Social networking website Facebook has been found to have breached Canadian privacy laws because the duration on how long the company holds a user personal information, as a new report on Canada’s privacy commission’s investigation concluded.
Censordyne – the net gets a pasting
Censordyne, A parody of the Australian Federal Government’s censorship scheme. If you didn’t already know, The Communications Minister, Steven Conroy of the Australian Government wants to implement a scheme to censor Australian Internet to “keep our children safe” from internet nasties.
The online activist group, GetUp, launched a new campaign, Censordyne – a parody of the Sensodyne brand of toothpaste. Censordyne promises to offer “unproven, ineffective relief from internet nasties”, protection “against fast internet” and a “fresh multimillion-dollar flavour”.
The campaign, has a parody website, Censordyne where you can view all the great things about the Government Censoring Scheme.
Why don’t you join in the fun and donate to Censordyne today to get the television ad on TV! Video after the jump. Read more »
Pirate Bay buyer entangled under insider trading accusations
Shares in Global Gaming Factory X (GGF) rocketed up by 150 percent after news of its acquisition of The Pirate Bay’s assets, but reports are now coming in that the Aktietorget, the Swedish equity marketplace, are now investigating insider trading claims.
Pirate Party headed to European Parliament
The Swedish Pirate Party (Piratpartiet), which is not affiliated with the Pirate Bay (according to WIkipedia) has managed to secure at least one seat in the European Parliament out of a possible 18 seats (or 20, once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified) – winning 7.1 percent of the vote, above the 4 percent needed to win a seat.
EU wants to bring more browsers in Windows
The European Union may force Microsoft to put more browsers into the operating system after being “frustrated with past efforts”, as put by the Wall Street Journal, with their previous responses over previous sanctions made by the European Commission.
The new action could be a sharp blow to Microsoft by competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, after a recent record fine of US$1.48 billion against Intel after being found to have made it harder for rival AMD to get into the European market. While the commission has made no comment over the sanction, it would be “based on the fundamental principle of unbiased choice.”
Psystar meets Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Psystar, the ill-famed company that creates unauthorised Mac clones, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Psystar has been at loggerheads with Apple Inc’s tightness between software and hardware over a number of years, citing anti-competition laws as its arguement that Apple is taking advantage of OS X and not allowing others to installed and cheaper, custom-built machines – namely PC’s. Psystar is currently in a legal battle with Apple, with Apple accusing Psystar of being in direct violation of its EULA and the Digital Millenium Act. It is believed that this new development will hamper Apple’s court battles to successfully sue and shut down Psystar for good. June 5 has been schedueled as the court appearance for Psystar’s Chapter 11 filing in Florida. It is believed that those who have, did and are investing in Psystar will be named and that Psystart’s financial backers have removed affliations with the company before the filing was filed.
Government might back away from mandatory net filtering
The Rudd Government has indicated that it might be backing away from its mandatory internet filtering plan, which is composed of two filters, as Communications Minister told a Senate estimates committee that the scheme could be a voluntary one.
Thailand court orders blocking access of 72 gaming websites after boy suicide
The Criminal Court in Thailand has ordered that 72 websites relating to online gambling or sites offering any form of games be blocked, after the death of a 12-year-old boy who jumped off from a balcony, six floors above the ground, in his school after being banned from playing computer games by his father.
Iran blocks Facebook as opponent uses it to gain votes in election
The Iranian government has blocked the popular social networking website Facebook in an apparent attempt, to many critics, to silence his opposition, especially one who made it a campaign tool, as the country prepares itself for an election next month.
EU regulators issues Intel with record-breaking fine
IN DEPTH : European regulators have found Intel guilty and has placed a €1.06 billion fine for engaging in illegal anticompetitive practises that excluded its rival, AMD, from entering the computer chips market – the largest fine ever made since Microsoft’s anticompetitive fine in 2004.
Digital TV gets huge boost, ABC and SBS to receive more money
BUDGET 2009 : The digital switchover in Australia has been given a boost by the budget, with the Government announcing that it will provide $183.7 million of taxpayers dollars over three years to help the switchover from analogue to digital television in regional areas.
The rural areas in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland were announced as those that will benefit from the added funds, which will include an information campaign, an assistance program and a program that will work with the industry to drive the numbers of those who already have switched to digital.
Facebook under pressure to remove Holocaust denial groups
Facebook is facing pressure by a Texas attorney to have the site remove pages and groups that promote the denial of the Holocaust, a movement that seeks to minimize or deny the claims made by Jews during World War II, which about six million Jews were killed by the Nazis.
The attorney, Brian Cuban, is the brother of Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and has been trying to get groups that deny the Holocaust to be removed. These groups have not been removed as of yet, despite, as he pointed out, that Facebook has removed groups based on complaints.
Italy to create its own Pirate Bay trial
Hot off the heels of the “spectrial” in Sweden, Italian prosecutors are hoping to create their own trial against the operators of the Pirate Bay, hoping to prosecute them after a failed attempt in blocking the website from Italians as it was found to be unlawful under Italian’s criminal law.
Minnesota to force ISPs to blacklist online gambling
A 7-page blacklist of gambling websites has been posted on the internet as the State of Minnesota has handed letters to eleven internet providers and the Federal Communications Commission as online gambling remains illegal in the state.
Pirate Bay judge alleged to have links to entertainment industry
A lawyer representing one of the co-defendants in the Pirate Bay trail has called for a retrial after it has been alleged that the judge that was presiding had links to the copyright protection organisations and the industry representatives belonging to such organisations, according to The Local.
The judge, Tomas Norström, was found to have such connections after Sweden public radio station, Sveriges Radio P3, broke the news.