Last week, the Standard highlighted controversy over ICANN and a Chinese registrar dubbed one of the "worst" in the world for allegedly failing to verify the WHOIS contact information of hundreds of thousands of spam websites. Now, StopBadWare.org has released a new report that claims the majority of "badware" websites are located on Chinese and U.S. networks. According to the organization, six of the ten network blocks that contain the largest number of badware sites are in China, with three others located in the U.S. (see chart).

The presence of Google on the top 10 list may come as a surprise, until you consider that Google's Blogger service is one of the most spam- and scam-infested hosts on the 'Net. Also on the list: ThePlanet.com, which has taken heat in recent weeks for data center problems.

(Link: The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University)

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

• Ian Lamont: Praise and anger over The Planet data center fire
• Ian Lamont: Will ICANN take action against "worst" Chinese registrar?
• Ian Lamont: The real problem with Google's Blogger service: Neglect
• Prediction: Google invests $1 billion in Facebook
• Special Feature: Where are they now? The Industry Standard tracks down 10 dot-coms from the Web bubble of the late 1990s