(Spiegel) Als eindeutig rechtswidrig hat der Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger (BDZV) die Expansion von ARD und ZDF im Internet bezeichnet
(New York Times) Later this year, the Brazilian telecommunications regulatory agency, Anatel, is expected to select the digital technology standard for the future of broadcast television in Brazil.
(Press Release) Council meeting (Culture) Luxembourg, 21 June 2001. The Council took note of information from Commissioner REDING on the latest developments regarding public service broadcasting. Following several complaints tabled by commercial TV channels, the Commission has decided to draw up a communication which would lay down the rules for the application of the provisions of the Treaty, in particular Art. 86 §3 on competition.
(CNET News.com) A committee of the Council of Europe signed off on the final draft of a broad treaty that aims to help countries fight cybercrime, but which critics say sacrifices privacy protections. When ratified by the council's leadership and signed by individual countries, the Convention on Cyber-Crime will bind countries to creating a minimum set of laws to deal with high-tech crimes, including unauthorized access to a network, data interference, computer-related fraud and forgery, child pornography, and digital copyright infringement. see also Committee on Crime Problems approves final draft of Cyber-crime Convention (Council of Europe) see also Cyber-crime: the law moves in.
(Newsbytes) Lawmakers contemplating the need for stronger cyber-crime laws received mixed signals from high-tech leaders, some of whom called for additional regulations while others urged stronger enforcement of laws already on the books.
(IDG) The 20-year-old Dutchman who says he created and unleashed the so-called "Anna Kournikova" e-mail worm will be prosecuted, according to authorities in the Netherlands.
(Newsbytes) A Russian computer hacker already awaiting trial in two states on allegations of computer intrusion and fraud was indicted by a federal grand jury on 15 additional counts relating to computer crimes allegedly committed in California.
(Newsbytes) U.S. law enforcers would be given broader powers to track and pursue pedophiles who target children over the Internet under a bill approved by the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime. The bill does not create any new crimes, but rather classifies existing child enticement and child pornography offenses as predicate offenses under existing wiretapping authority.
(Heise) Das falsche Opfer haben sich mutmaßliche Betrüger ausgesucht, die falsche Rechnungen für Web-Adressen verschicken. Ausgerechnet das Darmstädter Polizeipräsidium erhielt eine Rechnung über 269 Mark (138 Euro) für eine angebliche Online-Schaltung seiner Web-Adresse.
(BBC) Trading standards officers say much more needs to be done to make internet shopping in the UK safer. They say those responsible for protecting shoppers on the internet often do not know how to investigate online con-tricks. At its annual conference in Cardiff, the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) is calling for major changes to make the UK the safest place for e-commerce in the world.
(Newsbytes) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued the operators of a Web site that allegedly duped more than 50,000 people into paying "set-up" fees and signing over sensitive personal data, in exchange for a bogus promise of free Internet access.
(International Herald Tribune) China is conducting the largest crackdown on Internet cafés since the Web came to the country. As part of the crackdown, the police in several provinces installed special monitoring software into computers at Internet cafés to scan for pornography and information considered harmful by the government.
(AP) A businessman was sentenced to three years in prison for publishing articles criticizing Chinese leaders and the ruling Communist Party on the Internet.
(Newsbytes) Fearing that fugitive Scientology protester Keith Henson is being unjustly "slimed" by the Church of Scientology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) publicly proclaimed its support for the convicted Internet critic, who has taken refuge in Canada from California authorities.
(The Standard) Interview with Eric Nuzum, author of Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America.
(CNN) The national telecommunications monopoly in Iran denied a news report that it had prohibited youths under 18 from using the Internet. see also Iran Takes Tough Measures to Stop Internet Use (Reuters) and In Iranian Internet Cafes, Glued to The Screen (NewsFactor Network).
(Wired) Early nights and non-violent games will be on the menu at Malaysian cyber cafes if a state government passes new rules that would also bar kids in school uniform from the computer dens. Counselors in Selangor state vote on a long list of regulations that if passed would designate the cafes as entertainment outlets in an attempt to curb video gambling, viewing of pornography and other activities deemed undesirable by the authorities.
