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Freeserve Hits Back At AOL’s Free Internet Trial AOL UK claimed in an advertisement, which appeared recently in the national press, that they were the only ISP to offer a genuine free trial of its unmetered service. But after Freeserve complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, it was ruled that AOL’s advert was indeed misleading. Freeserve pointed out that they also provide a free trial. AOL hit back by saying that Freeserve charge 50p per minute for their technical support line where AOL’s is completely free. But the ASA stated, “The authority considered that users who subscribed to the complainants' offer were not required to use their helpline; because they were not, the Authority considered that the complainants also offered a free trial.” Bonfield To Leave With Golden Handshake Bonfield said, "This is the right time to announce a change. We have almost completed the very radical transformation programme which we started last year. A string of profitable and timely disposals, coupled with a successful rights issue, have helped us to reduce debt ahead of schedule. We have established the new BT Group which will have a slim headquarters and autonomous lines of business. mmO2 will be demerged shortly. The new BT Group is well positioned for the future.” Chairman Christopher Bland, said, "Peter's contribution to BT has been enormous during his six years as its CEO.” Embrace Broadband Technology Says NTL At the TMA 2001 in Brighton, Mike Wagner, NTL Business MD, warned that company potential to recover when the economy begins to take-off again could easily be damaged by cutting spending on communications, saying : "We're witnessing exceptionally strained economic conditions, and there can be few industries that have escaped the drive to reduce cost across the board. Communications managers are under a huge amount of pressure, but it's vital not to lose sight of the fact that downturns do not last forever, and that they provide opportunities as well as hazards." Stephen Carter, MD and COO of the cableco urged the Government to intervene in the UK's controversial broadband sector and give it a much-needed boost. He suggestedthat the Government should be "very interventionist" and provide positive tax breaks for businesses in the broadband sector to make it more viable for those companies involved. Source: The Register Scottish ISP Scotland On Line In Partnership With First Tuesday The database of First Tuesday Scotland will be integrated into Scotland On Line's new web site - www.firsttuesdayscotland.com - and users will be able to register and pay for events online through the Royal Bank of Scotland's payment gateway. Online credit card transactions for the new-media event organiser will also be managed as part of the deal, and First Tuesday Scotland will send targeted emails to alert members of specific events. Garry Hurr, director at First Tuesday Scotland said: "The partnership is a meeting of two companies that are doing very well in a negative market. In the longer term, we are looking to develop more services for our members and it will be useful to have a partner like Scotland On Line which can help us deliver this." In order for Scotland On Line to become a First Tuesday Scotland sponsor, a five-figure cash fee has been included as part of the deal. Source: Revolution UK AOL Ordered To Cease Shipment Of AOL6.0 Software PlayMedia sued AOL for copyright infringement on April 17, and it is reported that the court decision could also affect the recently launched version 7.0 PlayMedia is the company behind popular MP3 playback software such as the AMP MP3 player engine related to WinAMP. The Media Player shipped with AOL 6.0 is essentially a modern version of WinAMP, developed after AOL bought Nullsoft: PlayMedia originally licensed Nullsoft its AMP MP3 code and granted the WinAMP maker the right to sub-license AMP. That right, it insists, does not convey on AOL a right to use AMP in its own online access software, even if it did buy Nullsoft. Judge Matz' ruling grants PlayMedia a preliminary injunction against AOL until the company's case against the media giant has been judged in court. The ruling prevents AOL from shipping AOL 6.0 - either directly or through third-parties - while it contains AMP code, though it is permitted to ship the MP3 decoded in WinAMP. Equally, it has to block any AOL 6.0 user whose installed version of the software contains AMP - though said users are allowed access to the AOL service in order for the company to remove the offending code through its Live Update mechanism. The Judge's ruling forbids the use of AMP in all software but WinAMP, and as security for its complicity, the Judge has ordered AOL to put up $500,000 even though the company denies the copyright infringement charge. AOL 7.0 is currently being heavily promoted but because it also contains the AMP-based AOL Media Player, it will also be affected by the injunction. Source : The Register Microsoft Opens Site To Other Browsers After Protests After many protests, Microsoft pledged to open its site to other browsers, and as from yesterday, users of browsers such as Mozilla and Opera can access the popular site. Previous concerns that Microsoft was abusing its dominant position in the software market in a bid to gain an unfair advantage relating to its Internet Explorer browser heralded the beginning of the antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in the mid-1990s, which is now moving into what should be its final stage. Source: ZDNet UK BTopenworld's Broadband Satellite Service To Be Launched Next Month Chief executive Andy Green said that nationwide access to the service is due to be rolled out in spring next year, maintaining that the satellite service provision will enable broadband to be available to almost everyone. Details of the offer are still undisclosed, and although charges are reportedly less than £100 per month, it may prove to be a costly service for many as it will be more than the current cost of BT's DSL services priced at £40. Coupled with that, it is also thought that the Installation charges will cost consumers more than the £150 charged for the ISP's current DSL model. Source: The Register BT's Leased-Line Prices Challenged By Ethernet Technology Neosnetwork's backbone network is being utilised by Manchester-based ISP C2i, who are using 10Mbps Ethernet service based in neosnet to cost-effectively extend their network to London, covering a distance of around 200 miles. neosnet is based on Nortel Optera optical switches and Riverstone's RS 8600 and RS 3000 Layer 2 switch routers. On the back of the network neosnetworks is offering point to point LAN extensions targeted at corporates, and point to point Ethernet transport aimed at ISPs and ASPs. There is currently no specific pricing available regarding neosnetwork's services. Source: The Register ISPs May Not Be Responsible For Costs Of New Legislation The anti-terrorism Bill left ISPs concerned at the prospect of being held responsible for the costs of such a huge-scale operation. However, following high-level government meetings this week, it has been revealed that ISPs and telcos may not have to bear the brunt of the huge costs involved. A team of senior civil servants tried to diminish ISPs' immediate concerns over the government's proposed cyber-terrorism legislation when they met with industry officials on Wednesday. Rumours quickly circulated that the legislation would include a requirement for all communications data to be stored for 12 months, but a joint meeting held by officials from the DTI and Home Office insisted the scheme would remain optional. A spokesman for the DTI told silicon.com that it is a voluntary code of practice and there are no intentions of imposing a mandatory requirement on service providers. Although the code of practice is largely still unformed, details of types of data to be retained, how long it should be held and what kind of access can be obtained by law enforcement authorities are included. The biggest worry for service providers is that unlike the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which gave authorities the power to demand data on named individuals, the new terrorism Bill will require the blanket retention of communications data on every user for up to 12 months. Most industry representatives remain unconvinced by the proposals, despite the assurances that the changes wouldn't dramatically affect ISPs and telcos. Source: Silicon Hotmail Users Charged For Increased Storage Space The annual fee for users within the US is $12.95, for which they will be allowed 10MB of online storage space, 8MB more than the current amount 2MB per account. Although this is not operational in the UK yet, a spokeswoman for MSN UK said: "It is US only at the moment but it is something we are looking at. There is no date for a European launch though." Source: Silicon BTopenworld Chief Hits Back At Broadband Critics Green lashed back saying that BT was not to blame for the slow uptake of broadband ADSL in the UK. Although with only 250,000 users nation-wide, the blame should not fall on the BT’s shoulders. Green claimed that - taking into account roll-out of high-speed DSL Services through BTopenworld and cable modem-based services - through NTL and Telewest, around 70 to 75% of the population now have access to broadband. But John Wright, chairman of the Communications Management Association (CMA) that runs the