Articles by date
08 October 2007
Downloading the Burma uprising: Did it help? (Christian Science Monitor)
When protesters took to the streets of Burma two decades ago, activists relied on fax machines to tell the world what was going on. In last month's uprising in the isolated police state, they photographed and uploaded the demonstrations via cellphone. Images and videos bounced from Internet cafes to foreign blogs and international media, then sometimes back again to Burma (also known as Myanmar) by satellite TV and shortwave radio.
Internet's unsung guardians labor in obscurity to keep Web moving (San Francisco Chronicle)
Ask Derek Schlecht what he does for a living and he'll tell you he's an IBX site engineer. He may then hit you with a string of technical jargon about cooling units and backup power systems. What Schlecht's job really is, though, is keeping the Internet running. Not the whole Internet, of course. By the very nature of the Web, there is no central control room. Schlecht's responsibility is to maintain a small piece of it. And it's thanks to thousands of people like him around the world that your home page shows up when you log on in the morning.
07 October 2007
The Fakebook Generation: Op-Ed Contributor (New York Times)
... For young people, Facebook is yet another form of escapism; we can turn our lives into stage dramas and relationships into comedy routines. Make believe is not part of the postgraduate Facebook user's agenda. As more and more older users try to turn Facebook into a legitimate social reference guide, younger people may follow suit and stop treating it as a circus ring. But let's hope not.
BT invites homeowners to share their broadband with passers-by (The Times)
Homeowners are being invited to share their internet connections with passers-by in return for the right to access the network via other people's connections.
Inside the Googleplex (The Guardian)
Japanese massage chairs, scooter parking in the corridors, a room dedicated to lego and a plethora of purple lava lamps. It can only be the self-conscious wackiness of Google, which had an open day at its New York office this week.
uk: Identity theft warning to web networkers (The Guardian)
An advertising campaign to warn of the dangers of disclosing too much personal information should be launched on social networking websites, according to a report by MPs on identity theft.
Governments shouldn't cut Internet: UN telecoms chief (The Age)
UN telecommunications agency chief Hamadoun Toure said Friday that no government had the right to cut their citizens off from the Internet, following recent incidents in Myanmar.
Pennsylvania proposes to ban cybersquatting
Pennsylvania has a proposal to ban cybersquatting. The proposal follows Republican Jason Gherghel's decision to register various combinations domain names of his opponent, Melinda Kantner, which prompted the bill, says the state Rep. Neal P. Goodman, D-Schuylkill.
Costs of fighting the big guys for domain names
Forbes writes of a dispute between eBay with sales of US$1.8 billion per year, and Perfume Bay, an online fragrance retailer with annual sales $17 million. eBay is protesting against Perfume Bay's use of the word "bay" and "are making sure that Perfume Bay cannot be confused with eBay in any way and that customers are clear that if they purchase something off of Perfume Bay, they are not protected in any way by the consumer protection programs eBay has in place," says Catherine England, an eBay spokeswoman.
Cheap domain names fuel cybersquatting
Occurrences of cybersquatting are growing, fuelled largely by the availability of inexpensive domain names says Janna Lam, managing director of Singapore-based IP Mirror, in an interview with ZDNet Asia. Cybersquatting in Asia is growing and catching up to levels in other parts of the world. "The main cause [for this growth] is the low prices of Internet domain names."
Monks Are Silenced, and for Now, Internet Is, Too (New York Times)
It was about as simple and uncomplicated as shooting demonstrators in the streets. Embarrassed by smuggled video and photographs that showed their people rising up against them, the generals who run Myanmar simply switched off the Internet. ... The efficiency of this latest, technological, crackdown raises the question whether the vaunted role of the Internet in undermining repression can stand up to a determined and ruthless government -- or whether Myanmar, already isolated from the world, can ride out a prolonged shutdown more easily than most countries.
Burma's Net Curtain Begins To Lift (Forbes)
After a week-long Internet blackout intended to block all communication about the government's brutal political repression, Myanmar's Net users are regaining limited access to the outside world. Researchers at the OpenNet Initiative reported Friday that the country's only Internet service provider, Myanmar Infotech, had begun relaying data again sometime Thursday, raising hopes that political dissidents will manage to smuggle out more information about the recent violence.
