internet news - 1/5

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

Very Important news
Homer's last stand (Guardian)
When a dysfunctional animated family arrived on TV in 1987, no one
could have predicted its phenomenal success. The Simpsons has made up
to $1bn for Fox Television and is watched in more than 90 countries.
But after 13 series, its creator Matt Groening has hinted that its
days are numbered. Can this be true?
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,707904,00.html

Domain Name News
Millers Fight For Family Domain on Web (New York Times)
"It's Miller Time" is a popular slogan used by Miller Brewing Co. to
market its lager, but it was the Miller family of San Mateo County
that had first dibs on the phrase as an Internet domain.
 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Millertime-Suit.html
 http://www.nando.com/technology/story/387321p-3079659c.html

New Zealand Domain Name Seller Defies Ban (Newsbytes)
A New Zealand-based domain name registrar says a company that was
banned from selling dot-NZ names to local businesses is busy
registering names through its automated system.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176266.html

Terra Lycos Launches Domain Registration Services (Web Host Industry
Review)
Domain name registration provider Register.com Inc. (register.com)
announced on Monday that it has formed an agreement with global
internet network Terra Lycos (lycos.com) whereby Terra Lycos will use
Register.com’s Global Partner Network technology to power a system
through which Terra Lycos users can easily register a URL for their
personal or business use. 
 http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/ter042902.cfm

Melbourne IT revenues up (Australian IT)
DOMAIN registrar Melbourne IT said its revenue for the first quarter
of 2002 had grown 10 per cent, although it is no longer required by
the ASX to report its full quarterly results. 

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,4236398%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Is the Domain industry correcting, or just VeriSign? (Register)
Is the reported death of the domain name registration industry a
little premature? Despite the terrible results from market leader
VeriSign Inc last week, which wiped out almost half its market
capitalization, some folks would have us believe the market overall
is still healthy.
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/25109.html

Internet news
UK Industry lambasts snooping law costs (ZDNet)
The Home Office must say how much it will pay towards the black boxes
that ISPs will have to install under the terms of the RIP Act, say
ISPs and businesses.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2109430,00.html

China to get tough with 'harmful' Internet content (Nando Times)
Chinese officials have vowed to crack down on "harmful" content on
the Internet, saying they want to protect youth from being corrupted,
state media reported Wednesday.
 http://www.nando.com/technology/story/387705p-3083729c.html

Tobacco's smoking gun is online (Australian IT)
SMOKERS planning to sue cigarette companies will soon have online
access to 46,000 previously unknown Australian tobacco industry
documents.

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4224515%255E15306,00.html

Government bid for PIN-only porn downloads (Sydney Morning Herald)
Downloading pornography from the internet will require a PIN and
written approval from the householder under a government bid to crack
down on premium rate phone services. 
 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/01/1019441387645.html

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4237840%255E421,00.html

Spanish Web Law Sparks Debate (Wired)
A law pending in Spain's Congress has sparked a national debate over
how far the government should go in regulating websites.  
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52201,00.html

CiU consigue sumar "organismos competentes" autonómicos a la Ley
Birulés (Libertad Digital)
La Comisión de Ciencia y Tecnología del Congreso de los Diputados ha
aprobado este lunes el dictamen sobre el proyecto de la LSSI con los
votos favorables del PP y de CiU. PSOE, Izquierda Unida y Grupo Mixto
han votado en contra y PNV se ha abstenido.

http://www.libertaddigital.com/php3/noticia.php3?fecha_edi_on=2002-04-30&num_edi_on=793&cpn=68760&seccion=AME_D

El Gobierno permitirá recurrir por Internet ante todos los
ministerios (5Dias.com)
El Ministerio de Administraciones Públicas (MAP) quiere facilitar a
los ciudadanos el que puedan interponer recursos y reclamaciones por
Internet ante cualquier ministerio, algo que ahora sólo es posible
ante Economía.

http://www.5dias.com/articulo.html?xref=20020501cdscdiges_1&type=Tes&anchor=cdssec

Site Barks About Deep Link (Wired)
The Dallas Morning News demands that BarkingDogs.org stop linking to
individual stories from the newspaper's website and link to the front
page only. The controversy over deep-linking deepens.
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52213,00.html

Senators Seek to Deregulate High-Speed Internet (Reuters)
Senators seeking to encourage high-speed Internet access introduced a
bill on Tuesday that would subject all services to the same
regulatory constraints, regardless of how they are delivered.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=902143
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176255.html

Cable Companies Commit to Speed Digital TV (Reuters)
The top ten U.S. cable operators committed on Wednesday to take steps
to accelerate the transition to digital television, including
carrying several high-definition digital channels by January 2003.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=906331

