| FRANCE: In French Inquiry, a Glimpse at Corporate Spying by DAVID JOLLY, New York Times August 1st, 2009 A corporate espionage case unfolding in France involves some of the biggest French companies, including Électricité de France, the world’s largest operator of nuclear power plants, and Vivendi, the media and telecommunications conglomerate. The story has the elements of a corporate thriller: a cast of characters that includes former French spies and military men, an American cycling champion, Greenpeace activists and a dogged judge. |
| US: DOJ Opens Review of Telecom Industry by Amol Sharma, Wall Street Journal July 6th, 2009 The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years. The DOJ's antitrust chief has said she wants to reassert the government's role in policing monopolistic and anti-competitive practices by powerful companies. |
| Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology
by Christopher Rhoads in New York and Loretta Chao in Beijing, Wall Street Journal June 22nd, 2009 European telecommunications companies including Siemens AG and Nokia Corp provided deep packet inspection capability installed with the Iranian governments telecom hub allowing the Iranian government to monitor dissent. Nokia spokesperson Mr. Roome said the company "does have a choice about whether to do business in any country. We believe providing people, wherever they are, with the ability to communicate is preferable to leaving them without the choice to be heard." |
| IRAN: Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology by Christopher Rhoads and Loretta Chao, Wall Street Journal June 22nd, 2009 The Iranian regime has developed one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet. The Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection. The monitoring capability was provided, at least in part, by a joint venture of Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, and Nokia Corp., the Finnish cellphone company. |
| CHINA: China Disables Some Google Functions by Edward Wong, New York Times June 19th, 2009 After meeting with managers of the Chinese operations of Google on Thursday to warn them, the Chinese government disabled some search functions on the Chinese-language Web site of Google on Friday. Officials alleged the site was linking too often to pornographic and vulgar content. |
| US: Contractors Vie for Plum Work, Hacking for U.S. Government by CHRISTOPHER DREW and JOHN MARKOFF, New York Times May 30th, 2009 The Obama administration’s push into cyberwarfare has set off a rush among the biggest military companies for billions of dollars in new defense contracts. Nearly all of the largest military companies — including Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon — have major cyber contracts with the military and intelligence agencies. |
| IRAN/CHINA: Iranians and Others Outwit Net Censors by John Markoff, New York Times April 30th, 2009 The Internet is no longer just an essential channel for commerce, entertainment and information. It has also become a stage for state control — and rebellion against it. Computers are becoming more crucial in global conflicts, not only in spying and military action, but also in determining what information reaches people around the globe. |
| UK: Use of Web Tracking Tool Raises Privacy Issue in Britain by Kevin J. O'Brien, New York Times April 14th, 2009 The European Commission threatened Britain with sanctions on Tuesday for allowing use of a new advertising technology, created by Phorm, to track the Web movements of customers. The country’s largest service provider, BT, acknowledged last April that it used the tool without customers’ consent in 2006 and 2007. |
| WORLD: Skype’s iPhone application raises protests by David Gelles, Financial Times April 3rd, 2009 Skype’s application for the Apple iPhone is igniting network neutrality disputes around the globe after less than a week on the market. Free Press, asked the US Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether AT&T was violating US guidelines by preventing the app from running on its 3G network. An alliance of internet groups on Friday responded to Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile’s threat to block the Skype for iPhone application on its network. |
| UK: Residents challenge Google camera BBC News Online April 3rd, 2009 Google's Street View mapping project ran into local opposition in England, with angry residents in the village of Milton Keynes blocking a Google driver when he started taking photographs of their homes. Villagers accused the company of going too far, violating their privacy and possibly facilitating crime. |
| US, GLOBAL: Layoffs Without Notice Sting Workers by Steve Lohr, New York Times March 5th, 2009 With the economy weakening, chief executives want Wall Street to see them as tough cost-cutters who are not afraid to lay off workers. Big companies also routinely carry out scattered layoffs that are small enough to stay under the radar, contributing to an unemployment rate that keeps climbing. I.B.M. is one such company. |
| INDIA: Bail Opposed for Raju by Eric Bellman and Jackie Range, Wall Street Journal January 28th, 2009 Prosecutors pursuing the fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd. said Tuesday the Indian technology outsourcer's founder, B. Ramalinga Raju, should be denied bail because he could slow the investigation if released. |
| SWITZERLAND: Davos Scales Back Glitz by Associated Press, New York Times January 25th, 2009 The economic crisis that emerged out the collapse of securities based on shaky U.S. mortgages poses challenges for the Davos World Economic Forum, an arena that has championed market-driven approaches. |
| US: 3 Flat-Screen Makers Plead Guilty to Trying to Keep Prices High
by STEVE LOHR, The New York Times November 12th, 2008 Prices for the flat screens in televisions, personal computers and cellphones have plummeted in recent years — but the decline would have been even faster if it hadn’t been for an international price-fixing cartel, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. |
| US: Early-voting problems in Putnam: Touch-screen votes switched, then corrected by Paul J. Nyden, The Charleston Gazette October 21st, 2008 Two more Putnam County voters - Martha Louise Harrington and Michael K. Koon - have come forward about problems they experienced on early-voting electronic machines at the Winfield courthouse. |
| US: The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America by Amy Goodman and James Bamford, Democracy Now! October 14th, 2008 The Bush administration’s wiretapping program has come under new scrutiny. Two influential congressional committees have opened probes into allegations US intelligence spied on the phone calls of U.S. military personnel, journalists and aid workers in Iraq. James Bamford discusses the NSA’s domestic sprying, the agency’s failings pre-9/11 and the ties between NSA and the nation’s telecommunications companies. |
| INDIA: In Sore Need of E-Waste Regulation by Keya Acharya, Inter Press News Service (IPS) October 2nd, 2008 India’s lack of safe electronic waste-disposal is growing to a crisis situation, needing strong laws to control the situation, say experts. |
| UK: UK government responds on Phorm BBC News September 16th, 2008 Clarifying how the system will be used in response to the EU request, the UK government said future trials must be done with consent from those being targeted. |
| US: NebuAd Halts Plans For Web Tracking by Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post September 4th, 2008 |
| FRANCE: Siemens Accused of Posting a Rival’s Secrets by DAVID JOLLY, The New York Times September 3rd, 2008 In another black eye for Siemens, the German industrial conglomerate found itself accused on Wednesday of posting a rival’s business secrets on an internal computer network. |