Australia: ICT Update from Maddocks
Governance
Q&A: Vinton Cerf on the Internet's Future
Vinton Cerf is widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of the Internet and currently holds the title of "chief Internet evangelist" at search giant Google Inc.Last month, Maddocks hosted an evening where Mr Cerf. spoke on the future of digital communications. In Hong Kong for an industry conference, Mr. Cerf spoke with The Wall Street Journal about trends in the Internet space, the implications of the temporary shut down of the Internet in Egypt earlier this month and censorship in China. Full Story
United Nations undermines Internet Governance Forum
The first preparatory meeting for the 2011 Internet Governance Forum has ended with a significant degree of uncertainty thanks to ongoing bureaucratic delays. Full Story
Domain Names
June 2011 ICANN Meeting to be Held in Singapore
ICANN is pleased to announce that ICANN's 19-24 June 2011 Public Meeting will be held in Singapore. Full Story
NTIA Raises Possibility of Big Changes in IANA function by Milton Mueller
The U.S. Commerce Department has issued a Request for Comments (RFC) on the renewal of the IANA contract. As the notice itself says, this is "the first time NTIA has undertaken a comprehensive review of the IANA functions contract since the award of the first contract in 2000." Full Stor
NetFleet breaches Code of Practice
auDA has found that NetFleet breached the Code of Practice by sending unsolicited emails to approximately 1,200 registrants. Full Story
Victorian Supreme Court places Australian Style Pty Ltd in liquidation
On 7 February 2011, the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered Australian Style Pty Ltd be placed in liquidation and appointed John Lindholm of insolvency firm Ferrier Hodgson as liquidator. The decision follows a winding up application lodged by .au Domain Administration (auDA) on 29 November 2010. Full Stor
The auDA Foundation - One of a Kind
There are many types of foundations in Australia; private foundations established by individuals, family foundations, government initiated foundations, community foundations and corporate foundations that receive income or grants from profit making companies. Full Story
On New gTLDs and the Timeline
ICANN recently published materials describing discussions, public comment and general progress on the New gTLD program. One area that has attracted particular interest is the timeline for moving forward. Full Story
Importance of Domain Names Will Continue Despite Social Networking Options
Domain names will continue to be important in a company's branding and image said Sedo's Tim Schumacher on day one of the Domain Pulse conference in Vienna. However there are alternative means of promoting a company or brand such as social networking services, said Sabine Hoffman from marketing company ambuzzador, that can be complementary to using a domain name.
Available Pool of Unallocated IPv4 Internet Addresses Now Completely Emptied: The Future Rests with IPv6
A critical point in the history of the Internet was reached today with the allocation of the last remaining IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) Internet addresses from a central pool. It means the future expansion of the Internet is now dependant on the successful global deployment of the next generation of Internet protocol, called IPv6. Full Story
Sealing the deal for $100,000
THE group buying business continues to grow with Zoupon announcing the company has paid $100,000 for the domain name deals.com.au. Full Story
Internet Use
Google versus the content-spammers
For some time, Google has been threatening to make life harder for so-called "content farms", which produce mountains of low-grade articles stuffed with popular keywords, to ensure that they appear high up in search results. Google users grumble at having to wade through reams of such articles to find ones that are really informative. Now the search giant has revealed that it has tweaked the secret formula that it uses to rank web pages in ways that it hopes will make life harder for the purveyors of such spam. Full Story
Home Internet May Get Even Faster in South Korea
South Koreaalready claims the world's fastest Internet connections - the fastest globally by far - but that is hardly good enough for the government here. Full Stor
Asia's Digital Dilemma: While many Asian firms understand the importance of embracing the digital age, a deep-seated cultural wariness prevails
Faced with a massive fridge recall in Australia last year, South Korea's LG Electronics did something bold: It tweeted about it. Full Story
Web acts as virtual crisis centre for Christchurch quake victims
Christchurchearthquake victims are using the web as a virtual crisis centre, harnessing it for everything from finding and offering accommodation to locating missing people. Full Story
Future of online content is not free, says strategist
Consumers will pay for online content they previously got for free, including news and recorded music, predicts business strategist and author Saul Berman, but the transaction will be a lot more complicated than it used to be. Full Story
Health Care Is High Among Web Searches
Four in five Internet users have searched the Web for health care information, most often checking on specific diseases and treatments, a Pew Internet Project survey reported on Tuesday. Full Story
Australian dollar behind rise in online spending, central bank suggests [AAP]
Online spending for overseas goods is rising in Australia, but the level is still relatively low, Australia's central bank said today. Full Story
Internet advertising hits $2.2bn, and strong growth predicted
Internet advertising looks almost certain to have broken through $2.2 billion last year, with strong growth forecast in the year ahead despite a likely slow start due to the natural disasters in Queensland. Full Story
Online study kills uni life
The push towards web-based learning at universities has halved student attendance rates in some courses and dramatically increased working hours for lecturers, a survey of academics by The Sun-Herald has found. Full Story
Groupon launches in Australia as Stardeals
In the midst of an ongoing trademark stoush with Aussie coupon website Scoopon, Groupon has launched in Australia under the name Stardeals.... The Australian Domain Name Administrator (auDA) said in January that the matter was outside of its jurisdiction because Scoopon had registered both the "Groupon" business name in Australia as well as the local domain name. Full Story
New Technologies
Australian homes set for IT network revolution: ACMA
Australian home owners are increasingly becoming IT managers as household networks become ever more complex, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Full Story
