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With voter interest lagging in Armenia this election season, parties are trying to inject an element of show business into politics.

The names of celebrities, from both the performing arts and media, dot the slates of pro-government and opposition parties alike. Armenias parliamentary vote will be held May 6.

Over a dozen broadcast and print journalists are in the running for a seat in Armenias 131-member parliament, primarily for parties currently in power. So far, one popular singer has joined them, and some prominent TV actresses say that the governing Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has approached them about their interest in appearing on the legislative stage.

Among the candidates for the RPA are Karen Ghazarian, the president of Sharm Holding, an advertising-media-production company. Also on the slate are public televisions First News anchor Samvel Farmanian, the privately owned Armenia TVs commentator Gagik Mkrtchian, Armenia TV producer Vahe Ghazarian, and Aravot newspaper reporter Margarit Esaian.

The Armenian National Congress, the countrys largest opposition group, features Haikakan Zhamanak newspaper editor-in-chief Nikol Pashinian, who was imprisoned following the post-2008 presidential election clashes with police, and newspaper reporter Gayane Arustamian.

168 Hours editor-in-chief Satik Seyranian and Chorrord Inqnishkhutin reporter Gohar Vezirian are running as non-partisan candidates.

In a February survey by the polling firm Sociometer, more respondents said they were not following the elections, or had no interest at all in politics (40 percent of 1,650 respondents), than expressed support for the leading party in the governing coalition, the Republican Party (16 percent).

Another member of the governing coalition, Prosperous Armenia, headed by tycoon Gagik Tsarukian, garnered 14.7-percent support, with ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosians opposition Armenian National Congress at a distant 3.5 percent. The support decreased still further for government coalition member Orinats Yerkir, and the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun, Heritage Party and Free Democrats.

Sociometer Director Aharon Adibekian commented that bringing in media and show-business figures is definitely a PR move by which the parties are trying to boost the attractiveness of the elections [for voters].

Some Armenian analysts agree, adding that the introduction of celebrity candidates may also be an attempt to move away from the clubby atmosphere of parliament in which politicians, when present, nap or play games on their computers.

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Armenia: Politics Embraces Entertainers and Media Types

22-03-2012 18:46 NetChoice a coalition that includes big internet companies from Facebook to eBay released a list of the ten worst proposed internet regulations across the country. The list contains laws pertaining to everything from online dating to advertizing revenues. Check out some of our highlights. Twitter: twitter.com http://www.facebook.com

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Worst Proposed Internet laws of 2012 - Video

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Internet service providers told communications regulators on Thursday that they will do more to alert customers whose computers have been taken over by criminal hackers' robot networks, or botnets, and help them get rid of the malicious software.

Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), CenturyLink (CTL.N) and some small Internet service providers, or ISPs, already contact customers whose computers have software surreptitiously installed so they are roped into botnets, a collection of affected computers.

A single hacker can remotely control thousands of machines, using them to send spam aimed at stealing personal or financial data.

Policymakers are eager to get industry more involved in policing botnets and preventing security problems from slowing the growth of the Internet market, worth about $8 trillion a year.

But most ISPs do not warn customers whose computers are in botnets because the effort is expensive and some customers may regard the monitoring as a violation of their privacy.

Following a firm push from the Federal Communications Commission, eight large ISPs in an industry working group told the FCC on Thursday that they would not only work to detect botnets on their networks, but would also help affected customers find resources to clean up their computers.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the working group had identified "smart, practical, voluntary solutions that are consistent with these principles, will materially improve our cybersecurity."

The companies announced two other steps on Thursday.

They also said they would implement a more secure version of the website naming system, called DNSSEC, to prevent thieves from posing as a bank, for example, by using a similar domain name to steal money from its customers.

They also pledged to take steps to ensure that Web traffic goes through the shortest and most reliable routes. The goal would be to prevent a repeat of a 2010 incident in which some 15 percent of Internet traffic was diverted through Chinese servers for about 18 minutes.

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FCC, Internet providers pledge anti-botnet effort

DALLAS, March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Business owners in Dallas may be able to take advantage of free SEO Consulting to help improve their Internet presence. Teksapiens LLC, a leading Dallas SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and web design firm, announced today that it was offering free SEO consulting to businesses who signed up at DallasBestSEO.com. This provides Dallas businesses a direct push to outperform the rest of the businesses in the nation when it comes to profitability ratios. Better online visibility means more customers, therefore more revenue. SEO consulting is not new. However, the way Teksapiens LLC does it certainly is. Dallas SEO companies are among the best in the world and Teksapiens LLC is the leader among them.

Start-ups are not the only group of companies who can benefit from SEO services. The free consulting that DallasBestSEO.com offers can also benefit businesses that have been established for years, but now are facing threats to their profitability from a constant flow of competitors. Perhaps these companies have a website already, but it was built using older technology and SEO was never implemented. The results are a website in cyberspace, but not really creating any profits for the company. A free SEO consultation can show these companies how to turn that "dead" website into a useful tool for boosting revenue.

Dallas businesses will find SEO consulting from Teksapiens LLC invaluable. It could even prevent them from making very costly SEO mistakes. Using the wrong SEO techniques could actually hurt business and cause lasting harm to any future Internet marketing efforts. Having professional SEO performed on their behalf is vital for the effectiveness and permanence of the search engine rankings. Otherwise, if SEO is not properly done, the website could be banned by the Search Engines entirely.

Teksapiens LLC has been a leading Dallas SEO company for the past 6 years. Many businesses have benefited from their Internet marketing services. In addition to SEO consulting, Teksapiens LLC offers web design services with strong SEO foundation for businesses in Dallas Texas. For more information visit DallasBestSEO.com.

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Teksapiens, A Leading SEO Company, Offers Free SEO Consulting Services to Dallas Businesses

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Fenwick & West LLP, one of the nation's preeminent law firms providing comprehensive legal services to high technology and life science clients, today released its 2011 Seed Financing Survey.

The survey covers 56 internet/digital media and software companies that raised seed financing primarily in the Silicon Valley or Seattle markets in 2011. For purposes of the survey, a "seed financing" is the first round of financing of a company in which it raised between $250,000 and $2.5 million and is led by a professional investor.

"This is our second annual Seed Financing Survey. We began publishing the survey last year in response to the increased amount and importance of seed investment in the entrepreneurial community. This second survey finds that valuations of seed equity financings in the internet/digital media and software industries have continued to increase, from an average of $3.2 million in 2010 to $3.8 million in 2011, and discusses the continued growth and diversity of funding sources for seed investments," said Barry Kramer, co-author of the survey and a partner in the Fenwick & West Startup Group.

Some of the results of the survey are as follows:

"These results show a strong, generally entrepreneur-friendly environment for seed stage investments in the internet/digital media and software industries," said Steve Levine, also a co-author of the survey and a partner in the Fenwick & West Startup Group. "The relatively small amount of money required to bring these companies to market makes this area an appealing investment area."

Complete results of the survey are available at http://www.fenwick.com/seedsurvey.

About Fenwick & WestEstablished in 1972, Fenwick & West LLP is one of the nation's preeminent law firms with extensive expertise in venture capital, public offerings and other corporate finance, joint ventures, M&A and strategic relationships, intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, taxation, antitrust and employment and labor law.

Contacts:

Barry J. Kramer Fenwick & West LLP Phone: 650.335.7278 Email: bkramer@fenwick.com

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Fenwick & West Releases 2011 Internet/Digital Media and Software Industries Seed Financing Survey