Microsoft’s move is the latest escalation in a continuing battle against cyber crime
Microsoft Corp. launched a novel legal assault to take down a global network of PCs suspected of spreading spam and harmful computer code, adding what the company believes could become a potent weapon in the battle against cyber criminals.

But security experts say it isn’t yet clear how effective Microsoft’s approach will be, while online rights groups warn that the activities of innocent computer users could be inadvertently disrupted.

On Monday, a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., granted Microsoft’s request for an order to deactivate hundreds of Internet addresses that the company linked to an army of tens of thousands of PCs around the globe, infected with computer code that allows them to be harnessed to spread spam, malicious virus programs and mount mass attacks to disable Web sites.

The court order was issued under seal—a rare move in civil cases of this nature—to allow the company to secretly sever communications channels among the computers before the network’s operators could reestablish contact with the machines.

US warns China and other countries which used to suppress their citizens use of internet as freedom of expression. Indonesia, as one of US most staunch allies, should be warned too with its UU ITE (undang-undang informasi dan transaksi elektronik) or Cyber Law.
Stepping up the Obama administration’s commitment to promoting a free and open Internet around the world, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the United States would lead an international effort to combat censorship and cyberattacks. And she urged American companies to rethink whether to do business in countries that curtail the Internet.

“Censorship should not be in any way accepted by any company from anywhere,” Clinton said. “The private sector has a shared responsibility to help safeguard free expression. And when their business dealings threaten to undermine this freedom, they need to consider what’s right, not just what’s a quick profit.”

Her remarks, billed as a major foreign policy address, came on the heels of Google’s announcement that it is considering pulling out of China after a series of highly sophisticated cyberattacks that targeted the search giant as well as dozens of other Silicon Valley firms operating there. Clinton called on the Chinese government to conduct a thorough and transparent review of the attacks, while singling out China, Iran, Egypt and several other countries for what she called growing control over their citizens’ use of the Web.

Google Inc., stepping up its push to sell more advertising on cellphones, said Monday it will purchase mobile advertising start-up AdMob Inc. for $750 million in stock.

The purchase—one of Google’s largest deals—underscores how the search giant is trying to get more creative to extend its dominance in Internet advertising to mobile phones. Via WSJ

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will have a new rules concerning publisher-advertiser relation start from December 1. The new rules include that the publisher or endorser are is not only the conventional media; the bloggers are included, reports NYT:
The F.T.C. said that beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter. A second major change, which was not aimed specifically at bloggers or social media, was to eliminate the ability of advertisers to gush about results that differ from what is typical — for instance, from a weight loss supplement.

For bloggers who review products, this means that the days of an unimpeded flow of giveaways may be over. More broadly, the move suggests that the government is intent on bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, like television or print.

This is good. I am waiting for and thinking about it for a long time.

Whenever I sign up / register to a free services, we are unintentionally or intentionally be subscribeb by the free service owner to receive a periodical email notification from their companies.

Now Gmail has the feature to easily unsubscribe from them infact from any email you don’t like. Sure, there’s already “Spam” command feature, but this “unsubcribe” feature is even better because there’re times when you don’t want to include a particular company’s email into spam category yet you just don’t like the notification.
Unsubscribing from mailing lists and newsletters you subscribed to a while back but no longer want to receive should be just as easy. Searching through individual messages for little unsubscribe links is too big a pain —you should be able to unsubscribe with a single click.

So we just launched something that makes this all work better, both for Gmail users and big email senders. Now, when you report spam on a legitimate newsletter or mailing list, we’ll help you unsubscribe.

… Clicking “Unsubscribe” will automatically send a request back to the sender so they’ll stop emailing you.

Using OSK (On Screen Keyboard) or Virtual Keyboard is recommended to prevent your password being stolen especially if you are accessing internet in a public internet cafe or you just want to give your finger a little break.

There’s two ways to open OSK Virtual Keyboard:

1. Click  Start -> Run -> type OSK. You’ll see a virtual keyboard appear on screen.

2. Cick Start -> All Programs -> Accessibility -> On-Screen KeyBoard. A virtual keyboard will be seen on screen.

How to Use

1. Open Notepad or Microsoft Word

2. The “Keyboard” will be in the top of other applications.

3. Click the Virtual Keyboad using mouse.

Notes:

See also: Blogging and internet related tips

Do you still like Yahoo! If yes, good news for you:

Users can now personalize Yahoo.com to check other sites, including Facebook and Gmail, as well as add Web widgets that link to more than 65 other sites.

Yahoo unveiled a redesigned Yahoo.com front page on Tuesday, billing it as the Web portal’s most significant redesign ever. Taking a cue from Google’s iGoogle, the new page is gives users a way to personalize Yahoo.com so they can check in with other sites, such as Facebook or Gmail using a brand-new “My Favorites” section. Yahoo has built Web widgets that link to more than 65 other sites. These can all be added with a simple point and click, but users can add their own Web sites too and edit the layout of the front page.