Articles by date
23 August 2007
us: The Warrantless Debate Over Wiretapping (New York Times)
Congress just passed, and President Bush hurriedly signed, a law that amends the legal framework for the electronic interception of various kinds of communication with foreign sources. Almost immediately, commentators concluded that the law was unnecessary, that it authorized a lawless and unprecedented expansion of presidential authority, and that Democrats in Congress cravenly accepted this White House initiative only for the basest political reasons. None of these widely broadcast conclusions are likely to be true.
uk: Man detained for unlawful use of broadband connection (The Guardian)
A man has been arrested for using a broadband internet connection in the street without the owner's permission.
Cyber boom - social networking online gold rush (The Age)
With just the click of a mouse, virtual land barons are making a small fortune in real-world money.
Is the Internet Over? by John C. Dvorak (PC Mag)
It's old, vulnerable, and overloaded. Yeah, the Net has its problems, but the thing is, it works: I used to joke around about shutting down the Internet so that its protocols and basic architecture could be rewritten from scratch. I was semiserious. More recently, Elton John, who apparently can't use a computer, said the Net should be shut down for five years so that the arts can flourish. Okay, whatever. Myself and Elton John aside, we're actually now seeing serious initiatives that may result in the closing of the Internet as we know it.
U.N. Internet Governance Advisory Group to Meet in Rio de Janeiro
The mandate of the U.N. Advisory Group for the Internet Governance Forum has been renewed in order to assist in preparations for the next meeting of the Internet Governance Forum. As part of this meeting, to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 12 to 15 November 2007, the Advisory Group has been asked to enhance the transparency of the preparatory process by ensuring a continuous flow of information between its members and the various interested groups. It has also been requested to make proposals on a suitable rotation among its members, based on recommendations from the various interested groups.
A blast from the past on new gTLDs by Kieren McCarthy (ICANN)
As anyone reading this will hopefully be aware, starting next year there will be a more consistent and relaxed mechanism for adding new gTLDs to the Internet. Which leads to an inevitable and interesting question: what new generic top-level domains would be useful and/or successful as the Internet continues to evolve? I have been pondering this on and off for a few months and keep coming up with fairly obvious ones: .blog, .news, .coffee, .google and so on.
Mattel sues porn site over use of Barbie name (CNet)
Mattel sued a small company on Tuesday for using the toymaker's famed Barbie trademark as part of the name for a pornographic Web site it owns. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, said the Web site chinabarbie.com has used the Barbie trademark to capture the positive image Mattel has created through its Barbie products.
Babies get domain names at birth
[TechNewsReview comment] Proving that children, and especially babies, where included make a story popular, Associated Press has a very widely reported story on babies leaving hospitals with domain names already registered. This story may well have been written by a registrar somewhere, or maybe one was heavily used for information given the mention one gets. I seem to remember a news release from this particular registrar on this topic not that long ago too. Hell, why didn't they suggest that if you know the sex of the child before birth, you can register the domain name months before the baby is born. Or maybe expectant parents can register two domain names given they are cheap as chips from most registrars.
European legal circles await ruling on Microsoft (New York Times)
Perhaps the most closely watched figure in European legal circles this summer has been Bo Vesterdorf, the Danish judge who heads Europe's top appeals court, with antitrust lawyers hanging on his every public utterance.
us: Leahy, Cheney Wrangle Over Warrantless Wiretap Docs (E-Commerce Times)
The battle over the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping efforts escalated Monday as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee threatened to hold White House officials in contempt for flouting an already-extended deadline to respond to a June subpoena. The subpoena by the Senate Judiciary Committee requested documents providing the legal justifications for the warrantless wiretapping program.
All is Not Safe for Kenyan Media (AllAfrica.com)
Hardly before the dust settles on the controversial Media Bill of 2007, the media fraternity has discovered yet another equally controversial and even more sinister and draconian piece of legislation, which is in the process of being promulgated. But like the Media Bill 2007, media owners and practitioners have vowed not to take the Kenya Communications Amendment Bill 2007, also known as the ICT Bill, lying down.
Google Remains Goliath in Online Search (E-Commerce Times)
Google continues to win the battle for Internet search dominance, according to the latest findings of Web traffic measurement firm comScore. The Reston, Va.-based Internet metrics company said its July numbers show Google leading the field of what it considers the top five search engines. According to comScore, Google snagged a 55.2 percent share of searches conducted with all five engines.
