The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a human rights watchdog, called on Turkey today to reform or abolish its restrictive Internet policy.

"At present, 3,700 Internet sites are blocked in Turkey, including YouTube, GeoCities, and Google sites," said Miklos Haraszti, an OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

"Even as some of the content that is deemed 'bad', such as child pornography, must be sanctioned, the law is unfit to achieve this. Instead, by blocking access to entire websites from Turkey, it paralyzes access to numerous modern file sharing or social networks."

In a report Haraszti presented at Bilgi University in Istanbul, Ankara State University and at the International Law Congress of the Ankara Bar Association, he noted that, while in Turkey, he was unable to access even the OSCE's YouTube website.

"Blocking access inside of Turkey is an affront to the public's right to the entirety of the Internet, said Haraszti. "Numerous Criminal Code provisions are applied against media workers, and as a result, journalists risk imprisonment for carrying out their work."

"Therefore 'reform or abolish' the Internet Law is our main recommendation. I hope that the Turkish authorities will soon remove the blocking provisions that prevent Turkish citizens from being part of today's global information society."

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Mon Jan 18, 2010 07:45 am

Google is soliciting help from U.S. communities to build ultrahigh-speed broadband networks that zip 1 gigabit of data per second to users' computers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Google plans to test the networks for anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 users.

The idea is to help stimulate the creation and use of new applications, such as streaming high-definition video content and real-time multimedia collaboration.

But Google has no experience in this arena, which is dominated by carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T. So it has apparently turned to cities such as Cleveland, Ohio, for help, the Journal noted:

Among other things, Google asked about the need to have online programs that prove the benefits of an ultrahigh-speed service, says Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Apparently, Gonick is leading an effort to connect 104 houses, hospitals and Case Western Reserve University to a 1 GBps Internet service that is about 100 times faster than what is currently available to most Americans. Call it Super Broadband!

I asked Google to confirm its appeals to grassroots communities and to list any other communities it has reached out to in this endeavor. A company spokesperson told me:

We've been meeting with a number of companies, third party organizations, and others to discuss our experiment and to learn what others have been doing in this space. We are not sharing details as to whom we have met with or the specifics of our discussions.

Fair enough. In the meantime, Google has attracted no small amount of interest in this effort [...]

Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:30 am

The next time bird flu, swine flu, or any other nasty bug strikes, it'll be possible to get a significantly better idea of the effects worldwide.  Today, Google Flu Trends started processing information in eight more countries.

Google decided to focus on the southern hemisphere - where it will soon be the winter flu season - with this update, and Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, and Uruguay are the specific countries for which the company will now show national (and sometimes regional) estimates of flu activity.

A post on the Official Google.org Blog noted, "This can be especially important when people from many countries converge in one place, like in South Africa for the World Cup.  South Africa is the first country we're adding in Africa, and we hope Google Flu Trends will provide useful information for football fans and foes alike."

Then Google chose to conduct a more minor update covering a couple of other countries, as well, revising its Flu Trends models for Australia and New Zealand for the sake of increased accuracy.

Let's hope that all of this helps address concerns about Google Flu Trends, or better yet, that enough people stay well to make it a moot point.

[...]

Tue Jun 08, 2010 14:40 pm

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