internet news - 11 Oct

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

Progress Report to the Evolution and Reform Committee -
ccNSO Assistance Group
The ccNSO Assistance Group has begun discussions on the
issues surrounding the implementation of the ccNSO, and
possible recommendations to the ERC. The discussions are
fruitful, with goodwill efforts of all in their individual
capacities to achieve recommendations for public
consultation and further discussion.

http://www.icann.org/committees/evol-reform/ccnsoag-report-04oct02.htm

Web policeman casts net for .au cheats
Some applications for Australia's new generic names could
be ruled invalid after last week's rush to buy a stake in
the internet.
 http://afr.com/it/2002/10/08/FFXI0D4AZ6D.html

HM The Queen wins domain name dispute
In an important WIPO domain decision released today, Her
Majesty the Queen has been awarded the domain name
newzealand.biz.
 http://www.demys.net/news/02_oct_08_zealand.htm

http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2002/dbiz2002-00270.html

WIPO to ask for UDRP modification
So far this month has been a busy one for developments in
Internet policy and governance, with WIPO Member States
taking a decision on the issues addressed in the Second
WIPO Internet Domain Name Process and ICANN's Evolution and
Reform Committee submitting its Final Implementation Report
and Recommendations.
 http://www.demys.net/news/02_oct_07_wipo.htm

The Selection of the .eu TLD Registry
On 3 September 2002 the European Commission published in
the Official Journal of the European Communities a "Call
for expressions of interest for the selection of the .eu
TLD registry". MORE>>
 http://www.demys.net/news/02_oct_04_eu.htm

WIPO's first ERDRP decision: Salvador.Dali.name
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has
released its first decision concerning the new .name
generic top level domains. MORE>>
 http://www.demys.net/news/02_oct_03_dali.htm

Land rush for generic domains
AUSTRALIANS have rushed to snap up more than a thousand
'generic' .au domain names that opened for registration at
11am today. 

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5217424%5E15342%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html

.au industry blows own trumpet
The Australian domain name industry is trumpeting the
success of last weeks release to the public of .au generic
domain names, but controversy has already arisen around the
process.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/ebusiness/story/0,2000024981,20268830,00.htm

Gold rush days are over for generic domain names
At least one real estate bubble has burst. The cost of an
address on the internet has tumbled in line with the Nasdaq
technology index as bidders realise the value of a domain
name - not much at all.
 http://afr.com/it/2002/10/08/FFX8PTDAZ6D.html

South Korea tightens cybersquatting laws 
South Korea has introduced tougher domain name regulations
to increase protection against illegal cybersquatting
attacks.

http://www.legalmediagroup.com/default.asp?Page=1&SID=11165&CH=6&CN=&CountryName=&Type=News

Domain name should receive more Vietnamese entrepreneur
attention
Internet domain name is an invaluable resource, which has
been untapped by a large number of Vietnamese enterprises
due to their failing to realize the significance of domain
names and domain name registration. Statistics of the
Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC) reveals
that a mere 5 percent out of the almost 70,000 domestic
enterprises have registered a domain name of their own.
 http://db.vnpt.com.vn/News/viewutf8.asp?ID=3649

OFT eyes domain name bullies
Some companies still using unscrupulous selling tactics
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is pushing forward its
investigations into the selling tactics of domain name
reseller Anet.
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1135688

VeriSign Settles Marketing Lawsuit 
Domain registrar giant VeriSign Monday has settled its
lawsuit with smaller Scottsdale, Ariz.-based rival Go
Daddy. According to terms of the settlement, the Mountain
View, Calif.-based company will no longer send "renewal
notices" to customers of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Go Daddy
Software, a smaller, discount-priced competitor in the
aggressive field for domain name registration.
 http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/1478091
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961265.html
 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-verisign9oct09.story

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=1550601

Beanies bargain site wins domain dispute
In the battle over a Beanie Babies domain, the bargain
sellers have come out on top.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961090.html

Domain Registry Bundles Blogging 
Looking to turn an Internet phenomenon into a business
edge, .NU Domain, a Top Level Domain (TLD) registry, is
offering customers free software to create and maintain
their own blogs.
 http://boston.internet.com/news/article.php/1476971

