internet news - 25/1

[David Goldstein <goldstein_david@yahoo.com.au>]

Domain Name Growth Slows in 2001 (Austin360.com)
Growth in Internet domain names slowed considerably last year as
speculators who once hoped to make a fortune off easy-to-remember
addresses dropped properties they couldn't unload. 
In addition, total registrations declined in the last half of 2001 as
new registrations of ``.com,'' ``.net'' and ``.org'' names failed to
keep pace with expirations, according to figures released Thursday. 

http://www.austin360.com/shared/news/technology/ap_story.html/Technology/AP.V1887.AP-Domain-Names.html
 http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/046318.htm

Verisign tunes in to .tv (Australian IT)
THE .tv extension has changed hands again, with US domain name giant
VeriSign paying $US45 million ($86.8 million) to manage the domain
belonging to the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu.  

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,3647556%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

.biz proves popular in Europe (Europemedia.net)
The new .biz domain is proving highly popular with European
companies, say initial reports from Neulevel, the registry operator
for the top level domain.  
 http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=7907

Canadian Authority Tries Again To Release Expired Domains (Newsbytes)
Canadian companies and individuals will be able to make a second
attempt Thursday to snap up likely looking Internet addresses from
among the first-ever batch of monikers to expire under the regime now
responsible for the country's ".ca" domains.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173838.html

Addressing Authorities Will Tackle Internet Keywords (Newsbytes)
Internet "keywords" and other devices that simplify Web navigation
will come under the scrutiny of online naming authorities when the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) convenes
this March in Africa. 
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173884.html

ICANN's Take On New TLDs (ISP Planet)
Developing new top-level domains holds the promise of alleviating
over crowded .com space on the Web. There are many theories regarding
possible solutions—here's another one. 
 http://isp-planet.com/hosting/2002/new_tlds.html

‘Sucks’ sites to be doled out for free (MSNBC)
Cyber-gripers, take heart. You and your "ThisCompanySucks.com" Web
site have a patron. Free speech lawyer Ed Harvilla is worried that
too many “sucks” domains have been taken away from owners and given
to their target companies. So he and some silent partners have
developed a system to dole out “sucks” Web sites — and he’s given
them away for free. 
 http://www.msnbc.com/news/691648.asp

EFF Wants VeriSign Held Responsible In Sex.com Case (Newsbytes)
A San Francisco-based civil liberties group on Wednesday urged a
federal appeals court to rule that Internet addressing giant VeriSign
Inc. can be held responsible for allowing a lucrative domain name to
be illegally transferred within its network.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173937.html

http://www.eff.org/IP/Internet_address_disputes/Kremen_v_NSI/20020123_eff_kremen_pr.html

VeriSign Revenue Nears $1 Bil, Loses $13.4 Bil (Newsbytes)
Verisign, the company behind domain-name services and e-commerce
authentication throughout a huge swath of the Internet, fell just
short of becoming a billion- dollar company in 2001, announcing
year-long revenue today of nearly $984 million.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173935.html

Ya está disponible el nuevo dominio .name (ZDNet)
Desde el pasado martes, ya está disponible para todos los usuarios
particulares que lo deseen el nuevo dominio de primer nivel .name.
Una extensión similar, .me.uk, hizo su debut en el Reino Unido el
lunes.
 http://www.zdnet-es.com/canales/zdnn/mostrarnoticias_i.html?id=3736

ID THEFT, WEB AUCTION FRAUD TOP FTC CONSUMER COMPLAINTS (BNA Internet
Law News)
According to the FTC, identity theft and Internet auction fraud
accounted for more than half of all consumer fraud complaints
reported last year.  ID theft comprised 42 percent of the
approximately 204,000 consumer fraud complaints received in 2001.
Internet auction fraud came in a distant second, making up just 10
percent of all fraud complaints.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173862.html
 http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/032278.htm
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49952,00.html
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28682-2002Jan23.html

DISSENTING PANELIST TELLS IT LIKE IT IS (BNA Internet Law News)
A corporate battle between Canadian company Geac Computer and NEWTEC
Consulting Group has spilled onto the ICANN UDRP battlefield.  A
split panel has transferred to the Geac.net domain but not before
Milton Mueller, the dissenting panelist, states that "If the truth be
told, the majority Panelists have allowed their over-solicitude for
trademark rights to draw them into taking sides in what US slang (for
which there is no adequate substitute) would term a "pissing match"
between two hostile business competitors. This case reflects petty
animosities between businesses, and has little to do with domain name
rights. A proper application of UDRP would discourage these types of
cases from being contested."  Decision at
 http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2001/d2001-1131.html

