American Buddhist Net

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world’s largest search engine, is now “99.9 percent” certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

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This is getting interesting. Whatever else, if Google leaves there will be a strong reaction in China. Dirty politics aside, the nub of this issue is an open Internet versus a closed one. Google is favored by better educated Chinese, who will probably still be able to access it on servers outside of China. Ultimately, I don't think China has a chance in this fight if the US plays its cards right, which so far it has been doing. Clinton's strong statements about Internet freedom last week and the FCC's proposals today greatly enhance Google's position. Clearly, these statements were made with an understanding of the Google-China dispute. I have had almost nothing but problems with US foreign and domestic policy for a long time, but this all looks fine to me. The Chinese model for the Internet has essentially no argument in its favor. At the same time, the US cannot easily abandon its own basic principles of free speech, so the two are natural adversaries on this front. Add to that the power of an open Internet on China's population and you have another reason for the US to take the position it has. Progressive Chinese should want China to lose this one. Ultimately, this matter comes down to technology, and that is one genie no one - not even China - will be able to put back in the bottle. ABN

BEIJING — One of China’s top Internet regulators warned bluntly on Friday that any move by Google to stop censoring its Chinese search engine would be “irresponsible” and would draw a response from Beijing.

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The issue, simply stated, is Internet freedom or not. The Chinese model of a closed and restricted Internet is horrible. I hope they utterly and completely fail. I hope Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Europe also fail in their short-sighted and cowardly attempts at censorship. Right now, the USA is the only major voice in the world supporting an open, uncensored Internet. Americans should be paying attention to world trends and domestic ones and never allow anyone to abridge our freedom of speech. Do not give an inch on this matter because all of world history stands in the balance. ABN

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

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This is a must-read and something we have to pay attention to. From what I see in this short piece, the plan looks very good. The devil will come in details that grant too much power to corporations or that permit censorship. ABN

Tarpley makes some good points, but he is missing the crucial point that we have to take sides--either an open Internet or a closed one. For now, the US is far more supportive of an open Internet than China. The Obama administration seems to have made this position clear. I hope they stick to it. An open Internet is BOTH in the best interests of the USA and the world. IF the US abuses the principle of an open Internet, which they may very well do, I will oppose that 100%. But let's wait for that to happen before we oppose it. As for the partnership between Google and the NSA, same difference--it comes down to which side is more pro-open Internet. Yes, it's all dirty politics but there is no way to avoid that, so the US is the best bet again. I do not see anything worth supporting in the Chinese position. I am putting my money on the USA on this one. ABN

(Reuters) - A television producer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to trying to extort $2 million from U.S. talk show host David Letterman by threatening to reveal his affairs with women who worked on his late-night program on CBS.

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ABC interviews Coleen Rowley (2 of 2)

by Kevin Howley

...According to a new study published by Global Research, a Canadian-based independent research organization, news reports that bring up troubling questions about the official story surrounding the events of Sept. 11, 2001, are gaining traction in the international press.

Significantly, these news narratives no longer frame the 911 Truth movement as so much conspiracy theory. Rather, independent, commercial and public service news organizations the world over are giving serious consideration to allegations that challenge the veracity of the official story that emerged in the days and weeks following the 911 attacks.

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Entire February 2010 Issue of the American Behavioral Scientist Devoted to State Crimes Against Democracy

Terror attacks top last 15 years' online news searches

Prof. Kevin Howley Notes "Changing Journalistic Attitudes" Toward 9/11 Questions

9/11 comes down to one thing--do you want more information or not? ABN

...A majority of users in Japan, South Korea and Germany felt that they could not express their opinions safely online, although in Nigeria, India and Ghana there was much more confidence about speaking out.

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ABC Vs. Loose Change Part II

Ultimately 9/11 comes down to this--do you want more information or not? Do you want the official institutions of our society - Congress, courts, media, scientists, police, and more - to openly and deeply investigate 9/11 or not? Think about it for a minute. Who wants to close off information? When do societies say no more information on this can be allowed? Cults do that to their members. Religious fundamentalists do that to their members. The military does it with secret technology and plans. Some companies have secret formulas. But who else does it? When do governments do it? Why do they do it? Ultimately 9/11 comes down to do you want your society to openly and transparently gain more information on the subject or not? ABN

Senior industry figures expect controversial measures against illegal filesharing to become law before general election

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Malaysia's largest English-language newspaper has refused to publish a prominent commentator's column on the caning of three Muslim women, weeks after it got into trouble with the government over a similar article by one of its editors.

Social activist Marina Mahathir said The Star spiked her weekly column Wednesday because of concerns that such sensitive articles could jeopardize its printing permit. All publications in Malaysia must renew their printing licenses each year to operate.

..."[T]here is room for courage, to stand up for freedom of speech. If we capitulate every time, then why bother publishing at all?" she wrote.

..."What is the point of censoring the mainstream media when there is the freewheeling Internet? The other point we should make to people like The Star is, what is the point of constantly sucking up to the government when they can still turn around and bite you?" Marina said.

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Turning informant on your fans can be lucrative, if you're a shock jock by the name of Hal Turner.

