Global News Post: Internet

China Tightens Controls on Internet Use

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By Kate Woodsome<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">China</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">’s legislature has approved new
rules that will tighten government control of the Internet by requiring users
to register their real names, and demanding Internet companies censor online
material.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The state-run Xinhua News Agency says lawmakers
approved the measures Friday at the closing meeting of a five-day session of
the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Beijing</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> says the regulations are aimed
at protecting the personal information of Web users and cracking down on abuses
such as junk e-mail. The rules also aim to “safeguard national security and
social public interests,” according to Xinhua. They have the same legal effect
as a law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">China</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> has long tried to get Internet
users to register their real names rather than pseudonyms with service
providers, but with nearly half a billion netizens, the task has been an uphill
battle. The new regulations aim to change that and, for the first time, lay the
written groundwork to police companies that are not complying with the
government’s censorship policies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Identity protection
or censorship?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The decision says network service providers
will “strengthen management of information released by users” by instantly
stopping the transmission of “illegal information” once it is spotted and by
taking relevant measures. Those measures, Xinhua reports, include removing the
information and saving records, before reporting to it to authorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The rules did not say what constitutes
illegal information.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Beijing</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> has a complex information
management system that includes blocking foreign websites like YouTube and
Facebook, censoring Internet searches for sensitive words and phrases and
deploying an army of bloggers to steer online discourse away from potentially
volatile political and social issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Despite that, the growth of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
Internet has lead to a growth in online calls for reform. Complaints on Chinese
microblogs about corruption, abuse of power, human rights violations and
environmental pollution have led to action offline, including street protests
and the dismissal or resignation of corrupt officials.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Fighting corruption<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Human rights and free speech advocates say
real-name registration will curtail people's ability to report, often
anonymously, corruption and official abuses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Li Fei, a Standing Committee member,
dismissed those concerns Friday at a news conference in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beijing</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We still call on the public to expose
any corruption by all means after the law comes out," he said. "The
illegal and corrupted will be punished.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Online chatter about a string of sex and
financial scandals has led to the downfall of several local officials in recent
weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Duncan Clark, a Beijing-based consultant and
a senior adviser to <st1:placename w:st="on">Stanford</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>'s Graduate School of Business, says <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> seems to
be trying to strike a balance between information control and government
accountability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We’ve seen for a long time the
Internet being used to expose corruption but what’s been interesting in the
recent few weeks, which may be a counter current to these new crackdowns on the
Internet, is a lot of this has been followed up,” he said, describing the
Internet as a “scary thing” for many officials who don’t want their actions
questioned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The new normal?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The latest Internet regulations come amid a
crackdown on virtual private networks, or VPNs, which Web users need to get
around <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
so-called “Great Firewall.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Chinese officials say there has been no
change in the policy toward VPN providers, which they say must be registered
with the government. But the move has caused an uproar among Chinese netizens,
as well as foreign companies and journalists who say the crackdown is
preventing them from doing their jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Clark said there is often a spike in
Internet controls around sensitive events, like the recent 18th Communist Party
Congress that elected <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
new generation of leaders. He said after such events, there is a general lack
of enforcement, followed by another drive ahead of another big event. But this
time is different, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Since the Party Congress, we’ve seen
increased measures, not lessened,” <st1:place w:st="on">Clark</st1:place> said.
“So the big question I would say, is when we get to the spring of next year,
when the new leadership takes up the formal positions in the new government, is
this the new normal?”</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Additional reporting by Victor Beattie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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China Tightens Controls on Internet Use

By Kate Woodsome China ’s legislature has approved new rules that will tighten government control of the Internet by requiring user...

