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YouTube responds to allegations it censored LGBTQ+ videos
YouTube has found itself accused of effectively censoring LGBTQ+ content, and its creators, thanks to its restricted mode. YouTuber Rowan Ellis discovered that the site has been marking videos concerning gender and sexuality as inappropriate content. As such, those clips are hidden if the user is viewing the service through its restricted mode.
Cuba has been filtering texts containing political dissent
Cuba's struggles with modern telecommunications have been many. Now, it looks as though the Communist country has another problem on its hands: text message censorship. SMS sent with words including "human rights," "hunger strike" and the name of dissident José Daniel Ferrer García aren't reaching their intended recipients according to Reuters and Cuban blog 14ymedio (Spanish). The news came to light when some Cubans noticed they were being charged for messages that never were delivered.
Google lets you hide unwanted web notifications
When you launch a Google service like YouTube or Gmail on the web, there's always a little bell icon in the corner hiding a bundle of notifications. For many people, this feed is a complete mess and full of alerts for services they rarely use. Well, now Google is making it a little easier to focus its notifications on the tools that really matter to you. As Android Police notes, it's now possible to hit the settings cog and toggle alerts for Google+, Photos and YouTube individually. Never use Google's social network? Now you can remain blissfully ignorant whenever someone adds you to a circle or gives your post a +1. Likewise, if you only care about knowing when people have replied to your YouTube comments, it's now much easier to keep those notifications front and center. At the moment only a handful of Google services are supported, but if enough people start using it, we suspect it'll only be a matter of time before the company bundles in all of its web properties.
Iran backs away from censoring whole websites
Iran's current approach to internet censorship typically isn't subtle -- either you get unfettered access, or (more often) you don't see a site at all. However, the country's government is about to take a more measured approach to blocking online content it doesn't like. It's deploying "intelligent filtering" that tries to restrict only the material deemed "criminal or unethical," rather than cutting off an entire service. The smarter filter is only active on one social network (most likely Instagram) as part of a test phase, but it's expanding to more sites within the next six months. Ultimately, the nation wants to use this technology on "all networks."
UK reportedly wants internet filters labeled as 'default-on,' true or not
It's no secret that some British residents want an active-by-default internet filter to keep kids away from salacious content. However, the BBC now claims that the UK government wants to falsely imply that this filter already exists. According to a reportedly leaked letter, the Department of Education is asking internet providers to refer to their filters as "default on" without changing what's ultimately a voluntary system. As you'd imagine, the companies are supposedly quite unhappy: ISP sources believe the phrasing would mislead customers and encourage complacency. Officials have declined to comment on the demands, but we may know the truth soon enough as the Department of Education's letter says an announcement could come "shortly."
Iran blocks VPN access to global web, cracks down on 'illegal' filter workaround
Iran's struggle with the unfiltered internet is well documented -- the nation has spent years fending off cyber attacks, blocking access and potentially fencing its own intranet off from the outside world. Sites like YouTube and Facebook can often only be accessed by using a VPN, bypassing the country's internet filter. Sadly, Iranian users may have to get their Harlem shake fix elsewhere: Iran is putting the lid on "illegal" VPN access. "Within the last few days illegal VPN ports in the country have been blocked," explained Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard, Iran's head of information and communications technology committee. "Only legal and registered VPNs can from now on be used." Registered and legal VPN access can still be purchased, but the typical filter workarounds no longer work. That's not stopping Iran's most dedicated internet users though: one local took to Facebook to confirm that VPN access had been restricting, noting that he was using an unrelated method to dodge Iran's content control efforts. The crackdown may have also blocked access to commonly used sites, such as Yahoo or Google Parliament plans to study the issue more in the coming week, and will presumably tweak the policy as necessary.
Iran unblocks Gmail, admits it only wants to restrict YouTube in the country
Iranians who lost access to Gmail on September 24th should now be able to access their emails again after the government relaxed its ban. Telecommunications minister Rezi Miri conceded that the internet filter used couldn't distinguish between the eponymous email service and YouTube, which has been banned for distributing inflammatory materials. Officials have said that, at least initially, its own proprietary intranet will exist alongside the internet, but didn't go into specifics. [Original Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Iran announces plans to create isolated local internet system, fate of global access unknown
Iranians have been having trouble accessing YouTube, Gmail and other Google services for some time now, but their digital world may be growing even smaller -- Iran announced today that it plans to shuffle citizens onto its own domestic version of the web. Reuters reports that officials plan to connect citizens to the national information network that's currently in use at government agencies. Iran hopes to complete the transition by March of next year, and is already taking steps to isolate its population from certain international services. "Google and Gmail will be filtered throughout the country until further notice," an Iranian official added, noting that the ban would commence in "a few hours." Some locals, such as the Iranian Students' News Agency, are attributing the ban to recent protests sparked by a trailer for an anti-Islamic film on YouTube called Innocence of Muslims, but the government has made no official comment on the reason behind the ban. The state isn't clear on the fate of the global internet in Iran, either -- although it has talked about creating an isolated national network before. Here's hoping the new network will be a compliment to the Persian web, and not a substitute. [Image credit: yeowatzup, Flickr]
Twitter warned by Indian government to kibosh inflammatory tweets
India's in the midst of a security crisis and has asked Twitter to curtail "inflammatory messages" or prepare to face legal action, according to the Times of India. The country has shut down numerous websites, while Google and Facebook have already pledged to remove any threatening content. Officials reportedly said that Twitter "failed to cooperate" in efforts to curb messages or help the government find their source, despite an earlier pledge by the social network to censor content when a country demanded it. Indian ISPs have started blocking the service's accounts, according to TNW, but not Twitter itself, as the site first reported. In any case, the country still has a long way to go to catch the censorship leader.