annual TMA event, is not so positive. "The time has come for effective government intervention. Is that likely? Don't hold your breath," he said. He claimed European countries with the highest levels of broadband penetration are those which experience the most active government involvement. A straw poll of small businesses at the TMA event also revealed many simply don't know why they should consider DSL, cable modem or satellite options. Source: Silicon.com Mac Users Refused Access To Hotmail Microsoft has upgraded the servers to provide additional security with its Passport authentication system. The company is believed to working on a fix for the problem. Mac users can however still access accounts via the Hotmail Web site. Last week the company blocked access to its MSN.com Web portal to all but Internet Explorer and Netscape users. However, following complaints from users of Opera, the third most popular browser, the company rescinded and said it will restore access to users of Opera and other browsers including Mozilla and Amaya. Source: MacUser File Sharing Suffering Since Napster Legal Case Although the popular music file swapping service has been operating a restricted service since July of this year, Napster remains the most popular music destination in Europe. Over 4.5million people across Europe regularly swap files across the Internet and Jupiter MMXI's Internet audience research shows that a host of Napster clones have appeared to fill the void left by Napster, however, none have proven to be as successful. Despite widespread fears that post Napster or second-generation music swapping services provided a much wider threat to the music industry, the reality has proved to be very different. In fact the size of the European P2P market in August of this year (without Napster) is almost half the size it was back in February (with Napster). Mark Mulligan, Jupiter MMXI analyst and author of the report says, “The strength of Napster is testament to the popularity of sharing music over the Internet, but also to the fact that consumers expect music to be free on the web.” “The latest generation of Napster clones presents the record industry with the challenge of a fragmented, grey market but poses less of a threat than the original Napster phenomenon. The record industry cannot afford for paid music subscriptions and a la carte services to become premium products for a niche audience of the online population. If the soon to be released online offerings of major record labels hope to convert a significant share of existing file swappers into paying customers they will have to offer much of what the grey market already has, and more." Microsoft XP Anti-Theft Features Cracked Within Hours Of Launch Already crackers have developed illegal installation files that bypass the registration process for Microsoft's WindowsXP. These files can now be downloaded from Web sites in the Far East and cracked copies of WindowsXP, with the protection mechanism stripped out, can be downloaded from Warez sites across the Internet. UK based BitArts Labs highlighted issues with the anti-theft protection mechanism of WindowsXP in beta versions of the product that Microsoft claimed would be resolved in the final product release of XP. "Crackers have studied and bypassed the security by using publicly available monitoring tools. The cracks are simplistic in their nature and reflect an uncanny naivety from the Redmond giant on the high level of technical intellect within today's cracking community," said John Safa, chief technology officer, BitArts Labs. "If they'd taken our advice they really wouldn't be having these problems." BitArts believes that Microsoft is right to introduce license activation but needs to adopt an approach that actually works. "The design of many company's activation technologies and this includes Microsoft provide no barrier to today's advanced cracking techniques. Companies must learn to understand cracking ideologies or they will be consistently caught out. The industry is educated in the art of hacking but the elusive world of cracking allows the inner workings of applications to be reversed and modified," said Danny Chapchal, chief executive, BitArts. PlusNet Launch Website Building Tool For Beginners  Website Wizard has been specifically designed to de-mystify the process of making a website and getting it on the Internet. It uses a point-and-click interface which guides you through the process of designing your own web pages. Your designs are then automatically published, fully-working, to the free web space allocated to every PlusNet customer - totally removing the need for any specialist knowledge of 'uploading', or FTP as it is known."Website Wizard is special because it is such a powerful web publishing tool, but it couldn't be simpler to use" said Matt Grest, products and services development manager for PlusNet. "We've made it so easy because we want everyone to be able to use it. That's why it's available to all our customers, whatever account they're on." Website Wizard adds to a wide range of tools already available at the PlusNet portal. All PlusNet Connect unmetered and ADSL Broadband accounts already come with support for hosting tools, such as CGI and PHP, for advanced users. Now even complete newcomers can create their own website. Nutshell Terminates Popular Unmetered Service Since the fall of the unmetered service from 08002go, Net in a Nutshell were overwhelmed with subscribers. Apart from AOL, Nutshell was the only viable option for non-BT telephone customers. But Nutshell were unable to cater for the extra workload, and due to what appears to be a misunderstanding with their suppliers, C&W, Nutshell’s network ended up being 30 times smaller than expected which caused problems with the extra customers. We have today received this statement from the ISP: Nutshell is currently in a dispute with Cable and Wireless over modem allocation. Nevertheless, Cable & Wireless has chosen to suspend, and now terminate Nutshell’s service.We have since received many emails and press releases from many ISPs offering their services to ex-Nutshell and 08002go customers. But one of the main reasons why many joined was because the access was available to cable and other non-BT customers. Now their limited choice is even more restricted. Non-Microsoft Browsers Find Door To MSN Locked The site can be readily accessed via Internet Explorer but users who use other browsers such as Opera and Mozilla constantly experience problems finding the doorway to MSN locked. When users try to gain entry into MSN via the most recent browser from Mozilla.org, a message is displayed that says: "the browser that you are using will not render MSN.com correctly. Additionally, you will see the most advanced functionality of MSN.com only with the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer or MSN Explorer." Several links are then provided with the message that enables the user to directly download versions of Internet Explorer for Windows, Macintosh and MSN Explorer. Jon S. Tetzchner, chief executive of Norwegian browser maker Opera software, claimed that that Microsoft was "keeping their Opera browser from accessing MSN.com," after the company noticed on Thursday that their browser was unable to access MSN.com. He added that his reasoning of this was based on the fact that a string is sent directly to the server that the browser is trying to connect that contains information of what type of browser is seeking access. Tetzchner, whose team was testing the problem on Thursday added: "Microsoft is seeing (that) it is an Opera browser and shutting it out, if you change the Opera string by one letter, it is letting us in." CNET News.com was also alerted about the problem from several readers using different browsers who were unable to gain access to MSN and it is reported that Microsoft could not be immediately reach to present comment on the matter. MSN is integrated heavily into Microsoft's latest operating system, for example, the Internet search feature from the Start Menu uses MSN and Windows Media Player drives traffic to MSN. The Passport authentication feature found in Windows Messenger along with the Photo & Camera Wizard, where users can order online prints from digital images, also direct traffic to MSN. On the very same day of the launch of XP, - yesterday - MSN.com was earmarked to have a face-lift to make it "run faster as well as offer more entertainment and news content" as previously announced by the company. Internet Explorer 6 replaces the more typical "page not found" with an MSN search page as well as launching the MSN homepage, and Microsoft planned at one stage to include Smart Tags in the browser, but decided to pull the feature. Source: CNet Lattice Take A Slice Of The Broadband Pie Lattice have invested £450m into thier telecoms division, aptly named '186k 'after the speed of light, who unveiled its national fibre 2000km network on Wednesday, which is largely laid alongside the company's own gas network. Undeterred by the other big players who are broadband back-stepping, Lawrie Haynes, CEO of 186k, is reported to be confident about the prospect of surviving the volatile sector believing that high-speed access will "take off" within the UK. The launch is seen as a move to follow in the footsteps from other rival utilities firms such as Energis and Thus, a Scottish Power subsidiary and owner of ISP Demon. Source: Silicon BT Investigated By Oftel Again Over Installation Costs Oftel