INDIA: Govt. to Block Suspect Marketing Websites, Payments

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<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NEW DELHI</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (NNN-PTI) -- The government has decided to
crack the whip on fraudulent multi-level marketing companies that have duped
hundreds of investors in the country by blocking their websites and tracking
their online transactions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Corporate
Affairs Ministry, the nodal department in this regard, has decided that its investigative
arm - Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) - will coordinate with
Department of Information Technology and Central Economic Intelligence Bureau
(CEIB) to identify suspect websites and transactions and take strict legal
action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Sources
said such companies, operating from various locations within the country, have
defrauded the public for amounts which could easily run into hundreds of
crores.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"There
are various entities (multi-level marketing) doing business in <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> through websites and many such entities do
not have a registered office within <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Therefore, in order to
prevent funds being transferred outside <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the website of major
establishments doing multi-level marketing business need to be stopped through
gateways by Department of Information and Technology (DIT).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"This
issue will be taken up with DIT very soon and details of such companies will be
provided to it for blocking the payments," an official privy to the
development said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For
multi-level marketing websites operating clandestinely and conducting hidden
transactions, the Ministry will ask the Financial Intelligence Unit under
Finance Ministry to track and supply snoop data on them so that SFIO can take
action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
FIU is mandated to generate suspicious transaction reports based on inputs
provided by banks and other financial and economic bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
Ministry is mulling adding an enabling provision in the Companies Act to
initiate legal action of attachment of properties of individual directors of
such companies by moving the Company Law Board (CLB) in this regard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
Ministry, during a recent meeting of the SFIO and its regional directors,
mooted a plan to activate its marketing intelligence unit to keep a tab on
fraudulent innovative systems developed by such companies to cheat the public
and investors. --NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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INDIA: Govt. to Block Suspect Marketing Websites, Payments

NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI) -- The government has decided to crack the whip on fraudulent multi-level marketing companies that have duped hund...

Over Two Billion People Now Connected To Internet But Digital Divide Remains Wide – UN

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW-g8120xryHm-5F8al7ZKR3r1bURsGMnV92N7HV4GDIjNPQMLGWthZJj-E4FL1tC_R8cFUqDJWAvu5v1a3UdA4vZ5Lgwcexx06MexjLx29pFGDrOLvrKIr_MOXOAtRsM_bmiJzjkDOTM/s1600/522906-hongbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW-g8120xryHm-5F8al7ZKR3r1bURsGMnV92N7HV4GDIjNPQMLGWthZJj-E4FL1tC_R8cFUqDJWAvu5v1a3UdA4vZ5Lgwcexx06MexjLx29pFGDrOLvrKIr_MOXOAtRsM_bmiJzjkDOTM/s400/522906-hongbo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">Under-Secretary-General for Economic and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;">Social Affairs Wu Hongbo. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">UN
News – While citing the rapid development and growth of the Internet, a top
United Nations official today urged greater efforts to bridge the ongoing
digital divide and ensure that everyone around the world can harness its
benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There
were 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide at the end of 2011, the UN Under-Secretary-General
for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo, said in his address to the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF), which opened in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Baku</st1:city>,
 <st1:country-region w:st="on">Azerbaijan</st1:country-region></st1:place>. In
addition, mobile broadband reached more than 1 billion subscriptions, while the
use of fixed broadband was estimated at 590 million subscriptions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“While
this progress is surely significant, we have a long way to go in our collective
efforts to bridge the digital divide,” he told participants, noting that only a
quarter of inhabitants in the developing world were online by the end of 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“This
low number of Internet users in developing countries calls for increased
efforts in shaping and implementing appropriate policies to assist everyone to
harness the benefits of the Internet, and advance sustainable development,”
stated Mr. Wu.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“This
is a task for all of us,” he added. “The Internet Governance Forum is an
important venue for raising awareness, initiating discussions, identifying ways
to address the digital divide, and informing the policy-making processes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
IGF was convened by the UN Secretary-General in 2006, as a multi-stakeholder
forum for policy dialogue related to Internet governance issues. It includes
the participation of governments, intergovernmental organizations, business
representatives, the technical community, civil society organizations, as well
as any individual Internet user interested in Internet governance issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
theme for this year’s Forum is ‘Internet Governance for Sustainable Human, Economic
and Social Development’ and reflects the increasing role of the Internet in the
evolution of the various aspects of development, across all countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Clearly,
the Internet is an important tool for development,” Mr. Wu stated. “It is
utilized in multiple sectors, including health, education, agriculture and
industry, disaster relief, and environmental protection, among so many others.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He
noted that worldwide communication is now faster and easier than ever. Telemedicine
and e-learning are available to people in remote areas, and mobile technologies
are empowering millions of women in developing countries, creating
entrepreneurial opportunities. The use of information and communication
technologies (ICTs) in providing vital government services is also on the rise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">This
week’s meeting comes less than a month before the start of the World Conference
on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12), which runs from 3 to 14 December
in <st1:city w:st="on">Dubai</st1:city>, in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United Arab Emirates</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and will
review the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) that date back to
1988.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The
current ITRs set the stage for the mobile revolution and the information
society – and we are confident that the 2012 ITRs will help usher in the
knowledge society,” the Secretary-General of the UN International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), Hamadoun Touré, told participants at the Forum. “Simply
put, WCIT-12 is about putting ICTs in the hands of all the world’s people.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Concerning
WCIT and the Internet, Mr. Touré described as “ridiculous” misleading stories
about the ITU or the UN ‘taking over the Internet.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“ITU
continues to play its role in the realm of the Internet, as we have done since
the Internet’s inception – for example through ITU-brokered and ITU-approved
global standards for the critical transport layers of the Internet and Internet
access technologies,” he said. “But this does not mean that ITU wants to ‘take
over the Internet’ or ‘control the Internet’ – indeed, I don’t even know what
that might or would really mean, in practical terms.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Over Two Billion People Now Connected To Internet But Digital Divide Remains Wide – UN

