PC World – It’s one of the most important issues–if not THE most important–in the life of the Internet so far. Yet it’s widely misunderstood. Here are the facts. I know, I know. You keep hearing this term and wonder what it really means. I’ve been following the story for five years now, and sometimes I still wonder myself. Is it something that could really end up affecting what I see or can’t see on the Web, or is it just a buzzword that geeks, policy wonks, and politicians like to throw around at parties? Well, it’s really both. Read Article
Business Insider – Question: What does Google do when 100 protesters show up at their door with signed petitions against their recent net neutrality statements? Answer: Politely respond with, “We appreciate your feedback. Please visit our public policy blog. Thank you. Have a nice day.” That bland answer is what happened Friday when protesters gathered at Google HQ in Mountain View. Yelling out CEO Eric Schmidt’s name towards the buildings, protestors hoped to get a confrontation and impromptu response out of any of the major Google players. Read Article
Huffington Post – So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it. News of this deal broke this week, sparking a public outcry that’s seen hundreds of thousands of Internet users calling on Google to live up to its “Don’t Be Evil” pledge. But cut through the platitudes the two companies (Googizon, anyone?) offered on today’s press call, and you’ll find this deal is even worse than advertised.The proposal is one massive loophole that sets the stage for the corporate takeover of the Internet. Read Article
Register – By the mid 1990s it had become pointless to compete with Microsoft in operating systems and office software – and investment in potential competitors dried up. The best you could hope for as a software company was to carve out a niche as part of the Windows Office system; this was a very small niche indeed. The same thing is happening today with web services. But what Google and other web giants are doing goes largely unnoticed, even by analysts, pundits and Presidential advisors. What they are able to do is use their scale, and clever and cynical politics to obscure how they’re solidifying their competitive advantage. In particular, they’re swearing allegiance to (and lobbying for) an idea which doesn’t apply to their operations, but which will keep smaller competitors out of the market. A Zoho, for example – or the next new YouTube. Read Article
NY Times – Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, are nearing an agreement that could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege. The charges could be paid by companies, like YouTube, owned by Google, for example, to Verizon, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, to ensure that its content received priority as it made its way to consumers. The agreement could eventually lead to higher charges for Internet users. Read Article
ABC – Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has suggested changes could be made to the Federal Government’s proposed internet filter. The Government announced the filter two years ago as part of its cyber safety program to protect children from pornography and offensive material. But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced the filter would not be put in place until an independent review can be carried out into what content would be banned. Read Article
EU Observer – Bloggers, podcasters and even anyone who posts updates on social networks such as Facebook all face being slapped with fines of up to €25,000 for publishing incorrect facts, if a bill that journalists’ organisations are calling “authoritarian” currently before the Italian parliament is passed. A provision within the government’s Media and Wiretapping Bill will extend Italy’s “obbligo di rettifica”, or rectification obligation – a law dating back to 1948 that requires newspapers to publish corrections – to the internet and indeed anyone “responsible for information websites”. Read Article
Telegraph – Blonde and Wet, the Complete Story was ranked first on the iPad in a top 10 that included three other erotic novellas yesterday morning. But all four titles disappeared simultaneously and had been replaced with less risqué books, such as Peter Mandelson’s autobiography, by the afternoon. Read Article
Daily Telegraph – Wikileaks, the whistleblowing website, has released 90,000 documents about American and British actions in Afghanistan since the start of the war. Here are its 10 greatest previous scoops. Read Article
Sydney Morning Herald – The federal government has censored approximately 90 per cent of a secret document outlining its controversial plans to snoop on Australians’ web surfing, obtained under freedom of information (FoI) laws, out of fear the document could cause “premature unnecessary debate”. The government has been consulting with the internet industry over the proposal, which would require ISPs to store certain internet activities of all Australians – regardless of whether they have been suspected of wrongdoing – for law-enforcement agencies to access. Read Article
ABC – Labor’s internet filtering policy isn’t being discussed in the run-up to the election but its impact on Australia is significant. Championed by Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, the $30million+ filter is being sold by Labor as an internet block for child pornography, bestiality and extreme pornography with ‘wide ranging support from the Australian public’ and ‘only minimal opposition against’. Read Article
Guardian – A veteran British journalist and author promoting his book on the death penalty in Singapore was arrested in the country today for alleged criminal defamation and other offences. Alan Shadrake’s arrest came two days after Singapore’s Media Development Authority lodged a police report. The Foreign Office in London said it was seeking more information from local authorities. Read Article
