A SOPA by any other name? the Monday Round-Up
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It's Emancipation Day in D.C., which, in addition to providing a few extra days to file your taxes, is a great opportunity to celebrate freedom. This week we're highlighting news related to Internet freedom and censorship, with a particular focus on a new House cybersecurity bill called CISPA.
- Decried as the new SOPA, a bill called CISPA would increase the U.S. government's ability to respond to cyber attacks. Facebook endorses it, but opponents worry that broad language in the bill could result in privacy violations.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great FAQ about CISPA, and offers an evaluation of Facebook's motivations for supporting the bill.
- TPM reports that other groups have looked at the text of CISPA and don't see much similar to SOPA or to get worked up about. LifeHacker evaluates why the big companies are pro-CISPA but anti-SOPA.
- Anonymous targets Boeing, Intel, and other corporations showing support for CISPA.
- Earlier this month, a new branch of the hacktivist group Anonymous attacked and defaced numerous Chinese websites. New posts and tweets reveal that Anonymous China's activities a few weeks ago were just a warm-up: the true goal is to take down the Great Firewall.
- The Guardian reports that Britain is found to be exporting surveillance equipment to countries with repressive governments, including Syria.
- Iran plans to shut down access to the World Wide Web and establish a national Intranet within five months.
- What makes Twitter social? This article evaluates methods of determining "how social" a Twitter account can be.
- Aqute Intelligence publishes a directory of the most important online tools for competitive intelligence research. Over 300 tools cover a variety of fields, including social media, government, and website monitoring.
- Analysis Intelligence takes a look at the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt with plenty of cool data visualizations.
- Notorious as a haven for cybercrime, Russia begins to audit ISPs that host illegal and copyrighted content.
- Cyber cafe operators in Kenya will soon be required to keep identifying data on their users in an attempt to reduce cybercrime. Civil libertarians are not impressed.
- Airports are increasingly using biometrics to catch terrorists and criminals, but the same technology is making it more difficult for intelligence operatives to remain incognito.
- The Stuxnet worm, responsible for sabotaging Iran's nuclear program, was reportedly planted by an Iranian double agent.
- The fourth undersea cable linking East Africa to the rest of the world goes live, further increasing access to the Internet and communications in the region.
- The UAE has signed a deal with telecommunications company Etisalat to embed citizens' national ID information into mobile phones.
- Be careful what you post on Facebook in Tunisia and Palestine: citizens were recently arrested for posting material the government considers "slanderous" and in "violation of morality."
- Just for fun: Anderson Cooper experiences another giggle attack during his RidicuList segment.
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