Australian Cybermalls News

According to a new study by Dun and Bradstreet (DB), more than 7 in 10 US small businesses now have Internet access (up from 57% 12 months ago); more than 39% of US small businesses now have web sites of some description; and of those who trade online, 40% say it has made a positive difference to their bottom line. DB's study - its 19th Annual Small Business Survey - found that over the last year most US small businesses had increased their use of the Net to source business purchases, but had made significantly less use of the Net for research, marketing and email. DB's study reported that 38% of small companies with web sites transacted business with customers over their sites (up from 33% the previous year) and also found that the average business small business web site contributed roughly 8% of total corporate 1999 revenues, down slightly from 12% in 1998. In addition, DB found that women-owned small businesses were more likely to have Internet access than their male-owned counterparts (67% vs. 63%) and were more likely to conduct research and buy products over the Net (53% vs 39%) than men.

Telstra announced yesterday that it hopes to have 200 exchanges set to offer ADSL dial-up services by August this year. If so, ADSL will potentially be available to 3.5 million Australian households and businesses within 3 months. The company plan to roll out the new service in all capital cities and in Toowoomba (Qld), Launceston (Tas) and Bunbury (WA). ADSL customers will be able to access the Internet up to 50 times faster than current dialup modem speeds through ordinary copper cables. However, each household will need an ADSL modem to access the service, and will also need to be located within 3.5km from an ADSL-equipped telephone exchange.

A new virus which specifically targets Microsoft Outlook users was found on the Net over the weekend. According to the FBI National Infrastructure Protection Center which first sounded the alert, the new virus is carried in a file attached to an email with the subject "Resume - Janet Simons." The attachment is a Microsoft Word file called "EXPLORER.DOC" or "RESUME.DOC". If opened, the virally-infected file will spread itself by sending an email to everyone in the user's email address book. When the Word document is closed, the virus will then delete important files on the user's computer. Like "Melissa" and the recent "I Love You" virus, the new virus exploits existing security holes in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft's Windows scripting architecture to carry out its activities.

According to a study of 2,198 US Net users by PeopleSupport (PS), the percentage of women surfing the Net in the USA has grown from 15% in 1995 to 50% this year - and 63% of all online purchasing is now carried out by women. PS found that one of the complaints that women have with e-commerce sites is lack of customer support. More than half wanted the option of communicating with customer support personnel through email or by instant online chat services. PS found that the reason for this was that most women access the Net over the same phone line they use to make calls, and needing to log off to phone a company rep was inconvenient. PS also found that the types of women using the Internet mirrored men in terms of age, income, ethnic background and family structure. Most women who shop online more than once a week are between the ages of 45 and 54, earn $75,000 or more, are caucasian and have children.

The controversial new Australian site CrimeNet - which raised concern amongst Government officials earlier this month shortly after its debut - has caused a Victorian Supreme Court trial to be aborted. Supreme Court Justice George Hampel cited CrimeNet in discharging a murder trial jury late yesterday, leading Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls to warn today that he had put the operators of the site "on notice". Mr Hulls said that the State's Director of Public Prosecutions was now investigating whether the site had committed contempt of court by posting entries about the accused in the trial, and called on the operators to shut the site down. "I understand the Director of Public Prosecutions has expressed grave concerns about this particular site and has indicated that in future no material relating to any person facing a trial in Victoria is to be published there," Mr Hulls said. "If it is, the operator of this site risks very serious sanctions." Today CrimeNet's operators rejected Mr Hull's call.

According to a Mori Poll commissioned for the UK's Financial Times, the vast majority of UK residents are cynical, mistrustful or apathetic about the Internet. Of those surveyed, 94% said they knew the Net was "here to stay"; but 93% said they didn't want to be part of the Internet industry and 95% said they didn't believe they were missing out on the Internet revolution. About 1 in 8 respondents admitted to being envious of dotcom millionaires, but less than 1 in 10 said they felt the UK needed more such risk takers. Further, only 5% of women surveyed said they were interested in working for a dotcom company. And a surprising 33% of female workers said they didn't understand Internet technology at all. The poll found that younger people are more likely to be enthusiastic about the Net, with twice as many respondents in the 15-34 year age group wanting to be part of the Internet industry than in the 35-54 year age group. Poll analysts say that apathy towards the Internet doesn't appear to come from lack of awareness or exposure but is due to mistrust, fear and cynicism.