Financial Times – Google has become the main advocate in Washington for a set of regulations to prevent internet service providers favouring particular companies’ traffic. However, that campaign, over what is known as “net neutrality”, has handed a gift to its own detractors. This year, “search neutrality” has become the rallying cry of activists who believe that Google has too much power to decide which internet sites are granted the attention that comes with a high search ranking, and which are consigned to outer darkness. Read Article
Associated Press – Australia’s widely criticized proposal to mandate a filter blocking child pornography and other objectionable Internet content has been delayed at least a year so the government can review what content should be restricted. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said Friday a 12-month review would begin this year into the filter, which would force all Australian ISPs to block a regularly updated list of websites. Read Article
Washington Post – After an uproar from conservative bloggers and free-speech activists, the Transportation Security Administration late Tuesday rescinded a new policy that would have prevented employees from accessing websites with “controversial opinions” on TSA computers at work. The ban on “controversial opinion” sites, issued late last week, was included as part of a more general TSA Internet-usage policy blocking employee access to gambling and chat sites, as well as sites that dealt with extreme violence or criminal activity. Read Article
CBS – The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is blocking certain websites from the federal agency’s computers, including halting access by staffers to any Internet pages that contain a “controversial opinion,” according to an internal email obtained by CBS News. The email was sent to all TSA employees from the Office of Information Technology on Friday afternoon. Read Article
BBC – US civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation will give evidence in a Washington court on Wednesday, aimed at stopping the US’s largest net pirate hunt. It wants the court to throw out thousands of lawsuits against alleged illegal file-sharers, brought by the US Copyright Group. Read Article
Telegraph – The company said it would no longer automatically redirect its Chinese users to its Hong Kong website, which lies outside the bounds of Chinese regulations and can therefore offer uncensored results. Instead, they will now go to Google.cn, a “landing page” that offers Google’s maps and music services and which also carries a button to carry out web searches on the Hong Kong site. Read Article
The Register – A controversial cybersecurity bill passed a key Senate committee on Thursday after backers made concessions aimed at blunting widespread criticism the measure would give the US president broad authority to shut down key parts of the internet. The bill, known as the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PDF), has been pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, who argues the internet is so crucial to banking, utilities and other infrastructure that attacks on it are key to national defense. Read Article
Brisbane Times – The internet censorship policy has joined the government’s list of “politically toxic subjects” and will almost certainly be shelved until after the federal election, Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam says. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd – already facing a voter backlash over several perceived policy failures – is expected to call the election before the end of the year and the feeling of many in Canberra is that next week will be the last sitting week of Parliament. Read Article
CNS News – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on Thursday to begin the formal process of bringing the Internet under greater federal control – a move sought by both President Barack Obama and FCC Chairnman Julius Genachowski–even though federal law calls for an Internet “unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” Read Article
Daily Mail – President Obama will be given the power to shut down the Internet with a ‘kill switch’ in a new law being proposed in the US. He would be able to order popular search engines such a Google and Yahoo to suspend access their websites in times of national emergency. Read Article
Daily Mail – Every Google web search could be stored for up to two years under a controversial new EU plan that has the backing of more than 300 Euro-MEPs. ‘Written Declaration 29′ is intended to be used as an early warning system to stop paedophiles by logging what they look for using search engines. But civil liberty groups have hit out at the proposal which they say is a ‘completely unjustifiable’ intrusion into citizens’ privacy. Read Article
Time – The concept of government-backed web censorship is usually associated with nations where human rights and freedom of speech are routinely curtailed. But if Canberra’s plans for a mandatory Internet filter go ahead, Australia may soon become the first Western democracy to join the ranks of Iran, China and a handful of other nations where access to the Internet is restricted by the state. Read Article
The Register – A new bill introduced to Congress calls for a new government body to oversee the internet as well as provide emergency powers to a “director of cyberspace policy” as well as the President. The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA), introduced by Senator Joe Lieberman, would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and extend the already-broad definition of “critical infrastructure” to the Internet. Read Article
