In The News

China Space Program Makes US Anxious

Joshua Eisenman September 12, 2003
China plans to launch a man into space and eventually land on the moon. While such pursuits aim at heightening national pride and legitimizing the communist party's rule, they also spread fears over China's underlying intentions. Putting a man in space would confirm not only China's technological advance, but also its military capabilities, missile technology in particular. While...

Helped by Technology, Piracy of DVD's Runs Rampant in China

Chris Buckley August 18, 2003
Few Chinese wait for the latest American film to open in local theatres to see it on big screen. Thanks to the internet and computer technology, pirated films are readily available throughout China long before their scheduled premiers. Small, locally owned pirate stores have emerged in cities and towns across the country, catering to China's growing market for pirated DVDs and costing the...

Beijing is Losing the People's War in Cyberspace

John Gittings July 21, 2003
While Beijing spends hundreds of millions of dollars installing surveillance equipment to restrict access to “harmful” information, an emerging civil society is gaining more and more freedom. To this increasingly demanding and sophisticated public, it's a choice between hearing rumors on the street and “going on the web,” and they increasingly choose the latter. Moreover, the growing...

Welcome to the Grid: Unlimited PC Power at Your Fingertips

Alok Jha July 3, 2003
The internet changed the world by making information accessible to computer users across the globe. Now, the evolution of the internet will increase those global ties tenfold while changing the way the world solves problems. Most users of the internet currently download information from servers onto their personal computers, or PCs. They are limited in how they use that information by the power...

Is 'Wi-Fi' Good for Developing Nations?

July 1, 2003
Prioritizing internet access may prove more wasteful than helpful to developing countries, says technology analyst Bill Thompson. With computer companies touting the immense benefits of wireless technology for the world's poor – citing the importance of internet access for participation in the global economy and the utility of information on weather and crop prices to poor farmers and...

Iran Is Trying to Curb Porn and Politics on Web

Neil MacFarquhar June 29, 2003
The Iranian government is attempting to control the internet, the last refuge of unadulterated information – and pornography – in the country. Newspapers, television, and other forms of media have long been censored by the government, prevented from printing sexually explicit pictures and from criticizing the regime. Thus far, the internet has remained immune to such controls, with student...

Stem Cell Research Must Go Global

Roger Pedersen June 16, 2003
Like the internationally known Human Genome Project, stem cell research is attracting much attention because of the promises it holds for medical science. In this article, biomedical expert, Roger Pedersen, argues that in order to ensure success for this project, more international collaboration is needed. He emphasizes the importance of transparent communication and exchange, among researchers...