Hundreds of tiny satellites could soon deliver free internet worldwide

Developers say they are less than a year away from deploying prototype satellites that could someday soon broadcast free and universal internet all over the globe from high in orbit.

The “Outernet” project being bankrolled by the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) of New York is currently in the midst of conducting technical assessment of the project, but say by June they hope to develop test satellite in order to see how long-range WiFi would work if beamed down by a tiny 10x10x10-centimeter payload called a CubeSat.

If all goes as planned, a test CubeSat will be sent into orbit next January, and within a few years there could be hundreds of similar devices circling the Earth and sending back down internet signals. Once that is accomplished, countries that largely censor the web — like China and North Korea — would be hard-pressed to restrict internet access without also going into orbit.

“We exist to support the flow of independent news, information, and debate that people need to build free, thriving societies,” MDIF President Peter Whitehead told the National Journal recently. “It enables fuller participation in public life, holds the powerful to account and protects the rights of the individual.”

Read more » rt.com
http://rt.com/usa/outernet-cubesat-free-internet-153/

Tablet computer launched in UK; priced at 30 pounds

Aakash 2 tablet launched in UK; priced at 30 pounds

Version of India’s low-cost Aakash 2 tablet computer has been launched in Britain at a cost of 30 pounds. The UbiSlate 7Ci, made by UK-based company Datawind, is based on Aakash 2, which is mainly used by students in India and was designed to provide cheap internet access to help improve education. The 7 inch Android tablet has wi-fi connectivity, 512MB of RAM, a microUSB connection and 4GB of storage, BBC reported yesterday.

Read more » ZeeNews
http://zeenews.india.com/business/gadgets/gadgets-news/aakash-2-tablet-launched-in-uk-priced-at-30-pounds_90859.html

Facebook wants to give gift to the entire world

Facebook-led project seeks Internet access globally for all

By Reuters

New York (Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has enlisted Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Qualcomm Inc and four other companies for a project aimed at bringing Internet access to people around the world who cannot afford it, following efforts by Google Inc.

The project, called Internet.org, is the latest move by an Internet company trying to expand Web access globally. Facebook rival Google is hoping technology, including balloons, wireless and fibre connections will expand connectivity.

Internet.org, which was launched on Wednesday, will focus on seeking ways to help the 5 billion people – or two-thirds of the world’s population – who do not have Internet access, come online, the company said in a statement.

It added that so far, only 2.7 billion people around the world have Internet access.

The partnership’s potential projects will include the development of lower-cost smartphones and the deployment of Internet access in underserved communities as well as working on ways to reduce the amount of data downloads required to run Internet applications, according to Facebook.

Google to Offer Free Wi-Fi in Chelsea, New York

By Sarah Frier

Google Inc. (GOOG), the world’s biggest Internet-search company, plans to offer free wireless Internet access in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, creating the largest public outdoor network in the city. …

Read more » Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-08/google-to-offer-free-wi-fi-in-chelsea.html

An Analysis of the Latest Round of Internet Censorship in India (Communalism and Rioting Edition): Pranesh Prakash

By: Shivam Vij

Freedom of speech and expression, Internet Censorship in India, Social media and violence

Read more » Kafila

Pakistan’s chief justice considering broad Internet/ media censorship at request of Jamaat-e-Islami & PTI

CJ takes suo moto notice of obscene TV shows, internet sites

By: Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has taken notice of the applications filed by former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad and retired judge and PTI leader Justice Wajiuddin against growing vulgarity and obscenity in the society through electronic media, illegal Indian channels, cable network and internet.

Following the complaints from the two respected public figures, the Human Rights Cell of the apex court, following CJ’s direction, sought views from Chairman Pemra and Chairman PTA, both of whom, however, had given routine bureaucratic responses without any concrete assurance that the menace would effectively be checked and controlled. …

Read more » The News

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-120964-CJ-takes-suo-moto-notice-of-obscene–TV-shows-internet-sites

Pakistan’s largest telecommunication company “PTCL Internet Blackout in Pakistan”

Pakistan’s largest telecommunication company,PTCL, is suffering a country word service blackout. Users took to twitter to report service suspensions, they are unable to reach out to customer support for any explanation on the blackout.

Google , Facebook, YouTube and loads of other services not working in Pakistan. surprisingly twitter is the only site that’s working on PTCL right now, facebook is not even opening.

Read more » http://storify.com/BoloBhi/ptcl-internet-blackout-in-pakistan?awesm=sfy.co_mLa&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=storify-pingback

On censorship in Pakistan – Welcome to 1984

Welcome to 1984

By Irfan Husain

OVER the years, despite repeated bouts of military dictatorship, Pakistan has remained a relatively open society. Even with spooks running around unchecked, people have expressed themselves pretty openly, both privately and publicly.

In large measure, this has been due to the incompetence of our bureaucracy. Few cops and spies are very enthusiastic about surveillance duties. More often than not, they file their poorly written reports that go unread, and pile up in some dusty government archives, never to see the light of day.

But all this is about to change. According to an international tender floated by this government, it is aiming to acquire technology that will enable it not just to block websites at will, but to read our emails and monitor all Internet traffic.

PAKISTAN – Four Danish nationals booked under blasphemy law

By Khalid Hurral

JHANG: Four Danish nationals have been booked under the blasphemy law in Jhang. According to the FIR No 133, logged with the Kotwali police station, Zahid Saeed Bhutta Advocate filed a petition in the court of Jhang District and Sessions Judge for registration of a case against four Danish citizens.

