Monday, September 17, 2007

Chinese web filtering 'erratic'

Chinese web filtering 'erratic'
Chinese net user, AFP/Getty
The Chinese government oversees what people do online
China's firewall that tries to sanitise web browsing is much more porous than previously thought, says a study.

Carried out by US researchers outside China, it found that the firewall often failed to block what the Chinese government finds objectionable.

The firewall was least effective when lots of Chinese web users were online.

Often, said the study, the idea of the firewall was more effective than the technology at discouraging talk about banned subjects.

Term time

The study, carried out by graduate student Earl Barr and colleagues in the computer science department of UC Davis and the University of New Mexico, exploited the workings of the Chinese firewall to investigate its effectiveness.

Unlike many other nations Chinese authorities do not simply block webpages that discuss banned subjects such as the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Instead the technology deployed by the Chinese government scans data flowing across its section of the net for banned words or web addresses.

When the filtering system spots a banned term it sends instructions to the source server and destination PC to stop the flow of data.

Flags in Tiananmen Square, BBC
The filtering system blocks discussion about Tiananmen Square
Mr Barr and colleagues manipulated this to see how far inside China's net, messages containing banned terms could reach before the shut down instructions were sent.

The team used words taken from the Chinese version of Wikipedia to load the data streams then despatched into China's network. If a data stream was stopped a technique known as "latent semantic analysis" was used to find related words to see if they too were blocked.

The researchers found that the blocking did not happen at the edge of China's network but often was done when the packets of loaded data had penetrated deep inside.

Blocked were terms related to the Falun Gong movement, Tiananmen Square protest groups, Nazi Germany and democracy.

On about 28% of the paths into China's net tested by the researchers, blocking failed altogether suggesting that web users would browse unencumbered at least some of the time.

Filtering and blocking was "particularly erratic" when lots of China's web users were online, said the researchers.

Despite the failures of the blocking system, the researchers said the idea that web browsing was being overseen often acted as a spur to self-censorship.

The results of the study are due to be presented at the ACM's Computer and Communications Security Conference held in the US in late October.

Prince gets tough on web pirates

Prince gets tough on web pirates
Prince in concert
Prince is nearing the end of a run of 21 sold-out gigs in London
Pop star Prince is demanding that video sharing website YouTube removes clips of his recent concerts in London.

The singer says he is taking action against the site, and others like it, to "reclaim his art on the internet".

More than 1,000 unauthorised clips have been taken down in the last few days, according to Web Sheriff, the UK firm he has hired to enforce the ban.

The star is also targeting online shops which, he says, infringe his copyright by selling unauthorised merchandise.

"Prince believes strongly that... copyrights should be protected across the board," a spokesman for the star said.

Prince feels very strongly that people should remember his concerts as they were, not as some grainy mobile phone footage
John Giacobbi
Web Sheriff
Prince has spent the summer playing 21 gigs at the O2 arena in London, which end next week.

Fans have been banned from taking photographs or video footage on their mobile phones, but many have still posted clips on YouTube.

John Giacobbi, managing director of Web Sheriff, said: "Some artists are very relaxed about the use of their image and music on the internet, some less so.

"Prince feels very strongly that people should remember his concerts as they were, not as some grainy mobile phone footage."

The artist has also instructed Web Sheriff to police unauthorised distribution of his music on file-sharing websites such as Pirate Bay, and is seeking to stop auction sites like eBay from selling unauthorised merchandise.

Prince video on YouTube
YouTube also carries authorised Prince videos
Mr Giacobbi said: "We are not targeting fans who might want to sell their copy of Purple Rain, we are targeting companies in China manufacturing Prince handbags and selling them in their thousands.

"Prince's actions are a brave and pioneering step to challenge the status quo and hand control over internet rights back to the artists."

Prince has been famously protective of his artistic rights, becoming embroiled in a squabble with record company Warner Brothers over the ownership of his master tapes in the 1990s.

As part of his protest, he changed his name to a symbol and wrote the word "slave" on his cheek during public appearances.

Since fulfilling his contract with the company, he has only released albums online or through special one-off deals with other record labels.

In the UK, his most recent album, Planet Earth, was given away free with the Mail On Sunday newspaper.

Several websites offered copies of the album for download as soon as the paper went on sale - despite the album being sold commercially in the rest of the world.

Computer dance gets pupils active

Computer dance gets pupils active
By Niki Cardwell

Dance class
The classes have proved popular

A computer dance programme has succeeded in getting even young people who hate sport to take exercise.

Dance Revolution involves laying out removable mats in a studio, and getting participants to follow instructions from a computer on a large screen.

Each mat transmits how well each pupil is doing and the results are flashed up on the screen.

