Doubts over Internet's future

The British inventor of the Internet is worried about the way it could be used to spread "misinformation and undemocratic forces", reports the BBC.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee fears that, if the way the Internet is used is left to develop unchecked, "bad things" could happen. As a result, he wants to set up a research project to study the social implications of the Web's development.

The changes experienced to date because of the Internet are only the start of a more radical transformation of society, he says. Berners-Lee wants to attract researchers from a range of disciplines to study the Internet as a social as well as technological phenomenon.

Firefighters, bomb squad and hazardous materials crews were called to PayPal's San Jose headquarters after it was bombed at Halloween, reports The Register.

The safety squadrons were sent in to investigate reports of explosions, while PayPal's security company told investigators that some HQ windows were shattered and that several explosions had been reported.

Investigators discovered a bomb-like device. "It definitely was some type of explosive device that was placed outside of a window," said San Jose Fire Department captain Jose Guerrero.

Kenya has seen the licensing of the second landline operator by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the industry regulator, reports Tectonic.

Dubai-based VTEL Holdings won the second national operator licence, which allows the consortium to provide national mobile and fixed telephony, Internet backbone, international voice gateway, long-distance voice data services and commercial very small aperture terminal.

VTEL - which has Palestine's PalTel as its technical partner - submitted a $169.7 million financial bid, beating two other bidders: India's state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and Reliance Consortium.