has confirmed that they will be investigating after receiving the complaint, this time from French based ISP Freeserve, who decided to contact Oftel earlier this month regarding the matter. The company urged Oftel to consider whether BT's actions represented an unfair cross-subsidy and breach of BT's licence. The complaint centres on cut price installation costs for BTopenworld's multi-user Business 500 Plus ADSL product which Freeserve alleges is not covered by any wholesale price reductions. In September BT announced its intention to halve the wholesale cost of installing its popular IPStream 500 product, from £150 to £75, in the three months running up to Christmas. BTopenworld announced it would pass on the cuts which applied to its single-user Home 500 and Business 500 ADSL products. However, BTopenworld also extended the cut-price installation offer to its Business 500 Plus product even though there was no corresponding cut in the wholesale offering for this service. The content of the angry letter from Freeserve claims that the telco is in "possible breach of the prohibition of abuse of dominant market position," and Paul Barker of Freeserve added: "We have no problem with seeing wholesale prices come down. But you have to question BT's commercial sustainability when it absorbs price cuts of this nature. We killed them on narrowband - we just want to compete on a level playing field with broadband." However, BT insists that it is not guilty as charged, as the promotional funding came from within BTopenworld, and there are whispers that BT are now feeling the pressure of the regulatory body breathing down their neck and 'stifling' its attempts to reduce prices for broadband subscribers. As recently reported, another company in the LLU, Bulldog Communications has also complained to Oftel that BT's half- price offer is unfair to those telcos offering unbundled services. Oftel's angle is that as long as any price-cuts are not anti-competitive, they are openly welcomed by the regluator. Source: The Register Internet Giants Rate Their Site Content To help the providers to place their content in relevant categories, a voluntary system will be used which was developed by the US-based Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA). Parents who do not want their children to view certain content will be able to block unsuitable pages via the popular browser, Internet Explorer, which has the 'Content Advisor' built in to recognise many of the rating labels on web pages. An ICRA official, quoted in the Washington Post said by tomorrow MSN will have labeled all its sites with Yahoo! and AOL following close behind. The move is said to be akin to that of the film industry, who, in a bid to avoid legislative intervention, decided to introduce a rating system based on content. Source: Silicon Vizzavi To Launch UK ISP Vizzavi, who sponsor ITV's search for a music star in Pop Idol, will be pricing the new ISP service at £12.99 a month, and will carry out intensive advertising via Vodafone shops of a promotional offer of three months' subscription for the price of two. The company are hoping to use the ISP service as a springboard to launch further mobile services and tie-in Vodafone subscribers to the mobile Internet service at the same time. Managing Director of Vizzavi, Geraldine Wilson said: "This enables us to have a better end-to-end experience and allows us to make the service more tangible by putting something in the shops people can buy. It'll also make it easier to introduce paid-for mobile services, as customers will be paying already." Vizzavi, who have already launched Internet service provision in France and Holland, plans to launch a pan-European network of ISPs. The company is also intends to hold "a number of promotions with Universal Music" in the near future. Source: nma.co.uk Corporate Internet subscribers Unhappy With ISPs According to research from the Communications Managers Association (CMA), the quality of service from the UK's largest online service providers has fallen in the view of corporate customers. The research also discovered that the most satisfied customers were those who used UUNet and Demon Internet, and Mark Smith, director general of the CMA commented: "The message from Internet services customers is that the providers must try harder, with tough economic times ahead, customers have put quality of service at the head of their priorities, above even price, and the providers must respond." However, the results have been met with caution from some analysts, and Tony Lock of analyst group Bloor Research, who believes ISPs are under financial pressures, remarked: "The more you use something the more you expect of it and the less happy you are with disruption. People rarely recognise good service but always remember when it all goes wrong. Having said that, ISPs must wonder why they score so poorly." Although UUNet rated highly in the satisfaction stakes, they fell behind in terms subscriber numbers, and BT has the highest number of subscribers apparently, meaning that the company is the leading provider in this category. In contrast though, the research showed that BT has the lowest level of consumer satisfaction recorded by the CMA since 1996 within the corporate field. Source: ZDNet Freedom2Surf Completes Linux Upgrade of Broadband Network  Freedom2Surf has replaced its standard Cisco routers with a new system that intelligently routes packet data from high-speed broadband flows, using a customised Linux-based infrastructure.The new network has been designed to improve ADSL speed and quality, especially when it comes to the transfer of multimedia content, such as audio and video streaming and real-time applications. Freedom2Surf's own testing indicates that this has increased data flow by over 10%. In terms of the end user experience, this has significantly reduced the irritating stop-start phenomena with streamed content, which is often the case with ordinary packet-based routing. The upgrade also offers greatly increased response rates when used by real time applications, in activities like online trading and gaming. Chris Panayis, Managing Director of Freedom2Surf commented, "We believe that ISPs should continually invest in the latest technology to improve the speed and quality of their networks. Broadband users now have the choice between run-of-the-mill ADSL or an enhanced service that has been designed with their needs in mind. Our latest upgrade will have considerable benefits for users who want to get the most out of their broadband connection." Freedom2Surf's upgrade covers both its ADSL Home and ADSL Professional packages, which are available for £39.99, a month and £85 per month respectively. ADSL Professional is available in speeds of 512Kbit, 1Mbit or 2Mbit. It includes a 4-port Ethernet router with built in NAT/firewall or a globally assigned static IP address range. BT To Begin Plug & Play Broadband Trials With trials expected to start on 3rd December, BT will set up customers' lines to give a range of high-speed services, but leave the supply of the equipment to the service provider. The equipment can then simply be plugged in by the customer rather than installed by a BT engineer as at present. Bruce Stanford, BT's director of broadband, said, "By cutting out the need to send an engineer round to each customer's premises, we remove a large part of the installation process and so cut our costs. We will pass these savings on to our wholesale customers giving them scope to reduce their prices to the end customer.” He added, "This development is also far more convenient for the end user as they will no longer need to wait in for an engineer to visit.” BT plans to introduce plug-and-play broadband in January. The expectation is the wires-only service will lead to further savings in both connection and rental charges and that the new prices will stimulate demand. Stanford concluded, "Another benefit of plug-and-play is that it will help to open up the market for equipment such as modems and routers, giving home and business users a greater choice of equipment. Service Providers will also have more flexibility to tailor their service to meet the requirements of their customers." Since the launch of its broadband services in June last year, BT Wholesale has signed up 195 customers, including other licensed operators and service providers, and has received orders for more than 100,000 end users across the customer base. Over 1,000 exchanges have now been ADSL enabled meaning that 60% of all households and 70% of current Internet users are connected to a broadband exchange. BT's Half Price ADSL Installation Offer Investigated However, it seems that some are not happy about the reduction, as Bulldog Communications, one of the few remaining telcos involved in local loop unbundling (LLU), have complained to Oftel about the promotional price-cut. The 'offer' is now the focus of an investigation by telecoms regulator Oftel as Bulldog are claiming that the price-cut means that other operators are left out in the cold because they are unable to offer competitive prices for unbundled services. BT announced its intention to cut the cost of ADSL installation - for three months from October 1 - back in September. In the summer BT cut the cost of its wholesale DSL service by £5 a month. Oftel has not received any complaints about this price reduction and did not carry out its own investigation into the matter. Oftel denies that they have "encouraged" Bulldog to