Tech Stream
Archive for the ‘ Censorship’ Category
Tech Stream 053
21 May 2010
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Is using a mobile phone like this actually safer than we think? (Flickr: André Hengst, aka Vectrus)
In the Tech Stream this week we’ll revisit the privacy and safety debate around the use of social networking websites like Facebook; hear about new research into the link between mobile phone use and cancer; get the inside picture on internet censorship in China; and while we all love the TV program Good Game, are games… good? Listen to the radio program via the MP3 link above, or read on for more information.
Tech Stream 040
19 February 2010
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Phones on display in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress. Photo by Jon Jordan from Flickr.
We head to Barcelona, Spain, this week for the GSM Mobile World Congress. We’ll find out why Google and Microsoft captured all the headlines and check out the handsets likely to make an impact in Asia. We also ask why Al Jazeera wants you to mashup their video content and test-run the web game the whole family can’t play – Chatroulette. It’s so hot right now. Plus the Multimedia Content Bill in Indonesia that has the country’s bloggers and media activists crying “censorship!” …and Hex returns with a review of Bioshock 2. More details after the jump or dive right in with the MP3 link above.
More technology news from the week
12 February 2010
There was plenty of technology news this week which we ran out of time to cover in the radio program. There was the story about the Queensland gamer who will have to pay Nintendo AU$1.5million in damages (negotiated in an out of court settlement) after illegally copying one of its games and uploading it to the internet. More in this article from ABC News and this story from ABC Radio’s PM program: Nintendo fan pays dearly for illegal sharing. It got plenty of coverage outside Australia too with some people wondering whether the punishment fitted the crime.
You may have heard us chatting on RA Today this morning about the latest social networking tool from Google which they are incorporating into their Gmail system. It’s called Buzz and it’s created some quite negative buzz online, with concerns that it violates user’s privacy. More details on the service in plenty of articles online, like this one from CNET. ZDNET Asia reports that Google announced some changes to it on Thursday which will make it easier to hide their details from public view.
And government websites in Australia came under attack this week from internet protest group Anonymous. Their assault, dubbed comically “Operation Titstorm”, featured a co-ordinated DDoS attack on the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s homepage. The parliamentary website was also crippled for over an hour. Anonymous are angry at the federal government’s plan to introduce a mandatory internet filter this year which would block access to sites, like those containing certain types of pornography or illegal activities, that are deemed to have been “refused-classification” in Australia. Hungry Beast covered this in a program segment on ABC TV this week: How To Wage Titstorm and more details on this story are here on ABC News Online.
At almost the same time Stephen Conroy, the minister responsible for implementing the ISP level filter, was having meetings with Google to ask them to censor content on You Tube. The SMH reported that Google said that it “had a bias in favour of freedom of expression in everything it did” and that “YouTube has clear policies about what content is not allowed, for example hate speech and pornography, and we enforce these, but we can’t give any assurances that we would voluntarily remove all Refused Classification content from YouTube”. Senator Conroy defended making the request, saying “in Australia, these are our laws and we’d like you to apply our laws”. Needless to say this story made headlines across the world.
For more technology news remember to follow our Tech Stream twitter feed. And let us know about any stories you find that might be of interest to cover here or in the radio program. You can email me at techstream (at) radioaustralia.net.au
Tech Stream 036
22 January 2010
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Flowers lay on a sign at the entrance to Google’s China headquarters in Beijing’s university district. Photo by Josh Chin from Flickr.
We’ll be looking forward, on this the first Tech Stream radio program of 2010, at the gadgets, technology trends and ideas set to dominate over the next twelve months. We also wrap up some of the news around Google rethinking its strategy in China, which may involve it pulling out of the country altogether, and find out why governments in Europe are advising their citizens to abandon Microsoft’s popular web browser. Follow the MP3 link above to hear the program or continue on for more…
Tech Stream 020
3 July 2009
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Micro-USB connectors, already in use for charging some mobile phones, are set to become a standard for all.
We heard back in February that the worldwide mobile industry had at last decided on the connection format for a universal charger compatible with all mobile phones. Its good news for you and me because we don’t have to keep an assortment of chargers on hand, or get a new type when we upgrade our phone. But its even better news for the environment, with less of this kind of electronic waste finding its way into landfill.
That’s coming up in the Tech Stream today, plus the future of e-books and publishing in the digital age… and the intersection between virtual and real economies. Full details after the jump.
