CNET's Kara Tsuboi prepares for political conventions

By Kara Tsuboi, CNET

Tom Merritt

I have yet to dig deeply into any of these sites, but now I know what my weekend homework is looking like. Sunday afternoon, I'll be boarding a plane to Denver for the week-long Democratic National Convention. As a newbie to the national political scene, it'd be a complete understatement to say I'm excited. But as someone who has attended plenty of big-scale conferences and media events, a small knot begins to form in my gut as I picture the crowds, chaos, and logistical juggling that will define the next week.

My primary role at the DNC (and also at the RNC the following week in St. Paul, Minn.) is to help launch Katie Couric's live Webcast airing on CBSNews immediately following her traditional TV broadcast from 10 to 11 p.m. EDT. This step to increase her online presence is so necessary for her and the rest of the CBS News team to be taking, and I'm excited to witness the kind of dialogue that can happen when the show is not limited to "TV time" or commercial breaks. Part of the Webcast will also include addressing viewer comments and questions about the convention itself, the candidates and the issues, so please submit your queries!

Besides helping out on the production end for CBSNews, I plan on blogging the entire experience for CNET News and borrowing a CBS cameraman when I can to capture some of the experience on video. There's no shortage of great technology stories to be mined at the conventions, and I look forward to bringing them to light. Haven't you always been curious who makes up Sen. Barack Obama's tech team and how they decide on exactly what he should be twittering? Or what about the increasingly large presence from major tech companies like Google and YouTube?

On second thought, the crowds, chaos, and logistical juggling is starting to sound more and more exciting.

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Google making SSL changes, other sites quiet

By Elinor Mills, CNET

Googlesecure Web sitesFacebookYahoo MailHotmail

Mike Perry, a reverse engineer and developer at Riverbed Technology, says he announced on the BugTraq e-mail list a year ago a common flaw with the way Web sites implement the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol that is designed to protect people's data when they surf the Web. Typically, they only use SSL for encrypting communications during the log-in stage, he says.

There are actually two problems with SSL implementations. The first issue is that many sites do not use SSL past the log-in page, and thus expose their users' cookies to theft via sniffing by someone else on the network. A tool exploiting this flaw was released last year by Robert Graham of Errata Security, at the same time Perry announced his flaw.

Nothing was done to fix the SSL problems until a month ago when Google announced that people can set Gmail to automatically encrypt communications between a browser and Gmail servers by default, instead of having to type in https://mail.google, Perry says.

However, accessing the site via https://mail.google does not automatically preserve the "secure" session and the cookies can still be stolen, Perry says.

He says he has contacted security representatives at Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and Facebook about the fact that their sites remain vulnerable to a so-called "man-in-the-middle attack" in which someone on the same Wi-Fi network hijacks the session cookies that are transmitted between a user's browser and a Web site. As of Friday afternoon, he hadn't heard back from them, he said.

Representatives at Microsoft and Yahoo said they were working on getting comment, while representatives at Facebook did not respond to e-mails or a phone message from CNET News seeking comment.

Amazon encrypts communications related to payment but not purchase history and recommendations, according to Perry. An Amazon spokeswoman said the company does not comment on security measures.

"The motivation is to raise awareness and try and encourage these sites to adopt SSL and do it properly," he said in an interview on Friday.

Delaying release of the tool
But, Perry said he has decided to delay releasing the tool for an undetermined time after talking to Google.

Google is the only one of the major Web sites to offer users the option of setting auto-encryption for all the communications with the site and not just the log-in page, as well as to properly set the "secure" property of its cookies, Perry says.

Google says it is rolling out the option not just for consumer Gmail users, but also for Google Apps enterprise users and has launched it for the premier edition of Google Apps so that communications with Google Docs, Calendar, and other included Google sites are encrypted.

It is also very possible that Google will make it so that the "always encrypt" mode is automatically enabled when people first log in via "https://gmail.google" instead of having to go into settings and enable it manually, Perry says.

"Just about everyone but Google simply does not want to spend the money to invest in the security of their users, and will continue to ignore this issue, just as they have for the past year," Perry wrote in an e-mail.

The vulnerability affects people using unsecured wireless networks and would require the attacker to be using the same network at the same time. However, it could affect people on other types of networks if it were to be combined with other attacks, such as ones taking advantage of a recently discovered domain name system hijacking exploit that any Web surfer could be exposed to, or more elaborate attacks involving modified DSL or cable modems, which were also discussed at Defcon, Perry says.

Perry goes into more details about the problems and his plans on his blog.

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Olympics set the stage for emerging Web tech fight

By Daisuke Wakabayashi

BeijingMicrosoft CorpAdobe Systems Inc

Microsoft's Silverlight technology and rival Adobe's Flash
format are currently locked in a race over who delivers the
world's online video, but the ultimate prize may be who powers
the next generation of Web software.

Using Silverlight, the NBC site offers a glimpse of what is
possible with future Web applications because viewers are able
to watch up to four videos at once or follow the action with an
online commentary that runs alongside the video.

