government

Apple has formally applied to launch the iPhone in China. The move, earlier than expected, appears to have been made possible once the firm agreed to drop WiFi capability. There are both political and technical reasons for WiFi issues in China. ... Until April this year, the government refused to allow any WiFi handsets. Officially that was because of fears users would add Internet phone services such as Skype and use those to make calls, to the detriment of China's phone companies. Unofficially it was thought the government believed WiFi would make it harder to monitor communications. Censorship ... (view more)

Under the questionable guise of cyber security, the National Security Agency (NSA), in partnership with The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and AT&T, will be monitoring private-sector networks. The surveillance will continue despite the ... government's allegations that the NSA will only be scrutinizing data going to or from government systems. Whenever a person visits a 'dot-gov' (.gov) web site or sends an email to a government employee, their actions will be screened for potential harm to the network. NSA's History of Illegal Surveillance It's unclear exactly who is in charge of the ... (view more)

In a move designed to give the government unprecedented control over what users will and will not be able to see on the Internet, the Chinese government reportedly wants all computers sold in China after July 2009 to come pre-installed software that ... automatically censors the Internet. That's not surprising when you consider the fact that China recently ranked number one as the most complete Electronic Police State in the world. (Source (PDF): cryptohippie.com ) During the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre this past week, China reportedly blocked access to websites like ... (view more)

Just as a report on cyber security ordered by U.S. president Obama nears release, security experts are reportedly describing America's defenses as "broken," "childlike," and "embarrassing." Tim Mather, chief strategist for security firm RSA, told ... the BBC News that the approach relied upon for years isn't working and he thinks we're seeing a real breaking point in security. According to the BBC, the security industry is at a crossroads and has a responsibility to alter the way it operates. The time has come to develop new technologies to keep pace with and move ahead of the ... (view more)

Despite the fact that the UK parliament network was vulnerable to the Conficker virus just last week, reports suggest that the UK Government is forging ahead with their dubious plans to harvest all the personal electronic data of every citizen and ... storing it for one year, opening the door to the Big Brother super database . Mobile phone calls, emails and Internet activities of every Briton will be stored for a year, placing legal duties on Internet companies to store everyone's private information, including email traffic and Internet browsing histories effective Monday, April 6, 2009. The ... (view more)

According to reports, U.S. senators drafted legislation aimed at giving the federal government unprecedented authority over the nation's critical infrastructure, including the power to shut down or limit traffic on private networks during ... emergencies. The draft of the proposed legislation is allegedly intended to establish cyber-security standards to be imposed on both the government and the private sector, including companies providing software, IT work, or other services to networks deemed as 'critical' infrastructure, as well as mandating licenses for any and all individuals who administer ... (view more)

Microsoft could lose more than $800 million dollars a year in the British market if the country's government sticks to plans to use more open source software. New guidelines say public services should avoid being locked into proprietary products. ... The changes don't mean Windows will be ditched overnight (as is happening in Vietnam ), but instead policy will be that open source software should be used wherever it presents a better value. This could include both Linux-based operating systems and open source applications such as the Microsoft Office-like Open Office. Larger organizations may also ... (view more)

Britain and the U.S. use similar tactics fighting 'terrorism,' but Britain has taken the delusions to a new level: it now appears that the British have surpassed U.S. in becoming a police state. Like the U.S. version of George Orwell's book "1984," ... Britain's descent into a full-fledged police state has been building for a long time. We've reported on Britain's super database , remote PC searching and the warnings issued over the egregious surveillance techniques , but there are still other facts to be examined. Spying On Domestic Extremists and Political Dissenters The British have ... (view more)

It's a bit cliche, but the message still holds true: when the President of the United States speaks, the world listens. Such was the case when President Obama laid out his recent economic stimulus plan with the desire to invest billions of dollars ... towards the expansion of broadband access across America. Now, Britain is once again following in America's footsteps, this time in the field of technology. If all goes well, the government predicts that every home in Britain could have Internet access by 2012. (Source: nytimes.com ) The U.K. government wants to make broadband a universal signal, ... (view more)

I'd hate to be a web writer, editor, or site owner while living in China. The country recently shut down over a thousand web sites it claimed were illicit and inappropriate, and critics are already speculating that those pages targeted might have ... displayed more than just nudies. At first, the site closures seem to be limited to those violating China's laws of "social morality," laws meant to protect the delicate "physical and mental health of youths." Images on sites like tiexue.com and vodone.com included a number of under-dressed women. However, at the same time official outlet People's ... (view more)