[APPLe list] general internet news - February 21

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



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Toshiba shares surge on expected HD-DVD exit
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3388376.ece

'Cancer link' to heavy mobile use
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7250372.stm

Can E-Mail Authentication Kill Spam?
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Can-E-Mail-Authentication-Kill-Spam-61732.html

Japan brings down Godzilla of spam
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/19/japan_spam_godzilla_arrest/

DVD code cracker goes legitimate
http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/technology/PTEND21.php

Bill Gates says Internet censorship won't work [IDG]
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063598

Privacy, civil rights advocates castigate Wikileaks ruling
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063478

Row highlights Internet censorship in Finland [IDG]
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063439

Study rejects Internet sex predator stereotype [Reuters]
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6231050.html

Gates explains why Microsoft needs Yahoo
http://www.news.com/2008-1014_3-6231341.html


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INTERNET USE
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Backpackers, bullies and internet myths
Imagine the scene: a man stands on a pedestal while hundreds of people take it in turns to heap scorn on him. At first, they take issue with something he has written, but then, as the crowd works itself into a frenzy, they abuse him as the embodiment of some social evil. Perhaps you are imagining a scene from China's Cultural Revolution - a student accused of bourgeois tendencies, head bowed, harangued by classmates. Or perhaps, if you were reading the Guardian's travel site last week, you have a picture in your mind of Max Gogarty, a 19-year-old aspiring writer who posted a blog about his gap-year plans.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rafael_behr/2008/02/backpackers_bullies_and_intern.html

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SOCIAL NETWORKING
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Piggybacking on Facebook
CLIFFORD LERNER knew within minutes of its debut that his newest Facebook application, an online dating service called Are You Interested, was going to be a success. The server traffic showed that people on Facebook, the social networking site, were installing Are You Interested at a furious clip, Mr. Lerner said. Better still, they were telling their friends.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/business/businessspecial2/20date.html

nz: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em online, says Cosgrove
An educational  website with features similar to Facebook and Bebo is being used by the Government to help make children active and eat healthy food. ... NetSafe operations manager Lee Chisholm said designers had worked hard to make the site safe, including allowing users to block friends and messages.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4407545a11.html

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NEW TECHNOLOGIES
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Toshiba shares surge on expected HD-DVD exit
Shares in Toshiba jumped 6 per cent in Tokyo on speculation that the Japanese electronics giant it is about to abandon its HD-DVD standard of next-generation DVDs.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3388376.ece

'Cancer link' to heavy mobile use
Heavy mobile phone use may be linked to an increased risk of cancer of the salivary gland, a study suggests. ... Those who had used the phone against one side of the head for several hours a day were 50% more likely to have developed a salivary gland tumour.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7250372.stm

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SPAM
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Can E-Mail Authentication Kill Spam?
A study by the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA) shows that more than half of all email is authenticated. However, the Alliance wants the industry to push for higher adoption. AOTA has issued a call to action to implement email authentication at the top level corporate domain within the next six months.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Can-E-Mail-Authentication-Kill-Spam-61732.html

Japan brings down Godzilla of spam
Japanese police have arrested a "prolific spammer" who allegedly bombarded inboxes with hundreds of millions of messages punting internet gambling and dating sites.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/19/japan_spam_godzilla_arrest/

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ONLINE CRIME, SECURITY & LEGAL
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au: YouTube used as evidence
South Australian police will be monitoring internet sites such as YouTube for videos of illegal acts.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/19/2166936.htm

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FILE SHARING
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'Hacker' launches iTunes copying
The release of software from a firm run by a notorious Norwegian hacker is likely to cause waves in the music and film download world. Jon Lech Johansen became the "enfant terrible" of the DRM industry when he released software which cracked the encryption codes on DVDs, aged just 15. His firm, DoubleTwist, has now released software allowing users to share digital media files across devices. It would allow songs bought on Apple's iTunes to be shared on other devices.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7253542.stm

DVD code cracker goes legitimate
Like Napster and others before him, "DVD Jon" has gone legitimate. But is it too late? Has the sun already set on digital rights?
http://iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/technology/PTEND21.php

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CENSORSHIP
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Bill Gates says Internet censorship won't work [IDG]
Efforts by countries like China to restrict the exchange of information on the Internet are ultimately doomed to failure, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told an audience of Stanford University students Tuesday. "I don't see any risk in the world at large that someone will restrict free content flow on the Internet," he said. "You cannot control the Internet."
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063598
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142640-c,techindustrytrends/article.html

us: Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks
In a move that legal experts said could present a major test of First Amendment rights in the Internet era, a federal judge in San Francisco on Friday ordered the disabling of a Web site devoted to disclosing confidential information.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/20wiki.html

