general internet news - 29 March

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

Don't forget to check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for a more recent edition of the complete domain news, including an RSS feed - already online!

And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for regular updates.

**********************************************************

Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/

**********************************************************

Internet censorship, at home or state-run, is a political hot potato by Seth Finkelstein
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2044595,00.html

South Korea blocks foreign porn sites
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1570670.ece

us: Supreme Court to Hear Online Pandering Case
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3668146

Bloggers are not journalists, Lithuanian parliament
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=3754044

au: Gaming, porn rife at work
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/26/1174761375431.html

The impact of the Grokster decision on file sharing
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1715

nz: Editorial: It's payback time for Telecom
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10431380

nz: Telecom urged to reinvest in broadband
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1037735

***************
RESEARCH PAPERS
***************
A Brave New Geography of the Internet Age? The Determinants of Telecommunications Growth in Historical Perspective by Richard Perkins & Eric Neumayer (London School of Economics - Department of Geography and Environment)
Abstract: The Internet is often portrayed as a novel, uniquely disembedded technology, floating free of territory and traditional place-based constraints. In this paper, we contribute to a growing body of literature which challenges such imagery. To do so, we use quantitative techniques to examine the determinants of spatio-temporal variations in the Internet and older communication technologies, namely, mail, the electric telegraph and telephones. Our results reveal striking similarities in the country-bound factors - income, education and trade openness - influencing rates of uptake. We conclude that, contrary to claims of novelty, the Internet is unfolding unevenly across geographic space according to conventional territorial and relational attributes.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=968668

Swapping Print: The Impact of Immigration and the Internet on International Newspaper Trade by Hisham S. Foad (San Diego State University, Department of Economics)
Abstract: Why is there international trade in newspapers? Why do even very small countries both import from and export to large nations? New trade models founded on transport costs and increasing returns fail to explain the high degree of bilateral trade in cultural goods like newspapers and periodicals. I argue that immigration is complementary to newspaper trade, with small cosmopolitan countries having the largest trade as a percentage of GDP. These predictions are empirically confirmed, with a 10% increase in bilateral immigration inducing a 4.4% increase in newspaper trade between nations. While increased immigration has lead to greater trade, this effect is decreasing in internet usage. The trade-immigration elasticity is 8.5% smaller for high-internet usage countries, reflecting the fact that immigrants increasingly get their foreign news fix online. These results suggest that cultural goods need not be protected from trade as a country's economic presence on the
 global stage creates a market for its products.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=971131

The Myth of the Superuser: Fear, Risk, and Harm Online by Paul Ohm (University of Colorado Law School)
The experts in computer security and Internet law have failed to deliver us from fear, resulting in overbroad prohibitions, harms to civil liberties, wasted law enforcement resources, and misallocated economic investment. This Article urges policymakers and partisans to stop using tropes of fear; calls for better empirical work on the probability of online harm; and proposes an anti-Precautionary Principle, a presumption against new laws designed to stop the Superuser.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=967372

Network Neutrality by Alfred E. Kahn (AEI-Brookings Joint Center Working Paper)
Abstract: Much of the advocacy of legislatively-mandated network neutrality is based on a simple fallacy - namely, that differing charges to suppliers of content to the Internet for correspondingly differing speeds of delivery are inherently discriminatory. They are not; and an attempt to prohibit them would prevent the Internet's offering a full range of services, with widely diverging tolerances for latency. Preservation of the open end-to-end character of the Internet may well, however, require vigilant prohibition of vertical squeezes and other unfair methods of competition and authority of an antitrust agency to compel interconnections.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=973513

Economists' Statement on Network Neutrality Policy
Abstract: Network neutrality is a policy proposal that would regulate how network providers manage and price the use of their networks. Congress has introduced several bills on network neutrality. Proposed legislation generally would mandate that Internet service providers exercise no control over the content that flows over their lines and would bar providers from charging particular services more than others for preferentially faster access to the Internet. These proposals must be considered carefully in light of the underlying economics. Our basic concern is that most proposals aimed at implementing net neutrality are likely to do more harm than good.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=976889