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz UN News – While citing the rapid deve...

Google, YouTube to Get Russian Site Blacklist Updates

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<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) – Google and YouTube will
receive updates regarding information banned within <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, the country's
communications oversight agency said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
agency’s press release confirmed that Google Inc and YouTube LLC had formally
agreed “to receive information from the register regarding content banned in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
register detailing ‘blacklisted’ sites and content that is banned in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
was launched by the agency on Thursday. The zapret-info.gov.ru site will
consider complaints lodged by members of the public, who can submit screenshots
and URLs of the offending sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Cooperation
between the agency and international companies had already been sketched out
before the law came into force. “The company’s email address is included in the
mail-out regarding links added to the register,” the press release said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
the first 24 hours of its existence, the site logged over 5,000 complaints
regarding offensive content, 96 percent of which were rejected after
consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Of
the initial complaints, 10 sites were kept on the list as they contained child
pornography, 40 complaints were passed to the drugs control authorities, and 23
to the consumer affairs watchdog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

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Researchers say Racist Internet Sites Breed Hate

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" src="http://www.voanews.com/flashembed.aspx?t=vid&id=1484399&w=640&h=360&skin=embeded" width="640"></iframe><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Mike O'Sullivan<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">American Sikhs have been mourning the victims of the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin - and are trying to comprehend an act that seems senseless.  The shooter's motives are unclear, but one organization that monitors hate groups points to the Internet as a breeding ground for racial hatred.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the Los Angeles suburb of Walnut, Sikhs and other community members gathered for a vigil to remember the victims of the Wisconsin shooting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some also tried to understand what motivated the accused shooter, Wade Michael Page.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">California temple member Nachhatar Singh Bhullar calls the act senseless.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"It could happen anywhere.  Somebody can come anywhere and do those things," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But researchers into hate groups say Page had ties to music groups with a white supremacist message and they speculate that his hatred sparked the rampage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Forty-eight-year-old Tim Zaal recognizes the message.  He came to the Sikh temple to offer condolences, but says he once viewed all dark-skinned people with hatred.  He spent a year in jail for attacking an Iranian couple and has been involved in other hate crimes.  In the 1980s, he was a skinhead and organizer for the neo-Nazi group White Aryan Resistance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The white racialist movement was moving into a different direction.  Rather than have all these great big organizations, they started to operate in these little cells," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And they started organizing online.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rick Eaton is a researcher on hate groups with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which monitors social sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and distributes an online research app - or application - to law enforcement agencies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He says a world of hatred, little seen by most Americans, thrives on racist music, epithets and symbols.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The name of the song is Keep Fighting, and it says their job is to keep fighting and if you don't, I'll kill you myself," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says through music and diatribes, the online sites spread ideas, attract revenue and recruits, and strengthen their commitment to a set of beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It's empowerment, its validation," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He says, for people on the fringe, the sites create the illusion of a mass movement.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are limits to what law enforcement can do in the absence of a crime, no matter how offensive the hate speech, says Teresa Carlson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Until somebody actually threatens, there’s a threat of force or violence, we can not open an investigation," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rabbi Cooper says companies that dominate the Internet need to do more.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The social networking on the Internet could and should be doing a lot more to marginalize the message, messages and messengers of hatred and intolerance and terrorism," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Meanwhile, the Sikhs of California are trying to understand how a quiet house of worship could become the scene of such a tragedy. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Researchers say Racist Internet Sites Breed Hate

By Mike O'Sullivan American Sikhs have been mourning the victims of the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin - and are trying ...

