Not satisfied with the big battle that was Draw Mohammed Day and blocking the web, Pakistan are once again whining about other peoples views of Islam and what they deem blasphemy.

First off, Mark Zuckerberg is probably wiping a bead of sweat from his brow as news comes that Pakistani courts are looking into a blasphemy charge against him that could result in death for the Facebook founder.

Zuckerberg is being charged under the Pakistani penal code Section 295-C, which goes on to say: “Use of derogatory remark etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet, whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable for fine.”

While Zuckerberg had not in his wildest thought of representing the Prophet in a derogatory manner, his website was used to do so – and thereby making him a party to the offence.

TechTree

Not only are they completely over reacting, they are now monitoring and blocking content on Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and Bing.

A spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said “If any particular link with offensive content appears on these websites, the (link) shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the main website.”

A spokesman for Google responded, saying Google will be monitoring how it affects their services. “”Google and YouTube are platforms for free expression, and we try to allow as much … content as possible on our services and still ensure that we enforce our policies.”

Despite the order being official, local journalists have been unable to get copies of it from the Ministry of Information Technology, which has already begun the process of barring and monitoring the various sites.

The Telegraph

Pakistan, seriously, get over it and stop being jerks.

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You might remember (here and here) about the drama surrounding Everybody Draw Mohammed Day and Pakistan.

Well, Bangladesh has followed Pakistan and is now blocking Facebook, as well as arresting at least one man for “spreading malice and insulting the country’s leaders”.

A spokesman for the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) told AFP Facebook had “hurt the religious sentiments of the country’s majority Muslim population” by carrying “offensive images” of Mohammed.

“Some links in the site also contained obnoxious images of our leaders including the father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the leader of the opposition,” said the commission’s acting chair, Hasan Mahmud Delwar.

On Saturday, one man was arrested by the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Dhaka and charged with uploading the images.

“Facebook will be re-opened once we erase the pages that contain the obnoxious images,” said Mr Delwar.

BBC

Can you imagine what would happen if the police started hunting down people who insulted our government?! Ahem.

A gentleman on youtube, who goes by the handle thunderf00t, has called the Draw Mohammed Day event an epic win for free speech.

Video:

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Wow, the man knows how to make a speech. Check out his channel for more.

All this e-drama has given some clever boys the opportunity to create a rival Muslim themed Facebook style site called Millat Facebook.

And due to the blockages, they’ve got a captive audience.

The site is currently down, with a message on its front page:

Dear Brother/Sister, !! CONGRATULATIONS & Salam to all: Over 83,000 Muslims already United as One Millat/Ummah at MFB. We are doing a server upgrade to ensure high speed for all our Muslim Community. This upgrade may take 48 hours. ……MFB Team Salutes all of you who are doing efforts to make MFB successful and a United platform for Muslims across the Globe………..We Aim to make our Millat/Ummah more stronger……Thanks for your cooperation. Let us tell Mark Zuckerbucker [sic] that does not matter how many DDOS attack and hack attempts he do, we will prove him, what we can do when we are united as One Ummah/Millat……………………………………………………Kindly pray for us and……………………..Please check us back after 24 hours.!

So, the social networking thing is not as easy as it sounds is it? I’d be more likely to bet an influx of users is why they are down,instead of imply that the great satan, Mark Zuckerberg is behind their downtime.

Many users are critical of the site, saying it is a lame attempt at cashing in on the internet lockdown and that the entire web experience on the site is severely lacking. Badly put together features are being reported, but, as I say, I can’t sign up and show you, the site is down.

Fair play though. If they feel so strongly about Mohammed images on the site, they are totally right to try and get their own site up and running.

It just remains to be seen if it will be any good or if this message: “A site for Muslims by Muslims where sweet people of other religions are also welcome!!” will be followed through.

You can try and view the site here.

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Their names are at the end a letter calling on the House of Lords to look at their decision to adopt an amendment to the digital economy bill.

Letter:

Sir, We regret that the House of Lords adopted amendment 120A to the digital economy bill (“Bill will censor internet, providers claim”, March 6). This amendment not only significantly changes the injunctions procedure in the UK but will lead to an increase in internet service providers blocking websites accused of illegally hosting copyrighted material without cases even reaching a judge. The amendment seeks to address the legitimate concerns of rights-holders but would have unintended consequences that far outweigh any benefits it could bring.