Regulating for Local Content in the Digital Audiovisual Environment - A View from Australia by Jason John Bosland (University of Melbourne - Centre for Media and Communications Law)
Abstract: This paper explores the future of Australian content quotas in light of digital television and emergent, internet-based television services. Part II describes the current system of broadcasting regulation in Australia, focusing in particular on the interaction between economic and cultural goals. Part III considers the challenges to existing regulation presented by digital television and the distribution of programming via broadband internet. Finally, Part IV examines some of the solutions that have been proposed to achieve adequate levels of local Australian content in the digital media age, including a consideration of a possible solution not yet fully explored in the Australian context: the introduction of a public service publisher, or a PSP. Also considered is how this and other policy responses might be limited by Australia's recent entry into a free-trade agreement with the United States.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=969254

The Cybercrime Phenomenon and Latvian Cybercrime Law by Dr. Edward Lestrade (European Newsletter, Doing Business in Europe)
Abstract: The term 'Cybercrime' is now widely used to describe the phenomenon of the wide variety of criminal, or unauthorised acts which may be committed remotely from the target area, or country, as a result of internet technologies. With regard to the foregoing, this article will present and examine a dominant European international measure for combating Cybercrime - the European Convention on Cybercrime ('ECC') - and some EU complementary measures. Having done that, issues concerning the implementation of these international measures will be examined from the perspective of one of the new member states of the European Union - the Republic of Latvia - so as to comment on the relative effectiveness of the adopted measures in that country to limit, deter and punish Cybercrime following the lead of the ECC and the EU measures.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=971182

The Race By Robert Kuttner
By the usual indicators, daily newspapers are in a deepening downward spiral. ... A far more hopeful picture is emerging for newspapers. In this scenario the mainstream press, though late to the party, figures out how to make serious money from the Internet, uses the Web to enrich traditional journalistic forms, and retains its professionalism—along with a readership that is part print, part Web. Newspapers stay alive as hybrids. The culture and civic mission of daily print journalism endure. Can that happen? Given the financial squeeze and the shortsightedness of many publishers and investors, will dailies be able to navigate such a transition without sacrificing standards of journalism? Or will cost-cutting owners so thoroughly gut the nation’s newsrooms that they collapse the distinction between the rest of the Internet and everything that makes newspapers uniquely valuable? Which newspapers are most likely to survive? And, while we are at it, why does the survival of
 newspapers matter? In an era when the Web explodes the monopoly of the print newspaper as authoritative assembler of the day’s news and invites readers to be both aggregators and originators of content, what remains distinctive about newspapers?
http://cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Kuttner.asp

Conflict, Terrorism and the Media in Asia by Rebekah L. Bina
The fourth and latest release in a series of publications on the impact of media and changes in societal culture in Asia, this book provides a study of the subnational conflicts across Asia and the global "War on Terror." The authors examine the condition of free press, access to media, and diversity in news reporting to explore how media is used as a tool to facilitate ideological coalition, shelter populations, and maintain political stability.
http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v59/no2/13-Bina.pdf

What open access research can do for Wikipedia by John Willinsky
Abstract: This study examines the degree to which Wikipedia entries cite or reference research and scholarship, and whether that research and scholarship is generally available to readers. Working on the assumption that where Wikipedia provides links to research and scholarship that readers can readily consult, it increases the authority, reliability, and educational quality of this popular encyclopedia, this study examines Wikipedia’s use of open access research and scholarship, that is, peer-reviewed journal articles that have been made freely available online. This study demonstrates among a sample of 100 Wikipedia entries, which included 168 sources or references, only two percent of the entries provided links to open access research and scholarship. However, it proved possible to locate, using Google Scholar and other search engines, relevant examples of open access work for 60 percent of a sub-set of 20 Wikipedia entries. The results suggest that much more can be done
 to enrich and enhance this encyclopedia’s representation of the current state of knowledge. To assist in this process, the study provides a guide to help Wikipedia contributors locate and utilize open access research and scholarship in creating and editing encyclopedia entries.
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_3/willinsky/index.html

