[APPLe list] general internet news - 14 April

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

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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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Don't forget to check out http://www.auda.org.au/domain-news/ for today's edition of the complete domain news, already online!


Headlines from the edition of the news include:



And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings.


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The domain name news is supported by auDA

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RESEARCH PAPERS
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Beyond Google and evil: How policy makers, journalists and consumers should talk differently about Google and privacy by Chris Jay Hoofnagle
Abstract: Google has come to symbolize the tensions between the benefits of innovative, information-dependent new services and the desire of individuals to control the contexts in which personal information is used. This essay reviews hundreds of newspaper articles where Google speaks about privacy in an effort to characterize the company’s handling of these tensions, to provide context explaining the meaning of the company’s privacy rhetoric, and to advance the privacy dialogue among policy makers, journalists, and consumers.
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2326

China’s Censorship 2.0: How companies censor bloggers by Rebecca MacKinnon
Abstract: This study explores an under-studied layer of Chinese Internet censorship: how Chinese Internet companies censor user-generated content, usually by deleting it or preventing its publication. Systematic testing of Chinese blog service providers reveals that domestic censorship is very decentralized with wide variation from company to company. Test results also showed that a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and that chances for its survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy. The study concludes that choices and actions by private individuals and companies can have a significant impact on the overall balance of freedom and control in the Chinese blogosphere.
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2378

Too far down the Yellow Brick Road – Cyber-hysteria and Virtual Porn by Maureen Johnson & Kevin M Rogers
Abstract: 'Cyberporn' is one of the great moral panics of our age. Indeed, the development of Web 2.0 and the rapid increase of user generated content have opened the floodgates to the number of pornographic websites available. Everybody is familiar, and most are in agreement with the argument against indecent images of children. Few would argue –none successfully – for the law to go easier on those who produce and circulate such images, but an increasingly complicated legal landscape is in danger of stretching the limits of legislation to include what are essentially drawings of children found online or in virtual communities and criminalise those who produce, possess or view them. This paper will consider the necessary response of the United Kingdom’s legislature to these problems.
http://jiclt.com/index.php/JICLT/article/view/88

Should Anti-Cyberbullying Laws Be Created? by Matthew C. Ruedy [North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology]
Abstract: In 2006, thirteen-year-old Megan Meier met a teenage boy named Josh Evans on the social networking website MySpace. The two had an amicable relationship until Josh began making derogatory comments to Megan. The correspondence ultimately resulted in her suicide. Months later, “Josh” was revealed to be the collective creation of forty-seven-year-old Lori Drew, her teenage daughter, and her part-time employee, Ashley Grills. Megan’s suicide has pushed forward legislation for the criminalization of cyberbullying, which can be defined as action or behavior on the Internet intended to hurt or harass another person. This Comment discusses the issues and challenges associated with creating cyberbullying laws, from the decision to create such laws in the first place, to the difficult First Amendment restrictions posed by the “true threat” and “imminent incitement” doctrines.
http://jolt.unc.edu/abstracts/volume-9/ncjltech/p323

The Mobile Difference
Overview: Some 39% of Americans have positive and improving attitudes about their mobile communication devices, which in turn draws them further into engagement with digital resources – on both wireless and wireline platforms.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/5-The-Mobile-Difference--Typology.aspx

Generations Online in 2009
Overview: Over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009.aspx

Twitter and status updating
Overview: In the past three years, developments in social networking and internet applications have begun providing internet users with more opportunities for sharing short updates about themselves, their lives, and their whereabouts online. Users may post messages about their status, their moods, their location and other tidbits on social networks and blogging sites, or on applications for sending out short messages to networks of friends like Twitter, Yammer and others.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Twitter-and-status-updating.aspx

The Mind Gangsters: Why We Should, and How We Can, Limit Surveillance of Digital Reading Habits by Thomas Nosewicz
It is not alarmist to say that the Internet is the first truly panoptic system of the mind. Dumbfoundingly dense databanks can—and do—gorge themselves on one’s every move across a webpage. Web tools monitor every specific article a visitor reads, how she was referred to that article, and how long she spent reading it. These tools allow website owners to compile a comprehensive set of statistics about visitors to their websites, including how often they visit, their domains and countries of origin, what pages they view the most, and the operating system and web browser they use to access the website. This surveillance is omnipresent, all-knowing, and perfectly concealed.
http://stlr.stanford.edu/2009/04/note_the_mind_gangsters_why_we.html

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INTERNET USE
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Street View UK is here to stay, says boss of Google Maps
Google will continue to take pictures of the streets of Britain and put them online for its controversial Street View mapping service, the head of Google Maps has told The Times.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6058197.ece

Chinese online gaming nears $3 billion annually
Pearl Research reports in its latest Online Games Market in China study, that the Chinese online gaming market reached $2.8 billion in 2008, an increase of roughly 63 percent over the previous year. The study predicts that the Chinese market will reach $5.5 billion by 2012.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10216152-62.html

Australian Family Court includes Skype access in decisions
The Family Court is allowing mothers to leave the country with their children, provided they agree to sign up for the internet-based video telephone service Skype.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25324942-643,00.html
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25326445-15306,00.html

The A.P. Was the First Web 2.0 Company
So much of the Internet commentary about the radical interpretation of copyright law being asserted by The Associated Press has made a critical error: They are saying the entire organization is obsolete, not just its plan to limit the fair use of its articles. The A.P., some say, is an irrelevant middleman trying to control intellectual property in the age of networked open information, just like record labels.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/the-ap-was-the-first-web-20-company/

Can the AP Out-Google Google?
The Associated Press is hopping mad over what it calls "misappropriation" of its content online. But the news service isn't just complaining about it or threatening legal action against Web sites that it says unlawfully reproduce its news stories.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc2009047_310532.htm

Japanese Internet Users Glued to Entertainment Sites [news release]
comScore released a report on the top entertainment sites in Japan based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service. In February 2009, nearly 74 percent of Japan’s online population visited a site in the Entertainment category. Japanese Internet users spent nearly 15 percent of their total time online during the month on these sites, making the Entertainment category one of the most popular and engaging content categories.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2769

China's Search Engine for the Elderly
Google may be offering free music downloads in China, but rival Baidu.com has its sights on the country’s untapped audiences. Baidu, China’s market-leading search engine, launched a search engine especially designed for older Web users last month, Sina.com reports (in Chinese), the first new search product rolled out by Baidu this year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/04/10/chinas-search-engine-for-the-elderly/

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SOCIAL NETWORKING
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Does Facebook’s Business Plan Include Premium Memberships?
The world’s largest social network sometimes gets flack from bloggers and industry pundits for not having much of a business model. It’s true that for now, Facebook is more focused on growing its number of users – which passed 200 million this week – than its bottom line. But the company is generating revenue from advertising, as chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg pointed out in her talks with BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Stephen Adler on Apr. 7:
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/04/does_facebooks.html

Facebook fans do worse in exams
Facebook users may feel socially successful in cyberspace but they are more likely to perform poorly in exams, according to new research into the academic impact of the social networking website.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article6078321.ece

Facebook fixation harms student grades
It begins innocently enough: that overdue history essay is momentarily flicked to one side, so you can check your Facebook messages. ... Now academic research has validated the nagging suspicions of many such students that Facebook is having a detrimental effect on their university results.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25325762-5013404,00.html

Facebook students underachieve in exams
Students who use Facebook, the social networking site, are underachieving in exams, research suggests. An American study has found that students who spend their time adding friends, chatting and "poking" others on the website may devote as little as one hour a week to their academic work.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5145243/Facebook-students-underachieve-in-exams.html

Andrew Keen: Friendfeed is the new social network – but you didn't hear it first
Twitter might be the newest new thing for millions of internet users but, for most of Silicon Valley's geekerati, it is Friendfeed (www.friend feed.com) that remains the hottest social networking application. If Twitter is emerging as the Microsoft of the emerging real-time web, then Friendfeed – which unveiled a major upgrade to its interface last week – is akin to Apple in its ability to muster a noisy following of hardcore evangelists. Friendfeed is a real-time aggregation service that automatically incorporates updates from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and any other online content published with a RSS feed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/andrew-keen-friendfeed-is-the-new-social-network-ndash-but-you-didnt-hear-it-first-1667812.html

