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UK to fight terrorism via Internet censorship

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terrorism.gifSubjected to several terrorist attacks after supporting the U.S. against Iraq and Afghanistan, the UK government wants to curb terrorists materials scattered over the Internet.

Following the initiatives against online child pornography, the only possible way is filtering Internet content. However, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith did not cite the specifics of this plan.

However, it is only in China that Internet policing is enforced. Other countries tried this approach but the idea did not fly for it violates free-speech laws.

According to a news report, Smith disclosed the government is working closely with the Internet industry regarding the implementation of this plan. Britain’s Internet Service Provider Association, on the contrary, is afraid this might bring more lawsuits to the providers.

in spite of these potential problems, you cannot help but appreciate the effort of Smith and her tenacity to push the envelope.

Originally posted on January 18, 2008 @ 9:33 am

The Chinese Connection

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china-flag.gifThe Seattle Times columnist Peter Navarro blames the American business schools for not preparing business executives to deal with ethics in a corrupt and totalitarian global-business environment like China.

Moreover, he calls for much bigger discussion about how to engage economically and politically with China.

Such inadequacy has resulted to moral breakdown which was clearly demonstrated by Yahoo! when it helped the Chinese government put business journalist Shi Tao and pro-democracy blogger Wang Xiaoning behind bars for 10 years.

Navarro also cited that other American companies like Skype, Cisco, Google, and Microsoft are helping China censor the Internet.

I just want to add one important factor causing this moral breakdown – greed. With its online population surging and so many ongoing developments, the Chinese market is very profitable. Sharing little information in exchange for bigger deals is very tempting for many profit-driven companies.

Originally posted on November 19, 2007 @ 12:44 pm