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general internet news - 14 June
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 daily updates in between postings.
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Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/
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Yahoo condemns lack of free speech in China (AP)
http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/11/asia/AS-GEN-Hong-Kong-Yahoo-Jailed-Reporter.php
Google complains to DOJ about Vista search
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/11/google-complains_1.html
What's Behind Google's Sneak Attack Against Microsoft?
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57815.html
Google cuts data retention times
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6745191.stm
EU Official Welcomes Google Privacy Move (AP)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/14/1181414391048.html
Australia lags, says net guru
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/11/1181414217248.html
NZ internet speed 'a baby's crawl'
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4092811a28.html
Bail Denied for Alleged 'Spam King'
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/14/1181414424478.html
Disney's sports arm buys cricket website Cricinfo with 7m users
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/story/0,,2100863,00.html
Half the electricity in a PC is wasted: Intel, Google
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39287516,00.htm
Apple announces Windows browser
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6742439.stm
Sir Tim Berners-Lee gets Queen's honour
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6750395.stm
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CENSORSHIP
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Yahoo condemns lack of free speech in China (AP)
Yahoo criticized Chine in a brief statement one day after the mother of a jailed Chinese reporter announced she was suing the U.S. company for helping officials imprison her son.
http://iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/11/asia/AS-GEN-Hong-Kong-Yahoo-Jailed-Reporter.php
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6113550
Yahoo: China's censoring Flickr
Yahoo's Flickr, one of the world's most popular photo-sharing sites, is likely being blocked by the Chinese government, Yahoo's Hong Kong unit said Tuesday.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6190356.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-06-12-yahoo-china-flickr-block_N.htm
Yahoo Stockholders Vote Against Anticensorship Proposal
The proposal would have had Yahoo implement policies such as not hosting data where political dissent is a crime.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132835-c,companynews/article.html
Vietnam frees cyber-dissident (AP)
Vietnam has released a prominent government critic convicted of spying against the communist government, two weeks before Vietnam's president makes a historic visit to the U.S., an official said Sunday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070611.wgtvietcyber0611/BNStory/Technology/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20070611.wgtvietcyber0611
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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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eu: Safer Internet Forum 2007 - Safer Internet and online technologies for children
The purpose of this event is to contribute to improving the common understanding of Safer Internet and online technologies issues at European level as well as feeding into the process of assessing whether to propose a follow-up programme to the Safer Internet plus Programme, together with the online public consultation that is currently open for contributions. The Forum will be composed of three workshops and a plenary session.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/index_en.htm
Web forums hijacked to spread child porn
Online forums on legitimate web pages are increasingly been taken over by cyber-criminals to promote child pornography, experts warned. Security firm Sophos said that the majority of hijacked forums are on legitimate websites, and one is even on a site designed for children. All the posts contain offensive words and hidden links to pornography sites.
http://itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=54136
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2191910/perverts-hijack-web-forums
Developing safe and smart Internet citizens
As is the case when supervising kids in the offline world, dealing with their behavior online and when they are using the cell phone requires controls appropriate to their age group. Attorney and child advocate Parry Aftab offers strategies for parents with children in any or all of the five age groups identified on this list.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6190554.html
Hackers spread illegal child content through web message boards Legitimate web pages taken over by cybercriminals to promote child pornography (news release)
IT security and control firm Sophos is warning web hosts of the dangers of not screening content posted on message boards, following the discovery that legitimate web pages have been taken over by cybercriminals using the forums to promote child pornography.
