Index On Censorship's new issue on "cyberspeech"
,----[ Quote ]
| I wrote about what I've learned about internet filtering technology from my
| experience co-editing BoingBoing, which is routinely blocked by various
| censorware applications for all sorts of silly, inaccurate reasons. Nearly
| every day (certainly every week) we receive a perplexed message from a
| would-be reader asking "why is BoingBoing blocked from
| [library/airport/hotel/whatever place name] in [location name somewhere in
| the world]?"
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/13/index-on-censorships.html
Also new:
Turkey bans YouTube for second time
,----[ Quote ]
| It was the second time Turkey banned the site because of clips deemed
| disrespectful to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It is illegal in Turkey to insult the
| revered figure, whose portrait still hangs in nearly all government offices
| nearly 70 years after his death.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_youtube
The more they do this, the more FOSS affinity there will be (government will
become more hostile towards it).
Related:
Australia to get net censorship
,----[ Quote ]
| The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will be able to
| force content providers to take down offensive material and issue notices for
| live content to be stopped and links to the content deleted.
`----
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22959799-5005961,00.html
Major Aussie ISP Telstra BigPond shafts open source OpenOffice
,----[ Quote ]
| Australia’s largest Internet service provider Telstra BigPond has removed the
| free open source office suite OpenOffice from its unmetered file download
| area following the launch of its own, free, hosted, office application,
| BigPond Office.
|
| [...]
|
| Our reader was outraged by Telstra’s move, which he sees as an attack on the
| open source software movement.
|
| “The principle of the matter upsets me,” he said. “The fact that BigPond has
| removed previously allowed open source software is un-ethical. They are
| discriminating against me, even though I pay the same as other customers.
| They are attacking the Free Software movement.”
`----
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure
%20/2007/12/18/major-aussie-isp-telstra-bigpond-shafts-open-source-openoffice/
Australia to extend web censorship
,----[ Quote ]
| Privacy advocates take a dim view of this proposal, naturally. Roger Clarke,
| chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation, said "This government's extremism
| has reached new heights today." He asked "How can a politician claim the
| right to hold office if they set out to undermine the critical democratic
| right of freedom of speech, and blatantly decline to evaluate the impact of
| measures put before the Parliament?"
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/09/26/australia-extend-web-censorship
Suit against blogger weaves legal web in Paris, Texas
,----[ Quote ]
| But there is little case law in Texas or nationally to give judges a standard
| for when to expose anonymous postings on the Internet.
`----
http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5149745.html
Web 'censorship' bill brings police state one stop closer
,----[ Quote ]
| Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has slammed moves to give the Federal
| Police powers to ban access to certain Internet content as "another step in
| Australia's descent into a police state".
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/14570/1055/
Howard row over Wikipedia edits
,----[ Quote ]
| Staff in the Australian prime minister's department have been accused of
| editing potentially damaging entries in online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6961575.stm
AT&T admits it censored other bands
,----[ Quote
| It looks like Pearl Jam isn't the only band that has had its politically
| charged comments bleeped from concerts streamed from AT&T's Blue Room Web
| site.
|
| [...]
|
| AT&T quickly apologized for the incident and blamed the company that handles
| the Webcasting for performances on Blue Room.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9759184-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
AT&T slams Google over open-access wireless proposal
,----[ Quote ]
| AT&T has asked Capitol Hill not to enable an open nationwide wireless
| spectrum, claiming that Google's lobbying of such a network is a bid by the
| search giant to obtain broadband airwaves at bargain-basement prices.
`----
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=B592E3C6-E5F3-4ECA-93C1-3A5A3392024A
Microsoft and MySpace join Govt's fight against online predators
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has joined the likes of MySpace and the child protection advocacy
| group Bravehearts to help launch an extension of the Federal Government’s
| NetAlert initiative, the Consultative Working Group.
`----
http://www.securecomputing.net.au/news/61208,microsoft-and-myspace-join-govts-fight-against-online-predators.aspx
Australia's porn-blocking plan unveiled
,----[ Quote ]
| While individual filters will be available beginning later this month,
| ISP-level blocking may take some time to implement. The Australian
| Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is currently planning a trial of
| ISP-level filtering in Tasmania that will inform the government's decision on
| a national launch.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6202226.html
Yahoo!, Microsoft ink web pact with Chinese government
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft and Yahoo! have signed a pact with the Chinese government
| that "encourages" the big name web players to record the identities of
| bloggers and censor content. So says Reporters Without Borders, an
| organization that fights for journalistic rights across the globe.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/yahoo_and_microsoft_ink_chinese_blogging_pact/
Chinese Internet dissident committed to mental hospital
,----[ Quote ]
| "It is not acceptable that Chinese authorities use such methods to silence
| citizens who have merely peacefully voiced their opinions", expressed the
| organisation in an announcement. Apparently authorities have not abandoned
| the practice of punishing those who have exposed the abuse of power and
| defied censorship by compulsorily committing them to mental institutions.
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/94864/from/rss09
The 2007 International Privacy Ranking
,----[ Quote ]
| Each year since 1997, the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and
| the UK-based Privacy International have undertaken what has now become the
| most comprehensive survey of global privacy ever published. The Privacy &
| Human Rights Report surveys developments in 70 countries, assessing the state
| of surveillance and privacy protection.
`----
http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd%5b347%5d=x-347-559597
No email privacy rights under Constitution, US gov claims
,----[ Quote ]
| This appears to be more than a mere argument in support of the
| constitutionality of a Congressional email privacy and access scheme. It
| represents what may be the fundamental governmental position on
| Constitutional email and electronic privacy - that there isn't any. What is
| important in this case is not the ultimate resolution of that narrow issue,
| but the position that the United States government is taking on the entire
| issue of electronic privacy. That position, if accepted, may mean that the
| government can read anybody's email at any time without a warrant.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/04/4th-amendment_email_privacy/
Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems
,----[ Quote ]
| The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to
| sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files,
| user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status
| messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could
| we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status
| messages?
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html
,----[ Quote ]
| "Is this a good idea or not? For the first time, the giant software maker
| is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for
| eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as
| part of the Bush..."
`----
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/nsa_helps_micro_1.html
Can FOSS save your privacy?
,----[ Quote ]
| Well, the Bush regime has already claimed "we don't need no steenkin
| warrant" to listen to your phone calls, see what websites you visit,
| scan your emails, and now, with the revelation of a new
| "signing statement", it?s even claiming the authority to read your
| physical mail. When the government becomes the biggest threat to
| your privacy, you better take advantage of the legion of privacy
| advocates creating FOSS to help you retain what little bit of privacy
| you can still have.
|
| [...]
|
| However, just because your privacy is being threatened doesn't mean
| you have to accept it. There is a growing array of FOSS being
| developed to provide us with the ability to control our privacy.
| It's about time we all start using it.
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/can_foss_save_your_privacy
Polippix: The Political Linux Distribution of Denmark
,----[ Quote ]
| From what I have been able to determine, PROSA, the Association of
| Computer Professionals, is the group responsible for its development
| and distribution. Their feelings on how privacy is being affected in
| the country of Denmark are rather obvious, and it looks as if they
| are not going to take these concerns lying down.
`----
http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=7822
Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the
| encryption built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.
`----
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2150555/microsoft-teaching-police-hack
UK holds Microsoft security talks
,----[ Quote ]
| "UK officials are talking to Microsoft over fears the new version of
| Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects' computer files."
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4713018.stm
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