Articles by date
27 January 2012
Verisign Announces Strong Growth As .COM Passes 100m Registrations
Total registrations of .COM and .NET domain names increased to 113.8 million at the end of 2011 representing an eight per cent increase year-on-year Verisign announced. The company also announced the total number of .COM and .NET registrations increased by 7.9 million registrations in the final quarter of 2011.
Web economy in G20 set to double by 2016, Google says (BBC News)
The value of the web economy in G20 countries will nearly double by 2016, according to Boston Consulting Group.
African Twitter map reveals how continent stays connected (The Guardian)
Analysis of 11.5m tweets in last three months of 2011 shows South Africa generated the most, with more than 5m recorded
FBI plans social network map alert mash-up application (BBC News)
The FBI is seeking to develop an early-warning system based on material "scraped" from social networks.
Call for cyberwar 'peacekeepers' force (BBC Newsnight)
The US Army's Cyber Command is recruiting. Its mission? To create "a world class cyberwarrior force", and to develop cyberspace as an "active domain".
US lawmakers demand answers on Google's new privacy policy (Wall Street Journal)
US lawmakers have called for answers on Google's controversial new privacy policy that critics claim will compromise users' online anonymity.
Big SOPA Victory on Internet Buoys Lobby (New York Times)
The unlikely coalition of companies and consumer groups that last week helped quash antipiracy legislation on Capitol Hill is now weighing the future of what might be called lobbying 2.0. Can the Internet industry, along with legions of newly politicized Web users, be a new force in Washington? And if so, what else can they all agree upon?
India refutes claims of Web censorship (ZDNet)
An Indian minister has publicly refuted claims that the country wants to implement Web censorship in a manner similar to China, noting that the heated legal debate between India and global Internet giants has been blown out of proportion.
Twitter Can Censor by Country - Able to Block Tweets Geographically, Marking Content as Withheld (Wall Street Journal)
Twitter Inc. says it can now make content selectively available to users based on geography, and plans to use that ability to enter countries with "different ideas" about freedom of expression as a human right -- reflecting the difficult ethical questions facing Internet companies.
How Pimps Use the Web to Sell Girls (New York Times)
In November, a terrified 13-year-old girl pounded on an apartment door in Brooklyn. When a surprised woman answered, the girl pleaded for a phone. She called her mother, and then dialed 911.
Aussies relunctant to pay for web content (The Australian)
Australians remain resistant to paying for online content and services and smartphone applications despite spending an extraordinary amount of time online outside of work and education, according to a global survey.
Megaboned - What the law profs say about the Megaupload case (Lawfuel)
On Thursday, the US government unsealed a 72-page indictment against Megaupload. The file locker was one of the largest sites on the Web, and major copyright holders had accused it of facilitating widespread copyright infringement. The government argues that Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and his lieutenants were less a legitimate business than a scheme to profit from the infringing activities of their users.
Australians warned of dangers of cyberspace (Lawyers Weekly)
Law firms and Australian companies are increasingly vulnerable to the US Government's overzealous regulation of cyberspace, according to a visiting information technology law expert.
26 January 2012
Harvard study finds the iPad can be a pain in the neck (Los Angeles Times)
Apple sold a record breaking 15.43 million iPads in the last three months of 2011, which means a lot of people are starting to use tablet computers. And with last week's news that Apple is planning to bring textbooks to the iPad -- well, that's a lot more people who may start to use tablets, too.
In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad (New York Times)
... In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers -- as well as dozens of other American industries -- have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.
Build Up Your Phone's Defenses Against Hackers (New York Times)
Chuck Bokath would be terrifying if he were not such a nice guy. A jovial senior engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, Mr. Bokath can hack into your cellphone just by dialing the number. He can remotely listen to your calls, read your text messages, snap pictures with your phone's camera and track your movements around town -- not to mention access the password to your online bank account.
Experts: Google privacy shift will have greater impact on Android users (Washington Post)
Google doesn't make much money from its Android phones, but chief executive Larry Page recently vowed in an earnings call that that was about to change.
Thousands march in Poland over Acta internet treaty (BBC News)
More than 10,000 people have taken to Poland's streets to protest the signing of an international treaty activists say amounts to internet censorship.
The Internet and its Opportunities for Cybercrime by Bert-Jaap Koops [Transnational Criminology Manual] (Social Science Research Network)
Abstract: The Internet deserves special attention in criminology as well as criminal law and policy, because of several characteristics: it is global, instantaneous, intrinsically transborder, digital, and enables automated information processing. Because of these characteristics, the Internet provides special opportunities to commit cybercrimes: crimes in which computer networks are the target or a substantial tool.
Google replaces the brain (Daily Telegraph [AU])
The internet is becoming our main source of memory - instead of our own brains, a study has found.
Smartphones users 50% more likely to own tablet, Google study finds (The Guardian)
Multi-country study shows rapid rise in smartphone ownership, with UK leading pack of five biggest developed countries, and PCs retaining popularity - but tablets a growing hit
Canadian Anti-Spam law: Staying out of 'The Freezer' with your email campaigns (IT Business)
There are no firm dates yet, but authorities intend to implement Canada's anti-spam law sometime this year.
Backlash over Google move to change privacy settings (BBC News)
Critics have hit out at Google's decision to merge personal data from YouTube, Gmail, search, social network Google and dozens of other services.
Google's Privacy Policy Changes to Be Assessed in Probe by Irish Agency (Bloomberg)
Google Inc., owner of the world's most-popular search engine, may have changes to its privacy policy assessed by the Irish and French data-protection agencies.
EU data protection law proposals include large fines (BBC News)
Firms face being fined up to 2% of their global annual turnover if they breach proposed EU data laws.
