Russia's social network site goes down... and 12 other Internet access stories

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 LogoAccess Express | 05/30/13

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Russia's top social network under fire

Russia's largest social network, VKontakte.ru, appeared briefly on the country's government banned websites blacklist last week, prompting concerns among bloggers that government censors were sending a threatening message to the Russian online community.

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Surveillance tech middleman fined for sale to Syria

The U.S. Department of Commerce fined Computerlinks FZCO, the Middle East/North African division of the multinational Computerlinks AG, for acting as the middleman between surveillance service Blue Coat and the Syrian government.

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Latin American civil liberties groups urge Europe to protect privacy

This week civil liberties groups from across Latin America sent a letter to the European Parliament, urging the Committee working on the Data Protection Regulation to protect the privacy of citizens around the world.

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India phone snooping scandal sparks privacy storm

Revelations that mobile network operators in the Indian state of Gujarat handed over data records on more than 93,000 phone numbers to police has created a public outcry.

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Cuban 'cybersalons' to offer a costly glimpse of the web

Cuban authorities said Tuesday that they would begin offering public Internet access at more than 100 cybersalons across the island, where residential access is greatly restricted.

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Tunisian blogger faces military court for critical posts

Tunisian blogger Hakim Ghanmi is being tried by military court for “undermining the reputation of the army”, “defamation of a public official” and “disturbing others through public communication networks” after he published a letter online.

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French authorities want to tap (and tax) Skype

Despite repeated requests, Skype has refused to classify itself as an electronic communications operator in France. Doing so could allow French police to intercept all Skype communications, while levying taxes.

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Details emerge in fight over U.S. secret national security wiretaps

The U.S. digital civil liberties group EFF summarizes its Kafkaesque journey through the secret U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in their attempt to access documents on the US illegal wiretap program.

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Danish police admit that data retention hasn't helped at all

Something's useless in the state of Denmark: legally mandated data retention. After half a decade of strict data retention laws, Danish police reveal that it has not helped them solve crimes.

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Algeria's emerging internet culture: hackers and visionaries

Global Voices excerpts interviews with young tech activists in Algeria, finding drive and vision slowed only by the snail pace of internet connection in the country.

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Network operators continue to undermine European net neutrality

More than 20% of European network operators include provisions for restricting services to customers. And despite ample evidence of ongoing discrimination, European regulators continue to take a 'wait and see' approach.

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French report recommends dumping 'three strikes' copyright law

French President Francois Hollande made it a campaign promise to eliminate the 'three strikes' copyright program. A new report, which suggests eliminating the HADOPI agency, opens the way for this to happen.

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British service provider BT dumps Yahoo! email after hacking claims

The British telco and ISP giant BT has decided to shift its six million customers from Yahoo! webmail following ongoing security challenges. Despite efforts by both companies, users continued to experience compromised accounts and spam emails.

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