internet news - 26 Sept

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

ICANN closes in on .org successor
The Internet address regulator gives a nod to a group of
thousands of computer engineers in their bid to run the
non-profit domain 
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-959077.html
 http://www.demys.net/news/02_sep_24_org.htm

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=1486575

http://www.sapinfo.net/public/en/news.php4/Category-28813c6138d029be8/page/0/article/Article-42183d8edebc10745/en
 http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/1467251
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1135351

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56417-2002Sep23.html
 http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc11/msg00326.html

Internet Society Close to Win of '.Org' Domain 
The backing of a key online regulator on Monday brought a
group of computer professionals closer to control of the
".org" Internet domain, home to millions of nonprofits and
community groups. 

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=1485462

ICANN moves closer to deciding new .org managers
Millions of non-profit and community groups are one step
closer to having tighter control over their Internet
Top-Level Domain (TLD) ".org", with a big win imminent for
a small group of computer professionals.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/scitech/2002/09/item20020924135920_1.htm

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5148890%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Seventh Update on .org Reassignment Process
This is an update on the status of the evaluation of the
eleven applications ICANN received from entities seeking to
become the registry operator for the .org top-level domain
on 1 January 2003, when VeriSign, Inc. gives up that role.
For more information, see these earlier updates:
 http://www.icann.org/announcements/update-23sep02.htm

ICANN still rules the Net
The governance of the Internet remains in the hands of
ICANN, but the organisation has been ordered to be more
transparent.  

http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/ebusiness/story/0,2000024981,20268480,00.htm

E-Legal: Kids.us -- A Safe Place on the Internet for
Children?
The Department of Commerce has chosen NeuStar Inc. to
manage the dot-us country code top-level domain. In this
role, NeuStar will apply separate treatment to a group of
reserved names, including the "kids.us" domain name.
NeuStar has issued proposed guidelines regarding content
for Web sites within this domain and is seeking comments.
The proposals are just the first step in the effort to
protect children online.

http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1032128596357&t=LawArticleTech

Nike Loses Split Decision For JustDoIt.net - from
www.udrplaw.net
A split three-member WIPO Panel found against Nike in its
case against Circle Group Internet for its registration and
use of JustDoIt.net. Although the majority felt that the
registrant's use of the domain name could qualify as bad
faith, it stated that Nike had not proven that the domain
name had been registered in bad faith. Panelist Andrew
Christie disagreed and issued a dissent in the case.

http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0544.html

Philip Morris Sues Internet Cigarette Retailers - from
www.udrplaw.net
Yesterday, tobacco giant Philip Morris announced that it
had filed eight lawsuits against Internet cigarette
retailers.  The suits, filed in the Central District of
California and the Southern District of New York, allege
that the retailers are violating the company's trademarks
and are selling cigarettes in violation of state and
federal laws. Read more on this story at SmartMoney.com.
The retailers now have an opportunity to demonstrate that
they are engaged in legitimate business on the Internet.  

ICANN extends contract with US government (reg req'd)
The memorandum of understanding between the US government
and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
will be extended for a year, until September 30 2003.

http://www.legalmediagroup.com/default.asp?Page=1&SID=11065&CH=6&CN=&CountryName=UnitedStates&Type=News
 http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/ica092302.cfm

ICANN's new deal from the US
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), the non-profit body that oversees the Domain Name
System has had its tenure extended for a one year period by
the United States Department of Commerce (DoC).
 http://www.demys.net/news/02_sep_23_icann.htm

Legal wrangle over domain name privacy 
A legal row has broken out between internet service
provider Demon and the UK domain registrar Nominet over its
controversial plans to publish the contact details of
website owners.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,7496,798249,00.html

auDA call for nominations
auDA has issued a call for nominations to its board of
directors. The election will take place at auDA's annual
general meeting in early November in Melbourne. Details
will be announced in mid-October. 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/25/1032734205770.html

Register.com Sues Rival Over Poaching 
Domain name registrar Register.com has filed suit against
rival Domain Registry of America, charging it with using
Register.com's brand and logo to steal customers.
 http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/1466061

Register.com Won't Meet Forecasts 
Register.com Inc., the second-largest supplier of Web
addresses in the United States, on Tuesday warned that it
doesn't expect to meet third-quarter revenue and earnings
projections, citing slow sales in July, less demand in
August and little improvement in September. 

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=1492302

http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-20461525-0.html

Register To Close Domain Reseller Afternic 
Two years after it acquired domain re-seller Afternic for
$48 million, domain name registrar Register.com said it
would close the unit.
 http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/1469711

Exploiting online raunch at the polls
What is it with state attorneys general trying to stamp out
Internet vice around election time? 
On Oct. 27, 1998, precisely one week before Election Day,
the New York State Attorney General's Office raided an
Internet provider in Buffalo and confiscated its news
server. The charge, according to former Attorney General
Dennis Vacco, was that BuffNet carried Usenet newsgroups
where child pornography could be found. It could be found,
that is, if someone looked hard enough--and Vacco's
investigators were nothing if not determined.
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-958926.html

