IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 15 November
15-11-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
National Consumer Agency rejects EU proposal to shut misleading airline sites | Verisign to dispose of communications business
The Irish Times reports that Eircom owner Babcock & Brown has told its 7,100 staff that the terms of its voluntary redundancies programme will be set at "a significantly lesser level" after next March. The company said it is unlikely to meet its target of 400 voluntary redundancies by the end of this year, although it expects more than that number to have departed by next spring. Eircom plans to re-open the redundancy package to staff in a number of areas of the company over the coming months.
The paper also says that the State's advisory body on racism is to report to the Gardai a website aimed at taxi drivers for carrying racist and offensive material about immigrants in Ireland. The National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) believes comments posted on a forum linked from the website www.taxi.ie are in breach of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act.
The same paper says that Irish consumer authorities have rejected plans by the EU Commission to shut down airline websites if they fail to remove misleading information. EU consumer affairs commissioner Meglena Kuneva on Wednesday gave Ryanair and other airlines four months to get their websites in order or else have them closed down. Ireland's National Consumer Agency said it was carrying out its own investigation into ticket selling practices and would shortly be in touch with Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Aer Arann about a number of issues. A spokesman said that if the airlines failed to rectify their websites, there was scope for a prosecution leading to a fine.
The paper also notes that Irish people are unaware of the security risks involved in disposing of old computer equipment, according to a survey by Rits Information Security. Read the full story on ENN.
The same paper reports that the Government has been told that EUR4 billion is needed for a new, State-wide fibre optic network that would bring a range of services such as phone, television and fast internet access to individual homes. Shannon Development Authority chief executive Kevin Thompstone told a conference on "e-towns" in Tarbert, Co Kerry, that "a leap to the next generation of telecommunications" is vital so that every household would have broadband access. E-towns are a Shannon Development concept that combines work and living space in one unit, with good telecommunications, located in small clusters in the centre of rural towns.
The Irish Examiner reports on the launch of Lonely.ie, Ireland's latest internet dating site. The site was set up after research using Google Trends showed that the word "lonely" was the most frequently searched in Ireland by Google users.
According to the Financial Times, Verisign, the world's largest provider of electronic certificates that secure and authenticate internet traffic, is planning to dispose of its struggling communications business. The company said the move would allow it to devote more resources to the internet business that has traditionally underpinned its growth. While Verisign is a leading provider of internet infrastructure, efforts to build a similar presence in the telecommunications sector had failed to gain traction. Businesses earmarked for disposal include Verisign's telecommunications billing group and its caller name and address management businesses.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Advanced Micro Devices is launching a new line of graphics chips designed to be used in PCs with up to four accelerator cards. Videogame enthusiasts often run at least two cards containing graphics-processing chips to boost performance. AMD says its new ATI Radeon HD 3800 technology will initially support two graphics cards, which come in models priced at USD179 and USD219.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 