Kerry Packer - Australia's richest man - has managed to escape the Federal Government's proposed 12-month moratorium on Internet gambling sites by a slim 4 days (see yesterday's story). It was announced today that Packer had been issued a 5-year licence to operate an online casino by the Tasmanian State Government on Monday, May 15th. This was just 4 days before the Federal Government's surprise announcement on Friday that it wanted to call a halt to the issue of all new online gambling site licences for a year, and proposed to introduce legislation making the ban retrospectively effective from Friday, May 19th. Packer companies PBL and ecorp will form a joint venture to develop an online gaming business that will be based in Tasmania and focus solely on the international market, news media reported. Australians will be prohibited from gambling on the site.

In a surprise move late Friday afternoon, The Australian Federal Government announced that it intends to legislate for a 12-month moratorium on the issue of new online gambling licences, backdated to May 19th. The announcement comes some months after the Government received reports suggesting that online casinos could become perfect "information age" money laundries for organised crime. The Government had previously intimated it was considering the temporary ban on expansion of the industry, but State Governments were caught flat-footed by the move. The ACT Government issued two licences - to ACTTAB and Tattersalls - the same day, while other States expressed outrage and announced their intention to resist the move.Today Family and Community Services Minister Jocelyn Newman, who chairs the Ministerial Council on Gambling, condemned "the line being run by self-interested and greedy States to increase the access to gambling for problem gamblers". Sen. Newman warned that the Federal Government had power over online telecommunications, and was prepared to exercise it regardless of what Australian State and Territory Governments thought.

The Australian Federal Government has proposed a new voluntary code of conduct for online traders in an effort to boost consumer confidence about online shopping. The new code, launched today by Federal Minister for Financial Services and Regulation Joe Hockey, is based on OECD guidelines for ecommerce. It advocates full disclosure by businesses trading online - including clearly identifying themselves by publishing their physical address, contact details and an Australian Company Number or Australian Business Number; providing the full cost, terms and conditions (including return policies) of purchases; and displaying information about secure payment methods. The code also suggests that companies only send email to existing customers and those who request it; and that they respect consumers' privacy by refusing to remarket any data collected from site visitors. The new code has been developed after consultation with business and consumers. Footnote: All Australian Cybermalls sites have followed these commonsense consumer protection principles since 1996. We have (and still do) reject sites which fail to adopt full disclosure practices, as outlined in our site policies.

According to a study by Internet research firm eTForecasts, more than 276 million people were connecting to the Net at the end of last year - and this will rise to 375 million by the end of 2000. But while the USA is still the centre of the Net with an estimated 111 million users (or 40.1% of the total audience) at the end of 1999, this dominance is gradually being eroded and the US market will steadily contract to less than a 25% audience share by 2005. By the end of the current year, eTForecasts predict that the top 10 "wired" countries will be the USA (36.2%), Japan (7.18%), Germany (5.1%), the UK (4.77%), China (4.2%), Canada (4.05%), South Korea (3.68%), Italy (3.08%), Brazil (2.84%) and France (2.16%). Australia - with its relatively small population - will slip to 11th position (2.16%) by year's end with a forecast 8 million users, up from 6 million at the end of 1999. eTForecasts also believe that the introduction of web-enabled appliances will begin to make an impact by the end of this year - so much so that within 5 years as many people will connect to the Net through an appliance as do through PC's.

Lycos - one of the top 5 portal sites in the world - will be acquired by Terra Networks it was announced today. Terra Networks are a Spanish-based ISP (themselves 66% owned by Telefonica, Spain's biggest phone company) and the all-stock trade values the portal at a staggering $US12.5 billion. The deal also marks the first time a US portal has been acquired by a foreign company, and may herald the start of a long-expected shakeout amongst top US portal sites. The merged company will be called Terra Lycos and will have operations in 37 countries, including the high-growth markets of North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe. The buyout is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year provided it receives shareholder and regulatory approval. German media giant Bertelsmann have already announced that they intend to buy more than $1 billion in services and advertising from the company over the next 5 years, and the new entity is expected to have more than $500 million year in billings from existing operations.

Stung by criticism that endemic security flaws in its Outlook email program helped the "I Love You" virus wreak an estimated $US17 billion in damages worldwide last week, Microsoft announced today that it will soon release security patches for Outlook 98 and 2000 which will make it harder - but not impossible - for email viruses to spread amongst Outlook users. The new patch will disable executable attachments and alert users if an email attempts to send itself via the Outlook address book. While some experts have welcomed the move, others remain sceptical, pointing out that the latest patch is simply one more in a seemingly endless string of security bug fixes Microsoft have released for all their web products over the last 4 years. Meanwhile, Philippines authorities continue to search for the author of the virus after being forced to release a suspect they took into custody last week for lack of evidence. According to news reports, authorities have now widened their list of suspects to 55 people, but to date seem no closer to locating the culprit responsible for what is being dubbed "the most expensive computer virus in history."

