Goldstein Report

Global Information Society 2007 – The digital divide: a review of ICTs in Africa, Asia and Latin America

The Global Information Society Watch 2007 report – the first in a series of annual reports- looks at state of the field of ICT policy at local and global levels and particularly how policy impacts on the lives of people living in developing countries. … The report concludes that when it comes to ICTs for development, there are some conspicuous similarities between the countries. Excluding Spain, the other twenty-one countries each show obvious evidence of the “digital divide” which impacts on the majority of people negatively. According to Brazilian authors RITS, the absence of a people-orientated policy framework in Brazil runs the risk of condemning the vast majority of people to “eternal disconnection.” The report also includes provocative, analytical essays on five international institutions (including ICANN and the World Intellectual Property Organisation) questioning the extent to which they allow all stake-holders to participate in their processes.

Why It Will Be Hard to Close the Broadband Divide

When you look at the data on Americans without broadband at home, it suggests that it will take time to get these holdouts off the digital sidelines.

When you look at the data on Americans without broadband at home, it suggests that it will take time to get these holdouts off the digital sidelines.
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/220/report_display.asp

Viruses, Spyware, Phishing Cost U.S. Consumers $7 Billion Over Two Years

U.S. consumers lost $7 billion over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing schemes, according to Consumer Report’s latest State of the Net survey.The survey, based on a national sample of 2,000 U.S. households with Internet access, suggests that consumers face a 25% chance of being victimized online, which represents a slight decline from last year.Computer virus infections, reported by 38% of respondents, held steady since last year, which Consumer Reports considers to be a positive sign given the increasing sophistication of virus attacks.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201203030

CDT report Identifies Beginnings of Competitive Marketplace for Search Privacy

In a trend that could substantially benefit Internet users, the largest Internet search companies are beginning to aggressively compete with one another to offer stronger privacy protections, according to a report published by the Center for Democracy and Technology.

[news release] In a trend that could substantially benefit Internet users, the largest Internet search companies are beginning to aggressively compete with one another to offer stronger privacy protections, according to a report published by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
http://cdt.org/press/20070808press.phpCDT report Tracks and Compares Competition for Search Privacy
A report published today by CDT tracks the efforts of the leading Internet search companies as they begin to aggressively compete with one another to offer stronger privacy protections. In a string of recent announcements, the companies announced steps they were taking to delete old user data, strip the personally identifiable information out of stored search records, and, in one case, give users the option to have all of their search records deleted. CDT’s Search Privacy Practices report details and compares the revamped privacy policies of the five largest search providers and offers recommendations for both the industry and lawmakers for how to strengthen privacy protections further.
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/20070808searchprivacy.pdf

Study: Search engine privacy policies improving

The Center for Democracy and Technology praised many search-engine providers for recent changes to their privacy policies with some policies setting limits on data retention. But the CDT remains concerned that in many cases, search-engine users have little control over their data and that most major search engines retain query data indefinitely, officials of the group said Wednesday.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/08/08/Study-says-search-engine-privacy-policies-improving_1.htmlFor the report, see:
CDT report Identifies Beginnings of Competitive Marketplace for Search Privacy [news release]
In a trend that could substantially benefit Internet users, the largest Internet search companies are beginning to aggressively compete with one another to offer stronger privacy protections, according to a report published today by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
http://cdt.org/press/20070808press.phpCDT report Tracks and Compares Competition for Search Privacy
A report published today by CDT tracks the efforts of the leading Internet search companies as they begin to aggressively compete with one another to offer stronger privacy protections. In a string of recent announcements, the companies announced steps they were taking to delete old user data, strip the personally identifiable information out of stored search records, and, in one case, give users the option to have all of their search records deleted. CDT’s Search Privacy Practices report details and compares the revamped privacy policies of the five largest search providers and offers recommendations for both the industry and lawmakers for how to strengthen privacy protections further.
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/20070808searchprivacy.pdf

Google Maps redraw the realm of privacy

As street-level photos are added to the site, fears of intrusion arise. Google late Monday began incorporating street-level photos from Los Angeles, San Diego and some Orange County cities into its Google Maps program. The additions expanded an online service that thrilled some digital-map buffs and freaked out privacy advocates when it launched in May in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York and three other cities.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-google7aug07,1,5407348.storyAlso see:
Is Google Map Street View an Invasion of Privacy?
Few months ago, you could see the photograph of a woman on her underwear just by clicking on Google Map Street View. The woman’s picture was taken in real time when she was in her car with the door open. After numerous complaints, Google removed the image from its Google Map Street View feature. Google Map Street View is one of Google”s most recent creative features. It allows users to obtain a virtual and ‘real time’ view of some of the United States streets. Besides being able to see street-level photographs, Google’s street view allows users to talk virtual walks, find restaurants, shops, or any point of interest (maybe your foe’s house), and explore other city point of interests like landmarks, cityscapes, etc. This is great; but scary.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1823

ACLU Seeks Court’s Spying Rulings

The American Civil Liberties Union said it is asking a federal court to disclose its recent legal opinions on the Bush administration’s authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans. … The ACLU said such an unusual disclosure was needed because of legislation adopted by Congress over the weekend to temporarily expand the government’s power to conduct electronic surveillance without a court order in tracking foreign enemy suspects.

