US trade officials urge China to revoke their censorship ridden software

February 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Monday referred back the Internet telephony issue to the telecom regulator even while providing flexibility to calling card customers, official sources said. Internet telephony, if approved, will allow consumers to make calls from their personal computers or laptops to fixed lines or mobile phones in India or abroad.

June 11th, 2009 LONDON - China's plans to censor the Internet by forcing all new computers to be sold with filtering software may put every computer in the country at increased hacking risk, experts have warned. According to Isaac Mao, blogger, social entrepreneur and research fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the compulsory government software appeared to be plagued with flaws.

September 25th, 2009 AT&T complains Google Voice blocks calls it can'tSEATTLE — AT&T Inc. said Friday that Google Inc.'s Internet phone program gets an unfair advantage from blocking calls to rural communities where local carriers charge high connection fees.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Chinese Government has delayed the mandatory installation of the controversial "Green Dam-Youth Escort" filtering software on new computers that was scheduled to start today. The software is designed to block violence and pornographic content on the Internet to protect minors, but users have repeatedly raised concerns about invasion of privacy.

June 27th, 2009 Companies appeal to China to drop Web filter planBEIJING — Global business groups have made an unusual direct appeal to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to scrap an order for PC makers to supply controversial Internet filtering software, citing security and privacy concerns. Just days before the deadline to comply with China's order, the letter from 22 chambers of commerce and trade groups representing the world's major technology suppliers adds to pressure on Beijing to halt the plan following an official protest by Washington.

June 11th, 2009 BEIJING - The Chinese Government's decision to provide computers with software packages for filtering online pornographic contents has received cautious welcome from PC makers, yet many Internet users are sceptical of the software's capacity.Chinese authorities had earlier rejected media reports that claim that the government is installing spy ware on all computers in the guise of porn filters. Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday announced that all computers produced or sold in China after July 1 would be installed with the software package combining Green Dam and Minor Escort programs.

July 24th, 2009 China's Baidu.com says profit up 44.6 percentBEIJING — Baidu Inc., which operates China's leading Internet search engine, said Friday its quarterly profit rose 44.6 percent from a year earlier on strong growth in revenue and numbers of advertisers. Net income for the three months ending June 30 was 383.3 million yuan ($56.1 million), or 11.02 yuan ($1.61) per share, the Beijing-based company said.

July 27th, 2009 AT&T says Web site block was not censorshipNEW YORK — AT&T Inc. blocked freewheeling Web site 4chan.org this weekend, leading to accusations of censorship, but the reason for the action turned out to be a routine security measure.

September 22nd, 2009 There are certain programs in Linux for which the source is not readily available. There is an useful diagnostic, instructional, and debugging tool for Linux to solve it.

June 30th, 2009 BEIJING - Amid widespread international criticism, China Tuesday announced that it would delay the mandatory installation of the controversial "Green Dam-Youth Escort" filtering software on new computers. The installation was postponed as some computer producers said the process demanded extra time, the ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT) said.

July 2nd, 2009 PC makers voluntarily supply Web filter in ChinaBEIJING — Several PC makers were including controversial Internet-filtering software with computers shipped in China on Thursday despite a government decision to postpone its plan to make such a step mandatory. Beijing's decision this week to delay the requirement that the filtering software — known as Green Dam — be pre-installed or supplied on disk with all computers sold in China averted a possible trade clash with the United States and Europe.

September 19th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Would-be lovers could soon be thanking popular social networking site Twitter as it will allow users to call their followers for free. The website is set to offer two-minute calls about the duration of a tweet without any cost, where members can talk for the first time without making their phone numbers public.

October 5th, 2009 Vonage releases calling app for iPhone, BlackBerryNEW YORK — Vonage Holdings Corp., a pioneer in Internet-based home phone service, is launching applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry that undercut the international calling rates of major wireless carriers. The free programs let users place calls that are routed over Vonage's network, at least for the international leg.

June 25th, 2009 US calls on China to revoke Web filter orderBEIJING — Washington is calling on Beijing to revoke an order to personal computer makers to supply Internet-filtering software with every PC, adding to an array of disputes between the major trading partners. In a letter to Chinese officials, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the order might violate China's free-trade commitments and raise security risks for users, Kirk's office said in a statement Thursday.

September 2nd, 2009 Wiretapping Skype calls: virus eavesdrops on VoIPSAN FRANCISCO — Some computer viruses have a crude but scary ability to spy on people by logging every keystroke they type. Now hackers and potentially law enforcement have another weapon: a virus that can eavesdrop on voice conversations that go over computers instead of a regular phone line.