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DTI Pledges £5m To Tackle Rogue Online Traders Instances relating to rogue online traders is becoming more of a problem, let's face it, almost anyone could build a site offering goods of any description, and many users have encountered more than one rogue ISP in the past... Following calls from Trading Standards officers for Government support, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has pledged £5m to help combat issues surrounding these rogue traders. The pledge amounts to half of the DTI's entire annual budget, which was originally going to be used for modernising local Trading Standards authorities. The money will be used to improve consumer confidence in e-commerce, funding an improved co-ordination between the UK's 200 local Trading Standards departments as they look to form a strategy for tackling online fraud. Some of the funds will also go to support the centralised Trading Standards Web site - Consumercomplaints.org.uk - which launched last week and will act as a single point of access for consumers to report retailing abuses. Richard Webb, the Trading Standards Institute's lead officer in e-commerce said the site represents the first step of a wider initiative, and that complaints made via the site will be sent to the appropriate local authority. Source: NWA Top Class ISPs Want To Enhance Global Web Experience The main aim of the game is to try to make access less expensive and more streamlined, and providers are laying foundations to enhance the Net experience for users world-wide. Latin America's largest ISP, Brazil's Universo Online, are hosting the meeting in Sao Paulo which will have a duration of two days. International roaming, instant messaging standards and international e-commerce are the hot topics of discussion. Company spokeswoman Celina Monteiro de Barros said the topics represent "the three principal pillars of support for the establishment of an international ISP network." ISPs from the UK, Japan, the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Germany and Korea and Brazil form The Global Internet Alliance which was established in 2000, and they are reported to represent more than 39 million Internet users. Source: Annanova Oftel Predicts Future Of Fixed-Line Calls In a bid to phase out price controls, the telecoms regulator is opening up the market to more competition. Oftel's new proposals mean that BT will be required to offer rivals cost-based wholesale line rental provision on the same terms as BT's retail business. A single consumer bill that covers line rental and call costs will hopefully replace the separate bill method from BT and their competitors. This in turn should close the door on line-rental charges and open the door to a range of new tariffs such as flat rate subscriptions for unlimited calls. Oftel's director-general David Edmonds commented: "Consumers can be reassured that prices will not rise while competition increases, while BT can be certain that price regulation will disappear when consumers see the benefits of lower prices." It is predicted that the price control can be removed when competitive pressures will encourage prices to fall significantly in the future. Source: Annanova Netscape And Mozilla Browser Cookie Bug The vulnerability, which affects Netscape older than 6.2.1 and versions of Mozilla prior to 0.9.7, allows an attacker to steal a user's cookies - if he succeeds in tricking a victim into visiting a particular URL. Cookies are often used to identify and authenticate users to a Web site. If an attacker can steal a user's cookies, then they can impersonate that user. How much damage could be caused through this is dependent on how a particular site uses the cookies. Active scripting does not have to be enabled for the vulnerability to be exploited, and a simple image tag in a Web page or email pointing at a maliciously crafted URL can present the doorway for third-party access to cookies on a system. Netscape Communicator 4.x is immune from the glitch although other versions of Netscape should be upgraded to the recently released version 6.2.1 of its browser or Mozilla 0.9.7, as both are reported to be free of the vulnerability. Source: The Register Another DDoS Attack Affects Hosting Company Perhaps not exactly an ISP, but the significance is there, and the attack resulted in Donhosts having to take one of its Web hosting servers offline for two hours. The denial of service attack started earlier this morning, and Web sites hosted on the affected server were unavailable until a normal service could be resumed, although it was still possible to deliver email to affected clients. The report indicated that the 'motive and the source' of the recent attacks is unclear, but they are now becoming a source of concern. Source: The Register France Telecom Refuse To Help NTL However, France Telecom who own 18 percent of the cable company are refusing to help out with the debt because it would not feel a "cash impact" as a result of any financial restructuring at NTL. According to the daily telegraph, the French telecoms giant said that it would now have to take an 'unspecified accounting charge' in order to reflect the reduced value of its stake in NTL. Source: Silicon Thus Say BT May Benefit From Competition BT is now starting to recognise the potential opportunities according to industry analysts, and Leo Todd, director of marketing for Thus commented at London this week that BT would reap the benefits of having a more innovative attitude towards other carriers renting its lines, and he added: "BT will do better in a competitive market because revenues will grow. We believe there is substantial latent demand for broadband connectivity, so it could be a win-win situation. Instead they choose to fight a constant rearguard action." It is reported that Todd he further went on to quote occasions when he believed that BT had acted in an obstructive manner. Meanwhile, Camille Mendler of Yankee Group analyst said that BT would have to look further than unbundling and wholesale digital subscriber line provision in order to address its business potential. Source: ZDNet Telewest Trials Wireless Home Networking Platform Pace's Gateway Expander and pcConnect platform has been in development for two years and can be adapted for ADSL. The trials are set to begin in February, and those who are offered Pace's platform will be able to have wireless access to the cable network via their home computers. The Gateway Expander plugs into the Ethernet port of their set-top box or cable modem and the pcConnect device sits in the PC's USB port. Once set, the wireless network is capable of carrying IP data services at 512kbps at ranges of 50-100 metres through 'DECT,' - the wireless standard used by most cordless phones. The trials will last eight weeks according to reports, and Telewest and Pace will analyse the trials in order to discover if home networking has an impact on broadband usage among existing users, and also observe the level of ease of consumer installation. Pace's CEO Malcolm Miller commented: “Our networked home technology is designed for operators such as Telewest to create new revenue generating opportunities for minimal additional investment and extend their customer appeal.” The move forms part of Pace's strategy of using its set-top box devices as a base for the multimedia services that will make up future home networks. Source: Netimperative Fifth Of ISP's Workforce Suffer Job Losses In a statement Alistair Wyse, Technical Director for PlusNet Technologies, said: "The Internet industry has grown more competitive, with margins getting smaller and smaller. The only way to carry the business forward confidently into 2002 is through a measured reorganisation." Wyse claims that parts of the company were overstaffed due to 98 percent of PlusNet's business processes being automated, and that the job cuts were essential for the future of the business. Source: The Register BT's New CEO Denies Wholesale Sale Last year Westdeutsche Landesbank offered a staggering 18bn to BT, who rejected the offer, and now the telco has made it clear that it is not prepared to listen to any further bids for the business. BT's local loop has also attracted investor interest, however, last summer, the telco turned down an offer of £8bn for its local exchanges. Despite BTs heavy debt, in a bid to protect its long term aims, the telco managed to resist the heavy pressure to accept the money from a consortium of investors called Earthlease. Verwaayen officially takes his position within the company in BT's London office on Friday. Source: Silicon Pilot Satellite Broadband Scheme To Be Launched In Northern Ireland An initial 250 installations will be taking place in February, and under the pilot scheme businesses with up to 250 employees and turnover not exceeding EUR40m will be provided with connectivity, hosting and storage services from ISP Aramiska. Also, some businesses will be entitled to financial support of up to 50% of set-up and running costs – equivalent to £1500 – in the first year. Aramiska’s DVB-RCS (Digital Video Broadcast – Return Channel System) technology allows 8Mbps downstream and up to 2Mbps upstream, and CMO Steve Petrie believes that the ISPs participation will help