EU-DIGEST

Russian hackers target U.S., Europe for profit and politics -- by Alex Rodriguez

Not long ago, the simple, anonymous thrill of exposing chinks in American software was enough of a payoff for a Russian hacker. Today it's cash. And almost all the targets are in the United States and Europe, where Russia's notorious hackers pilfer online bank accounts, swipe social security numbers, steal credit card data and peek at e-mail log-ins and passwords as part of what some estimate to be a $100 billion-a-year global cyber-crime business. And when it's not money that drives Russian hackers, it's politics—with the aim of accessing or disabling the computers, Web sites and security systems of governments opposed to Russian interests. That may have been the motive behind a recent attack on Pentagon computers.

Cyber-crime, by some estimates, has outpaced the amount of illicit cash raked in by global drug trafficking. Hackers from Russia and China are among the chief culprits, and the threat they pose now extends far beyond spam, identity theft and bank heists.Today, however, most hackers in Russia are in it strictly for the money. Cyber-crime gangs approach computer programming graduates from Moscow's technical universities with offers of making sums of $5,000 to $7,000 a month, a far cry from Russia's average monthly salary of $640, says Nikita Kislitsyn, editor of Hacker, a glossy Russian magazine with how-to information for budding hackers.

Labels: Hackers, Internet, Russia

Internet the last hope of Newspapers

A "bold transformation" is how The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press are trying to spin their decision to limit home delivery of their newspapers to three days a week. While both said Tuesday that they will continue to issue traditional newspapers at newsstands seven days a week, they are the first daily newspapers from a major city to cutback home delivery. "The dynamics of delivering information to audiences has changed forever due to technology," said a jointly released statement from the papers. "The economics of the newspaper business demand change to survive." The way the press release reads, The Free Press and the News are jumping out ahead of what will soon be the next step in the evolution of newspapers. Wrong, says Alan D. Mutter, a former journalist who is now managing partner of Tapit Partners, a group of information-technology consultants. He says the papers had run out of options and were down to two: Either jump to the Web or close.

Labels: EU, Internet, Newspaper Industry, US

For years, terrorists and insurgents around the world have used off-the-shelf hardware and software to stay ahead of bigger, better-funded authorities. In 2007, former U.S. Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid complained that, with their Radio Shack stockpile of communications gear, "this enemy is better networked than we are." The strikes in Mumbai, India that killed at least 174 appears to be another example of how wired today's "global guerrillas" can be.The Mumbai terrorists used an array of commercial technologies -- from Blackberries to GPS navigators to anonymous e-mail accounts -- to pull off their heinous attacks. Once the coordinated attacks began, the terrorists were on their cell phones constantly. They used BlackBerries to monitor international reaction to the atrocities, and to check on the police response via the internet. The terror group then took credit for the bloodshed with a series of e-mails to local media. They used a "remailer" service to mask their identities; earlier attacks were claimed from cyber cafes.

Labels: India, Internet, Mumbai, Technology, Terrorism

Mike Jagger in Bruxelles

For the complete report from the EUobserver click on this link

Mick Jagger in Brussels for online retailing chat with Neelie Kroes and Charlie McCreevy - by Leigh Phillips

The original "street-fightin' man" Mike Jagger no longer needs to throw cobblestones to get the attention of the centers of power like his 1968 incarnation. These days he is warmly invited to the top floors of the EU Commission building for a friendly chat with Europe's competition guardian Neelie Kroes and a host of other key figures in the business of commerce on the web. Ms Kroes is worried that shoppers frequently find themselves up against barriers to buy what they want online, for items they would have little problem purchasing in the real world."Why is it possible to buy a CD from an online retailer and have it shipped to anywhere in Europe, but it is not possible to buy the same music, by the same artist, as an electronic download with similar ease?" Ms Kroes asked the knighted pop star and other guests.

Ms Kroes told the rock star and the merchants: "The world is always more complicated than we would like it to be. But that is no excuse for inaction," adding that she intends to look "very carefully" into online retailing practices.

SShe warned that the commission will step in if musicians, record labels and retailers do not overcome their differences and produce a more consumer-friendly environment for the distribution of digital music.