Twitter: midlife chatterers show they prefer to keep it short and tweet
Twitter appears to be the embodiment of youth culture with tech-savvy and fast-thumbed teens firing off short updates filled with abbreviations about their lives. But it turns out that the keenest users are the greying brigades of the middle-aged.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6083154.ece

Twits who ruin Twitter: Why some stars and PRs miss the point of tweeting
I'm waiting for the first big Twitter catastrophe. And if you think it came from the hackers who worked into the instant messaging site in January and gave away access to the live output of celebrity Twitterers – from Barack Obama to Britney Spears – you'd be wrong.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/twits-who-ruin-twitter-why-some-stars-and-prs-miss-the-point-of-tweeting-1667816.html

Putting Twitter’s World to Use
The first reaction many people have to Twitter is befuddlement. Why would they want to read short messages about what someone ate for breakfast? It’s a reasonable question. Twitter unleashes the diarist in its 14 million users, who visited its site 99 million times last month to read posts tapped out with cellphones and computers.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/14/technology/internet/14twitter.html

Twitter fights off computer worm [AFP]
Micro-blogging service Twitter was targeted by a wave of attacks by a computer worm over Easter weekend, a co-founder of the web messaging company said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/14/2542006.htm

Twitter Visited By Worms Instead Of Bunnies
Over the weekend, a computer worm attacked the Twitter messaging service in three distinct attacks, generating almost 10,000 spam tweets -- as online posts are called in Twitter's twee terminology -- and compromising at least 190 accounts.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216500422

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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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FCC Implements Child Safe Viewing Act by Seeking Comment on Parental Control Technologies for Video or Audio Programming
This Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) implements the Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007, adopted December 2, 2008, which directs the Commission to initiate a proceeding within 90 days after the date of enactment to examine “the existence and availability of advanced blocking technologies that are compatible with various communications devices or platforms.” Congress defined “advanced blocking technologies” as “technologies that can improve or enhance the ability of a parent to protect his or her child from any indecent or objectionable video or audio programming, as determined by such parent, that is transmitted through the use of wire, wireless, or radio communications.” Congress’s intent in adopting the Act was to spur the development of the “next generation of parental control technology.” In conducting this proceeding, we will examine blocking technologies that may be appropriate across a wide variety of distribution platforms and devices,
 can filter language based upon information in closed captioning, can operate independently of pre-assigned ratings, and may be effective in enhancing a parent’s ability to protect his or her child from indecent or objectionable programming, as determined by the parent. The Act directs the Commission to issue a report to Congress no later than August 29, 2009 detailing our findings in this proceeding.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-14A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-14A1.doc

'Sexting' hardly constitutes child endangerment
The fate of a 14-year old New Jersey student, arrested a few weeks ago on charges of posting pornographic photos of herself online, now rests on the scales of the justice system. The allegations against her follow those in a similar case in which a federal court recently blocked a Pennsylvania prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against teenage girls shown topless or wearing underwear in photos found on the cell phones of some boys.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2009/04/sexting_hardly_constitutes_chi.html

Counter Intelligence: Making Teen "Sexting" Legal
See what state is considering making teen "sexting" legal and check out our list of must-reads that will have you chatting at the lunch counter, over IM or wherever it is that people actually talk these days.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/us_world/Counter-Intelligence-0413.html

'Sexting' is latest tech risk for parents, kids to guard against, expert says
Now, it may not be enough to have the sex talk with your kids. You may have to have the "sexting" talk. This year, more than two dozen teens in at least six states have been investigated by police for "sexting" – sending nude pictures of themselves in cellphone text messages – which carries a charge of distributing child pornography.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-commonsense_0413gd.ART.State.Edition1.4a4eec2.html

Senator Conroy Blacklists His Own Policy
To the complete astonishment of many listeners, Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, made an amazing statement under questioning by Kate O’Toole on Triple J’s Hack programme on 7 April 2009: | Senator Conroy– As we’ve always said, this is about Refused Classification. This is about material that is currently Refused Classification like child pornography, bestiality.
http://newmatilda.com/polliegraph/?p=567

Keep tabs on your kids online
Parents should not shy away from using tools like Google Alerts to track their children's online lives, but traditional parenting is still the key to understanding the dangers they face, a child psychologist says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2328072/Keep-tabs-on-your-kids-online

us: Cyber stalking and sexual predator conference scheduled for April 14
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault is sponsoring a mini-conference on cyber stalking and sexual predators. Community agencies, social services workers, educators and parents are encouraged to attend. The mini-conference takes place on Tuesday, April 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Kern superintendent of schools building, located at 1300 17th Street Room 1A in Bakersfield.
http://www.kvsun.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/doc49d24eeb20ed2293351509.txt

uk: IWF Announces New Independent Chair [news release]
The Internet Watch Foundation is delighted to announce the appointment of a new independent Chair of its Board. Eve Salomon brings vast experience to the role including national and European level expertise in regulatory structures, law, media, and communications and is a committed and eminent advocate of the UK’s better regulation agenda. Eve takes up her role on 1st April 2009.
http://iwf.org.uk/media/news.255.htm

nz: Helpline details for bullying 
Following Sunday's cyber bullying story, if you or someone you know has been affected the organisations below may be able to help.
http://tvnz.co.nz/sunday-news/helpline-details-2625448

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ONLINE TV & MUSIC
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Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?
Is Internet access a fundamental human right? Or is it a privilege, carrying with it a responsibility for good behavior? That is the question confronting policy makers as they try to bring Internet access to the masses while seeking to curb illegal copying of digital music, movies and video games.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/13/technology/internet/13iht-piracy13.html

Google Disables Uploads, Comments on YouTube Korea [IDG]
Google has disabled user uploads and comments on the Korean version of its YouTube video portal in reaction to a new law that requires the real name of a contributor be listed along each contribution they make.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162989/.html
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=114168
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041309-google-disables-uploads-comments-on.html

YouTube Korea squelches uploads, comments
Citing free-speech concerns about an anonymity-blocking law in South Korea, Google has disabled the ability to upload YouTube videos or comment on them in the country.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10218419-93.html

YouTube and Universal to Create a Hub for Music
YouTube, the most popular online video site, and Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, said on Thursday that they would create an online hub for music videos and related content, called Vevo.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10google.html

YouTube Announces Music Video Service with Universal Music Group
In the latest of several announced and rumored deals with major studios, Google’s video sharing service YouTube has just announced a partnership with Universal Music Group. Set to launch later this year, the service, called VEVO, will be a “premium online music video hub” that will include UMG’s catalog of top artists and content. This will be the first time YouTube has operated a separate site outside YouTube itself, and Google says it hopes this will be a new model for partnerships with studios.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/04/ever_since_goog_1.html

YouTube and Universal partner on pro music video site VEVO
Universal Music Group and Google today announced a deal to keep Universal's music available for user-generated content on YouTube, along with a plan to move its music videos offsite to a new (and hopefully more lucrative) home.
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/youtube-and-universal-partner-on-pro-music-video-site-vevo.ars

Cathode ray YouTube
Online content is about to enter your home in its most accessible format yet, as the big TV makers switch on to supplying an internet widget as standard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/08/intenet-on-demand-tv-youtube

French MPs reject controversial plan to crack down on illegal downloaders
French politicians have unexpectedly rejected a bill that would have cut off the internet connections of anyone found to be repeatedly downloading music or videos without paying for them. The legislation would also have led to the creation of the world's first state surveillance system on web pirates.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/09/france-illegal-downloads-state-surveillance

France Rejects Plan to Curb Internet Piracy
In what the French government denounced as a “sad comedy,” lawmakers on Thursday rejected President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to bolster the movie and music industries by cutting off the Internet connections of persistent copyright pirates.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10net.html

Setback for Sarkozy as French parliament rejects controversial internet law
President Sarkozy suffered an embarrassing setback in his efforts to curb illegal downloading when an opposition ploy led Parliament to reject a controversial new law that would cut off internet service to offenders.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6067641.ece

