Stories about Technology from February, 2010
Trinidad & Tobago: Do The Math
Mango Media Caribbean does the Beyonce/bmobile math, following the recent concert in Trinidad: “Great product + poor planning – expert events management + huge advertising spend – marketing thinking =...
Russia: Sakha (Yakut) Language on the Internet
AskYakutia.com posts a Q&A item on the Sakha Wikipedia and the use of the Sakha (Yakut) language on the Internet.
China: Mobilizing mothers for censorship
On January 19th 2010, the Beijing Association of online media established a group called Mama Jury to censor obscene and pornographic information online. According to report from Southern Weekend, the...
China: Typology of GFW networks
GFWrev has an article (cn) with a bilingual graph explaining how the Internet censorship works in China.
China: Shanxi earthquake rumor
Ten of thousands people in Shanxi Qingxu evacuated to the street on 21 of February after midnight because of an earthquake rumor. (via ESWN)
Sri Lanka: Censorship And Pertinent Questions
Sanjana Hattotuwa at ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) blog discusses about the presidential order of “the suspension of a plan by Sri Lanka’s telecommunications regulator to censor anti-government websites” and raises...
Russia: Media Portal Undergoes Check For Extremism
The war on extremism became a universal formula used by Russian authorities to fight the freedom of online expression. Interestingly enough, this practice co-exists with ambitious projects of the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to modernize the country.
Latvia: “Cyber-Security ‘Killer Incident'”
Telecoms in Latvia reports that in order to “expose government waste, unjust wage differentials and possible corruption by analyzing data filed by state agencies and public sector,” individuals calling themselves...
India: Twitter In Social Activism
Pratham Books, a non-profit trust engaged in publishing of children books, informs in their blog how Twitter helped them to reach books of a mobile van to a number of...
Congo: The Coltan Conflict is in Our Hands (and Cellphones)
Coltan, columbo-tantalite, is a mineral used to make resistors in our cellphones, video games, computers and home electronics. Like blood diamonds, its mining has not only caused ecological damage, human rights abuses, but some say is also fueling the conflict in the Congo.
Belarus: State TV Accused of “Ripping a Whole Sitcom”
Belarus Digest reports that while the Belarusian government explains the recently-introduced internet regulations by the need to fight copyright law violations, the state-run TV is now being accused of “ripping...
The Balkans, Italy: Berlusconi's “Albanian Girls” Comment; Doctored Photo
Balkan Travellers re-posts a Balkan Insight piece about the Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi's comment that “his country would accept only pretty Albanian girls as immigrants.” Belgraded writes about the photoshopped...
Iran: Cyber Islamic Militarism on the March
The internet is usually touted as a space for dialogue and peaceful exchange, but in the case of Iran, the political conflict has also morphed into new forms of online "warfare" where the most powerful weapons are those that silence free speech.
Ghana: African programmers developing games for iPhone
In this post we are interviewing programmers Eyram Akorfa Tawiah from Ghana and Wesley Kirinya from Kenya who are co-founders of Leti Games, a Ghanaian start-up building games for the iPhone and other gaming platforms.
Macedonia: Official Website of Skopje Old Bazaar
Archaeological Diary informs [MKD] about the opening of the official website [MKD] for governmental Program for Revitalization of the Old Bazaar in Skopje, one of the most significant cultural treasures...
Ada Lovelace Day 2010
Ada Lovelace Day is an international initiative striving to increase content about achievements of women in technology and science, named after the world's first programmer Augusta Ada King, Countess of...
China: Online poll manipulated?
ESWN translated a forum post on a QQ.com online polling on GMO food. The writer noticed that within 2 hours at 2.am, the polling result changed from 36% pro VS...
Russia: Torrents.ru Is Suspended
The major Russian torrent (files exchange) service torrents.ru has been suspended due to investigation of copyright violations, RIA Novosty reported. The service continues to work via another domain.
India: 3G Disaster
“We should have had 3G services in India 3-4 years ago. But we took a detour to giving more 2.5G licenses since that could enrich the powers that make decisions...
Russia: Human Rights Activists’ Blogs
A list of links to Russian human rights activists’ blogs (RUS) – at Human Rights in Russia (hro.org).
Sri Lanka: World Bank And Web Censorship
“Will the World Bank indirectly support web censorship in Sri Lanka?” asks Sanjana Hattotuwa at ICT For Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) blog.