expand sales within the region. Petrie also said that the scheme will encourage SMEs who are unable to access ADSL services to take advantage of broadband connections. The scheme will provide a welcome alternative to BT Openworld’s ‘Highlands and Islands’ offering, available in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which is priced at £899 for installation together with monthly payments of £69.99. Source: Netimperative Dial-Up Internet Access Review Results From Oftel Oftel's latest research also showed that approximately 11 million UK households - 45 percent - are connected to the Internet, of which four million homes are using unmetered Internet access. This is a 15 percent rise over figures recorded at the same time last year, which showed just 30 percent of UK homes connected. David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, commented: "Oftel's review of the Internet access market shows that consumers have access to a wide range of services and prices for using the Internet that are among the best in the world." Oftel also concluded that wholesale Internet connectivity is an effectively competitive market because *Wholesale prices are falling; *The choice of suppliers results in improved service and innovation in pricing and packaging; *It is relatively easy to enter the market and resell capacity; *There are a considerable number of suppliers with no one operator having market power. David Edmonds said that Oftel will take forward a number of initiatives to support Internet take-up and improve customer satisfaction, including publishing a new consumer guide to help people choose the right Internet access service for their needs. The findings of Oftel's review of the Internet access market are published on Oftel's website HERE. Tiscali To Take Over Gateway Customers UUNet, the network providers behind the successful business-class PIPEX service, also provide the network for Gateway. This has ensured a quality service for its customers. Now Tiscali, renowned for its complaints in many forums, will be taking over. Over the weekend the UK Tiscali website has been encountering problems after a Denial Of Service attack. Customers are still able to connect to the Internet and access the email servers as usual, but their website is still unavailable. In the UK, Tiscali already own LineOne, LibertySurf, World Online and Tiny Online. NTL To Announce Restructuring Of It Debts Debt advisors Credit Suisse First Boston, the appointment of which to be formally announced within days, have been appointed to come to some agreement with its banks and investors. The finance director, John Gregg, is tipped to be the most likely fall-guy according to sources close to the board of the NTL group. As well as shareholders expecting to lose out, the company’s lenders will have to accept that as much as £6.3bn could be written off. NTL’s holdings have already slumped by 99.6% since the height of the telecoms and media boom. NTL staff numbers have also seen a decrease from 21,000 at their peak to just 13,000. Source: The Independent ICQ Vulnerability The buffer overflow glitch can be found in AOL Mirabilis ICQ Versions 2001A and prior, and occurs during the processing of a Voice, Video & Games feature request message. Although an exploit is known to exist, it is not widely distributed, and there is no evidence of attackers searching for vulnerable machines. However, it is still a concern because it reported that 122 million people use the ICQ software as a method of communicating. AOL Time Warner is recommending all users of vulnerable versions of ICQ upgrade to 2001B Beta v5.18 Build 3659 Source: The Reg Prices For Internet Access Set To Rise Within Europe Indications of higher access prices came from senior execs. John Pluthero, chief executive of Freeserve PLC, and Renato Soru, chairman of Italian ISP Tiscali. Freeserve's Pluthero is reported to have told the Financial Times that the company are looking at pricing: "We have not made a decision yet, but I think that all the pricing pressure in the market is upwards. I would be surprised if there were not price rises from a lot of players this year." Meanwhile, Tiscali's Soru also commented to the Financial Times: "I see we are in a period now where companies are focusing on profitability and there will be fair prices in the market. In some countries they will go up." The aftermath of the unmetered shambles saw many outfits within the UK go bust, but the survivors within the industry are now finally reaching their break-even point. Only last week, Wanadoo had no scruples about announcing their confidence in company profitability over the next year, attaining financial results only thought possible in 2003. Tiscali, one of the biggest pan-European ISPs, also remain confident, as the company said on Friday that this year it would be EBITDA positive this year. Source: Ample Oftel Challenges Unmetered Access Issues To ensure companies continue to deliver unmetered internet access to consumers, Oftel is suggesting the implementation of different strategies in a bid to change the way BT supplies and charges its rival providers. Currently, British Telecom supply and charge rival operators in advance for using its network to offer unmetered access services. However, one of the changes proposed by Oftel suggest that BT will have to stop the practice of forcing rivals to pay for unmetered traffic in advance. Oftel have proposed the introduction of a payment option that will allow providers to pay for their unmetered access in arrears, just as they do at the moment with metered access. David Edmonds, Oftel director general of telecommunications, commented: "Calls to the internet now make up over 40% of all traffic carried across the UK's telecom networks, over four million UK homes now use unmetered Internet access and Oftel must ensure that demand can continue to be met." "The proposals announced today further support the development of unmetered Internet access in the UK by clarifying the obligations on BT." Despite the availability of unmetered access, Oftel also say that BT must continue to invest in expanding the network of voice calls and metered Internet access if needed. Source: Ananova Pipex Pledges £2 Million To Broadband Development Fund PIPEX is about to do the same for broadband ADSL as it did for dial-up during the early nineties, by making broadband financially and technologically accessible. The initial £2 million Broadband Development Fund will be invested to cover the set-up cost (seen by many consumers as a barrier to widespread adoption of broadband) for some 40,000 new broadband users. A "ground-breaking" price of just £29.95 ex VAT per month has also been announced for their PIPEX Xtreme Solo 512Kbps, permanently on, ADSL package. This is nearly £5 per month cheaper than BTopenworld’s home 500 service. Andrew Pinder, the Government's e-Envoy, said, "Creating Broadband Britain is a major priority. We recently announced a comprehensive package of measures as part of the Government's commitment to broadband, helping to intensify competition and drive demand through tax breaks and collation of public sector requirements. Initiatives such as the one from PIPEX will continue to bring broadband benefits to more businesses and consumers." Speaking on behalf of BT Wholesale, Bruce Stanford, Director of Broadband, said, "This is a very welcome initiative from PIPEX. The fact that they are devoting £2 million to encourage people to sign up demonstrates their commitment to Broadband Britain and should be applauded". David Rickards, Managing Director of PIPEX commented, "The Broadband Development Fund is our latest investment in Broadband Britain and by making it available to the home professional, we are effectively completing the loop. He concluded, "This initial £2 million investment is in addition to other initiatives we are working on and contributes to our continuing efforts to ensure that broadband is available to all." Notesbrowser Although the main priority is to offer users totally FREE programs, some programs may include a charge after the trial period, and if this is the case, the details of cost will be mentioned in the run down of the product. Please note that every download posted has previously been tested for a minimum of four weeks before recommendation. While such testing is done to ensure a trouble-free installation, Net4Nowt cannot take any responsibility for any problems that may arise as a result. This weeks download is a versatile utility that has been downloaded over 200,000 times already and is a very valuable aid for any user. NOTESBROWSER is not any ordinary note-keeping utility, it offers the ability to store any data from telephone numbers and addresses, reminders and appointments to full web pages of information! Notesbrowser also allows you to link to files on your computer directly by typing in the path of the filename and then double clicking on the typed filename, for example: If you type C:\Windows\CALC.EXE and then double click on the words, this will launch the calculator. C:\WINNT\system32\calc.exe launches the WinNT calculator and C:\Program Files\(place filename here) launches program folders on your system. You can even launch MP3s and other music files by simply typing the filename and