general internet news - 20 April - other news

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

Internet governance debate heats up
The debate on future governance of the internet is heating
up, with a United Nations ICT taskforce convening a “global
forum” late last month on the subject and those prominent
in the IT and political worlds having plenty to say around
the edges.

http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/C8E3392E1C46CCB4CC256E7600778677

nz: InternetNZ widens net debate
InternetNZ will be asking the government for publicity
muscle in mounting at least two public seminars on the
developing international internet governance debate.

http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/80562EAC335DD3AACC256E76007781DA

US proposes rigorous spam sentencing
The US Sentencing Commission (USSC) sent its proposals for
sentencing spammers off to Congress this week.
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/16/spam_sentencing/

Spammer business on the rise
Spam-business is growing, its technical capabilities
change, spammers have more and more servers, more money to
hire programmers and to pay for hosting.
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/16.04.2004/206

us: No-Spam Registry Faces Numerous Hurdles
Creating a national "do-not-spam" registry is
technologically feasible, but a weak federal anti-spam law,
privacy concerns and tepid support from some of the
nation's largest e-mail providers could weaken any efforts
to create such a database.
 http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=6899

us: War of words rages over Internet taps
The public comment period on a Justice Department proposal
to make the Internet easier to wiretap ended Monday with
most of the filed comments tracing a clean line between two
opposing camps: on the government's side, federal, state
and local law enforcement agencies who perform wiretaps,
allied with companies who sell surveillance equipment and
services; on the other, Internet companies who would be
forced by the plan to make changes to their networks, along
with advocacy groups concerned about slowed innovation and
an incursion on Internet privacy.
 http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8454

ca: New privacy sprouts forest of complaints
Canada's privacy watchdog says a "communications gap"
forming between businesses and consumers may be partly to
blame for an increase in complaints since new federal
privacy legislation went into full force on Jan. 1.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081894211092&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851

nl: Dutch prisoner publishes audio of murder on website
Martin K, a Dutch prisoner (who cannot be fully identified
for legal reasons), serving time for two counts of murder
is back in the news for ‘publishing’ on his website an
audio fragment from the emergency call placed by the
girlfriend of one of his victims that was logged on tape by
the emergency services.
 http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1506

au: Sharman Shuffles Legal Team 
Sharman Networks, maker of the peer-to-peer file-sharing
software Kazaa, has shaken up its legal team following the
filing of a lawsuit by the Australian recording industry.
 http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63062,00.html

eu: Lawsuits Loom for European Internet Pirates
The German record industry has launched its first lawsuits
in the battle against Internet piracy. Initiated by the
industry's international body, Europe is set for a purging
of illegal downloaders.

http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1431_A_1157333_1_A,00.html

us: Stiff spam penalties urged
Spammers convicted under a recently enacted national
antispam law could face stiff sentences under newly
finalized government recommendations.
 http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5191651.html

Spammers 'using bugs' to find active e-mail addresses
Just opening a piece of spam can be enough to turn your
e-mail address into a spam magnet.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/0,2000061744,39145008,00.htm

uk: Renewed warnings over 'phishing'
E-mail fraud from customer bank accounts has rocketed over
the past six months, warns an internet security firm.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3635121.stm

uk: Massive rise in online bank scams
Gangs from Russia and eastern Europe steal hundreds of
thousands of pounds a year from online banks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Money/news_/story/0,1456,1193883,00.html

Phishing Scams: Statistics from mi2gIntelligence Unit
Phishing expeditions can be a financial windfall for
attackers, since some analysts' estimates put the success
rate of such bogus e-mails at about 1 in every 20
recipients.
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/15.04.2004/205

Victims of cyber crime
Companies are the main victims of cyber crimes.
 http://www.crime-research.org/news/17.04.2004/212

nz: Internet users warned of fake govt emails
Emails are being sent from overseas to New Zealanders
pretending to come from government addresses, the State
Services Commission says.
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2879783a28,00.html
 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3561380

us: FTC to shine light on spyware
Pressure is growing for new rules to curtail malicious
programs known as spyware, once again raising a vexing
problem for the Internet age: Can software risks be
regulated into submission?

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/0,2000061744,39145133,00.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22514-2004Apr18.html

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-04-18-spyware_x.htm
Public Workshop, "Monitoring Software on Your PC: Spyware,
Adware, and Other Software."
 http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/04/spywarema.htm

uk: Alternative therapy websites 'need regulation'
Cancer charities and organisations need to devise a seal of
approval system to endorse websites that promote
alternative cancer therapies, researchers have suggested.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1193701,00.html

uk: "Toothing" latest hi-tech sex craze
Commuters take note -- the respectable person sitting next
to you on the train fumbling with their cell phone might be
a "toother" looking for sex with a stranger.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4859041

New honour for the web's inventor
The inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has
won a prestigious award which comes with a prize bag of one
million euros (£671,000).
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3628321.stm
 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63078,00.html

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=4833667

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1192460,00.html

Online Euro buyers stung by VAT rules
Value Added Tax rules mean that people buying goods - for
example from Amazon UK - end up paying their local rate of
tax rather than the 17.5% levied in this country.
 http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15372
 	
sg: Digiland wins landmark online retail lawsuit
IT products distributor Digiland International yesterday
said that it had won a landmark case against six customers
who sued the company for not honouring a purchase over the
Internet. The six buyers had placed an order in January
last year for more than 1,600 colour laser printers at $66
each, a price that Digiland had mistakenly put up at its
online store, DigilandMall. About 4,000 orders were placed
for the brand-new printer, which actually retailed at
$3,854 each.

