requires that
member states extend their retention rules to internet data
by 15th March 2009.
http://out-law.com/page-
8513
UK Data Encryption Disclosure Law Takes Effect [IDG]
British law enforcement gained new powers on Monday to
compel individuals and businesses to decrypt data wanted by
authorities for investigations.
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,137881-page,1/article.html
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;470070603;fp;
2;fpid;1
EU agrees to check Internet but differs over how [Reuters]
European Union justice and interior ministers agreed on
Monday they needed to do more to counter the use of the
Internet by militants but could not agree on whether and how
to block radical websites.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL
0190331320071001
Europe Revives Qualcomm Antitrust Inquiry
The European Commission elevated its antitrust investigation
against chip maker Qualcomm to priority status, after two
years of apparent inactivity on the case.
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/02/technology/02chip.html
EU will scrutinize Qualcomm's royalties on 3G phones
The European Commission opened a formal investigation Monday
into whether the U.S. chip maker Qualcomm was overcharging
its business partners for using patents that are essential
to the new, dominant generation of high-speed cellphone
networks and phones. After looking into the allegations for
two years, the commission said it was opening a formal
investigation of Qualcomm, based in California.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/01/business/cell.php
http://nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-EU-Qualcomm.
html [AP]
EU Opens Antitrust Proceedings Against Qualcomm [Reuters]
The European Commission has launched formal antitrust
proceedings after mobile phone manufacturers complained
Qualcomm charged far too much for vital technology
licenses.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle
.jhtml?articleID=202103949
EU begins antitrust investigation into Qualcomm [IDG]
The European Commission announced on Monday that it has
begun an antitrust investigation of Qualcomm Inc. for
suspected exploitative practices in the market for chip sets
for mobile phones.
http://computerworld.co
m/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9
039918
Brussels cuts mobile phone roaming rates for EU
Using a mobile phone in Europe will be cheaper for British
holidaymakers after the European commission introduced
strict caps on roaming charges.
http://www.
guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2180748,00.html
Nigerian National Assembly Moves to Overhaul Telecom
Regulatory Laws
Against the backdrop of continued complaints on quality of
services (QoS) by telecom operators in the country, the
National Assembly may soon look into the available telecom
regulations with a view to overhauling them to suit a people
oriented regulatory provisions.
http://vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/features
/gsm/gsm101102007.html
http:/
/allafrica.com/stories/200710010176.html
za: Country 'Falling Behind' As State Dithers On Telecoms
Policy
The government's policy of managed liberalisation for the
telecoms sector has failed so badly that the gap between SA
and the rest of the world is widening, say analysts. While
almost every other country was seeing a noticeable reduction
in state intervention, SA was suffering increased state
intervention in the telecoms, technology and broadcasting
sectors. As a result, the country had slipped down several
global benchmarking indices because of its high-priced
telecoms and internet access, said Alison Gillwald, a
research director at Wits University's Learning Information
Networking and Knowledge (Link) Centre.
http:/
/allafrica.com/stories/200710020533.html
us: Critics Question State Workers' Web Restrictions
State and federal officials and Internet security watchdogs
are questioning how a relatively minor attack on a local
government Web site in California resulted in a federal
order Tuesday to cut off access to thousands of Web sites
and e-mail access to more than 10,000 California employees
-- including police and emergency workers.
htt
p://cbs13.com/local/local_story_276231117.html
us: Senators Tussle Over Net Tax Ban as Deadline Looms
With the current ban on Internet access taxes due to expire
on Nov. 1, tensions rose last week when a move to extend the
ban stalled in the Senate. The Internet tax ban has been in
place since 1998, having last been renewed in 2004 for
another three years. Last Thursday the Senate Commerce
Committee was scheduled to vote on S. 1453, but Commerce
Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye canceled the vote at the
last minute.
http://ec
ommercetimes.com/story/c2nQXFiCAEdDim/Senators-Tussle-Over-N
et-Tax-Ban-as-Deadline-Looms.xhtml
Net gambling regulations exempt some transfers [Reuters]
Internet gambling regulations proposed by U.S. officials on
Monday stopped short of requiring U.S. banks to block checks
their customers make to online casinos while forcing banks
to halt debit and credit payments.
http:
//news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6211061.html
**********************
INTERNET USE
**********************
Japan becomes broadband paradise, but is the speed worth the
cost?