clicking. Each page has sections or you can have a full page that will store larger amounts of information, the choice is yours. Different main sections of the program allow you to individually name each task that you can easily access by clicking on the side bar that has been appropriately named by you. The first Page of any page in Notesbrowser always contains a small calendar, that allows you to easily switch through months with the < and > buttons. If you double-click on a date, it will be inserted in the appropriate open text box. The calendar can easily be turned on and off by double-clicking a T in the corner of the program. If you forget where you stored something within Notesbrowser there is no need to worry. Notesbrowser has its own search feature and by typing a simple word or phrase relating to your data, notesbrowser will quickly find it. Notesbrowser is also fully skinnable, and has a handy backup feature allowing you to retrieve any of your data that may be lost or accidentally deleted. Offering a user-friendly interface, notesbrowser is also very easy to configure and offers a simple layout from where you can print, change text size, colour and font, word-wrap and zoom. There are 10 plug-ins for notesbrowser and the best thing about this small but useful program is that it is totally FREE. There is a paid version that only costs $10, but to be honest, I have found the free version to be more than adequate for home or office use. Notesbrowser lets you store everything you need for the day in one simple program - it can be used as a calendar, and appointment diary, a phone/address book, for storing web addresses for easy access, for storing information for web pages and even to copy and paste those important orders in. Reminders, email addresses, to do lists, christmas card lists...infact the list is endless. To find out more information on Notesbrowser, click HERE. and remember to download the FREE version (1.9MB) that does not contain any nag screens. There is a manual on the site that you may benefit from reading before download. If you like what you see, and you wish to use any additional features of Notesbrowser, the Special Edition is available for download and costs just $10 for registration. If you wish to recommend a download or a Website link that you feel may be of benefit to our readers, please email me at: Sarah@net4nowt.com with brief details of your recommendation, why you have recommended it and the appropriate link. If your download is posted, then your name will be mentioned as the contributor on the newspage on the week it appears. The CERT Warns Internet Users Of Serious Security Flaw The CERT are warning users: self-defence may be your only protection against privacy- and security-stealing cross-site script attacks. Many high-profile sites, including online financial institutions and stores were security is a necessity, have failed to heed the 2-year-old advisory from the CERT relating to the prevention of cross-site script (CSS) attacks on their visitors. The CERT, a federally-funded information security clearinghouse, claim that CSS attacks are possible because an intruder is able to cause a legitimate Web site to send a page containing the attacker's malicious code to a victim's browser. The CERT warn that Internet users may be vulnerable to an array of attacks from malicious third parties who are capable of stealing passwords, credit card numbers, browser cookies and other private data if they put their confidence and trust into affected sites. Jason Rafail, an Internet security analyst with CERT commented: "The real impact of this vulnerability is not on sites but on their visitors. The sites consider it a minor issue, but for visitors, it's a pretty big security and privacy matter. They could be giving away personal information without knowing it." Rafail also added that most Web sites rank patching such cross-site scripting holes, through proper user-input filtering, low on their list of security vulnerabilities: "They don't consider this a big problem. They say, 'Someone can run a script on my site. What can that really do'? They don't see the security implications," he said. Ironically, there is already a high number of sites reported that are prone to CSS attacks, and that number is increasing. In recent weeks, vulnerable sites that have been posted to Bugtraq, a popular security mailing list include AOL, Ebay, MSN, Excite, and Lycos. CSS attacks are often launched by tricking users into clicking on a specially crafted link in an e-mail message or on a third-party site. The Web page that appears in the victim's browser may appear to be coming from the trusted site, but code injected into the page by the attacker could launch malicious acts. CERT have recently published a white paper in order to help Internet users protect themselves against cross-site script attacks. The CERT's advisory on CSS attacks can be viewed Here, and the white paper, which is in .pdf format can be downloaded Here The security organisation has requested that users who discover sites vulnerable to CSS attacks to report them to the site's Webmaster and to CERT. Source: Webuser Competition From The Broadband Sewer For BT The company has already started to lay cable in the sewers around London's Docklands area, much to the dismay of British Telecom who are now faced with new competition in the high-speed access market. Urband plan to expand further into the wholesale supply of broadband market, as this year alone the company expects to lay the rodent-proof and water resistant cable around the City, London's West End, Victoria, Hammersmith and Westminster. The company is confident that its high-speed service will appeal to telcos, telehotels, and service providers alike, and claims that it will provide the UK with a "true alternative to BT for 'last mile' connectivity". Urband chief exec Roger Wilson commented: "London is one of the world's major business centres, but its communications infrastructure currently falls far short of providing the capacity that businesses really need. "Despite extensive digging since telecoms liberalisation began, BT's legacy network remains, for many businesses, the only option for true 'last mile' access in the capital." However, a BT spokesman, while stating that the telco "will always welcome competition" also remarked that "London already has broadband coming out of its ears and they are entering an already competitive market." Maybe it is BTs polite way of informing its new rival that running fibre optic cable in the sewers of London is a mistake. Whatever BT may feel about its competitor, the broadband market looks like its going to get interesting, and the consumer will hopefully benefit from the competition in the long run. Source: The Register Yahoo! Charges For Specialised Search Service In the past popular search-engine Google has introduced a prepaid search facility, and many media websites like The Times and the Sun have also introduced charges for content and archive searches. Yahoo! is no different as the company reported revenue losses down to $717m in 2001 compared to $1.1bn the previous year. The popular portal has already implemented charges for email, real-time stock quotes, personal ads, auctions and financial reports, and it is now reported that it is set to go ahead and charge users for specialised searches. Users will be able to conducted searches on files from a specialised database of 25 million research documents including academic journals - and the company plans to charge users between $1 and $4 for the privilege of using its aptly named 'Yahoo! Premium Document Service.' The service is primarily aimed at corporate and academic users and is capable of collating information from 7,100 different publications, and other paid-for services include placement listings on its free web searches, web conferencing and music videos on demand. The new service will be available to European subscribers via Yahoo!'s US website. Source: Silicon CharityDays Rolls Out Self Install ADSL After the recent unfortunate disappearance of ItsGoodToGive, CharityDAYS now has its sights set on dominating the ‘charity ISP’ sector. CharityDays now has a product portfolio of over 30 products, including 0845, FRIACO and ADSL. With the launch of self install ADSL, CharityDays hopes that more users will be able to make the leap to broadband. The self install pricing structure has yet to be announced on the site but Phil Price, Operations Director commented, “The confirmed price of home self-install is £35 plus VAT, of which £3 of that will go to charity every month. Our self Install ADSL products will also be available to our business users on 500k, 1 meg and 2 meg products giving a considerable saving on the previously defined structure.” Commenting on the demise of ‘ItsGoodToGive’, Phil added, “I take my hat off to anyone who tries to do what ‘ItsGoodToGive’ and ourselves are trying to do. We are trying to allow consumers to donate money to their favoured charities without incurring extra cost to them and giving them something in return for their donation. I do not wish to speculate as to the ins and outs of their demise but do know that CharityDays will be offering our full support to both the company and its users. It is a shame when any project