The potential disruptive impact of Internet 2 based technologies by C. Pascu, D. Osimo, M. Ulbrich, G. Turlea and J.C. Burgelman
Abstract: This paper assesses the development of emerging computing applications that fall under the family of digital applications and technologies. These applications and technologies — Internet 2 based technologies for short — enable new ways of connectivity for networking, interfacing and producing content. They have the capacity and the force to disrupt existing social and economic relations and thus have major impacts on society. Hence, the term ‘e-ruptions’: emerging e-trends with potential disruptive power. This paper investigates the socio-economic impact of emerging e-ruptions, in an attempt to try and contextualise their implications and relevance for policy formulation.
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_3/pascu/index.html

***********
CENSORSHIP
***********
Internet censorship, at home or state-run, is a political hot potato by Seth Finkelstein
Would you be surprised to hear US civil liberties groups arguing that internet censorship is cheap, easy, relatively effective and difficult to circumvent? While in reaction, the US government claimed that such efforts had an unacceptable amount of collateral damage? Yet that's what has been happening for more than a decade in litigation involving censoring the internet. While these arguments sometimes descend into a fog of statistics, the overall implications are important for public policy. In the UK, a different set of censorship issues has arisen with BT's Cleanfeed project, intended to block content that is illegal, as gathered by the Internet Watch Foundation.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2044595,00.html

South Korea blocks foreign porn sites
South Korea said today that it will block foreign porn sites as it steps up its campaign against adult content on the internet.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1570670.ece
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200703/kt2007032620151011900.htm
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=66565

South Korea's Net Porn Problem
Instances of obscene material being posted to major Web sites has the government and Internet companies joining hands to fight back: Earlier this month, a porn video clip was posted and left for six hours on Yahoo Korea's Web site. Major portals Naver and Daum have also experienced similar problems in the past.
http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070328_879359.htm

Beijing threatens jail for mobile porn (AP)
Beijing police are threatening jail and fines for people who transmit pornography via cellphones after merchants were caught selling such movies on phone memory chips, a report said Wednesday.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-03-28-beijing-porn-ban_N.htm

Belarusian authorities restrict internet access
On March, 25 a number of Belarusian web-sites ucpb.org, svaboda.org, charter97.org, belhelcom.org, belaruspartisan.org, gazetaby.com and livejournal.com providing independent news and information were unavailable from 9.00 till 16.00 within the country borders.
http://e-belarus.org/news/200703261.html

************************************************
CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
************************************************
Children’s Internet Protection Act: a good Combination of Internet Access and Protection for Children
In 2000, the United States Congress passed the Children"s Internet Protection Act (“CIPA”) with the following objective: to 'assist most schools and libraries in the US to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet accesses provided that certain online protection measures are followed. The combination cannot not be wiser, discount internet access and telecommunications to schools and libraries, specially those serving underpriviledged areas, in exchange of online protective measures for children. This program is commonly known as ‘E-rate’ program and is found in CIPA, section 1711.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1719

uk: Schools 'punish' bullying victims
Children should not be expelled from school for fighting back against bullies, MPs said yesterday. The Commons Education Select Committee expressed concern that some victims of bullying were being thrown out for retaliating. They said pupils should help decide how to punish playground bullies and called on ministers to tell schools not to exclude children who have been victims.
http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2396013.ece

uk: School bullies targeting special needs children
MPs will tomorrow (27/3) demand more government action to combat bullying in schools in the wake of new evidence highlighting attacks on special needs children and minority groups. ... There were also claims of an increase in cyber-bullying, with pupils (including an increasing number of girls) text-messaging threats and abuse. A survey by psychologists has revealed 28 per cent of girls and 10 per cent of boys had been victims of cyber-bullying.
http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2393314.ece

uk: Bullying: calls for national inquiry
A national inquiry into the scale of bullying should be undertaken by ministers because of fears that the problem is being downplayed by schools seeking to protect their reputations, a report demands today. New guidance is also needed to ensure that victims who dare to fight back are not suspended or expelled.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/pupilbehaviour/story/0,,2043694,00.html

uk: Pupils 'should penalise bullies'
Pupils should be able to suggest suitable punishments for bullies in their school, according to an MPs' report into bullying.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6496725.stm

ca: Cyberbullying on the Rise: Kids Share Fears
Children who bully appear to have found a new platform to intimidate and taunt their peers and preliminary research from the University of Toronto indicates that cyber bullying is becoming more prevalent.
http://newswise.com/articles/view/528453/

ca: Schoolgirls bullied into stripping online (Reuters)
Bullies are no longer content to taunt their victims in the playground but are turning to cyberspace, according to Canadian researchers.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2007/03/28/technology/schoolgirls-bullied-into-stripping-online.html
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21467319%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e15306,00.html
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKL2841434120070328

us: Chat rooms and Web sites are an open door for online predators
This is the third of a five-part series looking at the dangers that lurk on the Internet, and how parents, school officials, employers and others deal with the Web's various hazards:
http://newportdailynews.com/articles/2007/03/28/news/news1.txt