The United States and European Union might be the largest
economies, but when it comes to Internet connections at
home, many of their citizens still live in the slow lane. By
contrast, Japan is a broadband paradise, with the fastest
and cheapest Internet connections in the world.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/02/business/broadband.p
hp
Malaysia to get high speed broadband
The government says it is willing to fund 30 percent of a
proposed multi-billion dollar high-speed broadband services
project, which will include provisions for a
"last-mile" fiber-optic network.
http:/
/www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,620329
28,00.htm
China's Growing Web Addiction
The Internet has revolutionized the way that millions in
China communicate with the outside world. But for some
Chinese teenagers the thrill of using the Internet came with
a high price: addiction.
http://www.cbn
.com/cbnnews/240549.aspx
Publishers warned over Google News deal
Peter Bale, the executive producer at MSN UK, today warned
major British newspaper websites they were likely to see a
"bump down" in user traffic because of Google
News' recent content deals. Mr Bale, speaking as part of a
panel at today's Association of Online Publishers
conference, said that popular websites such as the Guardian,
Times and the Sun should "be aware" of the
ramifications of Google News' recent deal with news
agencies.
http://m
edia.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2182696,00.html
Searching Beyond Google
If you tallied up the number of searches executed any given
week, the top four search engines combined — Google, Yahoo
Search, MSN (and its new Live search) and Ask.com — would
account for 98.3% of all searches in the U.S. Those top four
engines clearly have a hold on the American public. But new
search sites, perhaps inspired by the financial gains of
Google and Yahoo, are still being introduced; as of last
week, a total of 1,592 different search engines were visited
by U.S. Internet users.
http://ww
w.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1668035,00.html
Google Purges The Payola
Googlers like to think of their company as the Web's
library. But as Web sites come up with more ways to wring
profit from online advertising and sales--often using
methods that Google opposes--a better analogy might be the
Web's watchdog. In recent months, that watchdog has barked
at sites it accuses of shady practices--and it may be
starting to bite.
http://www.forbes.com
/technology/2007/10/02/internet-paid-search-tech-cx_ag_1003g
oogle.html
Yahoo overhauls its search engine
Yahoo Inc. has made significant enhancements to its search
engine, and the company said the changes will boost the
speed of searches and improve the accuracy of results.
http://computerworld.co
m/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9
040478
Search giants offer new features
Yahoo and Microsoft have announced upgrades to their search
engines in efforts to gain ground on rival Google.
htt
p://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7023757.stm
Online Video Streaming: Not There Yet
Streaming video--particularly television--has received a lot
of attention lately, what with sites such as Joost.com,
MLB.com, and the soon-to-beta Hulu.com all talking it up.
Even most TV networks offer some degree of streaming for
select shows. But is streaming really the wave of the future
for video downloads? I'm not convinced.
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,138035/article.html
Want Better Internet On Your Mobile Phone? So Do Nearly Half
Of Users
Seems that the idea of the mobile Internet is catching on.
Enough so, in fact, that 45% of people polled by The Kelsey
Group indicated that they will specifically look for better
mobile Internet capabilities on their next phone. Will you?
http://informationweek.com/blog/main/a
rchives/2007/10/want_better_int.html
eBay seeks to stop resale of recalled products, including
toys [Reuters]
Online auction leader eBay on Tuesday said that following
recent toy recalls, it will seek to stop the resale of
recalled items inadvertently listed by sellers on its Web
site.
http:
//news.zdnet.com/2110-9588_22-6211279.html
**********************
SOCIAL NETWORKING
**********************
Facebook warned on safety claims [AP]
The social networking website Facebook has been warned that
it could face a consumer fraud charge for failing to live up
to claims that youngsters there were safer from sexual
predators than at most sites and that it promptly responded
to concerns, a spokesman for New York Atty. Gen. Andrew
Cuomo said Sunday.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/09/25/1191090988
716.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/25/1191
090988716.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-facebook1oct01
,1,1316583.story
**********************
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
**********************
Do We Need an Internet TV Network?