Facebook has been banned by Nepal Government

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Mobile Internet Overtaking Conventional Media in India

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Saraswathi Muniappan<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -– Smart devices are fast overtaking conventional media in India with 20 million of the estimated 48 million mobile Internet users having shifted 50 per cent of their newspaper and television time to their mobile screens.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They browse for entertainment, all categories of news, travel and sports content, a survey on Mobile Internet behaviour and usage study conducted by ViziSense, India’s leading online audience and ad measurement platform, revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of all mobile Internet users in India, 87 per cent are online on mobile every day and 70 per cent of the daily mobile Internet users fall in the age group of 24-34 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Almost half of these users go online through their cellphones every 2-3 hours and the duration of these visits is more than an hour. Almost 60 per cent of these users have been on this medium for over a year already,” said ViziSense in a statement.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Email and social media are the primary drivers of mobile Internet, said the study, which combined an online survey conducted with ViziSense India online panellists (Internet users with mobile phones) and recorded responses from 2,024 users who accessed the Internet through their cellphones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, consumption of content is starting to shift in favour of the two new screens -– Mobiles and Tablets -- and the categories which see frequent or daily consumption include News, Games and Entertainment, Travel, Education and Search, it said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">These users are also easing into mobile e-commerce with almost 80 per cent having performed some form of financial transaction through their mobile phone -– payment of utility bills, purchase of products and services -- and 28 per cent of mobile internet users have even used ‘mobile money’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The penetration of tablets, and rising demand for them, is keeping the IT and media industries excited. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The survey also revealed that 14 per cent of these users already possessed a tablet while another 60 per cent planned to buy a tablet soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The survey establishes two major trends: the shift in screens is for real, and English print is migrating to mobile phones through Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) sites and applications, especially around lifestyle, travel and sports content.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The survey also tracked the usage by the 18 per cent women subset within this group of Mobile Internet users, and found that women outscore men when it comes to accessing books or education, entertainment and travel-related content through their cellphones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">India has the world’s second largest mobile phone user base with over 929.37 million users as of May 2012. It has the world’s third-largest Internet user-base with over 121 million as of December 2011. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">-- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Mobile Internet Overtaking Conventional Media in India

By Saraswathi Muniappan NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -– Smart devices are fast overtaking conventional media in India with 20 million o...

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Computer Virus Could Leave Thousands Unable to Use Internet

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hundreds of thousands of people around the world could be in for an unwelcome surprise Monday, unless they check their computers now for malware that infected their machines a year ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The virus caused by Eastern European computer hackers will make it impossible to access the Internet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Facebook and Google, websites used by billions of people every day, are alerting users who they suspect may have infected computers. They also provide information on what people can do to fix the problem.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The hackers used an online advertising scam to take control of nearly 600,000 computers last year, harvesting information about users and directing them to fraudulent websites.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation smashed the computer ring and temporarily set up two Internet servers so that users can remain on line.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But that temporary fix will be closed down at 0401 UTC Monday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Along with Facebook, Google and some global computer security firms, the FBI can provide information on how to find out if your computer is infected and how it can be fixed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>

Computer Virus Could Leave Thousands Unable to Use Internet

By VOA News Hundreds of thousands of people around the world could be in for an unwelcome surprise Monday, unless they check their comput...

