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Syria back online after 20-hour outage, 'cable malfunction' to blame?
- Last night, for the second time in roughly six months, the people of Syria saw their online ties to the outside world completely severed across the nation. Umbrella Security Labs, the threat research division of OpenDNS first reported the drop…
Russia starts blocking 'harmful' content online, opposition worried about wider censorship
- The Russian government has begun enforcing a new law passed in November that enables it to block Internet content within its borders deemed illegal or harmful to children. According to a report by The New York Times, Russian officials have…
Iran blocks 'illegal' VPNs that help citizens evade Internet filters
- Iran has a long history of trying to control what its citizens can and can't see on the web. From blocking Google searches and all foreign email providers, to cutting access to social networks services and even announcing plans of…
Microsoft enables China to spy on Skype users via keyword triggers
- University of New Mexico student Jeffrey Knockel claims to have revealed an encrypted list of 1,100+ keywords within China's Skype client, TOM-Skype. This list, containing words like "BBC" and phrases like "Democratic Unionist Party", are suspected to be used for…
Iceland drafts Internet porn ban, EU considers "self-regulated" approach
- The European Parliament is mulling over a proposal brought forth by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality which, amongst other things, calls for a self-regulating ban on all forms of pornography in the "media". Parliamentary member Christian Engstrom…
Censoring file sharing sites isn't effective at curbing piracy
- Research from Boston’s Northeastern University suggests that shutting down known pirate domains is not an effective method for curbing illegal file sharing. Instead, copyright owners should focus their efforts on blocking a site’s ability to process payments from a credit…
Pakistan lifts YouTube ban, reinstates ban minutes later
- When YouTube refused to take down a controversial video called "Innocence of Muslims" this summer, a small number of violent protests were sparked. Pakistani officials reacted by imposing a country-wide block of YouTube. According to the New York Times, YouTube was made…
U.N. communications body adopts eavesdropping standards
- Despite concerns voiced by Germany, a number of Internet eavesdropping techniques were approved for use by the International Telecommunication Union. The ITU is the specialized U.N. body charged with the facilitation and regulation of information and communication technologies. Cdt.org provides…
Syrian Internet outage persists, Speak2Tweet allows phone tweets
- It appears Syria's recent and continued Internet outage has rekindled public interest in Google's Speak2Tweet service. Speak2Tweet allows individuals without Internet access to use Twitter by calling a voicemail system. The audio messages left behind are then made publicly available on…
Syria pulls the plug, Internet traffic comes to a halt
- Syria's tether to the digital world appears to have been severed, cutting off Internet access to and from the country entirely. In addition to an apparent Internet blackout, Syrians may also be facing isolated landline and cellular phone service disruptions according…
Google report shows increase in censorship, anti-piracy requests
- This summer, Google's Transparency Report indicated an increase in global government censorship. Google's latest bi-annual look though illustrates not only a continued increase, but a substantial uptick of government-issued requests in just past six months. In fact, requests to take…
Iran blocks Google due to video controversy, readies own Internet
- According to Reuters, Google's search and Gmail services have been blocked from public view in Iran. Tehran officials say these latest additions to Iran's web filter are the result of a much publicized anti-Islamic video called "Innocence of Muslims". The…
Former MPAA CTO speaks out against laws like SOPA
- Former Motion Picture Association’s Chief Technology Officer Paul Brigner has offered a level-headed rundown regarding the perils of using DNS as a means of Internet enforcement. Once controversial legislation, SOPA relied upon DNS-blocking techniques to essentially take down undesirable websites -- a…
YouTube offers face blurring in one click
- Heeding input from human rights activists and this 2011 Cameras Everywhere report, YouTube has added a feature which aims to protect the privacy of individuals involved in controversial video footage. The new feature, "Blur All Faces", now appears in YouTube's…
The Pirate Bay circumvents ISP blocks with new IP address
- After being banned in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy as part of court-mandated blockades, infamous file sharing service The Pirate Bay appears to have circumvented the blocks in a bid to help subscribers from affected countries accessing its…
Iran bans select industries from using foreign e-mail providers
- Over the weekend, Iran's telecommunications minster warned that in-country financial institutions, insurance firms and communications companies will be limited exclusively to .ir domains for hosting and email purposes. For better or worse, the national mandate will prevent applicable organizations from…
UK government considers Internet porn filter, requires users to opt-out
- UK Prime Minster David Cameron will be consulting with major ISPs about devising a scheme which will block adult content for UK customers. If such a content filter does materialize from the talks, it is expected to be an optional…
Weekend tech reading: FBI seeks wiretappable sites, UK wants to filter porn
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The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance. In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators...
Virgin Media censors Pirate Bay in UK, results in 12 million more visitors
- The UK High Court ruled last week that several of the country's Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must censor access to The Pirate Bay, following up from a verdict in February saying that it was guilty of sharing copyrighted material on…
SOPA is dead, but CISPA may give Internet citizens a new cause
- Although the demise of SOPA is behind us, citizens of the Internet may have new cause for concern. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has been gaining momentum and while it is distinctly different than SOPA, some argue…
Iran to block the entire internet, replacing it with "clean" intranet
- Iran looks set to permanently deny the World Wide Web to millions of the country's residents, which will include popular social networking sites as well as email services from the likes of Google, according to a report by the International…
Arizona legislation will make cyberbullies, Internet trolls criminals
- Upon the Arizona governor's desk sits a revised house bill (pdf) which is ready to be signed into law. The changes in H.B 2549s aim to curb and even criminalize cyberbullying, however, it may also make nearly every chat room and…
Iran blocks websites in anticipation of Green Revolution anniversary
- On Friday, Cnet sources confirmed that Iran has begun preemptively blocking websites in anticipation of civil unrest this weekend. Tomorrow is significant because it marks the third anniversary of the Green Revolution, a movement where outraged citizens took to the…
Twitter begins censoring tweets by country, when required by law
- Twitter has confirmed that it will begin to censor tweets, if required by law, on a country by country basis. Until now the micro-blogging service has remained a free and open platform for millions of people worldwide, empowering its users…
Reddit prepares for anti-SOPA blackout, others may follow
- As SOPA looms, a controversial bill which aims to give private actors and authorities more authority over the web, some websites are preparing to protest the pending legislation by staging a blackout. Reddit.com announced it will be joining an unknown…
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