According to a report in USA Today, US President Clinton wants to double the limit on temporary high-tech visas to 200,000 a year over the next three years in a bid to ease a critical labour shortage in the US computer industry. In 1999, USA Today says, more than 107,000 visas were issued under raised ceilings, but those have already been filled - and there are at least 800,000 high-tech jobs in the USA that will go unfilled this year because of a shortage of suitably skilled applicants. The Clinton plan outlined by USA Today would require 40% of H1-B visas go to people with at least a master's degree and would also set aside 10,000 visas for colleges and research institutions. However, the plan would also see the visa fee to $2,000, with the money being used for employee training and high-tech scholarships within the country. According to the Information Technology Association of America, more than 1.6 million new IT positions will be created in the USA this year.

Australian federal and state attorneys-general will meet in July to consider a response to a new web site that provides the names and details of convicted criminals after receiving strong protests from civil libertarians and victims' groups who believe the site may promote vigilante and revenge actions. The Melbourne-based site, CrimeNet, was launched last week. It allows visitors to look up details about paedophiles, fraudsters, missing persons, unsolved crimes, people wanted by law enforcement agencies and lost and stolen property. Its operators say that the site gives ordinary Australians a chance to check whether a person or service is trustworthy and that it is a legitimate collection of publicly available information. However, federal and state authorities say they are worried the database might impede the justice process by allowing jurors to look up prior convictions of an accused person (which would cause trials to be aborted) and that it also had the potential to promote vigilante acts and possible defamation suits, since the site gave no guarantee of accuracy.

A UK government-funded study into the safety of mobile phones is expected to recommend tomorrow that children should be discouraged from using mobiles because they're more vulnerable than adults to radiation emissions. The study, commissioned by the British Government in April 1999, came after a series of high-profile reports in the UK on the possible adverse health effects of mobile phones on memory and concerns that they may cause headaches, brain tumors and brain cancer. The study was undertaken by a group of scientists over an eight-month period and the report's author, William Stewart of Tayside University, is expected to advocate that new guidelines on mobile use be drawn up and more research be done into the safety of mobile phones. Last month - while the report was being prepared - UK consumer magazine Which? claimed that its own experiments had demonstrated that popular mobile phone hands-free kits acted as aerials, channeling three times as much radiation into users heads than a phone held to the ear does. The report is the latest in a long line of similar studies from around the world which question the long-term safety of the devices.

Sun Microsystems have released version 1.3 of Java2. They claim that the latest version, which now incorporates the company's HotSpot technology, offers a 40% improvement in start-up time and a 25% smaller RAM footprint than previous versions, resulting in significantly faster applet downloads and executions. The release is the first major upgrade to Java2 since its inception in 1998. Netscape announced today that it will support the new version in its upcoming Netscape 6.0 release (due later this year), but Microsoft - which tried to build its own proprietary Windows-only Java into Internet Explorer - has so far remained silent on any plans it may have to do the same. Meanwhile, a US judge today dismissed claims by Sun that Microsoft had broken copyright laws over its attempt to produce a proprietary variant of Java. Sun had sued Microsoft for designing the Windows-only version which was incompatible with other software. US District Judge Ronald Whyte said the dispute was a contractual one rather than a copyright issue.

The publisher of the Australian Chimes financial advice site was sentenced to a three-month jail term yesterday after defying a court order to take down the site. Stephen Matthews had ignored a court order obtained by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) to stop him publishing investor tips and securities reports without a licence. Matthews had moved the site to a New Zealand server to put the site out of reach of Australian corporations law, the court heard, but ASIC pursued further contempt proceedings, arguing that although the site is not published in Australia it is aimed at Australians. In June 1999, Matthews avoided jail when he was given a 2 month suspended sentence for contempt of court after continuing to run the site's chat room. He argued that people were entitled to express an opinion on financial matters. On Friday 14th April, The Chimes had announced its intention to become a full financial services portal.

Under the glare of the international spotlight, Philippines police arrested a man today in connection with the "I Love You" virus. Authorities suspect the virus author is a 23-year old man or woman living in Manila's lower middle-class Pandacan district. Police raided an apartment shared by 4 people there today, and took away computer disks, telephones and other equipment. The apartment was empty when it was raided, according to radio reports, but one occupant who later returned - and denied any involvement with the virus - was taken away for questioning. Meanwhile, a Philippines ISP who has been assisting authorities track down the author of the virus believes that he or she hid behind a screen of hacked e-mail accounts and pre-paid Internet user cards, making them almost impossible to track down through log files. Today, assessing the impact of the virus, experts agreed that damage world-wide is likely to exceed the damage caused last year by the Melissa virus. Some experts predicted that the final total could exceed $100 billion.

