Technology & Telecommunications

Telephone and cable companies want to dominate Internet connections to the home. If they get state legislatures to help them block competition, like they just did in Pennsylvania, these companies would no longer have an important incentive to build their networks to connect the underserved. Help support community wireless networks by taking action in your state. Find your state below and take action now! Read More

Police dealing with civil unrest during the G8 summit in Scotland will have controversial weapons that have been blamed for the deaths of 104 civilians in the United States and Canada. Read More

Nearly 40% of start-ups in a new USA TODAY study employ engineers, marketers, analysts and others in jobs created in India and other nations. The study found that many U.S. start-ups, speeding the pace of globalization, now bypass the USA for nations where customers and cheap labor are plentiful. Read More

Science Applications International Corporation has a contract with the Pentagon to run the Iraqi Media Network's Al Iraqiya radio and television station. But Iraqis aren't tuning in. Read More

Once it was heralded as the last bastion of freedom of speech, a realm which transcended national law and the whims of the courts. But last night the internet was facing up to a harsh new reality after Australia's supreme court ruled that a local businessman could sue a website for libel in Melbourne even though it was based in the United States. Read More

Internet sites containing the words "democracy", "Tibet" and "Taiwan" are among those most frequently blocked by the Chinese government, a study of Chinese net access has revealed Read More

Why are American corporations, which have labored hard to present positive global images, providing censorship and surveillance technologies to what many see as China's Big Brother Internet? The short answer: money. Building China's Internet means making lots of it, and companies that want access to this new market often must give the Chinese leadership what it demands. Read More

Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call ''trusted computing,'' large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you. Proprietary programs have included malicious features before, but this plan would make it universal. Read More

Precision farming: high tech corporate responsibility or agribusiness expansion? We look at the use of satellites and new technology in farming. Read More

New South Wales (NSW) Police Minister Michael Costa has asked the Federal Government to shut down websites with instructions to disrupt a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Sydney. Read More