internet censorship

When Batman makes his triumphant return in "The Dark Knight Rises" at midnight on July 19, keep an eye on the evening skies if you live in San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., or London for an illuminated "cat signal" spotlight.

The cat's face, similar to Batman's infamous bat signal, stands for the Internet Defense League, and symbolizes a team that acts like the Super Friends of Internet freedom. The IDL's slogan: "Make sure the Internet never loses. Ever." … Read more

The Russian parliament has voted to approve a controversial bill that would see "illegal" websites blacklisted from the Web.

The bill proposed that websites that incited suicide or drug use, or offered 'extremist' material -- or any content deemed 'illegal' under Russian law -- could be added to a government-operated blacklist that would see the sites blocked to Russia's 145 million citizens.

Websites found breaching the law would have 24 hours to remove offending material, after which they would face blacklisting.

The bill was amended before today's parliamentary hearing to limit the threat of immediate blacklisting … Read more

In the tech news this week, Stephen and Brian bust me for buying an iPhone 4 on eBay to tide me over until there's a phone I really want--or until my Verizon contract is up. Nicole Lee joins us to talk about Nokia and Microsoft's new baby, the Lumia 800, and Sony's plans to get serious about making smart phones. Plus, stock advice from the gang, the coming nightmare that is the Stop Internet Piracy Act, and Computer Love.

China's long history of Internet censorship is what's best for the public, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters yesterday.

According to Reuters, which spoke with Yu in an interview published today, China believes that its "Internet management" is not only "lawful," but is designed to "safeguard the public."

"We are willing to work with countries and communicate with them on the development of the Internet and to work together to promote the sound development of the Internet," Yu told Reuters and other reporters that were at the press conference. &… Read more

Google is navigating tricky territory when it comes to working with government censors in China. CNET News editor Michelle Meyers talks to reporter Tom Krazit about the balance between the company's stated goal of making the world's information widely available and the requirement that all Internet companies doing business in China adhere to government regulations.

Plus, big job cuts at MySpace, and a service to help Web sites avoid blacklists and malware. All this and more on Tuesday's CNET News Daily Podcast. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

MySpace slashes head count by 30 percent… Read more

"The Internet represents freedom, but not everywhere."

So begins the annual "Internet Enemies" report by Reporters Without Borders--and that's probably the cheeriest line in the entire 39-page document. It goes down from there.

For the uninitiated, Reporters Without Borders is an anti-censorship watchdog organization. As blogs and news Web sites have grown in popularity, the group's focus has similarly migrated to the Internet. Unfortunately, the report again paints a grim picture of Internet freedoms in parts of the world where it says the authorities regularly chuck bloggers in jail for online posts that displease … Read more

I am sure that you were fearing censorship at these Beijing Olympics.

No, not censorship by the Chinese.

Censorship by those folks at NBC who would prefer you to watch what they want you to watch and, most specifically, when they want you to watch it.

Well, here I am live on a Friday night, freely watching NBCOlympics.com, and witnessing the quite glorious sight of a Chinese cyclist trying to mend his bike.

It looks to me as if his back wheel has suffered a case of the bends.

Looking beneath the screen, I see that his name is … Read more

Allowing journalists access to an uncensored Internet apparently isn't on the International Olympic Committee's list of things to do before the Beijing games begin next week.

A day after journalists learned their Internet activities would be limited, a senior IOC official admitted to Reuters on Wednesday that committee members had cut a deal to let the Chinese government block sensitive Web sites, despite promises of unrestricted access.

"I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on Web site access during games time," IOC press chief Kevan Gosper told Reuters, referring … Read more

The more you tell people they can't do something, the more they'll try to do it.

It's the same with drugs. It's the same with turning your cell phone off at the movies. And it's the same with censorship.

There are many journalists lifting their laptop lids in horror at discovering that the Chinese government is now dancing the censorship two-step.

After all, the journalists wail, the Chinese, when they were bidding for the games, promised open Internet access. They promised it would be 80 degrees and sunny every day, too.

However the Internet, just … Read more