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/story/0,4567,113841,00.html

ru: The Wrongs of Spring and the Western Media
Scanning the U.S. press, one is surprised to learn that
Russia lives under an increasingly Stalinist dictatorship:
"with all dissent suppressed, a palpable sense of fear
rules the streets"; "The KGB has seized power, reimposing
Soviet-era censorship"; the good-hearted and selfless
Mikhail Khodorkovsky rots in prison, while President
Vladimir Putin's cronies grab his assets. Western views of
Russia have historically been colored by demonology, and
after a brief love affair with Boris Yeltsin, Cold War
rhetoric is increasingly back in fashion.
 http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/04/15/006.html

ca: Phone companies criticize CRTC's `hasty procedure'
Eager to have the rules set for providing Internet-based
telephone services, the big phone companies urged the
federal regulator to move quickly. Now they're asking it to
slow down. Bell Canada, Telus Corp. and other incumbent
phone carriers said yesterday the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission breached its common law
duty when it announced last week that Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) service is just another local phone product
and should be subject to existing rules.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1082067019212&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851


cm: Secretaries Embrace The Internet
Secretaries in the nation's capital yesterday joined their
counterparts' world-wide to celebrate the 11th World Day of
Secretaries. The day was celebrated under the theme
"Ambassadors of Excellence." Commemorative activities were
organised at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel by the "Club "des
Secreataires et Assistants de Direction du Cameoun"
(CSADC).
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200404160270.html

Netscape renaissance: AOL to release browser update
The Netscape Web browser may not be dead after all. After
being written off by industry observers last year, America
Online Inc. (AOL) plans to release an update to the
Netscape Internet software package as early as next month.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/16/HNnetscape_1.html

Lindows changes name of operating system to Linspire
Lindows on Wednesday changed the name of its LindowsOS
operating system to Linspire, responding to a federal
judge's refusal to halt Microsoft Inc.'s trademark
infringement lawsuits outside the United States.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/techcorporatenews/2004-04-14-lindows-to-linspire_x.htm
 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1154409

Linux on desktop PCs
Is Microsoft finally about to face real competition in
desktop-computer software?

http://economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2594309

uk: Will computers run your world?
A national forum this month offers people the chance to
tell experts their hopes and fears about technology. The
Royal Society's Earl of Selborne explains its importance. 

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml;$sessionid$Q0HM0UPN2LDZNQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/connected/2004/04/14/ecfcyb14.xml&sSheet=/connected/2004/04/13/ixconn.html

PCs 'infested' with spy programs
The average PC is packed with software that can slow a
machine down or spy on online habits, a study finds. 
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3633167.stm

A CEO's Guide to Technology
Burned by pricey projects that returned little in the '90s,
chief execs are now savvier and watch IT spending much more
closely.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2004/tc20040413_8497.htm

Blogs: Here to stay - with changes
Weblogs are expanding fast, expiring fast, and constantly
evolving.
 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0415/p14s02-stin.html

PC makers peddle recycling plans
With Earth Day around the corner, Dell and other PC makers
are stepping up their efforts to recycle old computers,
gathered from businesses and consumers that have been
sitting on old gear for years.
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5193657.html

Ultrawideband groups band together
Two industry groups are teaming up to promote a de facto
standard for ultrawideband, helping to ease concerns that
the wireless technology could become mired in red tape.
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5193541.html

Germans top World text league
Europe in Brief Germans have been crowned world-texting
champions. A survey by the Global System for Mobile
Communication recently showed that Germans send a whopping
200m messages a day, nearly three times as many as the
Finns (75m) or Britons (70m).
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/14/europe_in_brief/

ICQ to ping application developers
America Online's ICQ subsidiary is hoping to juice up its
popular instant messenger with games and other
applications, as part of a major software overhaul to be
officially unveiled next week.
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5193706.html

World Telecommunication Day 2004: Survey
As one of the activities in support of the theme of 'ICTs:
Leading the way to sustainable development' we are
conducting a survey to obtain views on the perceived
importance of the targets for improving connectivity and
access in the use of ICTs as determined by the World Summit
on the Information Society. The survey will remain open for
responses until 10 May 2004. The results of the survey will
be posted in the newsroom of the ITU website as of 17 May
2004.
 http://www.itu.int/newsroom/wtd/2004/survey/index.html

Nokia losing market share
Mobile telephone maker Nokia yesterday rattled investors
with news that it is losing market share to its rivals.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/article/0,2763,1193932,00.html

Denmark Is Web-Savviest Nation, U.S. Drops -Survey
Four Nordic countries are the Web-savviest nations in the
world and, together with the United Kingdom, pushed the
United States out of the top five, a survey found on
Monday.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=4859507

Britain second in Web-savvy standings
Only one other country beats Britain in terms of taking
advantage of the Internet.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/broadband/0,39020342,39152297,00.htm

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4859847

US surfers switch to broadband
Broadband use in the US has surged to more than half the
Internet population.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/broadband/0,39020342,39152300,00.htm

ph: Employees prefer unified communications: study
Two out of three enterprise workers want to streamline
communication systems at work, a recent survey conducted by
Research International revealed. The survey, which was
conducted on behalf of network communications firm Alcatel,
found that out of more than 1,000 respondents, about 58
percent want a single place to check all their messages
including voice calls and emails.
 http://www.inq7.net/inf/2004/apr/19/inf_1-1.htm

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