Two new studies are offering a sneak peak into the future of the Internet: 24/7 digital surveillance of citizens is about to become affordable for repressive regimes worldwide. Do NOT text a friend about this. READ»
Yahoo blocked emails related to the ongoing protests on Wall Street. Meanwhile, attendees have been dealing with another problem: American protest rallies rely on mass media, not social media.READ»
Last week, BART blocked mobile phone services for several hours to disperse a demonstration they claimed was going to turn violent. Was it legal? The FCC is now asking. And free speech experts say it's uncharted territory that must be explored as mobile and digital communications technologies emerge.READ»
A new OpenNet Initiative study has found that Internet censorship is prevalent in Muslim-majority countries... and that the authorities are using religious sensibilities as an excuse for political repression online.READ»
A new app for Android phones blurs faces, strips metadata, integrates easily into Facebook, and is open source. It's great news for activists and protesters--and also for keg-standing partiers who want to make their photo albums safe for work.READ»
Tuesday is named from the Old English for "day of Mars," and in the Spanish and Greek worlds it's considered an unlucky day. Interesting, no? For still more interesting stuff, here's today's early news:READ»
The U.S. government's newest tool for global information sharing could have big implications in Libya, Egypt, Syria, and beyond. So how exactly does this technology work?READ»
China may be wising up to international condemnation of its lax copyright protection standards, as the Ministry of Culture has revealed it will "punish" local search giant Baidu for facilitating illegal music downloads.READ»
Syrian democracy activists on Twitter have found themselves threatened and spammed by mystery accounts. Now one prominent opposition figure claims the Syrian government may be involved.READ»
The Ugandan government, facing social unrest over high food and fuel prices, will order its ISPs to block Twitter and Facebook. It's the latest move in controlling social media to control a popular social movement. But it's a curiously manual type of disconnection.READ»
Reports are suggesting Facebook has struck a deal with local search giant Baidu to launch a new social network in China. It won't be connected to Facebook.com, thanks to China's strict national-level censorship.READ»
A new study details how American and Canadian companies provided Internet filtering and monitoring software to the Iranian government, Mubarak's Egypt and other repressive states. It's still going on.READ»
Although access to social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube is still blocked in Tripoli, the rest of Libya has seen a massive upswing in Internet use--and ingenious methods are being used to circumvent censorship.READ»
China's "Great Firewall" has claimed its newest casualty--wildly popular career networking site LinkedIn. Its end game? To limit easy access to Twitter. READ»
“Just like our search algorithms, our auto-complete removals are imperfect and change regularly,” a Google spokesperson says. “It’s an imperfect solution.”READ»
_0.gif)