of this nature does not succeed and they have my utmost sympathy." "I can however assure our existing and potential users that our own business is on a vertical path to success. Through the support of our investors and technology providers we have the revenue streams in place to be able to make profit easily, yet still donating the majority of our turnover to charity. In fact as a business we met our breakeven figure at the end of month two.” Wanadoo Will Remain Profitable In 2002 Wanadoo, who owns UK ISP Freeserve, reported a 33 percent increase in revenue in the last quarter and according to Dufourcq, the company will remain profitable for the whole duration of 2002 before interest, tax, appreciation and amortisation. After a mass advertising campaign, Freeserve managed to gain 166,000 new subscriptions in the fourth quarter of last year, and the ISP now boasts a 2.3 million subscriber base. Accross Europe, Wanadoo's subscriber base has risen considerably since last year from 2.44 million to more than 6 million currently. Source: Internet Magazine Zetnet Confirmed As New Owner Of Hacked ISP In a statement Cloud Nine apologised to its customers for the disruption to our services caused by the recent denial of service activity. Due to the “magnitude and viciousness” the ISP took the decision that it could not continue with the resources it had available. It continues: We must deny any rumours that any of this is down to financial reasons. Cloud Nine was a solvent company, cash flow positive with cash in the bank (and no borrowings except for operating leases) but as the attacks continued this was obviously going to change and our decision had to be taken with that in mind.The full statement can be found here. Another statement is expected soon so we will keep you updated. BTopenworld Strikes Alliance With Compaq The migration from CompaqNET reflects the company's decision to move away from being an ISP, allowing it to concentrate on its core business of providing leading enterprise technology and solutions. Chris Jones, Head of Channel Distribution at BTopenworld, commented, "This deal builds on our existing relationship with Compaq and reflects current consolidation of the ISP market. Compaq customers now have the benefit of enhanced Internet services whilst still receiving information and updates from Compaq." In another announcement today, BTopenworld officially launched their new online classical music service. Announced back in November last year, the service provides users access to a fully searchable catalogue of around 6,000 classical tracks for unlimited listening, plus the ability to download 10 tracks of their choice from the entire catalogue each month (roughly equivalent to a standard CD). Downloaded tracks can be burnt onto a CD or transferred to a MP3 player. Customers will also have the ability to create and purchase custom CDs created from tracks in the catalogue. Open to all Internet users, the service costs £7.99 per month. They will receive a free five day, no obligation trial with five downloads and unlimited listening of their choice. Customers subscribing before the end of February will be able to take advantage of an exclusive launch offer including a free custom CD featuring their choice of music from the catalogue of over 6,000 tracks as well as an extra 10 downloads in the first month. Itsgoodtogive Gives Up In an exclusive story at Web User, the chairman of ItsGoodToGive, John Ager, said, "We're in the process of closing it down, but the website was closed down before we could send emails to customers." "The economics didn't work out and very sadly we're having to withdraw." Although Ager stated that customers renewal fees have not been taken for a while, customers who pay annually in advance should contact their card company for a refund of unused months. Yesterday the ISPs website was removed and replaced with a notice from their host saying, “This account has been suspended due to none payment of hosting fees.” Obviously the company is in dire straights financially leaving customers struggling to claim their refunds. Source: WebUser UPDATE: AOL/Freeserve - The Dispute Continues Since then, AOL has decided to hit back, and the company has told Netimperative that it totally refuted Freeserve's complaint. The US ISP is unwilling to retract the statement that caused Freeserve to complain, which stated “in the UK, AOL is the leading ISP with more than 1.5million members”. An AOL spokesman added: "These claims are without foundation and without merit and we stand by the original statement of 7th January 2002. AOL UK is the leading online service provider in the UK with the largest number of paying subscribers of any provider in the country." Freeserve first complained about the US company last year and set up battle in order to force AOL to pay VAT, Now the ISPs latest move has created further hostility between the two providers. Freeserve also claims that it had a 2.244 million user database by December 31 2001 in contrast to AOL’s 1.5million. Source: Netimperative AOL To Offer Music Swapping Service Via AIM It is reported that services such as Napster and its successors have a higher stake in the popularity poles, leaving such services like MusicNet - already backed by AOL - struggling along the way. Although there is no set date for the service to launch, it is expected that it will be made ready available to Pressplay - one of MusicNet's rivals. Currently, AIM has over 100 million users, but as there is no charge to access the popular instant messenger, the service is unable generate any financial resources. As far as instant messaging goes, rival company Microsoft are using their own IM software as part of their .Net strategy, so the battle for IM supremacy is ongoing. Also, the Internet music distribution company, On Demand Distribution, have recently completed a deal with MSN in order to set up a music distribution service for MSN's UK portal. The new AOL music swapping service has been developed in conjunction with a number of online fan clubs and internet radio stations. Source: Silicon Linux may Be Deployed On PC's PCs Currently, the police force are investigating any possible issues that may arise from the possible nation-wide deployment of Linux on 60,000 desktops. However, many of the applications used on the PCs are Windows-based, and the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) has contracted open source specialist netproject to determine the possibility of running these applications on Linux. The main reason for the possible migration from Windows is because it is perceived that the Linux operating system offers greater core security - a necessary requirement for effective privacy on such systems. In a statement, the PITO said: "The police need very secure, virus resistant and stable desktop computing. We believe that Linux can provide this." If the plan to use Linux goes ahead, the PCs will be configured to offer maximum security, and smart cards and biometrics will be used for identification purposes according to a statement from netproject. In order to eliminate errors arising from the way the system is operated, the configuration will ensure that users cannot modify or add any applications to the PC, and the software will also be updated over the network. Source: Silicon AOL Deny Red Hat Speculations AOL spokesperson Andrew Weinstein told AFX News that he rejects the recent speculations in a weekend report in the Washington Post. Weinstein said that, while he "can't predict the future," the company is not currently and has not been in talks with Red Hat relating to purchasing the Linux operating system company. Freeserve Files Another Complaint Against Arch-Rival AOL In a statement made in an AOL Time Warner press release dated 6 January, Freeserve claims that AOL misrepresented themselves by stating they are "the leading UK ISP with more than 1.5m members." According to Freeserve, such a statement paints 'a distorted picture of AOL's position in the UK,' and could potentially mislead investors. CEO John Pluthero also accused AOL of 'peddling wild and extravagant claims', and he added that 'unsurprisingly,' AOL has previously been sanctioned by the ASA and by the SEC. Last year saw the first indication of Freeserve's frustration with AOL when they found that the USA provider is exempt from paying VAT in this country because of a loophole. However, Freeserve may not be doing itself any favours, as reports indicate that some industry watchers have suggested that the ISPs hostility towards AOL is one way of accomplishing its lead on the US provider within the FRIACO unmetered market. Coincidentally, at the time of reporting AOL to the SEC, Freeserve also claimed that it now has 2.3m members, making it the UK's "leading" ISP. This figure is almost 50% more than the number of users AOL claims to have in the original statement - the statement that instigated the complaint from Freeserve. Source: NMA Wanadoo To Fully Promote High-Speed Services Revenues for the fully year also topped E1.56 billion - up 41 per cent over 2000 - results that are reflected by a rise in the number of broadband users according to the French-owned provider. Taking the revenues into consideration, Dufourcq said that the ISP will "promote (the) widespread