government

Google has revealed extensive details about what it does when the government asks for access to your personal data. It's part of an ongoing attempt by the search giant to distance itself from the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance scandal . ... Google's explanation is designed to make a clear point: that it delivers the data directly to the government, rather than allowing the government to physically access Google computers. The company wants to make clear it doesn't allow officials the opportunity to access more data than the law requires. (Source: nytimes.com ) Google continues to ... (view more)

Iranian hackers pose a greater threat to the U.S. than their Chinese counterparts, a new report suggests. The theory is that China is more interested in spying on the United States while Iran wants to harm vital U.S. systems. The claims come in ... anonymous briefings given by U.S. government and security officials. They follow equally startling warnings by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which encourage U.S. businesses to share details of security threats so that experts can look for common patterns. Previously, U.S. security officials had pointed to the Middle East as a ... (view more)

After lying low for several months, the Chinese military's hacking division has reportedly resumed attacks on U.S. businesses and government agencies. Earlier this year a US security firm published a report that linked cyber attacks to a ... Shanghai-based residence. Given that the building is known to belong to the Chinese army, it was widely concluded that China's military was directly involved in the operation. Chinese officials denied the claims. However, security experts continued to insist that the Shanghai-based unit was responsible for attacking U.S. government agencies, businesses that ... (view more)

According to reports, United States federal officials are investigating claims that people with ties to Microsoft paid foreign officials to use Microsoft software. The United States Department of Justice and the Security and Exchange Commission are ... reportedly investigating these bribery allegations, which pertain to Microsoft activity in China, Italy, and Romania. The allegations were originally shared with U.S. officials last year. Business Partner Told to Bribe Chinese Officials At the time, a Chinese citizen with business ties to Microsoft was told by a representative of the Redmond, ... (view more)

Google has, for the first time ever, detailed exactly what it does when a government agency or court demands to see a user's personal data. That data includes the terms someone has used for an online search and the content of Gmail messages. Google ... says that it's reporting on this issue in an attempt to show that it aims to protect privacy wherever possible. The search giant has for several years produced statistics about how many requests for personal data it gets in each country and what percentage of those requests it complies with. This publication is an attempt to draw attention to the ... (view more)

United States officials believe Iran is responsible for a string of recent cyber attacks on American banks. They say the sophistication of the attacks and the hacks' aim of disrupting services rather than stealing cash both suggest government rather ... than private activity. The attacks have been coming since September and have disrupted the online services of many U.S. banking institutions, including Bank of America, BB ... (view more)

Google says that national governments are demanding access to its user data more than ever before. The search giant also says governments are making more requests for it to take controversial information offline. These revelations come in the latest ... edition of Google's Transparency Index, a semi-annual report designed to shed light on the state of online censorship. It takes Google several months to compile the data, so the new information covers 20,939 requests for user data and other demands made only between January and June 2012. Compare that to Google's 2009 Transparency Index, which ... (view more)

Iran's government has removed its block on Gmail in that nation, claiming it didn't mean to restrict access to the service. It now says the block was an unintended result of a deliberate effort to stop Iranians from viewing YouTube. These new claims ... contradict an earlier comment from an Iranian official who said last week: "Due to the repeated demands of the people, Google and Gmail will be filtered nationwide. They will remain filtered until further notice." Another government official now says: "Unfortunately, we do not yet have enough technical know-how to differentiate between these two ... (view more)

The Iranian government has blocked its citizens' access to Gmail and a secure version of Google. The move appears to be the first part of a larger plan to control exactly what Internet sites Iranians can access. An Iranian official who is part of a ... government group in charge of controlling Internet content says that "due to the repeated demands of the people, Google and Gmail will be filtered nationwide. They will remain filtered until further notice." (Source: com.au ) The official did not make clear exactly who made these demands. Insiders, however, note that many Iranian businesses use ... (view more)

Freedom of speech online is once again the topic of heated debate, this time in India. That country's government has now urged major sites like Facebook to remove threatening material that may have provoked a mass exodus from some regions. The issue ... stems from religious disputes in Assam, a region in the northeast of India where long-time residents have clashed with immigrants from nearby Bangladesh, leading to dozens of deaths. In the past week, angry residents of Assam have used the Internet to threaten the immigrants with violence. The threats have reportedly caused "tens of thousands" of ... (view more)