Provided by CommunityDNS, the information in this post consists of news items in the security-based Internet community.

Department of Commerce Open Comment Period Regarding the JPA Closes June 8, 2009

With the impending September 30, 2009 expiration of the agreement between ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Department of Commerce issued the “Assessment of the Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management of the Internet’s Domain Name and Addressing System” document. The document announces an open comment period to the Department of Commerce as well as outlines the main issues to be discussed. Comments, however, are not limited to the items outlined in the document. Comments are due on or before June 8, 2009.

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Lawmakers: Keep ICANN Oversight With US

Citing increased cyber attacks on the US government and domestic business as well as fear of the DNS winding up in the control of unfriendly nations who wish to harm the US, the overall theme is for the US to maintain oversight of ICANN.

Testimony from GoDaddy and VeriSign were all favorable towards the US maintaining control over ICANN. Members of the Congressional subcommittee also expressed concern over relinquishing control of ICANN and feel the JPA should be extended.

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US mega retailer settles spyware charges

US-based mega-store conglomeration Sears and K-Mart agreed to delete all information collected on its customers. Early last year Sears sent e-mails to its customers, who provided e-mails, asking them to sign up for and be apart of their community. Signing up yielded software being installed on the user’s system from web research outfit ComScore. ComScore’s software monitored each users’ every online move.

Information collected included not only information on websites visited and the links they clicked on, it also recorded text from secure pages, such as online banking statements, video rental transactions, library borrowing histories, online drug prescription records as well as information regarding the sender, recipient, subject and of web-based e-mail messages. The software also recorded in real-time certain non-Internet-related activities that occurred on the respective systems.

This information was not disclosed to subscribers.

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FTC Sues, Shuts Down N. Calif. Web Hosting Firm

A Northern Californian ISP, known as either 3FN.net or Pricewert LLC, was taken off-line for their practices of recruiting, knowingly hosting and actively participating in the distribution of illegal, malicious and harmful content. As a result, last Tuesday 15,000 web sites connected to this ISP were taken off-line.

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Louisiana House OKs bill for 15-cent charge on Internet access to fund AG investigations

The Louisiana state legislature is working to pass a bill that will add 15 cents to the monthly Internet bill of Internet users who reside in the state of Louisiana. The purpose of the bill is to provide annual funding of $2.4 million for the state’s attorney general to fight online criminal activity.

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