In The News

Somalia in High Speed Internet “Culture Shock”

Moalimu Mohammed April 14, 2014
The extremist group al-Shabab had ordered a stop to internet services in Somalia, but that has not dented Mogadishu residents’ appreciation for newly installed high-speed internet, suggests one internet provider to BBC News. Following the threat by al-Shabab, “3G networks nationwide were turned off but the project to launch fibre optic cable services continued in the capital, reports Moalimu...

MH370 Amuses as Syria Suffers

Tony Burman April 1, 2014
The global audience appears to be more curious about the mystery of 239 people on board Malaysian Flight MH370 than the victims of the civil war in Syria – as many as 125,000 dead, including nearly 12,000 children, and millions of refugees as of December. Tony Burman, journalism professor, reviews the news coverage of a search by 25 nations for a missing jet versus the suffering in a refugee camp...

Media Under Attack From Hackers: Google Researchers

Jeremy Wagstaff March 28, 2014
Some countries block the internet for news they don’t like; others actively try to disrupt the computers of news gatherers. Journalists and news organizations are a frequent target of state-sponsored hacking attacks, suggests research by two Google security engineers, presented at the Black Hat conference in Singapore. “Both researchers declined to go into detail about how Google monitors such...

Turkey: Erdoğan Faces Twittering Opposition

Anna Beth Keim March 26, 2014
A desire for democracy – the ability to select one’s representatives, but also engage in informed debate on policies with compromise – may slowly take root in Turkey. Spring protests in Gezi Park gave way to harsh crackdown, a government corruption investigation in December and active debate over Twitter since, including leaks of recordings that led to resignations of ministers and growing...

Bloomberg Should Have Rethought Articles on China, Chairman Says

Neil Gough March 21, 2014
The chairman of Bloomberg L.P. waved a white flag over news coverage on China – and suggested that investigative journalism is inappropriate for a company that sells expensive business terminals. Peter T. Grauer’s comment as reported in the New York Times – “Our approach is pretty much to tune out all the news about weaknesses in the emerging markets” – implies that the company can sell a product...

Turkey's President Gul Challenges PM's Move to Ban Twitter

Rory Cellan-Jones March 21, 2014
Those who try to shoot messengers often appear guilty, frustrated and infuriated about getting caught. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to wipe out a social-media site and “took action against Twitter after some users had posted documents reportedly showing evidence of corruption relating to his office – a claim he denies,” reports Rory Cellan-Jones for BBC News. “His spokesman said Mr...

Why You Should Embrace Surveillance, Not Fight It

Kevin Kelly March 20, 2014
Monitoring and surveillance by corporations and government will be the norm by 2060 if not now. “The internet is a tracking machine,” writes Kevin Kelly. “Everything that can be measured is already tracked, and all that was previously [unmeasurable] is becoming quantified, digitized, and trackable.” Kelly argues that human propensity to share trumps privacy. Individuals can improve by learning...