(FT) The Russian parliament threw out on its second reading a law on control of the mass media that would have limited foreign ownership in national television channels to less than 50 per cent.
(Washington Post) Turkey's parliament approved an Internet law as a subsection of the country's restrictive press law, treating anything posted on or sent over the Internet the same as if it were published in a newspaper or broadcast over the airwaves. Legal experts said the law potentially regulated the content of private e-mails and held Internet service providers responsible for the content of thousands of Web pages accessed through their portals. President Ahmet Sezer vetoed the legislation, returning it to parliament.
(transfert) Une association réclame la " suppression pour incitation à la débauche " de tasanté.com, le site santé de Skyrock à destination des jeunes. Seul problème : cette "association " est soupçonnée, depuis des années, de financer une secte brésilienne.
(Taipei Times) In response to the draconian measures proposed by the city government, owners say they are willing to compromise and monitor their customers
(New York Times) Civil liberties experts are applauding the decision by a district attorney to forego prosecuting two high school students who were arrested for their involvement in the creation of a Web site that contained names, telephone numbers and alleged sexual exploits of dozens of their female classmates.
(Salion) For years the FCC has neglected its oversight role concerning radio content. But on June 1, citing its newly revised indecency guidelines, the FCC fined KKMG $7,000 for airing a "clean" version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady," a song that, according to the FCC's ruling, "contains unmistakable offensive sexual references in conjunction with expletives that appear intended to pander and shock."
(FT) An independent review into how the UK government manages the radio spectrum - airwaves - was announced, heralding a shake-up of how the scarce resource is allocated. The review, conducted by Professor Martin Cave, will assess the most economically efficient use of the spectrum by both the private and public sectors.
(Eur-Lex) Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. OJ L 167 22 June 2001.
(Reuters) A federal appeals court handed Napster yet another legal defeat by rejecting its request for a chance to challenge the crippling injunction won by the music industry against its song-swapping service.
(Newsbytes) The Canadian government signaled the start of what could lead to dramatic reform of copyright law, releasing "consultation papers" that ask how those laws might be rewritten to work in the digital era.
(IDG) A German legal ruling demands that Hewlett-Packard pay intellectual-property fees on all the CD burners it has sold over the past three years.
(Newsbytes) Belgian Internet service provider (ISP) Euregio.net has filed a one million euro($854,000) lawsuit against Women.com, the U.S. Web portal, alleging copyright infringement. The case centers on the allegation that InternetHoroscopes.com, one of Women.com's Web services, used hidden text files from the Belgian ISP's EasyScope.com horoscopes service.
(ZDNet News) Excite@Home removed several newsgroups that it said fostered copyright infringement under federal law.
(Wired) The Supreme Court ruled that compilation in an electronic database is different from other kinds of archival or library storage of material that once appeared in print. That means that copyright laws require big media companies such as The New York Times to get free-lancers' permission before posting their work online.
(Yahoo FR) La question des droits de reproduction d'une oeuvre originale - droit d'auteur" ou "copyright" - est un véritable casse-tête. Protection de la propriété artistique contre droit à la copie privée, la polémique fait rage. Pour tenter d'éclairer les débats au niveau français, la ministre de la Culture Catherine Tasca a inauguré le 11 mai le Conseil supérieur de la propriété littéraire et artistique (CSPLA),.
(CNET News.com) While the first generation of file-trading technologies fights over Napster's leavings, more radical Net programmers are still committed to building a wholly anonymous, virtually untraceable way of communicating and trading files online, including Freenet and a Canadian project dubbed Cryptobox. See also MP3 Downloading Still Booming (ABCnews) .
(Press Release) The European Commission has adopted a Decision setting out standard contractual clauses ensuring adequate safeguards for personal data transferred from the EU to countries outside the Union.