***************************************
CYBERCRIME, CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY
***************************************
E-mail users want more control of inboxes (Reuters)
Bombarded by spam, e-mail users are eager for tools like a "report fraud" button that would help weed out unwanted messages that litter inboxes, according to a survey by the Email Sender and Provider Coalition released on Tuesday.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN2635299820070328

Call for blogging code of conduct
The support for a blogger hounded by death threats has intensified with some high profile web experts calling for a code of conduct in the blogosphere.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6502643.stm

Blog death threats spark debate
Prominent blogger Kathy Sierra has called on the blogosphere to combat the culture of abuse online. It follows a series of death threats which have forced her to cancel a public appearance and suspend her blog.\
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6499095.stm

uk: Many net users 'not safety-aware'
Fewer than half of the UK's 29m adult internet users believe they are responsible for protecting personal information online, a survey suggests.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6472723.stm

Survey says one in 10 is victim of online fraud (Reuters)
One in 10 Internet users fell victim to online fraud last year, losing an average of 875 pounds each, according to a survey on Monday.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2625108320070327

uk: SOCA: We are tackling e-crime
The Serious Organised Crime Agency has hit back at claims that it does not have the necessary remit or resources to tackle e-crime.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39286506,00.htm

us: Supreme Court to Hear Online Pandering Case
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case involving the overturned conviction of a Florida man for soliciting or offering online child pornography. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law includes protected free speech and is unconstitutional.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3668146
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=190956

us: Justices Agree to Revisit Child Pornography Laws
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to undertake its latest effort to define the permissible boundary between free speech and the government’s prohibition of child pornography.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/washington/27scotus.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-na-porn27mar27,1,7983878.story
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003636699_webscotusporn26.html

us: MySpace files phishing and spam suit against Sanford Wallace
News Corporation's interactive media company MySpace said it has filed a lawsuit against spammer Sanford Wallace in the US District Court in Los Angeles.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/03/27/afx3554633.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-briefs27.6mar27,1,3560821.story
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/myspace_sues_spamford/

gh: Police Advocate for Laws to Combat Cyber Fraud
The absence of a cyber law in Ghana is frustrating the efforts of the Vetting Crime Intelligence Analysis, (VCIA) unit of the Ghana Police Service to fighting computer fraud and also to prosecute perpetrators of internet fraud.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703260806.html

Saudi Arabia sets jail penalties for cybercrimes (Reuters)
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will impose 1-year prison sentences and fines of 500,000 riyals (68,000 pounds) for Internet hacking and misuse of mobile telephone cameras, such as taking unauthorised pictures.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2669502020070327

Webcam lets your face be your password
A Canadian company on Wednesday in the US announced a new camera that doubles as a security system that scans a face in three dimensions and a Webcam for online video.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Webcam_lets_your_face_be_your_password/0,130061702,339274571,00.htm

us: MySpace sues the ‘Spam King’ for $100m
Alleges violations of state, federal laws
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3af660de-dcb2-11db-a21d-000b5df10621.html

How to crack the problem of internet password security
It's a good bet that if you have 20 online accounts, you don't have 20 different passwords. In fact, according to a survey by Kaspersky Lab, most people (51% of us) only have between one and four passwords for 20 accounts. We are insecure. But recent developments mean we could be more secure in the near future.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2044606,00.html