Web TV network Joost is opening its service to the online
public. Will anyone want to watch? The biggest challenge for
the bond-based company: convincing people to put their Web
browsing on hold, lean back in their computer desk chairs
and tune in.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10
/01/do-we-need-an-internet-tv-network/
**********************
SPAM
**********************
Spam weapon helps preserve books
A weapon used to fight spammers is now helping university
researchers preserve old books and manuscripts. Many
websites use an automated test to tell computers and humans
apart when signing up to an account or logging in.
htt
p://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7023627.stm
**********************
DIGITAL DIVIDE
**********************
Mobile phones and development: The future in new hands?
'Explosive' is the only way to describe mobile phone growth.
Half the world's 6.5 billion people now use a mobile (up
from two billion just two years ago). There are more than
twice as many mobile owners in developing countries as in
industrialised countries. Subscriber growth rates in
developing countries are 25 percent per year – and double
that in Africa.
ht
tp://www.id21.org/insights/insights69/index.html
ps: Nablus' online link to the world
The internet is a vital source of contact for businesses,
families and lovers living with the daily difficulties of
Israeli occupation in the West Bank city, reports Clare
Simon of The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.
uk/technology/2007/oct/04/guardianweeklytechnologysection.in
ternet
Bhutan Telecom ditches donkeys
For decades, monks in the remote kingdom of Bhutan have
carried magnetic tapes from 12 remote telephone exchanges
across the Himalayas to the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu,
making some of their journey by foot and by donkey.
http://stuff
.co.nz/stuff/4221636a28.html
**********************
FILE SHARING
**********************
Radiohead's bid to revive music industry: pay what you like
to download albums
Their music has long been praised for blurring boundaries
and breaking moulds. Now Radiohead are hoping to establish a
new model for the struggling record industry by inviting
music buyers to decide how much they want to pay for their
new album.
http://music
.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2181452,00.html
us: Minn. woman shows jury how fast CDs can be copied in
trial over alleged illegal file-sharing [AP]
A Minnesota woman, who record companies say illegally shared
music online, testified in federal court Wednesday that she
didn't do it, though she acknowledged giving conflicting
dates for the replacement of her computer hard drive.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191091067
803.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191
091067803.html
us: Music Download Trial Starts Tuesday [AP]
A group of record companies says Jammie Thomas illegally
shared everything from Enya to Swedish death metal online.
Tuesday, she will become the first of 26,000 people sued by
the recording industry to take the case to trial.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191
091067803.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191091067
803.html
*********************************
COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
*********************************
British ISP powered by the sun
UK-based Internet service provider Ecological Hosting is
powering its data centre with sunshine. All Ecological
Hosting's servers and offices operate on renewable energy,
using grid-supplied wind-generated power. It had a UK
hosting centre until August, 2005, when it transferred it to
a solar-powered data centre in the US state of California.
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,137890-c,recycling/article.html
http://pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;470070603;fp;
2;fpid;1
Microsoft looks to become major player in ad world
Steve Ballmer, vowing that Microsoft's $6 billion plunge
into the ad business two months ago was not just an
experiment, said Tuesday that advertising would become 25
percent of the software company's business within a few
years.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/02/technology/msft.php
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/03/technology/03soft.html
Microsoft as Media King?
The software giant sees its future in advertising and mobile
and is taking the message to Europe -- and to Google and
Yahoo. Most people still see Microsoft primarily as a
software company, but on Oct. 2 at a media event in Paris,
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer painted a surprisingly
different picture of the company's future: Over the next 4
to 10 years, he said, as much as 25% of Microsoft's revenues
are likely to come from advertising.
http:/
/www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,509233,00.
html
Microsoft Updates Its iPod Competitor
Microsoft has revamped its slow-selling Zune digital music
players and created a MySpace-style social-networking site
in its drive to compete with Apple.
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/03/technology/03zune.html
htt
p://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7025821.stm
nz: Cyber law research fellow sought
Victoria University is seeking applications for the post of
cyber law senior research fellow, to succeed Philip Greene
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/new
s/5D029BB3F53EE402CC2573640004881A
FT.com joins free access trend
FT.com is to partially reverse its policy of forcing users
to pay for content by offering readers 30 free stories each
month. The new access model has been quietly beta-tested
overseas and will launch worldwide in mid-October. The
current system - where only non-business news stories and
analysis are free, and business news becomes
subscription-only after 24 hours - will be abandoned.
