Chinese 'Wikipedia' launched

Herald Sun 11 May 2006

CHINA'S biggest internet search engine has launched an online encyclopedia modelled on the US-based website Wikipedia, which is blocked by Beijing.

However, entries on Baidupedia, the service from Nasdaq-listed Baidu.com launched last month, are censored by the Chinese Government.
Searches conducted today for the banned spiritual movement "Falungong" or for "Dalai Lama" – in both Chinese and English – yielded no results, but generated the message: "The page cannot be displayed."

Baidu's chairman and chief executive Robin Li told Britain's Financial Times newspaper his online encyclopedia was modelled on Wikipedia.

But he said he was unaware Beijing had banned the Florida-based reference website.

"I certainly hope our encyclopedia will be the most authoritative one for any Chinese users," Mr Li was quoted as saying.

"The initial reaction has been very positive, so we are quite confident that we will quickly become the number one in this area."

The Chinese-language version of Wikipedia, which relies on voluntary users and contributors to ensure its neutrality and objectivity, was enjoying soaring popularity until Beijing blocked access to the site late last year.

Beijing bans many portals to eliminate "harmful" content, including pornography and violence from their websites.

But it also categorises politically sensitive material and some religious content, such as those from Falungong, as "harmful" and regularly shuts down websites containing such information.

Baidupedia barred users from including any "malicious evaluation of the current national system", any "attack on government institutions" or even "promotion of a dispirited or negative view of life", the FT said.

Company officials at Baidu could not be immediately reached for comment.

China has about 111 million internet users, with the majority being youngsters.

Baidu.com holds a leading share of China's search market at 37.4 per cent.

Its stock sale in August on Nasdaq was one of the year's hottest initial public offerings – with its shares surging 354 per cent in one day, prompting some analysts to nickname it the "Chinese Google".

Google launches Google Trends

11 May 2006

Google Trends analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. We then show you a graph with the results -- our search-volume graph.

Located just beneath our search-volume graph is our news-volume graph. This graph shows you the number of times your topic appeared in Google News stories. When Google Trends detects a spike in the volume of news stories for a particular term, it labels the graph and displays the headline of an automatically selected Google News story written near the time of that spike. Currently, only English-language headlines are displayed, but we hope to support non-English headlines in the future.

Below the search and news volume graphs, Google Trends displays the top cities, regions, and languages for the first term you entered. [READ MORE]

Miners' domain names removed

11 May 2006

INTERNET domain names brantwebb.com.au and toddrussell.com.au have been deregistered after the web watchdog moved to quash attempts to "cash in" on the freed miners' story.

The Australian domain name administrator auDA today said the two domain names were registered on Tuesday night, hours after the pair walked free from the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania.

auDA chief executive Chris Disspain said the administrator was aware of the registrations by 9am the next morning and quickly moved to delete the names.

While it was possible the registrations were legitimate, the body believed it was likely to have been an attempt at opportunism, Mr Disspain said.

"Our immediate reaction was that it was more likely to be an attempt by the registrant to cash in (on the story)," he said.

The administrator sent the registrant a notice asking them to explain within 24 hours why they were eligible for the names but no response was received.

"No satisfactory eligibility has been received so we deleted the domain names this morning," Mr Disspain said.

He said com.au names were reserved for registered Australian businesses, and the name must be "closely and substantially connected" to the business. [READ MORE]

Microsoft Nags U.S. Users Of Fake Windows

If Microsoft thinks your copy of Windows is pirated, the software will display a nag screen upon login.

By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb.com

Apr 25, 2006 04:22 PM

Microsoft on Tuesday expanded its anti-piracy efforts by unveiling a tool that puts "nag" messages on the screens of computers running bogus copies of Windows.

The "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool displays a message when users of counterfeit Windows log on. "It appears that you could be a victim of software piracy. The copy of Windows installed on this computer is not considered to be genuine by Microsoft," the initial dialog box message reads. "The notification will continue to display until your computer is running genuine Microsoft Windows."

A similar message pops up at random times from the system tray section of the Windows taskbar.

If users choose to ignore the warning -- a "Resolve me later" button is available from the log-on dialog -- Windows plants a permanent banner at the bottom of the screen that reads "You might be the victim of software piracy. The copy of Windows installed on this computer is not considered to be genuine by Microsoft."

All the messages will lead users to a Web site where Microsoft pitches the benefits of legit Windows, and describes its previously-announced offers for free or reduced-price copies of Windows XP Home and Professional. [Read MORE]

Free Internet on Victorian public transport?