complain about the situation, a spokeswoman for the company insisted that Oftel simply "advised Bulldog on procedure". Meanwhile, BT has confirmed that Oftel are investigating the matter, and they are willing to comply with any requests for information from the telecoms regulator. Source: The Register Microsoft To Charge For .Net My Services Web Software "You all pay for your [mobile] phones, telephones, cable and satellite. We think [people] are willing to pay for software [via the web]." Analysts forecast the estimated cost to subscribers will approximatley be around $25 per year, plus usage-based fees, and the company also plan to charge business partners 'nominal' fees. Applications available through .Net My Services, scheduled for next year, will include one-step access to electronic documents, contact lists and calendars; instant alerts on share prices, weather forecasts and flight delays; and automated transactions, such as online banking, ticket purchases and share buying. Calendar, scheduling and some other services will be available only through monthly subscription, and in contrast, services such as the controversial authentication system Passport, will be available free. Source: Vnunet BT To Use 'Vulnerable' MS Software For Music Service The company are planning to use an element of Microsoft's Windows Media Player - Windows Media Version 2 - to develop its own player that will provide the necessary foundations to support its music subscription service. The hack was claimed as a one-off by the head of music at BTopenworld, Ben Drury, who commented: "This is an isolated incident - the first in about three to four years. It is not a thing that reoccurs, so is not an issue for us. I spoke to Microsoft within hours of hearing about this and Microsoft are close to announcing a patch for it." Anonimity surrounds the hacker who created the name "Beale Screamer" and posted a how-to guide together with the necessary source code and DOS utility used to hack into version two of Microsoft's DRM software, coupled with a detailed explanation of the software's weaknesses on the Internet. Drury claimed the postings where nothing more that "mere theory", and "mathematical lecture notes" that where way beyond his comprehension, but added that he feels the software will be targeted by hackers again. Apart from BTopenworld, there is currently only one other company who is allowed to use Microsoft's technology in this manner. Later this year, PressPlay, the joint online music subscription venture between Sony and Vivendi Universal, are planning to launch a service based on the software. Internal trials of the music service are being conducted and a roll out is expected during the first few months of next year. It is also reported that Microsoft are considering legal options and the company is planning to issue a vulnerability patch in the near future. Source: Silicon AOL's Primary Server Hacked Rainman, one of the site's primary servers was targeted by the hackers who managed to gain control of the server which meant they could edit and create any content they wanted to. The hackers proceeded to post messages and content directing accusations at AOL Time Warner CEO Steve Case of his "gross stupidity," and also mocking the site's lack of effective security. AOL have not yet confirmed or denied the reports of the attack that have appeared on US newswire BetaNews.com. source: Silicon Consultation Signifies First Signs Of Free Wireless Internet For The Future The consultation could herald the starting point of free community wireless Internet access over 802.11b, which is currently forbidden by UK law, although the method has proved invaluable in disasters as one particular system was used in Manhattan after the terrorist attacks in the USA. The DTI says that discussions in the consultation will focus on questioning whether the current regulations should change or stay the same. Other related issues like whether specific and limited use of unlicensed spectrum should be allowed or whether public telecommunications should be allowed with no licence but with base station registration will also be discussed. Although the wishes of potential users may represent the focal point of the consultation, concerns about being fair to existing licence holders and the potential for interference or band congestion will be considered too. Free wireless net works take a fixed Internet access link such as a cable, DSL or corporate leased line, and make it available to all through a radio gateway and common transmission standards. There are several pilot projects already running in the UK, such as Consume the Net and free2air.org, although the legal status theoretically precludes them establishing networks. In the US the New York organisation NYCWireless, which runs a small number of free-access cells in the city, has been using 802.11b and directional antenna to provide connectivity to firms who've lost access due to attack damage. Although 802.11b -- and other wireless standards -- work fine for connecting people within a range of around 300m from an unmodified base station, security and bandwidth allocation remain issues. Elektrosmog, the Swedish group has indicated that there are growing concerns about 'drive-by spamming', a common method used to flood a public network with adverts. The consultation welcomes views from anyone including existing telcos, wireless system providers and users, and can be put forward here. The closing date for contributions has been set for Friday 11 January, 2002. Source: ZDNet BTopenworld Trials Music Subscription Service BTopenworld Music is currently trialing the UK's first secure music subscription service. BTopenworld is working with On Demand Distribution (OD2) to provide music from many of the UK's leading record companies, including BMG Entertainment, V2 and Warner Music UK, home to such artists as Dido, Stereophonics and David Gray, respectively. "We are delighted to be working closely with Microsoft at the cutting edge of online music delivery," said Ben Andradi, president and chief operating officer of BTopenworld. "The powerful and easy-to-use Windows Media Player is an important component in our delivery of the UK's first secure music subscription service offering the best possible music experience to our customers." "BTopenworld is putting together the right combination of great music and great technology to deliver a powerful service for music fans," said Will Poole, vice president of the Windows Digital Media Division for Microsoft. "The last year has shown that people are increasingly turning to the Internet for music, and this is the kind of service that can take digital music even further into the mainstream in the UK." Colt shares plunge on bandwidth gloom The plunge followed the release of financial results for the July to September quarter that failed to meet analysts' expectations. The firm, which offers European business customers data and voice services, admitted that demand in the wholesale bandwidth market had fallen. Vispa Helps Out Computer-Less Children Dave Burns of K4K said, “Vispa, wishing to support the work of K4K have set up the K4K subscription free Internet accounts available not only to our recipients, but also to anyone, or even any company that supports and agrees with what we do. Every minute someone is online using our Internet service, K4K gain some much needed revenue in push back into purchasing and upgrading computers”. For the price of a local call, the user receives reliable Internet access, email, webspace, newsgroups and all powered by Vispa’s network. While at the same time it generates revenue for a good cause. If you wish to donate your old PC or to find out more about Komputers4Kids, visit http://www.komputers4kids.co.uk ISPA Seeks Clarification On Costs Of Anti-Terrorist Law However, the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) are seeking clarification as to what role UK ISPs are expected to play under the new legislation, which includes new measures that order communication service providers like ISPs to keep data and record communication logs. Nick Lansman, secretary general for ISPA, has called on the Government to take a "common-sense" approach, although he agreed that the new proposals represent a valid step forward to counteract the ongoing threat of terrorist activity in the UK: "We need to get several things clarified about these measures, we must ensure that they don't conflict with the Data Protection Act or the Human Rights Act." "The whole process is very technical, timely and will be very costly. ISPs need to be able to recover their costs from the Government," he remarked. ISPs could be left high and dry as the Government has not give any indication of what funds it is prepared to give ISPs to implement such surveillance and monitoring measures. A figure of £20m has been suggested, although not confirmed, and Lansman is of the opinion that the Government needs to clarify how ISPs would be able to recover costs incurred when helping law enforcement agencies. ISPA will meet with Home Office representatives as well as the Internet crime forum and the National Hi-Tech crime unit to discuss the new measures later this month. A Home Office source said that nothing would be made concrete until these discussions had been finalised, although the Government is also planning to publish a code of practice for the industry. A number of UK ISPs have already already handed over data to the National Hi-Tech crime unit in a