take-up of broadband services" during 2002. However, as the UK's biggest ISP Freeserve is also a Wanadoo-owned company, would Dufourcq's promotional plans extend to the ISP? A Freeserve spokeswoman informed The Register: "Freeserve has always said that it will get behind broadband with a full marketing campaign when a wholesale price is low enough to support it." Previous reports also indicate that Freeserve thinks the wholesale price is too high, and these comments suggest that the company still wants a price-cut before fully marketing high-speed services. Source: The Register ISP Pulls The Plug After Hack Attack Cloud Nine, which has been in business for nearly six years, has paid its staff up to the end of the month and is looking for an ISP which will help them to get their customers back online again. From a statement posted in ISPreview’s discussion forum, the company stated: Cloud Nine regret to announce that at 7:45 this morning the decision was taken to shut down our Internet connections with immediate effect.The statement finished with, “All the directors are feeling absolutely gutted since we have all spent nearly 6 years building this company and its reputation to see it destroyed by a brazen act of cyber terrorism - well at this moment we can think of no words to express our true feelings.” UPDATE: It now appears that V21 has agreed to acquire the company’s assets. Cloud Nine customers will be contacted in the next 24 hours. Oftel Orders BT To Reduce LLU Charges In a recent statement, David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said: "Following an investigation, Oftel has ordered BT make changes to the way it charges for a number of services it provides to operators installing equipment in BT's exchanges. "This will lead to lower charges, reducing costs for operators and giving them greater confidence to plan the rollout of their high speed services." The telecoms watchdog have ruled that the charges must be reduce from £5.30 to £2.60 for providing line information, and BT must also cut the premium it charges for chaperoning third party engineers when they need to access exchanges in an emergency. Source; Silicon Users May Have To Accept/Refuse Every Little Cookie A 'cookie' is the name given for a small file containing information that any website can put on your PC's hard disk so the site visited is able to remember something about you at a later time. Cookies are widely used by many sites, and cookies are essential for full user access to some sites on the Internet. Many users may not be aware of cookies residing inside their PCs or what kind of information they contain, and, because of this reason, the Information Commissioner's office states that unauthorised use of the online tracking devices (such as cookies) could go against UK data protection legislation. In December last year however, European Parliament's decision for an opt-in scheme was turned over by European Telecommunication Council. This resulted in making the EU opt out again, so no warning pertaining to cookies would be issued to users across the rest of Europe during surfing sessions. Danny Meadows-Klue, chairman of the UK Interactive Advertising Bureau, said: "The European Parliament has had to realise its opt-in idea was technically impossible, economically catastrophic for the advertising industry and unbelievably aggravating for users." It is now reported that on 29 January the Council of Ministers will adopt the common position of opt-out without debate, and in three months the entire directive - including spam and electronic data storage proposals - will return to the European Parliament for a second reading. So, what would you prefer - opt-in or out? Internet Explorer 6 allows the user more control over cookies, and personally I have found this to be beneficial. Opt- out without debate may appease the European Parliament, although I don't think the idea of having to accept/refuse cookies for every mouse-click sounds appealing - do you? Big Providers Reluctant To Offer DIY DSL Yet surprisingly, it is reported that only the smaller suppliers are currently deploying the wires-only product, and the larger Internet service providers are holding back from offering the DIY model. According to Silicon, BTopenworld, who are planning to launch the service, could not give details of when the product would be available or the pricing structure. Freeserve claim that despite feeling optimistic from the uptake of self install DSL in France, they are disappointed at the wholesale price of £25, as a Freeserve spokeswoman commented: "We were very disappointed with the wholesale price of £25. We've always seen £30 as the target DSL price, and a wholesale price of £25 doesn't give us any margin." "We will take a view on marketing DIY broadband based on how the wholesale market moves. We won't be marketing it heavily if the wholesale price stays where it is," she added. Earlier last week these same sentiments were echoed by provider AOL, who say that they are not prepared to spend money on marketing high-speed access until prices drop. Again, opinions from another big player, Tiscali UK, reflect the same message as company chief Sergio Cellini feels that UK prices are still too high, and the company has no plans for imminent launch of the product either. Why then, are the smaller outfits such as Zen Internet, PlusNet and Freedom2Surf 'rushing' in comparison to bigger companies to put their offers of self-install DSL on the market? Not only that, but some of the packages on offer are pretty impressive too - Eclipse for example, are offering self-install with 5 static IP addresses for £33 per month - are they running at a loss? On several occasions BT have claimed that they wish to cut costs for consumers, however a BT spokeswoman explained that the telco has to undergo an investigation from Oftel if they want to reduce prices, and she commented: "We can't just drop the price because every time we do we get investigated by OFTEL. We aren't allowed to our products, so we have to charge the customer what it costs us to provide it. When we have more customers, then our costs will come down and we might be able to cut our prices." What is worrying here though, is that whether the self-install DSL 'revolution' will mean that the same problems akin to the somewhat volatile launch of unmetered access in the past will be repeated for businesses and subscribers alike. If smaller providers are running at a loss because of trying to be competitive in an uncertain market, collapse is imminent, so are the big companies playing the game wisely? Source: Silicon Broadband Subscriptions In Japan Soar Due To Price Cut At the end of 2000, there were only 9,723 DSL lines in operation in Japan, and 2001 saw an increase of DSL subscriptions by over 15,000 percent according to figures released by the Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. In the UK the broadband revolution is seen as somewhat disappointing, and many issues still remain relating the current pricing structure. Perhaps the increase of subscribers in Japan indicates that companies in the UK could see a boost to DSL subscriptions if prices were reduced accordingly - what do you think? Source: Newsbytes. AOL In Talks To Purchase Red Hat Red hat sells products and services based on the Linux operating system which is fast becoming more of a direct competitor to rival company Microsoft whose familiar and popular Windows operating software is said to be installed on about 90 percent of PCs around the globe. Linux is used for a variety of purposes including running corporate computer servers and consumer devices such as personal computers, cell phones and video games. According to the Washington Post, "sources familiar with the matter" said the purchase would position AOL in a stronger position against Microsoft. The paper said that the plan is to link its 33 million Internet subscribers with Red Hat's OS, based on open source Linux technology, and added that with such a move, AOL Time Warner could potentially make significant inroads into Microsoft's core business. "An even greater challenge to Microsoft would be for AOL Time Warner to develop a rival operating system that works exclusively with the media giant's own internet service provider, its Web browser or proprietary content," it said No confirmation of the report can yet be determined as officials of AOL, Red Hat and Microsoft have declined to comment. Source: The Inquirer Cloud Nine Customers Under The Weather After Hack Attack In a statement in the ISPreview forums, Cloud Nine’s Operations Director, John Parr, said that the problems started on Wednesday when a hacker affected 1,000 web sites. After their firewall was tightened, a firewall password brute force attack occurred which effectively destroyed the firewall. The ISP then suffered a denial of service (DOS) attack which led to the complete shutdown of the network. The latest news early this morning from Cloud Nine is that the email servers are now operational once again along with the 0844/0845 and 0808 dial-ups. 3 out of the 4 DNS servers are also operational with the web servers expecting to be restored later early tomorrow morning. Many customers are asking if all of this could have been avoided in the first place. A few will no doubt