http://sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2007/06/message-boards.html
au: Viewers must share the blame for child porn
People who look at child pornography should understand that every image has a story behind it: children abused, in extreme cases stolen or sold, tortured, perhaps murdered. Viewing child pornography is not a victimless crime. There are thousands of victims every year.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/12/1181414298101.html
uk: Agency arrests 83 paedophiles in first year
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre said yesterday it had arrested 83 alleged sex offenders over the past 12 months. The agency said it has rescued 76 children from "sexual abuse environments" in its first year of operation, according to an annual review.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,2100700,00.html
OpenDNS Launches Free Porn Filter
OpenDNS, a innovative startup that uses the domain name lookup architecture to fix misspellings and block attempts to surf phishing sites, now lets home users and IT administrators alike to block access to adult-oriented sites, using a long list of verboten URLs provided by St. Bernard's human-edited database iGuard.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/06/opendns_launche.html
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CYBERCRIME, CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY
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Large-scale DOS attack menace continues to grow
You may or may not have picked up the news that Estonia came under cyber-attack in early May. ... The almost unanswerable question is whether it was the Russian government that launched the attack or whether it was Russian hackers. Estonia, it seems, provoked the attack when the Estonian government removed a statue (in Tallinn) that commemorates Soviet troops who were killed fighting the Nazis. Estonian officials claim some of the attacking computers had Kremlin IP addresses, but - and I'm sure the Russians would suggest this - such computers could have been infected by viruses and used as bots by Russian hackers. That's what you call plausible deniability.
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/11/dos_security_cyberwarfare/
us: FBI cracks down on 'bot herders'
The tech security world cheered the FBI's announcement Wednesday of a crackdown on cybercrooks who control networks of compromised computers, called botnets, to spread spam and carry out scams.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2007-06-13-fbi-arrests_N.htm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/13/millionth_botnet_address/
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/14/1181414391048.html
us: Operation: Bot Roast - ‘Bot-herders’ Charged as Part of Initiative (news release)
They’re called “bot-herders:” hackers who install malicious software on computers through the Internet without the owners’ knowledge. Once the software is loaded, they can control the computer remotely. And once they’ve compromised enough computers, they have a robot network or botnet. Some botnets are huge: tens of thousands of infected computers. Or more. As a result of Operation Bot Roast, an ongoing and coordinated initiative to disrupt and dismantle these bot-herders, we’ve identified about 1 million computers across the country that have been compromised.
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june07/botnet061307.htm
Another Cyber Attack Hits Europe
When Estonia suffered a series of cyber attacks in recent months, US official John Negroponte told the Financial Times: “We need to prepare ourselves because this is likely only to become more of an issue in the future.” Well, the future is here. And the wave of cyber attacks has moved from Eastern to Western Europe. It has recently been disclosed that around the time Estonia was under cyber attack, an important Spanish domain-registration company was also waging a battle against unknown cyber pirates. The Cyber Terrorism Division of the Spanish Police is investigating the incident. If identified, the hackers involved could be prosecuted for blackmailing a company to prevent the disclosure of confidential information.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1782
China aims to top U.S. in cyberspace: U.S. general (Reuters)
China is seeking to unseat the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a U.S. Air Force general leading a new push in this area said Wednesday. "They're the only nation that has been quite that blatant about saying, 'We're looking to do that,'" 8th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Elder told reporters.
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6190819.html
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN1335835020070613
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199903969
uk: Bloggers hunt down 7/7 ‘cyberstalker’
A “cyberstalker” who waged a 14-month campaign of harassment against a survivor of London's 7/7 bombings has been arrested after an online hunt that was led by bloggers.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1917943.ece
Google complains to DOJ about Vista search
Google has complained to federal antitrust officials that the search tool in Microsoft's Windows Vista discourages customers from using its own search utility, the company confirmed Sunday. On Sunday, Google spokesman Ricardo Reyes confirmed the charge. "Microsoft's current approach with Vista desktop search violates its agreement with the government and hurts consumers." he said in an e-mail to Computerworld. "The search boxes built throughout Vista are hard-wired to Microsoft's own desktop search product, with no way for users to choose an alternate provider from these visible search access points. Likewise, Vista makes it impractical to turn off Microsoft's search index."
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/11/google-complains_1.html
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9024287
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061102177.html
Memo Hints DoJ Favored Microsoft Over Google
A memo apparently written by a key antitrust enforcement official in the U.S. Justice Department is raising suspicions that the Bush Administration unduly favored Microsoft's positions. Issued by Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett, a former antitrust partner at Covington & Burlington, the memo reportedly urges state attorneys general not to pursue a confidential complaint levied by Google. The search engine giant has accused Microsoft of designing its Vista operating system to discourage the use of desktop search engines.
