From the Mac computers on which artists engineered their records to digital movie making via Pixar and Jobs' correct identification of the confluence of broadband, computers and mobile storage leading to the arrival of the iPod and iTunes, his input has indeed been enormous.

The Grammy, awarded to Jobs four months after his death, was accepted by Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice-president of internet software and services.

Accepting the award Cue said of Jobs: "He told us that music shaped his life; it made him who he was.

“Everyone who knows Steve knows the profound impact that artists like Bob Dylan and the Beatles had on him," Cue said.

Eason is using its Pinterest account to show off its range of books. It has 26 boards, including one for best Valentine’s Day books, one for the top 10 books chart, one for best children’s books and one for the top 10 e-books.

“We are very excited to be the first Irish brand on Pinterest and really value the role it will play in our overall e-commerce strategy going forward given that the site has quickly become one of the most popular social media portals for consumers to visit prior to visiting retailer websites, like Easons.com,” said David Field, head of marketing at Eason.

“Eason’s online presence is a huge priority for 2012. We are continually improving the online shopping experience at Easons.com and together with our recently launched Facebook page and Twitter account, we’re ensuring one of Ireland’s oldest and best-loved brands is just as relevant, if not more so, in today’s social world,” he said.

“Ah it's good to be home at the Mammie's, I look up from the laptop and my tea has gone. I didn't drink the scalding cup fast enough ..."
-      Damien Mulley, owner of Mulley Communications and organiser of the Web Awards and Social Media Awards

“We have a nine-year-old in Cork CoderDojo who is better at Javascript now than most people I know will ever be ...”
-      Bill Liao, social networking entrepreneur and philanthropist

“Had a big glass of acai and pomegranate juice this AM. Now lit up like a candle. Red Bull has nothing on this stuff ...”
-      Chuck Hollis, EMC CTO and blogger

“Eating pizza in Sao Paulo, where they seem to bring each slice out one at a time, silver service style.”
-      Ben Hammersley, editor at large of the UK edition of WIRED magazine 

“The 6yo interrogates Siri: ‘what's the weather for next year?’"
-      Charles Arthur, The Guardian’s technology editor

“A bad decision, a bad moment, or even a bad day does not define you. Shrug it off and get after it again!”
-      Art Jonak, CEO, Network Professionals

“Sitting in the middle of a rather remote and very frozen Caroga Lake at the races and managed to find open Wi-Fi. What a wonderful world.”
-      Tim Stevens, Engadget’s editor-in-chief

“Nobody who's ever worn a suit to an interview for Giz has ever been a good fit. I still give them the shot, but never proven wrong.”
-      Matt Buchanan, editor at Gizmodo

It is understood that Germany's foreign office has withdrawn instructions to sign ACTA. It has postponed its signing to await the outcome of a European Parliament vote on ACTA in June.

The agreement is designed to fight the trade of counterfeit goods, including pharmaceuticals, but also encourages ISPs to take co-operative measures to fight copyright, which could result in repressive measures, such as a three-strikes rule.

Last week, Access policy analyst Raegan MacDonald told Siliconrepublic.com that she believes ACTA lacks democratic credibility.

ACTA is being considered as being more dangerous than the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was railroaded in the US after widespread online protest.

The clandestine nature of how ACTA came about, with little or no public consultation, is considered an affront to civil liberties and last week the EU's principal rapporteur (investigator) MEP Kader Arif resigned in protest and slammed the whole process as a "charade".

If ACTA is ratified it would require countries to create IP laws that emulate US copyright laws.

So far, more than 359,000 people have signed a petition against ACTA.

What sparked the move was 15-year-old Hannah's Facebook post about her parents, which she titled "Dear Parents".

"I am not your damn slave," Hannah wrote, bemoaning life at school, unpaid household chores and nagging about getting a job. She even stated that her folks shouldn't count on her when they are elderly, as she won't be there.

Before posting her rant on Facebook, Hannah filtered her privacy settings to prevent her parents from seeing the post.

However, Tommy - who works in IT - found Hannah's post, anyway. His video response, 'Facebook Parenting for the Troubled Teen', has drawn 1,468,240 views on YouTube at time of writing.

In the video, Tommy reads Hannah's rant while sitting in a lawn chair and puffing on a cigarette. He argues her logic and says, "Kid, you've got it easy, way easy," and proceeds to fire nine bullets into Hannah's laptop - one being from Mom.

Watch 'Facebook Parenting for the Troubled Teen' here:

Since then there has been uproar over the privacy implications and Path’s failure to ask for users’ permission.

“We are sorry,” Morin wrote on Path’s blog. “We made a mistake. Over the last couple of days, users brought to light an issue concerning how we handle your personal information on Path, specifically, the transmission and storage of your phone contacts."

