ARIN6902 Internet Cultures and Governance

The latest annual human rights report has been published: The Internet plays an increasingly important role in the restrictions of human rights, it states.

Telstra is violating human rights then!

China and Google are in negotiations to break their ongoing feud... apparently. According to this article, 25 more countries around the globe have taken steps to censoring the internet, which calls for discussions about basic human rights and the so-called online "embargo" this puts on US companies.

Well here's a good old fashioned police crackdown on online copyright infringement. The largest illegal download site in Greece had its alleged key players arrested in their homes after a complaint was made by a copyright protection agency.

The European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to explicitly oppose any law or global agreement which would entail ISPs to punish customers for breaches of copyright. They have also demanded that documents surrounding the secret worldwide negotiations, which Australia is also involved in, be released publicly. 

A concise timeline of the World Wide Web. From the first domain right through to Twitter, it highlights major innovations and events in the development of the internet.

The Internet Industry Association is working with Police and Government to try and control safety concerns on social media sites. Currently, they are powerless to step in when sites are hosted overseas.

55 000 submissions have been received under the Australian Government's review on the introduction of an R18+ rating for games in Australia.

Government instructs web users to 'not feed the trolls', following scandals involving the defacement of Facebook pages. An 'Online Ombudsman' is proposed. This raises the question of whether and how Government is able to intervene in online forums. In these cases, no law has been broken, just moral codes.

Two of the three richest men in the world derive their fortunes, in large part, from the information business: Carlos Slim (king of Mexican telecommunications) and Bill Gates (well, we all know what he does). How much power do these two hold over the architecture, policies and whereabouts of the web?  NOTE: the fact that the richest man in the world comes from a country with 80 million poor people is in itself a worthy discussion topic. 

Apple has taken down two apps from German media, as they were considered offensive. This moves towards censorship could extend to a larger control of editorial content. Do media have to comply? 

Google wants to install Google Fiber in some small US cities. These Googlevilles, although experimental and in a small scale, could foreshadow some potential repercussions of the digital divide. Would you like to live in Googleville?

Blog which keeps track of, amongst other issues,ICANN and domain name related topics. A good blog roll as well. 

This article discusses a report which looks at the possibilities of applying an open source model & culture which has been associated with building and proliferating the Mozilla browser to the Obama administration's initiatives to be "more transparent, participatory and collaborative".  

Blog which writes about issues relating to open access media and links to actual open/free media. 

Well articulated FAQ about the pros and cons of Google's ambitious and contentious attempts to digitize as many books as they possibly can to create the world's biggest online library.

A plan to create an internet domain specifically for adult websites will be resurrected three years after it was rejected by internet regulators. The net's governing body ICANN will reconsider the .xxx scheme on 12 March.

The internet: a land without "social or cultural or primitive race memory". What are the implications when entire generations voluntarily forfeit their right to privacy?

Microsoft Corp and I-O Data Device have entered into an agreement that will provide I-O Data's customers with patent coverage for their use of I-O Data's products running Linux and other related open source software.

Find the whole idea vaguely repulsive. See Slashdot: "The Japanese computer manuracturer IO Data is the latest in line to license Microsoft's so-called 'Linux patents,' following the likes of Novell, Samsung, and Amazon. Yes, even the press releases use the word 'Linux' to describe these patents. From the press release: 'Specifically, the patent covenants apply to I-O Data's network-attached storage devices and its routers, which run Linux. Although the details of the agreement have not been disclosed, the parties indicated that Microsoft is being compensated by I-O Data.'" http://bit.ly/bmxIO4

The head of new media for Middle East broadcaster and news service Al Jazeera has poured cold water on the much-hyped role of Twitter as the technology that started grass-roots revolution in Iran. Despite the US government's moves to prevent scheduled maintenance of the site to enabled Iranians to "Tweet out" to the world about the election, it seems a torrent of on-the-ground Tweets simply doesn't add up. After analyzing information about the alleged Iranian-based Tweeters, just 6 accounts could be verified as actually being on the ground.

YouTube could be among high traffic sites given carte blanche to self-monitor under the federal government's internet censorship efforts if the recommendations of a leaked whitepaper are implemented.