26/04/2006

Free wireless Internet access may be available on Victorian public transport next year under a proposal by a private Melbourne Internet provider.

Tullamarine-based wireless ISP 802! is negotiating with public transport providers to install wi-fi access points on Melbourne and regional public transport, says founder Vasil Vasiliades.

The ISP proposes to supply, install and maintain wireless access points on train and main bus routes, along with screens displaying location-based information and advertising.

The Victorian Government's VicTrack is understood to be considering Vasiliades' plan. According to its website, VicTrack "owns all land and infrastructure in Victoria used for the purposes of public train and tram-based transport", which it leases to private operators through the Director of Public Transport.

Scholarship and Awards

Yahoo accused of helping jail China Internet writer
Wed Apr 19, 2006
BEIJING (Reuters)

Yahoo Inc. may have helped Chinese police to identify an Internet writer who was subsequently jailed for four years for subversion in the third such case, an advocacy group for journalists said on Wednesday.

News implicating Yahoo in the imprisonment of Jiang Lijun in 2003 surfaced on the eve of a summit between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Bush in Washington.

It was the third such case involving the U.S. Internet giant.

Yahoo was accused of providing electronic records to Chinese authorities that led to an eight-year prison term for Li Zhi for subversion in 2003 and of helping to identify Shi Tao, who was accused of leaking state secrets abroad and jailed last year for 10 years.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it had obtained a copy of the verdict showing that Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) helped Chinese police to identify Jiang by confirming that the e-mail account ZYMZd2002 had been used jointly by Jiang and another pro-democracy activist Li Yibing.

"Little by little we are piecing together the evidence for what we have long suspected, that Yahoo! is implicated in the arrest of most of the people that we have been defending," the group said.

"We hope this Internet giant will not, as it has each time it has been challenged previously, hide behind its local partner, Alibaba, to justify its behavior. Whatever contract it has with this partner, the e-mail service is marketed as Yahoo!," it said.

But the watchdog conceded that the access code could also have been provided by Li, who is suspected of having been a police informer in the case.

Yahoo could not immediately be reached for comment. The company has defended itself in the past, saying it had to abide by local laws.

The 40-year-old Jiang was accused of seeking to use "violent means" to impose democracy, Reporters Without Borders said.

Police believed Jiang to be the leader of a small group of Internet dissidents, including Liu Di, a university student who was detained for one year and released in November 2003 after police decided against pressing charges.

The case is the latest in a string of examples that highlight the friction between profits and principles for Internet companies doing business in China, the world's number-two Internet market.

Web search giant Google Inc. has come under fire for saying it would block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, bowing to conditions set by Beijing.

In December, Microsoft shut down a blog at MSN Spaces belonging to outspoken blogger Michael Anti under Chinese government orders.

China has intensified a crackdown on the media in the past year, sacking newspaper editors, arresting journalists and closing publications.

Internet phone users face a Spit of bother
MURDO MACLEOD Scotland on Sunday
09/04/2006

FIRST there was Spam, now there is Spit.

Users of e-mail must wade through scores of junk messages each morning and risk deleting that all-important business or personal correspondence, and now internet phone systems are being deluged by junk calls which have been given the unhygienic-sounding acronym Spit (SPam over Internet Telephony).

Internet telephone services, also known as Voip (for Voice Over Internet Protocol) are regarded as being one of the most successful developments on the internet. They offer low-cost calls using the internet to transmit data. Calls between computers on the same network are even free.

Last year the online auction company eBay paid £1.4bn to buy Skype, a leading internet telephone company, and supermarket giant Tesco has launched an internet phone service.

The nuisance calls take the form of answerphone messages sent automatically to web phone answering services. The attraction for the junk callers is that their calls will be free, just as the advent of free e-mail allowed marketers to bulk-e-mail millions of unfortunate users at the same time.

And just like the infamous e-mails from Africa which beg for money, internet phone calls asking for cash are emerging from Nigeria. Free calls allow scammers to spend as long as they want wearing victims down with long calls or repeatedly phoning back. And the fact that the calls can be made cheaply from overseas means that "Spitters" need not worry about obeying UK laws on telemarketing.

Technology commentator Brian Baglow said: "This was inevitable. As soon as voice over internet calls became popular it became interesting for scammers. I have had junk calls from people from all over the world.

"One Nigerian was on the phone and saying he was in a serious jam and needed money. I played along for a short while and asked where I should send the money to. He said: 'No, no. Just give me your bank details!' 'Yeah right,' I thought.