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57786.html
What's Behind Google's Sneak Attack Against Microsoft?
Another day, another charge that Microsoft has violated its consent decree -- or so it must seem to the software titan, which has been battling such accusations ever since the mega antitrust case against it ended in 2002. In the latest controversy, though, the company lodging the complaint is none other than Google, an adversary almost equal to the European Commission, which has been lobbing the most successful -- and costly -- complaints at Microsoft.
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/57815.html
Google cuts data retention times
Google is to cut the length of time it holds users' personal search data to 18 months rather than the previous period of 18 to 24 months. The move comes in response to a data protection group that wrote to the firm questioning its privacy policies. The European advisory body, called Article 29, said Google's current data retention practices could be breaking European privacy laws.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6745191.stm
http://iht.com/articles/2007/06/12/business/google.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/technology/13google.html
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2100935,00.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/13/google_limits_information_retention/
EU Official Welcomes Google Privacy Move (AP)
A European Union official on Wednesday applauded Google Inc.'s offer to cut by a quarter the time it retains data on its users' searches.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/14/1181414391048.html
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_6130894
Data retention laws do not cover Google searches, says Europe
Google is not bound by the Data Retention Directive when it comes to search engine logs, Europe's data protection committee has said. Google has used the Directive to justify keeping data, but OUT-LAW has learned that the law does not apply.
http://out-law.com/page-8147
Are Google's moves creeping you out?
One lazy afternoon, Maer Israel and a colleague ducked out of work to have a double espresso at a nearby cafe in San Francisco. Several weeks later, the information technology manager at the French American International School was alerted that a picture of him sitting at the cafe could be found on Google's online map as part of the search giant's new street-level photo view.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6190319.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/cnet/2007-06-12-google-street-view_N.htm
YouTube Sets Tests of Video Blocking
Google says it will soon begin testing a long-awaited system that can block unauthorized copyrighted clips from being uploaded to YouTube.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/technology/12google.html
Net security purr-fected: Kittens are the unlikely new weapon against online fraud
There's a new way to combat internet fraud, prevent spam and keep online shopping secure. But your first impressions may be that it's not exactly high tech. It takes the form of a simple question: from a gallery of fluffy-animal snaps, can you tell which are cats and which are dogs? Your answer is enough to find out whether you are human or an automated spam program, designed to send unwanted email. The dog/cat question is the latest example of a security device called a Captcha, a simple puzzle that usually takes the form of a string of distorted letters and numbers.
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2652498.ece
Captchas, online gatekeepers against spam, need an overhaul
Designed to ensure the humanity of Web site users, captchas have grown ever more challenging as online mischief makers design better ways to defeat them.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/06/11/business/codes.php
au: Hated blogger leaves U.S. for Australia, threatens lawsuits
A failed real estate speculator who created a popular Web site touting his exploits has begun threatening to sue his critics and claims to be in hiding in Australia.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6190628.html
uk: Girl tells how sex attacker re-enacted web fantasy
A hospital worker turned the “grotesque fantasy” of the rape stories that he read regularly on the internet into reality when he attacked a teenager as she walked through a park. Peter Anscombe, 28, pounced on Carley Furness, 17, and sexually assaulted her before stabbing her in the throat and stomach. Emergency surgery saved the teenager’s life.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1923518.ece
ca: Blogger sued: Steelback Breweries CEO files suit against Ottawa sports blogger
The president of Steelback Brewery, based in Tiverton, Ont. has filed a $2 million lawsuit against an Ottawa-based blogger he claims repeatedly libelled him on his popular sports website.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=f90f5958-a580-44ea-a84d-d70d8bdd801a&k=28320
ca: Regina police raid home of ex-prof accused of spreading hate
Regina police are investigating a former university professor accused of spreading hate online. Terry Tremaine, 58, who was let go from his job as a University of Saskatchewan mathematics professor in 2005, is the subject of a criminal complaint by Ottawa-based human rights lawyer Richard Warman and the Canadian Jewish Congress.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/06/11/tremaine-police.html
in: Orkut ban: Anti-social networking?
