Del.icio.us - Internetfreedom (EN)

Apple has applied for a patent on a method to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized users of a particular iOS device. Once an unauthorized user is detected, the device can then automatically disable certain features or send notifications to Twitter or other services.

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a tool called Collage that will allow Internet dissidents to insert hidden messages into Twitter posts and Flickr images in order to circumvent the censorship measures imposed by oppressive governments.

Research In Motion (RIM) has offered India some access to BlackBerry instant messages, according to media reports citing government officials. Talks however continue on the Indian demand that its law enforcement agencies be able to also monitor enterprise email, the reports said. India said on Thursday that it will ask service providers in the country to ensure that some BlackBerry services should be made accessible to its law enforcement agencies by Aug. 31, or face a block of these services.

Research by Stanford University to investigate the privacy of the "private browsing" feature of many Web browsers suggests that the tools aren't all that private after all, and that many kinds of information can be leaked by browsers when using the mode.

Jordan has barred public sector workers from accessing more than 50 websites at work, after it was found they were wasting almost 3 hours a day online. The 30-day study found that public servants visited 70 million websites at work, of which only 130,000 were relevant to their jobs. The country's Information Minister, Marwan Juma, told BBC News that the policy would "improve services". "We knew there was waste, but not to this extent," he said. "These policies are not unique; when I worked in the private sector, all the companies I worked for had policies. "It's part of our attempts to improve services and get staff to use the internet as a tool to help them with their work." Mr Juma stressed that the blocked access would only be in place during office hours.

The rumors are true: Saudi Arabia has become the second country inside of a week to block access to Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices on grounds of national security.

After previous attempts to subvert the encryption, the UAE has now decided to simply ban sales of the devices.

The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.

The administration wants to add just four words -- "electronic communication transactional records" -- to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge's approval. Government lawyers say this category of information includes the addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user's browser history. It does not include, the lawyers hasten to point out, the "content" of e-mail or other Internet communication.

Internet censorship is alive and kicking in Turkey, with at least 5000 websites currently being blocked within the country. Some commentators estimate that number to be closer to 8000, whilst the official statistics are currently kept secret by the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB).

Reuters) - The BlackBerry, made by Canada's Research In Motion, is open to misuse that poses security risks to the United Arab Emirates, which said on Sunday it would seek to safeguard its consumers and laws.
Gulf state Bahrain in April warned against the use of BlackBerry Messenger software to distribute local news, drawing criticism from media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which called it an act of censorship.

A security researcher uncovered a flaw in Apple’s Safari Web browser that allows Internet sites to harvest personal information from visitors. The flaw, which exploits the Web browser’s “auto-fill” capabilities, allows Web sites to scrape information like the name, e-mail, address, phone number and place of work of the person who uses the computer, which many Macintosh users store in their digital address books.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea, one of the world’s most impenetrable nations, is facing a new threat: networks of its own citizens feeding information about life there to South Korea and its Western allies. The networks are the creation of a handful of North Korean defectors and South Korean human rights activists using cellphones to pierce North Korea’s near-total news blackout. To build the networks, recruiters slip into China to woo the few North Koreans allowed to travel there, provide cellphones to smuggle across the border, then post informers’ phoned and texted reports on Web sites.

A web hosting company has said it shut down a blogging platform that was home to over 70,000 bloggers because a "link to terrorist material" and an al-Qaeda "hit list" was posted to the site.

The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa, Malusi Gigaba, thinks that it's possible to ban online porn.