In The News

A Dispatch Disaster in Six Acts

Christian Stöcker September 2, 2011
More than 250,000 US State Department cables were released to WikiLeaks and, starting in November 2010, gradually published in newspapers around the globe with the understanding that sensitive details, including names of informants, would be redacted. Under the threat of denial-of-service attacks and censorship, WikiLeaks staff released password-protected copies of the cables to supporters. Not...

Blinded by Science

Timothy Caulfield August 26, 2011
The unscrupulous know the desperately sick will risk all for potential cures. Experimental stem-cell treatment is but the latest quest in medical tourism, propelled by the internet and social media. Patients with autism, Alzheimer’s and other conditions travel to China, India or Central America seeking treatment from providers “generating false hope, robbing families of their resources, and...

The War on Web Anonymity

Marcel Rosenbach, Hilmar Schmundt August 11, 2011
Internet users, like patrons at a library or a grocery store, value privacy and cringe about how reporting even a few choices may influence advertisers, insurers or creditors to make incorrect assumptions about an individual’s health or career prospects. Internet companies, politicians and law-enforcement agencies, even in democratic societies, though express concerns that anonymity leads to...

Bollywood Sets Sights on Wider Market

Shabnam Mahmood, Manjushri Mitra July 13, 2011
Unlike the Academy Awards, historically hosted close to home in Hollywood, the Indian International Film Academy roves around the globe. In its 12th year, the IIFA awards event will be held in the Americas for the first time: “Toronto, home to a prestigious international film festival of its own, is seen as a fitting launch pad for world cinema hoping to gain a foothold in the US market,” report...

The Fall of the House of Murdoch

Jonathan Schell July 11, 2011
A scandal at the News of the World – particularly a report that the newspaper oversaw hacking and erasing phone messages of a 13-year-old abduction victim, later found murdered – has outraged Britons. The Guardian uncovered that the News of the World, before closure, targeted 4000 voicemail accounts of celebrities, crime victims and soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, reports researcher...

Driving Campaign for Saudi Women Challenges Custom

Mohammed Jamjoom June 21, 2011
An Arab Spring may be coming to Saudi Arabia on wheels. Saudi women take to the streets, not for political protests but the right to drive. “Though there are no traffic laws that make it illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, religious edicts are often interpreted as a ban against female drivers,” reports Mohammed Jamjoom for CNN. In May, one female driver was detained for a week and had to...

African Jitters Over Blogs and Social Media

Karen Allen June 17, 2011
The Arab spring uprisings let loose a cry over social media and on the streets for better governance. African governments have since turned to any means necessary to censor criticism in blogs or social media, reports the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, working with Google’s South Africa office. Of the Africans with internet access, 80 percent rely on mobile phone, reports BBC’s...