India: Kerala Leads List on Obscene Postings on Internet

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NEW DELHI  (NNN-PTI): Kerala is the most literate state in the country but when it comes to posting obscene articles or photos on the Internet, people from God's own country seem to be also on top, if one goes by government data.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">About 27 per cent (136) of the 496 cases of obscene publication registered in the country last year were from the southern state, topping the list in this regard<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Around 55 per cent of the 245 cyber crime cases reported last year were from Kerala.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the 'Crime in India 2011' report released recently by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Kerala is way ahead of Andhra Pradesh which came second with 52 cases followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with 40 cases each.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a list of 53 cities having a population of over one lakh, Kerala's commercial capital Kochi ranked fourth with 12 cases of obscene publication and was behind Bengaluru (19), Jodhpur (15) and Ludhiana (13). There were seven cases from Malappuram, five from Kozhikode and four each from Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram and Trissur among others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Keralites also used the cyber world to indulge in eve- teasing or harassing women with a motive in 85 cases registered, second only to Andhra Pradesh (98) in this connection. While 13 cases in Kerala related to settling scores, in 32 it was for money.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the all-India level, the report said cyber crimes went up by a whopping 67 per cent last year in the country while the number of those arrested for such incidents rose by 140 per cent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the report, the number of such cases touched 2,213 (registered under IT Act and IPC sections) in 2011 from 1,322 the previous year.-NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: Kerala Leads List on Obscene Postings on Internet

NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI): Kerala is the most literate state in the country but when it comes to posting obscene articles or photos on the Inte...

Internet Fair Showcases Innovation, Diversity

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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Internet Week Conference Tackles Information Overload<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Adam Phillips<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The atmosphere is electric at Internet Week New York’s headquarters in the city's trendy Soho neighborhood, as computer programmers, artists, entrepreneurs, investors and journalists browse and compare notes on the latest trends in the Internet industry. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I think that people who work in this industry are really, really vocal advocates for what they do," says Greg James of the global advertising agency, Cake. "There is a real passion about it. So you come to an event like this and you just feel in the room everyone wanting to talk to everyone else - people wanting to connect and learn more and really get onto the latest thing. So there is a sort of social one-upsmanship as well about this, which is great. You get that kind of competition and camaraderie.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With so many different types of devices connecting to the Internet and with online content proliferating, advertisers have to be more creative than ever in competing for consumer attention, according to James.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“They have to almost turn their marketing into value and extensions of products and services a lot of the time," he says. "Because people don’t necessarily want you hitting them over the head, telling them, ‘Buy more of this, buy more of that.’ They want to say, ‘Why should I buy more of it? Why should I buy more of it from you in particular? What is your point of view in the world and how are you going to deliver it for me?’ So actually, the worlds of advertising and technology are very closely aligned now.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Leyla Farah of Demand Media cooks up interest in her company's specialised websites at Internet Week New York.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Demand Media is a company that seems to embody that trend. It creates online articles, videos, slide shows and other online content for special interest websites and mobile phone users, and sells targeted advertising to companies that want to reach those niche consumers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“We provide content that is health and fitness related as well as mobile applications to help you quit smoking, to track your daily intake of calories if you are looking to lose weight or eat more healthily," says Leyla Farah of Demand Media’s display. "And we provide a community around that as well. So if you need help or you need encouragement, you can get all that in one place.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Farah’s company also publishes a popular instructional site Internet site called e-How that helps people with their home repair and other household projects as well as eHowMom, which caters to mothers.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to Farah, their Cracked.com site - part magazine, part social medium, and part advertising revenue generator - is one of the most popular humor sites on the Web.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The interesting thing about Cracked.com is the way the content gets produced," she says. "We actually have something we call a 'writers' room,' which has thousands of people pitching ideas into it and voting ideas up or down, so that we know that the ideas we’re going to write about already have gone through a process to vet them. Our audience has told us that before we even create the content.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some old fashioned trade show gimmicks can be found among Internet Week's high-tech displays. At the Vitamin T booth, there is colorful green candy, a photo booth and souvenirs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It draws people in to the booth. We are trying to get people to talk to us,” says Sharon Strauss says Vitamin T, a one-stop agency for “digital creatives” - the people who have flocked to Internet Week New York. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sharon Strauss is at Internet Week to spread the word about Vitamin T, a company which connects people with ad agencies, Web development experts and design help.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She explains how the year-old company does business.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"So an ad agency wins a brand new account and they are very excited to get this account, but they don’t have enough staff to handle that.  So they come to us and they hire Web designers and copywriters and production designers and Web developers, and we place them to handle that project. It’s fun.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition to the many small companies like Vitamin T, there are some industry giants here at Internet Week New York. Galileo Vieira is here to promote Hotmail. The pioneering free email service, founded in 1996 and acquired soon after by Microsoft, leads the industry with its 364 million registered users. But in recent years, critics have panned the service for its poor performance. Vieira wants to reintroduce Hotmail to this crowd.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Many years ago, the product wasn’t up to what people expected," Vieira says. "We had a lot of issues. So concerns around spam, concerns around storage size of the in-box, performance overall. So over the last year and half, two years, we fixed most of those problems, and we are really good at the fundamentals today. In addition, we’re tackling new problems.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For example, Hotmail engineers have developed a way to screen so-called “graymail" - bulk email that has been solicited, such as newsletters, discount offers and news alerts, but which can choke a user's in-box.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“So we are really out there to show off these features," Vieira says, "to tell folks, ‘We know what we did the past. We know why you folks aren’t using us, but give us a shot.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The approximately 500 companies and 40,000 attendees in attendance make Internet Week New York one of the biggest fairs of its kind.  The week's other offerings include mini-courses, the Webby Awards, art installations, lots of parties and seemingly endless networking -- online and face to face.---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Internet Fair Showcases Innovation, Diversity

