By refusing to accept China’s censorship for its Internet search engine, Google has sent a message to the authoritarian state and its 300 million Internet users. The hidden cost of doing business may be to sell out the values on which the business depends. It took courage for Google to refuse to pay that price and take on China so publicly, by threatening to pull out if limits on the search engine persist.

Well-known human rights advocates in China and a Tibetan rights activist in the United States have disclosed that their Gmail accounts have been compromised. They came forward after Google’s announcement of a sustained cyber attack on activists and other illicit accessing of accounts, but stressed that the problem goes back much further. Some in China… Read more »

Nart Villeneuve spoke about Google’s new approach in China with Jian Ghomeshi on CBC’s Q on January 14, 2010. Download the postcast here at CBC

Although Google’s decision is commendable, it is unlikely to have any major implications on China’s extensive filtering practices. Although Green Dam demonstrated that China is somewhat receptive to criticism, the implications of filtering search results are not the same as filtering sites: A user searching on Google.cn may be able to see a site in… Read more »

The decision by Google to draw a line and threaten to end its business operations in China brought attention to reports of Chinese high-technology espionage stretching back at least a decade. But despite Google’s suggestion that the hacking came from within China, it remained unclear who was responsible. Nevertheless, it presented the Obama administration with… Read more »

By refusing to accept China’s censorship for its Internet search engine, Google has sent a message to the authoritarian state and its 300 million Internet users. The hidden cost of doing business may be to sell out the values on which the business depends. It took courage for Google to refuse to pay that price… Read more »

Google has just announced that there were successful attacks against their infrastructure resulting in the theft of intellectual property. Google traced the attacks to China and although the attribution regarding the Chinese government is unclear, Google also discovered that the attackers also attempted to compromise the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. From Nart… Read more »

Computer security wizard Rafal Rohozinski’s exposure of international cyber-espionage last year reinforced his long-held warning — computers can potentially cause more damage than a nuclear bomb. Vito Pilieci talked to him about the threats to come. From Global News Vito Pilieci, The Ottawa Citizen: Monday, January 11, 2010 People to Watch in 2010 Rafal Rohozinski… Read more »

JOB POSTING Position: Junior Software Developer Restricted to University of Toronto students Citizen Lab, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto POSITION SUMMARY As a key member of the Citizen Lab Development team, the Junior Software Developer will be involved with the design, coding, and testing of tools that are part of the OpenNet… Read more »

Psiphon Operator and Outreach Coordinator – Iran Psiphon is seeking an exceptionally qualified individual to support our Persian language outreach. We are looking for someone fluent in English and Farsi with a strong understanding and commitment to freedom of expression and an interest in building the best “right to know” software in the world. If… Read more »