Iran blocking access to Google's encrypted search, YouTube, and webmail
Iran has restricted access to the internet for years now, but it seems the land of Persia is clamping down even further on its citizens' ability to surf the web as they wish. Bloomberg has confirmed with Google that Iranians haven't had access to Google's encrypted search, YouTube and Gmail since February 10th. Iran's Mehr news agency has reported restrictions on other email services, including Hotmail, plus increased difficulties getting to domestic and news websites as well. 30 million folks, give or take, are currently locked out of their email, and there's no indication when, or if, access will be granted again.
Japanese government urges Apple to add content filtering to the iPhone
The iPhone is climbing up the ranks in the crowded Japanese mobile phone market, recently reaching the number five position behind Sharp, Panasonic, Fujitsu and Kyocera. The Japanese government is taking notice of this increasingly popular smartphone and is calling on exclusive carrier Softbank and Apple to install content filtering software in accordance with Japanese law. Japan's government requires mobile phone operators to install filtering software on handsets that are sold to minors to protect these youths from harmful website content. While the law does not carry any penalties, the National Police Agency still canvass mobile phone dealers to confirm handsets comply with this law. A spokesperson from Softbank Mobile responded to the government's request with the argument that installing censorware on the iPhone would be a difficult process. Stores would need to obtain personal information, including credit card details, from each customer before installing the filtering software on a newly purchased iPhone. Thus far, the Japanese government has not responded to this reluctant response. It will be interesting to see if Japan turns up the heat on Softbank and Apple to force compliance with this protective law or if officials will just let it slide. [Via Mobile Crunch]
Melting silicon 'in reverse' can help purify it, result in cheaper electronics
Just our favorite combination of news: a mind-bending innovation that can have a very practical impact on our daily tech consumption. MIT scientists have found that silicon -- when combined in the right dosage with other metals -- can actually be made to melt by reducing its temperature. Typically, you'd require 1,414 degrees of Celsius heat to liquidize solid silicon, but the intermixed variant discussed here need only reach 900 degrees before its slow cooling process starts turning it gooey. The great advantage to this discovery is that because the impurities tend to separate off into the liquid part, there's now a practicable way to filter them out, meaning that things like solar cells won't require the same high grade of silicon purity for their construction -- which in turn might lead to us being able to afford them one day. Of course, that's getting way too far ahead of ourselves, as the research is still ongoing, but good news is good news no matter the timescale.
Internet content filters are human too, funnily enough
Algorithms can only take you so far when you want to minimize obscene content on your social networking site. As the amount of user-uploaded content has exploded in recent times, so has the need for web content screeners, whose job it is to peruse the millions of images we throw up to online hubs like Facebook and MySpace every day, and filter out the illicit and undesirable muck. Is it censorship or just keeping the internet from being overrun with distasteful content? Probably a little bit of both, but apparently what we haven't appreciated until now is just how taxing a job this is. One outsourcing company already offers counseling as a standard part of its benefits package, and an industry group set up by Congress has advised that all should be providing therapy to their image moderators. You heard that right, people, mods need love too! Hit the source for more.
China happy with Google's latest tweaks, saga appears at an end
The China versus Google spat seems to be drawing to a conciliatory end today, as a senior state official has announced China is "satisfied" with Google's latest round of changes. This was somewhat predictable given that the country just recently renewed El Goog's license to host sites within its borders, but it's always reassuring to get confirmation from an official source. The American search giant had tried to strike a precarious balance, by having its local .cn domain adhere to Chinese laws and dictum while also providing a link out to its uncensored Hong Kong hub, and that seems to have done the trick. Ultimately, even the .hk search results will be subject to China's firewall -- which will render the most sensitive info inaccessible -- but at least Google can walk away from this dispute claiming that it's providing uncensored search in some form, even if its output can't always be put to good use.