He said Path’s mission is to build the world’s first personal network for close friends and family and admitted the way the company designed its ‘Add Friends’ feature was wrong.

“We are deeply sorry if you were uncomfortable with how our application used your phone contacts.

“In the interest of complete transparency, we want to clarify that the use of this information is limited to improving the quality of friend suggestions when you use the ‘Add Friends’ feature and to notify you when one of your contacts joins Path - nothing else. We always transmit this and any other information you share on Path to our servers over an encrypted connection. It is also stored securely on our servers using industry-standard firewall technology.”

Path deletes user contact info from its servers

Morin said that actions speak louder than words and to show his sincerity, Path has deleted the entire collection of user uploaded contact information from its servers.

In Path 2.0.6, released to the App Store today, users are prompted to opt in or out of sharing their phone’s contacts with Path’s servers in order to find their friends and family on Path. Users can accept or decide later to revoke this.

“We care deeply about your privacy and about creating a trusted place for you to share life with your close friends and family. As we continue to expand and grow, we will make some mistakes along the way. We commit to you that we will continue to be transparent and always serve you, our users, first,” Morin said.

Sources suggested that a decision to put the legislative change back out for public consultation was due to be announced by Minister Sean Sherlock later today.

However, a spokesperson for Sherlock's office at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation said this was not the case.

She said the statutory instrument was issued to the Cabinet last night; a mere formality because it appeared in Dail business last week.

She said Sherlock's permanent secretary said that a new consultation was "definitely not the case" and the legislative change is "expected to be signed pretty soon."

Once signed, the battle between internet service providers (ISPs) and record labels will be out of the Government's hands and firmly in the hands of the courts.

The entire matter harks back to a court case between UPC and IRMA (the big four music labels) in 2010, in which the presiding judge Mr Justice Peter Charleton pointed out that existing legislation did not give him the power to grant injunctions against ISPs because the European directive had not been fully transposed.

Now courts will have the power to grant injunctive relief to rights holders seeking the removal of copyrighted material from websites and remedies such as three strikes warnings before consumers' broadband access is removed.

But the battle does not end there. Across Europe on 11 February thousands are expected to protest the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) treaty, which also contains measures to grant similar powers in 22 European countries.

The report's findings indicate that online communication is bridging the generation gap, what with 30pc of grandparents of teens/young adults agreeing that connecting online has helped them better understand their teen/young adult grandchildren, and 29pc of teens/young adults saying the same about their grandparents.

Teenagers agree the computer increases both the quantity (70pc) and quality (67pc) of their communication with family members living far away.

“Technology is now playing an increasingly vital role in helping the 50+ population communicate and stay connected to their children, ageing parents and other family members,” said Jody Holtzman, senior vice-president, AARP Thought Leadership.

“By enhancing communication across all generations, technology is improving the quality of life for people of all ages.”

“We reimagined tabs so they fit as naturally on a small screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet," explained Google vice president Sundar Pichai.

“You can just flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you're holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hand, each one a new window to the web."

Google says the new mobile browser is focused on speed and simplicity and users will be able to scroll through web pages as quickly as they can flick a finger and as they type results are loaded into the background to appear instantly.

A new Link Preview feature makes it easier to select a correct link out of several on a small screen device, automatically zooming in on links and selecting the precise one easier.

The new mobile browser also features Incognito private browsing which users can activate by finding 'Privacy' after clicking on the 'Settings' icon.
Other features include the ability to conveniently sync bookmarks and get smarter auto complete suggestions to avoid time spent typing.

As usual Chrome for Android will only be available in "select" countries first - you know, large populations like the US, the UK, France, Germany, etc. But dear readers don't fret, because damn all people in those countries have an Ice Cream Sandwich operating system yet anyway.

I'm sure as Ice Cream Sandwich debuts on more devices in the coming months the impact of the Chrome for Android browser will start to be felt.

“Kinect Star Wars" and the Xbox 360 Limited Edition "Kinect Star Wars" console bundle will both be available on April 3, 2012 in Ireland for €49.99 and €399.99 respectively.

An interesting feature will be a new Galactic Dance Off mode that comes loaded with Star Wars-themed pop tunes to battle in a dance off againt Darth Vader or bust a move 'Solo style'.

The special Xbox 360 Limited Edition "Kinect Star Wars" console bundle will also feature an exclusive C-3PO unlockable for Dance Mode and the ability to play in 3D.

Channel 4 News reports that the search is on to find the moggy's owner.

Shortly after the cat's one-minute appearance on the pitch, though, a Twitter profile, @AnfieldCat, sprang up, and attracted thousands of followers.