(RAPID) The European Commission has adopted a Decision setting out standard contractual clauses ensuring adequate safeguards for personal data transferred from the EU to countries outside the Union. The Decision obliges Member States to recognise that companies or organisations using such standard clauses in contracts concerning personal data transfers to countries outside the EU are offering "adequate protection" to the data.
(InfoWorld) A high-ranking member of the House Banking Committee recently flogged many of the federally mandated privacy notices crafted by financial service enterprises for being too complex and burdensome for the average citizen.
(Salon) Whether you're in jail or at the supermarket, your image might be shown on the Net, and there's not a thing you can do about it.
(Reuters) Internet privacy-compliance program Truste plans to develop a set of symbols that would summarize online privacy policies, enabling Internet users to quickly assess the data practices of Web sites they visit.
(Wired) Personal data used in online transactions is often encrypted at the least significant time. Virtually all cases of credit card theft happen when a malicious hacker gains access to an e-commerce site's server, and is then able to access the database that contains customer information -- which by then is often unencrypted and exposed. see also E-Commerce Fears? Good Reasons and DoDoes Media Fuel Buyers' Fears? .
(ZDNet) A Connecticut man is suing a local rental company, Acme Rent-a-Car, after it used GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to track him and then fined him $450 for speeding three times.
(San Jose Mercury News) by William Safire. Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in America today, impoverishing a third of a million households last year. The key to your identity door is your Social Security number. The door could open to your medical, financial and academic records, buying habits, genetic makeup and other intimate details.
(Newsbytes) The Senate approved legislation that would require schools to get parental consent before collecting personal information from students for commercial use.
(bridges.org) There are literally thousands of initiatives aimed at tackling the digital divide, but they are bound to fail as long as they focus on just computers and connections. Although information communication technology (ICT) has the potential to help people leapfrog development obstacles, it will only benefit disadvantaged communities once these initiatives address the patchwork of issues at stake. This is the main finding of a report just released by the international NGO bridges.org, whose mission is to help people in developing countries use technology to improve their lives.
(Multimédium) Le parlement québécois a finalement adopté le projet de loi 161 concernant le cadre juridique des technologies de l'information, qui accorde notamment aux documents électroniques une reconnaissance juridique équivalent à celle des documents d'encre et de papier.
(RAPID) Erkki LIIKANEN, Member of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, European Electronic Signature Standardization Initiative (EESSI) Conference, Brussels, 19 June 2001.
(Wired) Afilias, the registry charged with overseeing the rollout of the dot-info top-level domain intend to be the first of seven new regulator-approved Web suffixes to go live on the Net on Sept. 19.
(vnu.net) Less than a month after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) met to discuss the growing threat of so-called 'alternative root' domains, US organisation New.net has rolled out its own service in the UK by partnering with UK wholesale internet service provider (ISP) Energis.
(ITWeb) The South African government has won the first round of its battle for the Southafrica.com domain name, and its war to protect the names of sovereign nations. A New York court this week ruled it did not have jurisdiction over the dispute and would not prevent the government from turning to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for arbitration.
(Guardian) Protesters threatened to use "cyber sit-ins" to derail a high-profile development conference organised by the World Bank, after the Washington-based body announced it would hold the conference online to avoid demonstrations.
(Observer) Andrew Pinder, the Prime Minister's e-Envoy, responds to comments by John Naughton about the Government Gateway.
(Reuters) Subscribers to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's e-mail magazine soared to more than two million, showing his popularity was as strong as ever after his party's victory in a key Tokyo municipal election.
(Telepolis) Virtuelle Sit-ins - wie jetzt gegen die Lufthansa geplant - sind nach Auffassung des Bundesjustizministeriums kein legitimes Mittel zur politischen Meinungsäußerung. Mehrere Straftatbestände könnten erfüllt sein, das Versammlungsrecht greife im Netz nicht. Nicht so schnell, warnen liberalere Rechtsexperten dagegen vor einer voreiligen Einschränkung von Grundrechten der Netzbürger.