**************************
GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
**************************
uk: Extreme Pornography - BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour discussion
The Government will introduce new measures to deal with extreme pornography this spring. It is currently illegal to produce or to distribute images of extreme sexual violence – but it is not against the law to possess them. The new Criminal Justice Bill will settle this anomaly and criminalise the possession of these images. How easy is it to define what constitutes extreme pornography? What do we actually know about the connections between looking at images of sexual violence and committing violent sexual offences? And, how easy will it be to police the downloading of images that are frequently accessed via the internet on sites owned abroad? Jenni talks to Clare McGlynn, Professor of Law at the University of Durham and Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre about the proposed changes to the law.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2007_13_tue.shtml

Bloggers are not journalists, Lithuanian parliament
Bloggers are not journalists, and therefore do not have the rights and protections accorded to them, says the Lithuanian parliament.
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2891&iArticleId=3754044

*****
SPAM
*****
Spamming under the law of Poland
In Poland, some of the main legal aspects of e-commerce are regulated under the Act of July 18, 2002 on Providing Services by Electronic Means (the “E-Commerce Act.”) This Act also contains several provisions addressing the issue of unsolicited commercial communications, often referred to as spamming. Spamming under the law of Poland is regarded as an unfair competition practice.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=D62C5C4A-854C-49AB-80C0-F6C11BB9E441

*****************************
INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE
*****************************
Poll contradicts concern over future of newspapers
Newspaper editors are overwhelmingly optimistic about their businesses, despite uncertainty about future business models, according to a new global poll of newsroom.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3e18ed06-dcc9-11db-a21d-000b5df10621.html

au: Gaming, porn rife at work
One in seven Australian office workers has looked at online porn at work, and even more use office hours for online gambling, according to security company Websense. Since the start of last year, Websense has collected data from 52,000 people in Australian organisations using its security risk-assessment service.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/26/1174761375431.html

Get real. The internet is not fantasy
Our columnist on cruelty, fraud, snooping and rudeness - online: Kevin Whitrick is dead. He killed himself. That is real. His last companions were the “insult” chat room frequenters on Paltalk, some of whom goaded him on, apparently shouting abuse over microphones or the screen, saying “F****** do it, get it round your neck, for f***’s sake do it properly”. In a similar case in Arizona, Brandon Vedas took poison to jeers of “Eat more!”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/libby_purves/article1572434.ece

Active Home Internet Users by Country, February 2007
The number of active Internet home users dipped by 0.13 percent in February in the 10 countries tracked by Nielsen//NetRatings. Spain (-3.31 percent); the U.S. (-1.50 percent); and Germany (-0.96 percent) accounted for the dip in the number of active home users. The number of users was down 426,498 compared to January data.
http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625342

***************
DIGITAL DIVIDE
***************
us: Latinos hurt by digital divide, report says
Twice a week after school, Juan Manuel Reyes-Hernandez spends time doing his homework and accessing games on a computer in the library at Parrish Middle School.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/NEWS/703280341

************
FILE SHARING
************
Napster lawsuits near resolution
Bertelsmann said Monday that it had settled the last lawsuit filed by a record company over the German media conglomerate's role in funding the original Napster electronic file-swapping service that was once the scourge of the music industry.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-napster27mar27,1,3736811.story

The impact of the Grokster decision on file sharing
How will providers of file-sharing software operate after the United States Supreme Court decision in Grokster? What is the precedent set in the decision and has the file-sharing technology been rendered illegal? And what about Israel?
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1715

MySpace, Eisner in online video deal
MySpace, the social networking site owned by News Corp, has made its biggest push yet into providing its millions of members with original video content.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2153e480-dd8e-11db-8d42-000b5df10621.html

*********************************
COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
*********************************
Wikipedia braces itself for April Fools' Day
Jenny Kleeman: The online encyclopaedia anyone can edit has been the target of joke contributions since its launch in 2001, but April Fools' Day has proved an irresistible opportunity for internet pranksters, as well as normally trustworthy contributors inspired to let their hair down.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2044243,00.html

Wikipedia rival takes to the web
Citizendium, a self-proclaimed "citizens' compendium" of general knowledge, works much like Wikipedia in that anyone can submit information. This community encyclopedia, however, requires users to register with their real names, and its articles are governed by an editorial board.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39286499,00.htm

Vista shifts 20 million copies
Microsoft claims Windows Vista is off to a fast start, having sold more than 20 million copies since its 30 January consumer release. By comparison, in its first two months, Windows XP sold 17 million copies, Microsoft said.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39286485,00.htm
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21454079%5E16123%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/ms_vista_shipments_claims/