"But it's not going to put me off and I don't think it will stop Voip. I use it all the time for calls. All my clients are on internet phone systems and we use it for free calls all the time. It has completely changed my life.

"Just like e-mail and internet providers have brought in software to combat junk e-mail, the internet phone companies will develop fixes to deal with this problem."

It is estimated as many as 74% of all e-mails sent worldwide are Spam. Microsoft boss Bill Gates, one of the world's richest men, is reportedly sent four million Spam e-mails a day.

Nigerian 419 scam stole the most money off Internet
Eric Rosenberg, Hearst Newspapers
09/04/2006

Americans lost a record amount of money to Internet fraud last year, with the infamous Nigerian 419 scam nabbing the largest sums from individuals, according to new federal crime statistics.

Americans reported losing an all-time high of $183 million to Internet fraud in 2005, up 169 percent from $68 million the previous year, the Internet Crime Complaint Center said last week.

The center, which has been tracking Internet fraud trends for five years, is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, a congressionally funded organization that aids law-enforcement agencies.

Internet auction fraud accounted for 62 percent of the 97,076 Internet fraud complaints that the Internet Crime Complaint Center referred to law-enforcement agencies for investigation last year.

While Internet auction fraud was the most frequently reported offense, the highest individual losses were racked up by Nigerian 419 scams, a seemingly preposterous confidence game that nonetheless proves highly successful for criminals.

According to the statistics, the Nigerian scams accounted for the highest losses per incident of any Internet-related financial crime in 2005 with an average loss of $5,000, a surge of 60 percent per incident over the rate in 2004.

Federal officials call the Nigerian scheme the "419" scam because it originates in that West African country; 419 is the Nigerian criminal code designation for fraud. There are numerous variations on the theme, but the general outlines are:

A purported African official sends an unsolicited e-mail saying he needs your help in transferring millions of dollars from the account of an African dictator. You will receive a sizable percentage -- 20 to 40 percent -- by helping him do so.

The thief cons the recipient into transferring "transaction costs" up front to consummate the deal. Invariably, the African official requires additional funds from the victim when the transaction encounters fictitious snags.

The Federal Trade Commission has warned that the scam is reaching "epidemic proportions."

Of the criminals who could be traced to their location, 71 percent resided inside the United States, according to the report. But Nigerian-based criminals accounted for the next-highest portion -- 7.9 percent -- followed by criminals based in the United Kingdom -- 4.2 percent.

If consumers believe they have been conned by a 419 scam, the government advises them to contact their local U.S. Secret Service field office or file an online complaint at the Internet Crime Complaint Center: www.ic3.gov.

Google Sitemaps
07/04/2006

Vanessa Fox, a technical writer for Google's Sitemaps product, thinks you should be using Sitemaps with your site today. . . .

"The Google Sitemaps program is two-way communication between webmasters and Google. You can give us information about your site so we can index it more effectively, and we can show you how we see your site and tell you about any trouble we've had crawling it. "

Hackers Worm Into Hard Disk Through HP Printer Software
By Gregg Keizer
06/04/2006

The bug, which Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia dubbed "less critical," affects the Toolbox software included with the Color LaserJet 2500 and Color LaserJet 4600. One security expert suggests users upgrade as soon as possible.

Hewlett-Packard acknowledged this week that software used to control two of its color printers could be exploited by attackers to remotely steal files from Windows PCs.

The bug, which Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia dubbed "less critical," affects the Toolbox software included with the Color LaserJet 2500 and Color LaserJet 4600. In its default configuration, the Toolbox -- which lets users remotely monitor the status of a connected printer -- could allow an attacker to hack into jacked-in computers, then read any file on the hard disk.

HP's advisory links to an update to the Toolbox that patches the bug.

"A vulnerability like this opens the door for hackers to spy on your sensitive information," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at U.K. security company Sophos. "Users running the affected software should upgrade as soon as possible."

Many of HP's business-class printers come with similar software -- which installs an HTTP server on the connected PC -- for remotely changing printer settings, receiving alerts (such as paper jams), and monitoring the amount of remaining toner.

Yahoo Implicated In Spyware Click Fraud
04/04/2006

Advertisers who expect their Overture ad campaigns to run with certain Yahoo Searches may be surprised to find their ads running in syndicated spyware applications that render each impression as an ad click the advertiser must pay. Read entire article here . . .

PowerSellers A Force For EBay
17/03/2006

While eBay has enabled thousands of sellers to convert old items into new money, a subset of those sellers have become PowerSellers, driving lots of revenue to eBay and in many cases creating new careers for themselves. Read entire article here . . .