(RAPID) Senior civil servants from the public administrations of 28 European countries have endorsed recommendations for the development of on-line government services.
(Libération) Une webcam installée dans son bureau filme son travail au Bundestag.
(Computer Daily News) The Internet Industry Association (IIA), a lobby group which represents Internet service providers, content providers and others, says an independent report from Gartner Consulting raises "serious concerns" about the Australian Government's Interactive Gambling Bill 2001 which may require Australian ISPs to block access to overseas services. The Gartner study found it was not technically feasible to stop Australians using either offshore or locally-based Internet casinos. It said blocking technologies were easily bypassed. See also Banning Online Gambling is Not Technically Feasible (Press release)
(ZDNet UK) Two million Brits will be gambling online by 2005, according to new research by Datamonitor - and most of them will be doing it through digital TV
(Spiegel) Im Bundestag wird in erster Lesung über das so genannte E-Commerce-Gesetz beraten. In ihm geht es vor allem um Regelungen für die Anbieter. Der Deutsche Multimedia Verband (dmmv) kritisiert, vor allem in Rechtsfragen gebe es "Anlass zu deutlicher Kritik".
(AP) The state sued three online casinos, saying the offshore companies broke the law by taking bets from New Jersey residents.
(CBC) A senior Canadian Navy officer has been temporarily relieved of his post after he admitted to accessing pornographic sites on the Internet using a Department of Defence computer last year.
(Libération) Les employeurs multiplient les chartes contre le surf à usage personnel.
(BBC) An internet pioneer who spearheaded the fight against the spread of child pornography on the web has been honoured by the Queen. Peter Dawe receives an OBE for his work with the Internet Watch Foundation.
(Le Monde) Christian Pierret, le secrétaire d'Etat à l'industrie vient de déposer au Parlement un projet de loi sur la société de l'information qu'il espère voir voté en première lecture avant les élections de 2002. Dans un entretien, il s'explique sur la portée de ce texte et répond aux critiques de ses détracteurs. voir aussi La LSI prend le chemin du Parlement (ZDNet FR) et Site officiel.
(Press Release)) With the launch of the eEurope + Action Plan at the occasion of the Göteborg Summit, the Heads of Government of the EU Candidate Countries have given a joint, political commitment to embrace the challenges associated with the knowledge-based economy (or "digital economy" as it is often referred to) in a joint effort to modernise our economies and provide potential benefits to our citizens.
(RAPID) Erkki LIIKANEN, Member of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, Comité européen des assurances, Helsinki, 15 June 2001
(Economist) Why has broadband Internet access taken off in some countries but not in others?
(ZDNet FR) L'offre (bas débit) illimitée à 200 F souhaitée par le gouvernement est selon Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, représentant des FAI, économiquement irréaliste. Il en expose les raisons.
(RAPID) Erkki LIIKANEN, Member of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, Seminar "Education and Public Service Broadcasting in the Digital Age", Helsinki, 15 June 2001
(E-Commerce Law Daily) A French anti-racism group filed suit against 13 Internet service providers that have refused to block access to a U.S.-based portal site which acts as an online host to more than 400 hate groups. The complaint by International Action for Justice in French. A response from the French Association of Internet Access Providers in French. see also French ISPs Resist Blocking Racist Web Site (Newsbytes), Faut-il obliger les FAI à bloquer l'accès aux sites racistes ? (vnunet.fr) and Quels verrous contre le «portail de la haine» ? (Libération).
(ZDNET) International policy-makers ended a round of talks aimed at setting common rules affecting online trade and commerce, but they made little progress in bridging divisions that threaten to delay the pact. The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments is still almost unknown outside international policy circles. Nevertheless, it could have broad implications for consumers and businesses by setting new rules for online copyrights, free speech and e-commerc - if it is approved. see also Hague Diplomatic Conference Ends, Badly For Now (Consumer Project on Technology - CPT) and Your Court or Mine? (Standard).