Anti-spammer in court over bulk e-mail
A Perth man accused of illegally interrupting the flow of
unsolicited bulk e-mails is trying to have legal action
against him stopped.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/scitech/2002/09/item20020923165803_1.htm

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/24/1032734153417.html

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5154422%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Lending spammers a helping hand 
Have you helped a spammer today? According to operators of
spam-filtering lists, an alarming number of people are
unwittingly helping junk mailers shuttle spam, or
unsolicited bulk e-mail. Those unassuming victims are
running software meant to allow multiple connections over a
LAN (local area network) to the Internet through a single
line, or what's known as proxy servers.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-958847.html

Hard to Opt Out of the Politics of Spam
It was perhaps inevitable that spam would be transformed
into a platform for political candidates. If spam can be
used to effectively market a myriad of consumer products,
notes Samuel Lewis, why not politics? Lewis reviews the
state of anti-spam legislation, self-help measures, and
litigation against spammers and observes that some
politicians need lessons in Netiquette.

http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1032128581261&t=LawArticleTech

Tibetan culture finds digital saviour
Thousands of historical Tibetan books are going digital in
an attempt to save Tibet's rich literature.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2271016.stm

Workers stray for the online news
Many companies have clamped down on their employees surfing
on porn or gambling sites, but may not realise the amount
of time being spent reading news.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2122752,00.html

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/09/23/workplace.surfing.reut/index.html
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2278743.stm

Parents shun Web filtering tools
'Complicated' Web control tools put off parents, who prefer
to keep computers where they can see what their children
are doing, says new research.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2122751,00.html

http://www.silicon.com/bin/bladerunner?REQUNIQ=1032872649&REQSESS=757353&3001REQEVENT=&REQINT1=55678&REQSTR1=Text%20News&REQSTR2=introbold&REQSTR3=%7c
 http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,55243,00.html

German crackdown on child porn  
German police have searched the homes of about 1,400 people
suspected of having paid money to view child pornography
websites, the country's federal crime-fighting agency says.


http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-20436241-0.html

Police powerless to snare porn users 
British detectives have been given credit card records of
7,000 UK men from a US website but lack of cash means they
have made only 80 arrests so far. 
Police have accused the Home Office of not providing enough
resources to allow them to arrest hundreds of probable
child abusers.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,796850,00.html

Police to quiz 70 over child porn 
ABOUT 70 suspected paedophiles in the Lothians and Borders
are facing arrest as part of the biggest-ever crackdown by
police on child pornography. 
 http://www.news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1059212002

Schools fight web porn 
ACCESS to internet pornography and chatrooms will be
removed from the classroom, using revolutionary new
software aimed at protecting children. 
 http://www.news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1028832002

WorldCom blocks access to child porn 
Bowing to an order from Pennsylvania's attorney general,
WorldCom will block customer access to some offshore Web
sites by the end of the day.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-959045.html

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5149176%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Scholars File Brief Opposing Video Game Law 
A group of international scholars on Wednesday filed a
brief urging a federal appeals court to strike down a St.
Louis ordinance restricting children's access to violent
video games, calling the law and other proposals like it
"profoundly misguided."

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=1492231

Porn scammers dupe the lovelorn
With online porn revenue falling for all but the biggest
adult groups, the tricks employed by marketeers are
becoming dirtier.
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1135316

Host pulls satire site after police 'incitement' claim
A satirical Web site that attempted to parody concerns over
child safety has been shut down following the intervention
of police.
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/27281.html

Copyright Hurdles Confront Selling of Music on the Internet
Online services trying to sell music over the Internet face
an intellectual property labyrinth paved with
administrative quicksand.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/23/technology/23MUSI.html?todaysheadlines

Police: China Web Author Arrested 
A Chinese author who posted essays about politics on the
Internet has been arrested on subversion charges, a police
official said Wednesday. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64036-2002Sep25.html

Google enters news arena
The popular search engine Google has launched a service
that uses its search algorithms rather than human editors
to select news reports.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2278042.stm
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-958927.html
 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/technology/24GOOG.html

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=1485744

You are being monitored online
MILLIONS of internet users have unwittingly consented to
having their online activities monitored by agreeing to
convoluted terms and conditions on websites.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5153731%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Barcelona - Protecting and Educating Children in the
Information Society(from QuickLinks)
Lessons from European Projects This workshop takes place in
Barcelona, Spain on 15 October 2002. It is being
co-organised by the Catalan Research Foundation FCR and
European Schoolnet as part of the EUNCLE and Safe Borders
projects, funded by the European Commission's IAP
intiative. The day will include three round table sessions:
 - Awareness-raising: Techniques, Audiences and Effective
Methods 
 - Filters: Educational Needs, Preferences, Efficiency and
Issues
 - Kids On The Web: At Home and At School
 http://www.qlinks.net/update/Barcelona_workshop.htm

Greek government backs down on gaming
Following intense criticism, the Greek government issues a
clarification of the law that bans electronic games, saying
that police should restrict arrests to gambling-related
offences.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2122824,00.html
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2278743.stm

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=1493821

Australian Cybercrime code ready
INTERNET service providers are preparing for a new
cybercrime code of conduct that will detail how much data
they should keep on subscribers in order to co-operate with
police and other law enforcement agencies. 

