thenatureofmind

TechRepublic: Mozilla 'Is Desperately Needed to Save the Web'

... the majority of our time online is now mediated by just a few megacorporations, and for the most part their top incentive is to borrow our privacy just long enough to target an ad at us. Then there's Mozilla, an organization whose mantra is "Internet for people, not profit." That feels like a necessary voice to add to today's internet oligopoly, but it's not one we're hearing... We clearly need an organization standing up for web freedom, as expecting Google to do that is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse.

TechRepublic: Mozilla 'Is Desperately Needed to Save the Web'

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to find Google alarming

Its colossal power has worrying implications not only for the health of Europe's digital economy, but for the individual freedom of citizens

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to find Google alarming| theguardian.com.

EU passes net neutrality law, votes to end throttling, site blocking

Finally, the Europeans did something even their mighty friend, the United States, couldn't achieve.

Members of the European Parliament on Thursday voted on sweeping changes to the 28 member state bloc's internet and mobile laws, which will see fairer treatment to end-users and businesses alike by treating all Internet traffic equally regardless of its content or provider.

EU passes net neutrality law, votes to end throttling, site blocking | ZDNet.

A Short Guide to the Internet’s Biggest Enemies

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual “Enemies of the Internet” index this week—a ranking first launched in 2006 intended to track countries that repress online speech, intimidate and arrest bloggers, and conduct surveillance of their citizens.  Some countries have been mainstays on the annual index, while others have been able to work their way off the list. Two countries particularly deserving of praise in this area are Tunisia and Myanmar (Burma), both of which have stopped censoring the Internet in recent years and are headed in the right direction toward Internet freedom.

In the former category are some of the world’s worst offenders: Cuba, North Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Belarus, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Syria.  Nearly every one of these countries has amped up their online repression in recent years, from implementing sophisticated surveillance (Syria) to utilizing targeted surveillance tools (Vietnam) to increasing crackdowns on online speech (Saudi Arabia).  These are countries where, despite advocacy efforts by local and international groups, no progress has been made.

A Short Guide to the Internet’s Biggest Enemies | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Reset the Net: It's your net. Now is the time to take it back.

Reset the Net.

Jeremy Hammond on Aaron Swartz and the Criminalization of Digital Dissent

The tragic death of internet freedom fighter Aaron Swartz reveals the government’s flawed “cyber security strategy” as well as its systematic corruption involving computer crime investigations, intellectual property law, and government/corporate transparency. In a society supposedly based on principles of democracy and due process, Aaron’s efforts to liberate the internet, including free distribution of JSTOR academic essays, access to public court records on PACER, stopping the passage of SOPA/PIPA, and developing the Creative Commons, make him a hero, not a criminal. It is not the “crimes” Aaron may have committed that made him a target of federal prosecution, but his ideas – elaborated in his “Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto” – that the government has found so dangerous. The United States Attorney’s aggressive prosecution, riddled with abuse and misconduct, is what led to the death of this hero. This sad and angering chapter should serve as a wake up call for all of us to acknowledge the danger inherent in our criminal justice system.

Jeremy Hammond on Aaron Swartz and the Criminalization of Digital Dissent.

Breaking down the six strikes law

An interesting article about the plans underway to turn your internet service provider into an arm of the US criminal justice system. The main difference is that they will be judge, jury and executioner and you will not have to be convicted of anything nor will they have to provide solid proof that would hold up in a court of law. But they will be able to cut your internet access off and ban you from the internet.

Breaking down the six strikes law.

UK blocks extradition of alleged hacker to US

A British computer hacker's decade-long struggle to avoid trial in the U.S. over alleged breaches of military and NASA networks ended in success Tuesday, as the U.K. government ruled he was unfit to face charges there.

Home Secretary Theresa May said she had blocked the U.S. request to extradite Gary McKinnon after medical experts concluded he was seriously ill and likely to attempt to take his own life.

UK blocks extradition of alleged hacker to US

A Dark Day for the Philippines as Government Passes Cybercrime Act

The government of the Philippines today has passed the troubling Cybercrime Prevention Act. The Act covers a range of offenses, but—as we wrote last month—is particularly problematic because of a libel provision that criminalizes anonymous online criticism.

A Dark Day for the Philippines as Government Passes Cybercrime Act