The Lords have been thoughtful in their consideration of the bill to date. It is therefore bitterly disappointing that the House has allowed an amendment with obvious shortcomings to proceed without challenging its proponents to consider and address the full consequences. Put simply, blocking access as envisaged by this clause would both widely disrupt the internet in the UK and elsewhere and threaten freedom of speech and the open internet, without reducing copyright infringement as intended. To rush through such a controversial proposal at the tail end of a parliament, without any kind of consultation with consumers or industry, is very poor lawmaking.Endorsing a policy that would encourage the blocking of websites by UK broadband providers or other internet companies is a very serious step for the UK to take. There are myriad legal, technical and practical issues to reconcile before this can be considered a proportionate and necessary public policy option. In some cases, these may never be reconciled. These issues have not even been considered in this case.

We are particularly concerned that a measure of this kind as a general purpose policy could have an adverse impact on the reputation of the UK as a place to do online business and conflict with the broader objectives of Digital Britain. This debate has created tension between specific interest groups and the bigger prize of promoting a policy framework that supports our digital economy and appropriately balances rights and responsibilities. All parties should take steps to safeguard this prize and place it at the heart of public policy in this area.

Tom Alexander,

Chief Executive, Orange

Richard Allan,

Director of Policy EU, Facebook

Neil Berkett,

Chief Executive, Virgin Media

Matt Brittin,

Managing Director, Google UK and Ireland

Charles Dunstone,

Chairman, Talk Talk Group

Stephen Fry

Jessica Hendrie-Liaño,

Chair, Internet Services Providers Association

Jill Johnstone,

International Director, Consumer Focus

Jim Killock,

Executive Director, Open Rights Group

Mark Lewis,

Managing Director, eBay UK

Ian Livingston,

Chief Executive, BT Group

Sarah Oates,

University of Glasgow

Jenny Pickerill,

University of Leicester

Mark Rabe,

Managing Director, Yahoo! UK and Ireland

Paul Reilly,

University of Leicester

Jess Search,

Founder, Shooting People independent film makers

Ian Walden,

Queen Mary, University of London

Tom Watson MP

Found here: Chris Marsden’s blogspot

It’s been all over the radio, the papers, blogs and sites around the world.

China has severely pissed off Google and may be pulling its operations out of the country.

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The move won’t affect Google too much. Baidu seems to be a much more popular search engine there. Previously Google had come under fire for censoring material and co-operating with the Chinese government. The more popular Baidu is not without these sins either, as in 2009 documents leaked by an employee showed all sorts of dark censorship practices.

Googles reaction to the Chinese Goverment  follows on from cyber attacks that threatened Gmail users. The plan seems to have been to attack activists using trojan software.

From the Google blog :

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different.
First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.
Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.
Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.

You can read the full post here.

Google is out and out saying the Chinese government are evil and behind the attacks. But the feeling around the web is just that.

Google have gotten great support in China for throwing down the gauntlet against the government and censorship by Chinese people in Beijing.

Bei Feng, a blogger who led a campaign to abolish the firewall, said losing Google would be a big blow. However, he and many others like him would likely use proxy servers to continue accessing their products.
“I admire Google’s decision a lot,” said Bei, whose e-mail account has been hacked into in the past. “Obviously it is a huge loss for Chinese Internet users. Sometimes such a price has to be paid for the long term. It’s a huge slap in the face for the Chinese communist party. I think they will try to retaliate.” LA Times

In the next few weeks Google will be talking to the government about allowing searches without censorship, and if the talks fall through, that could be the death of google.cn.

The move is an important one.

What next?  My hope, and expectation, is that Google engineers who might have been a bit halfhearted about implementing censorship mandates in google.cn could be full-throttle in coming up with ways for Google to be viewed despite any network interruptions between site and user.  There are lots of unexplored options here.  They’re unexplored not because they’re infeasible, but because most sites would rather not provoke a government that filters.  So they don’t undertake to get information out in ways that might evade blockages.  Here, Google would have nothing more to lose, so could pioneer some new approaches.  Circumvention of filtering (or other blockages, for that matter) tends to happen on the user side of things, seeking out proxies like the Tor network, or anonymizer.com.