Don’t Worry, WikiLeaks
Yesterday a federal judge ordered WikiLeaks off the internet. Nice try. You see, on Friday the secrecy-shrouded leaked-document Web site posted documents and an accompanying article claiming numerous examples of financial hanky-panky and whistleblower harassment by a Cayman Islands bank with Swiss ties. The bank did not take this kindly, and asked a U.S. court to kill the site’s account at a San Mateo-based host. The judge—against both law and common sense—obliged.
http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/dont_worry_wikileaks.php

Whistle-blower site taken offline
A controversial website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US. Wikileaks.org, as it is known, was cut off from the internet following a California court ruling, the site says. The case was brought by a Swiss bank after "several hundred" documents were posted about its offshore activities.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7250916.stm

Court orders whistle-blower site offline in U.S. [IDG]
A California district court has shut down a controversial Web site in the U.S. that allows whistle blowers to post corporate and government documents online anonymously.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063218

Privacy, civil rights advocates castigate Wikileaks ruling
Privacy and civil rights advocates are expressing their dismay over a pair of decisions made by a California District Court judge last week to shut down Wikileaks.org, a controversial Web site that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post corporate and government documents online.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063478

Row highlights Internet censorship in Finland [IDG]
A case of Internet censorship in Finland has garnered a lot of attention and may alter the secretive way Web sites are blocked, according to a privacy organization.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063439

Finland censors anti-censorship site
Finnish police are blocking more than 1,000 legal websites, including one belonging to a well-known internet activist, under a secretive system designed to prevent access to foreign sites that contain child pornography, according to a group that advocates for individual rights online.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/18/finnish_policy_censor_activist/

Finnish Internet censorship
Recent developments in the Finnish Internet censorship system. The Finnish police censors much more than was originally intended.
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2008-02-18.html

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CHILD PROTECTION, FILTERING & CONTENT REGULATION
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Study rejects Internet sex predator stereotype [Reuters]
The typical online sexual predator is not someone posing as a teen to lure unsuspecting victims into face-to-face meetings that result in violent rapes, U.S. researchers said Monday.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6231050.html

uk: 'Happy slapping' teenager convicted
Police warned yesterday that those who take part in the trend of filming violent attacks on their mobile phones will not escape the law, after the first conviction was secured against a teenager who recorded a so-called "happy slapping" incident.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/happy-slapping-teenager-convicted-782558.html

au: CSIRO cracking down on cyber crime
Making internet transactions safely has been one of the great challenges facing computer users. Now, CSIRO has developed a prototype portable device which will make the internet safer. The Trust Extension Device (TED) is software loaded onto a portable device, like a USB memory stick or a mobile phone. In this podcast, Dr John Zic from CSIRO’s ICT Centre explains how the TED minimises the risk associated with performing transactions in untrusted and unknown computing environments.
http://www.csiro.au/multimedia/CyberCrime.html

Oz admits $85m p0rn filtering FAIL
The Australian government has admitted that the AUS$85m it spent trying to protect kiddies from internet porn was AUS$85m too many.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/20/australian_adult_content_filter_failure/

Australian Government Calls Porn Filters A Failure
The Australian government is calling its $85 million plan to filter online pornography a failure.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/02/20/australian-government-calls-porn-filters-a-failure

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COMMENT, MICROSOFT & DEVELOPMENTS
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Of All the Hurdles to a Merger, View on Technology Is the Highest
If Microsoft succeeds in its conquest of Yahoo, what then? Microsoft would face the task of integrating the culture of Yahoo into its own. Merging corporate cultures is generally a major undertaking in any acquisition. What would set this integration apart, though, is where the culture clash is likely to occur — in the two companies’ basic philosophies on technology.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/technology/18integrate.html

Smeared on the internet? Then call in the cleaners
YOURS for a few thousand pounds: a freshly laundered online reputation. Internet surfers suffering campaigns of written abuse and the dredging up of humiliating pictures from their past are being offered the opportunity to bury their embarrassment under reams of positive coverage.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3382175.ece

Gates explains why Microsoft needs Yahoo
... Gates spoke to CNET News.com on Tuesday about how Microsoft needs Yahoo's engineering talent, how Windows 7 will make the keyboard and mouse less essential, though far from obsolete, and what journalism will look like in the future.
http://www.news.com/2008-1014_3-6231341.html

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ARRESTS/COURT CASES FOR CHILD PORN
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au: Brisbane man charged with child-porno offences
A 45-year-old Acacia Ridge man will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning after being charged by the Australian Federal Police with accessing child pornography and online grooming offences.
http://www.scopical.com.au/articles/News/2830/Brisbane-man-charged-with-child-porno-offences-

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(c) David Goldstein 2007

 
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David Goldstein
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