French reject internet piracy law
French politicians have rejected a bill which proposed that people caught downloading music illegally three times should be cut off from the internet. The legislation, backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, would have set a tough global precedent in cracking down on internet piracy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7992262.stm

French Lawmakers Reject Bill to Curb Internet Piracy
French lawmakers unexpectedly rejected a bill that would have established a "three-strikes" law under which people who repeatedly pirate music, movies or TV shows could have their Internet connections cut off for as long as a year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123928254646404963.html

France rejects three-strikes internet antipiracy law
A French law with parallels to S92 has failed, unexpectedly, at the last hurdle. “Le journal néo-zélandais The National Business Review” makes a cameo appearance in the debate - but in the end the law fails for an unexpected reason.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/france-rejects-three-strikes-internet-antipiracy-law-101155

French parliament unexpectedly kills Net piracy bill
The French parliament on Thursday voted down an Internet piracy law, which had largely been expected to pass.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10215937-38.html
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62053061,00.htm

French Internet piracy law defeated in parliament
France's parliament rejected a bill on Thursday that proposed disconnecting Internet users if they download music or films illegally, with the ruling UMP party failing to turn out in force to approve the law.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5384IB20090409
http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-38973620090410
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTRE5383EY20090409

France says au revoir to three strikes legislation
Only last week the French Parliament passed a law similar to the controversial Section 92A that almost came to be in New Zealand. Like its ill-fated antipodean counterpart, the French law would have required internet service providers cut off internet access for repeat copyright infringers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10566568

French parliament rejects new piracy laws
A bill before the French parliament that would enforce a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule on internet users suspected of piracy has been defeated in a surprise turnaround.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2240225/french-parliament-rejects

iiNet thumbs nose at AFACT
iiNet has not admitted that any particular users have been infringing copyright in the next step for the court case brought against it by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT).
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/iiNet-thumbs-nose-at-AFACT/0,130061791,339295930,00.htm

President Obama Backs RIAA In Online File-Sharing Case
President Obama’s US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed a legal brief in support of damages sought by an affiliate of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), prompting some observers to speculate on the Obama administration’s impartiality in the RIAA’s file-sharing litigation campaign.
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/04/07/president-obama-backs-riaa-in-online-file-sharing-case/

Pete Waterman: 'I was exploited by Google'
Pete Waterman, the force behind dozens of multi-million selling chart hits, claims he is being "exploited" by internet giant Google.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/5130427/Pete-Waterman-I-was-exploited-by-Google.html

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MOBILE/WIRELESS
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Mobile phone deal will bring more gambling games to thousands of players
A deal struck between two technology companies could see hundreds of thousands of mobile games made available to punters as the gambling market continues to boom.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/13/mobile-phone-gambling-deal

Court battle over SMS allegations against Telstra
Telstra has been accused of breaching federal regulations for the supply of premium SMS mobile services as part of a wholesale contract dispute before the Federal Court.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25329470-5013041,00.html

Asian cellular subscriber growth drops 21 percent
Mobile subscriber growth in the Asia-Pacific telecom market fell 21 percent in Q4 2008, the region's lowest growth rate in seven quarters, research firm Informa Telecoms and Media said.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090413_496727.htm
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62053125,00.htm

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SPAM
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Filters getting better at blocking spam
You might not believe it after glancing at your e-mail inbox, but professional spam fighters say they're making progress in the war on digital junk mail.
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/04/11/filters_getting_better_at_blocking_spam/

Cybercriminals are profiting from spam and 'scareware'
"Scareware" is a fast-growing threat to computer users, with cybercriminals promoting fake security software to exploit users' desire to keep their computers protected, according to Microsoft's sixth Security Intelligence Report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/08/spam-malware-online-security

Australian's Spam Act 2003
Australia’s Spam Act of 2003 regulates the practice of sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages, as well as the use of address-harvesting software. Violators are subject to civil penalties and injunctions. The Australian Spam Act entered into force on April 11, 2004, and was revised in December 2005. Following, there is a brief description of the scope of this act.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=A4EB1494-52ED-4C64-825D-3B162F399609

Australia del Spam Act 2003
Spam de la Ley de Australia de 2003 regula la práctica de enviar mensajes electrónicos comerciales no solicitados, así como el uso de la dirección de recolección de software. Los infractores están sujetos a sanciones civiles y medidas cautelares. El australiano Spam ley entró en vigor el 11 de abril de 2004, y fue revisado en diciembre de 2005. A continuación, se realiza una breve descripción del alcance de este acto.
http://www.ibls.es/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=A4EB1494-52ED-4C64-825D-3B162F399609

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ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
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Extremist Web Sites Are Using U.S. Hosts
On March 25, a Taliban Web site claiming to be the voice of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" boasted of a deadly new attack on coalition forces in that country. Four soldiers were killed in an ambush, the site claimed, and the "mujahideen took the weapons and ammunition as booty." Most remarkable about the message was how it was delivered. The words were the Taliban's, but they were flashed around the globe by an American-owned firm located in a leafy corner of downtown Houston.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040804378.html

us: Federal Authority Over the Internet? The Cybersecurity Act of 2009
There's a new bill working its way through Congress that is cause for some alarm: the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, introduced by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The bill as it exists now risks giving the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily improving security in the ways that matter most. It should be opposed or radically amended.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/cybersecurity-act

Conficker, the Internet's No. 1 threat, gets an update [IDG]
Security researchers say a worm that has infected millions of computers worldwide has been reprogrammed to strengthen its defenses while also trying to attack more machines.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131341
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162848/.html

Researchers say Conficker is all about the money
The Conficker worm that has infected millions of Windows-based computers will likely be used to send spam and steal data much like one of the nastiest botnets on the Internet does, researchers said on Thursday after finding links between the two worms.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10216205-83.html

Conficker cashes in, installs spam bots and scareware and reveals its business model
The makers of Conficker, the worm that has infected millions of PCs, have begun to do what all botnet owners do -- make money -- security researchers said Thursday as they started analyzing the malware's newest variant.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131380
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162891/.html

Conficker botnet could flood Web with spam
Windows PCs infected with the Conficker worm have turned into junk mail-spewing robots capable of sending billions of spam messages a day, a security company warned today.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131448
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162988/.html

Huge computer worm Conficker stirring to life [AP]
The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm's authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/09/AR2009040903199.html

ICANN Continues Collaborative Response to Conficker Worm
The Conficker worm that has infected hosts across the Internet continues to evolve. At this point, we do not believe cause exists for general alarm, but the Internet community must continue to take action against Conficker. ICANN continues to engage in collaborative efforts with security researchers, software & anti-virus vendors and with registries and registrars throughout the DNS community to disseminate information about how the malicious code may seek to leverage the DNS system.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=sa&id=1628

China denies cyberattacks on U.S. power grid [IDG]
China denied involvement in malware attacks designed to shut down the U.S. electrical grid in a time of war, China said Thursday.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131418
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041009-china-denies-cyberattacks-on-us.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162912/.html

US Electric Utilities May Be Vulnerable to Cyberattack
The nation's electric utilities have failed to fully survey the vulnerability of their equipment to computer-based attacks from foreign countries and hackers, a government-authorized regulatory group concluded this week. That assessment came as senior U.S. officials renewed warnings that experts from Russia, China and other nations have been trying for years to probe and exploit those vulnerabilities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040803904.html

'Ghostnet' and the New World of Espionage
The German government is constantly the target of hackers seeking to insert spy programs into its computer systems. The attacks, often originating in China, are becoming more and more sophisticated.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,618478,00.html

Cyber spying a threat and everyone in on it [AP]
Ghost hackers infiltrating computers of Tibetan exiles and the U.S. electric grid have pulled the curtain back on 21st-century espionage as nefarious as anything from the Cold War -- and far more difficult to stop.
http://technewsworld.com/story/security/66782.html
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/security/66782.html
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090410/cyber_spying_090410/20090410?hub=TopStories&s_name=

Spies 'infiltrate US power grid'
The US government has admitted the nation's power grid is vulnerable to cyber attack, following reports it has been infiltrated by foreign spies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7990997.stm