[3] Landmark Public Domain Case To Be Argued Before Supreme
Court
On Wednesday, October 9, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear
the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft, the challenge to the
controversial 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
(CTEA). The CTEA lengthened copyright terms by 20 years,
stretching them to 70 years after an artist's death. This
effectively prevents hundreds of thousands of works
(notably, and not coincidentally, Mickey Mouse) from
falling into the public domain for an additional 20 years.
Eldred is the first challenge to copyright extensions to
reach the Supreme Court.
 http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_9.18.html

7th Circuit Overturns Beanie Baby Dilution Decision (from
BNA Internet Law News)
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a lower court
decision which held that the domain name bargainbeanies.com
diluted Ty's Beanie Babies trademark. The court engages in
a detailed discussion on the dangers of extending the law
too broadly, noting that "we do not think that by virtue of
trademark law producers own their aftermarkets and can
impede sellers in the aftermarket from marketing the
trademarked product." Decision at:
 http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/021771P.pdf

Domain Name Protection For City Suburbs (from Baker and
McKenzie E-Law Alert)
The Lower Regional Court of Munich held that provisions in
German law protecting the names of persons, both natural
and juristic (§12 of the Civil Code), also extend to public
law persons and include municipal, city and city suburb
names. It also held that when determining who has a
priority right over the name, one should not look at who
first registered the domain name but rather who first had
the right to the name protection.
 http://www.bmck.com/elaw/default.asp

Pre-Registration Of Domain Name .FR (from Baker and
McKenzie E-Law Alert)
Pursuant to a recent cooperation between the AFNIC and the
the French Enterprises Formalities Center ("CFE", ie the
place where any new French legal entity has to be
registered), it is now possible to pre-register the domain
name identical to the new corporate name directly while
registering the new entity. The ".fr" domain names must be
identical to registered corporate names, trade names or
trademarks. Pre-registration last for 15 days.
 http://www.nic.fr/enregistrement/preenregistrement.html
(French)

Car giant tries to run down Mr Nissan's website
The Nissan Motor Company knows one man in America it would
rather not have as a customer. Indeed, it has no affection
for this gentleman, despite having something in common with
him. The bond that disunites them is their name. Welcome to
Nissan v Nissan.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=340016

Starting From Scratch for the UDRP Review Process? - from
UDRP.net
Yesterday, the public listserv for the UDRP Review Task
Force awoke with comments resulting from WIPO's
NewZealand.biz STOP decision. Jeff Neuman, Director of Law
and Policy for NeuStar, raised some interesting points in
his comment: "I think we need to go back to the NC for a
new Terms of Reference and scrap most of what has been
done. The reality is that the data we have is now months
out of date...Since the survey was released, seven new TLDs
have been launched and each have had their dispute
processes extensively used...it may be helpful to the new
TLD process to get input on the new dispute processes."

TLD Registration Enforcement: A Call for Automation - Part
II
Last month, I wrote to describe the state of registration
restrictions in .BIZ, .US, and .NAME. I noted trends among
nonconforming registrations in these TLDs, and I suggested
that certain automated enforcement systems might serve to
improve compliance. But an important larger question
remained unanswered: Why care about registration
restrictions in the first place? Much as registries might
like to ignore the restrictions, I submit that the Internet
community nonetheless ought to hold them to their
contracts.
 http://www.circleid.com/articles/2541.asp

The At-Large: An Insider’s View
February 2002 was a seminal month in the evolution of the
ICANN At-Large movement. We began hearing reports from our
European members that ICANN's chief lawyer, Joe Sims, was
in Brussels, Belgium, holding closed-door meetings with
European Commission members to gauge their reaction to
plans that completely restructure the ICANN board,
replacing the At-Large with a body of government
representatives! The rumors were confirmed days later when
ICANN President M. Stuart Lynn posted his "ICANN - The Case
for Reform".
 http://www.circleid.com/articles/2542.asp

ICANN's China Question
Several people have expressed concern that ICANN's next
meeting will be in China, arguably the greatest source of
what ICANN calls 'instability' on the Internet.
 http://www.icannwatch.org/article.php?sid=973

