Ireland passes "SOPA" law
Privacy & Security

Ireland passes "SOPA" law

The entertainment industry may have suffered a defeat in the USA with SOPA, and a potential defeat in the wider EU with ACTA, but in Ireland it’s finally finding some success, after the Irish government passed a SOPA-esque bill into law on Friday.

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Iranians face 'halal internet'
Privacy & Security

Iranians face 'halal internet'

Two thousand, five hundred, years ago Iran connected the world with the first ever global empire, but fast-forward to 2012 and it looks like the Iranian government is about to take a dramatic step in isolating its own population.

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Google caught spying on Safari users
Privacy & Security

Google caught spying on Safari users

Google stands accused of deliberately hacking Apple’s Safari browser, in order to circumvent security barriers and install user-tracking cookies. Google’s activities were reported to the Wall Street Journal by a Stanford researcher. The researcher found that Google had installed dodgy web forms inside online ads with Google’s +1 button.

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Canadians face police attack on online privacy
Privacy & Security

Canadians face police attack on online privacy

Canada is close to passing a new law that allows police to access user IP addresses, names, addresses and telephone numbers, without need for a warrant or any evidence of wrongdoing. Unlike recent headline-grabbing bills such as ACTA and SOPA, the “Protecting Children From Internet Predators Act” was not devised by the entertainment industry and copyright lawyers.

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Europeans rage against ACTA
Privacy & Security

Europeans rage against ACTA

Thousands of European citizens are taking to the streets today to protest against the EU’s Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, otherwise known as ACTA, which severely threatens European online privacy and civil liberties in the name of protecting copyright.

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The FBI wants to criminalise online privacy
Privacy & Security

The FBI wants to criminalise online privacy

The FBI and US Department of Justice is now encouraging internet cafe users to spy on the online activities of their fellow citizens. The FBI’s “Communities Against Terrorism” notice lists a whole host of activities that the agency classifies as “suspicious” and a “potential indicator of terrorism”.

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Government Bills Spy on Individual Surfing Habits
Privacy & Security

Government Bills Spy on Individual Surfing Habits

This week has seen an enormous rise in awareness of internet censorship bills such as SOPA and PIPA, which is good news for anti-censorship advocates. Whilst many within the technology industry were aware of these bills, others were not until last week’s internet blackout campaign which included large companies such as Wikipedia and Google.

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