The Middleman may never be terminated, but he is cruisin’ for a bruisin’ in the digital age. The latest assault will come, surprisingly, from China, as the government unveils plans to produce a 3D virtual world that allows consumers to order directly from the manufacturer.
Skype Accused Of Helping Chinese Censors
An American-based distributor of underground software that helps Chinese citizens get around government firewalls and access censored websites is accusing Skype of aiding the government by redirecting users to a website monitored and filtered by Chinese authorities.
Chinese Web Expands
China now has 137 million Internet users and while that sounds like a lot (only second to the US in number), Pew Internet & American Life Project reminds us that’s just a tenth of the country’s population.
Scientist Locates Chinese Sub On Google Earth
Nothing like an arms race to bring back those Cold War memories, when the Red Dawn seemed eminent even if we had the Iron Eagle, rock music blaring through his Walkman, to protect us. Nowadays it’s Google Earth, not Hollywood and Reagan, scaring everybody to death.
Jailed Chinese Reporter Joins Suit Against Yahoo
When a Chinese reporter was imprisoned due to Yahoo’s loose lips, the reporter’s mother filed a lawsuit on his behalf. Now, although he is still in jail, Shi Tao’s name has been added to the suit.
Schmidt Pleased With Chinese Chief’s Performance
How’s this for a job: run the foreign arm of a gigantic corporation, and don’t worry about making any money for, oh, four or so years. That’s apparently what Google’s Kai-Fu Lee has been told to do in China. Yet Lee has other responsibilities, and CEO Eric Schmidt claims to be more than satisfied with the man’s performance.
Yahoo Named In Chinese Torture Suit
Search engine companies get sued all the time, but it’s usually about a patent dispute, a site’s ranking, or something else relatively mundane and white-collar. Not so in this case: Yahoo is being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act.
Another Chinese Cyber-Dissident Jailed
Not to brag as much as give thanks: it’s nice to live in a place where you won’t go to jail for having something to say. "Cyber-dissident" Zhang Jianhong (pen name, Li Hong) can go to jail for it, and is, for six years.
We can also be thankful phrases like "reeducation-through-work camp for counter-revolutionary propaganda" still sound to us like something out of a George Orwell fantasy.
Google Expected To Invest In Chinese Company
Google may have made friends with Shenzhen Xunlei Network Technology Ltd., a Chinese company that deals in online videos. Reports indicate that Google will invest in the company, although there are no details yet about the alleged deal.
Chinese Journalists Supported On Yahoo Video
The new video service from Yahoo now matches competitors YouTube and Google Video in permitting users to upload videos to the service for sharing with others; two videos that made it to the system may be a bit embarrassing to Yahoo.