Broadband the decade's boomer, says Budde (Sydney Morning Herald)
Independent IT and telco analyst Paul Budde says broadband will be
the next cash cow for the telecommunications industry, and telcos
that focus too much on mobile or narrow band networks will suffer. 
 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/01/1019441385691.html

RIAA Lauds Action Against Foreign CD Piracy (Newsbytes)
The U.S. government is making a strong effort to enforce existing
trade agreements that bar music piracy, Hilary Rosen, the president
and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today
said in a written statement.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176260.html

Beware of optimists when it comes to e-voting. Systems will fail
(Times)
IF THE politicians are to be believed, the age of digital democracy
will finally reach Britain tomorrow. For the first time, English
local councils from Sheffield to St Albans will offer electronic
voting — through the Web or the mobile phone. In Liverpool, that
means casting votes through home computers or text messages; in
Bolton, it involves voting in electronic kiosks in libraries and
polling stations. If these pilots are a success, pressure will grow
for nationwide e-voting in a general election some time soon.
 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-283353,00.html

BBC seeks to reassure ITV Digital customers (Guardian)
The BBC is looking with "increased urgency" at launching a marketing
campaign to reassure former ITV Digital customers that they can still
receive the corporation's free services.
 http://media.guardian.co.uk/itvdigital/story/0,11829,707800,00.html
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,707861,00.html

ITV Digital scraps subscription channels and sacks 1,100 staff
(Independent)
ITV Digital was forced to pull its paid-for channels off air this
morning, after no buyers emerged for the stricken broadcaster. 
 http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=290677
 http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=290672
(analysis)

Final curtain comes down on ITV Digital (Financial Times)
The death knell for ITV Digital sounded at the stroke of midnight
when the pay-TV company's premium channels started to be taken off
the air. Nick Dargan, the administrator, admitted he had been unable
to find a buyer for the company's assets.

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3CTLEXN0D

Google-AOL Deal Includes Paid Listings (Newsbytes)
Google and America Online today announced a multi-year deal under
which Google's technology will power searches by users of AOL,
AOL.com, Compuserve and Netscape.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176269.html
 http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,97883,00.asp

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=906482

Battering down Gates' defense (CNET)
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' argument that a modular version of
Windows would "turn back the clock" on software development and
damage the computer industry is fundamentally flawed, legal experts
said.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1001-895349.html

Microsoft outmanoeuvres opposing states' lawyers (Financial Times)
Lawyers for the nine litigating states in the Microsoft anti-trust
remedy hearings on Tuesday appeared to have been comprehensively
outmanoeuvred by their counterparts defending the software giant
after Microsoft's legal team decided to halve the number of defence
witnesses they would call.

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3D3N91O0D

States say Microsoft still using unfair methods (Nando Times)
Nine states suing Microsoft tried Tuesday to offer complaints by
computer makers as evidence that the company still uses unfair
business practices after settling its antitrust case with the federal
government.
 http://www.nando.com/technology/story/386576p-3076326c.html

MIT Professor Backs Microsoft in Antitrust Battle (Reuters) 
An MIT professor on Wednesday criticized antitrust sanctions sought
by nine states against Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O , telling a federal
judge they would cripple the Windows operating system and give away
the company's technology to competitors. 

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=906065

HP merger lawsuit dismissed (ZDNet)
A Delaware judge ruled Tuesday that Hewlett-Packard's shareholder
vote was legal, paving the way for the company to complete its merger
with Compaq Computer.  
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-895715.html
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11419-2002Apr30.html
 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-284212,00.html

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=903530
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176262.html
 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/technology/01HEWL.html
 http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000030812may01.story

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3KCEM9O0D

Waiting for More Computers (allAfrica.com)
THE word, Information Technology, IT, is just catching up in Nigeria.
In a way it explains the country s backwardness in the sector which
in most parts of the world, is the tonic that opens up the economy.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200205010349.html

Technology is Crucial (allAfrica.com)
Firms need technology in order to compete better. Indeed, one of the
reasons Ugandan businesses have not been able to penetrate deeper
into global markets is the inferior technologies, compared with
producers of similar products in other countries.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200205010259.html

MPs push for regulatory action against BT (ZDNet)
The culture, media and sport select committee says in a report today
that BT's networking business should be separated from the rest of
company to help boost broadband take-up.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2109457,00.html

Internet Radio Stations May Protest Royalties (LA Times)
Fans of Internet radio may find their station taking an extended
break today to protest a proposed royalty for musicians and record
labels that could drive many Webcasters off the Net.
 http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000030836may01.story

Netscape flaw exposes users' hard drives (ZDNet)
A bug in the Mozilla code, which is used in the latest Netscape
browser, allows a Web page to list directories and read files from
the users' computer.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2109450,00.html
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176261.html

See http://www.alfa-redi.com/noticia/ for the web version of the
news, along with an archive.


=====
David Goldstein
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email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
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