The question: Do older people really struggle with technology? (The Guardian)
Just as you can't teach an old dog new tricks, you can't teach the over-50s new manual tasks, such as operating DVD recorders or iPods. Or so new research suggests. On the plus side, older people probably find it easy to turn this page in white-hot rage.
YouTube to put advertising into video clips (The Times)
YouTube will introduce advertising into video clips today for the first time as the world’s most popular video- sharing website tries to justify its US$1.65 billion purchase price.
Japanese experts demand change to make phones and laptops safe (The Times)
The fundamental technology behind the present generation of lithium-ion cells - the batteries that power nearly every laptop computer and mobile phone in the world - is inherently dangerous and must be changed to ensure safety, according to experts.
22 August 2007
What global online population growth means for domain names
[TechNewsReview comment] The global online population will increase from 1.1 billion users in 2006 to 1.5 billion in 2011, according to recently released research from JupiterResearch. And what does this mean for domain names I hear you ask? Plenty - it can only mean demand for domain names will skyrocket as well.
Challenge of implementing IPv6 into the US Army (Military Information Technology)
When the Department of Defense first began implementing communications networks using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), network protocols were fairly immature. Configuration of devices was manual, security and prioritization were absent, network management was immature, and communications speeds were incredibly slow by today's standards. Over time, our IP networks have become more robust, more user-friendly, and equivalently more relied upon by users and managers. Our users now expect a high level of performance from our IPv4 networks. We have in-depth security systems, highly robust network management, auto-configuration, prioritization, converged voice and video, multicast, mobility and high-speed performance capabilities on our IPv4 networks.
Steve Goldstein & Susan Crawford on history of internet & ICANN (ICANN blog)
Two members of the ICANN Board, Steve Goldstein and Susan Crawford, addressed the ICANN fellows during the San Juan meeting. They gave interesting talks about the history of the net and the history of ICANN.
CIRA watchers hope for 'slash and burn' visionary (IT World Canada)
With the impending stepping down of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority founder and CEO, Bernard Turcotte, imminent, IT World Canada looks at a few views of what people involved in domain names think would be the desirable qualities of his successor.
uk: Online drugs 'put patients at risk' (The Times)
Britons are increasingly at risk of being sold unsafe drugs over the internet because of the growth in unlicensed online pharmacies, a report suggests. Almost a fifth of all online pharmacies are based in Britain, and only a tiny fraction are certified by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the pharmacies' regulator.
JupiterResearch Reports Over One Fifth of the World's Population Will Be Online By 2011 (Jupiter Research)
JupiterResearch found the worldwide online population will increase from 1.1 billion users in 2006 to 1.5 billion in 2011, representing 22 percent of the overall worldwide population in that year. Brazil, Russia, India, and China will provide impetus for future growth of the online population.
Google Wins the Most Hearts on the Web (New York Times)
It is not enough to be able to state your favorite movie, your favorite song or your favorite color. In the 21st century, you should also be ready to answer this question: What's your favorite Internet brand? That is what JupiterResearch did recently in a survey, and it should come as no surprise that Google won this popularity contest. Next in line was Yahoo, followed by Amazon, eBay and MySpace.
We're all doomed to be surprised - converging broadcasting & newspapers (The Guardian)
Broadcasters and newspapers are set on a course of convergence. But with the outcome uncertain, flexibility is vital: The future is out of our hands. This thought - unnerving and comforting in equal measure - is worth keeping in mind whenever anyone suggests a panel session on Where We Are All Going. Of course it's our job to make educated assumptions and to formulate the smartest strategies we can. But in the end we are all doomed to be surprised.
21 August 2007
au: Facebook labelled a A$5b waste of time (Sydney Morning Herald)
The next time you see an employee hunched intently over the computer, don't imagine he or she is slaving over the office accounts or a report for the next shareholders meeting. Employees are more likely to be whiling away the hours on the social networking site Facebook, a report says.
Greenest Vendor? Still Toshiba (PC World)
Environmental agency praises five Toshiba notebooks as the most environmentally friendly: Mirror, mirror on the wall; who is the greenest vendor of them all? Toshiba of America has had five of its notebooks rated gold by EPEAT, the environmental agencies top green rating. and claims that this is more gold-rated notebooks than any other supplier can boast.