The classes are being targeted at girls in Bedfordshire who do are not interested in traditional sports.

Daniel Gill, of Active Luton, the trust which runs local sports and leisure facilities, said: "You tend to burn about 400 to 600 calories an hour in these classes.

"You are working on coordination, balance, cardio vascular, stamina.

"You can vary and change the intensity so it matches other sports quite well.

"There is no segregation on ability. Even if they know they cant do all of it, they can try anyway. And it's a good way of introducing them to a gym."

Increased participation

Mellone Cutts is the head of PE at Lea Manor High School which took part in the trials.

"There is a number of students who we don't reach with competitive sports," she said.

Elisha Chohan
If you make a mistake, no-one notices because they are doing their own thing and you can catch up
Elisha Chohan

"With more and more children becoming obese, one way we can help is by increasing participation in sport and this does that."

Each class lasts for 45 minutes and the programme allows you to choose from five levels of difficulty.

The software provides aerobic and interval training programmes, and the classes can also be structured to include a competitive element.

Isha Patel and Elisha Chohan, both 14, took part in the trials.

Isha said before the dance mat classes she didn't like PE.

"I don't like running around a lot and it's just the thought of all that stuff.

"First of all I didn't really want to do it, but then everyone's, like, "it's going to be really good" so I thought I'd try.

"Now I go to dance mat once a week and I also go to the gym."

'Hard but fun'

Elisha is also a fan: "I think that it keeps you really fit and it's something you can enjoy with your friends.

Dance mat
Participants follow steps on a mat

"If you make a mistake, no-one notices because they are doing their own thing and you can catch up. It is hard work but lots of fun."

The trial classes proved so popular that they have now been opened up to all pupils as part of Lea Manor's sports curriculum and as an after school activity.

The Dance Revolution studio is also being made available to all of Luton's senior schools for them to use as well and Active Luton has just started putting on classes for members of the public.

Daniel Gill said: "This is not just for kids, adults use it as well. In the public sessions we have been getting whole families coming in.

"The kids, their sister, their brother, their mother. There's no generation gap.

"How many sports out there can you think of that work for the whole family?"

More progress urged on ozone hole

More progress urged on ozone hole
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC news website

Ozone hole. Image: Nasa/AP
The Antarctic "ozone hole" should repair in about half a century
Faster progress is needed to safeguard the ozone layer, according to one of the scientists who discovered the "ozone hole" over Antarctica.

Writing on the BBC News website, Joe Farman calls for faster phase-out of some ozone-destroying chemicals, and for the destruction of stockpiles.

The Montreal Protocol regulating these substances is 20 years old this week.

Some of Dr Farman's arguments have been echoed by senior figures in the UN, and by European and US politicians.

He is critical of the agreement that allows developing countries to keep on using some ozone-depleting chemicals until 2040.

It is surely time to consider collecting the existing stockpile, and destroying it

"Frequent reviews rescued the Montreal Protocol from deficiencies in the original draft, and another comprehensive re-examination is clearly needed," he writes in the BBC's Green Room series.

Joe Farman was one of three British Antarctic Survey scientists who reported signs of severe damage to the ozone layer over Antarctic - the "ozone hole" - in 1985.

Member countries of the Montreal Protocol are meeting this week, again in Montreal, to review progress.

Faster, sooner, cheaper

The 1987 Montreal Protocol was designed to phase out chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons which were found to be depleting the ozone layer in the Earth's stratosphere, the higher portion of the atmosphere.

The ozone layer blocks ultraviolet-B radiation from the Sun, which can cause skin cancers and other medical conditions, as well as harming wildlife.

Industrialised nations phased out almost all CFC production in 1995, with developing countries having a deadline of 2010.

Foam on fire. Image: PA
Ozone-depleting chemicals are still used by some fire-fighting forces
Many of the substances, used in applications such as refrigeration, aerosols and fire-fighting, could be replaced relatively easily with related families of chemicals including hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

These cause much less damage to the ozone layer; but production in the developing world is now increasing so fast that there is renewed concern about their impact.

Current regulations mean that in 2015, developing countries will have to freeze their HCFC use at or below the level it is then, phasing out entirely by 2040.

"The rate of HCFC use is skyrocketing," noted Clare Perry, senior ozone campaigner with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

"So it's actually going to cost less to phase it out sooner when investment in plant and equipment is at a lower level."

French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said the EU would be pushing for a faster phase-out at this week's ozone treaty meeting.

"The schedule for eliminating HCFCs must be pushed up by 10 years - that will be the benchmark for deciding if the negotiations are succesful," she said.

Accelerating the phase-out would require new funds from the industralised world, as well as changes to the current funding regulations.

