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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 03 Nov 2009
BEIJING — Chinese authorities have banned 1,414 works of online literature, saying all of it was deemed obscene.
Official news agency Xinhua said that the banned works either "included pornographic content," "used provocative or privacy-violating titles to draw attention" or "blatantly talked about one-night stands, wife swapping, sex abuses and violence that disregarded common decency.”
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 02 Nov 2009
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Two sophomore girls have sued their school district after they were punished for posting sexually suggestive photos on MySpace during their summer vacation.
The American Civil Liberties Union, in a federal lawsuit filed last week on behalf of the girls, argues that Churubusco High School violated the girls' free speech rights when it banned them from extracurricular activities for a joke that didn't involve the school. They say the district humiliated the girls by requiring them to apologize to an all-male coaches' board and undergo counseling.
Some child advocates argue that schools should play a role in monitoring students' behavior, especially when dealing with minors. And the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that students can be disciplined for activities that happen outside of school, so long as the school can prove the activities were disruptive or posed a danger and that it was foreseeable the activities would find their way to campus.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 02 Nov 2009
HAVANA (Reuters) - A popular website of classified ads that has given Cubans a taste of the free market has been blocked on the communist-run island, Internet users said.
Cubans trying to access Revolico.com, which says it has more than 1.5 million page views a month, are being diverted to the search engine Google.com.
"If I type the address and press 'enter,' I get redirected. If I Google it and click, I get redirected. What is going on?," asked Sandra a 30-year-old government employee who, like several others interviewed, did not give their full names.
Cuban computer experts say an Internet content filter is preventing access to the Craigslist-like site, which has emerged as a booming virtual free market in the socialist nation with a tightly controlled economy where consumer goods tend to be scarce and expensive.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 30 Oct 2009
BERLIN — China has blocked a website inviting users of microblogging site Twitter to comment on the fall of the Berlin Wall amid a deluge of protests at Beijing's Internet censorship, organisers said Thursday.
The site was meant to be a place for people to share memories of the night the Berlin Wall was yanked down 20 years ago, but quickly morphed into a forum for protest against what users described as "The Great Firewall of China."
Of the roughly 3,300 comments left on the virtual wall, around 1,500 have been in Chinese, said Carsten Hein, coordinator of the "berlintwitterwall.com" project.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 30 Oct 2009
San Francisco - Websites like YouTube have ushered in a new era of creativity and free speech on the Internet, but not everyone is celebrating. Some of the web's most interesting content has been yanked from popular websites with bogus copyright claims or other spurious legal threats. So today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is launching its "Takedown Hall of Shame" to call attention to particularly bogus takedowns — and showcase the amazing online videos and other creative works that someone doesn't want you to see.
"Free speech in the 21st century often depends on incorporating video clips and other content from various sources," explained EFF Senior Staff Attorney and Kahle Promise Fellow Corynne McSherry. "It's what The Daily Show with Jon Stewart does every night. This is 'fair use' of copyrighted or trademarked material and protected under U.S. law. But that hasn't stopped thin-skinned corporations and others from abusing the legal system to get these new works removed from the Internet. We wanted to document this censorship for all to see."
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Oct 2009
The sheriff of Cook County, Ill., grabbed headlines earlier this year when he sued Craigslist, the online classified advertising forum, for allowing posts that he said promoted prostitution. A federal judge in Chicago wisely threw out the suit last week. As Congress has recognized, if an Internet proprietor had to police every posting that a third party put up, the cost would be enormous — and it would likely stifle communications.
Craigslist warns users that offers or solicitations of prostitution are prohibited. Sheriff Thomas Dart argued that its “erotic services” section still included numerous listings for paid sexual services, including some using code words. The company made voluntary changes after the suit was filed, including conducting a manual review of the listings. Late last year, before the suit was filed, it started charging for those ads in an effort to appease critics.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Oct 2009
The Electronic Frontier Foundation today unveiled its latest effort to haul Internet censorship abusers into the spotlight and in front of the crowds that they presumably dread. The Takedown Hall of Shame “focuses on the most egregious examples of takedown abuse, including an example of a YouTube video National Public Radio tried to remove just this week that criticizes same-sex marriage,” according to the EFF’s announcement of the site. Amusingly, the EFF is choosing to call individuals and organizations who make it to the Hall of Shame “honorees.” Among other honorees, NBC gets a nod for requesting removal of an Obama campaign video and CBS is recognized for targeting a McCain video in the important months before the 2008 election.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 27 Oct 2009
In this world of cyber-technology, we can do almost everything we want through current technologies. Thanks to the Internet, now we can acquire information on many things in just a split second. People can become famous in hours or collapse in seconds. The Internet also acts as a network which is able to connect people all over the world for information exchange.
However, behind this conveniences and knowledge that this technology provides us, do we realize the risks that may affect us especially our children?
Just like adults, children nowadays also can access the Internet worlds without limits. The question is, can they judge and differentiate what is good or bad for them? Can they protect themselves from being trapped by advertisement by companies promoting their products or from being scammed by strangers?
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 27 Oct 2009
In April 2009, the US National Academies of Science suggested that it was time for the US to get serious about cyberwarfare, setting official policy for its offensive use and spearheading the development of international norms governing its deployment. Less than three months later, the US and Korea were each hit by a series of network-based attacks that are thought to have originated in North Korea.
An analysis of these attacks has now concluded that their relative lack of sophistication reinforces the conclusion that only major nations have advanced cyberwarfare capabilities, but warns that this situation will only last for a few more years.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 27 Oct 2009
Google has been accused of censorship by a website run by the Chinese Communist Party's main newspaper.
The online People's Daily accused the US online search giant of trying to keep internet users away in revenge for their reports on a copyright dispute.
The Chinese site said the three-day disruption began last Wednesday after it told of authors' concerns about rights if Google goes ahead with an online library of digitised books.
