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?
Tag Archive: government
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.
Nanotechnology Education Act put to U.S. Congress
An interesting news update courtesy of Nanowerk News – House representative David Wu has introduced a Nanotechnology Education Act to US Congress that seeks to encourage U.S. students into the field of nanotechnology research and engineering.
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.
Microsoft to lower Bing IP logs to six months
If you’re concerned at all about your online privacy, then the recent announcement from Microsoft that it will be lowering IP logging on its search engine Bing to six months will come as welcome news. There has been some concern over Google’s policy of retaining such data for around two years, and Microsoft seems to be directly marketing the difference to those users who are more security aware.
10 sectors to watch over the next decade
To mark the end of 2009 and the beginning of the new upcoming decade, I wanted to bring you a series of posts that will look at the sectors of knowledge, technology and human progress that are going to see some astounding changes throughout the upcoming years. These sectors will be at the forefront of what will be seen as progress, and will more than likely change our lives so drastically that we will have difficulty reconciling the new existence with the one that we are currently living within.
