Parents Abandon Children to the Internet

Despite the fact that parents admit they are worried about the influence the Internet may have on their kids, the recent report issued by McAfee says that a lot of 5-year-olds already own or use Internet enabled electronic devices.

The study in question surveyed two thousand parents of kids between 5 and 15 years old. 60% of the respondents regularly let their children go to the Internet without their supervision. The results of the survey reveal that 25% of kids aged 5 have been left alone at the computer with Internet access, as well as 40% of 6-year-olds. More than 50% of 7-year-olds were also said to be left to their PCs.

In the meantime, the research found out that around 17% of parents were shocked to find their kids on inappropriate portals like those containing adult content, information about eating disorders, as well as on social networks. 14% of kids under 10 have admitted in a conversation with their parents that they accidentally ended up on pornographic images.

According to McAfee report, most of the parents agree that the worldwide web poses a threat, the bigger one than 5 years ago. Although having worries about the material available on the Internet, 50% of the surveyed adults didn’t bother to do anything to protect their children from this threat. Moreover, around 30% of respondents told McAfee that it’s the media’s responsibility to not let their children end up on porno sites.

Of course, it’s easy to imagine a teenager figuring out an iPad effortlessly, but the industry still takes such results with a pinch of salt. The matter is that with such kind of study it is very easy to make sure the results match the agenda, especially given the fact that McAfee offers everyone the Family Protection suite of software.

Google Wants to Privatize the Internet

Consumer Watchdog claimed that the authorities should keep track of what international corporations like Google and Amazon are doing online, as well as to reject their applications to purchase new top level domains in bulk.

The watchdog outfit has recently written an open letter to ICANN and other relevant authorities. In the letter, John M Simpson, the Consumer Watchdog privacy project director, explained that there were plans by such giants as Google and Amazon to purchase enormous amounts of new top level domains. According to Consumer Watchdog, it is one matter for a corporation to have an intention to purchase associated domains like .google, .youtube, or .amazon, but it‘s not what the companies are looking to do.

Consumer Watchdog pointed out that the search engine is using its subsidiary named Charlestone Road Registry to spend almost $19,000,000 on such domain names as .eat, .buy, .web, .book, .free, and .family. At the same time, Amazon wants to own .shop, .free, .like, and .game. All in all, the companies are expecting to purchase 101 and 76 domain strings accordingly.

In its letter, the watchdog pointed out that generic words can’t be the property of any entity, because when such words are used in a generic way they belong to everyone. However, according to Consumer Watchdog, in case the companies are allowed to purchase generic names, they will be closing off common words that they have no IP rights over, nor are they even associated with the brand. John M Simpson has warned that ICANN will be allowing the international giants to bypass nation-states’ entrenched legal processes in order to get legal and recognized trademark protections.

In this happens, some argue that corporations like Google and Amazon will be doing nothing else than effectively privatizing parts of the worldwide web, which could later turn into the walled gardens. Consumer Watchdog claims that both Google and Amazon already position themselves as dominant players on the market and in the online space. That’s why if the authorities allow them further control, this would pose a real threat to the free and open web that the Internet users rely upon.

.uk Domain Offered to Public

During the consultation that started today, Nominet, known as a top level domain vanguard in the United Kingdom, recommends the short .uk domain be offered for businesses. According to the local media reports, the non-commercial outfit thinks that top level .uk domain would be both good for business and security.

However, the industry experts have a different opinion, warning that it may all seem good until Nominet pays to a 3rd party auditor for cleaning the books and suspending domains it supervises without notification. Such move will inevitably threaten the business of the companies that would choose Nominet domains.

Although this offer of .uk domain will undoubtedly benefit Nominet, the reality is that the company runs a monopoly on the top level domains of the United Kingdom and profits from doing so. In the meantime, it is a non-commercial outfit that pays its top brass six figure salaries. Whatever it has left from the profits is spent for vanity charity projects and award ceremonies.

That’s why the industry observers warn the businesses that they should think twice before accepting Nominet’s offer and giving the company more money. It’s nothing bad about having the .uk domain, but it might be not useful for business to be dependent on such outfit.

Aside from this offer, an American Consumer Watchdog has recently warned that ICANN should pay its attention at the carving up of the Internet, with multinational corporations being able to bid big for generic top level domains like .monopoly or .anticompetition. The matter is that such move would lead to privatizing the Internet, which is nothing good for the industry either.