Internet Week Conference Tackles Information Overload By Adam Phillips The atmosphere is electric at Internet Week New York’s headquart...

PA Leader Abbas Stands for Freedom of Speech via Internet

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">GAZA (RIA Novosti)--- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered an attorney-general to unblock websites, that were closed earlier for the criticism of the leader’s policies, and instructed against any crackdown on the freedom of expression and media, the Jerusalem Post daily reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">According to the Israeli daily, in the last two months security forces of the Palestinian Authority arrested at least nine Palestinian journalists, bloggers and activists fighting against corruption.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Palestinian leader Abbas “instructed the attorney-general to lift a ban on all electronic websites and to halt any measure that contradicts freedom of media and information,” the daily reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">According to the daily, Abbas’ decision comes after sharp criticism from the human rights organizations across the United States and the European Union.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

PA Leader Abbas Stands for Freedom of Speech via Internet

GAZA (RIA Novosti)--- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered an attorney-general to unblock websites, that were closed earlier for the cr...

Online Tool Launched to Preserve Hmong Language

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Almost every day, Chue Her sits down at his computer, pulls out his Hmong-English dictionary and starts typing 10 to 20 words into an online translator. He hopes his contribution to Microsoft's translation project will be the key to reviving the Hmong language that he worries is disappearing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I believe if we don't have the translation to keep in the computer like this, in the future, I believe 100 percent, the Hmong language will be gone. It will die out,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This 65-year-old spoke Hmong in his native Laos, but when he moved to Fresno, California in 1982 and began a family, the preferred language for his four children and 11 grandchildren began shifting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I am very worried right now my grandchildren do not speak Hmong,” he said. “So, I think it's a good opportunity for me to help my kids to learn.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Hmong are a minority tribal people native to the mountains of southern China and Southeast Asia. They sided with the Americans during the Vietnam War, and many ended up fleeing from the Vietnam-Laos border to the United States in the 1970s. Today, about 260,000 live in the U.S.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Project coordinator Phong Yang says the Hmong language has begun to disappear as more and more generations of Hmong are born and raised abroad.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Second generation Hmong children don't learn Hmong as much anymore or don't speak Hmong as well anymore,” said Yang, who teaches the language at California State University, Fresno. “We really want to find a way to come up with some sort of interactive tool and definitely make Hmong more visible to the public, even to speakers so they could be proud of their language.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When Microsoft approached Yang last year about making Hmong the 38th language in its online translator, he knew he needed to act on the project.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“We still have resources at this point for translation, but I would say within the next 15, 20 years, I mean, who knows what happens?” said Yang, who even admits his Hmong is not perfect.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By resources, he means the older generations of Hmong, like Her, who fluently speak, read and write the language.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is now an all-out, community effort to build this online tool. In order to expand the program's vocabulary, the native speakers must type in words, phrases and documents in Hmong and then provide the English translation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Microsoft Research's Will Lewis said the program uses a statistical model to translate based on the words entered into the program. Hmong is one of the first of the lesser-known languages Microsoft is rolling out as part of its translation project.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Hmong for a variety of reasons kind of percolated up to the top because there was a strong involvement from the community,” Lewis explained.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yang says the community volunteers have loaded about 40,000 words into the program — a good start for what is likely to be a long process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For volunteer Her, the time and energy is worth it. He is worried not just about the Hmong language, but about a fading culture and way of life. With a little help from technology, he hopes his history will be a part of his children's future. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Online Tool Launched to Preserve Hmong Language

Almost every day, Chue Her sits down at his computer, pulls out his Hmong-English dictionary and starts typing 10 to 20 words into an onl...

