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Government crackdowns on Internet dissidents and bloggers in the United Arab Emirates have finally come to a head. The government made sweeping changes yesterday to the laws that govern what the country's citizens can and can't do on the Web, according to the UAE state news agency WAM.

The most drastic of the changes is jail time for anyone who imitates or pokes fun at the country's leaders. According to WAM, the new laws "stipulate penalties of imprisonment on any person who creates or runs an electronic website or uses any information technology medium to deride … Read more

If a firm can generate billions of dollars in sales and only pay minimal tax rates, is it fair?

Reuters reports that executives from Google, Amazon, and Starbucks will be queried today by the U.K.'s Public Accounts Committee.

The questions that will arise are whether these firms are conducting themselves fairly in light of the current economic climate, and whether the amount of tax paid in the U.K. by each company is acceptable when they make millions abroad -- or use legal maneuvering to pay as little as possible when the taxman comes knocking.

The Public Accounts … Read more

New Zealand appears to be embracing Kim DotCom and the service he's creating to replace MegaUpload.

DotCom announced on Twitter that his new cloud-storage service will use a New Zealand-based domain: Mega.co.nz. DotCom attempted to use a domain name from the West African country of Gabon, but that country's administration last week ordered that the domain, Me.ga, be suspended.

DotCom didn't waste time in finding a new domain name.

"New Zealand will be the home of our new website: Mega.co.nz," DotCom wrote, adding that the site will operate within the … Read more

Online retailers will begin selling a 4.5-inch-wide Intel-branded desktop PC for do-it-yourselfers later this month.

The product name is a mouthful -- the "Next Unit of Computing," or NUC for short.

"It's geared more to home theater/home media center," said Intel spokesperson Dan Snyder. One usage scenario he suggested: slap it on the back of a wide-screen display (see photo below).

But note: as Anandtech points out, it is truly a bare-bones system aimed at DIYers. … Read more

Less than a week after Apple was rumbled by Reddit users for including code to hide a court-ordered apology to Samsung on its U.K. Web site, the code has now been removed.

The code forced visitors to scroll down the page in order to see an apology that Apple was ordered to display on its U.K. Web site for one month, by resizing the central image of the new iPad mini and "sticking" four separate product advertisements at the bottom of the browser window.

This meant that no matter how tall their browser window is or … Read more

We won't find the MegaUpload-replacement service anytime soon at Me.ga.

Kim DotCom, founder of MegaUpload, the cloud storage service accused in an indictment by the United States of being a pirate site and criminal enterprise, said last week that he would launch a new cloud-storage service in January designed to protect it from U.S. law enforcement. DotCom and MegaUpload have denied any wrongdoing.

As part of its defenses, the new site would use the Gabon-based domain .ga instead of the .com domain, DotCom announced. Not so fast, said Blaise Louembe, Gabon's communications minister.

According to the … Read more

Fake Instagram accounts for American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and JetBlue have been set up with the promise of free flights.

The accounts, @americanairlines_giveaways, @united_giveaways, @jetbluegiveaways, and @delta_giveaways, all work very similarly. They promise a free airline ticket or round-trip ticket to the first several thousand followers, which vary depending on the account.

The accounts have been pretty effective at garnering followers. Delta's fake account already has 21,000 followers after it promised a free trip for the first 20,000 people who followed and shared the account. Likewise, the JetBlue account has 20,000 followers. The American Airlines profile … Read more

Kim DotCom, the flamboyant founder of the now defunct MegaUpload, made news today by announcing the coming of Mega, a new cloud storage service that is similar to MegaUpload.

But with the launch of a service similar to MegaUpload, set for the first of the year, officials in the United States said that DotCom will have misled a New Zealand court and possibly violated the terms of his bail and opened himself up to new charges.

Last January, DotCom and six others linked to MegaUpload were accused in an indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney of operating MegaUpload as … Read more

Kim DotCom is once again making news and thumbing his nose at authorities.

DotCom told Reuters today that he will launch Mega, the son of MegaUpload, near the first anniversary of the police raid on his home and the shutdown of MegaUpload, a storage service accused of hosting millions of pirated movies, music and other digital media.

Police in New Zealand arrested DotCom last January at the request of the U.S. government, which has alleged in an indictment that DotCom and six associates are guilty of criminal copyright violations, conspiracy, and money laundering. DotCom and the other defendants deny … Read more