Gmail account security in Iran was at risk

Heads up for Iranians who use Gmail: A Dutch company that validates the authenticity of websites could have breached the security of Gmail accounts used by Iranians. Google internal system were not affected, though. See source link on ways to secure your account.

Source: Official Gmail Blog: Gmail account security in Iran

Some Chinese Internet users can surf freely thanks fo IPv6, for now

A new web technology being championed by China is allowing a short-term gap in its so-called “Great Firewall,” which blocks Chinese Internet users from sites blacklisted by the government in Beijing. Experts say how the gap is closed could have ramifications for the entire world.

The gap exists because of IPv6, the next generation of Internet protocol designed to replace IPv4. The change is needed because the old system is about to run out of IP addresses, the combination of numbers that identify your computer over the Internet. IPv6 will offer a nearly infinite number of IP addresses.

Source: Some Chinese Surf Freely, for Now | VOA News

Seems that there's a flaw in the slaw in China's Great Firewall, as it may not be able to handle IPv6, which will provide infinite numbers of IP addresses. Those who claimed to use IPv6 to get around China's censorship firewall were successful, such as users inside or outside China.

Chinese Regime Calls for Crackdown on Internet Rumors

China's state news agency has called for a crackdown on what it calls the spread of toxic rumors over the Internet.

Xinhua published an article Tuesday in Chinese-only criticizing the increasingly popular social networking sites for spreading rumors like cancer, and urged preventive action.

Chinese authorities use sophisticated software to try to control what is said on the Internet. The government has become increasingly nervous about the Arab uprisings, which have gathered huge support through online networking. Officials fear they may inspire unrest in China.

Source: China Calls for Crackdown on Internet Rumors | VOA News

China's growing even more nervous and disturbed, the Chinese regime is telling its ISPs to tighten control on Internet content. Goes to show that the Chinese regime doesn't like it when the Internet is being used against them, in response to the Arab Spring. Rumors or not, China's not taking any chances here.

How Google Search Handles Piracy Today

Last winter, Google discussed its efforts to improve how copyright works online. They outlined four changes that they’d be implementing, including:

1. Acting on reliable copyright takedown requests within 24 hours
2. Preventing terms that are closely associated with piracy from appearing in autocomplete
3. Improving AdSense anti-piracy review
4. Experimenting to make authorized preview content more readily accessible in search results.

Today, Google discussed some of the strides it has made with these initiatives in a post on its Public Policy blog.

The company says it has built tools for making it easier for rightsholders to submit DMCA takedown requests for Google products, starting with Blogger and Web Search and that they’re being used by over a dozen content industry partners successfully, accounting for over 75% of all URLs submitted in DMCA takedowns for web search. Google also started filtering terms associated with infringement from Autocomplete.

Source: Google Gives Update on How It’s Combating Piracy | WebProNews

Well, the war on Internet piracy is now waging on search engines like Google, thanks to the entertainment industry. Just like with Internet pornography, piracy-related search terms will not be shown on Google Search's autocomplete (list of search terms that appear when typing in a keyword.) Also on Google Adwords and Adsense, sites promoting pirated materials will likely be rejected from Google Ad circulation, which has happened over a year ago with Youtube's Promoted Videos program. Plus if piracy websites are shown in Google search results, they're likely to be de-listed thanks to numerous DMCA requests Google recieves almost everyday. With that, these companies are still going up against the Web right now.