Facebook Mobile in Three New National Languages

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- Mobile phone users will soon be able to access Facebook in three new national languages, namely Hindi, Malay and Vietnamese via the "Facebook for Every Phone" application. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The application will also be made available in seven local Indian languages, namely Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali and Marathi. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The mobile application in Hindi and the phased-out launch in other languages will enable more people to connect and share, said Facebook Country Growth Manager Kevin D'Souza in a statement. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Earlier, users could access Facebook only in English. The application was originally launched in July 2011 and now works on more than 3,600 Java-enabled phones around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">India is the second largest market for the social networking website after the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are 800 million active users worldwide and 350 million of them access the Facebook on mobile devices. -- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Facebook Mobile in Three New National Languages

NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- Mobile phone users will soon be able to access Facebook in three new national languages, namely Hindi, Malay an...

Impact of Privacy Policy Changes by Google

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">New Delhi (PIB)--- The Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology Sachin Pilot, informed Rajya Sabha that Section 43A of the amended Information Technology Act, 2000 establishes a legal framework for data privacy protection in India. It mandates ‘body corporates’ to implement ‘reasonable security practices’ for protecting ‘sensitive personal information of individuals. The Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) rules, 2011 notified on 11.4.2011 under section 43A of the Act explicitly define ‘reasonable security practices’ and ‘sensitive personal information’. The rules mandate that body corporate must provide policy for privacy and disclosure of information, so that user is well aware of the type of personal data collected, purpose of collection and usage of such information. The rules also specify mode of collection of information, disclosure of information, transfer of information and reasonable security practices and procedures. All body corporate in India are required to comply with the provisions of the rules. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules prescribe therein requires the body corporate to publish the privacy policy. Google has published a Privacy Policy on their website. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Any change in the privacy policy is not within the purview of amended Information Technology Act, 2000. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Section 43A of the Act and the Rules notified therein reflect global principles of privacy and are similar to EU Data Protection Directive and provide means for effective implementation by establishing procedural / enforcement mechanisms such as requirement of yearly audit of by the Government approved independent auditor. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Certain media reports have appeared on changes in Google’s privacy policy. France’s independent privacy watchdog, the CNIL (nationale de I’informatique et des libertes) stated that the changes made do not comply with European law. Another report states that European Union (EU) feels the new privacy policy makes it impossible to understand which purposes, personal data, recipients or access rights are relevant to the use of a specific service. It may be mentioned that Privacy is a fundamental right in Europe. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rectification of conflict between Google, an US Company and European Directive on Data Protection is not within the purview of Government of India. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The new Google Privacy Policy provides information to the end users as to how their personal information is collected, for which it is collected, processed and secure. The end users, however, need to fully understand the privacy policy of Google, the consequences of sharing their personal information and their privacy rights before they start using online services. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Impact of Privacy Policy Changes by Google

New Delhi (PIB)--- The Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology Sachin Pilot, informed Rajya Sabha that Section 43...

