The fight to secure copyrights on the internet will always be an ongoing one, but the most recent dilemma is that being faced in the UK with the proposed Digital Economy Bill that has just recently seen a number of amendments that are cause for concern (to say the least).
What do we want to be?
Category Archives: Lifestyle & Society
Anti-terrorism fatwa to be issued by prominent Muslim leader
Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, a prominent Islamic leader is going to issue an incredibly detailed fatwa tomorrow in London that denounces terrorism and suicide bombing in the name of Islam.
Google conviction sparks debate over internet freedom
I’ve had a few posts recently that revolve around multi-national technology giant Google, both for positive and negative reasons, and today’s news has once again brought the company right into the ethical spotlight. An Italian judge has convicted three Google executives and given each a six-month suspended sentence because of a video of an autistic boy being bullied that was uploaded onto Google’s video service in 2006.
Should homeopathic treatments be state funded?
There’s been some recent controversy in the UK these past couple of days over whether or not homeopathic treatments should be eligible for payment through the National Health Service (NHS). As it currently stands, the government does acknowledge that there is no evidence backing the validity of such treatments; however at the same time allowing for them to be paid for through the state-backed NHS system.
Chip-and-PIN security flaw highlights blind faith in technology
This is an interesting type of story that we hear about in mainstream media every now and then – and that is the finding of security weaknesses in widespread technology, particularly those that deal with financial transactions of one kind or another. This time around, it’s flaws in the Chip-and-PIN technology that is widely used in credit and debit cards throughout Europe and particularly the UK.
500 followers! A thank you and an update
Well, the Future Conscience Twitter stream has just passed 500 followers today so I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to those who are following us and give you a brief update as to the direction that Future Conscience will be taking over the coming months.
Friday Link Roundup: Hackers and Cyberwarfare
I’m bringing back the Friday Link Roundup today with an interesting topic that is starting to see more coverage across various media outlets again: Cyberwarfare.
Site of the Week: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Given the focus over the last few posts on internet censorship and freedom of expression, I wanted to highlight an organisation that has been at the forefront of the fight for liberty ever since the early days of the internet’s public use – the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The Great Australian Internet Blackout
Continuing on with the internet censorship theme, this week marks The Great Australian Internet Blackout – a campaign orchestrated by activist Jeff Waugh and supported by the Electronic Frontiers Australia in protest against government plans to push forward legislation that will lead to blanket censorship of the internet for Australian users.
Will Google abandon China?
Over the past week a pivotal standoff has been occurring between the world’s largest supplier of information and the world’s largest censor of information. The Google vs. China conflict has been gaining momentum over recent years, and it has all come to a head in the last few days over alleged hacker attacks on human rights activists email accounts – with Google refusing to censor its findings within China for a few days, and even talk of the company removing its enterprise from the country altogether.