(Wired) The American Family Association says that since images on Yahoo's discussion groups and Geocities area violate state and local pornography laws, prosecutors can send a message to the Internet industry by bringing criminal charges against a high-profile target.
(New York Times) New York will become the first state to ban talking on a hand-held cellular telephone while driving.
(New York Times) A federal appeals court threw into chaos plans to upgrade cell phone service across the country when it found yesterday that the government had illegally confiscated the wireless spectrum licenses of NextWave Personal Communications, which lost them after it went into bankruptcy.
(RAPID) Erkki LIIKANEN, Member of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, EVUA (European Virtual Private Networks Users Association) Plenary, Helsinki, 15 June 2001
(Press Release) Council meeting Culture Luxembourg, 21 June 2001. Council Conclusions on the protection of minors from harmful media content and human dignity as a follow-up to the Commission's Evaluation Report on the implementation of the Council Recommendation of 24 September 1998.
(NewsFactor Network) The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has opened a new Internet-based tracking database of hate groups, which it hopes will help police and others keep tabs on active subversive organizations.
(Salon) A 17-year-old takes a stand against a school Web-filtering system that screens out Planned Parenthood but not the Christian Coalition.
(Washington Post) A bipartisan duo in the House of Representatives is planning to introduce legislation that would give the Federal Trade Commission power to regulate the current ratings system. The legislation comes after a broad coalition of medical experts called on Congress and the entertainment industry to create a new ratings system that would encompass movies, television, music and video games and an independent oversight group to monitor it.
(RAPID) Mrs Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Education and Culture, RTL Group Management Conference, Venice, 22 June 2001. "In my view, there is a pressing need for a single, coherent classification system that covers all electronic content: television, Internet, computer games".
(Reuters) One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web, according to a survey by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire published in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. See also Teens Shrug Off E-Pervs (Standard). ,A study says that 1 in 5 kids have been harassed on the Internet, but that bigger problems lurk offline.
(BBC) Parents keen to ensure their children stay safe online are being advised to become as familiar with web browsing and chatting technology as their offspring. The advice comes from the Once Project, an EU-backed project that is researching ways for children to stay safe when using the web.
(AP) Ask the parents, and they'll say they check on their teen-age children's use of the Internet. Ask the kids, and they'll say, "No way." The perception gap was revealed in a survey. The Pew Internet and American Life Project also found that the Internet helps youths ages 12 to 17 improve relationships with friends, but not with family. see Teenage Life Online (Pew Internet) The rise of the instant-message generation and the Internet's impact on friendships and family relationships.
(European Commission) Report May 2001, regulatory and technological overview and terms of reference
(Reuters) More parents are setting online rules for their children, including how to respond to personal questions, and limiting the time they let their kids spend surfing the Web, according to a survey released by the Walt Disney Co. see Parents play a key role in helping kids' understand the importance of internet safety (Press Release).
(Media Awareness Network) Young Canadians In A Wired World: The Students' View is a nationwide investigation of Internet use among Canadian youth, exploring what they do online, how they perceive the Internet and what they know about it. the data also presents findings which show that, in this age of connectivity, there is a substantial discrepancy in how parents see their children using the Internet, and what their children are actually doing online. voir aussi Les jeunes Canadiens dans un monde branché: la perspective des élèves et Savez-vous vraiment ce que vos enfants font sur Internet? (Multimédium).
(Observer) On 25 October, Microsoft plans to unleash Windows XP, its next desktop operating system, upon an unsuspecting world. XP, since you ask, apparently stands for 'experience'. There are, however, two 'features' in Windows XP about which Mr Gates and his colleagues are less forthcoming. Smart Tags enables Microsoft - through the browser running on your PC - to re-edit anybody's site, without the owner's knowledge or permission. The other under-discussed feature of XP is the way in which its architecture opens up a terrifying security hole which could make it much easier for malicious programmers to launch the Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks which brought down many large e-commerce sites recently.