Uzbekistan Blocks Its Wikipedia

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_N1WelYWuu5mfUXscEqxNdMnBuzAIdMwx7MYZBqjwvuQeWRa5goaebF0lDOGPWqcZYRZsLTRGOz2mUiNN7rIL7d6pFafu-HL0BDceaBGmCcq_ZLKfWNUL8mfbnxPOkQeQMBGHxONdX3s/s1600/168850611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_N1WelYWuu5mfUXscEqxNdMnBuzAIdMwx7MYZBqjwvuQeWRa5goaebF0lDOGPWqcZYRZsLTRGOz2mUiNN7rIL7d6pFafu-HL0BDceaBGmCcq_ZLKfWNUL8mfbnxPOkQeQMBGHxONdX3s/s320/168850611.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">© Photo wikipedia.org<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) --- Central Asia’s most populous nation of Uzbekistan has blocked access to Wikipedia in its language, regional media reported on Friday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Users trying to access Wikipedia in Uzbek from Uzbekistan have been redirected to Msn.com for the past few weeks, CA-News.org said. The site is accessible from outside the country, and the blockade does not include Wikipedia in other languages.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A spokesman for the country’s information and communication watchdog in Tashkent promised a comment when reached by telephone on Friday, but then stopped returning calls. Uzbekistan’s embassy in Moscow could not comment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uz.wikipedia.org had 7,876 articles as of Friday. Of the country’s 30-million population, almost 9 million are Internet users, according to the government’s statistics voiced in January.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Uzbekistan briefly blocked the entire Wikipedia twice before, in 2007 and 2008. The country is notorious for its online censorship, which landed it on the list of “enemies of the Internet” by Reporters Without Borders in 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Uzbekistan Blocks Its Wikipedia

Internet Pact Sparks Outrage Across Europe

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5v03hP6nOQA8Z_27JMrJoYaJEOYwbf3EYU2C6ZzC9F-wPoxcO4vg5EM-L4k8MqwbxwoF3lWdwbwlv1Jt-Sz9hqFe2J9-07uU96-K5Wfm59DboQX2myNmKgL3fFNBg720aRFZ5edyaD_I/s1600/5832282335_014552576b_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5v03hP6nOQA8Z_27JMrJoYaJEOYwbf3EYU2C6ZzC9F-wPoxcO4vg5EM-L4k8MqwbxwoF3lWdwbwlv1Jt-Sz9hqFe2J9-07uU96-K5Wfm59DboQX2myNmKgL3fFNBg720aRFZ5edyaD_I/s640/5832282335_014552576b_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/us-mission/5832282335/">flickr.com</a>/U.S. Mission Photo: Eric Bridiers</span></i><i><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" dir="RTL"><i><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Internet Freedom Fellows Meet with Human Rights Council Ambassadors<o:p></o:p></span></i></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Tens of thousands of Europeans braved bitterly cold temperatures to rally against a controversial treaty intended to protect intellectual property.<br />
<br />
Anger spilled into the streets of European cities, from <st1:city w:st="on">Sofia</st1:city> and <st1:city w:st="on">Vilnius</st1:city> to <st1:city w:st="on">Prague</st1:city> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Paris</st1:city></st1:place> to voice displeasure with ACTA, the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.<br />
<br />
The treaty had been under negotiation for years, and countries like the United States, Japan and South Korea say it is needed to protect the rights of musicians, filmmakers and even clothing and pharmaceutical companies.  But in the past few months it has come under increasing criticism from young people in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> who say it will lead to online censorship.<br />
<br />
Some protesters, like Jan Hulek in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Prague</st1:city></st1:place>, also voiced complaints over how the treaty has been ratified.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
"The main issue why I am here is because ACTA was accepted without people knowing it. We didn't know ACTA was going on and there should be discussion before we accepted it. There wasn't," Hulek said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
Others, like Act Up Paris President Frederic Navarro, say the treaty's negative impact will be felt throughout the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">"Eighty percent of Africans who have AIDS are treated with generic medicines made in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>. If this agreement [ACTA] is signed, they won't have any access to generic medicines and will die while the pharmaceutical laboratories are making profits on our lives," said Navarro.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Australia</span></st1:country-region><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Morocco</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Singapore</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Korea</st1:country-region>, and the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> signed ACTA this past October.  And more than 20 European Union members approved the deal last month.  But several countries, including <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>, have pulled back from officially signing onto the treaty as the protests have begun to intensify.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Last month, several of the world's best known Internet sites staged an online blackout to protest anti-piracy legislation before the U.S. Congress.  Critics at organizations such as Wikipedia and Google said the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) would censor the Web and threaten freedom of expression.<span class="apple-style-span"> ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Internet Pact Sparks Outrage Across Europe

Photo: flickr.com /U.S. Mission Photo: Eric Bridiers Internet Freedom Fellows Meet with Human Rights Council Ambassadors Tens of thousa...