Middle East brutality brought to you by good old capitalism: As Middle East regimes try to stifle dissent by censoring the Internet, the U.S. faces an uncomfortable reality: American companies provide much of the technology used to block websites. McAfee Inc., acquired last month by Intel Corp., has provided content-filtering software used by Internet-service providers…
Showing all posts tagged internet
Internet freedom globally isn’t coming and never was
Brilliant (the animation, that is, and I partially agree with the message, too, something I’m contemplating as I’m currently updating my second book, The Blogging Revolution, for an Australian and international publisher. Just how influential is the internet during the current Arab revolutions?):
Here’s what the US does well; inept propaganda
Seriously: The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda. A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the…
Assange: internet can liberate and/or imprison
He’s right (though probably exaggerates the influence of Wikileaks in the Arab revolutions): The internet is the “greatest spying machine the world has ever seen” and is not a technology that necessarily favours the freedom of speech, the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, has claimed in a rare public appearance. Assange acknowledged that the web could…
Iranian web war is run by Tehran’s insecure minority
A cyber-army of terrifying intent: Iranian hackers working for the powerful Revolutionary Guard’s paramilitary Basij group have launched attacks on websites of the “enemies,” a state-owned newspaper reported Monday in a rare acknowledgment from Iran that it’s involved in cyber warfare. The report followed an announcement in January that Iran had formed its first cyber…
Revolution in China? Not so fast
It may take a little bit longer to bring serious political reform to China, especially when the connected class is so comfortable. Barbara Pollock writes in Artnet: During a recent visit to Beijing, the conversation at a local restaurant on a Saturday night turned briefly, only briefly, to politics. The video artist Wang Gongxin spoke…
Real power in Egypt; trade unions
Most Western press talk about the online revolution occurring in Egypt. That’s happening but is only a small part of the picture. Here’s independent Australian journalist Austin Mackell – currently based in Egypt and showing a post-revolution nation when most Western corporate reporters have left – interviewing local journalist Jano Charbel on the ongoing struggles…