Russian President warns of foreign threat to 'Net security [IDG]
Foreign investors in Internet companies pose a potential threat to national security, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned members of the United Russia political party at a meeting on Wednesday.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041009-russian-president-warns-of-foreign.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162916/.html

Crypto-politics creeps into DNSSEC by Brenden Kuerbis
While the fight over using cryptography to protect personal communications was allegedly "won" during the late 1990s, the battle over using it to protect critical Internet resources is just heating up. News from the recent IETF in San Francisco and RANS conference in Moscow suggests that national crypto laws are now complicating efforts to secure the DNS.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2009/4/6/4142793.html

Pentagon forks out $100m for cyberattack cleanup
The Pentagon spent more than $100m in the past six months cleaning up after internet attacks and network issues, US military leaders said on Tuesday.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10214416-83.html
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39638241,00.htm

Estonia leads the way in countering cyber-attacks 
Estonia, which recently suffered what appeared to be the largest political cyber-attack ever seen on EU soil, is organising an EU ministerial meeting on the protection of vital infrastructure against cyber-crime, the European Commission has announced.
http://euractiv.com/en/infosociety/estonia-leads-way-countering-cyber-attacks/article-181172

The Cybersecurity Act of 2009
Four senators (Rockefeller, Bayh, Nelson, and Snowe) have recently introduced S.773, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009. While there are some good parts to the bill, many of the substantive provisions are poorly thought out at best. The bill attempts to solve non-problems, and to assume that research results can be commanded into being by virtue of an act of Congress. Beyond that, there are parts of the bill whose purpose is mysterious, or whose content bears no relation to its title.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090413_cybersecurity_act_of_2009/

CADNA Supports the Introduction of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 [news release]
The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) enthusiastically welcomes the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 as introduced by Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller and Senator Olympia Snowe."This bill signals the United States’ dedication to national security and to the safety and integrity of the Internet," said Josh Bourne, President of CADNA.
http://www.cadna.org/en/newsroom/press-releases/cadna-supports-introduction-of-cybersecurity-act2009

Phishing Attacks Surge Amid Recession
The latest evidence that economic woe is leaving more Americans vulnerable to Internet fraud came from an Apr. 14 report from Gartner. More than 5 million U.S. consumers lost money to phishing attacks in the 12 months ending in September 2008, a 39.8% increase from a year earlier, according to the new Gartner study. "Phishers are preying on the bad economy," says Avivah Litan, a security analyst at Gartner.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc20090413_894347.htm

Paul McCartney website hacked by cybercriminals
The official website of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was infected with the LuckySploit tool kit, say security experts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5131987/Paul-McCartney-website-hacked-by-cybercriminals.html

au: No bail for Australian accused of stalking singer [AP]
An Australian woman charged with stalking "American Idol" contestant Diana DeGarmo over the Internet was refused bail Thursday by a judge who said she was likely to re-offend.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090409/ENT/904099871/-1/ENT05

Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger's site
Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its practices.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5137489/Goldman-Sachs-hires-law-firm-to-shut-bloggers-site.html

Germany fines Microsoft over Office pricing
Regulators in Germany have fined Microsoft's local subsidiary €9m ($11.8m) for improperly influencing the pricing of Office during a retail promotion.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39639379,00.htm

Ponzi schemes spread on YouTube
Here come the mini-Madoffs. The Better Business Bureau warned today about a proliferation of what appear to be Ponzi schemes on YouTube.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/shopping_blog/2009/04/madoff-youtube-scams.html
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_12103423

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PRIVACY
**************************
In the UK, they've got your number
Every call made, email sent and website visited is now being logged under new regulations. What does that mean for investigative journalists - and their need to protect sources? Charles Arthur reports
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/13/investigative-journalism-protecting-sources

Google Street View does not breach UK privacy laws
Street View, the controversial service from Google that broadcasts 360-degree views of homes and roads in many of Britain's cities via the internet, is not a threat to personal privacy, the information commissioner has ruled.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/12/google-street-view-privacy

ca: Five-country study finds little protection for anonymity [news release]
New technologies are shrinking our ability to protect our anonymity – a trend being reinforced by laws around the world, according to a new study by leading scholars from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Italy.
http://privcom.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2009/nr-c_090408_e.asp

Five-country study finds little protection for anonymity [news release]
Laws in Canada and around the world are reinforcing technology’s ability to undermine the anonymity of citizens, according to a new study by leading scholars from Canada, U.S., U.K., Netherlands and Italy.
http://privcom.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2009/ma_am/ma_090406_e.asp

**********************
CENSORSHIP
**********************
Texting Toward Utopia - Does the Internet spread democracy? by Evgeny Morozov
http://bostonreview.net/BR34.2/morozov.php

Web of Freedom: measuring Internet liberty—and censorship.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123921812187902111.html

European Duo Seeks to Buy Skype Back From EBay
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/11/technology/companies/11skype.html

Yahoo and Microsoft Said to Be Weighing Ad Pact
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/11/technology/companies/11soft.html

us: FCC launches development of national broadband plan [news release]
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-289900A1.pdf

Global costs are choke point for Australian broadband plan
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,25329613-5013040,00.html

COMMENT: NZ losing the Bledisloe Cup of broadband
http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/chris-keall/nz-losing-bledisloe-cup-broadband


**********************
RESEARCH PAPERS
**********************
Beyond Google and evil: How policy makers, journalists and consumers should talk differently about Google and privacy by Chris Jay Hoofnagle
Abstract: Google has come to symbolize the tensions between the benefits of innovative, information-dependent new services and the desire of individuals to control the contexts in which personal information is used. This essay reviews hundreds of newspaper articles where Google speaks about privacy in an effort to characterize the company’s handling of these tensions, to provide context explaining the meaning of the company’s privacy rhetoric, and to advance the privacy dialogue among policy makers, journalists, and consumers.
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2326

China’s Censorship 2.0: How companies censor bloggers by Rebecca MacKinnon
Abstract: This study explores an under-studied layer of Chinese Internet censorship: how Chinese Internet companies censor user-generated content, usually by deleting it or preventing its publication. Systematic testing of Chinese blog service providers reveals that domestic censorship is very decentralized with wide variation from company to company. Test results also showed that a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and that chances for its survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy. The study concludes that choices and actions by private individuals and companies can have a significant impact on the overall balance of freedom and control in the Chinese blogosphere.
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2378

Too far down the Yellow Brick Road – Cyber-hysteria and Virtual Porn by Maureen Johnson & Kevin M Rogers
Abstract: 'Cyberporn' is one of the great moral panics of our age. Indeed, the development of Web 2.0 and the rapid increase of user generated content have opened the floodgates to the number of pornographic websites available. Everybody is familiar, and most are in agreement with the argument against indecent images of children. Few would argue –none successfully – for the law to go easier on those who produce and circulate such images, but an increasingly complicated legal landscape is in danger of stretching the limits of legislation to include what are essentially drawings of children found online or in virtual communities and criminalise those who produce, possess or view them. This paper will consider the necessary response of the United Kingdom’s legislature to these problems.
http://jiclt.com/index.php/JICLT/article/view/88

Should Anti-Cyberbullying Laws Be Created? by Matthew C. Ruedy [North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology]
Abstract: In 2006, thirteen-year-old Megan Meier met a teenage boy named Josh Evans on the social networking website MySpace. The two had an amicable relationship until Josh began making derogatory comments to Megan. The correspondence ultimately resulted in her suicide. Months later, “Josh” was revealed to be the collective creation of forty-seven-year-old Lori Drew, her teenage daughter, and her part-time employee, Ashley Grills. Megan’s suicide has pushed forward legislation for the criminalization of cyberbullying, which can be defined as action or behavior on the Internet intended to hurt or harass another person. This Comment discusses the issues and challenges associated with creating cyberbullying laws, from the decision to create such laws in the first place, to the difficult First Amendment restrictions posed by the “true threat” and “imminent incitement” doctrines.
http://jolt.unc.edu/abstracts/volume-9/ncjltech/p323