EU Gives Microsoft More Time to Correct 'Abuses'
European Union antitrust regulators have given Microsoft more time to prove it is complying with a requirement to fairly license its server software communications protocols. Microsoft now has until April 23 to respond to charges from the European Commission, which has said that Microsoft has yet to fully comply with a condition of its 2004 antitrust ruling.
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/56518.html

Yahoo Mail to offer unlimited storage
Yahoo will begin offering unlimited storage for its free Web-based e-mail in May, the company announced late Tuesday. The move makes Yahoo the first of the major free e-mail providers to offer unlimited storage, but it likely will not be the last.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6171111.html
http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-6171111.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/29/1174761604346.html

Yahoo opens up e-mail APIs to outsiders
Yahoo is expected to release software that will allow third-party developers to write applications using Yahoo Mail.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6171378.html

Project Failure? Blame Poor Governance
Poor IT governance is one of the key causes of failure in big business transformation projects, according to the latest research. A report from analyst house the Butler Group found IT governance initiatives were usually deployed only within the IT department, leading to a lack of co-ordination between the IT-led elements of projects and the wider management of business transformation initiatives.
http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070328_519010.htm

Putting The World's Books On The Web
Two years ago Google, the Internet search firm, began scanning hundreds of thousands of books and making their contents available on the Web. Could this signal the end of libraries as we know them?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,473529,00.html

uk: Google extends UK online ad lead
Google has increased its grip on the UK online ad market, claiming 43% of the record £2bn spent last year, according to figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2044577,00.html

*******************
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
*******************
nz: Editorial: It's payback time for Telecom
Over the years, Telecom's shareholders were well rewarded as the company took full advantage of its position as de facto regulator of the telecommunications industry. They prospered as Telecom employed formidable lobbying and legal haggling to preserve its status far beyond any reasonable expectation. The same could not be said for Telecom's customers. They fumed as the company's ageing equipment creaked. Telecom's approach, rational enough in the circumstances, was to minimise capital expenditure while maximising its returns to shareholders.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10431380

nz: Telecom urged to reinvest in broadband
Telecom is being urged to upgrade its network with the more than $2 billion it will get from the sale of its Yellow Pages Group.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1037735

Nokia: "Convergence" on the Future of Mobility (news release)
"Convergence" isn't just about technologies coming together. It's about a rapidly-consolidating playing field where companies "converge" to lead the future of business mobility.
http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1114793
http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2007-03/artikel-7972130.asp

*****
VoIP
*****
Small biz loves VoIP
Right now 25 per cent of small businesses are using Voice over Internet Protocol to make calls. This is expected to almost double to 48 per cent by this time next year.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/smallbiz_voip/

**********************************
ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
**********************************
au: Top school rocked by child porn allegations
One of the oldest private schools in rural Australia, The Armidale School, has been left reeling by allegations that one of its senior teachers has been engaged in internet child pornography.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/27/1174761471710.html

au: Man charged with grooming US boy
A 51-year-old man has been charged with grooming a teenage boy in the US for sex after allegedly sending him explicit photographs and messages over the internet. Child pornography was found among computers, DVDs, movie reels and documents siezed from the man's home in Orange, in central-west NSW, yesterday, police say.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/28/1174761511633.html

nz: Father jailed for posessing child porn
A 49-year-old Rotorua father has been jailed for four months for possessing and distributing child pornography.
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/default.aspx?id=71652

Polish police bust child porn ring (Reuters)
Polish police have detained 33 people in a sting operation against suspected users and dealers of Internet child pornography, officials say.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/27/poland.pornography.reut/
http://ecanadanow.com/world/2007/03/27/massive-online-child-pornography-ring-uncovered-in-poland/
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2885&iArticleId=3754064

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/ for the most recent edition of the domain news, including an RSS feed - already online!

The domain name news is supported by auDA.

See http://lists.technewsreview.com.au/mailman/listinfo/technewsreview for an archive of recent newsletters and to subscribe to the domain name and general internet news. Also see http://technewsreview.com.au/ for recent news 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



Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com