He alleged that they published blasphemous material in Denmark and uploaded on the Internet, that could be accessed and read all-over Pakistan, including his city Jhang. The judge ordered the police to registrar a case under Section 295/C against the accused, and the police complied with the court orders.

Additional SP Jhang Abdul Qadir Qamar confirmed registration of the case and said such cases were investigated by a senior police officer.

Courtesy: The News

Introduction of Black Law for Internet Censorship by Alleged Democratic Government of PPP

The filtering and blocking system will function as a firewall for the entire country and will have the potential to block the access of any specific URL throughout the country.

In yet another move that appears to be aimed towards internet censorship in Pakistan, a government department has called for proposals for the development, deployment and operation of a national level URL Filtering and Blocking System.

The ad had been placed in local papers by National ICT R&D Fund, a division of the Ministry of Information Technology, on February 22, 2012. The proposal request states that each box of the system “should be able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs with a processing delay of not more than 1 millisecond.”

The filtering and blocking system will function as a firewall for the entire country and will have the potential to block the access of any specific URL throughout the country.

According to the Request for Proposal available on the ICT R&D Fund website, the system should be capable of filtering and blocking URLs from the domain level to sub-folder, file levels and also specific file types. Additionally, the system should have the ability to block a single IP or a range of IPs.

The proposal states that the solution should be able to handle 85Gbps of bandwidth and should have growth scalability of around 40% to 50% every year. ….

Read more » The Express Tribune

Urinating on dead bodies is an insult, war is the crime

. US deplores video of Marines urinating on dead

By ROBERT BURNS and PAULINE JELINEK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has promised Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai a full investigation of an Internet video that purports to depict four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters – a video both men condemned Thursday as deplorable.

At least two of the four men have been identified as Marines based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., said a Marine official, speaking on condition of anonymity because there is an active criminal investigation of the incident.

In a public statement, Panetta said such behavior is “entirely inappropriate for members of the United States military” and that those responsible will be held accountable.

The video, posted on the Internet, shows men in Marine combat gear standing in a semi-circle over three bodies. It’s not clear whether the dead were Taliban or civilians or someone else. The title on the posting called them Taliban insurgents and said the men were from Camp Lejeune.

Read more » Associated Press (AP)

Fighting in the Fifth Dimension

Innovations in technology are changing the tactics of modern-day conflict, turning the cyberworld into a new frontline. ….

Read more »  aljazeera

New bill in congress against alternate media

New Bill In Congress Could Turn Alternative Media Outlets and YouTube Singers Into Felons

By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

SB 978 is just one more bullet in a broader government effort to end the web as we know it.

In June, Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced SB 978, specifically “to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes.” ….

Read more » AlterNet

MQM letter to Tony Blair is genuine: spymaster

– by Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: One of the country’s leading spymasters has confirmed to ‘The News’ the authenticity of the alleged letter of MQM Chief Altaf Hussain addressed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and termed it “true”.

The spymaster told this correspondent on condition of not being named that the copy of the letter, which was referred to by Zulfikar Mirza in his recent press conference and is also available on the Internet, is true. The MQM has however already termed the allegations leveled by Mirza baseless and untrue.

The copy of the alleged letter shows the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain seeking disbandment of the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) in return to offering his party’s services to ground human intelligence within Pakistan and in Afghanistan for the British and other western intelligence agencies. The alleged letter also sought foreign interference into country’s domestic affairs, political and administrative.

The following is the operative part of the alleged letter written on 23rd September 2001 by Altaf Hussain to Tony Blair: ….

Read more → The News

A Breakthrough in use of Sindhi on Internet

M.B. Sindhi

Sindhi Web Keyboard: A Breakthrough in use of Sindhi on Internet/ Web

by Abdul-Majid Bhurgri

I am really excited to share this breakthrough in use of Sindhi on Internet. In collaboration with KeyManWeb, I have got developed this virtual Sindhi Web Keyboard, using which you can instantly write in Sindhi on any webpage, without the need to install Sindhi support, fonts or keyboards.

All you have to do is simply drag a link to your browsers Bookmarks toolbar or right-click it and select “Bookmark This Link”. That is it. Now, when you want to write in Sindhi, all you have to do is click on this Bookmark as soon as the webpage has loaded in your browser and start writing in Sindhi. It really is as simple as that.

Using it, you can write Sindhi in any email (like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.), or search the web for Sindhi words and phrases using Google, Bing or any other search engine, and write your comments on any forums (like Facebook etc.) or blogs in your own sweet mother tongue Sindhi. You can also view the keyboard onscreen.

The Bookmark is available from my web page www.bhurgri.com. Alternatively, you can also go to Keyman Web page here, type Sindhi in search box or scroll to Sindhi keyboard in the list.

After this, there is no excuse at all for not using Sindhi on internet/web. Please convey this message to as many friends and mailing lists as possible to promote extensive use of Sindhi.

http://www.bhurgri.com

Pakistan back to 1984

PTA plans to push Pakistan to 1984 – by Jahanzaib Haque

A leaked confidential draft of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) allegedly delivered to the Lahore High Court (LHC) has suggested the implementation of a new draconian system which would greatly curtail internet freedom in the country, not unlike Big Brother from George Orwell’s ’1984′.

For more >>- Tribune

DID YOU KNOW?

– 160 Billion emails are sent daily, 97% of them are spam. – Spam generates 33bn kwt-hours of energy every year, enought to power 2.4 million homes, producing 17 million tons of CO2. – About 1.6 billion people connect to the internet, 450 million of them speak English.