More than 40 million U.S. viewers have gone to NBC's
Olympics site to watch some of the 2,200 hours of live footage
from the Beijing games. All those viewers need is a Silverlight
player on their browser if they do not have one already.

By building up Silverlight's user base, the world's largest
software maker is looking to win over developers who see Web
platforms such as Silverlight and Flash as a new way to deliver
powerful Web-linked programs incorporating rich graphics.

Currently, those platforms are mainly reserved for
multimedia applications such as Google Inc's popular YouTube
site, which runs on Adobe's Flash technology.

"It's quickly becoming a very popular way to build next
generation applications. There's a lot of interest in capturing
the hearts and minds of developers," said Jeffrey Hammond, an
analyst at Forrester Research. "It'll be a big business."

Microsoft, which said nearly half the visitors to NBC's
site did not have Silverlight, plans to expand its reach to
close the gap on Flash, which is already running on most of the
world's Web-connected computers and powers over 80 percent of
the video on the Internet.

For Microsoft, keeping outside developers loyal is
especially important at a time when there is a major shift in
how people buy software.

After years of selling licenses for software that runs on a
computer's hard drive, Microsoft is facing a new batch of
competitors providing software free as a service through the
Web browser in exchange for online advertising.

Like other Web applications, RIAs are cheaper to deploy and
maintain than traditional software, but they differ from more
simple Web programs by employing rich graphics, running faster
and creating a seamless experience that does not require the
application to constantly reload or refresh.

For example, a financial institution may use Flash or
Silverlight to build a program to instantly chart stock prices
or receive a steady stream of stock prices that do not require
a trader to repeatedly hit refresh on his browser.

But those applications have yet to gain momentum with large
corporate technology customers.

ADOBE VS. MICROSOFT

Gartner analyst Ray Valdes said 90 percent of the top
global 1,000 companies have yet to deploy any sort of RIA,
while 90 percent of the top 100 consumer Web sites have already
done so using the nonproprietary and more simple AJAX format.

That opportunity has Microsoft eyeing current leader Adobe
for business that extends beyond Silverlight and into the sale
of design tools along with server and database software to
enable these new applications.

traditional software developmentAdobe
Integrated Runtimeubiquitous Windows operating systemgroup product manager

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

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Telecom rollouts raise ire over utility boxes

By DEBORAH YAO, AP Business Writer

As cable and phone companies race to upgrade services or offer video for the first time, they're doing it by installing equipment in boxes on lawns, easements and curbs all over American neighborhoods. Telecommunications rollouts have always been messy, but several towns and residents are fighting back with cries of "Not in my front yard!"

AT&T Inc.'s nearly fridge-sized units, which route its new U-verse video product to customers, are drawing particular ire. A few caught fire or even exploded. AT&T said it has fixed that by replacing the units' backup batteries.

That's not much comfort to David Crommie, who thinks the boxes are an eyesore. Crommie, who is president of a San Francisco neighborhood group called the Cole Valley Improvement Association, complained after seeing some boxes sprout in town and managed to delay AT&T's plans to install up to 850. AT&T now is expected to reapply for an exemption to the city's environmental-review procedures.

"We have nothing against the technology. We just don't want that delivery system," Crommie said. "It's 19th century packaging for 21st century technology."

AT&T's rival Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, apparently thought so too. It ran ads in Illinois calling the cabinets "giant utility boxes." In most locations, U-verse cabinets are 4 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep.

AT&T didn't think it was funny and sued Comcast in March for running a "false, deceptive and disparaging advertising campaign." The companies signed a standstill agreement in May.

But Comcast has utility box problems of its own.

Several residents in Lower Makefield Township, about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia, got upset when new green boxes from Comcast popped up around town, sometimes between driveways.

"All of a sudden we have cable boxes appear," said 64-year-old resident Bernie Goldberg. "They seem to think our community is their open job site."

He wants to know why Comcast can't bury the new boxes, which are about a foot tall and wide, and 2 feet long. Comcast said aboveground boxes can be accessed more easily and are more reliable.

But Goldberg noted that Verizon Communications Inc. was able to bury its fiber-optic boxes underground in town — a fact the phone company was more than eager to confirm. (Of course, Verizon also has had installation mishaps with its new FiOS service, such as fires at homes in Pennsylvania and Virginia.)

For Goldberg and other residents of Lower Makefield Township, arguing with Comcast over cable boxes is a familiar fight. They battled the installation of aboveground boxes in the 1990s with Comcast's predecessor and won.

This time, Township Supervisor Matt Maloney said residents felt Comcast's boxes were an "intrusion."

"They're putting it in without permits," he said. "It is their contention they are not required to do so. It's our contention that they are."

Comcast, which has installed 50 boxes and doesn't plan to add more, said it is working with the township to resolve these issues.

A resolution has yet to come to Geneva, Ill., where Mayor Kevin Burns is furious with AT&T.

GenevaIllinoisSanta Rosa, CalifComcastSanta Rosapublic utility easementsCalifornia

(This version CORRECTS timeline in Geneva, Ill., which dropped a lawsuit against AT&T last year but issued permits this month, not months ago.)