Parsing Hype From Hope: Will ENUM Spark Changes In Telecom?
To the unacquainted, ENUM denotes nothing more than a
techie-sounding-hobgloblin, yet, ENUM, which stands for
electronic numbering, represents what could become the most
distinct productive development of the Internet protocol
since the Internet, itself.
 http://www.circleid.com/articles/2540.asp

Domain Names, Like Phone Numbers, Become Unlisted  
Jane Doe has a problem. A victim of stalking for over two
years, she finally shakes her pursuer. Now she wants to
tell her story on the Web, but can't legally register a
domain name without exposing her personal contact
information to the public. Go Daddy's newest service,
Domains By Proxy(TM), changes all that. Jane can now
register her domain name, protect her privacy, and while
she's at it, deter spam e-mail, mass marketing, junk mail,
and identity theft.

http://www.webhostdir.com/news/articles/showarticle.asp?id=971

Internet could have your number
A SINGLE number for email addresses, phone number and
websites is being considered in Australia, despite fears
the technology could become a de facto identification
number. 

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5238651%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

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How and Why the Internet Broke 
The Internet was very confused on Thursday. But cyberspace
hasn't gone senile. Those massive e-mail delays, slow
Internet connections and downed e-businesses were all
caused by a software upgrade that went horribly wrong at
WorldCom's UUNet division, a large provider of network
communications. 
 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,55580,00.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41086-2002Oct3.html

What does the Internet look like?
FEW questions are simultaneously so baffling and so
significant as: “what is the structure of the Internet?”
Baffling, because the thing has grown without any planning
or central organisation. Significant, because knowing how
the routing computers that are the net's physical
embodiment are interconnected is vital if it is to be used
properly. At the latest count, there were 228,265 of these
routers around the world. They direct the packets of data
that make up Internet traffic. 

http://economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1365118

Fake bank website cons victims
West African criminals have used a fake version of a
British bank's online service to milk victims of cash, say
police.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2308887.stm

Court cracks down on URL copycat
An anti-abortion activist will face contempt of court
charges Wednesday for registering domain names similar to
those owned by the Washington Post Co.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961276.html

Justices Hear Arguments in Challenge to Copyrights
No member of the Supreme Court had a good word today for
the 1998 law that added 20 years to all existing
copyrights. But that did not make the job any easier for
Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law School, who faced
an uphill battle to persuade the justices that the
extension, which Congress adopted at the behest of the Walt
Disney Company and other powerful corporate copyright
holders, was not only bad policy but unconstitutional.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/business/10BIZC.html
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55684,00.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3508-2002Oct9.html

What surfers are doing on the net
A survey finds more users are buying online but there are
still question marks about what surfers will be prepared to
purchase on the net.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2310131.stm

New Rules Bar Minors from China Web Cafes - Xinhua 
China issued rules governing Internet cafes on Friday that
bar minors from going into the shops hugely popular for
video games and Web services that state media have said
poison the minds of urban youth.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=1564630
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961734.html

Ex-Belfast official pleads guilty in Internet sex sting
(reg req'd)
A Belfast man pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District
Court in Chicago to traveling here in March to have sex
with "Marny," a 14-year-old girl he met over the Internet
who in reality was an undercover officer.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0210110206oct11,0,6606179.story?coll=chi%2Dtechnology%2Dhed

Why Online Age Checks Don't Work  
Habitual porn surfers are now used to having to type in a
credit card number the first time they visit a site to
prove they're over 18. The credit card gateway as age
verification standard has been in place ever since the late
1990s, when the Communications Decency Act (CDA) and the
Child Online Protection Act (COPA) threatened porn
publishers with jail time and fines if they transmitted
obscene material to minors. 
 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,55338,00.html

NetTrends: Fighting Spam Becomes Top Priority 
They haven't always been on top of the problem. But, as the
volume of e-mail spam hits epidemic proportions -- not to
mention a new level of raunchiness -- the makers of
Internet security products are starting to take more
notice.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=1561547