What do Right-wing political party, Shiv Sena and Internet giant, Google, have in common? It's Google's social networking site Orkut, which the Shiv Sena wants banned because Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray and Maratha idol, Shivaji, have been insulted on some communities on Orkut.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/orkut-ban-antisocial-networking/top/42691-3.html
Malaysia cracks down on Internet investment scams
Malaysian authorities said Tuesday they had cracked down on illegal Internet-based investment schemes, blocking several websites and raiding the offices of one firm on suspicion of money laundering.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/13/1181414327700.html
us: Libby’s Supporters Who Wrote to Judge Learn That Letters Take on New Life on the Web
In what may be a sign of things to come, the lawyers for I. Lewis Libby Jr. last month invoked the rarely used courtroom tactic: the “bloggers can be mean” defense. The issue was whether to release the more than 150 letters written to Judge Reggie B. Walton of Federal District Court in Washington, nearly all in support of Mr. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. ... When representatives of the news media asked that the letters be released, Mr. Libby’s lawyers argued against that, saying it “needlessly risks undermining the fair administration of justice.” Then, alluding to the sometimes combative world of online media, they added there was “the real possibility that these letters, once released, would be published on the Internet and their authors discussed, even mocked, by bloggers.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/business/media/11scooter.html
us: Who's afraid of bloggers? by Gal Beckerman
The lawyers for Scooter Libby made a bizarre argument - at least to my ears - for why the letters attesting to Libby's character, written to the judge in his perjury case, should be kept out of the public eye: "the real possibility that these letters, once released, would be published on the Internet and their authors discussed, even mocked, by bloggers."
http://cjr.org/the_kicker/whos_afraid_of_bloggers.php
us: Gaming Association Sues U.S. Over Internet Gambling Ban
The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association is suing to stop enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199902123
Google ranked 'worst' on privacy
Google has the worst privacy policy of popular net firms, says a report. Rights group Privacy International rated the search giant as "hostile" to privacy in a report ranking web firms by how they handle personal data.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6740075.stm
http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6189968.html
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/55480D86A4DFAD6DCC2572F7001AB1D1
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GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
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Australia lags, says net guru
One of the internet's original architects says Australia's living standards are in danger of slipping out of the top tier because it is not gearing up for the next level of web infrastructure. Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, says "real broadband" would allow connections 1000 times the speed of the current average Australian connection - and 80 times the speed the Government and Labor propose.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/11/1181414217248.html
NZ internet speed 'a baby's crawl'
New Zealand's slow internet speeds are threatening to leave the nation out of the global economy, one of the web's founders says. Larry Smarr, director of the Californian Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, said New Zealand's speeds were "a baby's crawl compared to the spaceship" on the international scene.
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4092811a28.html
Privacy chief warns EU on terror laws
Europe's data protection chief has warned Portuguese ministers that fundamental rights to freedom are being abused in the name of security. Portugal takes over the rotating EU Presidency on 1st July. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has told the Portuguese ministers for justice and the interior that anti-terror laws proposed in Europe have shown a lack of understanding of human rights law and says that anti-terror laws could be written which would safeguard privacy rights.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/13/eu_terror_privacy_warning/
Internet spells end for political spin, says US web guru
Internet activism is spelling the end for the age of spin, the online campaign guru Joe Trippi will warn British politicians today, suggesting that the rules for dealing with "old media" no longer apply. "The game has changed in a way the top needs to understand," he told the Guardian.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,,2101828,00.html
us: FCC's ban on 'fleeting expletives' ruled unconstitutional
US television regulator the Federal Communications Commission may not have the right to police American airwaves, a court has ruled. The ruling is a blow to a George W Bush-led clampdown on on-air swearing.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/11/fcc_profanity_ruling/
us: Fighting the Web, Sports Teams Seek to Control Ticket Resales
Cavaliers season-ticket holders have the option to forgo paper tickets and simply swipe their credit card or driver’s license when they enter the arena. If they want to resell their seats, instead of using a ticket broker or a Web site like eBay, they must go to the Flash Seats site at cavs.flashseats.com. There, they can set any price for their seats or view auction-style bids from potential buyers, with the company taking a 20 percent fee from the buyer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/business/14tickets.html
Controversial security law advances in Zimbabwe
The lower house of Zimbabwe's parliament passed a bill on Wednesday allowing the government to monitor phones, mail and the Internet to protect national security.