be looking to take their business elsewhere as a result. But will their new ISP be immune from such attacks themselves? This incident is obviously a major embarrassment to the business class ISP and will undoubtedly damage its reputation as a quality ISP. Hopefully Cloud Nine will have learnt from this experience and be better prepared for any such further attacks. Sir George Young Slams BT / Government Broadband Decisions He is unhappy that BT refuses to enable local exchanges for broadband access in rural areas, and he also criticised the government's opposition relating to offering high-speed providers tax incentives in order to boost high-speed Internet access within the UK. BT's decision in November last year to suspend the rollout of ADSL in rural areas because of lack of demand has also come under scrutiny, and a senior Conservative MP has demanded that more financial backing be provided by the government to the telecommunications industry. BT has already explained that the reason for not deploying high-speed access in rural areas is because it would not be economically viable to ADSL-enable local exchanges in such areas where population density is relatively low. However, Sir George says that it is not a good enough excuse because he firmly believes that high-speed access has not been up and running for long enough for BT to feel there is a 'low demand', and he commented: "Let's look at the facts, ADSL has only been on offer for something over a year. Only in the latter part of that year has it become widely available. In 2001 it cost £150 to install and £39.99 a month to run. Does 120,000 users in year one really represent low take up?" "Given that around half of these users were sold ADSL by third parties rather than by BT, has BT really given this its best marketing attention before complaining of a lack of demand?" he said. He also said that even BT's own figures suggest that demand for high-speed services exists, as they indicate that the number of ADSL customers looks likely to double every four months. Sir George also disapproved of e-commerce minister Douglas Alexander's recent rejection of the BSG's recommendation that the government should provide tax breaks to encourage investors to supply the money needed to create broadband networks. Ironically Sir George -- who was Secretary of State for Transport when Britain's railways were privatised -- believes that the left-of-centre Alexander should take a more active involvement in the issue. "From a strictly commercial perspective the case for short or medium term investment in providing broadband to areas with a low population density is a weak one," he said. "However, from a national strategic perspective it is essential that we provide the access and remove the uncertainty." Sir George would like to see the government using its influence, in partnership with regulatory agencies and the local authority, to encourage infrastructure providers to build broadband networks in rural areas. "Government, the regulator and the industry need to get together to work out how to deliver universal access to this critical technology in a competitive, mixed market environment," he said. As reported in an earlier story, there are now over 1,000 of BT's local exchanges that are ADSL-enabled which cover more than 60 percent of the population. However, because BT have expressed that upgrading more exchanges would be an uneconomical project, it is felt that the company's position is thought to be that it will only upgrade these exchanges if some of the cost is born by other companies or government bodies. This theory may not be far off the mark as the telco has already announced that some exchanges in rural Cornwall would soon be able to offer services due to a recent deal with the European Regional Development Council. Source: ZDNet Children Can Build Websites In Safe Environment Not exactly ISP news, but the reality in today's high-tech living is that today's child is potentially tomorrow's web master, and Planet MOZ - The Children's Internet - want to give children a chance to develop important web-based skills that could be beneficial to them in later life. The children's website is offering the younger generation the chance to become a web manager by allowing them to make their own web site complete with diary, phone book, gallery, 2 text pages and up to 50 styles to choose from. Children can operate their site from their own user controlled web pages, and a simple-mouse click is all that is needed to get started. There is also an online magazine - Planet MOZ Magaz0ne - which will give children the chance to become budding online journalists as youngsters can contribute their own material for publication in the Mag. Stuart Wilson, creator of Planet MOZ commented: “ We want every child to discover how to interact with others of a similar age on the web without parents having to worry about who they are communicating with. Planet MOZ allows children to realise their own web potential in a safe environment.” Schools can also openly communicate with their students through their own free user controlled pages, and when the student logs in they will be told if a new message from their school is online. Self-Install DSL is Too Expensive To Market Says AOL Chief As more and more ISPs have been advertising the new service recently, the ISP giant does not want to mass-market the wires-only product because they believe that BT are overcharging for it. Currently BT wholesale are charging £25 plus VAT per month and £50 plus VAT installation fee for self-install ADSL to participating ISPs. However, according to AOL's own research, customers remain unwilling to pay more than £30 per month for the pleasure of high-speed access. Matt Peacock, chief communications officer at AOL UK clarified the situation further by saying: "We still have an ongoing issue that the price to consumers remains outside the mass market price bracket, we don't feel confident about launching at that price." "In terms of (then) initiating a marketing campaign, that is purely dependent on BT getting the price right down and having the provisioning systems that can cope with that volume of subscribers." said Peacock Claims from BT that the demand is not high for ADSL have also been snubbed by Peacock who said that 85 percent of AOL UK subscribers want to migrate to a high-speed connection. At the moment, AOL is still testing self-install ADSL product, and will offer it, perhaps reluctantly, once a price has been fixed. Source: Webuser File Sharing Software Company Suspends Downloads Last year Kazaa was ordered to shut down its operations or face $40,000 a day in fines because their software allows users to illegally download music. The Amsterdam-based firm initially filed suit against Dutch music licensing body Buma/ Stemra, seeking to force a continuation of discussions over an Internet music streaming license.Unconfirmed reports suggest that there has been more than 27 million copies of the software downloaded to date. On 31st January the court will make a decision on Kazaas future. Source: Newsbytes Government Working To Improve IT Services The newly created team is based in the Treasury's Office of Government Commerce (OGC). Last November at the CBI conference the Prime Minister stated, "We spend millions every year on IT and communications. It is clear that if we can manage our role as purchaser better we can both improve value for money and have a significant impact on the availability of broadband. "So we are asking the Office of Government commerce to look at whether there is more that can be done to help Government departments and others buy broadband more effectively." The public sector spends an estimated £1.7 billion on ICT each year. The OGC team will meet with potential broadband suppliers and work with public sector buyers to identify and evaluate procurement options. There are a wide range of potential users in the public sector, including Local Authorities, schools, emergency services and the National Health Service, in addition to central government departments. In addition, work will be done with Government departments on their demand for broadband services, by analysing the impact of different procurement models on competition, and their likely impact on the availability of broadband. Speaking at the Europe21 conference in London, Mr Alexander said, "Widening the broadband network has the potential to revolutionise the way we work. It has the ability to transform the way we provide our public services, the way we run our businesses, the way we communicate - in all, it could transform much of the way we live.” BT Stripped of Villain Of Internet Title After being stripped of its title, a BT spokesman told The Register "Far from being an Internet villain BT is working very hard to bring broadband to Britain." At the 4th annual Internet Industry Awards this year, two different candidates are up for the covetous Internet Villain title, one being telecoms regulator Oftel and the other is the Home Office and the Radiocommunications Agency. The Internet Service Provider's Association (ISPA) awards the title of Internet Villain to the most deserving outfit within the UK industry. Other companies and organisations are in direct competition for less will have to