The Mobile Difference
Overview: Some 39% of Americans have positive and improving attitudes about their mobile communication devices, which in turn draws them further into engagement with digital resources – on both wireless and wireline platforms.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/5-The-Mobile-Difference--Typology.aspx

Generations Online in 2009
Overview: Over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009.aspx

Twitter and status updating
Overview: In the past three years, developments in social networking and internet applications have begun providing internet users with more opportunities for sharing short updates about themselves, their lives, and their whereabouts online. Users may post messages about their status, their moods, their location and other tidbits on social networks and blogging sites, or on applications for sending out short messages to networks of friends like Twitter, Yammer and others.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Twitter-and-status-updating.aspx

The Mind Gangsters: Why We Should, and How We Can, Limit Surveillance of Digital Reading Habits by Thomas Nosewicz
It is not alarmist to say that the Internet is the first truly panoptic system of the mind. Dumbfoundingly dense databanks can—and do—gorge themselves on one’s every move across a webpage. Web tools monitor every specific article a visitor reads, how she was referred to that article, and how long she spent reading it. These tools allow website owners to compile a comprehensive set of statistics about visitors to their websites, including how often they visit, their domains and countries of origin, what pages they view the most, and the operating system and web browser they use to access the website. This surveillance is omnipresent, all-knowing, and perfectly concealed.
http://stlr.stanford.edu/2009/04/note_the_mind_gangsters_why_we.html

**********************
INTERNET USE
**********************
Street View UK is here to stay, says boss of Google Maps
Google will continue to take pictures of the streets of Britain and put them online for its controversial Street View mapping service, the head of Google Maps has told The Times.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6058197.ece

Chinese online gaming nears $3 billion annually
Pearl Research reports in its latest Online Games Market in China study, that the Chinese online gaming market reached $2.8 billion in 2008, an increase of roughly 63 percent over the previous year. The study predicts that the Chinese market will reach $5.5 billion by 2012.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10216152-62.html

Australian Family Court includes Skype access in decisions
The Family Court is allowing mothers to leave the country with their children, provided they agree to sign up for the internet-based video telephone service Skype.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25324942-643,00.html
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25326445-15306,00.html

The A.P. Was the First Web 2.0 Company
So much of the Internet commentary about the radical interpretation of copyright law being asserted by The Associated Press has made a critical error: They are saying the entire organization is obsolete, not just its plan to limit the fair use of its articles. The A.P., some say, is an irrelevant middleman trying to control intellectual property in the age of networked open information, just like record labels.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/the-ap-was-the-first-web-20-company/

Can the AP Out-Google Google?
The Associated Press is hopping mad over what it calls "misappropriation" of its content online. But the news service isn't just complaining about it or threatening legal action against Web sites that it says unlawfully reproduce its news stories.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc2009047_310532.htm

Japanese Internet Users Glued to Entertainment Sites [news release]
comScore released a report on the top entertainment sites in Japan based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service. In February 2009, nearly 74 percent of Japan’s online population visited a site in the Entertainment category. Japanese Internet users spent nearly 15 percent of their total time online during the month on these sites, making the Entertainment category one of the most popular and engaging content categories.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2769

China's Search Engine for the Elderly
Google may be offering free music downloads in China, but rival Baidu.com has its sights on the country’s untapped audiences. Baidu, China’s market-leading search engine, launched a search engine especially designed for older Web users last month, Sina.com reports (in Chinese), the first new search product rolled out by Baidu this year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/04/10/chinas-search-engine-for-the-elderly/

**********************
SOCIAL NETWORKING
**********************
Does Facebook’s Business Plan Include Premium Memberships?
The world’s largest social network sometimes gets flack from bloggers and industry pundits for not having much of a business model. It’s true that for now, Facebook is more focused on growing its number of users – which passed 200 million this week – than its bottom line. But the company is generating revenue from advertising, as chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg pointed out in her talks with BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Stephen Adler on Apr. 7:
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/04/does_facebooks.html

Facebook fans do worse in exams
Facebook users may feel socially successful in cyberspace but they are more likely to perform poorly in exams, according to new research into the academic impact of the social networking website.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article6078321.ece

Facebook fixation harms student grades
It begins innocently enough: that overdue history essay is momentarily flicked to one side, so you can check your Facebook messages. ... Now academic research has validated the nagging suspicions of many such students that Facebook is having a detrimental effect on their university results.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25325762-5013404,00.html

Facebook students underachieve in exams
Students who use Facebook, the social networking site, are underachieving in exams, research suggests. An American study has found that students who spend their time adding friends, chatting and "poking" others on the website may devote as little as one hour a week to their academic work.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5145243/Facebook-students-underachieve-in-exams.html

Andrew Keen: Friendfeed is the new social network – but you didn't hear it first
Twitter might be the newest new thing for millions of internet users but, for most of Silicon Valley's geekerati, it is Friendfeed (www.friend feed.com) that remains the hottest social networking application. If Twitter is emerging as the Microsoft of the emerging real-time web, then Friendfeed – which unveiled a major upgrade to its interface last week – is akin to Apple in its ability to muster a noisy following of hardcore evangelists. Friendfeed is a real-time aggregation service that automatically incorporates updates from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and any other online content published with a RSS feed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/andrew-keen-friendfeed-is-the-new-social-network-ndash-but-you-didnt-hear-it-first-1667812.html

Twitter: midlife chatterers show they prefer to keep it short and tweet
Twitter appears to be the embodiment of youth culture with tech-savvy and fast-thumbed teens firing off short updates filled with abbreviations about their lives. But it turns out that the keenest users are the greying brigades of the middle-aged.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6083154.ece

Twits who ruin Twitter: Why some stars and PRs miss the point of tweeting
I'm waiting for the first big Twitter catastrophe. And if you think it came from the hackers who worked into the instant messaging site in January and gave away access to the live output of celebrity Twitterers – from Barack Obama to Britney Spears – you'd be wrong.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/twits-who-ruin-twitter-why-some-stars-and-prs-miss-the-point-of-tweeting-1667816.html

Putting Twitter’s World to Use
The first reaction many people have to Twitter is befuddlement. Why would they want to read short messages about what someone ate for breakfast? It’s a reasonable question. Twitter unleashes the diarist in its 14 million users, who visited its site 99 million times last month to read posts tapped out with cellphones and computers.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/14/technology/internet/14twitter.html

Twitter fights off computer worm [AFP]
Micro-blogging service Twitter was targeted by a wave of attacks by a computer worm over Easter weekend, a co-founder of the web messaging company said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/14/2542006.htm

Twitter Visited By Worms Instead Of Bunnies
Over the weekend, a computer worm attacked the Twitter messaging service in three distinct attacks, generating almost 10,000 spam tweets -- as online posts are called in Twitter's twee terminology -- and compromising at least 190 accounts.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216500422

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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
************************************************
FCC Implements Child Safe Viewing Act by Seeking Comment on Parental Control Technologies for Video or Audio Programming
This Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) implements the Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007, adopted December 2, 2008, which directs the Commission to initiate a proceeding within 90 days after the date of enactment to examine “the existence and availability of advanced blocking technologies that are compatible with various communications devices or platforms.” Congress defined “advanced blocking technologies” as “technologies that can improve or enhance the ability of a parent to protect his or her child from any indecent or objectionable video or audio programming, as determined by such parent, that is transmitted through the use of wire, wireless, or radio communications.” Congress’s intent in adopting the Act was to spur the development of the “next generation of parental control technology.” In conducting this proceeding, we will examine blocking technologies that may be appropriate across a wide variety of distribution platforms and devices,
 can filter language based upon information in closed captioning, can operate independently of pre-assigned ratings, and may be effective in enhancing a parent’s ability to protect his or her child from indecent or objectionable programming, as determined by the parent. The Act directs the Commission to issue a report to Congress no later than August 29, 2009 detailing our findings in this proceeding.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-14A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-14A1.doc

'Sexting' hardly constitutes child endangerment
The fate of a 14-year old New Jersey student, arrested a few weeks ago on charges of posting pornographic photos of herself online, now rests on the scales of the justice system. The allegations against her follow those in a similar case in which a federal court recently blocked a Pennsylvania prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against teenage girls shown topless or wearing underwear in photos found on the cell phones of some boys.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2009/04/sexting_hardly_constitutes_chi.html

