LONDON (AP) — A hacker claims to have compromised the personal information of more than 350,000 users after breaking into a disused website operated by pornography provider Brazzers.

Kate Miller, director of communications for site owner Manwin Holding SARL, said Saturday it was “currently investigating the issue” but that no credit card information has been leaked.

Miller said it appeared that the hacker had gained access to an inactive forum to help enter other, linked websites. She said people who were potentially affected were being notified of the security breach by the company.

In an email, she said that security was “a priority at all times” and that the company would do all it could to safeguard its users’ information. The email went on to blame the hacker for “illegal and prohibited cyber criminal activities.”

The breach is a potential embarrassment for Luxembourg-based Manwin, which runs some of the world’s best-known pornography websites.

See the full skinny HERE.

MAIDENHEAD, England — Visiting the local park not long ago, Shelley Davies-Carr and her four sons were suddenly surrounded by a gaggle of overexcited teenagers wielding cellphones and taking photographs. “Oh, my God!” the teenagers shrieked, as only teenagers can. “ ‘Charlie Bit My Finger!’ ”

Indeed, it is hard to find anyone in the video-watching world who has not heard of “Charlie Bit My Finger,” a YouTube video featuring tiny Charlie Davies-Carr chomping on his older brother, Harry. Since it was posted in 2007, the 56-second clip of English-accented toddler indignation and infant bliss has been viewed a mind-boggling 417.6 million times, making it the most successful noncommercial video in YouTube history.

See the full skinny HERE.

Lady Gaga is already the reigning queen of Twitter, with her nearly 19 million followers topping those of anyone else on the site.

Now, she’s launching a site of her own.

Little Monsters, now in invite-only beta testing, is the pop princess’s effort at creating a network built around her fan base — which she’s dubbed the aforementioned “monsters.”

An early look at the site suggests it will be designed a lot like Pintrest, the fast-emerging mobile app that lets users “pin” locations and items that they like. Gaga’s site also will emphasize sharing and creating photos and videos, as well as letting other users promote content from others that they like (something similar to sites like Reddit and Digg).

See the full skinny HERE.

On 7 February 2012, the ICANN Board reaffirmed ICANN’s commitment to opening a second round of applications in the New gTLD Program as expeditiously as possible.

ICANN will publish a document describing the work plan required prior to initiating a second application window for the New gTLD Program.

It is not possible yet to state a specific date for the second round because of the work ICANN has committed to related to the first round. First, the applications from the first round must be processed, and the amount of applications to be received will not be known until the first-round application window ends. In addition, ICANN previously committed to addressing the recommendations of the Governmental Advisory Committee requirements for assessment of trademark protections and root zone operation as a result of the first round.

In furtherance of the resolution, after the publication of the description of the work plan, ICANN will continue working with the community to refine that work plan.

The full text of the resolution is available on ICANN’s website HERE.

Get the full skinny HERE.

The National Arbitration Forum has ordered the secret takedown of 12 .XXX domains since the adults-only gTLD launched in December.

NAF yesterday published statistics about the .xxx Rapid Evaluation Service (RES), which ICM Registry created and NAF exclusively administers.

Fifteen RES complaints have been filed since December 6, 12 of which have been resolved so far. All of the cases were won by the complainant — a trademark holder in 11 of the cases.

See the full skinny HERE.

The Manifold Clock doesn’t just tell time with flat hands, it expresses it with ever-changing shapes created by a flexible sheet of Tyvek attached between the hands. Every minute looks slightly different.

There’s some delightful mathematical geekiness behind all of this. The design uses the concept of Riemann surfaces.

See the full story HERE.

Police in the German state of Lower-Saxony will soon use their networks of Facebook “friends” to find missing persons and hunt out suspected criminals, according to the state’s interior minister.

The decision to use social media in manhunts follows the completion of a pilot scheme in the northern city of Hanover last year which drew sharp criticism from data protection groups.

The scheme helped police clear up six criminal investigations and two missing persons cases after identikits of suspects and stills from Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage were circulated on the social networking site Facebook.

For the full story go HERE.

1.  Go HERE for FAQ on “Legal Rights Objections under ICANN’s New gTLD Program — Filing a Legal Rights Objection at WIPO: What You Need To Know”

2. Go HERE for a WIPO Center-produced summary of “Trademark Rights Protection Mechanisms for New gTLDs”.

3. Go HERE for an updated page (a policy snapshot) on “WIPO Observations on New gTLD Dispute Resolution Mechanisms”.

Ken joined moderator Lisa Box (Oversee.net), Paul Nicks (Go Daddy) and Liesbeth Mac-de Boer (Sedo) in providing advice on setting domain prices, as well as buying and selling strategies.

The group was followed by keynote speaker Biz Stone, Twitter Co-Founder.

See more at Domain Name Journal

SAN FRANCISCO — Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies like Amazon.com and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply.

See full story HERE.