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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 14 Jun 2012
Civil liberty groups and ISPs have voiced concerns over the newly-published draft communications bill. "This is all about giving the police unsupervised access to data. It is shocking for a government that opposed Labour's plans on this to propose virtually the same thing," said Jim Killock, director of the Open Rights Group.
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 14 Jun 2012
The draft of the UK Communications Bill was released earlier today. The controversial bill extends the type of data that internet service providers must retain. The government said that updated legislation to take account of new technology was vital in the fight against criminals and terrorists.
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 14 Jun 2012
The Ethiopian government has passed new legislation that criminalises the use of Internet-based voice communications such as Skype and other forms of Internet phone calling. Anyone involved in "illegal" phone calling services will be prosecuted and could be jailed for up to 15 years or fined heavily if found guilty.
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 14 Jun 2012
Internet and phone companies will be forced to track email, Twitter, Facebook and other online data under new legislation.
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 13 Jun 2012
A study by researchers at Harvard University offers an intriguing look behind the veil of China’s extensive Internet censorship effort, and suggests that censorship behavior around specific topics could serve as a predictor of government action. The researchers conclude that “contrary to much research and commentary, the purpose of the censorship program is not to suppress criticism of the state or party.”
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 13 Jun 2012
Tim Bray, a leading Google Android developer and co-creator of Open Text and XML, has proposed to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that code 451 be used for, “when resource access is denied for legal reasons."
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 12 Jun 2012
A project funded by the US government and developed by a Washington think tank called "Commotion Wireless" is being readied for delivery early next year. The effort seeks to promote free expression online, taking advantage of the fact that more people are using mobile devices, and has been described as "a good combination of an emerging technology that [will meet] an emerging need."
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 12 Jun 2012
Federal authorities say they may shut down cloud-storage services without having to assist innocent customers in retrieving data lost in the process. The government is making that argument in the case of Megaupload, the file-sharing service that was shuttered in January following federal criminal copyright-infringement indictments targeting its operators.
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 12 Jun 2012
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said yesterday at the Personal Democracy Forum 2012 in New York that the country needs a way to guarantee citizens their Internet freedoms.
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By: Melody Zhang
Date: 12 Jun 2012
Ethiopia's only ISP, state-owned Ethio-Telecom, has just installed a system for blocking access to the Tor network, which lets users browse anonymously and access blocked websites. At the same time, the state-owned printing presses are demanding the right to censor the newspapers they print. Reporters Without Borders is very worried by these attempts to reinforce government control of news and information.