Anti-Porn E-Mailer 'Fesses Up'  
But the G-Men took no action against Bryan Sullivan, who
swamped the inboxes of adult industry bigwigs with bigoted
slurs and stomach-turning tales of murder and torture.
Sullivan, 37, an electrical engineer with Kansas City Power
& Light, was long suspected of being the man behind dozens
of ugly messages from "zodiac_killer" and "pornhater2002."
On Tuesday, he confirmed that suspicion to the FBI agents
who visited his home.
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55667,00.html

New internet call reiterated
New Zealand needs a next-generation internet network and it
needs it in the next 12 months. That's the gist of a
report, titled Collaborating at Speed: Innovation
Infrastructure for a Knowledge Economy, prepared last month
for the NGI steering group of InternetNZ. The report,
released in draft form last month, has been formally
ratified by the next-generation internet (NGI) group this
week. 

http://www.idg.co.nz/webhome.nsf/UNID/14580AFE2DD18580CC256C4E00109CC7!opendocument

Free Speech Same as Free Content? 
On Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in
a suit seeking to overturn the 1998 law that extended the
copyright term from 75 to 95 years. Plaintiffs argue it's a
First Amendment issue.
 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55612,00.html

Secrecy and openness in the European Union the ongoing
struggle for freedom of information 
This project looks at the struggle for openness and freedom
of information in the European Union over the past decade.
It starts with the Code of access to EU documents
introduced in December 1993 [Chapter 1] and the first
challenges in the courts [Chapters 2 and 4] and to the
European Ombudsman [Chapter 3]. Despite their public
commitment to openness, EU institutions - especially the
Council of the European Union (the 15 EU governments) and
the European Commission wanted to control which documents
were released and which were not.  
 http://www.freedominfo.org/case/eustudy.htm

House Approves Privacy Legislation 
Federal agencies would have to take privacy concerns into
account when issuing new regulations under legislation
passed by the House Monday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55742-2002Oct7.html

Internet providers must stop access to "harmful" sites:
Vietnam
Communist Vietnam said Internet service providers (ISPs)
needed to play a greater role in preventing online access
to "anti-government" and pornographic websites.
 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/021007/1/33iag.html

Protecting your child from the Internet 
We have all heard the horror stories about children logging
onto the Internet, only to be confronted by some rather
unsavoury images that horrify both the child and the
parent/guardian alike. The problem is that most children
are Internet and PC savvy, and their parents aren't, which
gives the child something of a carte blanche when using the
latest gadgets and gizmos.
 http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/business/technology/Tech2.asp

Today's kids are more at home on the web than with a book
Schoolchildren are more familiar with the internet than
with printed books, is the conclusion of a new report
published by NOP.  
 http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=12950#

Net porn epidemic 'depraves' office staff 
HE IS one of the country’s leading experts on sex
offenders, a man who has spent the past two decades delving
into the warped minds of killers such as Robert Black and
Fred West. But Ray Wyre has revealed that much of his time
is now spent dealing with the aftermath of a problem that
affects almost every workplace: computer porn. 
 http://www.news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1107522002

Privacy concerns pushed to front lines
Feds must explore, explain any effect on privacy by new
policies or practices, under pending legislation.
 http://virus.idg.net/ic_954327_1794_9-10000.html

Bugbear virus continues worldwide spread 
An email virus that opens up credit card and banking
details to potential hackers while deleting computer
security software continued its rapid worldwide spread
today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,804689,00.html

Bugbear to set new virus record
The mass-mailing computer virus may be spreading more
slowly this week, but it's on track to be the most prolific
e-mail virus to date.
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-961130.html
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2309105.stm

Busboy pleads guilty to ID theft 
A 32-year-old restaurant busboy pleaded guilty on Thursday
to pilfering personal and financial data belonging to
America's rich and famous, including billionaire Warren
Buffett.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-960754.html

University to study combating cyberterror
The Defense Department is giving Carnegie Mellon University
$35.5 million to develop tools and tactics for fighting
cyberterrorism.

http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/566941p-4455925c.html

Standards patent strife spreads 
The desire to strip patented technologies from Internet
standards appears to be contagious. Buoyed by signs of
success within the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C),
opponents of royalty-encumbered standards are pushing to
change the policy within the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF).
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-960711.html