fight it out for titles that are considered less prestigious. The Best National Consumer ISP award could go to either AOL, BTopenworld, Freeserve, Plus Net and Telewest who have all been nominated. Meanwhile, BT Ignite, Cable & Wireless, Claranet, Pipex and Thus have been short-listed for the Best National Business ISP title. Source: The Register Deployment Of Broadband Access Is Down To Industry Says E-Commerce Minister Mr Alexander further commented: "(The) enduring challenge is now making widespread broadband use a reality. This is both a common challenge being faced by governments and businesses throughout Europe, and a common opportunity." There is a real need to "interconnect European citizens, industries and governments by rolling out broadband networks" but that "this is primarily a matter for the private sector". Calls for tax breaks to help subsidise the deployment of broadband in commercially unviable areas were rejected by the Government last month, as Alexander believes the Government's role is to "promote broadband demand through policies to aggregate procurement of infrastructure and service requirements where appropriate." According to Alexander, the Government is now working out how it can best use its broadband buying power to aid the roll-out of high speed Internet access, and he said: "As a high spending organisation, the Government wields enormous purchasing power. The OGC team will identify the most effective means for the public sector to buy broadband services so ensuring that schools, hospitals and libraries can have better access to state of the art Internet services." It is reported that a new group based in the Treasury's Office of Government Commerce (OGC) will meet potential broadband suppliers and work with public sector buyers to identify and evaluate different procurement options. Source: The Register Oftel Announces New Director Of Operations Peter Waller, who takes up his new post on Monday, succeeds Anne Lambert who is returning to the DTI after three years at Oftel. Commenting on the appointment, Oftel’s director general, David Edmonds said, "Peter Waller is joining Oftel at a very important time for the telecoms industry and Oftel. The creation of the new communications regulator OFCOM, supporting the development of broadband services and the implementation of the new European Directives on communications are some of the major issues Oftel is currently dealing with.” Waller has extensive knowledge of the current issues facing UK businesses, having previously been the director of Business Links, the national network of advice centres for small and medium sized businesses. BTopenworld Must Not Get Preferential Treatment Say Oftel The multimillion-pound advertising offer from BT Wholesale has been given the green light from telecoms regulator Oftel who say that BTopenworld must not get preferential treatment. The scheme is being implemented by the telco in a bid to boost broadband subscriptions by raising awareness and in order for ISPs to qualify for the payment, they must launch advertising specifically focused on their high-speed Internet services. An Oftel spokeswoman informed ZDNet UK that the regulator had known about the scheme for some time, and although in agreement, Oftel want to ensure that BT Wholesale will treat their own retail operations no differently than any other ISP outfit. Speaking to ZDNet, the spokeswoman said: "BT is welcome to do this as long as it doesn't favour its own service -- BTopenworld -- over other ISPs. We were aware that BT was planning to offer the package, and we are satisfied that there aren't any direct regulatory concerns with it." BT have currently enabled 1,000 local exchanges ready for ADSL services, however, it is reported that there are only around 100,000 ADSL customers in the UK at present. Also, about 40 percent of the population live in areas where their exchange has not been ADSL-enabled, and these consumers will not be able to receive high-speed services. BT's new chief executive, Ben Verwaayen, will be starting the job next month, and according to reports, he has already been visiting BT's operations around Britain. Verwaayen will undoubtedly come under the proverbial spotlight and will be faced with ongoing pressure to boost broadband take-up within the UK. According to one BT insider, Verwaayen has been taking considerable interest in the issue of broadband and local loop unbundling (LLU) -- the process by which rival operators can install their equipment in or near a BT exchange and offer services in competition with BT Wholesale. Verwaayen is understood to have insisted on spending several hours at Battersea local exchange earlier this month, being shown BT's ADSL equipment and learning about LLU. Many believe that the price of broadband is too high, and despite government requests to reduce the cost, BT is adamant that regulatory issues prevent a reduction in prices for consumers. ISPs have been able to apply for the assistance since December 2001 and it is reported that because of oversubscriptions, some ISPs may not receive the funds and will be left disappointed. Source: ZDNet UK Virgin.net Abandons NTL And Ends Unmetered Trial Service Many users of the trial service have had to find an alternative supplier, and Ironically this comes at a time when NTL are on the look out for ISP partners. The reason behind the move is that ideally ISP Virgin.net would like all subscribers to the Stop the Clock service to change to its own alternative Friaco-based unmetered Internet product. For those with a BT line, the migration to Friaco is a simple process as users just have to change to a different dial-up telephone number. However, those consumers who have NTL as their telephony and used the Stop the Clock service to access the Internet are left struggling as a Friaco-based service is not an option for the cable customers. The alternatives that they are left with are to either move to a pay-as-you-go service or install a BT phone line, or maybe use AOL. The move also comes after it was reported recently in the Financial Times about the possibility of NTL offering Freeserve and AOL a wholesale broadband Internet service. Going wholesale appears to be a good solution for the cable company, and signing deals with the big players like Freeserve and AOL would provide a much needed boost to its dwindling revenues. Instead of working together with NTL to develop the trial unmetered service, Virgin.net would seem to prefer to abandon its existing unmetered customers. Obviously this strange decision presents many questions, and will no doubt conjure up different issues within the industry, and it is reported that no new Virgin/NTL service is in the pipeline either. Source: Silicon Tiscali Begins Launch Of Broadband Satellite Service This date is a month ahead of a similar offering being launched from BTopenworld, which, like the Tiscali service, is based on a satellite service from Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. However, the trial does not come free as those taking part will have to pay £230 for the privilege of testing the service, and if they continue to use the service after this period of time, they will have to pay a further £650 or hand back the equipment. Tiscali have set monthly subscriptions at £59.99 a month in direct competition with BTopenworld's broadband over satellite offering which will start at £69.99 per month coupled with a £900 installation fee. Source: The Register Freedom2Surf Offer Wires-Only Broadband Connection The Pure Broadband IP package has been designed to provide consumers with a more affordable high-speed access option, while allowing users the freedom to get the most out of their broadband connection. The package features include a static IP address, standard telephone and email support, 20Mb of webspace, 5Mb of database space and up to 20 email addresses. There is no port blocking transparent cache software which means that users will benefit from an unrestricted Internet experience. Pure Broadband IP will run over Freedom2Surf's custom-built Linux infrastructure which has been designed to improve ADSL speed and quality for all systems, including Microsoft Windows and corporate LANs. Users will also be able to independently choose the hardware best suited to their PC and network systems. The prices for the different packages relating to the Pure Broadband IP service are as follows: The 512k Pay As You Go Monthly package is priced at £32.50 per month with a £59.99 charge for setup - (50:1 contention ratio) The 512k yearly prepay package costs £59.99 setup, and is priced equivalent to £30.00 per month - (50:1contention ratio) There is a 512k quarterly package which is priced at £240.00 (per qtr) together with £59.99 setup - (20:1contention ratio) A 1Mb connection is on offer for £345.00 per quarter and £59.99 setup (20:1 contention ratio) Another quarterly package offering a 2Mb connection is £480 (per qtr) with the same £59.99 setup charges - (20:1contention ratio) For further information or to subscribe to the Pure Broadband IP packages listed, please click HERE. PlusNet Confirm Wires-Only ADSL Details ADSL NetStart self-install - £50 per month - Offering a 500kbps download speed, this is a low-cost option recommended for professionals and business users