The account, which claims to be the "official twitter of me, the Anfield Cat", so far includes tweets such as, "Mancini said he rues the day he signed Tevez instead of me, explaining he could at least put lost posters up when I go missing," "Milk is so expensive at football stadiums, it’s an epic swindle," and "Think it's time for a cat nap, I ran my legs off tonight in true."

Another account in honour of the puss, @liverpoolfccat, has drawn 4,300 followers at time of writing.

If you missed the kitty in action during last night's match, you can watch it all here:

The acquisition will include two additional offices in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and an additional 30 staff by year's end.

Populis already generates more than 2.6m unique monthly users in Brazil and its Blogo network has 10m page views.

The acquisition of Cidade, which is one of Brazil's oldest web portals, includes a further 10 web properties and some of Brazil's top blogs.

Brazil, which is the world's sixth-largest economy, has an online population that spends US$6.5bn a year and is growing annually by 40pc year on year.

Populis, which recently reported €58m revenues, has been named one of Europe's 25 fastest-growing digital media companies. It is growing its workforce in Dublin from 58 to 80 people.

Populis' properties collectively drive more than 35m monthly unique users and its content sees more than 35,000 items added every month.

“We are very excited by the acquisition of Cidade Internet in Brazil," explained Luca Ascani, co-founder and chairman of Populis.

“The country's economy is bucking the global recession trend and the population of 195m provides a huge domestic marketplace with spending power. We will be investing significantly into our Brazilian operations during the coming year and expect the market to quickly become a key revenue stream for the group," Ascani said.

Some 49pc admitted they have never reviewed the privacy settings on social networks.

The key, says Trend Micro senior vice-president Anthony O'Mara, is to strike a balance between safety and learning.

“Keeping our children safe online is critical, but so is ensuring our kids are fluent in the technology that will shape their futures. The key is to strike a balance between helping kids stay safe online yet allowing them to maintain a sense of independence," says O'Mara. "We've developed a programme to help parents better manage their kids' online safety and to create an opportunity to talk openly about internet safety, and to identify and prevent possible problems before they happen."

What's Your Story €3,000 competition for schools

In order to spread the word on Safer Internet usage, Trend Micro staff are holding information and training workshops for parents and teachers through the primary school network in Ireland.

For secondary school kids, Trend Micro has developed a peer-to-peer education programme, whereby the Internet Safety team at Trend Micro train transition-year students to inform and educate the other students in their schools. To date, more than 60 schools have subscribed to the programme and information and training sessions will be organised in the coming weeks.

“There has been great interest in the Internet Safety for Kids & Families programme being run by Trend Micro," explains Avril Ronan, programme co-ordinator at Trend Micro for the Internet Safety for Kids & Families programme in Ireland.

"We have already held information and training sessions in numerous schools and we have a busy itinerary for the coming weeks. It's a really important initiative and one that we feel passionately about at Trend Micro. The internet is a great place for children to learn and have fun, but it is important to be aware of the safety aspects, just like in the real world,"

A "What's Your Story" competition, which encourages young people to lead the way in education about the internet and online safety, is also part of the Internet Safety programme run by Trend Micro.

The competition invites children ages 7 and over to submit a poem, story, picture or video about internet safety to be in with a chance to win €3,000 for the winner and a school runner-up prize of €1,000.

Trend Micro has teamed up with WebWise, Discovery Science Festival, Facebook and ReAssureMe.com to form the judging panel for the What's Your Story Competition 2012 in Ireland.

And Dublin was no different. Around 40 protesters, including women, men and children, converged at Facebook's Dublin offices at the corner of Hanover Quay and Benson Street, today. Friends of Breastfeeding organised the Irish breastfeeding contingent.

Facebook has been known to remove photos and even temporarily suspend certain users' accounts that depict the breast during breastfeeding, as part of its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Here's the statement in full from Facebook, issued this evening: "We agree that breastfeeding is natural and we are very glad to know that it is important for mothers, including the many mothers who work at Facebook, to share their experience with others on the site. The vast majority of breastfeeding photos are compliant with our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Facebook takes no action on such content. However, some photos which contain a fully exposed breast do violate our terms and may be removed if they are reported to us.  These policies are based on the same standards that apply to television and print media."

Presence of 'minors' on Facebook and 'nudity'

Added Facebook: "The presence of minors on Facebook makes it necessary to impose certain limitations on the display of nudity, even though that is not always convenient or acceptable to all audiences. Our policies have to fit the needs of a diverse community, but aspire to respect people's rights to share content which is important to them, including their experiences as a mother. It is important to note that photos upon which we act are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other users who complain about them being shared on Facebook."

Judge for yourself ...

Firstly, the statutory instrument gets signed into law and the battle between internet service providers (ISPs) and record labels is out of the Government's hands and is firmly in the hands of the courts.