bid to help the law-enforcement agencies find evidence relating to the 11 September attacks. Source: Newmediazero Britney signs promotionial deal with AOL As part of the deal, AOLer's will get exclusive access to content dedicated to the singer which will offer music and videos, online chats and a series of original television-style programmes along with the first chance to buy tickets to her concerts before they go on general sale. Kevin Conroy, the head of AOL Music said: "AOL Music is redefining the way we connect with artists and fans, and this relationship with Britney represents a new kind of celebrity sponsorship in which we will create lasting interactive connections between Britney and her fans," The singer's new album, to be released later this year, will include a version of AOL's software as the company tries to consolidate its position as the world's number one subscription service provider. Britney has said that $1 from every concert ticket sold will be donated to benefit the children of the firefighters and police officers lost in the September 11 attacks on the United States. Source: MediaGuardian.co.uk Beware - Viruses Disguised As Microsoft Security Updates Users are being warned that Microsoft NEVER distribute any patches for their software via email, instead, Microsoft send digitally-signed email alerts that contain the details where relevant patches can be downloaded from the MS website. It is reported that there are about eight variants relating to Microsoft updates like "FW: Terrorist Emergency. Latest virus can wipe disk in minutes" and "FW: IT departments on state of HIGH ALERT. The email concerned will come forwarded to you with a message along the lines of "Just recieved [sic] this in my email. I have contacted Microsoft and they say it's real!" - however, it contains an attachment containing malicious code. In another variant of what is been christened the Redesi worm, the infection-bearing email will come with a message such as "Kev Gives great orgasms to ladeez!! -- Kev" or "A new type of Lager / Weed variant...... sorted !", or (you guessed it) eight other variants. These virus-borne emails will come with a message body along the lines of " heh. I tell ya this is nuts ! You gotta check it out !" In both its "Microsoft alert" and more salacious variants, the Redesi mass mailer is carried in an executable attachment (Si.exe, ReDe.exe, Disk.exe, Common.exe or UserConf.exe etc.) - yet another reason to filter out executable attachments in email. The Redesi variants will use Outlook to email copies of itself to all the contacts in your address book, and both variants are reported to contain a "nasty" payload: On November 11, Redesi attempts to run a payload routine which writes a command to an AUTOEXEC.BAT file that launches disk formatting, with the idea of wiping a victim's c: drive when he next starts up a computer. Nasty. Protection from Redesi is now largely in place as antivirus vendors are currently updating their software in order to detect the Redesi variants. You can read the full detailed list of related variants here, and users are warned not to attempt to open any email with an attatchment unless you can verify that the source is genuine. Source: The Register BT and BSkyB In Discussions To Provide 'One For All' Bill It is reported that the discussion will focus on plans to develop a joint billing system for customers that will result in a 'one for all' bill being issued to subscribers covering their digital TV, telephone and Internet usage. In an effort to hold on to its landline subscriber base, BT already offers its customers a subsidised Sky Digital subscription and cable competitors NTL and Telewest offer telephone line and digital television joint packages. It is also reported that later this week, Carlton and Granada are preparing to announce plans for the troubled television service ITV Digital, (formerly ONDigital). Options are being forwarded in a bid to rescue the service and include the prospect of ITV Digital subscribers being sold on to rival digital providers NTL, Sky and Telewest. Source: Silicon Survey Highlights Children Computer Game Addiction With the half-term break about to start, the survey, conducted for make-believer by MORI, showed that a fifth of the country's parents with kids under 16 believe that playing computer games is one of their kids' favourite pastimes. Furthermore, one in ten parents feel that their children tend to spend as much time as possible playing on the computer. The research also showed that nearly half of Britain's kids are couch-potatoes, with watching the TV and videos as one of their top free-time activities. Only a third of parents believe playing outdoors is one of their kids' favourite pastimes, and with the winter nights setting in opportunities for this will decrease. Only 16% of kids are very likely take part in sports or clubs in their spare time. Frank Nicholson, chairman of make-believer, said, “For children to develop their capabilities it is important that they learn while being entertained. Computer games and children go hand-in-hand, but "shoot'em and nuke'em" screen games do not challenge their intellect, creativity or interpersonal skills.” He added, “Computer skills are a vital asset for children to have, but the popularity of games has led to quality family time being put on the back-burner, as children typically spend their time with friends, or by themselves, playing the latest computer games or slouched in front of the TV.” The results also show that only 15% of parents believe their kids do schoolwork as a priority in their spare time, and over a third of parents do not spend any time helping their kids with it. The good news is that just over half of parents feel they spend "a great deal of quality time with my children," but nearly a third believe "my work commitments interfere with the amount of time I spend with my children." PlusNet Widens Range Of ADSL Products Available in speeds of up to 10 to 40 times that of a standard dial-up connection, broadband ADSL can be fitted to any suitably equipped PC with either a USB modem or networking (Ethernet) hub. However, most ADSL products that are targeted at a user with a single PC provide just the USB option, which is restricted to a speed of 500kbps.“Our market research has shown that many people found the current range of ADSL services to be somewhat restrictive for users with a single PC,“ stated Alistair Wyse, product and services director for PlusNet. “There was a noticeable demand for the higher bandwidth options of 1000kbps and 2000kbps from power users and home workers in particular. ADSL Professional 1000 and 2000 now offers those demanding higher bandwidths all the options they need, with room to grow as their business grows.” PlusNet, who also provide their services through Force9 and Free-Online, offer their ADSL Pro 1000 service for £110 per month and the ADSL Pro 2000 service for £130 per month. Both have an installation fee of £260. All prices are ex. VAT. For further details ring their sales team on 0845 140 0200. Nutshell Suspends Unmetered Service Since 08002go closed their unmetered service a few weeks ago, many Internet users on non-BT lines went on the search for a suitable provider. Net in a Nutshell fitted the bill perfectly and were receiving glowing reviews from current customers. But the increase in subscribers took its toll on Nutshell which uses C&W to provide their service to customers. Customers complained of constant engaged tones and once connected, very poor download speeds. In short the service became absolutely atrocious. Despite a brief and unreliable increase in performance, customers now receive just a disconnected tone. Rumours started to do the rounds suggesting that Nutshell owed around £1.5 million to C&W. Now it appears that there may be some truth in the rumour. Shortly before the Nutshell site vanished today, there was a short announcement saying: “Due to circumstances beyond Nutshell's control, the Internet service is currently suspended. All enquiries should be directed by e-mail to cancel@nutshell.net”We have requested more information on what has happened and hopefully a statement will follow soon. In the meantime we advise you all to try and obtain a refund. Fibernet Perpares To Offer SDSL Services The company is getting prepared to offer SDSL (Synchronous Digital Subscriber Line) services from around 30 exchanges, and it is expected to announce details of the service at the end of the month. The Basingstoke-based company recently announced an increase in annual turnover which was up 30.5 per cent to £54.6 million, as opposed to £41.8 million the year before. Chief executive of Fibernet, Charles McGregor, reported: "Despite worsening economic conditions, Fibernet's services continue to be in demand. Our customers still have to communicate but their purchasing criteria have largely moved towards saving money rather than expansion." The company has has highlighted a total of 221 exchanges, enabling them to offer more than 55,000 small and medium sized businesses a competitive high-speed access model. Source: The Register ADSL's Image Damaged By BT's P2P Throttling According to industry experts, consumers may not think that their expectations will be met because of the P2P throttling, indicating a damaged consumer confidence in broadband. The government's future concept of broadband Britain looks even further off the mark now, as BT should be aiming boosting the confidence in high-speed