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Qaeda's Zawahri appears in new tape on Internet

Pakistan

The video posted on a Web site often used by al Qaeda
showed Zawahri in white robes and white turban in front of a
green backdrop, praising Abu Khabab al-Masri and three other
militants killed in Pakistan's border region in July.

It was not clear when the tape was recorded but it was the
second audio or video tape of Zawahri to appear since he
himself was reported to have been killed or wounded in a
suspected U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's South Waziristan
tribal region.

Earlier this month, an English-language audio tape
purportedly made by Zawahri in which he attacked Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf was dropped off at an office of
Pakistan's ARY One television channel.

U.S. television network CBS News in a report early in
August cited an intercepted letter from Pakistani Taliban chief
Baitullah Mehsud requesting a doctor be sent to treat the
wounded Zawahri.

The whereabouts of Zawahri and al Qaeda leader bin Laden
have not been known since U.S.-led forces launched a hunt for
them in Afghanistan after the al Qaeda attacks on the United
States on September 11, 2001.

(Reporting by Summer Said; editing by Tony Austin)

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Low cost Internet phone revolution beckons for India

by Penny MacRae

India's Internet service providers (ISPs) are delighted at the prospect of a new revenue stream but fixed line and mobile players are objecting that they paid high market entry fees, whereas ISPs will not have to stump up any money.

Under the plan proposed this week by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, people could call from their personal computers with Internet connections to a landline or a mobile phone and vice versa.

The move could ring in another big drop in calling prices in the world's fastest-growing phone market, where consumers already enjoy some of the lowest telephone costs, the regulator said.

The proposal is aimed at putting India's telecom sector "in tune with global trends" in which such "Internet-based services are very popular" and boosting paltry broadband penetration, the regulator added.

The government is keen to boost broadband use, especially in poverty-hit rural areas, where the Internet is seen as key to development.

But Cellular Operators Association of India chief T.V. Ramachandran said the regulator's proposal was not fair to existing telephone companies.

"There should be a level playing field ... it's unfair to allow unrestricted Internet telephony to ISPs at no additional cost," he said.

The telecommunications department just recently issued pan-India licences to several telecom players, charging each an entry fee of 16.5 billion rupees (37.7 million dollars).

India's largest phone company, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., said the entry of ISPs would hurt revenues.

Under the regulator's plan, international call rates via the Internet could drop to one-two rupees (two-five cents) a minute from the average seven, while national long-distance rates could fall to less than half a rupee.

Local calls could be virtually free.

But experts say it would take a long time for broadband subscribers to pose a threat to fixed-line and mobile licence holders, given India's low Internet penetration.

India has just 4.38 million broadband subscribers, while there are 287 million mobile users and 38.9 million landline subscribers.

Internet telephony could become "the killer application" to boost broadband penetration, which has "lagged far behind the very successful mobile telephony," said Internet Service Providers Association of India head Rajesh Chharia.

Analysts are betting the government will go ahead with the idea.

"The government has been pushing reforms in telecoms, I think they'll give it the green light," said an expert at an international consultancy, who did not wish to be named.

"In other words, an increase in the ISPs' business will also result in a boom for existing telcos. Given this scenario, the government would do well to accept (the regulator's) recommendations," said Business Standard editorial.

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Sellers squawk as eBay evolves to combat rivals

by Glenn Chapman

eBay

The California firm's latest moves focus on making buying items at eBay more like standard store purchases, complete with electronic payments and fixed prices.

EBay is altering anew its fee system, making it cheaper to post items but taking a bigger percentage of sales.

"These are some of the boldest changes we've ever made," eBay spokesman Usher Lieberman told AFP.

"It is a shift in the business model for our sellers and for eBay. We are asking sellers to rethink their listing strategies and giving them economic incentives to do that."

An online eBay chat forum teemed Thursday with complaints as sellers disparaged new rules including a ban taking effect in October on payments using checks or money orders.

"EBay used to be fun," wrote an eBay user with a screen name Starfish2rcn. "Now it's run like a dictatorship."

EBay will require transactions be done using credit cards, debit cards, or online services such as PayPal, which it owns.

Sellers complain that PayPal takes a percentage of each transaction, cutting into their profits.

"We are really recognizing e-commerce in general and what our buyers are seeing anywhere else online," eBay spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe told AFP.

"It is going to make the process faster and more reliable."

Electronic payments reportedly result in far fewer complaints when it comes to consumating deals.

EBay is cutting the price of "Buy It Now" postings to 35 cents each and more than tripling the time they spend online to 30 days.

Sales of such fixed-price items reportedly account for 43 percent of eBay deals and are growing at a rate of 60 percent annually.

"We think auctions really work for unique items, rare items, hard-to-find items or one-of-a-kind-in-demand items," Lieberman said. "Fixed price really works for multiple items."

Anyone selling batches of identical items will be able to load them in single postings instead of having to list them separately, as is current practice.

The change saves sellers money and will also hopefully stop people from dominating eBay pages featuring search results for shoppers, according to Lieberman.

Enderlebuyers and sellers

Earlier this year eBay stopped letting sellers post feedback about buyers while still letting buyers critique sellers.

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