In The News

So You Think 7/7 Has Brought Britain and America Together? Think Again

Gerard Baker July 10, 2006
Gerard Baker, a British ex-pat living in the US, monitors the increasingly negative views of his countrymen towards the US. The British not only strongly dislike the Bush administration and its policies, but also target American society with their criticism. The British do not see President Bush as an aberration, but a symbol of American swagger. Since a lack of nuance is one of the...

Surveillance Disclosure Denounced

Peter Baker June 29, 2006
US President George Bush denounces “The New York Times” for publishing an article concerning the president’s secret anti-terrorism program that involves access, unapproved by US Congress or the courts, to bank records from nearly 8,000 banks in more than 20 countries. The paper also broke news earlier this year about a government telephone-surveillance program. Supporters of such surveillance...

China May Fine News Media to Limit Coverage

Joseph Kahn June 29, 2006
The Chinese government has long held power over media, but the controls were typically informal and not written into a law. A proposal from the Standing Committee of the legislature, however, would fine media outlets for reporting “sudden events” without prior authorization from the government. The government has not yet defined “sudden event,” but analysts expect that local officials will apply...

Why Keep Downloads on the Down-Low?

Victor Keegan June 20, 2006
Less than one percent of the information contained in the archives of the British Library has been digitized because of concerns about digital rights, reports Author Victor Keegan, and he points out how much more information could be available to the world. To Keegan, the current temerity in the digital rights arena is the true “digital scandal.” While businesses operating under the traditional...

Managing Globalization: Selling Globally, Pitching Locally

Daniel Altman June 16, 2006
Critics of globalization claim that the domination of global brands such as Coca-Cola and Nike has squashed local business and culture. Multinational corporations, however, find it more effective to play on local cultures in advertising their products. Technology allows advertisers to create more than 200 separate ads – changing colors of a flag or language of a greeting with a touch of a button...

Zarqawi Built Global Jihadist Network on Internet

Scott Shane June 9, 2006
Since April 2004, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted his first communiqué on a jihadist website, the militant leader has used the Internet as a successful and deadly tool. Creating a worldwide network, Zarqawi’s volunteers post messages from their leader and videos of militant acts, like beheading, on multiple servers to avoid delays in downloading, also making it difficult for the material to be...

Muslims Craft Their Own Video Games

Rhonda Roumani June 7, 2006
Syrian video-game pioneer Afkar Media is committed to a positive portrayal of Islam through new video games that feature Muslims and Arabs as heroes instead of villains. Their most recent release, named “Al-Quraysh” for the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad, is a strategy video game that follows the history of Islam from the viewpoint of the Bedouins, Arabs, Persians, or Romans. Instead of being...