Intellectual Property
World watches Australia's tobacco fight
The world is watching as Australia goes into battle with big tobacco over making cigarette packets plainer, uglier, and uncool. Full Story
USbusiness reboots copyright law
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said its top priority on intellectual property issues is pushing Congress to pass a law that tackles online copyright infringement and trade in counterfeit goods, setting up a potential clash between business interests and free-speech advocates. Full Story
Obama Creates IP Enforcement Committees
President Obama late Tuesday issued an executive order calling for the creation of two intellectual property enforcement advisory committees aimed at enhancing the efforts of the U.S. government to protect U.S. intellectual property. Full Story
Report Touts U.S. Efforts To Protect Intellectual Property
White House officials released the first report on intellectual property enforcement since the Joint Strategic Plan was enacted last year. Full Story
Counterfeit Congress Gives Nod To Developing Country Concerns
Sustainable development made what some described as a welcome intrusion at the global congress on counterfeiting and piracy during a dedicated session on Wednesday, with discussions on how to conduct enforcement efforts while taking into account developing country specificities. Full Story
Online TV & Music
iiNet wins another round in court battle with Hollywood
iiNet yesterday celebrated another major victory in its landmark online piracy battle with Hollywood, but safe legal ground is still far off for internet providers, copyright experts say. Full Story
AFACT online copyright appeal against iiNet dismissed
Australian ISPs celebrated today after the Federal Court found for a second time that they could not be held liable for internet piracy by their customers. Full Story
EFA urges skepticism on copyright claims
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today urged skepticism about claims that piracy is costing thousands of jobs in Australia. Full Story
Mobile/Wireless
Smartphones clogging mobile networks - ITU chief
Smartphones are causing heavy congestion on the world's mobile networks and governments need to act quickly to support wireless broadband growth, the head of the International Telecommunications Union warned. Full Story
Is this the start of a Mac-lash?
That Apple makes money from apps is not news. But it's the way it works that has hacked off fanboys and disenchanted developers. Ian Burrell examines how loyalty has been tested to the limit ... "Apple has brilliantly managed to sew us up in this Apple world, but in some ways they are the most rigid authoritarian leader brand. It's our way or the highway with Apple." Full Story
Telstra takes steps against bandwidth hogs
Telstra will use quality-of-service technology on its planned LTE wireless network to prevent heavy bandwidth users from clogging the network. Full Story
Online Crime, Security & Legal
When the Internet Nearly Fractured, And How It Could Happen Again
When the entire country of Egypt was forced offline by its government last month, it served as a global wake-up call that the Internet is a more fragile medium than we imagine it to be. What happened in Egypt was particularly striking, but other, subtler tests of the Internet's resilience abound. Full Story
UKcyber crime costs £27bn a year - government report
Cyber crime costs the UK economy £27bn a year, the government has said. The figures, published for the first time, are a mid-range estimate and the real cost could be much higher. Full Story
COAG sub-committee praises disaster tech
The National Emergency Management Committee has issued an update on the National Strategy on Disaster Resilience, which has praised the use of technology in disaster scenarios, following the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Canberra yesterday. Full Story
Unprotected home computers vulnerable to hijack
Protect your home computer or you could unwittingly help to launch a cyber attack, experts are warning. They say the rise in such attacks risks undermining critical national infrastructure and the future of the global economy. Full Story
Vultures circle Christchurch - an email scam warning
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has reported an email scam involving the Christchurch earthquake relief effort. Full Story
Censorship
Dictator-Proofing the Internet
When authorities in Egypt shut down Internet connections during last week's uprising, hackers around the world started scrambling to create a work-around. Before they could succeed, the blackout was lifted. But now people are worried that similar shutdowns might occur in countries like Jordan, Syria, and Yemen-and so hackers are working to set up alternative networks in those countries, just in case. Full Story
Government & Public Policy
WIPO Director General Addresses the Future of Copyright [news release]
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said that copyright needs to evolve to current technological realities or risk becoming irrelevant. Speaking at a conference hosted by Australia's Faculty of Law of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) on the future of copyright, Mr. Gurry said there is no "single magical answer" to the development of a successful policy response to the challenges facing copyright in the digital age, but a combination of "law, infrastructure, cultural change, institutional collaboration and better business models." Full Story
Attorney-General signals shift in safe harbour provisions
The Federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, has signalled moves to expand provisions harbouring internet service and online content providers from litigation by copyright holders. Full Story
Telecommunications
Wireless camp uninformed about cable, says NBN boss
The man responsible for rolling out the national broadband network, Mike Quigley, has bluntly rejected opposition claims the $36 billion project is threatened by Telstra's plans for a super-fast wireless network. Full Story
Pipe dreams of a faster future
Stephen Conroy is not one for bad dreams. Bad dreams come to people who doubt, who repress their anxiety. It's hard to imagine the federal Communications Minister repressing anything - he's always in the moment. Full Story
Opinion: NBN vs 4G: the contest is already over by Rod Tucker
When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, the coolest radio stations in town had DJs with fake American accents, and the best new products being advertised were always American or American-style. We looked to America as the home of everything new and exciting. We were envious as of the Americans as they were supposedly smarter than us and could do things better than us. Full Story