http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-6190876.html
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/email18.16535.html
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SPAM
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Bail Denied for Alleged 'Spam King'
A man accused of defrauding people through tens of millions of spam e-mail messages sent around the world was denied bail Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue said one of his concerns was that online crimes such as those charged against Robert Soloway _ dubbed the "Spam King" by federal investigators _ can be committed anywhere at anytime.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/14/1181414424478.html
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SPAM_KING?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-13-22-05-35
Spam King Robert Soloway Arrested for Sending Billions of Illegal Messages a Day
On May 30, 2007 Robert Alan Soloway, voted one of the ten biggest spam artists in the world, was arrested in Seattle, a week after being indicted by a grand jury in Washington, and charged with fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and breaking Federal anti-spam legislation. Soloway has been a colossal Internet pest for years, sending giant amounts of spam, filling mailboxes and mail servers to overflowing with unsolicited and unwanted junk email. Criminally, he fraudulently marketed spam services as legitimate 'opt-in' services, fooling innocent users and then offering no customer support or refunds. Soloway used hijacked computers and open proxies,and therefore repeatedly violated the Computer Abuse and Fraud Act of 1984 and the CAN-SPAM law of 2003.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1781
AOL Spammer Pleads Guilty, Facing Up To 11 Years in Prison
A Brooklyn man has pleaded guilty today for sending spam emails to over 1.2 million AOL subscribers in a scheme that foiled the Internet company's spam-filtering system. Reuters reports: "Adam Vitale, 26, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to breaking anti-spam laws. He was caught making a deal with a government informant that sent spam e-mails advertising a computer security program in return for 50 percent of the product's profits, prosecutors said."
http://www.circleid.com/posts/aol_spammer_vitale_pleads_guilty/
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INTERNET & NEW TECHNOLOGY USE
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au: All work and some porn
Public servants are among the most frequent users of porn in Australian workplaces, data from computer security firm MessageLabs has revealed.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/11/1181414193388.html
http://bowral.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?story_id=595289
Disney's sports arm buys cricket website with 7m users
Disney's US sports network ESPN has acquired cricket website Cricinfo for an undisclosed sum.
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/story/0,,2100863,00.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/12/1181414267395.html
Half the electricity in a PC is wasted: Intel, Google
An awful lot of juice meant to power PCs never gets used so tech companies -- including Google and Intel -- have teamed up to try and make PCs and servers run more efficiently.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39287516,00.htm
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article1926766.ece
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN1228535020070613
Putting Energy Hogs in the Home on a Strict Low-Power Diet
I THOUGHT I was pretty good about energy conservation, but it turns out that I’ve been a bit of a hypocrite. I drive a reasonably fuel-efficient car, I work at home so I don’t use fuel to commute and I am replacing incandescent bulbs in my home with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs. But I am also a prodigious computer user, and it looks as if that makes me an energy hog. I started checking how much electricity my electronics were consuming when I wasn’t using them. I used a Kill A Watt EZ energy meter (available online for about $25) and began measuring. My PC was continuously drawing 134 watts all night.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/technology/14basics.html
Google backs green computer plan
Search engine giant Google and US semiconductor firm Intel have thrown their weight behind a massive scheme to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6747323.stm
Would You Spend $20 To Save the Earth?
Increased energy efficiency would add $20 to the cost of a PC and $30 to the cost of a server.