Or secondly, the State may decide that the matter needs more consideration and the process of forming and designing realistic, primary legislation that is fit for purpose for the digital age may begin.

In the past two weeks, a petition against the statutory instrument received some 80,255 signatures.

More than 1,300 of the signees have pledged to visit their TD on the matter.

The entire matter concerns a court case between UPC and IRMA in 2010 in which the presiding judge Mr Justice Peter Charleton pointed out that existing legislation did not give him the power to grant injunctions against ISPs because the European directive had not been fully transposed.

This failure to transpose the directive has given the record labels a powerful motive to sue the Irish Government if the statutory instrument isn't passed. For a country afflicted by a property bust, the collapse of its financial system and support of the IMF, a drawn-out and expensive court case may prove unpalatable.

At the same time, it is worth remembering that ICT and digital media are the silver lining in the dark clouds that have gathered over the country in recent years, yielding investment, jobs and opportunity and hope for entrepreneurs, job seekers and future graduates.

What if Irish SOPA is signed?

Last Friday, the ISPAI, an organisation representing ISPs, spoke out at the potential damage the statutory instruments could cause.

They warned that the changes to the legislation will open a can of worms that ultimately harm the country's standing in the global internet industry.

They pointed out that the statutory instrument will mean that issues of copyright and illegal downloads will be debated on a court-by-court basis. They say this is going to be economically unsustainable for ISPs to contest. It may also be unsustainable for internet companies that have located in Ireland.

They also pointed out that isolating individual tracks and blocking content is not easy and checking and quantifying the vast array of internet services could grind the internet to a halt.

“What makes this so sad, is the government is trying to tell us that at the same time, that they see Ireland as a hub for cloud computing services, which by definition are services hosting other people's content and more than other online businesses exposed to the vagaries of this S.I.," the ISPAI stated.

The important thing to bear in mind is that since Napster burst onto the scene 13 years ago, no collaboration between rights holders and ISPs in fighting online piracy has taken place.

New and emerging models such as Netflix and Spotify are the way forward and should be seen as a model for new revenue for the record companies and video industries. There can be no question that these industries have indeed lost millions through piracy and the acts of illegal downloaders and file sharers.

But the reality is most people for a reasonable fee would subscribe to content services and happily pay for quality content. There is a future, it just needs to be explored ... and importantly for a State, facilitated.

Tomorrow, the Government of Ireland will usher the country and its digital dreams down one of either two paths.

Let's hope the right decision is made.

Last month, the Delhi High Court asked Facebook and Google India to remove “offensive and objectionable material” for their sites or be blocked in the region.

The civil case being heard in Delhi was filed by Muslim petitioner Mufti Aizaz Arshad Kazmi, who claimed the companies were hosting material intolerant to religious beliefs. A separate criminal lawsuit is being brought to court by journalist Vinay Rai which makes similar allegations against a number of web firms.

Google and Facebook said they complied with the court’s order to remove certain material.

Previously, India’s telecommunication minister, Kapil Sibal, met with officials from the Indian units of Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! to discuss prescreening user content and removing anything derogatory before it’s posted online.

It stemmed from the Indian government’s disapproval of web pages dedicated to insulting its prime minister, Manmohan Singh, ruling congress party leader, Sonia Gandhi, and major religious figures.

However, Google argued it was not possible to prescreen material uploaded by “billions of people across the globe.” Facebook argued it already has policies in place to allow users to report abusive content.

This year was also the first year the Super Bowl was allowed to be streamed online by the NFL and NBC, showing how the internet has become centre stage in American life and media.

As usual, the Super Bowl was an opportunity to throw up movie trailers and teasers but Samsung took the opportunity to throw out that video of hipsters in a line waiting for a new smartphone in what was clearly a dig at Apple fan boys with an ad for the new Galaxy Note – ‘it even has a pen!’ No doubt Samsung expects this latest video extravaganza to go viral.

Best Buy brought a little more intelligence to the affair with a series of video ads that celebrated the inventors of things like the camera phone (Philippe Kahn) and the creators of Instagram, Shazam and Square.

By the way, did anyone realise that despite the advertising extravaganza the Super Bowl is really a sports event? No? Seriously. Two teams played last night – the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. The Giants won, sealing a 21-17 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Speakers with expertise in interaction design gave talks throughout the event to inspire and educate the community, discussing how better to improve relations between people and the products and services they use.

Dirk Knemeyer, founder of Sprout, Involution Studios and Conquistador Games, said that just as designers developed their coding skills to design user interfaces a decade ago, interaction designers must become experts in human understanding to develop their craft.

He pointed out how the evolution of technology has grown from a novelty to become fully integrated into our lifestyles. He argued that interaction designers should have some understanding of psychology, sociology, neuroscience, endocrinology and economics to take the opportunity to create meaningful interfaces for the future.

