France Proposes a Tax On Personal Information Collection
Dupple writes in with a story about a French proposal to tax companies that collect personal data online. "France, seeking fresh ways to raise funds and frustrated that American technology companies that dominate its digital economy are largely beyond the reach of French fiscal authorities, has proposed a new levy: an Internet tax on the collection of personal data. The idea surfaced Friday in a report commissioned by President François Hollande, which described various measures his government was taking to address what the French see as tax avoidance by Internet companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook. These companies gather vast reams of information about their users, harnessing it to tailor their services to individuals' interests or to direct customized advertising to them. So extensive is the collection of personal details, and so promising the business opportunities linked to it, that the report described data as the "raw material" of the digital economy."
amazon
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françois hollande
french
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internet
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Governments' Attempts To Censor Google Have Doubled Since 2011
Governments, even democracies, are not always fans of transparency. According to Google’s brand new transparency report, “government attempts to censor content on Google services has grown”, doubling since the second half of 2012 (1,054 requests vs. 2,285). Brazil took the gold medal of the censorship olympics, with 697 requests, while the United States took 2nd place, with 321 requests. Google cites an aggressive anti-negative campaigning law for half of Brazil’s spike in censorship requests. Unlike America, Brazil attempts to clamp down on any campaigns that offend the “dignity” of candidates during an election. In the most extreme example, a Brazilian judge ordered the arrest of the head of Google’s Brazil operations and the complete shutdown of all of Google’s products unless it complied with an order to remove a YouTube video attacking a mayoral candidate. In typical corporate diplomacy speak, Google writes that it is ” appealing many of these cases, on the basis that ...
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democracy
dignity
diplomacy
election
expression
freedom
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government agency
information
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russia
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united states
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France Presses Mali for Quick Elections
The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius urged Mali's interim authorities to hold general elections by the end of July to help build a government legitimate enough to make peace with the country's manifold rebels.
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Decade-Old Espionage Malware Found Targeting Government Computers
alancronin writes "Researchers have unearthed a decade-long espionage operation that used the popular TeamViewer remote-access program and proprietary malware to target high-level political and industrial figures in Eastern Europe. TeamSpy, as the shadow group has been dubbed, collected encryption keys and documents marked as 'secret' from a variety of high-level targets, according to a report published Wednesday by Hungary-based CrySyS Lab. Targets included a Russia-based Embassy for an undisclosed country belonging to both NATO and the European Union, an industrial manufacturer also located in Russia, multiple research and educational organizations in France and Belgium, and an electronics company located in Iran. CrySyS learned of the attacks after Hungary's National Security Authority disclosed intelligence that TeamSpy had hit an unnamed 'Hungarian high-profile governmental victim.'"
authorities
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encryption
europe
european union
france
government
hungarian
hungary
hungary-based
intelligence
iran
lab
national security
nato
operations
organization
russia
russia-based
teamspy
teamviewer
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Cubans Evade Censorship By Exchanging Flash Drives
concealment sends this quote from an article about evading internet censorship with the sneakernet: "Dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez on Saturday told newspaper publishers from around the Western Hemisphere that 'nothing is changing' in Cuba’s ossified political system and that 'the situation of press freedom in my country is calamitous.' But Sanchez said underground blogs, digital portals and illicit e-magazines proliferate, passed around on removable computer drives known as memory sticks. The small computer memories, also known as flash drives or thumb drives, are dropped into friendly hands on buses and along street corners, offering a surprising number of Cubans access to information. 'Information circulates hand to hand through this wonderful gadget known as the memory stick,' Sanchez said, 'and it is difficult for the government to intercept them. I can't imagine that they can put a police officer on every corner to see who has a flash drive and who doesn't.'"
censorship
concealment
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cuban
cubans
flash
freedom
government
hemisphere
information
police
sanchez
situation
western
yoani
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