Counter Intelligence: Making Teen "Sexting" Legal
See what state is considering making teen "sexting" legal and check out our list of must-reads that will have you chatting at the lunch counter, over IM or wherever it is that people actually talk these days.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/us_world/Counter-Intelligence-0413.html

'Sexting' is latest tech risk for parents, kids to guard against, expert says
Now, it may not be enough to have the sex talk with your kids. You may have to have the "sexting" talk. This year, more than two dozen teens in at least six states have been investigated by police for "sexting" – sending nude pictures of themselves in cellphone text messages – which carries a charge of distributing child pornography.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-commonsense_0413gd.ART.State.Edition1.4a4eec2.html

Senator Conroy Blacklists His Own Policy
To the complete astonishment of many listeners, Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, made an amazing statement under questioning by Kate O’Toole on Triple J’s Hack programme on 7 April 2009: | Senator Conroy– As we’ve always said, this is about Refused Classification. This is about material that is currently Refused Classification like child pornography, bestiality.
http://newmatilda.com/polliegraph/?p=567

Keep tabs on your kids online
Parents should not shy away from using tools like Google Alerts to track their children's online lives, but traditional parenting is still the key to understanding the dangers they face, a child psychologist says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2328072/Keep-tabs-on-your-kids-online

us: Cyber stalking and sexual predator conference scheduled for April 14
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault is sponsoring a mini-conference on cyber stalking and sexual predators. Community agencies, social services workers, educators and parents are encouraged to attend. The mini-conference takes place on Tuesday, April 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Kern superintendent of schools building, located at 1300 17th Street Room 1A in Bakersfield.
http://www.kvsun.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/doc49d24eeb20ed2293351509.txt

uk: IWF Announces New Independent Chair [news release]
The Internet Watch Foundation is delighted to announce the appointment of a new independent Chair of its Board. Eve Salomon brings vast experience to the role including national and European level expertise in regulatory structures, law, media, and communications and is a committed and eminent advocate of the UK’s better regulation agenda. Eve takes up her role on 1st April 2009.
http://iwf.org.uk/media/news.255.htm

nz: Helpline details for bullying 
Following Sunday's cyber bullying story, if you or someone you know has been affected the organisations below may be able to help.
http://tvnz.co.nz/sunday-news/helpline-details-2625448

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ONLINE TV & MUSIC
**********************
Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?
Is Internet access a fundamental human right? Or is it a privilege, carrying with it a responsibility for good behavior? That is the question confronting policy makers as they try to bring Internet access to the masses while seeking to curb illegal copying of digital music, movies and video games.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/13/technology/internet/13iht-piracy13.html

Google Disables Uploads, Comments on YouTube Korea [IDG]
Google has disabled user uploads and comments on the Korean version of its YouTube video portal in reaction to a new law that requires the real name of a contributor be listed along each contribution they make.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162989/.html
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=114168
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041309-google-disables-uploads-comments-on.html

YouTube Korea squelches uploads, comments
Citing free-speech concerns about an anonymity-blocking law in South Korea, Google has disabled the ability to upload YouTube videos or comment on them in the country.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10218419-93.html

YouTube and Universal to Create a Hub for Music
YouTube, the most popular online video site, and Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, said on Thursday that they would create an online hub for music videos and related content, called Vevo.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10google.html

YouTube Announces Music Video Service with Universal Music Group
In the latest of several announced and rumored deals with major studios, Google’s video sharing service YouTube has just announced a partnership with Universal Music Group. Set to launch later this year, the service, called VEVO, will be a “premium online music video hub” that will include UMG’s catalog of top artists and content. This will be the first time YouTube has operated a separate site outside YouTube itself, and Google says it hopes this will be a new model for partnerships with studios.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/04/ever_since_goog_1.html

YouTube and Universal partner on pro music video site VEVO
Universal Music Group and Google today announced a deal to keep Universal's music available for user-generated content on YouTube, along with a plan to move its music videos offsite to a new (and hopefully more lucrative) home.
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/youtube-and-universal-partner-on-pro-music-video-site-vevo.ars

Cathode ray YouTube
Online content is about to enter your home in its most accessible format yet, as the big TV makers switch on to supplying an internet widget as standard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/08/intenet-on-demand-tv-youtube

French MPs reject controversial plan to crack down on illegal downloaders
French politicians have unexpectedly rejected a bill that would have cut off the internet connections of anyone found to be repeatedly downloading music or videos without paying for them. The legislation would also have led to the creation of the world's first state surveillance system on web pirates.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/09/france-illegal-downloads-state-surveillance

France Rejects Plan to Curb Internet Piracy
In what the French government denounced as a “sad comedy,” lawmakers on Thursday rejected President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to bolster the movie and music industries by cutting off the Internet connections of persistent copyright pirates.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/10/technology/internet/10net.html

Setback for Sarkozy as French parliament rejects controversial internet law
President Sarkozy suffered an embarrassing setback in his efforts to curb illegal downloading when an opposition ploy led Parliament to reject a controversial new law that would cut off internet service to offenders.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6067641.ece

French reject internet piracy law
French politicians have rejected a bill which proposed that people caught downloading music illegally three times should be cut off from the internet. The legislation, backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, would have set a tough global precedent in cracking down on internet piracy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7992262.stm

French Lawmakers Reject Bill to Curb Internet Piracy
French lawmakers unexpectedly rejected a bill that would have established a "three-strikes" law under which people who repeatedly pirate music, movies or TV shows could have their Internet connections cut off for as long as a year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123928254646404963.html

France rejects three-strikes internet antipiracy law
A French law with parallels to S92 has failed, unexpectedly, at the last hurdle. “Le journal néo-zélandais The National Business Review” makes a cameo appearance in the debate - but in the end the law fails for an unexpected reason.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/france-rejects-three-strikes-internet-antipiracy-law-101155

French parliament unexpectedly kills Net piracy bill
The French parliament on Thursday voted down an Internet piracy law, which had largely been expected to pass.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10215937-38.html
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62053061,00.htm

French Internet piracy law defeated in parliament
France's parliament rejected a bill on Thursday that proposed disconnecting Internet users if they download music or films illegally, with the ruling UMP party failing to turn out in force to approve the law.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5384IB20090409
http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-38973620090410
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTRE5383EY20090409

France says au revoir to three strikes legislation
Only last week the French Parliament passed a law similar to the controversial Section 92A that almost came to be in New Zealand. Like its ill-fated antipodean counterpart, the French law would have required internet service providers cut off internet access for repeat copyright infringers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10566568

French parliament rejects new piracy laws
A bill before the French parliament that would enforce a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule on internet users suspected of piracy has been defeated in a surprise turnaround.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2240225/french-parliament-rejects

iiNet thumbs nose at AFACT
iiNet has not admitted that any particular users have been infringing copyright in the next step for the court case brought against it by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT).
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/iiNet-thumbs-nose-at-AFACT/0,130061791,339295930,00.htm

President Obama Backs RIAA In Online File-Sharing Case
President Obama’s US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed a legal brief in support of damages sought by an affiliate of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), prompting some observers to speculate on the Obama administration’s impartiality in the RIAA’s file-sharing litigation campaign.
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/04/07/president-obama-backs-riaa-in-online-file-sharing-case/

Pete Waterman: 'I was exploited by Google'
Pete Waterman, the force behind dozens of multi-million selling chart hits, claims he is being "exploited" by internet giant Google.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/5130427/Pete-Waterman-I-was-exploited-by-Google.html

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MOBILE/WIRELESS
**********************
Mobile phone deal will bring more gambling games to thousands of players
A deal struck between two technology companies could see hundreds of thousands of mobile games made available to punters as the gambling market continues to boom.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/13/mobile-phone-gambling-deal

Court battle over SMS allegations against Telstra
Telstra has been accused of breaching federal regulations for the supply of premium SMS mobile services as part of a wholesale contract dispute before the Federal Court.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25329470-5013041,00.html