Users don’t have goals

Andrew Hinton, principal user experience architect at Macquarium, spoke about how many designers often create interfaces assuming that users have specific tasks or goals in mind, however, this is often not the case.

“Evoking the word ‘goal’ comes with a lot of assumptions and baggage that can misdirect our work as designers,” said Hinton.

“There’s a deep assumption in our profession’s cultural background that our users have explicitly, consciously articulated goals that they are working towards,” he said.

He argued that often, people were treated like another highly rational system when mapping out how they behave when using products and services.

“In user experience design, we like to think that we’re considering all the dimensions of a person and often we really do. But we still tend to focus on these tasks and goals,” said Hinton.

“And more often than not, the goal is actually only the fuzzy, distant possibility in the future that really, nobody even thinks about until you ask them.

“What we know now is that even if you think you have a goal, it’s likely that it’s going to shift and change as you find your way to it because right now, the user is just going to muddle their way through a situation that’s emerged in their life,” he said.

Rethinking user testing

Dana Chisnell, researcher and co-author of the Handbook of Usability Testing, expanded on this concept, pointing out that the traditional user testing method - where one person is put on one computer to see how they run through a program – may not get designers the answers they need, particularly as the web gets more social.

“Usability testing is not telling us what we need to know for social interactions online,” said Chisnell.

“In fact, the techniques that we’re using can only really tell us what we know already. What we know about is how to eliminate frustration. We’re very good at eliminating hindrances and identifying obstacles in interaction.

“We’re not sure how to do user research that’s going to tell us about what we really need to know about relationships,” she said.

She argued that people don’t operate in the real world in the same way as they are asked to act in user research and usability testing. She mentioned how, when booking a hotel, people like to consult with friends, spouses or relatives, which the human/computer model of user testing doesn’t cater for.

She also pointed out that services can get used for purposes beyond what the designers could ever believe they could be used for, mentioning how in the Arab Spring movement, many people sent coded messages through Facebook and eHarmony to arrange protests.

“The human/computer model simply doesn’t work. This model of interaction probably never worked. More and more, it’s human-to-human interaction, mediated by technology. And this might always have been true but it’s more evident now,” she said.

The future of user design

Knemeyer believes that in the future, products will be designed not at scale for mass audiences and demographics, but for individuals, pointing out technologies such as 3D printers. He believes that products will be designed for who we are, even for elements that we don’t talk about or don’t fully understand.

He says that while the technology isn’t quite there yet, consumers are beginning to know what they want and that the technology is aligning for it.

He thinks that when this happens, the concept of the genius designer, such as Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, could be threatened and that designs will cater to the individual needs of people.

He encouraged designers to think of frameworks for understanding people in a much deeper way to truly understand their needs.

“When life gets harder, you must have just leveled up.”
-      James Whelton, tech entrepreneur and first person to hack the iPod Nano

“In a cafe this morning where they don't show the price of anything. On purpose, they said. Have been overly annoyed since. Grrrrar.”
-      Ben Hammersley, editor at large of the UK edition of WIRED magazine 

“Operation Very Thick Jumper now under way.”
-      Charles Arthur, The Guardian’s technology editor

“Erm … so I'm in A&E. Baby stuck a pea up his nose :-/”
-      Jason Bradbury, presenter of Channel 5's The Gadget Show

“Pro tip: don't read up on Heaven's Gate cult before bed.”
-      Joshua Topolsky, editor-in-chief of The Verge

“To err is human, to really mess up takes computers. Total disaster requires just one odiously pompous, egotistical, officious, bureaucrat ...”
-      Bill Liao, social networking entrepreneur and philanthropist

“Facebook's upcoming stock market ticker symbol could be ‘LIKE.’”
-      Art Jonak, CEO, Network Professionals

“Re-slotting SIM card after 10+ days overseas, I expected the sheer volume of flowing data to create Highlander-like sparks.”
-      Matt Cutts, Google engineer

“It is a matter of opinion as to whether this is really needed and certainly in the decade since the Directive, the European Commission, who is responsible to ensure compliance with Directives hadn't picked up on it. However, Minister Sean Sherlock is now introducing a quick fix by using an S.I. (statutory instrument) rather than primary legislation.

“This is made more urgent because the music industry is now suing the State for lost revenue due to this perceived omission - expecting the tax-payer to cough up again - and we understand the government must respond during next week. The problem is Minister Sherlock's quick fix is far too broad, offers no clarification, simply cites the EU Directive and effectively throws interpretation back to the courts," the ISPs said.

The ISPAI said the reason this legal technicality is so important is because it adds more pressure in what are already difficult trading conditions.

