El Marco Civil: An Internet Success Story
BY Jessica McKenzie | Wednesday, March 26 2014
Brazil--a new world leader of net neutrality and an open and free Internet? (Wikipedia)
Yesterday evening the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved the Marco Civil bill, which contains significant protections for net neutrality, user privacy and security, and freedom of expression. The bill is the product of years of work, including a public consultation period in 2009 and 2010. The day of the vote many Brazilians took part in a “compartilhaço” or “sharing storm” on social media, tagging messages of support for the bill #EuQueroMarcoCivil (#IWantMarcoCivil), which became a worldwide trending topic March 25, the day of the vote.
Read MoreFirst POST: Role Models
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, March 24 2014
Applicants to George Washington University have an unusual role model; Is Twitter public, or should you only quote tweets with permission?; the future of open government in Philadelphia; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Circumlocution and Circumvention
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, March 21 2014
Why everybody is talking about the NSA this morning; how Twitter and its users are responding to a crackdown in Turkey; how the Right is getting better at data-driven campaigns; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Sympathy for the Developer
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, March 18 2014
Is the lack of hierarchy, or "holocracy," what ails Silicon Valley?; WhatsApp promises to protect user privacy; MySociety gets to tell Parliament exactly what to do; and much, much more. Read More
A First: Reporters Without Borders Declares UK, US “Enemies of the Internet”
BY Jessica McKenzie | Monday, March 17 2014
Screenshot of a graphic from the Reporters Without Borders report
It's official: the surveillance activities of the NSA and the GCHQ have earned the United Kingdom and the United States a new title: “Enemy of the Internet.” They share the honor with the likes of China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Syria, among others.
Read MoreFirst POST: Dorian Mode
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, March 7 2014
Did Newsweek identify the wrong man as the inventor of Bitcoin?; defending Julian Assange from his critics; drone hobbyists get reason to rejoice; and much, much more. Read More
Surveillance in the Overlooked Corners of Africa
BY Jessica McKenzie | Tuesday, March 4 2014
Screenshot of Appelbaum and Marques
In the video below, filmed during the Oslo Freedom Forum in May 2013, Jacob Appelbaum breaks it to Rafael Marques, an Angolan investigative journalist and anti-corruption activist, that his laptop is being surveilled through a crude backdoor in spite of the fact that he is using Tor. He opens up a file where they can see all the images that have been stored and are waiting to be collected by the hackers. Appelbaum tells an understandably concerned Marques: “Every computer that's targeted is compromisable,”
Read MoreFirst POST: Launch Codes
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, March 4 2014
The latest on the Crimea crisis; Sen. Al Franken casts doubt on the Comcast-Time Warner merger; Vice, Brookings and GovLab all have new launches; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: The Internet Is...
BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, February 26 2014
Just how bad is the Internet's future?; Why Marc Andreessen is bullish about the future of news; how one upstart gubernatorial candidate is innovating online; and much, much more. Read More
Telegram: Viable WhatsApp Alternative from Russia, But Still Questionably Secure
BY Jessica McKenzie | Wednesday, February 26 2014
Telegram (U.S. National Archives/Wikipedia)
After Facebook bought the messaging application WhatsApp on February 19 for a whopping $19 billion dollars, the messaging app Telegram, a product of the “Russian Zuckerberg” Pavel Durov, surged in popularity.
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