In The News

Online Technology Challenges Censors – Part II

Bruce Judson October 25, 2010
More goes online in a day than one person could read in a lifetime, and that includes some of the million books released each year by publishers around the globe. This YaleGlobal series explores the challenges for authoritarian regimes in monitoring the internet’s new levels of information overload. In the second article of the series, author Bruce Judson describes how digital technology...

Iraq War Logs: UN Calls on Obama to Investigate Human Rights Abuses

David Batty, Jamie Doward October 25, 2010
After the online release of nearly 400,000 documents from the Iraq War, the UN's chief investigator on torture has called for an investigation. Notably the documents reveal a higher number of civilian deaths than admitted publicly by the US military; chaos with military reliance on security contractors; and increasing Iranian influence in Iraq. Individual soldiers reported incidents of abuse...

Online Technology Challenges Censors – Part I

Johan Lagerkvist October 22, 2010
When the internet arrived, China eagerly grasped the tool for joining global business, connecting its citizens and influencing attitudes. But China now finds that it’s impossible for any nation to both use the internet to influence the globe and restrict messages to a single ideology. This two-part YaleGlobal series examines the challenges awaiting those who strive for censorship. In the first...

Internet Users to Exceed 2 Billion by the End of 2010

October 22, 2010
One of three people on earth now accesses the internet, and the bulk of new users are based in developing nations, reports the International Telecommunications Union in a BBC report. The developing world, with 20 percent users online, still has far to go in catching up with developed nations, where 70 percent are online. In some parts of Africa, the price of connecting far exceeds monthly wages....

Extremist Websites Booming, But Hard to Police

Michael Holden October 6, 2010
The internet is a double-edged sword for militant extremists – the websites propaganda and chats stir hate and recruitment, but also leave trails for law-enforcement agencies. Like the internet itself, extremist sites expand their content and reach. A seven-person counterterrorism unit in London relies on tips on sites that pose threats from the public and other police agencies for investigations...

How to Completely Disappear From the Digital Grid

Katie Kindelan September 27, 2010
Criminals are not alone in hiding internet tracks. Routine users increasingly resist every impulsive, curious click of the keyboard analyzed and exposed by others. The book – “How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails and Vanish Without a Trace” – offers advice on privacy. Many users already use false names to explore news or post queries. But authors Frank Ahearn and...

China's Row With Japan Threatens to Escalate

John Garnaut September 20, 2010
The collision of a small fishing vessel with a coastal patrol vessel of another nation should be a minor incident with a quick resolution. But common sense doesn’t prevail when politicians and media of either nation have long stoked nationalistic fervor among their citizens. A September collision, in waters with ownership disputed by China and Japan, immediately ignited anger, calls for military...