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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 24 Jun 2010
Since May 20, Pakistan has experienced a wave of strict internet content control with thousands of web pages blocked following a Facebook campaign inviting users to "Draw Muhammad". The Facebook campaign pushed Pakistani authorities to actively engage in blocking and filtering internet content, leaving Pakistani citizens powerless against the online blanket ban. Further plans by the government to continue to filter any content it considers "objectionable" have been revealed in a confidential document obtained by APC member Bytes for All.
"These new guidelines will give Pakistan's government the power to cripple Pakistani citizens' access to information and freedom of expression over the internet," say internet rights activists.
New policy guidelines give Pakistani authorities "carte blanche" over internet content.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 23 Jun 2010
To curb online gaming addiction, China’s Ministry of Culture (MOC) has imposed stringent rules, effective August 1, 2010, to be applicable to all China-based and foreign multiplayer role-playing games along with social networking games.
In view of growing online game players in China which as of April 2010, stood at 105 million, China has stipulated compulsory registration of real names with valid identification proofs for those taking part in the online gaming competitions.
The regulation makes it mandatory for the online gaming companies to put in place a self-censorship mechanism to confirm the legality of the content and their operations. The ministry also laid down procedures for the online game regulators in screening the games.
The regulation has restrained minors from getting addicted to playing online games, besides curbing offers of inappropriate games to them by gaming companies. Besides, the regulation restricts minors from dealing with virtual currency.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 22 Jun 2010
More than 19,000 Australians have opposed mandatory internet filtering in a petition tabled in the Senate this week.
Launched in mid-January by Electronics Frontier Australia (EFA), the petition asserts that individuals - not the Government - should be allowed to determine how and what online content is blocked.
Printed and online signatures were collected nationwide, from Perth CBD to Sydney's Northern Beaches and Darwin suburb, Nakara.
Declaring that "mandatory internet filtering is censorship", the petition called for the Senate to reject the Labor Government's $23.8m ISP-level internet filtering proposal.
Petitioners asked that the Senate reject any plan to filter the internet, and redirect funding to law enforcement agencies or education programs instead.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 22 Jun 2010
Apple Inc. is now collecting the "precise," "real-time geographic location" of its users' iPhones, iPads and computers.
In an updated version of its privacy policy, the company added a paragraph noting that once users agree, Apple and unspecified "partners and licensees" may collect and store user location data.
When users attempt to download apps or media from the iTunes store, they are prompted to agree to the new terms and conditions. Until they agree, they cannot download anything through the store.
The company says the data is anonymous and does not personally identify users. Analysts have shown, however, that large, specific data sets can be used to identify people based on behavior patterns.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 22 Jun 2010
Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today urged the Turkish authorities to restore access to YouTube and other services offered by Google, and bring the much-criticized Law No. 5651 – known as the Internet Law – in line with international standards on free expression.
‘I ask the Turkish authorities to revoke the blocking provisions that prevent citizens from being part of today’s global information society. I also ask them to carry out a very much needed reform of Law No. 5651,’ said Mijatovic.
In a letter sent to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Mijatovic expressed concern about new blocking provisions imposed earlier this month.
‘I am alarmed by the decision of the Turkish Telecommunications Communication Presidency to block access to dozens of Internet Protocol addresses related to YouTube and Google services. As a result, since early June several services related to Google – including popular services like Analytics or Translate – have been either unattainable, or access to them has become very slow,’ she wrote.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 21 Jun 2010
The future of the great Australian firewall is beginning to look decidedly shaky, as electoral calculations and widespread condemnation from politicians and industry alike begin to take their toll.
That's the analysis from Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam, who believes the proposed internet filter is now on the list of policies considered to be "politically toxic".
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has repeatedly claimed that legislation to enable his mandatory filtering policy for all Australian adults would be put to parliament later this year. This is despite leaks from his own department suggesting that progress on drafting the bill was far less advanced than Senator Conroy had previously hinted.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 21 Jun 2010
Sen. Joseph Lieberman rejected as “misinformation” concerns raised by critics that he would want the U.S. to be able to shut down the Internet, but stressed that in “times of war” the U.S. needed more power over U.S. cyberspace.
Lieberman (I., Conn.) is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate last week that would give the president authority to implement “short-term emergency measures” to protect U.S. Internet networks from attack.
Critics, including bloggers, some privacy advocates and some technology executives, have lashed out at the bill, saying it would essentially give the president a “kill switch” to shut down the Internet.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 21 Jun 2010
The federal government has refused to make clear whether it will force internet service providers (ISPs) to record the websites accessed by their customers.
Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam asked Labor frontbench senator Penny Wong in question time on Monday whether ISPs would be required to record the web browsing histories of every internet user in the country.
Senator Wong said the attorney-general's department had been discussing telecommunications data access for law enforcement and national security purposes with industry groups.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 18 Jun 2010
Internet service providers will face legal action and have their licences withdrawn if they refuse to cooperate with the government to block websites deemed to be defamatory to the monarchy, the ICT minister warns.
Juti Krairiksh said yesterday the scheme is part of a new action plan to be implemented over three months.
The crackdown on defamatory websites was agreed upon by the Information and Communication Technology Ministry, the Justice Ministry and the Culture Ministry after a meeting yesterday which was arranged in a concerted effort to implement stricter measures against those who defame the monarchy.
The three ministers later signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint operation that will take place in three months.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 18 Jun 2010
The mobile web in China has loopholes where content could go under the radar of government censors, analysts say.
"It could be anything else the government normally frowns upon or does not consider healthy, which could be political content to pornographic content," said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting, a market research and strategy consultant firm.
Mobile phones in China have not escaped government control. Last December, nine Chinese ministries initiated a campaign, which ended in March, to crackdown on pornography transmitted via mobile networks.
Mobile carriers also began monitoring text messages for pornographic and other "illegal" content, blocking phone services to subscribers found to have sent such messages, state media reported in January.
However there are signs that the mobile Web has holes, which some say could grow bigger as more people buy smart phones and third-generation networks become stronger. Out of China's 346 million netizens, as the country's Web users are known, 233 million use mobiles to access the Internet, according to government statistics.