Internet services to promote the take-up of consumer broadband, to meet the needs of the IT industry. Yankee Group analyst Andy Greenman warned that as well as the narrowed effect on home Internet users, other ISPs who re-sell ADSL services could also suffer as a result. However, he predicts that rival cable operators like NTL and Telewest may benefit from the fiasco, as prospective users may be encouraged to sign up to cable modem high-speed access instead. In a research note published this week, Greenman wrote: "Admitting to port throttling will add further doubt over the incumbent's broadband capabilities, consumer confidence may be damaged. ADSL costs £40 per month in the UK, well beyond the reach of most Internet users. Loss of interest in BT's ADSL offering will also impact on Freeserve and AOL, which are both trying to push their own ADSL services." Many users felt cheated when BT finally admitted they had imposed traffic controls restricting access to some P2P services, although the company recently apologised stating that they had made a mistake, and would not repeat throttling in the future. Duncan Ingram, senior vice-president of BT Openworld also told Zdnet that to manage the network more effectively, the company needs to deploy certain network management strategies in the future, although it is unclear what 'strategies' will be placed. Source: ZDNet Excite@home Update The former Internet giant also managed to negotiate similar agreements last week with cable companies Comcast, Cox Communications and Rogers Communications. Source: Silicon BT Challenge Oftel's LLU Ruling In the ruling, Oftel confirmed that BT must not charge operators separately for clearing a site in preparation for co-location build in its exchanges, but must recover these costs through rent charged for co-location space. Oftel's final charges for shared acces to local loops has also been set lower than the those proposed by Oftel in June. The charges set from the watchdog consist of an annual rent of £53 plus a one-off connection charge of £117 per shared loop. Oftel also published a statement setting out findings from its pricing investigations of BT’s co-location services. Oftel found that while in general BT's charges for co-location are cost-oriented, BT's charges for some services, for example the external tie cable rental charge, are too high, and is proposing changes to BT’s pricing However, although BT anticipated shared access prices to be pegged at the level settled on by Oftel, the company are set to reject the regulator’s findings on co-location services. A spokesman for BT remarked that the company has "serious reservations about the underlying assumptions behind Oftel’s decision.” Criticisms that BT has delayed the unbundling process have again been rejected by the telco, who claim that the installation of a fully automated system for processing orders from companies needing local loop access is their biggest IT project in about 15 years. BT also state that 'hundreds' of staff dedicated for the local loop business have had to be seconded to other projects because there has been far less orders than anticipated. Source: Netimperative NTL pulls the plug on CWC internet users NTL has told customers it will be terminating CWC's consumer internet services on 30 November - 16 months after the £8.2bn buyout of its rival's home division. The company is encouraging users to move to its unmetered ntlworld cable service instead. The move has angered many users who have been left searching for a new provider to support existing websites and email addresses. Many of those affected are unable to receive the replacement service from NTL because they live in the wrong part of the country or don't have the right connection. UK anti-terror law - An Invasion Of Privacy? Internet think-tank Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) is claiming that the emergency government package of anti-terrorism measures to allow data surveillance across the Internet has hidden ulterior motives - namely to spy and invade consumer privacy. Under the data protection act, ISPs are not allowed to retain detailed logs of online activity, however Home Secretary David Blunkett said that ISPs will now be allowed to retain information at their own discretion, but not the content of communications. Currently other "communications data" such as the telephone number used to dial-up the Internet, may only be kept so long as it is relevant to billing or fraud control. The minister said that national security exemptions will also now be installed so that ISPs and telephone companies will not breach European Directives on collecting data. The government said that it will now hold Code of Practice talks with ISPs to decide what information may be collected and for how long. The FIPR challenge the decision claiming, in contrast to the aim of the package, that while computerised traffic analysis is a powerful form of mass surveillance, it is only efficient at keeping tabs on the law-abiding public. Their reasoning is that professional terrorists know exactly how to cover their tracks by, for example, throwing away pre-paid mobile phones and using Web-based email from public terminals. What do you think as a consumer? Is the government trying to take the necessary steps to avoid terrorism, or do you see it as a complete invasion of you privacy? Source: Zdnet Net paedophiles Discovered In Teenage "Virtual Hotel" The site has been forced to implement tighter safety procedures and hire 200 moderators in the process after it was discovered via an investigation that the existence of cybersex, bullying and racism was common practice within the teenage "virtual hotel". A Sunday Times investigation exposed that more than 400,000 teenagers on the site, habbohotel.com, were engaging in virtual sexual activity, as well as racism, bullying, stealing and harassment. It was also alleged that paedophiles were appearing on the service to contact teenage girls. "Over the last month, Habbo has become aware of increasing levels of 'cybersex' on the site," the company has admitted in a statement. "To combat this, Habbo has adopted a 'zero tolerance' approach. To protect its users, both human intervention and the technical tools have been increased to stamp out this new development." More and more paedophiles appear to be using Internet to hide behind false identities in chatrooms with a view to trapping children into sexual conversations. This is becoming a more widespread problem - one that the Home Office is taking very seriously, and a new legislation to criminalise the online "grooming" of children is expected to appear on the statute books later this year. An Internet taskforce has also been setup to investigate related issues further. Habbo works by allowing users to present themselves in the form of a cartoon character, and once they have chosen their cartoon identity, they can then explore a simulated "five star hotel", meet others and have conversations. Habbo appeals to youngsters because of the hotel simulation and cartoon characters, and it describes itself as a "chill-out space where you can hang out with your friends." The site said on Monday it has employed 200 moderators to police the service, and kick out or permanently ban users engaging in or encouraging others to participate in cybersex. "People are getting kicked off as soon as any discrepancy happens," said a Habbo spokesperson. The company claims that at least 10 system operators will be moderating the site at any one time, up until midnight every day. Another online community for young people - the Children's Express - is claiming that on a site like Habbo, teenagers will continue to look for ways to break the rules, as Children's Express journalist Simon Wicks explains: "Children are going to use the Internet to experiment with behaviour that they wouldn't demonstrate in normal relationships." Habbo is now taking the precaution of warning users not to hand out their personal details anywhere on the site, with a reminder that they can never be certain who they are talking to. Of course, this warning should be heeded regarding the use of any form of Internet communication. Source: ZdnetUK BT and One 2 One Lose Fight In 3G License Battle The Appeal Court in the UK ruled against the two firms who in defence argued that the government has acted unfairly in the situation, as they allocated extra time to rivals Vodafone Group and Orange extra, to come up with the necessary combined amount of £10 billion to pay for their licences. However, Lord Philips commented stating that there had not been any unfairness in the decisions: "Any difference of treatment that had occurred was objectively justified, the conduct of the Secretary of State was not unfair, irrational or unreasonable in any way." he said. The reason that both companies were given more breathing space before finding the funds was because as part of Vodafone's takeover of Germany's Mannesmann, the company was in the process of selling Orange and UK auction rules prevent one specific company from owning two licences. The 180-day extension effectively cost both BT and One 2 One a reported £85 million each in lost interest. Source: The Register Brazil Overtakes Britain In DSL Race The latest analysis from the company relating to the global DSL marketplace discovered that there were more than 10 million DSL lines offering broadband access at the end of June 2001 - an huge increase of 354 per cent on the same period last year. Growth rates