The Mercury News reports that “GOP House leaders Thursday pressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi to move quickly on several tech priorities, including allowing more skilled workers from overseas. In a letter to Pelosi, D-San Francisco, Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and at least 30 other Republicans also called for quick action on making the Internet tax moratorium permanent. The moratorium, which bars state and local governments from taxing e-commerce and Internet access, expires Nov. 1. In addition, Republicans want an expanded research-and-development tax credit, building on an increase enacted last year, and a renewed effort to encourage the use of electronic medical records.”
The Mercury News also has an interesting article today on “
The Los Angeles Times writes that “U.S. online advertising revenue surged to a new high of nearly $10 billion in the first half of the year, rising 27% from a year before, according to data released Thursday. The figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers underscore how quickly spending by marketers is shifting to the Internet, often at the expense of traditional media such as newspapers or radio.”
According to the Guardian, “British police yesterday hailed the arrest of an international gang of fraudsters as a landmark victory against internet crime, following a sting across four countries. More than £8.5m worth of fake cheques and other fraudulent documents were seized in a series of overnight raids across the UK in a joint operation overseen by Britain’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca). The raids, which also took place in the US, Canada and Nigeria, are said to have scooped more than £1bn in fraudulent cheques and money orders. Investigators said that the fraudsters, who mainly used the internet to target vulnerable people for small amounts of money, had racked up vast sums for their efforts.”
The Register reports that “[m]iscreants have turned a YouTube service into a spam relay channel. YouTube contains a facility that allows users to invite their friends to view videos that they are looking at or have posted. This ‘Invite Your Friends’ system is being used to send out ‘massive quantities of spam,’ according to content security outfit Marshall.”