Labels: Charlie McCreevy, EU, Internet, Mick Jagger, Neelie Kroes, Record Industrie, Retail Market

EUROPEANA - EU Presents Ambitious Open-Source Library Digitization Project - Site Promptly gets 10 million hits per hour and crashes

A cadre of European politicians gathered Thursday at the Museum of the 18th century in Brussels to launch Europeana, a digital museum that allows visitors to explore classic paintings, photos, recordings and texts in the same manner in which it is possible to search, say, Amazon.com. Trying to access Europeana on the day of its launch, though, was akin to navigating the Vatican Museums in the tourist-thick month of August. It was impossible to see anything, as the project’s three servers were totally overwhelmed. The Commission said Saturday in a press release that the site received about 10 million hits per hour throughout Thursday - double server capacity.

The site was taken down Friday evening and is expected to be back up in mid-December.

Technical challenges included harvesting and normalizing metadata from more than 1,000 different museums and libraries from around Europe. Half of participating cultural heritage institutions so far are French. The Louvre in Paris, the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (which contributed footage shot on French battlefields in 1914) and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam are three of the biggest participating museums.

Europeana, which is still in beta, was programmed using only open source applications. Everything on Europeana is allowed to be downloaded. Europeana’s three servers are located in the Hague, where the project is headquartered, but programmers plan eventually to put mirror servers around the world.

Labels: EU, Europeana, France, Internet, Netherlands, Search Engines

EU ministers reject ban on free downloading

EU culture ministers yesterday (20 November) rejected French proposals to curb online piracy through compulsory measures against free downloading, instead agreeing to promote legal offers of music or films on the Internet.The gradual response, which would turn Internet service providers into a sort of police of the net, was ruled out in the legislative process to review EU rules governing electronic communications too. The European Commission never proposed such an instrument, while the European Parliament blocked several amendments aimed at introducing these measures.

Labels: EU, Internet

The Future of Newspaper, Magazine Industry Grows Dim

growing number of people reading news on the Internet has caused a downward spiral in the circulation of daily newspapers and magazines, and generated concern among industry professionals anxious about how to make a profit. “The numbers reflect a continuation of a trend that began in the 1980s, as younger people turn to cable TV and the Internet to learn about current events. ‘It used to be a truism that the only thing a newspaper had to do to improve circulation is produce a better newspaper,’ says industry analyst John Morton. ‘Now, young people aren’t any more inclined to pick up a good newspaper than a bad one. That isn’t likely to change’” (USAToday).Lay-offs, buyouts and downsizing have been reported at many large papers, including the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, Time Magazine and the Boston Globe. Former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore’s independent television network, Current Media, was the most recent to report lay-offs (CNET News). However, the effects have not only been experienced through downsizing, but also in the quality of the product itself. Newspapers evidence fewer pages, less content, a higher newsstand subscription price and losses in advertising revenue. This has created challenges for the industry, and caused several newspapers to abandon print production to focus solely on their online content.

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Labels: competitiveness, Internet, written Press

LINK TO A WIFI CONNECTION AROUND THE WORLD FOR FREE

FON is the largest WiFi community in the world. Community members, Foneros, share some of their home Internet connection and in return gain access to free Wifi worldwide.

Labels: Internet, WiFi

Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open-source community. One of our most important activities is as a standards body, maintaining the Open Source Definition for the good of the community. The Open Source Initiative Approved License trademark and program creates a nexus of trust around which developers, users, corporations and governments can organize open-source cooperation.

Get great Open source software programs for your computer. Why pay a fortune if you can get it for free.

Free and open-source software is good for you and for the world. No adware, no spyware, just good software.

Labels: Internet, Open Source, Software

Will the internet survive the economic meltdown? - by Sly Bailey

With the credit crunch kicking in, it stands to reason that online publishing is in for a torrid time. Doesn't it? Some of the signs, admittedly, aren't great. Yahoo shares are at their lowest value since 2003. Even the mighty Google's grip on growth is loosening, and its net revenue was actually down in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the previous period . Meanwhile, research published last week by media analyst group Enders suggested that growth for UK online media advertising would be considerably lower than the 28 per cent that had been expected for 2008 – its revised estimate is a more modest 18.5 per cent. Financial, recruitment and property advertisers are all cutting their spending plans, the report suggests. Similarly, venture capital groups are becoming worried about their investment exits. There has been virtually no company flotations this year – a common method for a venture capitalist investor to recoup money on a digital publishing investment. The result is that one source of investment capital is drying up.