Dark Shadow

"Ireland has secured many large international online businesses to locate here. There are also many successful indigenous online companies servicing international markets. Together they account for a sizeable chunk of our export revenues.

“These companies utilise the internet infrastructure of our members as do the internet using public. The ISPs and many of these online service companies have business built on handling data or content belonging to other people. The whole sector is very buoyant, provides many thousands of jobs in Ireland and is bucking the recessionary trends.

“But this S.I. now hangs like a dark shadow over the industry because, once signed, it copper-fastens that the courts should decide on a case by case basis the remedy for claims of copyright infringement - done by third parties - and whether the remedy should be to force the operators by injunction to prevent infringement (by others) occurring on their services."

Grinding the internet to a halt

ISPAI manager Paul Durrant didn't mince his words when he said that the statutory instrument means establishing technical blocking measures against websites, parts of websites and internet services that aren't even in this jurisdiction.

“Though it is easy to say, it can only be achieved by complex technical interference with the fundamental systems that keep the internet up and running."

The ISPAI says that blocking sites and content will put ISPs into an impossible position. "The vast quantity of music tracks and films against which traffic would have to be checked would probably grind the Internet to a halt, affecting all the online services on which we have come to rely."

The ISPs say that they are against their networks being used to illicitly obtain or share copyrighted content like music. They maintain the best way to stop copyright theft is to go after the services that facilitate piracy such as the recent closure of Megaupload.

Killing innovation?

The ISPs group also warns that the statutory instrument will have enormous implications for the internet industry because it opens companies operating in this jurisdiction to test cases that may set a precedent for the entire EU.

They also point out that most ISPs in Ireland don't have the deep pockets to defend an injunction action taken Ireland.

“The only option is to cave in to the injunction and take the cost of implementing the technical remedy which would have to be passed on to customers. This can also backfire as customers suffering from inevitable collateral damage will sue you for your trouble and probably leave you due to increased monthly charges.
“Either way it's a recipe to kill off innovative online businesses in Ireland.

“What makes this so sad, is the government is trying to tell us that at the same time, that they see Ireland as a hub for cloud computing services, which by definition are services hosting other people's content and more than other online businesses exposed to the vagaries of this S.I.," the ISPAI stated.

“Thanks Bono and Ali for Harper's supercool Peter and the Wolf book!” the wife of soccer star David Beckham tweeted out to her 2.5m followers. She included a link to the Irish Hospice Foundation's website along with a link to the book cover.

Caroline Lynch of the Irish Hospice Foundation said that following Beckham's tweet, the high volume of traffic generated from people trying to obtain more information about the book on the charity's website caused it to crash, The Irish Independent reported.

The website is now back online.

A petition against the treaty has gained more than 300,000 signatures within 72 hours.

A new organisation called Access, which has the tagline 'Mobilising for Global Digital Freedom', says protests are being organised all over the world to urge the European Parliament to reject ACTA on 11 February. So far, protests are taking place in Austria, Belgium, Britain, the UK, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland.

The agreement is designed to fight the trade of counterfeit goods, including pharmaceuticals, but also encourages ISPs to take co-operative measures to fight copyright, which could result in repressive measures, such as a three-strikes rule.

ACTA lacks democratic credibility

Access policy analyst Raegan MacDonald says ACTA lacks democratic credibility.

"ACTA, which was secretly negotiated by a handful of countries, lacks democratic credibility and would endanger free speech and privacy online. 

“By encouraging ISPs to police their customers, the agreement would threaten the fundamental rights of citizens. The world is organising to stand up against ACTA by wielding the power of the online community - offline.

“We are supportive of all those who have been organising these protests and will peacefully demonstrate on this day of action. There are new events springing up every day across the world. We are expecting tens of thousands of people to take to the streets in opposition to this treaty. We are astounded by the response and passionate opposition," MacDonald said.

ACTA is being considered as being more dangerous than the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was railroaded in the US after widespread online protest.

The clandestine nature of how ACTA came about, with little or no public consultation, is considered an affront to civil liberties and last week the EU's principal rapporteur (investigator) MEP Kader Arif resigned in protest and slammed the whole process as a 'charade.'

Sky 1, Sky Living and Sky Arts 1 will also be rolled out to Sky Go, with the full entertainment suite including Sky Atlantic available on Android smartphones by the end of February.

The Sky Sports F1 channel will also be introduced across all Sky Go platforms in March.

Earlier this week, Sky revealed plans to create 800 new jobs in Dublin.

The Sky Go app continues to see huge traffic, with crucial Premier League matches between Spurs vs. Man City and Arsenal vs. Man Utd on Sunday, 22 January, driving an overall total of 3.1 million live content views in just a single day.

An estimated 1.5m people used Sky Go to watch their favourite TV programmes in December.