h
ttp://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,,2179
614,00.html
eBay Rethinks Skype
EBay investors and analysts are over Skype. They hardly ever
talk about recouping the $2.6 billion that Chief Executive
Meg Whitman plunked down for the Luxembourg-based
voice-over-Internet company in 2005. Her original dream of
eBay buyers and sellers taking care of business via
real-time, Web-based voice conversations remains largely
unfulfilled.
http://www.forbes.com/techn
ology/2007/10/01/skype-ebay-voip-tech-cx_rr_1001skype.html
Strategy Planning Workshop of the Feminist Network on
Gender, Development and Information Society Policies
Wikipage
A Strategy Planning Workshop of the Feminist Network on
Gender, Development and Information Society Policies will be
held on October 5-7 2007 in Bangalore, India. The workshop
is being co-organized by IT for Change, the Association for
Progressive Communications, the International Women’s
Tribune Centre, ISIS International-Manila, and Gloria
Bonder, the General Coordinator of the Regional UNESCO Chair
Women, Science and Technology in Latin America. The goal of
the meeting will be to a) conduct a gender analysis of the
policy ecology of the information society and the approaches
of critical institutional players b) evolve an action plan
for research and advocacy and c) develop the structure and
processes that facilitate and strengthen the work of the
network.
http://gdispwiki.itforchange.net/index.php/Main_Page
**********************
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
**********************
au: Canberra urges Telstra split
THE federal Government has stepped up its pressure for a
break-up of Telstra, calling on the company's board to
consider a voluntary split of the telecoms giant ahead of a
possible forced structural change by either side of politics
after the election.
http://ww
w.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22529034-15306,
00.html
New fiber puts light on straight and narrow
Corning Cabling Systems in New York is claiming to have
cured one of the biggest problems with fiber optic cabling,
namely the loss of signal when the cabling is bent around
corners. Corning has introduced a new type of fiber line
called ClearCurve, which it claims is cheaper to use in
apartment buildings because it doesn't lose signal strength
when bent.
http://computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;952194451
;fp;2;fpid;1
**********************
MOBILE/WIRELESS
**********************
CSIRO hinders new wi-fi system
Australia's CSIRO has emerged as a big stumbling block in
the ratification of a proposed global wireless standard that
would speed home-office networks by a factor of 10.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191091041
867.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191
091041867.html
New Wireless Spec Likely Safe from Patent Challenge
A patent claim by an Australian research organization would
probably not sink the IEEE 802.11n standard, according to
some wireless LAN industry veterans.
http://www.pcworld.
com/article/id,137871-page,1/article.html
**********************
VoIP
**********************
Can't anyone make Internet phones pay? [Fortune]
Skype never emerged as the cash cow eBay had hoped for when
it paid a jaw-dropping $2.6 billion to acquire the Internet
phone startup in 2005. Now eBay's announcement Monday that
it will write off $1.4 billion in charges related to Skype
has analysts and investors questioning whether the Internet
phone business - known as voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) - has any commercial potential at all.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/02/maga
zines/fortune/voipwoes.fortune/index.htm
EBay admits overpaying for the Internet phone company Skype
EBay is finally acknowledging that it paid too much for the
Internet phone company Skype two years ago.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/10/02/business/skype.php
**********************************
ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
**********************************
au: US sailor walks free after grooming 'girl'
An American sailor has been given an 18-month suspended
sentence by a Sydney judge after admitting to using the
internet to groom a person he believed to be an underage
girl for sex.
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/02/2048787.htm
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191091081
736.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Check out http://auda.org.au/do
main-news/ for the most recent edition of the domain
news, including an RSS feed - already online!
The domain name news is supported by auDA.
For information on subscriptions to the domain name and/or
general internet news please contact me. For archives of
postings to the list, see http://lists.technewsreview.com.au/pipermail/techne
wsreview/. Also see http://technewsreview.c
om.au/ for recent updates.
Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and
BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw
/>.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
(c) David Goldstein 2007
---------
David Goldstein
address: 4/3 Abbott Street
COOGEE NSW 2034
AUSTRALIA
email: Goldstein_David  yahoo.com.au
phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home)
"Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the
problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being
part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery
Sick of deleting your inbox? Yahoo!7 Mail has free
unlimited storage.
h
ttp://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html
_______________________________________________
APPLe mailing list
APPLelists.apnic.net
http:
//mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/apple
|
