“We never cheated in elections,” the site read, in black and red. The message included invective aimed at President Barack Obama and made derogatory comments about Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims the June 12 presidential election was rigged.
As Internet attacks go, this type isnt uncommon, and the site was quickly restored to normal. The attack also didnt appear to harm visitors machines: The site appeared to only serve up a political message rather than a computer virus, as some hacked sites carry. Very few people were likely affected, too: The site averages fewer than 1,000 hits a [...]

Beckstroms approval as chief executive of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers could come with a board vote Friday as ICANN caps weeklong meetings in Sydney, Australia, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. They spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement has yet to be made, and negotiations could still fall through.
Beckstrom has been attending some public sessions and meeting privately with board members this week.
If approved, he would replace Paul Twomey, ICANNs third and longest-serving chief executive. Twomey, an Australian who became CEO in March 2003, plans to stay with the organization [...]

In a letter to Chinese officials, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the order might violate Chinas free-trade commitments and raise security risks for users, Kirks office said in a statement Thursday.
“China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-install software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues,” Locke was quoted as saying.
Beijing told manufacturers in May to install “Green Dam Youth Escort” Web-filtering software or supply it on a disk with every PC made beginning July 1 for sale in China. [...]

The Internet has 1.5 billion users, with 300 million in the 27-nation EU, the European Commission said in a statement today in Brussels. In the future, the networks governance should reflect its global nature, the EU executive said.
An agreement that gave the U.S. Commerce Department control over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, expires Sept. 30. The non-profit company, based in Marina del Ray, California, was created in 1998 to oversee computer servers that manage databases of domain names, which are suffixes [...]

Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults had high-speed Internet in April, gaining 15 percent from a year earlier because of increased awareness of the Web and its social benefits, a Pew Research Center poll showed. Adoption climbed even as prices rose, contradicting claims by some consumer groups that high rates and lack of access are holding back Internet use.
“People are beginning to understand that having a broadband connection is important to reach out in modern society,” said John Horrigan, an associate director at Washington-based Pew. “If you [...]

The decline in family time coincides with a rise in Internet use and the popularity of social networks, though a new study stopped just short of assigning blame.
The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California is reporting this week that 28 percent of Americans it interviewed last year said they have been spending less time with members of their households. Thats nearly triple the 11 percent who said that in 2006.
These people did not report spending less time with their friends, however.
Michael Gilbert, a senior fellow at the center, said people report spending less time [...]

Then in 2001, the Madrid native launched Blubster, one of the worlds most popular peer-to-peer Internet file-sharing programs of recent years - with no training and operating out of his grandmothers apartment.
Now Soto may become a victim of his own success as he finds himself the lone defendant in the latest major legal battle by the mighty music industry against Internet piracy; a Madrid court is expected to rule this month. The case, although similar to others in Europe and the U.S., is being closely watched on both sides of the Atlantic because Spain is ranked as one of the [...]

The data released Friday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP provided another reminder of the widespread pain wrought by the longest U.S. recession since World War II.
But the Internets financial backbone isnt sagging as badly as that of more established media like newspapers and broadcasters, where far more severe advertising losses have triggered massive layoffs, bankruptcy filings and doubts about whether their businesses will ever be the same again.
By contrast, the setback for ad-driven Web sites and services is considered temporary.
“Were confident that growth will resume as the U.S. economic climate improves,” said Randall Rothenberg, the Interactive Advertising [...]

Its likely to be just a short-lived victory in the fight against cybercrime, though, since bad guys are very good at getting back online quickly.
The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that it has ordered the shutdown of a company called Pricewert LLC, described in a complaint filed in San Jose, Calif., federal court as an Oregon-based shell company run by “overseas criminals”, operating out of Belize and running many its illegal operations out of servers in Silicon Valley.
Pricewert, which operated the “Triple Fiber Network” or “3FN,” wasnt the type of Internet service that average consumers would see or sign up [...]

The executives behind the Arkansas and Idaho newspapers believe its because theyve been giving free access to their Web sites only to people who subscribe to the printed edition. Everyone else has to pay to read the Democrat-Gazette and the Post Register online. Meanwhile, most publishers have been giving away their stories and photos to all comers on the Internet.
“To me, an online subscription is just the commonsense thing to do,” says Roger Plothow, editor and publisher of the Post Register in Idaho Falls, Idaho. “To just give it all away on a Web site is completely and blindly idiotic.”
The [...]