US calls for Internet comment

The US government is asking for comments on how the Internet should be run, and anyone is allowed to comment - but it`ll have to be quick, reports The Register.

An arm of the US government`s department of commerce is holding a public meeting at the end of July over what should happen to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers when its contract is renewed in September.

In the meantime, it has opened a public comment board, where the public is able to e-mail comments for the US government and the rest of the world to see. Comments need to be sent via e-mail by 7 July.

What began as a few isolated reports of mysterious stains appearing on the wrist rests of Apple Computer`s MacBooks appears to be more widespread, reports CNet.

Reports of the discolouration, which takes place on frequently touched plastic areas of the white MacBooks, first surfaced in early June. A related post on an Apple discussion board got hundreds of replies before it was locked by the company five days later.

According to MacBook owners, the company has responded in different ways. Apple has replaced laptops for some who noticed the discoloration within the first two weeks of ownership. Apple told others, however, that it would repair the device only by replacing the plastic.

Chinese authorities have announced the intention to greatly increase efforts to police and control the Internet, as well as other communications technology like instant messaging and cellphones, reports the International Herald Tribune.

Deputy minister of the Chinese information industry Wang Xudong said his ministry`s next target would be to develop technology to regulate blogs and search engines.

The censorship measures were announced in response to the explosion of Internet and cellphone use among the public, which, despite increasingly strenuous government efforts to contain the phenomenon, have created the freest atmosphere of communication China has known under Communist rule.

Microsoft is feeling the heat after an aggrieved computer user in Washington filed a class-action lawsuit over the company`s Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) software-verification program, reports Sci-Tech Today.

WGA consists of anti-piracy software that collects information from a Windows user`s PC to check whether the computer is running an illegal copy of Microsoft`s Windows operating system.

Microsoft launched WGA in July 2005, but some consumers feared it was behaving in the same way as spyware.