Voting starts for net patron saint
COMPUTER geeks and casual internet surfers alike will soon
have their own patron saint, thanks to an Italian website
hosting a competition for a holy protector.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5223663%5E15322%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html

Making the Web world-wide
“THE creation of the PC is the best thing that ever
happened,” said Bill Gates at a conference on “digital
dividends” in 2000. He even wondered if it might be
possible to make computers for the poor in countries
without an electric power grid. The answer is yes, and
things are going even further. 

http://economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1352875

Wi-Fi is so good: it even works
Wireless data services are moving along the traditional
"hype" curve from the over-enthusiasm of early promoters,
through the inevitable backlash from a disappointed
marketplace and on into maturity. Having been among those
who were not wholly positive about their first experiences
with some of these technologies, I think it's time to give
credit where credit is due. Therefore, I thought I'd pass
on some positive experi ences with wireless data technology
and point out that I'm already dependent on some of the
services it provides.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,803173,00.html

Maryland law targets spammers 
Maryland consumers tired of finding their electronic
mailboxes stuffed with unwanted pitches for amazing cancer
cures and weary of opening advertisements that claim to be
messages from old friends should get some welcome relief.
 http://www.washtimes.com/business/20020930-5773480.htm

Suit Over Airlines' Web Sites Tests Bounds of ADA
When Robert Gumson logs on to the Internet, he uses a
software program that converts Web site content into
speech. But when he logged on to Southwest Airlines' Web
site to make a reservation, Gumson, who is blind, found
that the site was incompatible with his screen-reader
program.

http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1032128683422&t=LawArticleTech

Online Game Sites Found to Be Involved in Illegal Gambling 
The Ministry of Information and Communication announced on
Wednesday (October 2) that 19 online game sites were found
to be illegally offering gambling such as the Korean card
game "go-stop" and "poker". The ministry asked the
prosecution to investigate 13 of them. 

http://www.mic.go.kr/eng/jsp/maj/maj_100_02.jsp?dept=1&m_code=p400_0070_1&curpage=1

ICT Minister airs priorities for portfolio 
Thailand's first Information and Communications Technology
Minister, Dr Surapong Suebwonglee, will use information
technology to help predict the country's future problems as
well as prepare solutions.
 http://www.bangkokpost.com/Database/09Oct2002_data03.html

Mobiles find right price for farmers
Farmers in Senegal are getting a better deal and boosting
profits by using mobile phones to check prices.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2290540.stm

EC approves Web broadcasting 'one-stop shop'
A licence for Internet broadcasting rights will now cover
18 countries, after the European Commission approved a new
system.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2123587,00.html
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961197.html

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=1549922

No Cyber-Porn Please, We’re Women.    
With its new .frau domain, a German firm is striving to
save women from porn and sexual harassment on the Internet.


http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1446_A_651693_1_A,00.html
 
Jitters over a joint regulator
Should there be a media super-regulator in Australia?
Communications Minister Richard Alston has started a debate
over whether the Australian Communications Authority should
merge with the Australian Broadcasting Authority. The heads
of both authorities agree the merge should take place. But
the television and radio industries have rejected the idea,
worried they will be forced to buy outright the spectrum
they use to broadcast TV and radio signals, instead of
paying revenue-based licence fees.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,5248254%255E7582,00.html

Internet Law in Canada - book announcement
Canada's leading and authoritative textbook on Internet law
continues to provide a complete update on Internet and
e-commerce law developments in Canada and around the world.
 The third edition has extensively updated its treatment of
case law, statutes, secondary sources, and increased its
focus on Canadian case law and policy development.  It
includes additional commentary on ever-evolving areas such
as Internet jurisdiction, spam, and taxation and contains
new materials that address:
Proposed privacy legislation 
Canadian copyright law and reform 
Applicability of Quebec language laws to the Internet 
Domain name decisions 
Canadian regulation of hate speech online 
Provision of online legal services 
 http://www.captus.com/Information/inetlaw-flyer.htm


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