Global approach needed on cybercrime: experts (Sydney Morning Herald)
Telecoms and computer executives, legal officials and UN agencies on Friday warned that the world needed to take a global approach to tackling cybercrime and security issues on the Internet. ITU chief Hamadoun Toure said individual national or regional approaches to tackle spam, hackers, remote attacks on computer systems and use of the Internet for crime would inevitably be flawed.
Global computer usage, mobile phone ownership jump (InfoWorld)
Increased computer usage and better e-mail and Web access may narrow the digital divide, although globalization critics may perceive such changes as a threat to local cultures and economies, a new Pew Research Center study suggests. The globalization survey released Thursday by Pew Research Center said that while technology inequality between countries has lessened, an ongoing backlash threatens globalization.
France kicks off nationwide spam fight (InfoWorld)
France is hoping to shut down spammers more quickly through a system that makes it easier for users to notify ISPs when unsolicited e-mails are coming from their network.
06 October 2007
Spam menace spreads to Briton's mobile phones (The Times)
The scourge of spam has spread to mobile phones, with Britons being bombarded by more than one million unwanted text messages every day. A report from uSwitch.com, the consumer website, also showed that security groups are losing their battle with the criminal gangs behind conventional e-mail spam.
Ok computer: Why the record industry is terrified of Radiohead's new album (The Independent)
Radiohead are the latest - and greatest - band to shun the conventional CD release. Their new album is available online - and you don't have to pay for it
International Expertise Of The Belarusian Draft Law On Information, Informatization And Information Protection
On March 7, 2007 Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus publicized the Draft law on information, informatization and information protection developed by Ministry of communications and informatization and by the State Information Security Centre. The draft law stipulates major principles of the state policy in the sphere of informatization and information protection: public access to information, issues of information exchange, information protection, obligations and rights of the hardware and software owners.
Rock Phish may be using fast flux in phishing attacks (InfoWorld)
The elusive "Rock Phish" group continues to be innovative. The group appears to have started using the "fast flux" method to fool researchers and elude detection, according to new security research. Cambridge University security researchers Richard Clayton and Tyler Moore tracked 30,000 phishing reports that came in through Phish Tank, a clearinghouse that tracks phishing sites, between February and April 2007. They found a link between Rock Phish and the fast flux approach.
ICANN to test IDNs next week
Associated Press is reporting ICANN has announced a trial of internationalised domain names (IDNs), with sample addresses to be added to central directories as early as next week. There are eleven domain names being trialled, aimed primarily at "software developers and web site designers to test the new system, but they are the first such names entered in the 13 key domain name directories, known as root servers, after years of discussions and limited-access tests."
Web Heavies Form Blockade Against Phishers (E-Commerce Times)
Yahoo, eBay and PayPal are teaming up to improve protections against phishing attacks, the companies announced Thursday. The companies have adopted a new e-mail authentication technology, developed by Yahoo and known as "DomainKeys Identified Mail," that uses cryptography to verify the domain of the sender. By allowing e-mail providers to validate an e-mail's originating domain -- ensuring that an e-mail apparently from PayPal really is from PayPal, for instance -- the technology makes blacklists and whitelists more effective.
us: Target ruling may force retailers to adjust Web sites (ComputerWorld)
A federal court judge's ruling this week that Target.com, the home page of retailer Target Corp., must be accessible to blind persons under California laws, could extend state and federal disabilities statutes to the Internet.
Google says closing gap with China rival (ZDNet)
Web search leader Google said on Thursday it is closing the gap with rival Baidu in China, after years of trying to increase market share in the world's second-largest Internet arena.
us: Labels Win Suit Against Song Sharer (New York Times)
In a crucial legal victory for record labels and other copyright owners, a federal jury yesterday found a Minnesota woman liable for copyright infringement for sharing music online and imposed a penalty of US$222,000 in damages. The verdict against Jammie Thomas of Brainerd, Minn., brought an end to the first jury trial in the music industry's protracted effort to rein in piracy with lawsuits against individual computer users. Since 2003, record labels have brought legal action against about 30,000 people, accusing them of trafficking in copyrighted songs. Also see in Salon, If Jammie Thomas is found guilty of downloading 24 songs, she could face millions in fines. Is this the outrage to finally prompt a change in copyright laws?
Where have you gone? Public participation on .post conundrum (ICANN Blog)
Kieren McCarthy writing on the ICANN Blog says, "There is a letter from the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to ICANN concerning the use of their sTLD .post that may well have important implications for the future evolution of the domain name system."
