internet

"Amnesty International has warned that the internet "could change beyond all recognition" unless action is taken against the erosion of online freedoms.

The warning comes ahead of a conference organised by Amnesty, where victims of repression will outline their plights.

The "virus of internet repression" has spread from a handful of countries to dozens of governments, said the group.

Amnesty accused companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo of being complicit in the problem." -- Read more

The Amazon rainforest -- one of the oldest darlings of environmental activists -- has a new prescription for protection that couldn't have been possible in the early days of its plight. The Brazilian government recently announced that they will make free satellite internet available to native Indian tribes throughout the Amazon region as a way to enhance monitoring, management and conservation efforts.

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Making knowledge accessible to all helps solve problems, and prevents loss of knowledge -- tbuitenh

"ICANN may be trying to become the Net's 'word police,' believes the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC).

ICANN's policy council, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), wants string selection criteria that would prevent the registration of a new gTLD string containing a controversial word or idea, says Blogger News Network.

With that in the background, ICANN's NCUC says it's submitted a proposal to protect freedom of expression and innovation in the introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs)."

"The February 13 proposal would essentially make ICANN the arbiter of public policy and morality in the new gTLD space, "a frightening prospect for anyone who cares about democracy and free expression," says Robin Gross, executive director of IP Justice, an NCUC member organization.

"Yet now governments and corporations around the world are making a concerted effort to dismantle the open internet and replace it with a regulated and regulable one that will allow them to impose an "architecture of control".

The freedom of expression that was once available to users of the Internet Protocol is being stripped away, and our freedom to play, experiment, share and seek inspiration from the creative works of others is increasingly restricted so that large companies can lock our culture down for their own profit.

If a closed network is built then the losers will be those who want to use the net freely, to share information across borders, to explore ideas or challenge institutions.

"The myth of the borderless Internet, never very credible to those who had any real understanding of the interplay between politics and technology that underpins the network, took another hit last week when the US Congress voted to ban bank and credit card payments to gambling firms.

If President Bush signs the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law, as he is expected to do, then within months US credit card companies and banks will be forced to check for and refuse payment for most forms of online gambling."

"The internet has always been a bordered network, and we ignore this geopolitical reality at our peril.