Tech Stream 019
26 June 2009
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QR coded jewelry – photo from Flickr by Fluid Forms.
We’re blurring the lines between the virtual and the physical this week in the Tech Stream. We’ll be speaking about augmented reality with Christy Dena, a cross-media researcher and Professor Bruce Thomas from the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia.
This leads us into a discussion on Quick Response or “QR” Codes which are being used in advertising as well as augmented reality games. Antony McGregor Dey from QMCodes and Mobile Mondays Melbourne will get us up to speed with this new way to link a physical-world object with something in an online or virtual environment.
We’ll also have a report from Connect Asia‘s David Wang on how the Chinese Government is cracking down on pornography online and accusing search engines like Google of disseminating pornographic content within China.
And finally Bajo joins us from Good Game to review the latest Ghostbusters video game.
You can listen to the full Tech Stream program with the MP3 link above or the “Listen Now” link on the right. Feel free to comment on any of these stories or suggest something we can follow up in future programs. You can also subscribe to the podcast too!
Tech Stream 018
19 June 2009
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PNG school children in Gaire, outside Port Moresby, trying out their new OLPC laptops in June last year. Photo from Flickr.
In the Tech Stream this week: Twitter connects the world to the post-election protests in Iran; the latest mobiles on display at CommunicAsia in Singapore; online vigilantes shutdown racism on Facebook; ICANN’s Dr Paul Twomey on the future of internet domain names; the One-Laptop-Per-Child scheme expands in the Pacific; and Bajo from Good Game joins us to chat about Infamous, the latest ‘open-world’ video game. Listen with the MP3 link above, full details after the jump…
Cracks appear in China’s Green Dam
16 June 2009
It seems having the most sophisticated internet filtering and blocking system in the world is simply not enough for the authorities in China. Now they are seeking to implement a more thorough and universal solution at the user-end which they say is aimed at blocking access to pornographic and violence-oriented websites. But of course it’s being viewed, both inside and outside China, as a bid at mass censorship and a threat to personal privacy. More after the jump…
Tech Stream 016
5 June 2009
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Electronic waste waiting to be recycled. Photo from Flickr by Eric Dykstra.
We’re marking World Environment Day in the Tech Stream this week. Jeff Angel, Executive Director of the Total Environment Centre tells us about Australia’s new electronic waste recycling scheme. Janet Leslie from Canon Australia explains their e-waste initiatives and ‘green’ calculators. And Elanto Wijayono from Green Map Indonesia introduces us to Open Green Maps – a set of online tools to help communities map natural, cultural and sustainable resources in their area.
But we kick off the program with the blocking of websites like Twitter and Flickr in China this week. Thursday was the 20th anniversary of the Chinese military’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Myself and Steve Holland from Connect Asia speak with a local Twitter user as well as Jeremy Goldkorn from Danwei.org and Beijing-based technology observer Kaiser Kuo. Radio Australia News Online also has a great feature on the anniversary. Lastly, technology journalist Adam Turner has the lowdown on Google Wave.
The entire program can be heard from the MP3 link at the top, and you can subscribe to the podcast with the link on the right. Feel free to leave a comment below on any of the content in the Tech Stream this week.
Social web blocked in China
3 June 2009
China is blocking access to social networking and social media websites ahead of the 20th anniversary of a bloody crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Sites like Twitter, Hotmail and Flickr were blocked on Tuesday and Microsoft also reported that access was blocked to their new Bing search engine.
The story is being covered today by Radio Australia News who report that internet users filled chatrooms with protest after access to Twitter was denied on Tuesday. And Reuters reports that “Access to video-sharing site YouTube, owned by Google, has been blocked in China since March, after overseas Tibetan groups posted graphic footage of China’s crackdown on protests by Tibetans in 2008.”
The Tech Dynasty blog on CNET Asia also covered the blocks yesterday and says that “anyone in China who spends any amount of time online has weathered these blocks before” and so has recommended some good sites to overcome them. There are also unconfirmed reports on Twitter that the #gfw (great firewall of China) has been removed from the ‘trending topics’ section. We’ll have more in the Tech Stream program, on Radio Australia news and on our own Tech Stream twitter feed.
UPDATE 05/06/2009: Connect Asia covered this on Thursday morning, you can hear Steve Holland’s story from this link, and ABC News Online provided excellent coverage of the anniversary.