But before we get carried away on this wave of despair, there are some more healthy predictions out there. On Wednesday, the Internet Advertising Bureau will unveil its own research for the first half of the year. Its chief executive, Guy Phillipson, will tell a Westminster eForum seminar on online advertising that the internet advertising spend has been above expectations for the six months to June, despite the downturn. "We're seeing serious consumer demand, and an increasing realisation that online is the most efficient way of satisfying that need," he says. "Since 1999, online has grown from nothing to a euro 4bn industry in the UK. It's simply the best direct response medium ever invented."

Labels: Advertising, Internet, Publishing

EU security agency calls for breach notification law - by Tom Young

The European Union's (EU) online security body is calling for a continent-wide law requiring firms to notify customers of data security breaches. Internet security is vital to the EU's economy, says the European Network and Information Security Agency (Enisa) in a report. Andrea Pirotti, executive director of Enisa, said the EU should adopt a US-style notification law. "Enisa calls for the EU to introduce mandatory reporting on security breaches and incidents for business, just as the US has already done," he said.

Labels: EU, Internet, security

Europe seeing strong broadband growth - by Ian Williams

Broadband markets across Europe are seeing continued growth in all areas, according to recent research by Frost & Sullivan. The Broadband Market in Europe report attributed the growth to deregulatory initiatives across the region and the ongoing shift towards integrated services such as triple- or quad-play. Frost & Sullivan said that another major growth factor is growing demand for highly customised broadband-based services. Customers appear willing to pay extra for high-quality broadband services such as video-on-demand and other multimedia content. "As we begin to embrace the era of digital lifestyles, providers have begun to focus on providing interactive communication services," said Julia Martusewicz-Kulinska, a research analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Labels: Broadband, EU, Internet

Broadband and Mobile Internet Boom in Europe

The number of Europeans with high-speed broadband connections rose sharply last year. More than 50,000 European homes and offices acquired a high-speed connection every day in 2007. In addition to the increase in broadband usage, ever more people are also using the Internet when they're out and about, according to the European Commission. The adoption of mobile 3G services doubled in 2007, to 88 million users, approximately one-fifth of the European Union's population.he Commission attributed the increase in broadband access, in part, to the increase in competition in the telecommunications market, which has cut prices to new lows.

Labels: Broadband, EU, Internet

Intel Says Low-Cost Laptop To Be Sold in U.S., Europe - by Don Clark

Intel Corp. said personal computer makers will soon begin offering a new low-cost laptop it designed for emerging economies in the U.S. and Europe as well. The chip maker has been offering a design called the Classmate PC, which has been promoted primarily for educational use in countries where many people can't afford to buy conventional computers. A new version of that design will be ready in a few weeks, with laptops based on it expected to be introduced some time after that by PC makers, said Agnes Kwan, an Intel spokeswoman.

Intel's plan for the system, reported earlier by Reuters, comes as the company is promoting a broader effort to promote the concept of $250 portable PCs it calls "nettops." That plan is largely based around the use of a forthcoming line of low-cost microprocessor chips that carries the new brand Atom.

Labels: Internet, Laptop, US

EU opens inquiry into effect of US Internet gambling laws on EU companies

The European Commission said it is launching an investigation under EU trade rules into US measures that potentially affect European suppliers of Internet gambling services. The inquiry follows a complaint lodged by the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) in December last year. "European industry claims that the US should not be allowed to enforce gambling laws selectively against foreign suppliers, with respect to services offered at a time when the US had WTO commitments permitting online gambling," the commission said in a statement. The commission said it will now examine whether these actions are in breach of international trade rules and discuss the matter with the US.