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5153729%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Valenti presents Hollywood's side of the technology story
For Jack Valenti and the corporations he represents, the
debate over copyright policy boils down to some fairly
simple notions. Hollywood really does want to make its
movies available online, but without strict copyright laws
and tough controls on digital media, misuse of technology
will kill the motion picture industry.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/technology/4132447.htm

Study: Media giants wrong about online piracy
Media giants such as Time Warner and Walt Disney should be
paying less attention to pirates, and putting more effort
into providing compelling digital content, says a new
report.
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2122813,00.html

UK data retention plans come under attack (reg req'd)
Data protection commissioners across Europe have expressed
their concern about the legitimacy of the UK’s plans to
retain telecommunications traffic data for long periods of
time.

http://www.legalmediagroup.com/default.asp?Page=1&SID=11074&CH=6&CN=&CountryName=UKEngland&Wales&Type=News

Australia introduces tough new cybercrime law (reg req'd)
A new cybercrime bill introduced in the Australian state of
Victoria is the strongest piece of anti-hacking legislation
the country has seen so far.

http://www.legalmediagroup.com/default.asp?Page=1&SID=11089&CH=6&CN=&CountryName=Australia&Type=News

Philip Morris Sues over Internet Cigarette Sales
Philip Morris Cos. Inc. MO.N , the world's largest
cigarette maker, on Monday said it filed eight lawsuits
aimed at stopping sellers of cigarettes over the Internet
from using Philip Morris trademarks.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=internetnews&StoryID=1484284
 http://news.com.com/2100-1017-958964.html
 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rup24.8sep24.story

Consumer Policies in OECD Countries, 2001 Annual Reports  
A set of reports prepared by OECD countries on consumer
policy developments in 2001 are now available to the
public. 

http://www.oecd.org/oecd/pages/documentation/displayxml/0,3375,EN-document-13-nodirectorate-34121-13,00.html

Africa Set to Embrace Linux 
It's been the talk of the global industry for close on
three years now but 2002 is being pegged as the African
breakout year for Linux, the flexible and cost-effective
open source operating system technology.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200209230058.html

US plans fibre link to South Pole
Plans to get broadband internet to the South Pole are
underway with a call for expression of interest for the
$US250 million project.

http://www.idg.co.nz/webhome.nsf/UNID/D5187EDA88CE2839CC256C3D0076A5F4!opendocument

Privacy Bill for Consumers Not Likely This Year 
U.S. consumers are unlikely to see new federal privacy
protections this year, but lawmakers said on Tuesday they
are still hammering out compromises with an eye on the next
legislative session. 

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=1491194
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-959274.html

Net archive silences Scientology critic
Buckling under pressure from the Church of Scientology, the
Internet Archive has removed a church critic's Web site
from its system.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-959236.html

United Kingdom: Data Protection (reg req'd)
Following the implementation of European Directive 95/46/EC
(the obligations of which have been embodied into the laws
of England and Wales by the Data Protection Act 1998
"DPA"), strict provisions apply to the processing and
storage of personal data (or information from which a data
subject can be identified). This Directive applies to the
flow of data between countries in the European Economic
Area (consisting of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the
15 EU States, "the EEA"). The provisions require all
countries in the EEA to protect the fundamental rights and
freedoms of their citizens, with particular emphasis on
protecting the right to privacy. In the United Kingdom, it
is the role of the Information Commissioner to enforce the
DPA.

http://www.mondaq.com/article_preview.asp?a=17952&p=5&c=2293&e=on

Analysis: A step by step guide to recycling the ultimate
consumer item
At last, a sensible use for the Millennium Dome.
Apparently, the 15 million mobile phones replaced in
Britain each year would fill it 14 times over. Certainly,
putting the redundant ones in the Dome would turn it into a
fitting symbol of a problem our consumer society is now
facing: what to do with things that haven't worn out and
won't decay on their own.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=336409

Mentioning the war 
The German minister who likened Bush to Hitler was sacked.
So what will happen to Al Gore? 
In a speech this week, a senior western politician
controversially compared the effects of George Bush's
foreign policy to the conditions which created the rise of
Adolf Hitler. But the politician in question was not the
unfortunate former German justice minister Herta
Däubler-Gmelin, who was sacked by Chancellor Gerhard
Schröder on Monday for saying much the same thing at the
height of the German election. The man who drew the
comparison this time was none other than former US
vice-president Al Gore.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,798615,00.html

Robert Fisk: The dishonesty of this so-called dossier
If these pages of trickery are based on 'probably' and
'if', we have no business going to war
Tony Blair's "dossier" on Iraq is a shocking document.
Reading it can only fill a decent human being with shame
and outrage. Its pages are final proof – if the contents
are true – that a massive crime against humanity has been
committed in Iraq. For if the details of Saddam's building
of weapons of mass destruction are correct – and I will
come to the "ifs" and "buts" and "coulds" later – it means
that our massive, obstructive, brutal policy of UN
sanctions has totally failed. In other words, half a
million Iraqi children were killed by us – for nothing.

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=336404


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