The "I Love You" email virus caused global havoc today, spreading rapidly from a n apparent source in the Philippines to Asia and Europe, then on to the USA. The virus, attached to an email with "I Love You" in the subject line, primarily attacked users of Microsoft Outlook Express and some web sites running on NT, destroying most graphics files on an infected computer's hard drive and rendering MP2 and MP3 files invisible to the system. The virus spreads itself through the Net by working its way through all the email addresses in an infected system's email address book Today, the virus infected many high-profile US Government sites before system administrators could post fixes, including the US Department of Defence. During the day two variants of the virus were discovered with the subject headings changed to "Very Funny" and "FWD: Joke". Officials now fear that the virus could be worse than last year's Melissa, which has now appeared in 40 variants and caused an estimated $US80 million damage in the USA alone last year. Late today, anti-virus makers McAfee warned that the virus is now circulating in an email with the subject header "Susitikim shi vakara kavos puodukui...". Microsoft shrugged off criticism from some experts about continuing security defects in Outlook, saying that the problem was primarily one of education: users had to learn not to execute files from untrusted sources.

Two scientists at Israel's Wieseman Institute claim they've developed technology that could allow smells to be sent over the Net. Molecular Genetics professors David Harel and Doron Lancet say that they've already built a "working prototype" of a device capable of creating familiar smells from chemicals. They say that a commercial version of the device should be available by year's end and this - coupled with some mathematical models the two recently patented - means that one day smells could be transmitted electronically. Users who wanted a "smelly Net" would buy an olfactory device as a computer peripheral. The device would then brew smells at a user's terminal from data transmitted online. The olfactory device would have replaceable chemical cartridges, similar to an inkjet printer. However, the scientists believe that full olfactory transmission of a complete range of smells will not be possible for at least 2 years.

An unusual court case between two small Australian ISPs who've refused to join the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman's (TIO) scheme will come up for hearing before Justice Moore at the Federal Court on May 12th. The two ISPs - Albury Local Internet Pty Ltd and Viper Communications Pty Ltd - have refused to join mandatory TIO scheme in spite of the threat of $10 million fines. Both ISPs have questioned whether the TIO or their scheme have any legal authority at all and have decided to fight test cases brought against them by the Australian Communications Authority on the matter. In their defence, the ISPs have questioned both the legal validity of the TIO scheme and the TIO's right to operate it, basing their arguments on apparent conflicts between existing Acts. Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court today upheld a ruling that ISPs aren't responsible for content broadcast from their serves. The Supreme Court left intact a decision by the New York Appeals Court which ruled that an ISP should be treated as a telephone company rather than a publisher, and therefore couldn't be held liable for materials posted on its service.

After 14 months of development and 7 months of alpha testing, Australian Cybermalls launched the public beta of Search66 yesterday. The new meta search engine polls 11 global engines for world searches - or 14 Australian or Australian mirror engines for domestic searches - to deliver incisive, comprehensive results. Search66 uses innovative new Australian technology to improve on existing meta search models. As a result, it finds between 2 and 4 times more sites than any individual engine. The purpose of the beta release is to test the engine under varying traffic loads, continue to refine underlying search models and eliminate any remaining defects. Search66 is a joint venture between Australian Cybermalls and Intervations, a Brisbane-based web development company, and will be corporatised later this year. The engine is hosted by eservers, also an Australian Cybermalls corporation.

In a mirror of the technology stock crash over the last month, the Australian Net continued to remain relatively static for the second month in a row during April, according to our monthly Australian Internet Growth Index (AIGI). The AIGI has been attempting to estimate the number of live Australian sites on the Net - as opposed to the number of registered domains - since January 1996. During April, our index showed very little growth in new sites nationwide. It also recorded slight die-backs in Melbourne and Adelaide where the number of new entrants failed to exceed the number of site closures. The May 1st figures (with April 1st figures in brackets) are as follows:

Australian Internet Growth Index April 2000
(Figures Show Estimated Live Sites)

Brisbane - 4,059 (4,032) Sydney - 15,876 (15,870) Melbourne - 10,071 (10,098) Adelaide - 4,522 (4,541)	Perth - 4,434 (4,427) Hobart - 2,171 (2,118) Canberra - 4,536 (4,520) *Darwin - 4,930** (4,870)
NB: The Darwin figure includes rural Australian sites