'e-G8' forum focus in drawing up Internet rules in Paris

France wants better regulation of the Internet. Google's executive chairman says policymakers should tread lightly and avoid "stupid" rules.

Bridging such differences about how the Internet could or should be more regulated took center stage Tuesday at an "e-G8" meeting aimed to parlay the digital world's growing economic clout into a cohesive message for world leaders at the Group of Eight summit later this week in Normandy.

The two-day Paris gathering has brought together Internet and media world gurus such as Google Inc. executive chairman 96WH sony vgp-bps9 battery Eric Schmidt, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. And the discussion includes issues such as protecting children from "evil stuff" on line, preventing illegal downloading of copyrighted materials and shielding Facebook users from unsolicited invitations.

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The e-G8 comes amid concerns in the industry that some countries — including several in Europe such as France dell latitude d830 battery — have taken measures or enacted laws that could curb Internet freedoms.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, kicking off the conference, said governments need to lay down and enforce rules in the digital world — even as they need to foster olympus c-3030 battery pack creativity and economic growth with the Internet.

It's unclear whether he'll win over digital executives with this argument, or whether the G-8 summit — which doesn't include countries such as China, a major source of online activity and online regulation — will agree on a single Sony DCR-HC47E charger policy going forward.

Sarkozy said he faced mistrust over his push for the "e-G8" when Japan's earthquake, fiscal troubles in Europe, and the Arab world revolutions are likely to dominate the G-8 summit in Deauville on Thursday and Friday NIKON CoolPix P7000 Battery. Conflicting visions about the Internet — notably about how regulated it should be — has pitted companies such as Amazon.com and Google against governments about how to protect privacy and copyrights online.

"We need to hear your aspirations, your needs," Sarkozy told hundreds of business executives, creative minds and journalists at Tuileries Gardens in Paris. "You need to hear our limits, our red lines."

Policymakers such as Sarkozy say the blistering pace of growth has often left regulators behind. He said a "balance" needed to be struck OLYMPUS PS-BLM1 battery to prevent misuse of the Internet — such as to protect children online — while boosting its potential as a driver for economic growth.

While praising the executives, he said regulatory curbs are needed.

"Don't let the revolution that you've begun threaten everyone's basic right to a private life and full autonomy," said Sarkozy. "Full transparency ... sooner or later runs HP Pavilion zv5325CA battery into the very principle of individual freedom."

Google's Schmidt said technological changes have led to a "shift in power" toward individuals — whether to illegally release secret documents or transfer copyrighted material, or rally against their repressive regimes.

"My own opinion is that most governments hp pavilion dv5000 adapter are having trouble with that shift in power," he said. "So rather than sort of complaining about it, which is what everybody does, why don't we see if we can harness it?"

During an e-G8 panel talk, Schmidt said: "You want to tread lightly on regulating brand new, innovative industries. ... Clearly you need Dell studio 1535 battery some level of regulation for the evil stuff. But I would be careful about overregulating the Internet.

"I cannot imagine any delegate in this conference (who) would want Internet growth to be significantly slowed by a government that slows dell studio 1737 battery it down because of some stupid rule that they put in place," he said.

Last week, the U.N.'s independent expert on freedom of speech said governments that curtail users' access to the Internet are violating a basic human right — regardless of the justification.

Britain last year joined France OLYMPUS PS-BLM1 battery by announcing it would cut off Internet access to people who illegally download copyright-protected material. The French government has so far issued only warnings under the "three strikes" formula for possible penalties.

Privacy concerns have also raised hackles in Europe.

In January, Facebook and German officials reached a deal over unsolicited invitations sent to nonmembers of the social networking site Dell studio 1537 battery through its "Friend Finder" feature — which allows Facebook to send email invitations to potential users through current members' address books.

The feature came under fire in Germany for violating privacy laws by allowing unauthorized access to information of third parties. The agreement allows Facebook members more control over the email addresses they share.

Johannes Caspar, a data protection official in Hamburg who negotiated the deal for the Germans, said American laws under which Facebook operates tend to be more laissez-faire than those of Europe about privacy issues.

He said Facebook has cooperated sony vgp-bps13 battery with German investigations about possible privacy law violations, and the onus now is on Europe "to make things clearer" about the rules companies face on the continent.

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Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

Android security Flaw rolls out

A significant security hole has been discovered in Google's Android operating system for smartphones, which can allow attackers to gain access to users' personal information without their permission.

The newest versions of Android, including the new wave of tablets running its Honeycomb software, are not affected by the bug, according to the researchers at Ulm University who initially reported the issue.

Google on Wednesday began fixing a security Canon BP-512 charger flaw that affects some 97% of Android smartphones.

The flaw, which was discovered by three research assistants at Ulm University in the southern part of Germany, affects approximately 97% of Android users.

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In a recent blog post, the researchers found that users of Android devices running versions 2.3.3 and below could be susceptible to attack when they are connected to unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. Anyone else on that SAMSUNG SB-L110 battery network could gain access to, modify or delete Android users' calendars, photos and contacts.

"It is quite easy," the researchers wrote in a blog post. "The implications of this vulnerability reach from disclosure to loss of personal information."

A spokesman for Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) said the company is aware of this issue, and a fix is already in place for the calendar and contacts applications in the latest versions of Android, codenamed "Gingerbread" and "Honeycomb." A solution Acer Aspire 9301AWSMi battery is also in the works for Google's Picasa photo sharing service, he said.