“We know how much Android users have been looking forward to the launch of Sky Go on Android smartphones, and we've done everything we can to make sure that our bespoke design is worth waiting for," said Holly Knill, head of Sky Go.

“This latest announcement is all part of the process of constant evolution that has seen Sky Go move from strength to strength over its first six months, and we look forward to bringing more developments to the service as the year progresses."

The judge in the High Court in Auckland decided to remand Dotcom in custody because he has multiple passports and bank accounts and there is little motivation for him to remain in New Zealand.

If Dotcom made it to his native Germany he would be safe from extradition attempts by the US.

Dotcom's company Megaupload is alleged to have netted US$175m through the distribution of copyright-infringing movies and music.

The agreement is designed to fight the trade of counterfeit goods, including pharmaceuticals, but also encourages ISPs to take cooperative measures to fight copyright, which could result in repressive measures, such as a three strikes rule.

The treaty is being considered as being more dangerous than the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was railroaded in the US after widespread online protest.

The clandestine nature of how ACTA came about, with little or no public consultation, is considered an affront to civil liberties and last week the EU's principal rapporteur (investigator) MEP Kader Arif resigned in protest and slammed the whole process as a 'charade.'

A new organisation called Access, which has the tagline 'Mobilising for Global Digital Freedom', says protests are being organised all over the world to urge the European Parliament to reject ACTA.

So far, protests are taking place in Austria, Belgium, Britain, the UK, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland.

There are no protests organised in Ireland yet, which is surprising, considering 35,000 people signed a petition last week as part of the Stop SOPA Ireland protest of the controversial new statutory instrument about to be signed into law.

Even founder Michael Birch appeared to be mourning its passing, before confirming that it would be back online.

Well we checked and Bebo is back.Bebo itself hasn't revealed what happened but clearly it had to have been a server issue of some kind.

Birch returned to Bebo late last year as a strategic advisor. He sold it to AOL in 2008 for US$850m but AOL failed to sustain Bebo’s momentum in the face of growing competition from Facebook and Twitter.

It was sold in 2010 to Criterion Partners, a venture capital firm, for an undislosed sum.

Users can separately download the voices of Mr Burns and Marge Simpson onto their iPhone, iPad or personal navigation devices from the TomTom website, where they can listen to them give directions on the best route as they drive.

The voices have been developed in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products, The Gracie Films Worldwide Brand Division and Locutio Voice Technologies.

“We want to keep the offerings on the TomTom app fresh and exciting by introducing new voices at different times,” said Jeffrey Godsick, president of Fox Consumer Products.

“We know that fans of the show are going to appreciate these new additions as it gives them yet another platform to enjoy one of the greatest shows of all time.”

Along with using voices of characters from The Simpsons, TomTom has also enlisted the voices of Star Wars villain Darth Vader and Sesame Street duo Bert and Ernie to help guide drivers on their nav devices.

The petition contributed to a decision by Minister Sean Sherlock, TD, to hold a debate on the legislation in the Dail today.

The statutory instrument is designed to fill a perceived loophole in existing copyright legislation whereby courts were unable to grant injunctions against ISPs in illegal download cases.

The statutory instrument affair has morphed into an overall debate about whether it is right or wrong to block internet access. The timing was also interesting in that the instrument was due to be signed into law a week after the highly publicised SOPA/PIPA protests in the US.

If any good can come of this, it is that it is abundantly clear that careful, balanced and reasonable debate is needed to ensure that rights holders can protect revenues, artists can get paid and that internet freedom and innovation continues unrestricted.

Questions and answers on the Irish SOPA:

Having read the proposed Statutory Instrument, are you satisfied that concerns of an 'Irish SOPA' have been allayed?

Michele Neylon: Not entirely. The ISPAI's letter on the subject captures quite eloquently most of the concerns I'd have.

My main fear is that if the courts are left to decide then we'll spend a lot of our time defending ourselves from spurious claims. I know from talking to the minister in person that he doesn't want that kind of outcome, but I also know that a lot of the Irish legal professionals have a very poor understanding of the internet and can easily fall prey to the "easy route", which is all too often to pursue the provider instead of the perpetrator. In other jurisdictions there are much stronger protections for the service provider. They seem to be quite lacking in the EU, though I understand that the EU Commission is planning an open consultation this year.

TJ McIntyre: No. The current draft is almost identical to the previous version. The only changes are stylistic. The concerns expressed last June by ourselves and ALTO remain.

Ireland is gaining a reputation for being the internet capital of Europe due to the presence of many of the international headquarters of global internet companies, such as Google and Facebook, and many other technology giants. Has the existence of the Statutory Instrument in your view damaged Ireland's reputation in the eyes of the international tech community?