Joe Farman also wants cash set aside to combat leakage of ozone-depleting chemicals, such as the fire retardant halon 1301, from developing world installations.

"There is some production in developing countries," he writes, "but the main source is now through leaks from existing installations, and during recycling. It is surely time to consider collecting the existing stockpile, and destroying it."

Perverse climate

HCFCs also contribute to climate change. They are much more potent, molecule for molecule, than carbon dioxide; one byproduct of HCFC manufacture, HFC23, is 11,700 times more powerful.

Joe Farman
Joe Farman discovered major Antarctic ozone depletion in the 1980s
Reducing HCFC use "offers the international community the chance to make rapid gains both concerning the ozone layer and global climate change," said UN Environment Programme (Unep) executive director Achim Steiner in the run-up to this week's summit.

And President Bush's chief environmental advisor James Connaughton said that accelerating HCFC phase-out by 10 years would "produce at least twice the reduction (in greenhouse gas emissions) of the Kyoto Protocol".

However, some environmentalists believe there is an element of political spin here intended to divert attention from carbon dioxide, which is much more important overall as a greenhouse gas.

There is also concern that the Kyoto Protocol may be creating a "perverse incentive" for companies to boost HCFC use.

The protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) funds the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. It can be used to pay for equipment to trap and burn HFC23.

"In 2005, the destruction of HFC23 accounted for 64% of the value of all CDM projects, and 51% in 2006," Dr Farman writes.

"There is currently much debate on whether carbon trading based so heavily on burning HFC23 constitutes sustainable development."

Oil hits record on supply fears

Oil hits record on supply fears
Oil plant in Bahrain
Prices have been above $70 for much of the past year
Oil prices have hit another record - breaching the $81 a barrel mark for the first time.

US light, sweet crude hit $81.01 in after hours trade on worries about rising demand amid constrained supply.

Supplies of oil in the US are running at their lowest level in eight months with fears that world energy supplies will hit critical levels this winter.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) last week agreed on a small supply increase.

But analysts do not believe the 500,000 barrels per day hike in output is sufficient to stem the rally in oil prices.

"We believe that this will be too little, too late, barring an outright collapse in demand, and now expect inventories to draw to critical levels this winter," said investment bank Goldman Sachs.

The firm predicted that oil prices would hit $85 a barrel by the end of this year.

In London on Monday, Brent crude rose 76 cents to $76.98 a barrel.

Hi-tech crime 'is big business'


Computer keyboard
Millions of e-mail addresses are being sold online
Internet crime has become a major commercial activity, reveals a report by computer security company Symantec.

The report said cyber crime had become increasingly professional and was now a multi-billion dollar industry.

The underground economy has its own auction sites and marketplaces that sell valuable data such as credit card numbers and bank accounts.

They also sell toolkits for novice cyber criminals who lack technical know-how to craft their own attacks.

Boom times

"We're seeing a definite shift in terms of commercialisation," said William Beer, Symantec's european director of security practice. "It's being used by organised crime and it's being used to launch their attacks.

"We have seen very focussed attacks that leverage very active commercial business on toolkits," he told the BBC News website.

Mr Beer said Symantec had seen the net's underground economy enter a new phase in the last six months as those involved in it prospered.

Even the smallest bank has enough money
William Beer, Symantec
One example of how it had grown could be found in the number of new malicious programs reported to Symantec. The 212,101 new threats reported during the first six months of 2007 was a 185% increase over the previous six months.

The economy had rapidly become specialised and now every service a criminal needed to carry out attacks was widely available, said Mr Beer.

For instance, he said, many malicious hackers were using their technical skills to create tool kits that they then sold to those with the criminal know-how to carry out attacks.

Evidence that these were being taken up enthusiastically, he said, could be found in the fact that three phishing toolkits were behind 42% of all phishing attacks seen by Symantec in the first six months of 2007.

In addition, 86% of all phishing websites were hosted on only 30% of IP addresses known to be phishing websites, suggesting that some were cornering the market in looking after criminal sites.

More worryingly, said Mr Beer, were signs that different sections of the underground economy were starting to collaborate to improve their chances of catching people out.

Hi-tech criminals with information culled from job sites, online games or social networking sites were teaming up with phishing gangs and spammers, said Mr Beer.

The end result was well-crafted e-mail campaigns that gained a gloss of credibility by combining several different bits of data.

Often, he said, these targeted attacks were aimed at the customers of smaller financial institutions.

"Attention has gone away from the larger banks down to credit unions and small banks that do not have the people and resources to fight off the attacks," he said.

"Even the smallest bank has enough money," said Mr Beer.