(ZDNet UK) With companies failing to report IT attacks, no statistics exist to prove the extent of the cybercrime problem. The head of Britain's National High-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) is calling for a confidential channel for UK businesses to report cybercrime attacks.
(Newsbytes) SaferInternet.org, the European Union-sponsored Web site that was yanked off the Web after being hacked twice, is now back online. But it is still being targeted for attack
(vnunet.com) Microsoft was left reeling after hackers defaced not one, not two, but three of its corporate websites in just half an hour. Then, to add insult to injury, a fourth Microsoft site was compromised by the same hacker before being defaced again by another group.
(Newsbytes) Internet vandals defaced eight more Malaysian government sites, highlighting the lax security and poor maintenance among local network administrators. A group known as "Silver Lords" claimed responsibility through the German-based defacement mirror site Alldas.de.
(Le Monde) Un logiciel favorisant la création de clones de cartes de paiement circulerait sur Internet. Le Groupement des Cartes bancaires va jusqu'à réclamer l'interdiction de la publication de ces informations.
(ZDNet Deutschland) Microsoft hat vor einem Sicherheitsloch in den Frontpage Server-Erweiterungen des Internet Information Servers (IIS) in der Version 4.0 und 5.0 gewarnt.
(CNET News.com) Microsoft said that a "serious vulnerability" in its flagship Web server software used by computers running more than 6 million sites could allow hackers and online vandals to take control of the computers.
(ZDNet News) NTT DoCoMo warns of an e-mail, if opened, will dial an emergency number, make calls to a large number of people or crash the consumer's cell phone. Japanese wireless phone giant NTT DoCoMo warned the company's 24 million mobile Internet service subscribers that a malicious e-mail could be making its way to their phones.
(Register) A Windows-based Trojan horse program has swamped Internet discussion groups, including a forum for discussing computer viruses, with child pornography ads.
(eWEEK) Distributed denial-of-service attacks - which by some estimates total more than 4,000 a week - are likely to get much worse as the perpetrators hone their skills and new weaknesses in popular platforms are discovered and exploited.
(Reuters) A California state lawmaker asked the manager of the state's power grid to detail the steps it has taken to prevent its computer network from being hacked again after an earlier breach that is being investigated by the FBI.
(Heise) T-Online hat die jüngst bekannt gewordene Sicherheitslücke in T-Online Webmail zuverlässig geschlossen. Angreifer konnten bis dahin durch einen vergleichsweise simplen Trick die Schutzmaßnahmen umgehen und Passwörter fremder Webmail-Accounts ändern und die Konten von innen verriegeln
(Gibson Research Corporation) The Strange Tale of the Attacks Against GRC.COM. Nothing more than the whim of a 13-year old hacker is required to knock any user, site, or server right off the Internet.
(Economist) The use of quantum mechanics to encrypt messages may foil eavesdroppers and code-breakers for good
(Economist) Can computer viruses ever be a force for progress? Some virus writers wish their fellow users well, and have been spreading viruses that are designed to do good, not harm.
(Wired) Forget the supposed menace of teen hackers casually bypassing the security of U.S. military computers. The real worry is foreign governments, according to a hearing organized by the U.S. Congress' Joint Economic Committee.
(Newsbytes) Europe Online, the satellite-based Internet service provider (ISP), has relaunched itself as a hybrid dialup and satellite Internet operation. The Internet carrier is steering users away from real-time broadband access to the Net, and over to requested file downloads over the satellite connection. The new approach to sharing satellite downstream channel resources opens the way for near video-on-demand services.
(Reuters) -) Hollywood is in the deal-making phase of its campaign to distribute movies over the Internet and showtime for the resulting ventures is still some way off.
(CNET News.com) Hughes Network Systems announced plans to offer new broadband services from space.