Only about 3% of Android users have the latest versions of the operating system, but Google said Android users running older versions will get a fix "in the next few days." Users don't need to take any action, and the patch will roll out globally.The security flaw stems from Google making use of unencrypted login protocol for the affected services. By using HTTP, rather than the more secure HTTPS, "an adversary can easily sniff the [login information]," according to the blog post Dell Inspiron 9400 ac adapter .

The kind of attack that can be performed on Android devices over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks is similar to so-called "Sidejacking" attacks on Facebook or Twitter. For instance, Firesheep, a free Firefox extension that collects data broadcast over an unprotected Wi-Fi network, allows users to gain access to other people's Facebook accounts.

Though the researchers found that any unsecured application Sony np-bn1 battery making use of an Android user's photos, contacts or calendars could be compromised, the data an attacker can gain access to is limited to those three groups. The security bug does not, for example, allow intruders to view a user's e-mails.

Google was able to fix the problem on its end by requiring an HTTPS connection for calendar and contacts synchronization. By solving the problem on its own servers, Google was able to get around a notoriously slow Android update process: after Google updates the code, manufacturing partners and carriers then manipulate NIKON Coolpix P80 charger the code for each device.

As a result, the vast majority of Android users are still running "Froyo," which launched in May 2010. A quarter of users are still on "Eclair," which came out all the way back in January of last year.

That means a patch for the security hole could have been months or years away for many Android users had Google not found Dell Latitude D505 battery a workaround.

In addition to switching to HTTPS, the researchers also suggested Google prevent Android devices from automatically remembering and logging onto unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. Google did not say whether it had taken any of those steps.

The fix, which addresses a hole allowing hackers to access the contacts, calendars and photos on an Android phone connected to an open Wi-Fi network Dell Studio 1537 battery, will take a few days to cover every phone, a Google spokesman said.

Unlike a traditional software update, the problem exists on Google's servers, so Android users won't need to manually take action.

Android software that has a feature for synchronizing photos to Google's Picasa Web Albums service is also vulnerable. Google does not yet have a solution for that HP Pavilion dv9500 Series battery, but a spokesman said the company is investigating the matter.

The server fix involves switching its login systems to a more secure protocol. Use of the less secure method is a common practice on the Web, as CNN reported in November.

Google's swiftness in patching its network is laudable, but the company doesn't seem to have an adequate solution for a time Hp Compaq Business Notebook 6910p battery when such a problem could only be fixed in each handset's software, said Adrian Turner, the CEO of device security firm Mocana.

"We don't think there's enough being invested proactively to address some of these threats," Turner said. "You want to avoid the oil spill in the first place."

Google recently acknowledged that its procedure for issuing Android software updates needs work, and formed a consortium of cellular CANON POWERSHOT SD750 Battery carriers and hardware manufacturers to address the problem.

MIT Invente More Powerful, Light Batteries

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is working on lithium-air batteries that could help in generating more powerful, lightweight batteries than available currently. Yang Shao-Horn is an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering. According to him many research groups are trying to improve on lithium-air batteries. But they have difference of opinions about the types of electrode materials Pavilion dv5 Adapter to be used. It has to be noted that electrode materials are responsible for electrochemical reactions happening inside these batteries.

Lithium-air batteries, also known as the lithium-oxygen batteries, work on the same principle as the lithium-ion batteries CANON EOS REBEL T3 . Presently lithium-ion batteries are flooding the market and being used in the portable electronics and are a leading contender for electric vehicles. Lithium-air batteries possess a big advantage over conventional batteries. Their main components don’t have the heavy conventional compounds. They have a carbon-based air electrode and with flow of air these air-batteries are quite light hence can be utilized in electronics that themselves can be much lighter. Lithium-air batteries offer three times the energy density than the conventional batteries. They can be easily utilized in electronic devices and hybrid cars. Renowned companies like IBM and General Motors Hp dv6000 Adapter are sensing the potential lithium-air batteries hold that is why they are investing in major research projects on lithium-air technology.

How do lithium-air batteries work? Lithium-air batteries electrochemically couple a lithium anode to oxygen derived from atmosphere. Their biggest advantage is their cathode is a carbon-based air cathode instead of the heavy conventional compounds found in lithium-ion batteries. This culminates in higher energy density because cathode is lighter and oxygen is available in surroundings.

Yang, along with some of the students and visiting professor Hubert Gasteiger are catching up with those electrodes that have gold and platinum working as catalysts. Gold or platinum electrodes exhibit a higher level of activity dell studio 1537 battery that naturally leads to higher efficiency. This work may open wider avenues for experimenting with other metals or metallic oxides that are cheaper than gold and platinum.

If we study the chemical properties of lithium we can learn that in metallic form, lithium is highly reactive in the presence of even a tiny fraction of water. But this will not cause any safety issue because in current lithium-ion batteries, carbon-based materials are used for the negative electrode. Shao-Horn explains that Hp dv7 AC Adapter the same battery principle can be applied without using metallic lithium. They can choose graphite or some other more stable negative electrode materials leading to a safer system.

Doctoral student Yi-Chun Lu who is lead author of the paper, elaborates further. She explains that this team has devised a technique for analysing the activity of different catalysts in the canon eos 1100d batteries. They can look into a variety of possible materials as catalysts. She says, “Such research could allow us to identify the physical parameters that govern the catalyst activity. Ultimately, we will be able to predict the catalyst behaviours.” Now researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough that would help canon lp-e10 battery the commercial development of lightweight rechargeable batteries.