Labels: EU, Gambling, Internet, US

Open Source: The Internet must not be proprietary - by Dana Blankenhorn

"There is an important lesson which can be drawn as a string through a host of recent stories, from Comcast and Cox Cable throttling BitTorrent to Verizon doing the SiteFinder thing to depredations concerning the iPhone and open spectrum.The whole idea of the Internet is that it’s a network of networks in which competition is assured. When anyone tries to close down progress, consumers are able to route around it. What began with the network spread to software in the form of open source. The two are linked. The end of the software monopoly is tied directly to the end of the network monopoly. Recreate the latter and you can recreate the former.But the big stories of this year all show that network monopolies are coming back, at least in the U.S. If I want to dump Comcast as my home ISP, my only choice is AT&T. That’s no choice. A network defined by a single owner is not the Internet. Only choice and competition enable the Internet we’ve come to love for over a decade to function."

Labels: EU, Internet, Open Source, USA

Solution for EU to accelerate research and development: How the Open Source Movement Has Changed Education: 10 Success Stories

Recently, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that the OCW program, a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world, is online and will be completed by 2008. The OCW provides open access to course materials for up to 1,550 MIT courses, representing 34 departments and all five MIT schools. The goal is to include materials from all MIT courses by next year. MIT provides just one of the 10 open source educational success stories. Open source and open access resources have changed how colleges, organizations, instructors, and prospective students use software, operating systems and online documents for educational purposes. And, in most cases, each success story also has served as a springboard to create more open source projects.

Note EU-Digest: Open Source education is an excellent way for the EU to accelerate the improvement of its resource and development base and educational curriculum methodology. Education should not be privatized , but open to everyone for as little cost as possible. The Open Source system in connection with the Internet seems to present an ideal opportunity."

Labels: Education, EU, Internet, Open Source

Bloggers beware when you criticize the rich and powerful - by Doreen Carvajal

The daily Web log, or blog, of the former U.K. ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, vanished after Murray's British Internet provider received a flurry of ominous legal letters demanding the removal of "potentially defamatory" information about Alisher Usmanov, a mining mogul with a rising stake in the English soccer club Arsenal. Two weeks later, Murray is not blogging, but his blistering opinions are about to surface again through a Dutch Internet provider that offers refuge to controversial bloggers in the United States and in England, where libel laws are more lax. And with that journey, Murray has stirred support and a common outrage among bloggers and Internet service providers who complain that chilling demands from companies are becoming more frequent in a number of countries.

"I'm personally predicting that the next growth area is not censorship of bomb-making Web sites," said Richard Clayton, a computer security researcher at Cambridge University and part of the OpenNet Initiative that tracks Internet filtering around the world, "but complaints about defamation and civil suits."

Companies in the United States, Canada and Australia have moved against bloggers to remove copyrighted material with takedown complaints or have demanded removal of critical comments posted by blog visitors. British bloggers are particularly vulnerable to defamation complaints because of a previous court ruling that found that Internet providers qualified as publishers of libelous material if they did not react when alerted about a problem.

Labels: Blogging, Free Speech, Internet

Britons out-webs the rest of Europe

The British use the internet more than any other European nation, according to the first European Continent-wide review of online activity. UK web users also spend more time online than their American counterparts, the World Metrix survey by data-capture firm comScore revealed. The study shows that on an average day in April 2007, 122 million Europeans age 15 or older were online, versus 114 million in the US; the average European accessed the Internet from either a home or a work computer an average of 16.5 days in the month and spent a total of 24 hours viewing 2,662 Web pages.

Labels: Europe, Internet

Global WiFi Hotspot Locator

Wondering where to find the nearest publicly available WiFi Internet access? WiFi Hotspot Locator is a global directory of more than 100,000 locations offering WiFi Internet access in 26 countries.

Labels: Internet, WiFi

Europe in slow lane over fast internet - Ian Murphy

Europe is a long way behind the US and Asia on projects to roll out Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), according to the former chief executive of chipmaker Giga. Finn Helmer, now chairman of Danish broadband company Comx Networks outlined what needed to be done in order that Europe can compete with Asia and the US. Speaking at the fourth annual Fiber to the Home Council Europe Conference in Barcelona, he said that "Asia has discovered FTTH and is racing ahead. The US is now discovering it, but Europe is a long way behind."

He said that cost has long been seen as the reason why copper had failed to be replaced by fiber but Helmer believes that this is a false economy.

Labels: Internet