Netscape pushing for penalties (CNet)
Netscape's civil lawsuit against Microsoft is a vote of no confidence
in the government's handling of the case and a competitive attempt to
influence the outcome of the larger antitrust trial, say analysts and
legal experts.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1001-821242.html
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49943,00.html

Content a Tough Sell in Europe (Wired)
When it comes to paying for content online, Europeans are proving to
be tough customers. 
Aside from the lucrative world of online porn, Euro consumers simply
won't give up the notion of the Web as the biggest free lunch of all
time. According to a new study of Internet payment habits, 47 percent
of European Web users would not even consider paying for Internet
content. 
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49916,00.html

Racy email OK, or so we think (Sydney Morning Herald)	
More than a third of Sydney's Internet users think it is acceptable
to swap sex stories via email at the office, despite risking their
jobs as more companies restrict such behaviour, university
researchers have found.
 http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/25/national/national20.html
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2103051,00.html

Mainland to fund rural telecom development (South China Morning Post)
China plans to set up a fund with contributions from
telecommunications operators, including foreign firms, to develop
networks in rural and western areas, a spokesman for the Ministry of
Information Industry said.
 http://technology.scmp.com/comm/ZZZDWP60SWC.html

A Human Rights Site? In China? (Wired)
China launched its largest website on human rights Tuesday with a
zero-tolerance vow to smash Muslim separatists. 
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49947,00.html

AOL raises the stakes in battle with Microsoft (Financial Times)
The gloves are off in the contest between the two early giants of the
online information age. AOL Time Warner and Microsoft have been
circling each other warily for some time, preparing for a clash as
they vie for the attention of hundreds of millions of consumers
around the world. 

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3ES17MTWC
 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/technology/ebusiness/24SOFT.html
 http://news.com.com/2100-1001-821834.html

HP and Compaq offer no disposals to EU regulator (Financial Times)
Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, the US computer groups, have decided not
to offer to make disposals of some of their businesses ahead of the
European Commission's decision on whether to clear their $25bn merger
or subject the deal to an in-depth four-month probe.

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT30ZXOBTWC

The years of 'explosive growth' (Australian IT)
THE communications industry experienced explosive growth in the years
closing out the 20th century, the 2002 national yearbook released
today showed.
"By some measures the communication services sector overall has been
one of the fastest-growing (industries) in Australia," the yearbook
said.  

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,3654100%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

Volunteers to test phone safety (BBC)
Human volunteers will be used in new government projects to assess
the safety of mobile phones. 
The government's mobile phone task force is to announce 14 projects
designed to settle whether mobiles pose a risk to our health. 
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1780000/1780986.stm

Home Banking Up 24% Between Oct-Dec 2001 - Argentina (Business News
Americas)
Internet banking users in Argentina increased 24% between October and
the first week of December 2001, according to a Home Banking study
published by Argentine consultancy D'Alessio Irol. 
The study also found that 70% of the Internet-connected population in
Argentina carries out banking operations online. These people are
generally found in the middle- and upper- income segments of society,
and on average, their Internet banking experience involves five
different products or services. 

http://www.bnamericas.com/story.xsql?id_noticia=86009&Tx_idioma=I&id_sector=1

Commission adopts blueprint to help put information and communication
technologies at service of worlds' poor (RAPID) 
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) offer both
challenges and promises for social and economic development and this
is nowhere more apparent than in the world's poorest countries. This
is the message of the Communication on Information and Communication
Technologies in Development: The role of ICTs in EC development
policy adopted by the European Commission.

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/116|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
 http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/com2001_0770en01.pdf

A regulatory remedy for European broadband (The McKinsey Quarterly)
Broadband access to the Internet is spreading more slowly than
expected in Europe: though pockets of high growth exist, most telecom
incumbents and attackers have delayed or canceled their
broadband-deployment plans. Faulty business models are responsible
for part of the problem, but policy makers and regulators must accept
some of the blame, for regulations that have focused too much on low
prices have dampened competition and hindered the rapid deployment of
the technology. 

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.asp?tk=492270:1158:38&ar=1158&L2=38&L3=98

Aussie super-net puts people in 'touch' (CSIRO news release)
Australia's super network has had its first successful demonstration,
proving it can carry an enormous amount of data between two
locations. 
 http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=HapticCentie

An Odd Broadband Offer in Oz (Wired)
Virtual private networks, cable TV, video on demand, networked
gaming, telephony and high-speed Internet access -- all offered by
different providers via one high-capacity digital pipe to the home.
This is broadband the way it should be -- a competitive free-for-all
on the content side, but delivered through a monopoly data carrier
that sweats the technical details. 
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49853,00.html

http://my.yahoo.com.au - My Yahoo!
- It's My Yahoo! Get your own!
* APPLe: To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe" to apple-request@apnic.net *