According to reports in the New York Times, four Google executives are on trial in Milan for charges of defamation and privacy violation regarding a video posted on Google’s Italian website.
In early December 2008, an Indian court was convened to ban Google Earth amid suggestions that the online satellite imaging was used to aid terrorists in planning the November terror attacks in Mumbai. According to late January reports in the Times of London, Google has dismissed concerns that terrorists are using its mapping technology to aid them in plotting and carrying out attacks.
According to one user of Qatar Living, popular site "Tagged" has been blocked by QTEL, which operates in 17 countries and is currently Qatar's only Internet service provider (Vodafone has also been given a license and will begin service soon, according to ictQatar, the country's regulatory body).
It is the right of private companies to block access to certain sites for their employees or customers, certainly. But in the United States, some customers of Panera Bread, a popular nationwide chain restaurant that offers free wifi, are frustrated. It seems that Panera practices what is popularly known as overblocking: the unintentional filtering of harmless web sites.
A new government crackdown by Bahrain’s Ministry of Information has led to the blocking of over 60 websites ranging from Google Translate to social, political, religious, and human rights sites, according to the Bahrain Human Rights Society and Global Voices Online, a network dedicated to defending free speech worldwide.
According to German news publication Der Spiegel, German officials are calling for ISP censorship of offensive cites in order to quell the spread of child pornography, CNET and The Inquisitr report.
Syrian authorities have blocked access to the personal blog of the 26-year-old Syrian Human rights activist and blogger Mohammad Al-Abdallah who is blogging at Raye7wmishRaj3 (I’m Leaving and I’m Not Coming Back). Syrian Netizens can access the blocked blog via HTTPS or simply by visiting the mirror blog at http://rwmr.wordpress.com/.
According to reports in the Register, three of China’s most popular search engines, including Google China and Baidu, have apologized for being slow to remove links to pornographic websites.
Seven different government agencies, including the Ministry of Public Security and the State Council Information Office declared war on Internet smut today. 19 Internet companies, including Google, Baidu, Sina, and others, were cited for "violating public morality and harming the physical and mental health of youth and young people."
This guest post by Rebecca MacKinnon analyzes China's latest crackdown on Internet freedoms.
The Pakistan Communication Authority has issued directives to ISPs for the blocking of six web sites. Activist groups are speaking out against the filtering.