(FT) The launch in Portugal of the world's first commercial interactive television service using broadband set-top boxes may turn the lowly remote control into a central tool of the digital age. Armchair zapping will give Portuguese subscribers access to 50 television channels, high-speed internet surfing, e-mail, digital video recording, pay TV, video-on-demand and a rapidly evolving range of shopping, banking, information and other interactive services
(FT) Will consumers be left to their own devices? As the convergence trend takes hold, service providers must stop pushing technology at people and listen instead to their real wishes. also Online government, Public sector, Wireless LANs.
(New York Times) The collapse of talks between Microsoft and AOL Time Warner was rooted in Microsoft's strategy of making its new operating system the tool to provide a wide range of tightly integrated services directly to computer users, an area AOL has dominated for years. See also From friends to foes (Economist) The two technology giants AOL and Microsoft are set to become bitter enemies.
(Economist) The Internet was supposed to loosen the big record companies’ grip on the music market. It did, but only for a while.
(IDG) Microsoft and RealNames teamed on a keyword-based searching service for the UDDI registry, adding one of the first new features to a directory that has been billed as a "Yellow Pages" for the Internet.
(FT) Sony is poised to lose a large chunk of its market share to Microsoft and Nintendo in the battle for the next generation of video game consoles, according to a report published by the European Leisure Software Publishers' Association.
(Reuters) Sony has unveiled a new interactive broadband service that lets users create their own songs and movies on the Web. Sony is targeting its new product, called Screenblast, at 18-to-24-year-olds who are comfortable using video and audio editing tools to create their own recordings and films.
(FT) What will the future of SMS be once the next generation of mobile phones come on board
(Wired) The Internet Streaming Media Alliance hopes to challenge both Microsoft and RealNetworks over the creation of a digital standard for streaming. The reason: They don't believe that either one will act in the best interests of streaming companies.
(Newsbytes) The percentage of German adolescents who spend time surfing the Web at home is lower than several other nations. But, in terms of time spent online, those German teens who do surf are the world champions.
(USA Today) It hasn't yet replaced the telephone, but instant messaging is becoming an indispensable means of teen socialization. Nearly three out of four online teens - 13 million - use instant messages (IMs), according to the study of kids ages 12 to 17 from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. see also Instant Messages Are Lasting and Survey: Teens prefer instant messages to phone (IDG).
(FT) Over-full inboxes are turning people off e-mail and back to meetings, according to the annual survey of UK internet usage from Which? Online, the UK-based consumer rights website.
(Aftenposten) Children have greater access to the Internet in Norway than in any other country in the world. Some 92 percent of all kids aged between 7 and 18 can log on, a big worry for parents concerned about online security.
(Guardian) Women are increasingly logging on to the internet as more than one in three of the population regularly goes online, according to an annual survey released today by Whichonline.
(Reuters) The Internet may seem all-pervasive, but billions of people around the world are not surfing the Web because of a lack of interest, need, money and equipment.
(internet.com) Worldwide subscriptions to America Online have surpassed the 30 million milestone with 24 million U.S. members and another 6 million foreign subscribers. The AOL subscription base has now doubled over the last two and a half years.
(ZDNet FR) Audiogalaxy permet l'échange de fichiers musicaux avec les mêmes restrictions que via Napster, mais il autorise également des recherches "plus larges" sur le réseau FTP, d'où son énorme succès.
(Wall Street Journal) Microsoft, even while mounting a new campaign against open-source software, has quietly been using such free computer code in several major products, as well as on key portions of a popular Web site - despite denying last week that it did so.
(BBC) The hugely popular MP3 encoding software that compresses large sound files has been overhauled by its creators Thomson Multimedia and the Fraunhofer Institute. The updated MP3 standard, called MP3pro, splits the audio stream it is encoding into two parts: one for low frequency sounds and the other for high pitched sounds.
(FT) When Thomas Middelhoff dressed up as Mr Spock for an advertising campaign to attract new talent to Bertelsmann, both admirers and critics inside the German media giant thought the image was just right.
QuickLinks consists of
QuickLinks is edited by Richard Swetenham richard.swetenham@cec.eu.int - Contributors: Internet Law News, David Goldstein, Gerhard Heine, Alan Reekie