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(TibetanReview.net, Mar05, 2010) A group of 15 journalists from China and other foreign countries began on Mar 2 a tour of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) as part of China’s propaganda effort on the region’s progress and development since 1959. In order to ensure positive coverage, the State Council Information Office, organizer of the tour, have carefully selected the reporters from ten domestic and overseas media organizations.

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Viacom is unlikely to sue bloggers for posting their own clips of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, contrary to reports floating around on the Internet. The company clarified its position to Ars on Thursday, noting that it tries to be as permissive as possible when it comes to fair use and that individual bloggers have never been on the studio's radar.

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SAN FRANCISCO--Homeland Security and the National Security Agency may be taking a closer look at Internet communications in the future.

The Department of Homeland Security's top cybersecurity official told CNET on Wednesday that the department may eventually extend its Einstein technology, which is designed to detect and prevent electronic attacks, to networks operated by the private sector. The technology was created for federal networks.

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When the Feds say they may "eventually extend" something like this, it usually means that they are already doing it and want to test public opinion to see if they can do more. Why not just start quartering troops in our homes? ABN

The short video made its way around China’s Web in early 2006, passed on through file sharing and recommended in chat rooms. It opens with a middle-aged Asian woman dressed in a leopard-print blouse, knee-length black skirt, stockings and silver stilettos standing next to a riverbank. She smiles, holding a small brown and white kitten in her hands. She gently places the cat on the tiled pavement and proceeds to stomp it to death with the sharp point of her high heel.

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...The program is designed to look for indicators of cyber attacks by digging into all Internet communications, including the contents of emails, according to the declassified summary.

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Wrangling over Copyright Protection Treaty

Recent leaks suggest the 39 countries negotiating an international copyright protection treaty could require Internet service providers to ban repeat piracy offenders from using the Web. The German government, however, has now voiced its opposition to the proposal, which has been heavily criticized by civil rights activists.

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The biggest threat to the open internet is not Chinese government hackers or greedy anti-net-neutrality ISPs, it’s Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence.

McConnell’s not dangerous because he knows anything about SQL injection hacks, but because he knows about social engineering. He’s the nice-seeming guy who’s willing and able to use fear-mongering to manipulate the federal bureaucracy for his own ends, while coming off like a straight shooter to those who are not in the know.

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Japan's top Internet forum 2channel was offline Tuesday after an apparent mass hacker attack from South Korea over slanderous comments on their Olympic figure skating queen Kim Yu-Na.

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I respect Tim King for saying this. ABN

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech in which she made it clear that Internet freedom would be a major theme of the US government's attempts to get information to the citizens of repressive governments. Things haven't change much in the interim, with the conviction of Google executives in Italy serving as a reminder that it's not simply repressive regimes that put companies in legal hot water. With those events as a backdrop, the US Senate's Judiciary Committee heard testimony today on Internet freedom that emphasized how challenging it will be to find a way to open up the flow of information in repressive regimes.

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Google’s China Exit Strategy: Watch This Space

Web Firms Under Fire to Protect Human Rights

U.S. unveils cybersecurity safeguard plan

BERLIN — Germany's highest court on Tuesday overturned a law allowing authorities to retain data on telephone calls and e-mail traffic for help in tracking criminal networks.

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The Internet has surpassed newspapers as a primary way for Americans to get news, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That makes the Internet the third most popular news platform overall, with many connected users taking advantage of nontraditional consumption methods such as social media postings, personalized news feeds, and getting their news on-the-go.

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Bill Maher

New Rule: Stop saying "sex addict" like it's bad thing. In the wake of Tiger Woods' heartfelt apology that he gave to his fans, his friends, his foundation - and just to be safe, Elizabeth Edwards - the media has been interviewing sex addicts: on CNN one addict said, "The day Mount Saint Helens blew up, everyone was talking about it. But I didn't even know it happened because I was having sex all that day." Oh, the humanity! Please get this man some professional help soon, before he has a hot three-way and completely misses a tornado.

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My take on this is the real "isms" and "ists" of the world are defined by information--where you get your information and who you listen to. If you get a significant amount of information from TV, you are a TV-ist. If you are a TV personality, you are a propagandist. Bill Maher is a TV-ist propagandist, and I am sure he knows this. If you do not realize that information on TV is controlled, you really need some new sources of information. If you are a Buddhist, you accept the Dharma as a worthy tradition and teaching. After that, many interpretations are possible. I see Buddhism as an open door. It provides a valuable moral and intellectual grounding while encouraging the seeking out of as much new information as you can handle. I don't know whether Buddhism will survive as a major world tradition. I hope it does because having an ancient tradition that can accept new information seems like a very good thing to me. TV-ism cannot replace it except with a shallow and mesmerizing surface. ABN

COLOMBO: When Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected president of Sri Lanka in January, media organisations and human rights groups said they hoped the suppression of dissenting voices would end.

But those hopes have not materialised.

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Yobie Benjamin

...The unintended consequence of a surveillance state is the creation of a surveillance society. The nuance of the legal system provides anyone willing to spend the money on lawyers, litigation and the discovery process to effectively get all the information on anyone they want. Bottom line: Most general counsels' offices in most companies will NOT decline to give information requested by a court order, approved subpoena or discovery request, whether it is a criminal or civil matter.

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Benjamin makes a very good point. Well-worth reading. ABN

THE minister in charge of the Government's web censorship plan has been caught out censoring his own website.

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