[Reuters] The American Civil Liberties Union said it is asking a federal court to disclose its recent legal opinions on the Bush administration’s authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans. … The ACLU said such an unusual disclosure was needed because of legislation adopted by Congress over the weekend to temporarily expand the government’s power to conduct electronic surveillance without a court order in tracking foreign enemy suspects.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201307097

Web 2.0 set to boom in Asia-Pacific

Expect Internet businesses in the Asia-Pacific region to start ringing the cash registers in two to three years, according to a new study released by IDC.

Expect Internet businesses in the Asia-Pacific region to start ringing the cash registers in two to three years, according to a new study released by IDC.IDC said the monetisation of online business models will start happening then, due in large part to the size of the region’s Internet population.IDC estimates that there are currently 900 million consumers under the age of 16 using Web 2.0 products, accounting for a third of the online population. In comparison, this consumer age group accounts for less than 20 percent of the population in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62030357,00.htm

Huge Spam Spike in Progress

A massive spam blast that started Tuesday is still in progress and shows no sign of abating, a security company said. “The scale of this stock pump-and-dump spam campaign is like nothing we’ve seen before,” said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos PLC. Similar to countless other e-mail campaigns in both delivery method and intent — the message arrives as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file and baits the scam by touting quick money to be made on an up-and-coming, if completely unknown, stock.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,135679/article.html[Sophos news release] Mass pump-and-dump scam causes spam level surge Single PDF spam campaign causes 30% increase in junk email levelExperts at SophosLabs, Sophos’s global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have warned of a huge spam campaign in the last 24 hours, designed to manipulate the share price of a company which sells wireless products to young people. Sophos reports that the scale of the spam campaign is so great that it has resulted in the amount of spam seen by its global traps rising by 30% in the last 24 hours.The spam messages are being sent to internet users worldwide, with an attached PDF file which urges them to buy shares in a company called Prime Time Group Inc. Investors may not be aware that the spammers have already purchased stock at a cheap price and are trying to artificially inflate its price by encouraging others to purchase more. The spammers plan to then sell off their stock at a profit, which may cause the price to plummet.The massive spike in spam was first seen at Sophos’s spamtraps in Germany at 16:40 BST yesterday, but was quickly seen arriving at other monitoring stations around the world. The email messages are being sent from compromised home PCs, turned into compromised zombies by hackers.”The scale of this stock pump-and-dump spam campaign is like nothing we’ve seen before, and it looks like it is working for the cybercriminals behind it. The share price in this company has rocketed as a result of bogus news being blasted to internet users worldwide,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. “In an attempt to get past anti-spam products criminals are now regularly using PDF files to carry their slick enticements for potential investors. Although a solid anti-spam defense can protect against this menace, there are plenty of people who still haven’t defended their email gateways and are being fooled into making an unwise investment.”Last month, Sophos published its Security Threat Report July 2007, examining the latest trends in spam, malware and hacking. The report described the trend for spammers to use PDF files to try and escape detection by email gateway filtering products.Sophos experts report that pump-and-dump stock campaigns account for approximately 25 percent of all spam, up from 0.8 percent in January 2005.Earlier this year, Sophos reported how the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had suspended trading in 35 companies as they were found to be commonly referenced in pump-and-dump stock email campaigns.Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend against the threats of spam, hackers, spyware and viruses.http://sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2007/08/spam-pump.html

Technology and being green

A few stories on technology and the environment – failing technologies because they’re too cramped and emit too much heat (OK, not quite a green story); minimising heat and power waste and cutting energy in data centres. Oh, and Apple seem to be claiming they realise their products contribute to energy use with their new iMacs!

Cool electronic gear may be emitting too much heat
Temperatures are rising and electronic gadgets are failing as more and more power is crammed into less and less space.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-heat4aug04,1,515041.storyIt’s not easy being green; Minimising heat and power waste
Green is the new black, it would seem. With many organisations now trying to “out-green” the competition, we are rapidly running into the problem seen with the majority of bandwagons – just how real are some of the arguments coming in from the vendors on the topic?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/08/green_it_hurdles/Technology companies try to go green by cutting the energy used by data centers [AP]
The extremely air-conditioned computer farms known as data centers are the gas-guzzling automobiles of the technology world. Some require 40 or 50 times more power than comparably sized office space.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/08/08/business/greentech.phpNew iMac: thin, silver – and green
Apple has revamped its flagship home computer with a recyclable aluminium casing and software that lets users do spreadsheets
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article2221733.ece