Asian cellular subscriber growth drops 21 percent
Mobile subscriber growth in the Asia-Pacific telecom market fell 21 percent in Q4 2008, the region's lowest growth rate in seven quarters, research firm Informa Telecoms and Media said.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090413_496727.htm
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62053125,00.htm

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SPAM
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Filters getting better at blocking spam
You might not believe it after glancing at your e-mail inbox, but professional spam fighters say they're making progress in the war on digital junk mail.
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/04/11/filters_getting_better_at_blocking_spam/

Cybercriminals are profiting from spam and 'scareware'
"Scareware" is a fast-growing threat to computer users, with cybercriminals promoting fake security software to exploit users' desire to keep their computers protected, according to Microsoft's sixth Security Intelligence Report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/08/spam-malware-online-security

Australian's Spam Act 2003
Australia’s Spam Act of 2003 regulates the practice of sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages, as well as the use of address-harvesting software. Violators are subject to civil penalties and injunctions. The Australian Spam Act entered into force on April 11, 2004, and was revised in December 2005. Following, there is a brief description of the scope of this act.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=A4EB1494-52ED-4C64-825D-3B162F399609

Australia del Spam Act 2003
Spam de la Ley de Australia de 2003 regula la práctica de enviar mensajes electrónicos comerciales no solicitados, así como el uso de la dirección de recolección de software. Los infractores están sujetos a sanciones civiles y medidas cautelares. El australiano Spam ley entró en vigor el 11 de abril de 2004, y fue revisado en diciembre de 2005. A continuación, se realiza una breve descripción del alcance de este acto.
http://www.ibls.es/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=A4EB1494-52ED-4C64-825D-3B162F399609

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ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
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Extremist Web Sites Are Using U.S. Hosts
On March 25, a Taliban Web site claiming to be the voice of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" boasted of a deadly new attack on coalition forces in that country. Four soldiers were killed in an ambush, the site claimed, and the "mujahideen took the weapons and ammunition as booty." Most remarkable about the message was how it was delivered. The words were the Taliban's, but they were flashed around the globe by an American-owned firm located in a leafy corner of downtown Houston.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040804378.html

us: Federal Authority Over the Internet? The Cybersecurity Act of 2009
There's a new bill working its way through Congress that is cause for some alarm: the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, introduced by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The bill as it exists now risks giving the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily improving security in the ways that matter most. It should be opposed or radically amended.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/cybersecurity-act

Conficker, the Internet's No. 1 threat, gets an update [IDG]
Security researchers say a worm that has infected millions of computers worldwide has been reprogrammed to strengthen its defenses while also trying to attack more machines.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131341
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162848/.html

Researchers say Conficker is all about the money
The Conficker worm that has infected millions of Windows-based computers will likely be used to send spam and steal data much like one of the nastiest botnets on the Internet does, researchers said on Thursday after finding links between the two worms.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10216205-83.html

Conficker cashes in, installs spam bots and scareware and reveals its business model
The makers of Conficker, the worm that has infected millions of PCs, have begun to do what all botnet owners do -- make money -- security researchers said Thursday as they started analyzing the malware's newest variant.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131380
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162891/.html

Conficker botnet could flood Web with spam
Windows PCs infected with the Conficker worm have turned into junk mail-spewing robots capable of sending billions of spam messages a day, a security company warned today.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131448
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162988/.html

Huge computer worm Conficker stirring to life [AP]
The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm's authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/09/AR2009040903199.html

ICANN Continues Collaborative Response to Conficker Worm
The Conficker worm that has infected hosts across the Internet continues to evolve. At this point, we do not believe cause exists for general alarm, but the Internet community must continue to take action against Conficker. ICANN continues to engage in collaborative efforts with security researchers, software & anti-virus vendors and with registries and registrars throughout the DNS community to disseminate information about how the malicious code may seek to leverage the DNS system.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=sa&id=1628

China denies cyberattacks on U.S. power grid [IDG]
China denied involvement in malware attacks designed to shut down the U.S. electrical grid in a time of war, China said Thursday.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131418
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041009-china-denies-cyberattacks-on-us.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162912/.html

US Electric Utilities May Be Vulnerable to Cyberattack
The nation's electric utilities have failed to fully survey the vulnerability of their equipment to computer-based attacks from foreign countries and hackers, a government-authorized regulatory group concluded this week. That assessment came as senior U.S. officials renewed warnings that experts from Russia, China and other nations have been trying for years to probe and exploit those vulnerabilities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040803904.html

'Ghostnet' and the New World of Espionage
The German government is constantly the target of hackers seeking to insert spy programs into its computer systems. The attacks, often originating in China, are becoming more and more sophisticated.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,618478,00.html

Cyber spying a threat and everyone in on it [AP]
Ghost hackers infiltrating computers of Tibetan exiles and the U.S. electric grid have pulled the curtain back on 21st-century espionage as nefarious as anything from the Cold War -- and far more difficult to stop.
http://technewsworld.com/story/security/66782.html
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/security/66782.html
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090410/cyber_spying_090410/20090410?hub=TopStories&s_name=

Spies 'infiltrate US power grid'
The US government has admitted the nation's power grid is vulnerable to cyber attack, following reports it has been infiltrated by foreign spies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7990997.stm

Russian President warns of foreign threat to 'Net security [IDG]
Foreign investors in Internet companies pose a potential threat to national security, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned members of the United Russia political party at a meeting on Wednesday.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/041009-russian-president-warns-of-foreign.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162916/.html

Crypto-politics creeps into DNSSEC by Brenden Kuerbis
While the fight over using cryptography to protect personal communications was allegedly "won" during the late 1990s, the battle over using it to protect critical Internet resources is just heating up. News from the recent IETF in San Francisco and RANS conference in Moscow suggests that national crypto laws are now complicating efforts to secure the DNS.
http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2009/4/6/4142793.html

Pentagon forks out $100m for cyberattack cleanup
The Pentagon spent more than $100m in the past six months cleaning up after internet attacks and network issues, US military leaders said on Tuesday.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10214416-83.html
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39638241,00.htm

Estonia leads the way in countering cyber-attacks 
Estonia, which recently suffered what appeared to be the largest political cyber-attack ever seen on EU soil, is organising an EU ministerial meeting on the protection of vital infrastructure against cyber-crime, the European Commission has announced.
http://euractiv.com/en/infosociety/estonia-leads-way-countering-cyber-attacks/article-181172

The Cybersecurity Act of 2009
Four senators (Rockefeller, Bayh, Nelson, and Snowe) have recently introduced S.773, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009. While there are some good parts to the bill, many of the substantive provisions are poorly thought out at best. The bill attempts to solve non-problems, and to assume that research results can be commanded into being by virtue of an act of Congress. Beyond that, there are parts of the bill whose purpose is mysterious, or whose content bears no relation to its title.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090413_cybersecurity_act_of_2009/

CADNA Supports the Introduction of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 [news release]
The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) enthusiastically welcomes the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 as introduced by Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller and Senator Olympia Snowe."This bill signals the United States’ dedication to national security and to the safety and integrity of the Internet," said Josh Bourne, President of CADNA.
http://www.cadna.org/en/newsroom/press-releases/cadna-supports-introduction-of-cybersecurity-act2009

Phishing Attacks Surge Amid Recession
The latest evidence that economic woe is leaving more Americans vulnerable to Internet fraud came from an Apr. 14 report from Gartner. More than 5 million U.S. consumers lost money to phishing attacks in the 12 months ending in September 2008, a 39.8% increase from a year earlier, according to the new Gartner study. "Phishers are preying on the bad economy," says Avivah Litan, a security analyst at Gartner.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc20090413_894347.htm

Paul McCartney website hacked by cybercriminals
The official website of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was infected with the LuckySploit tool kit, say security experts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5131987/Paul-McCartney-website-hacked-by-cybercriminals.html

au: No bail for Australian accused of stalking singer [AP]
An Australian woman charged with stalking "American Idol" contestant Diana DeGarmo over the Internet was refused bail Thursday by a judge who said she was likely to re-offend.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090409/ENT/904099871/-1/ENT05

Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger's site
Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its practices.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5137489/Goldman-Sachs-hires-law-firm-to-shut-bloggers-site.html

