New Articles for This Topic
Last Update Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 12:57:59 -0500 (EST)
- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12666393/site/newsweek/
"The Internet Splits Up"
Newsweek International (05/22/06); Foroohar, Rana; Villeminot, Florence;
Schafer, Sarah
Although the Internet has always been a uniquely bottom-up,
nonhierarchical, seamless form of global communication, that is beginning
to change as governments, multinational companies, and individuals battle
for control of the Web. For example, China has begun tweaking the local
search engine baidu.com so that users in the country who search for Falun
Gong, for example, will only get state-approved, anti-Falun Gong Web sites.
A number of other countries have also adopted such censorship techniques,
which could undermine the global unity of the Internet. Meanwhile, nations
such as Iran--who are concerned that U.S. dominance of the Internet could
mean that their national domain names will someday be turned off for
political reasons--have created their own alternative versions of the
Internet. Although they have vowed not to make any politically motivated
changes on their servers, governments and political organizations such as
Germany's Open Root Server Network could create new, misleading versions of
U.S. Web sites, which Internet users could be misrouted to without even
realizing it. Some also worry that as nations create their own versions of
the Internet, the entire system could collapse. Telecoms' plans to charge
content providers such as Google, eBay, and Yahoo! higher rates to
guarantee reliable delivery of their new video content have also been a
threat to the unity of the Internet. Overturning the long-held principle
of net-neutrality will create a two-tiered Internet, which could hamper
technological innovation by increasing the cost of startups and changing
the whole Web paradigm of forming companies quickly and on a shoestring
budget.
New Topics
New Articles for This Topic
Last Update Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 23:04:10 -0400 (EDT)
- http://www.gopusa.com/news/2005/november/1111_internet_control1.shtml
Tug-of-War Over Internet Control
It would be better to retain U.S. control over the Internet than to allow rights abusers such as China and Iran to have a say in regulating the web, a leading press freedom group said. - http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,53933,00.html
Why countries make sites unseen
If you're reading this from Saudi Arabia, don't bother clicking here. Here. Or here.
The Saudi government is keeping its subjects from viewing sites about drugs, women and rock and roll, according to a new Harvard Law School study.
- http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2005-7/1102w.html#item2
"Internet Postings Targeted in Court"
Today a Maryland appeals court will hear testimony concerning whether an
Internet user's identity could be unveiled if he makes disparaging remarks
in chat rooms or on message boards in a case that may add to the growing
raft of legal discourse concerning free speech and the Internet. The case ...
New Topics
New Articles for This Topic