in different areas of the deployment of high-speed access vary, and indications are that nations like Europe, Asia Pacific and South America remain strong contenders in the broadband race. John Bosnell, editor of Point-Topic's DSL Worldwide Directory said: "Twelve months ago, countries like Japan or Brazil hardly registered in the DSL totals, but now these markets are starting to mature. For example, in the last six months, Brazil has overtaken the UK in terms of DSL subscribers. In the same six month period, the number of DSL subscribers in Japan increased by 2,900 per cent." The research also found that US and Korean outfits continued to take the lead in the world-wide league tables, and in Europe, findings showed that Deutsche Telekom was the largest DSL provider. Perhaps not surprisingly, the UK's BT outfit come in at 24th position on the tables. Source: The Register 24-7Freecall In Discounted Unmetered Offer The offer is limited to the next 25,000 registrations only. The three-month period becomes live as soon as the transaction has taken place and the user has set the account up on their PC. “24-7Freecall’s mission statement is to make the Internet accessible to everyone,” explains Sal Abdin, CEO of 24-7Freecall. “Most people who pay utility bills and car insurance are familiar with the pay-in-advance billing model. Surfing the Internet is now just as common an occurrence as turning on a tap or driving a car, so why should the way we pay for it be any different? At 24-7Freecall we believe that Internet access should be offered on terms and prices that suit all users which is why we’ve launched this innovative offer and will continue to look at new ways of bringing the Internet to the people.” 24-7Freecall users will get the same service currently offered to standard rate subscribers which includes charge-free access to the Internet at any time of day or night, seven e-mail addresses, 10meg of webspace, access to more than 85,000 newsgroups and technical support charged at national rate. Users will also have the option to become their own virtual ISP and earn money from signing up family members and friends. "Over the coming months we hope to be launching more innovative ISP services" concludes Abdin. "With Christmas coming up we feel that this is a good time to offer a service that provides a quality product for a very competitive price." BTopenworld President Hits Back At Critics BT critics claim that their broadband offering is too expensive and that BT is unable to focus on first class provision of high-speed access for consumers, because they are 'obsessed' with resolving their controversial debt problems. Speaking at the Broadband Communications Europe trade show at Olympia, London, Mr Andradi said: "BT is very committed, very excited about broadband. We are investing billions in broadband." He remarked that BT's hands are tied by the regulatory environment that exists in the UK, and as such, BT is therefore unable to reduce broadband prices: "We have a very different regulatory environment in the UK compared to the rest of the world. Our regulatory framework prevents us from cross-subsidising DSL, yet, our cable competitors can cross-subsidise - it is something we cannot do." he said. Mr Andradi also added that BT wants to achieve the same success that low-cost unmetered narrowband products in the UK have seen. Only last week, Pierre Danon, BT Retail chief executive commented that DSL prices were too high because of the pressures of regulatory proceedures. He also added that the continuing success of unmetered narrowband Net access was preventing the consumer take-up of broadband. Source: The Register SMEs Being Fleeced By Satellite Broadband Operators Says Expert The UK's first satellite broadband service aimed solely at SMEs, was recently launched by Cedar Telecommunications, and provides businesses with an alternative option to DSL and ISDN services. Promising performance akin to basic DSL, the service offers a 256Kbps uplink and 512Kbps downlink with capped downloads of one gigabyte for £300 per month for multi-user access, with an installation fee of £600 - slightly less than a leased line. However, expert Roger Runswick is convinced that the service does not represent a viable business proposition, and says that SMEs are being ripped-off in the process. He also states that if the service is busy, providers will be forced to cut down the bandwidth available to users as satellite broadband is restricted by a maximum bandwidth per satellite. "The problem with any satellite offering is they have a restricted link, as opposed to DSL or a leased line that offer unrestricted limit for downloads. Cedar is effectively charging leased line prices with restricted bandwidth whereas leased line allows unlimited download." He also suggested that the capped download of one gigabyte is not meeting the requirements of SMEs today, because even if a business only received five Powerpoint downloads a day that would add up to at least three gigabytes each month. Challenging the experts claims, a spokesman for Cedar said: "Compared to ISDN, we do look expensive, but you need to be around three miles from a major exchange to get ISDN. At the rate BT is selling off its business in the UK, will they be extending ISDN networks? No. We provide an alternative." Theoretically, the 512Kbps downstream figure is only a vague calculation, as many current users of ADSL experience significantly lower performance. A leased line with the same bandwidth is reported to cost around £130 per month and is currently available to 60 per cent of the UK population. Source: Silicon Existence Of Nimda Virus May Be Reason That SirCam Failed Administrators and users alike where well informed from experts who have spent the last few days debunking the threat, although the reason for the failure of SirCam to resurface is unclarified. It is thought that poor coding of the program, along with a heightened security awareness and user vigilance following the numerous virus outbreaks this year may have contributed. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos siad: "Because the Nimda virus outbreak was so furious around the world, most companies and individuals have now updated their antivirus protection. In doing so they have also ensured they are protected against Sir Cam. In many ways the author of Sir Cam must be ruing the day Nimda was released." The Nimda virus was more widely reported as it posed a greater threat than the SirCam variety, and the pressure of the threat prompted the majority of administrators to patch their systems and update their antivirus software - a kick in the teeth for SirCam. Source: Vnunet BTopenworld Apologise For Throttling Bandwidth BTopenworld took the measure of throttling bandwidth in an attempt to control the rate of download speed of files from Internet websites via their broadband network. It was reported that download speeds of some files had been reduced by as much as 1000 per cent, although the monthly cost to subscribers of broadband stayed the same. This led to a barrage of users complaining that their attempts to download via the use of peer-to-peer services that enable users to trade music, video and other files over the Web, were reduced to a crawl. Duncan Ingram, senior vice president at Btopenworld, told vnunet.com: "We shouldn't have done it. There are other ways to manage the network and it was a restriction that should not have been imposed. It was inappropriate and we have no plans to reintroduce it." Out of the 180+ ISPs reselling BT Wholesale's ADSL service, BTopenworld where the only one to introduce bandwidth throttling, however they have insisted that they will not reintroduce the technique. Vnunet also states that it appears there is no actual technical reason for BTopenworld to have introduced the limitations to their broadband service, because it has only managed to attract a fraction of the users than first anticipated. Source: Vnunet Launch Of Charitable Internet Provider Announced  Offering a wide range of different Internet packages including unmetered products, the ISP will bolster its service by adding a further 11 products on November 19th.Director of CharityDAYS (Donate As You Surf), Phil Price, said, “CharityDAYS raises money for charities in several ways. First of all, any charity can register with the service and then promote it to their supporters. They are sent promotional packs and promotional materials to aid them with the process. Once their supporters sign up to the service, they start earning money straight away. Secondly, we will attract users to the service through advertisements and general articles such as this one. These users have the option of donating their money to either a list of charities who have already registered or to choose certain categories of charities such as children, animals, homeless etc which will then be split across some of the UK’s major charities.” Sales and Marketing director Nick Aldrich commented, “We have always said from the offset that we would take on the best of the UK ISP’s and yet still donate 60% of our total income to UK charities. Without decent products and a range to compete with even the UK’s biggest, we would never have been taken seriously and would have simply fallen into the ‘another charity ISP’ bracket.” He concluded, “Our range includes six home user and nine business user products. Two free accounts, two subscription accounts, six fixed access accounts and five ADSL accounts. Our 2 Meg