Internet

It's likely going to be many years before people stop buying movies on DVD. But rental giant Netflix is not only preparing for that day, but attempting to bring it closer. The company has announced that it will, for the first time in the US, be ... offering a special package that only allows users to stream rented titles over the Internet, with no option to obtain discs. To encourage users to make the switch, the new package will be $7.99 a month (the lowest ever offered by the company), while the price of the packages that include getting discs by mail will rise by at least $1 a month. The price ... (view more)

For eighteen minutes in April, around 15 per cent of all Internet traffic was incorrectly routed through Chinese-controlled servers. Nobody knows what was behind the move, but a US government agency suspects foul play. According to the US-China ... Economic and Security Review Commission, the incident involves servers belonging to China Telecom. That's the largest telecommunications company in China; it used to be government controlled but is now partially independent. The incident, which the commission described as "hijacking", involves the way Internet traffic travels between the computers ... (view more)

At one time or another, almost all of us have misspelled an URL (web address) in our web browser -- bringing us to a website that we did not intend to visit. Many of the misspelled web addresses are in fact set up for unintended visitors -- all with ... one goal in mind: to elicit as much cash from the visitor as possible, whether it's direct or indirect revenue. Often these pages peddle questionable links to visitors, where each link presented pays the web site owner every time it's clicked. Typosquatting: Also Known as URL Hijacking This age-old deceptive practice known as 'typosquatting.' ... (view more)

Facebook says it has discovered that some application ("app") developers have been deliberately selling user information for the intention of third-party marketing, and has responded by banning a list of developers from the site for six months. A ... similar breach was reported in a Facebook investigation last month . In that case, a technical error in the way developers used the information provided by Facebook meant they were revealing the user IDs of members who used the relevant applications, such as games. It's important to note this is simply Facebook's own reference number for ... (view more)

Like Facebook before it, MySpace has been accused of privacy violations by sharing user details with third-party advertisers. The new story, published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), came after claims the newspaper had kept the article under wraps ... for business reasons. The claims about MySpace are similar to those involving Facebook. For example, last week it was reported that the companies behind games and other add-on applications on the site were sharing user data with advertisers, a breach of Facebook rules. Facebook itself believes this was done inadvertently through a technical ... (view more)

Facebook has confirmed that user details have been revealed to advertisers inappropriately. Unlike many previous privacy disputes on the site, this appears to be a genuine error. The issue involves applications, the add-on games and tools that run ... on the site but are controlled by third-party companies. The most popular examples include games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Generally, when users install such an application, they grant specific permissions for the app's creators to access their accounts in some fashion; for example to automatically post on the user's page when they achieve a ... (view more)

The mayor of New York City has advised teachers to have no contact with pupils on social networking sites such as Facebook. It follows reports that at least three teachers have been fired or suspended over inappropriate comments made online. The ... three teachers, all based in the city, had been accused of posting comments on pupils' profile pages that were clearly unsuitable. Another teacher had reportedly offered extra credits to students that added him as a friend on Facebook: that teacher wasn't disciplined. Although nobody has attempted to defend the behavior of those posting inappropriate ... (view more)

A new study shows that Americans are less likely to engage in online social networking than many of their global counterparts. According to the findings, Asia is fast becoming the place where people are most likely to go online to share digital ... thoughts and photographs with friends and family. The research was performed by analyst firm TNS, which found that central and southeast Asia is a hotspot for social networking activity. In Thailand, approximately 92 per cent of Internet-connected residents have uploaded photographs to photo-sharing web sites. In nearby Malaysia, the number is 88 per ... (view more)

A former Facebook developer has donated $100,000 to help Proposition 19, a California-based initiative seeking to make marijuana legal in that state. 30-year-old Sean Parker was one of the original developers of Facebook when the social networking ... site emerged in 2004. Proposition 19 is part of California's Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act 2010; residents of the state will vote on the measure on November 2 when they head to the polls to decide on a new governor and congressman. They'll also get the chance to vote on the legalization of marijuana. (Source: telegraph.co.uk ) Parker No ... (view more)

YouTube will this week test live broadcasting for the first time. If successful, it could bring both new visitors to the site as well as several legal and technical challenges. At first the company will run a two-day trial featuring live broadcasts ... from four of the major companies that produce original videos for YouTube, such as Howcast. It will then analyze the data from the trials to find ways to refine and improve the technology before eventually making it available to all users. (Source: google.com) A New Frontier for YouTube YouTube has previously broadcast live events, but only through ... (view more)