Censorship

China's Green Dam software-filtering project has been staying afloat without government funds for the past year, but the project may now be in danger of collapse, according to a story in Tuesday's Beijing Times as covered by BBC News.

The project was launched last year in response to demands from the Chinese government to block pornography and other Internet content considered objectionable. Beijing initially wanted the software to be installed on all computers sold in China, but it provided project funding only for the first year, from 2008 to 2009.

The lack of funding since then has forced … Read more

news analysis Call it the revenge of George Carlin.

The legendary Grammy-winning comedian, who died in 2008, was slapped down by the Federal Communications Commission in the 1970s for his "Seven Dirty Words" monologue. The U.S. Supreme Court gravely concluded that the 12-minute monologue was illegal to broadcast.

But a funny thing happened on the way to 2010. The Internet grew even faster than the federal deficit, wireless devices sprouted like Obama stickers on Priuses, and American consumers were forced to pay for V-chips in their televisions, regardless of whether they wanted any.

Which is why a … Read more

Google announced Friday that the Chinese government has renewed its license to continue running its Web site in China.

The rocky relationship between Google and Beijing had cast doubt as to whether the license would be renewed. The tension became public in January when Google said it would cease censoring search results in China and also pointed a finger at Beijing as the source of cyberattacks on Google and other U.S. companies.

An update to the company's official blog by David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, announced the renewal of its license as an Internet Content Provider: &… Read more

A recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives seemed straightforward enough: government computers must block viewing or downloading porn.

After all, a series of news reports have highlighted, in scandalous detail, how some financial regulators earning six-figure salaries were watching porn at work as Wall Street imploded. So, as it turns out, did employees of the National Science Foundation and the Interior Department--including ones who were supposed to be inspecting oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

But the exact wording of the legislation (PDF) that the House approved last week by a 239-to-182 vote could, civil libertarians … Read more

Half a year ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lauded Internet freedom and criticized China in a high-profile speech in Washington, D.C. A few weeks later, a Global Internet Freedom Caucus on Capitol Hill was formed.

But the Chinese authorities weren't exactly paying attention. Since Clinton's speech, China has reaffirmed its commitment to state censorship, required online map providers to obtain licenses and host their images inside the country, blocked Foursquare, and announced new rules for media companies. Earlier this week, China made Google rethink how it could move some search operations to Hong Kong.

If anything, … Read more

Video game aficionados might have to enter a credit card or find another way to verify their age before playing a networked game, thanks to a new push from advocacy groups who say they want to protect minors from in-game advertising messages.

In-game marketing has become so advanced that it "allows advertisers to track game users" and detect if people who are exposed to certain ads eventually use or buy the advertised product, a coalition including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and U.S. PIRG told federal … Read more

Access to Foursquare's "check-in" app has been blocked in China, the mobile networking service confirmed with CNET on Friday.

Rumors began to circle about the ban early Friday when tweets and blog posts from Chinese Foursquare users indicated that they could not access the service.

Foursquare is still looking into the issue, co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai told CNET. Namely, they aren't sure whether this will be a permanent block or temporary. But it appears to be linked to the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the 1989 incident in which the Chinese military … Read more

A Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives is accusing Apple of unreasonably rejecting an iPhone attack app that accused his Democratic rival of voting to raise taxes and cut spending on Medicare.

Ari David, who's vying for the June 8 Republican nomination in the district that includes West Hollywood, says Apple claimed that his free iPhone app was "defamatory." The app targeted incumbent Henry Waxman's voting record using pointed phrases like "Soviet-style regulation."

Under the App Store policy, "it's fine as long as you show pictures of yourself with … Read more

An attorney for the 21-year-old Silicon Valley resident who found what appears to be Apple's prototype iPhone in a bar is expected to oppose a request by CNET and other media organizations to unseal court records relating to the investigation.

A coalition also including the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, the Los Angeles Times, and Wired.com has prepared a 7-page legal brief that will ask a court to unseal the detective's affidavit used to obtain a search warrant nearly two weeks ago. A hearing has been tentatively scheduled in the San Mateo County courthouse for 2 p.m. … Read more