Because you asked: iPad-free TUAW feed
You begged. You pleaded. You filled our in-box. We listened. We heard. We understand. For all of you who love the Mac and Apple news but whose interest in (and, occasionally, patience for) the iPhone and iPad have been exhausted, we have a solution. We're happy to introduce the following new URLs. Behold, iPad- and iPhone- free pages! http://www.tuaw.com/not/ipad [/rss.xml] http://www.tuaw.com/not/iphone [/rss.xml] http://www.tuaw.com/not/ipad,iphone [/rss.xml] These URLs are hot off the presses, sparkling with concentrated Mac- and Apple corporate-goodness. They will give you a brighter smile, cleaner breath, and a guaranteed[1] je ne sais quoi with that certain someone or someones. You can convert any one of them into an RSS feed by tacking "/rss.xml" onto the end of the address. This is a tag-driven system. It relies on us remembering to properly tag iPad posts with "iPad" and iPhone posts with "iPhone". While we promise to try our very, very hardest, we remain the same old fallible, carbon-based cellular automata you've come to know and love, i.e. human beings. Remember that old saying: "To tag is human; to tag poorly is human, too." So you will be finding occasional stray posts in your no-whatever feed. And we'll feel really, really awful about that. When that happens, we strongly encourage you to count to 10 (or at least to five) before firing off that irate email about how the new feature is horribly, horribly broken. Keep in mind that the "broken" feature is going to be us: your shiny, happy, loving TUAW team. We love all of our readers. And we want to make all of you happy. So put a bounce in your step and take your least favorite devices off (or at least, mostly off) your TUAW reading list! We'll be trying our hardest to tag everything properly. Happy filtering, everyone! [1] Satisfaction or your money back! Please include a small processing fee when filing your reimbursement request. This guarantee is fictional.
China partially blocks Google search results from Hong Kong, the saga continues
You didn't think that just because Google started redirecting its Google.cn domain to its Hong Kong site, we were coming to a neat compromise to the big brouhaha between the search giant and China, did you? Oh no, brother, this thing is far from over. China has now responded by whipping its state computers into a filtering frenzy, blocking and censoring out content it considers objectionable from Google's HK-based search results. Adding to its show of strength, it's expected the Chinese government's influence will also result in China Mobile canceling a deal to have Google as its default search provider on mobile handsets. We suppose it's Google's turn to respond now. How about offering a friendly game of badminton to settle their differences? [Thanks, Colin]
IE security flaw exploited in recent Google attacks
This next item's for any rogue states out there that might be planning a comprehensive wave of cyber-attacks: It looks like Microsoft has admitted that indeed it was a security flaw in Internet Explorer that hackers based in China exploited in the recent attacks on Google. As is often the case, the flaw is neatly summed up in the title of the advisory: "Vulnerability in Internet Explorer could allow remote code execution." According to news agency AFP, the incident (which targeted Chinese human rights activists) shows "a level of sophistication above that of typical, isolated cyber criminal efforts." (Which is, evidently, how we like to think of our own cyber criminal efforts.) Microsoft has yet to release a formal software update. In the meantime, if you think your machine could be at risk, hit the source link for all the details. Or just switch to Firefox.
Google to stop censoring Chinese search results, will "review the feasibility" of Chinese business operations
Google's been taking bad press about Chinese search result filtering for years, and now it looks like the company simply fed up: it's going to stop filtering Google.cn and it may pull of out the country entirely. The move comes on the heels of coordinated attacks on Gmail, which Google says were aimed at accessing the accounts of prominent human rights activists -- and Google also says that it's not the only company suffering such attacks in China. Only two accounts are said to have been hacked, but many more have apparently been accessed by third parties using malware or phishing schemes to obtain passwords. Google also says that these attacks have forced it to reconsider "the feasibility of our business operations in China," and that it's going to take the next few weeks to talk to the Chinese government and figure out a way to operate an unfiltered search engine in a legal way, and if it can't be done, it'll close Google.cn and potentially leave China completely. A gutsy move, to be sure -- but seriously, Google, what took you so long? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
ClearPlay introduces first content filtering 1080p upscaling DVD player
ClearPlay -- remember those guys? You know, the outfit who garnered all sorts of attention years ago by having their content filtering DVD players yanked from store shelves, only to be vindicated by Congress itself? Amazingly enough, these cats are still hanging around, and they've just pushed out their first filtering DVD player to upscale content to 1080p over HDMI. As expected, the $99.95 deck still sports the same filtering technology that gives dutiful parents the ability to block objectionable content based on customizable settings, but now you can rest easy knowing that any slip-up in blocking a steamy bedroom scene will be viewed by your impressionable youngster in glorious high-definition. Huzzah.
China backtracks, makes Green Dam 'optional'
China's efforts to preload the Green Dam censorware on all PCs in the country have been going pretty poorly so far, with accusations of software piracy and manufacturer displeasure causing delays. Now the government is backing down from that stance, stating that the original regulation wasn't "expressed clearly, and gave everyone the impression that [Green Dam] was mandatory." For home computers, that means the internet filtering software will likely continue to be bundled as an optional (and inactive) extra -- something Acer, ASUS, Lenovo and Sony have been doing since early July -- but if you're at school, an internet cafe or some other public access point, expect to see Green Dam running, alive and well. Censorship is dead, long live censorship. [Via CNET]