Microsoft loses anti-trust appeal

Microsoft has lost its appeal against a record 497m euro (£343m; $690m) fine imposed by the European Commission in a long-running competition dispute.

The European Court of First Instance upheld the ruling that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position.

A probe concluded in 2004 that Microsoft was guilty of freezing out rivals in server software and products such as media players.

Microsoft has two months to appeal at the European Court of Justice.

"The Court of First Instance essentially upholds the Commission's decision finding that Microsoft abused its dominant position," the court's statement said.

Microsoft's top lawyer said it was important now for the company to comply with EU competition law, but that it had not yet decided on its next legal steps.

Trustee rejected

It threw out just one small part of the European Commission's ruling, which had established an independent monitoring trustee to supervise Microsoft's behaviour.


The court has upheld a landmark commission decision to give consumers more choice in software markets
Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes

Profile: Neelie Kroes
Q&A: What the ruling means for consumers

"The Court criticises, in particular, the obligation imposed on Microsoft to allow the monitoring trustee, independently of the Commission, access to its information, documents, premises and employees and also to the source code of its relevant products," it said.

Microsoft has now been ordered to pay 80% of the Commission's legal costs, while the Commission has to carry a specific part of Microsoft's costs.

The Commission welcomed the verdict. It will give its competition commissioner Neelie Kroes a much needed boost, after her office lost several high-profile anti-trust cases.

Ms Kroes described the victory as "bittersweet", saying that software customers still have no more choice than they did three years ago.

Sharing information

The 2004 ruling ordered Microsoft to ensure its products could operate with other computer systems by sharing information with rival software companies.

It was also ordered to make a version of its Windows operating system available without Microsoft's Media Player software.


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Monday's ruling upheld that order, saying it was "beyond dispute" that Microsoft obliged customers to buy its Media Player software along with the operating system.

Last year, Microsoft was told to pay daily fines adding up to 280.5 million euros over a six-month period, after it failed to adhere to the 2004 decision.

Michael Reynolds, of law firm Allen & Overy, said the important thing was "that these principles of the judgement will not just apply to the Microsoft case".

"They will apply to any dominant company that engages in the same behaviour. It's not just about Microsoft," said Mr Reynolds.

"It provides legal certainty now as to what you can and you can't do in relation to information you have to make available to companies who compete in your environment to enable them to be a viable competitor," he added.

"The court has upheld a landmark commission decision to give consumers more choice in software markets," Ms Kroes said in a statement.

"Microsoft must now comply fully with its legal obligations to desist from engaging in anti-competitive conduct."

Earn extra money on internet at home

Analyzing your web traffic statistics can be an invaluable tool for a number of different reasons. But before you can make full use of this tool, you need to understand how to interpret the data.

Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic web traffic information that you then have to interpret and make pertinent use of. However, the data you receive from your host company can be overwhelming if you don't understand how to apply it to your particular business and website. Let's start by examining the most basic data - the average visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

These figures are the most accurate measure of your website's activity. It would appear on the surface that the more traffic you see recorded, the better you can assume your website is doing, but this is an inaccurate perception. You must also look at the behavior of your visitors once they come to your website to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your site.

There is often a great misconception about what is commonly known as "hits" and what is really effective, quality traffic to your site. Hits simply means the number of information requests received by the server. If you think about the fact that a hit can simply equate to the number of graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblown the concept of hits can be. For example, if your homepage has 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are talking about a single visitor checking out a single page on your site. As you can see,hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.

The more visitors that come to your website, the more accurate your interpretation will become. The greater the traffic is to your website, the more precise your analysis will be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smaller the number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitors can distort the analysis.

The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure out how well or how poorly your site is working for your visitors. One way to determine this is to find out how long on average your visitors spend on your site. If the time spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an underlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure out what that problem is.

It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type of visitors to your website, or that your graphics are confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exit rapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors are spending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, and after you fix those problems, continue to use time spent as a gauge of how effective your fix has been.

Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page that you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider improving the link to this page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary information on that page.

If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less important, you might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing focus to that particular page. As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital information about the effectiveness of individual pages, and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential information to any successful Internet marketing campaign.

Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final order or contact form. This is a page you can expect your visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your site is going to find exactly what he or she is looking for, so statistics may show you a number of different exit pages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as an exit page. In the case that a significant percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or graphic may have a significant impact on the keeping visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page.

After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it's time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your site. The more targeted the visitor - meaning that they find what they are looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase - the more valuable that keyword is.

However, if you find a large number of visitors are being directed - or should I say misdirected - to your site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site who are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your visitors are using to find your site will give you a vital understanding of your visitor's needs and motivations.

Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website by typing in your company name, break open the champagne! It means you have achieved a significant level of brand recognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.