You may worry about Google's use of your private data, but Google would remind you it's how the government (here or abroad) uses that data that's important. Hence the search giant is launching new tools today to improve transparency on these matters.READ»
In 2009, Iran was in turmoil, and the Islamic Republic was blocking and monitoring sites used by opposition groups—until a team led by American IT specialist Austin Heap built a program, Haystack, and touted it as a secure and ...READ»
Anti-free-speech/user-privacy articles are all over the news this week. And though the fuss over U.S. net neutrality may have been wrong, censorship is alive and well in America--it just takes a slightly different form.READ»
Chalk this one up under "worrying governmental attitudes to tech": The authorities in the UAE are making very public noises about RIM's BlackBerry smartphones. Apparently they're a threat to national security. Late yesterday the ...READ»
Last week, we were amused by a pally face-to-face webcam chat between the British Prime Minister and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. But this week the two have probably fallen out over a Facebook Fan group for a ...READ»
China's Green Dam Net censorship wall looks like it may be about to fracture, with interesting timing: A rare leak has revealed the government officially plans to use the Net itself for propagandizing at home and overseas. A report on ...READ»
Google's CEO Eric Schmidt thinks that soon his company will resolve its differences with the Chinese government over their ongoing operations in the censor-happy nation. Is he right? Or merely hopelessly optimistic?Schmidt was ...READ»
The Google-China saga took a twist yesterday as Google adjusted how its site works under the Chinese censor rules. And today Congress is getting interested in U.S. roles in Chinese censorship. So is China a no-go or a go-to business ...READ»
Pakistan's just made a move that's not going to qualify it for any "friendly world citizen" awards: Its government's said it'll be filtering scores more Web sites for anti-Islamic content. Facebook, YouTube, and Wikipedia were just ...READ»
Turkey has long blocked Google's YouTube service, but now it's announced an indefinite ban on Google search and other services, citing "legal reasons." Is it a sign that Turkish-U.S. relations have got sourer, or a mistake? The ...READ»
Foursquare may be many things--from a promotional advert system to a highly addictive and competitive game--but did you think it could be a tool for political dissent? The Chinese authorities think so, and appear to have banned it. ...READ»
Today the Dalai Lama will get to broadcast his thoughts to many thousands of Chinese, 140 characters at a time. He's considered an undesirable to the authorities there, remember, and his team has had to resort to some holy hacking to ...READ»
The U.S. Supreme Court is taking on the constitutionality of a proposed California law to ban the sale
of video games to minors. The same Supreme Court where Chief Justice John Roberts asked the difference between email and a ...READ»
Perhaps stung by yesterday's open letter from 10 countries criticizing its privacy policy, Google has announced it is to release information on government requests to hand over data and censor information. David Drummond, the firm's ...READ»
If you thought the whole Google-versus-China affair was over, then this news will be hugely puzzling: Google is reporting that its mobile search facilities in mainland China are now available...and they're uncensored. This only ...READ»
This really does look like the final blow in the war between Google's Search Engine and the censorship-loving Chinese authorities: The sword has fallen, severing all access to Google Search from inside China. Even the mobile site is ...READ»
While the World is pondering the complex final moves in the cultural conflict between Google and China's censors, the story has has taken a completely bizarre twist: For some reason, China's censorship firewall went briefly ...READ»
The slow drip of the Google backlash has started, it seems. China Unicom, the country's second largest cellphone operator behind China Mobile, is to remove the search engine from its Android smartphones. The cell-phone provider, which ...READ»
GoDaddy, the world's largest registrar of website domain names, announced that they'll stop registering names in China. Google, GoDaddy--what's next?READ»
After months of will-they-or-won’t-they speculation over Google’s threats to end its censorship in China, the search giant has finally pulled the plug. Now, visitors to Google.cn are...READ»
Hackers turned Google's corporate site into a dog's dinner this morning, redirecting visitors to the executive page to its Chinese site. Google has since resolved the issue, but it reinforces the general belief that the gloves are ...READ»
