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Wikileaks Mutineers Create Rival Organization

By Curt Hopkins / November 7, 2010 05:00 AM / Comments

Back in September, we reported that whistleblowing site Wikileaks had hemorrhaged a number of prominent personnel. Now some of those who've left have begun assembling an organization designed to directly compete with its parent.

The alleged high-handedness of the organization's founder, Julian Assange, and the beliefs of some of his co-workers' belief that he has not properly protected lives by carefully redacting the Iraq documents, has created a rift and the rift has created and opportunity.

The (Mexican) Revolution Will Be Televised - But on YouTube, and 100 Years After It Began

By Curt Hopkins / November 5, 2010 08:00 AM / Comments

The 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution is being commemorated by a revolution, this one in film. And this revolution is being televised, so to speak, on YouTube.

Mexican cinema has experienced a revolution over the last decade. A handful of the film-makers responsible for this revolution have joined forces for Revolución, a feature film made of 10 short films addressing the Revolution and its aftermath. It will be available to watch on YouTube free for 24 hours, beginning November 20th, the date the Revolution began 100 years ago.

Egyptian Blogger Kareem Amer Finishes Prison Sentence - Remains in Jail (UPDATED)

By Curt Hopkins / November 5, 2010 07:01 AM / Comments

Kareem Amer, the Egyptian blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2006, has completed his prison term. He has, however, not been released from incarceration, which is the longest any blogger has served so far. Kareem's crimes were allegedly insulting religion and the leadership of Egypt. He was critical of, among other things, Egypt's treatment of women and of its Coptic Christian minority.

Each country that imprisons bloggers like Kareem always proclaims (and Western companies always parrot) the line that theirs is a country of laws. If that is so, why has Kareem not been released? According to Egyptian courts, he was guilty of certain crimes, sentenced to jail time for them, and has now discharged his obligation to the state.

Update at end of post, after jump.

World Wide, Web Surfing Down as Entertainment, P2P Dominate Global Internet Usage

By Audrey Watters / November 4, 2010 03:16 PM / Comments

Sandvine's Fall 2010 report on global Internet trends gives a glimpse into Internet usage in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. In addition to examining geographic differences, the report also points out some of the differences between mobile and "fixed" usage, it also makes clear that, "To subscribers, the Internet is the Internet, whether it's accessed through a wire or over wireless spectrum."

Although there are certainly variations between regions, some of the trends the report finds are global: Real-time entertainment dominates data consumption on both mobile and fixed networks worldwide, constituting about 43% of total Internet traffic. And social networking services make up a significant and growing percentage of mobile Internet traffic, doubling in Latin America just over the last eight months.

Peruvian Blogger Receives Criminal Sentence: This Week in Online Tyranny

By Curt Hopkins / November 4, 2010 05:41 AM / Comments

Peru convicts blogger of defamation. Jose Alejandro Godoy, was given a in a three-year suspended prison sentence, 120 days of community service, and a fine of over $100,000 for "defamation."

Not a criminal offense in reality, but a civil case brought by former government minister and congressman Jorge Mufarech, the sentence was disproportionate. Godoy reported corruption allegations and "summarized information already publicly available." An appeal is in the works but the "criminalization of libel" in many Latin American countries makes it easier to use it as a tool for silencing critics.

Sherlock Holmes Goes to Africa: The Case of the Disappearing Publishing Industry

By Curt Hopkins / November 2, 2010 09:00 AM / Comments

Worldreader, the non-profit that distributes e-readers to developing countries to improve literacy, is on something of a roll. Although the organization is not a proof-of-concept by design, it is by example.

Last month, the group penned an agreement with Amazon and African publishers to bring African lit to kids in Ghana, as well as support African writers and publishers. Now Random House has signed on for Worldreader's iREAD advanced pilot project in Ghana.

Parramatta Becomes Australia's First Digital City

By Curt Hopkins / November 1, 2010 06:00 AM / Comments

Parramatta, a city in the Australian state of New South Wales, is on the way to becoming a showcase city for the integration of digital services into community life in that country.

The project, Parra Connect, focuses on a suburban community about 14 miles away from Sydney. It will cover about 50,000 households. It is the first such digital city in the country and one of the first in the world, though it is part of an increasing trend.

Vietnam Continues Crackdown, Burmese Blogger Smuggles Poems: This Week in Online Tyranny

By Curt Hopkins / October 28, 2010 11:25 AM / Comments

Vietnamese bloggers continue to suffer harassment. Vietnam has gone gangbusters on busting bloggers and others in the last month or so. Two upcoming events may explain that. The Communist Party Congress, first in five years, is coming up in January. Second, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton is due in Ho Chi Minh City again in this week.

The latest blogger to be arrested is Le Nguyen Huong Tra. Co Gai Do Long, as she is known in the Vietnamese blogging world, was arrested October 23 for "defaming" a senior party official. Having already accused public security minister Nguyen Khanh Toan of nepotism for giving his allegedly drug-taking son a job. Now, she added, that same minister has been doling out favors to his son's mistress.

Wikileaks Iraq Redactions Last-Minute, Possibly Automated

By Curt Hopkins / October 27, 2010 09:00 AM / Comments

Anonymous whistle-blowing outfit Wikileaks has been criticized for insufficiently redacting (covering or deleting) the names of civilians in its release of Afghanistan war documents. Everyone from the more predictable U.S. officials to non-profits like Reporters Without Borders to Wikileaks' own staff has faulted its founder, Julian Assange for a lack of concern for people's lives.

As unlikely as it might seem, given apparent Assange's high-handedness with media and co-workers and many conspiracy theories, he seems to have heard the complaints. In the latest release, that of almost 400,000 documents related to the Iraq War, redactions were carried out.

Click Here to Resurrect the Dead: 3D Printing Brings Pharoah Back to Death

By Curt Hopkins / October 26, 2010 08:31 AM / Comments

How do you solve a problem like Tutankhamun? Well, if you need to ship his leathery hide around the world - something which would risk damage and sovereignty - you print him of course. In this case, you use 3D printing to create a life-like, or in this case death-like, copy in three dimensions.

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities employed a CT scanner to map the ancient pharaoh's body, all the way through, then used a Materialise Mammoth Stereolithograph to produce an identical copy in the round.

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