Michele Neylon: It's a bit of a PR nightmare, but depending on how the Government and industry handle it moving forward there's no reason why it would have a negative impact in the long term. The problem with the digital industry is that for the most part it's reactionary as opposed to being pro-active. If we, as an industry, can constructively engage both with Government and the IP lobby, then I'd hope that we'd be able to turn Ireland into a country where the balance is right. However, if we continue not engaging with each other then it will never end well. IRMA, for example, refused to engage with us when we tried to agree processes with them in relation to takedowns.

TJ McIntyre: Yes. Ireland is aiming to establish itself as a location for intermediaries - in particular, cloud computing providers - making this all the more surprising. The refusal to clarify what intermediaries are affected - whether, for example, search engines might be subject to orders under the SI - is worrying for those establishing such operations here.

Even if the statutory instrument (SI) is debated in the Dail, do you think it's going to be signed regardless due to the overall Government majority or will the debate pave the way for more considered legislation?

Michele Neylon: I suspect that the SI will be signed, but I'd like to think that it would now be viewed as an interim measure. Once the SI is signed then the Government might be "off the hook" in relation to the case being brought against the state by EMI. If they could then move to introducing either new primary legislation or a significant overhaul of the current legislation, I think we could view this as a "win".

TJ McIntyre: There is scope for compromise and I think that the Minister for State is open to improvements to the SI. The Dail debate should precipitate this.

Regardless of the statutory instrument, Ireland has already signed along with other EU nations the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which puts in train powers to restrict ISPs in illegal downloads cases. What are your views on ACTA?

Michele Neylon: It makes me nervous. I'm yet to hear any convincing arguments in favour of it from anyone. However, from what I have been able to gather, ACTA is still up for discussion, ie, while several of the EU countries might have signed something last week it's not a given that it will be fully enacted in all the member states as it still has to be fully debated and ratified.

TJ McIntyre: ACTA presents its own problems. For the most part, Digital Rights Ireland has focused on Irish developments as there are already excellent groups such as EDRI and the EFF working on ACTA. However, Ireland's signature of ACTA means nothing in itself - to have effect it must be ratified and implemented into national law. We can and will still fight this, and the campaign against ACTA is just getting started at EU level.

Regardless of SOPA, PIPA or ACTA, the harsh reality is creative industries and owners of copyright are being harmed by illegal downloading. It is now 13 years since Napster burst onto the scene and no amicable solution has been found to protect rights holders and allow internet innovation to continue without the threat of draconian legislation. What in your view could be a solution? Are models like Spotify and Netflix the answer?

Michele Neylon: Like any debate, there are two sides. The IP lobby is backed by big business with deep pockets who have done a very good job of presenting a united front to governments around the world. We in industry, however, have done a very bad job overall in showing that we are supportive of copyright protection balanced with strong protections for "fair use" and user generated content, etc. Netflix and iTunes have shown that when someone is given easy and economical access to content, they don't mind paying for it. The problem, of course, is that the record labels and Hollywood still insist on trying to restrict the free flow of information in a hyper connected world. I pay for Netflix and Last.fm and spend a silly amount of money on iTunes. However, in order to get the more recent releases I'm obliged to circumvent the restrictions that the record companies and studios put in place. It's not a coincidence that proxies and VPNs are so popular.

TJ McIntyre: We know that blocking and three-strikes type laws don't work and in any event are easily evaded. We've also seen that consumers are happy to pay for services such as Netflix and to buy via iTunes. Digital downloads are taking off. There will inevitably be some leakage - but not enough to justify undermining the fabric of the internet. In the 1970s, the movie industry saw VCRs as the equivalent of the Boston Strangler. In the 1980s, the music industry tried to ban the double cassette recorder. In those cases they failed, but now they again seek to prohibit new technology - but this time in a way which presents much greater risk to civil liberties. By seeking to control the internet they seek to destroy the elements of the internet which guarantee freedom of expression and privacy - and worse, to do so in a way which won't achieve its intended result.

In another tweet, Bryan referred to animated comedy show Family Guy, saying he would be in LA, annoying people "and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up".

Bryan told the Sun newspaper he and his friend Emily Bunting (24), from Birmingham, England, were apprehended on arrival at Los Angeles International Airport and questioned for five hours about his tweets. They reportedly spent 12 hours in separate holding cells before the two were put on a plane back to the UK via Paris. They landed at Birmingham Airport last Wednesday.

In a statement published by The New York Times, the US Department of Homeland Security said it had acted on information provided by the LAX Port Authority Infoline, a suspicious activity tip line.

The department also said it tried to maintain a balance between "securing our borders while facilitating the high volume of legitimate trade and travel that crosses our borders every day".

Bryan and Bunting are still allowed to visit the US, but they first must apply for visas from the US embassy in London.