Germany fines Microsoft over Office pricing
Regulators in Germany have fined Microsoft's local subsidiary €9m ($11.8m) for improperly influencing the pricing of Office during a retail promotion.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39639379,00.htm

Ponzi schemes spread on YouTube
Here come the mini-Madoffs. The Better Business Bureau warned today about a proliferation of what appear to be Ponzi schemes on YouTube.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/shopping_blog/2009/04/madoff-youtube-scams.html
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_12103423

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PRIVACY
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In the UK, they've got your number
Every call made, email sent and website visited is now being logged under new regulations. What does that mean for investigative journalists - and their need to protect sources? Charles Arthur reports
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/13/investigative-journalism-protecting-sources

Google Street View does not breach UK privacy laws
Street View, the controversial service from Google that broadcasts 360-degree views of homes and roads in many of Britain's cities via the internet, is not a threat to personal privacy, the information commissioner has ruled.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/12/google-street-view-privacy

ca: Five-country study finds little protection for anonymity [news release]
New technologies are shrinking our ability to protect our anonymity – a trend being reinforced by laws around the world, according to a new study by leading scholars from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Italy.
http://privcom.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2009/nr-c_090408_e.asp

Five-country study finds little protection for anonymity [news release]
Laws in Canada and around the world are reinforcing technology’s ability to undermine the anonymity of citizens, according to a new study by leading scholars from Canada, U.S., U.K., Netherlands and Italy.
http://privcom.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2009/ma_am/ma_090406_e.asp

**********************
CENSORSHIP
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Texting Toward Utopia - Does the Internet spread democracy? by Evgeny Morozov
In 1989 Ronald Reagan proclaimed that “The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip”; later, Bill Clinton compared Internet censorship to “trying to nail Jell–O to the wall”; and in 1999 George W. Bush (not John Lennon) asked us to “imagine if the Internet took hold in China. Imagine how freedom would spread.”
http://bostonreview.net/BR34.2/morozov.php

Web of Freedom: measuring Internet liberty—and censorship.
The Internet has proven a powerful force for policy makers, both good and bad. Barack Obama leveraged America's Internet freedom to persuade U.S. voters to elect him last year. China's leadership, on the other hand, keeps the Internet tightly censored to suppress dissent in their one-party state.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123921812187902111.html

Freedom on the global Internet still a pipe dream
"The Internet represents freedom, but not everywhere." So begins the annual "Internet Enemies" report by Reporters Without Borders--and that's probably the cheeriest line in the entire 39-page document. It goes down from there.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-10193866-60.html

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GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY
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In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's
We had hoped this would go differently. Friday evening, in a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA, EFF's litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans, the Obama Administration's made two deeply troubling arguments.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush

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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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Toolbars in the background to Yahoo and Microsoft talks
With Yahoo's search market share likely to slip below 20%, it makes sense to do some sort of deal with Microsoft -- and it should be a very profitable one for Yahoo
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/apr/10/yahoo-microsoft-search-deal

European Duo Seeks to Buy Skype Back From EBay
The European duo who created Skype and sold it to eBay for billions may have another trick up their sleeve: buying it back.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/11/technology/companies/11skype.html

Skype founders said to be eyeing eBay
The founders of Web telephone service Skype, currently owned by eBay, are interested in bidding for the company they sold some four years ago, according to a media report.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTRE53A06A20090411

Yahoo and Microsoft Said to Be Weighing Ad Pact
Yahoo and Microsoft, which held a marathon series of fruitless merger and partnership negotiations last year, have restarted discussions, this time over a possible advertising agreement, a person briefed on those discussions said Friday.
http://nytimes.com/2009/04/11/technology/companies/11soft.html

Microsoft and Yahoo revive talks as Google leaps ahead
Microsoft and Yahoo are in talks over a possible search engine partnership less than a year after Bill Gates' software group failed in a $44bn (£21.3bn) takeover attempt on the internet company.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/10/microsoft-yahoo-merger-talks

Microsoft and Yahoo said talking on deal
The chief executives of Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc met last week to discuss potential partnerships between the companies' Internet search and advertising operations, the technology blog All Things Digital reported on Friday.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKTRE53922I20090410
http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-38990620090410

Cloud Computing: IBM and Microsoft have heads in the cloud
Half a dozen big names have long dominated the American technology sphere, but the rise of web-based companies threatens to recast the pecking order and is forcing the old guard to rethink their business models. The widespread use of web-based applications such as Yahoo!’s e-mail and Google’s search engine has forced the likes of IBM, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard to wonder how they can profit from the new era of computing through remote data centres.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article6074181.ece

How Microsoft Is Fighting Back (Finally)
For 25 years, Microsoft held unquestioned dominance in the personal computer business. But last year the maker of the Windows operating system started to look like a weary, vulnerable champ. Fueled by iPhone-mania and the iconic "I'm a Mac" TV ads, Apple was nearing a double-digit share of the PC market. At the same time, a new generation of sub-$500 "netbooks" that ran on the free Linux operating system was taking off.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_16/b4127063278613.htm

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
**********************
us: FCC launches development of national broadband plan [news release]
The Federal Communications Commission today begins the process of developing a national broadband plan that will seek to ensure that every American has access to broadband capability.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-289900A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-289900A1.doc

Broadband stimulus and the FCC's Internet policy statement
This week's hoopla over at the Federal Communications Commission focused on the launching of a Notice of Inquiry that is seeking comment on a National Broadband Plan, which the agency must produce for Congress by February of 2010. "If we do our job well," interim FCC Chair Michael Copps told an Open Commission meeting audience on Wednesday, "this will be the most formative—indeed transformative—proceeding ever in the Commission’s history."
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/broadband-stimulus-and-the-fccs-internet-policy-statement.ars

Global costs are choke point for Australian broadband plan
The federal Government will closely monitor Australia's international internet transmission capacity as its plans for building a $43 billion national broadband network move closer to fruition.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,25329613-5013040,00.html

Telstra faces tough choices on FTTH broadband plan
Despite the regulatory sword of Damocles hanging over Telstra, the market has adjudged that the telco's profits, earnings and share price will continue within guidance levels, at least for the near future.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,25318010-643,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25318010-36418,00.html

au: Ziggy backs $43b broadband network
Former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski has thrown his support behind the Government's proposed $43 billion national broadband network, describing it as "strategically elegant and appealingly breathtaking in its ambition".
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25326834-15306,00.html

Opportunity rides the super-highway by Ziggy Switkowski
The Government proposes to facilitate the construction of a new national fibre-optic communications network. This high-speed broadband infrastructure will carry internet-based telephony, television channels and a range of innovative services, and offer affordable transmission of very large data files including medical images, university research, music, games and video. The project cost is estimated at $43 billion, construction will take about 10 years and the ultimate non-government ownership will be settled in about 15 years.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25325554-5015664,00.html

COMMENT: NZ losing the Bledisloe Cup of broadband
This week's telco events remind Ernie Newman of the Bledisloe Cup game in 2000 when the Wallabies came from behind to beat the All Blacks. NBR tallies the score to see if the Aussies are ahead.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/chris-keall/nz-losing-bledisloe-cup-broadband

A Telecom Opening in Cuba
President Barack Obama's decision to allow U.S. telecommunications companies to obtain licenses to operate in Cuba is a cautious first step toward any possible thaw in U.S. trade relations with the Caribbean nation, trade experts say. But Obama held back from bolder steps that he could have taken.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/apr2009/db20090413_290039.htm

Obama eases restrictions on U.S. telecom firms in Cuba
In a move to reach out the Cuban people, the White House on Monday announced a series of changes to U.S. policy toward Cuba, including the authorization of greater telecommunications links to the communist country.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10218521-38.html

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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
**********************************
au: Guilty plea over child porn charges
A New Norfolk man has pleaded guilty to more than 90 child pornography charges.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/09/2539805.htm

au: Child porn bust
Police have charged three Toowoomba men after a major child pornography raid.
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2009/04/10/child-porn-bust/

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(c) David Goldstein 2009




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David Goldstein
http://davidgoldstein.tel/
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email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au
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