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A Big Week For Worldwide Hacking
Internet vandals wreaked havoc on several officials' Web sites this week, according to Attrition.org, an Internet security group. A group of cyber vandals calling themselves Pentaguard defaced more than 26 government Web sites on three different continents.
The global hackers hit more than 15 Australian government Web sites, including sites run by the federal government, the Western Australian government and many local councils. "This wasn't the largest mass defacement ever, but they simultaneously defaced sites in three different countries," B.K. Delong, a staff member with Attrition.org told ZDNet news. "That's new."
Pentaguard also is connected to hackings of several other sites, including the Alaskan office of the U.S. Interior Department and an informational U.K. government Web site on mad cow disease.
Attrition.org also reported that Wednesday morning, the Web site for Microsoft's New Zealand office was defaced by the group Prime Suspectz, noting that it is the sixth time the site has been defaced. Prime Suspectz also is connected with hacking several other large corporate sites in foreign countries including Nike Brazil, Panasonic Italy, BMW France and Chevrolet Argentina.
Top Japanese IT Official Resigns Amid Controversy
Japan's top information technology minister resigned Tuesday amid allegations that he received monetary donations from a mutual-aid organization, the Japan Times reported.
Fukushiro Nukaga, the minister for economic, fiscal and information technology policy, denied the allegation that he had accepted 15 million yen ($130,400) in bribes from KSD, a Tokyo-based insurance foundation for small businesses. He said his decision to resign was an effort to avoid any more turbulence in the Cabinet and the upcoming Diet session. Nukaga did admit that one of his secretaries accepted 15 million yen in cash from a former KSD president, but he claimed that the money was returned in full when he learned of it six months later.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori appointed Taro Aso, 60, a former director general of the country's Economic Planning Agency, as Nukaga's successor.
Indian Telecoms Discuss Possible Alliance
In closed-door meetings held on Tuesday, India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) proposed combining the services of the country's three public-sector telecommunications providers in an effort to rollout value-added communication services such as e-medicine. The plan would merge the services of Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL), Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL).
Presently, VSNL is India's largest telecommunications and Internet service provider. It has a monopoly on international telephony services. MTNL is the fixed-service provider in Delhi and Mumbai, while BSNL is the fixed-service provider to the rest of India.
Backtracking On Computer Taxes
After sparking a fury of controversy, French Culture Minister Catherine Tasca on Tuesday backtracked on an earlier proposal to tax the hard drives of personal computers in order to compensate industries whose works frequently are pirated through the use of digital equipment and the Internet.
"Artists have to be paid," Tasca told the Le Figaro newspaper last week. "Without them, there [are] no music images. So a tax on decoders, improved video machines, computers, basically any machine that allows works to be recorded ... needs to be looked at," she said. After the comments met with a fierce uproar from industry groups, Tasca told the Parliament there were no plans to tax computers.
Pumping Up R&D
The Australian government has earmarked $325 million to increase research and development in several areas, including information technology. Over the next seven years, the grant would fund 19 projects by cooperative research centers (CRCs).
The announcement, made last week by Science Minister Nick Minchin, comes just before the release of Prime Minister John Howard's innovation statement, which is scheduled for early next week. Peter Coroneos, executive director of Australia's Internet Industry Association, applauded the announcement.
"In particular, we are delighted about funding for the Smart Internet Technology CRC for the development of new IP-based technologies," he said. "Australia has allowed its innovation funding to slip in recent years, and the recent nervousness of capital markets in the private sector has only exacerbated the problem. Globally, the market for new, Internet-related and wireless technologies remains wide open, but we must adopt a unified position of support within Australia — and that means a role for government as well."
Conferences To Address Globalization Concerns
The World Economic Forum will hold its annual meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland, where delegates are expected to discuss the concerns surrounding globalization and the growing global "digital divide" between the technology haves and have-nots. Leaders from several countries and leading non-governmental organizations, private corporations and nonprofit groups will meet for a four-day conference to address issues like growing concern over global corporations and how information technology is transforming the business environment.
Among the heads of state participating in this year's annual meeting will be: Mexican President Vincente Fox; Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori; South African President Thabo Mbeki; Yugoslavian President Vojislav Kostunica Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski; Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez; Kazakhstani President Nursultan; Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar; and Nazarbayev Aleksey Kudrin, the deputy prime minister and minister of finance in Russia.
The World Intellectual Property Organization also is hosting a forum on private international law and intellectual property early next week in Geneva. Experts in both private international law and intellectual property will address concerns surrounding the growth and abuse of intellectual property as a result of the Web.
The forum also hopes to make headway in addressing the role of alternative dispute resolution in e-commerce. Specifically, "The WIPO Forum will discuss intellectual property aspects of a Preliminary Draft Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgements in Civil and Commercial Matters prepared under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law." Experts will consider those provisions with a bearing on the resolution of intellectual property disputes, according to official statements.
- by Maureen Sirhal
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