Jonathan Zittrain, Future of the Internet

The Obama administration has come out in full support of Google according to the Telegraph.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, demanded “an explanation” for Beijing of Google’s allegation that its Gmail email system was infiltrated. “The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy,” she said. Robert Gibbs, Mr Obama’s press secretary, emphasised that the President backed internet freedom and said that Google had co-ordinated with the Obama administration before it had acted.

The cyber attacks have strained relations further between China and the U.S.

Next week, the U.S plans on launching new technology that could help censored nations gain unfiltered net access.

Many people around the web who had previously criticized Google over its Chinese business have come out in support of the company.

“Through international pressure, finally a big business in the West has come to realise its own conscience,” said the prominent Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng who lives in exile in the United States after 18 years in prison in China.

“Some Western businesses thought that by making compromises with the Chinese communists’ regime, they could do business as they wished.

However, this is impossible because the Chinese government would not be satisfied.”

This is a big one, and we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

China censors sites in build up to Tiananmen Square anniversary

Blogger, Bing, Hotmail and Twitter have all been blocked by China as the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre looms.

According to The Guardian, up to 6000 forums have also been blocked.

The Great Firewall of China is what RRW is calling it.

Bruno and Eminem Row staged?

The MTV Movie Award stunt that had “Bruno” fly ontop of Eminem was more than likely a stunt.

Scott Aukerman,  a comedy writer working on the awards, posted on his blog saying it was all staged and rehearsed.

The blog post has since been removed, and neither Aukerman, his manager, Eminem or Cohen have responded.

PSP Go details leaked

Qore, a sony subscription magazine, leaked the info on the 31st of May.

The re-design is supposed to have bluetooth and 16gigs of flash memory.

Worryingly, it has no UMD drive, and there are no details on how existing PSP owners can transfer their games to the unit.

As some users have stated on SkiesOfCroda (a monster hunter site), the layout change may be a pain for some games.

The PSP Go may be out in time for Xmas.

Windows 7, Coming October 22nd

Microsoft has been pushing Windows 7 tests a fair bit lately, and many sites have been picking the unreleased operating system apart, so we aren’y exactly shocked that its coming before Xmas.

The big news is we finally know the date, October 22nd.

Haven’t tested it yet, but SOJ has, and I trust his general opinion of “Its pretty sweet”.

He is a Mac fan after all.

Rape Game finally banned in Japan…Kinda…

Japans Ethics Organization of Computer Software met today to discuss games such as “Rapelay” and whether they should continue being made.

The Org, which consisted of many members of erotic game makers, decided that no, the games were rape is the objective, should not be any manufacture or sale of them.

The move isn’t an official government decision or legal decision, it is purely a self governing policy of the EOCS.

The game “Rapelay” was discovered and sped around the western net, even though it was 3 years old. There have been numerous discussions on the game and its type and the noise was heard in Japan.

Twitter and Psychics

Twitter is all set to test out psychics. Yes, those twits are ready to delve into the supernatural world and test in 140 characters or less, if there is anything spooky out there.

According to the MailOnline:

Thousands of members of the public will be asked to ‘Tweet’ their impressions of a randomly chosen spot in the UK visited by one of the researchers.

Professor Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire hopes around 10,000 twits will participate in the first “scientific” experiment using the popular social networking tool.

One user is a little worried :

Natalie Dylans Virginity is back on the auction block

The man who bid $2.5 million to bed Natalie Dylan has “pulled out” of the deal. (ahem).

Supposedly his wife caught wind of the whole thing and surprisingly she wasnt happy about it.

He loses his $250,000 deposit. The buyer was an Australian businessman.

The student, who famously put her virginity up for sale, is now starting all over again (now $250,000 richer), with bids starting at $50,000.

MCD talk now back on Boards.ie

As most Irish net users know, for some time Boards.ie had notices banning and discussion of MCD, MCD gigs and events etc.

This was due to legal action taken by the concert promoters.

As of the 30th of May, discussion has been allowed for MCD events again.

The move comes after a recent High Court ruling in this case. *WaRnInG- Link contains legal mumbo jumbo*

Any discussion of the case between Boards and MCD is still banned, as its an ongoing case, and any libelous comments from users will be deleted and acted on by the moderators of the site.

If it was my site, i wouldn’t allow any further discussion of the concert promoter or their gigs, not from a legal point of view, but more out of bitterness and not wanting them to get any free rides in being discussed or advertised.

Still, the owners of Boards are obviously bigger people than I.

Fair play to them, and good luck in the future.

Link to announcement.