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/004647.html
Active Home Internet Users by Country, April 2007
Active home Internet usage went down slightly in the 10 countries tracked by Nielsen//NetRatings. Home Internet users increased in Spain (4.04 percent); Australia (1.30 percent); and the U.K. (0.60 percent). The number of active users dropped in Italy (-7.63 percent); Brazil (-2.40 percent); Japan (-2.32 percent); Switzerland (-2.23 percent); France (-0.64 percent); Germany (-0.58 percent); and the U.S. (-0.32 percent). The number of active Internet home users across the 10 countries fell less than 1 percent (-0.87 percent).
http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626136
Apple announces Windows browser
Apple launches a version of its web browser Safari for Windows XP and Vista.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6742439.stm
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/12/1181414247904.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6190159.html
http://iht.com/articles/2007/06/12/business/browser.php
Flaws Abound In Apple's Safari Beta For Windows
Researchers report pulling up bug after bug in the brand new code of Apple's Web browser for Windows XP.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199903540
Why Safari For Windows? Why Now?
Boy, how times change. A few years ago, when Windows users seemed doomed to live in a world in which Internet Explorer was the only viable browser option, the arrival of Safari for Windows might have been a gigantic deal. Or think back to late 2006--if Apple had announced that it had struck a deal to bundle Firefox with OS X and was discontinuing Safari development, it would have been newsworthy but not a stunner.
http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/004627.html
Google's e-mail for universities
Google is expanding its empire into universities - with entire campus e-mail networks switching over to using Google's e-mail service.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6741797.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/13/ngoogle113.xml
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DIGITAL DIVIDE
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uk: Puttnam urges schools to tackle digital divide
Britain's schools face an insurmountable digital divide if new ways of teaching are not tested, Lord Puttnam warned yesterday. Launching a new report into the future of education from the thinktank FutureLab, the Labour peer said that it was time to seriously consider how technology can be used to bridge the inequalities in the education system.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2101833,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6744679.stm
UNI Bridging the digital divide for unions and their members
The UNI Communicators’ Forum has selected two sites for this years Bridge Project, Thailand and the Caribbean, to help bring website development and maintenance to unions and their members.
http://union-network.org/uniflashes.nsf/58f61ccf5875fe90c12567bb005642f9/16cabbe8855ca554c12572f50023cc5f
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FILE SHARING
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Swedish court upholds file-sharing conviction (Reuters)
A Swedish court of appeals on Tuesday upheld the country's first conviction for sharing music files over the Internet without paying, in what the recording industry hailed as a victory.
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-6190430.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL1220452220070612
de: Companies step up action against illegal downloading
Germany's music industry said on Wednesday it had launched legal action against 25 000 Internet users since the start of the year for illegally downloading music.
http://ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2883&iArticleId=5017209
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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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Sir Tim Berners-Lee gets Queen's honour
The inventor of the world wide web has been awarded the Order of Merit, one of the UK's most prestigious honours. Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins an elite group who have received the honour from the Queen for exceptional contributions in arts, sciences and other areas. The British academic invented the web's address system and layout in Switzerland in 1991, ultimately revolutionising global communication. Previously, he was named Greatest Briton at a ceremony in 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6750395.stm
For Yahoo, an ordeal of dissent
When Terry Semel, Yahoo's chief executive, faces shareholders at the company's annual meeting on Tuesday, Eric Jackson will be there to pepper him with questions. Jackson, who owns just a few Yahoo shares, is not happy with the company's performance, so he has mounted a grass-roots campaign calling for changes including the removal of Semel and several company directors.
http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6190314.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/technology/12yahoo.html
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MOBILE
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European Commission proposes TV spectrum for WiMax
UHF spectrum should be allocated to WiMax once Europe's analogue television signals are phased out, the European commissioner for information society and media has proposed.
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62021021,00.htm
http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6190718.html
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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
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au: Policeman faces child pornography charges
A Northern Territory policeman has appeared in the Darwin Magistrates Court charged with possessing child pornography.
http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200706/s1950450.htm
au/us: Australians help close the net on American child-pornography offender
It was a complaint to Australian police from a small internet company in Prahran that spelt the end for Roderick Gene Parks half a world away.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/12/1181414299961.html
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1179167
au: Power back to appeal sentence
Former Crown prosecutor Patrick Power is back in court today, appealing against a jail sentence imposed on him for possessing child pornography.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/06/14/1181414421968.html
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21904038-5001021,00.html
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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.
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/technewsreview/. Also see http://technewsreview.com.au/ for daily updates.
Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>.
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(c) David Goldstein 2007
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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
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