ADSL business account, Donate At Work ADSL 2000, is competitively priced at £149.99 and our Donate At Home Lite fixed access account is just £8.99, which includes a £1.20 charity donation built in.” New Study Reveals UK Spends More Time Online The study revealed that UK Internet users log online for an average 446 minutes per month, almost double of the 257 minutes online recorded a couple of years ago. During each online session of 446 minutes, users look at around 282 pages - a couple of years earlier that figure amounted to 184 pages viewed by users. Mari Kim Coleman, vice president of the Internet research group remarked: "Increasing numbers of consumers are still embracing the Web to research and buy products and services and to access information." Earlier figures released in April via the company showed that just 20 percent of users accounted for 70 percent of all time spent online. Source: ZDNet UK AOL Europe Has 5 Million Subscribers In a statement, AOL said that AOL flat-rate members in the UK and France average more than an hour a day online, and German subscribers are now online more than half an hour a day. According to Media Metrix, members in Europe average up to 330 pct more time in proprietary areas of the AOL service than is the case for competitors. AOL believes the number of subscribers to be a significant indicator that it's on track to be the leading ISP in a number of European countries. Source : The Register New Internet Access Plans From Microsoft The platform will be a new form of Microsoft's own MSN Internet access software, and will work side by side with MSN messenger, and the forthcoming .NET subscription services, which are still in early stages of development. The .NET subscription service will allow remote access from any computing device of personal information that users store online. Chief executive Steve Ballmer says: "MSN is really a pillar on which we're building, if you will, the next generation at Microsoft." Mr Ballmer says the aim is to make broadband access available to 90% of its customers within three months by taking advantage of existing partnerships with telecoms providers. Microsoft are also hoping to be able to provide its high-speed internet access services to more US customers at a cost of $39.95 (around £27.50) a month, slightly undercutting chief rival America Online. Source: Annanova It’s a fair CoP! The Code of Practice has been developed by the Internet Names Code of Practice (INCOP), a independent body funded by Nominet UK, that is seeking to establish higher standards for domain name registration services. Initially targeting domain name registration in the .uk name space, INCOP has prepared a consultation paper that sets out the proposed content of the Code and ways in which accreditation may take place. It also highlights areas where industry input is required, such as how to accredit members, supervise procedures for handling complaints and implement the Code. "Following earlier discussions with the Internet industry, consumer groups and governmental agencies, we have developed proposals for the content of the Code of Practice," explained INCOP Project Manager, Fay Howard. “We are now seeking feedback on specific issues from those involved in domain name registration, to ensure that the Code will be clear and workable, and that it meets the key objective of improving standards in this industry." Those wishing to make comments and suggestions about the draft Code are invited to complete an on-line questionnaire by 20 November 2001 on the INCOP website at: www.incop.org.uk BTopenworld To Deal With ‘Significant Number’ Of Abusers A number of their customers were instructed to download a new dial-up access number for the Anytime service which has made the service practically useless during busy periods. This effectively made it a two-tier product; light users stayed on the original and still usable dial-up number whilst the heavy users were struggling to connect at the best of times on the new number. BTopenworld said this was done because heavy users were having an impact on the quality of the service. Also a number of users were leaving their PC online unattended for long periods of time. As this is against the terms and conditions, some customers were booted off after they continued to break the rules despite warnings. BTopenworld accept that users on the new number are having problems: However, for customers on the new dial-up access number there have been high levels of failure in first time connection due to very high usage levels. This is even though the new number gives a very much better ratio of users to modem — around 3 to 1. We believe that this ratio is easily the best available in the UK at anything like a comparable price and we had expected it to give appropriate capacity.They go on to say that yet again some users are breaching the terms and conditions of the service and action will be taken against them to prevent capacity to be “swallowed up”. While the service will improve slightly after they deal with those customers who are breaking the terms and conditions, they still cannot guarantee high levels of first time connection. For those customers who do decide to cancel, BTopenworld are saying that they will credit customers accounts equivalent to one months subscription. Access to email will still be available through their Pay-as-you-go option. The Extinct Do-Do Comes Back To Life Do-Do.tv offers a FRIACO based 24/7 unmetered service for £14.99. Briefly an email address for David Singleton, the director of BigBlueSky, appeared on the Do-Do.tv site which started the alarm bells ringing. But this was explained in an email to ISPreview saying that it was done in error after Singleton sold the BigBlueSky customer database to the new ISP. They mistakenly used his address as a contact. But later a few Internet users who contacted Do-Do.tv were astonished to find their emails had bounced, from Singleton’s email account. Just whether Singleton is indeed involved or not, we don’t know. But it doesn’t spark any confidence in the newly launched ISP. We all remember what happened to BigBlueSky customers. Source: ISPreview UPDATE: The CEO of NeonHippo, Greg Rudd, has contacted us saying that they provide the Internet service to Do-Do. This includes registration, access and web services. He said, “do-do is in now way related to David Singleton or BigBlueSky. Prospective users can have confidence in the security of the offering.” He added that the whole confusion was caused by an unfortunate error. NeonHippo also provides their Internet services to 24-7Freecall. Money Pledge Offered In Exchange Of Virus Eddie Bleasdale, director of open source consultancy NetProject, has pledged that he will give the sum of £10,000 to anyone who is capable of infecting his computer with a virus. Simple? You would think so, especially as viruses are so rife on the Internet today, but the twist here is that the computer in question has Linux installed as the operating system. Increasing concerns over the security of Microsoft's webserver software which regularly gets hit by high-profile viruses is the reason he presents the challenge. Bleasdale not only wants to show the world that it is impossible to infect a correctly configured Linux system, in stark contrast, he also maintains that it is impossible to make a system running Windows secure, as he remarked: "Microsoft's whole focus has been on functionality, but it has been at the expense of security. Microsoft Office is not designed to be secure and furthermore is run on an insecure operating system. No matter what you do, you can't get around this - you just can't make Windows secure." It appears he could be right about his claims on the Linux front, as he has been offering the £10,000 award to virus writers for over the last two years - but so far no one has walked away with the money... Source: Silicon NTL Axe Jobs To Help Cut Down Huge Debt The Financial Times reports that £275m will be saved by the job cuts, which now leave an NTL work force of 15,000 - as opposed to 23,200 staff at this time last year. CEO Barclay Knapp has also assured analysts that the cable provider will increase average revenue per subscriber to £46 per month by the end of 2002, from £39 currently. As much as £1.6bn is still hoping to be raised from the company from the sale of its aerials business to go towards reducing the debt. Source: Silicon Ofcom creation 'could be disaster' The plan, prepared by consultancy Towers Perrin, also failed to specify any cost savings from bringing together 1,111 officals with a combined budget of £118.8m. Patricia Hodgson, chief executive of broadcast regulator ITC (the Independent Television Commission), warned that "it would be a disaster" if the creation of Ofcom led to more bureaucracy. She said: "Ofcom must have clear policy priorities and clear parameters." Towers Perrin's document, published last Friday, includes an analysis of the likely workload for Ofcom. It concludes that "in the short term, more work is likely to start than stop". However, there is no guarantee the plan will be adopted. A bill has been placed before Parliament to allow for the creation of a shadow Ofcom next year. It would work on developing a structure for the actual body ahead of its launch in 2003. SOURE: The Telegraph Warning: SirCam Set To Cause Havoc The sneaky virus arrives as an e-mail that falsely asks for the recipients advice and works by pinching and re-distributing peoples private document | ||