with a single PC who wish to connect at the standard ADSL 50:1 contention ratio.There is also an activation fee of £50. All prices exclude VAT. There will be the option for the first month to be treated as a ‘trial’ period. Charged at the standard subscription rate, this will allow customers to trial the service before being committed to the annual service contract. “We are pleased to be able to offer business users the freedom to try our services without being obligated to an annual contract should they so wish,” stated Matt Grest, Product and Services Manager for PlusNet. “We expect that this option will be well received by many attracted by our extremely competitive price. We would also like to state that for convenience, customers may choose to pay either monthly, quarterly or annually, for all our ADSL business services.” Napster Trials Online Subscription-Based Music Service The testers will be some 20,000 people who had registered their interest in the offering earlier, and the trials will include 100,000 tracks supplied by independent music labels. Napster found itself in trouble over copyright issues which has led to the service being out of action since a court injunction imposed in July. Disappointed supporters had to find another similar file sharing utility for their tunes, and although many are happy with their choice, Napster remains far from being forgotten. forgotten. Napster has now formed licensing agreements with several publishers, and its new subscription-based service will guarantee the payment of royalties to the many artists for their work. Chief executive Conrad Hilbers told CNet: "We've been able to execute what we've been talking about for a long time - the development of a secure peer-to-peer system." However Napster will have to face staunch competition from rivals 'Pressplay' from Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and 'MusicNet' - a RealNetworks, AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI Group venture. Source: Ananova UK And Germany Like To Spend On Net Final results showed that, apart from the staggering amount of EUR2.9bn that was spent online across Europe in the run up to Christmas, 9 million UK users and 10 million users from Germany visited any given retail web site in December. Predictions are that online retail sales in European countries will reach EUR33bn by 2002 and around EUR150bn by 2006, and the same sentiments follow from Forrester Research who's research also mirrors the Jupiter findings. Anti-Virus Vendors Not Doing Enough Says CA Chief However, are the anti-virus vendors doing enough in the fight against the constant stream of worms and viruses? Simon Perry, vice president of Computer Associates security division, believes that these companies are not doing enough to protect users. Perry points out that a more holistic approach is needed for companies to adequately protect themselves against the threat of the more complex virus of today, and speaking to Silicon, he added: "Viruses like Nimda exploit a hole in the MS IIS system. To prevent this type of malware from attacking, companies should have both intrusion detection and firewalls as part of their security strategy, not just anti-virus software. "The approach to security should be a holistic one - which is not what the anti-virus vendors can offer. IT managers need to see how many IIS servers they have in order to detect where and how the worm was moving and not just detect the worm itself." Perry also claimed that Computer Associates could acquire virus samples quicker than other anti-virus competitors because of its large consumer base. He added, "We have a large client base who are all tech-savvy and vigilant, which gives us an advantage over our more consumer-focused competitors." However, a senior technology consultant from anti-virus vendor Sophos, Graham Cluley, feels that, at the expense of competitors, Perry is just trying to boost sales for Computer Associates: He commented, "I suspect Simon may be trying to push CA's firewall/intrusion detection products on the back of the Nimda outbreak, as Nimda exploits a vulnerability in some versions of Microsoft IIS. Microsoft had a patch available to secure their vulnerability long before Nimda was written, which we recommended users install. Even if they didn't install it, Sophos anti-virus users were protected from infection." What do you think? Are the anti-virus vendors doing enough, or would you like to see more done to prevent/cure computer viruses? Source: Silicon.com BT To Give Millions In Bid To Boost Broadband Demand Broadband on a whole has been disappointing in the UK, and BT are encouraging ISPs to advertise broadband services that they offer in a bid to boost user demand. A BT Wholesale representative told ZDNet that unless the advert clearly promotes ADSL, the company will not pay for it, "As long as the (advertisement) is specifically for broadband, and not just a generic ad for the company, money could be available," he said. However, BT also said that they are not willing to pay the full cost of a campaign, although they will be subsidising rivals of BT Openworld, who, according to the representative, they are not allowed to treat any differently than other ISPs. Currently, BTopenworld is the largest ISP offering ADSL in Britain, covering more than 60 percent of the country's population. Source: ZDNet BT Glitch Causes 3,500 Users Emails To Vanish The unfortunate incident occurred during the maintenance of the 3,500 email accounts, and BT have now apologised for losing the emails. Users were unable to gain access to their emails for several days, and it is reported that any incoming emails were also rejected at this time too. BT has also confirmed that they are unable to retrieve the emails either, although those already received beforehand can be restored. The talk21 service has reached a user database of almost one million, and BT sent out an email to those subscribers who were affected which said: "Last week, there was a technical problem that affected a small number of our customers. We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience and have taken steps to ensure it does not happen again." Source: The Register The Tax Man Cometh, But Not For Virgin.net The tax-free Portuguese island of Madeira has been chosen by Virgin.net as its financial base for its Internet service launched in December. A spokesman for virgin.net confirmed that the offshore tax domicile would mean that the division would pay no corporate tax and just 12 per cent VAT, compared with the UK rate of 17.5 per cent paid by its British-based competitors.Last year Freeserve were furious when AOL took advantage of a loophole. A spokesman for Freeserve was quoted by the paper saying that they were not surprised that Virgin.net had taken advantage of “the VAT regime emerging with the EU”. Source: The Times NTL Considers Offering Wholesale Broadband To Rivals The company has been in discussions with other providers such as AOL and Freeserve regarding the possibilities of NTL offering a wholesale broadband product to compete with their own service. On the subject of cable broadband, successful company Telewest are offering a free month's trial of its Blueyonder high-speed service in the hope that it will attract more subscribers. Source: Internet Magazine UK Schools To Benefit From Internet Safety Project In a bid to improve child safety on the Internet, the education programme was unveiled at the BETT education show on Thursday, and has received support from the Home Office's Internet taskforce on Child Protection. Named Kidsmart, the programme will target children aged from 8 to 11, and it will be run throughout UK primary schools from January 2002. Parents and teachers will also benefit from the programme that highlights the present dangers that children may be susceptible to from Internet paedophiles. The programme contains a safety code that has been devised by Childnet International and is nicely presented in the form of five SMART rules: Always keep your name, address, mobile phone number and password private. Meeting someone you have contacted in cyberspace can be dangerous. Only do so with your parents' permission, and then when they can be present. Accepting emails of opening files from people you don't really know or trust can get you into trouble -- they may contain viruses or nasty messages. Remember someone online may be lying and not be who they say they are. Stick to the public areas in chat rooms and if you feel uncomfortable simply get out of there! Tell your parent or carer if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried. It is reported that the project consists of three separate programmes that include a school activity day, information for parents on chatroom dangers, and lesson plans and worksheets for teachers who will hold safety sessions with pupils. The KidSmart programme ties up with The Home Office's "ThinkUKnow" campaign to warn of Internet dangers also launched at the start of 2002 with hard-hitting adverts being screened in cinemas around the country. There is also a Web site supporting the Kidsmart project HERE. Source: Zdnet Cable Leading The Way In High-Speed Access Race For many, cable presents a cheaper option, and this could well be the reason why this | ||