Rest of World: Twitter blocked 122 accounts in India at the government’s request. “Twitter blocked 122 accounts belonging to journalists, authors, and politicians in India this week in response to legal requests from the Indian government.”
CBC: MPs summon top Alphabet/Google executives to explain decision to block news content. “A parliamentary committee is calling four of Google’s top executives to appear before it after the company began testing ways it could block news content from searches if Parliament passes the Online News Act.”
Bloomberg: Wikipedia is blocked in Pakistan over ‘sacrilegious’ content. “Pakistan has blocked Wikipedia services in the South Asian nation after the platform failed to remove ‘sacrilegious’ content. The action was taken because some of the content is still available on Wikipedia after the expiry of a 48-hour deadline, Malahat Obaid, spokesperson for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, said by phone.”
KHOU: Katy ISD students will no longer have access to Twitter via the district’s Wi-Fi. “Starting Friday at 5 p.m., Katy ISD students will no longer have access to Twitter via the district’s Wi-Fi. This change comes after issues were brought to the district’s attention about students being able to access inappropriate websites through Twitter via the district’s ‘BeTheLegacy’ Wi-Fi, Katy ISD said.”
Chalkbeat New York: NYC education department blocks ChatGPT on school devices, networks. “New York City students and teachers can no longer access ChatGPT — the new artificial intelligence-powered chatbot that generates stunningly cogent and lifelike writing — on education department devices or internet networks, agency officials confirmed Tuesday.” Based on what I’ve been reading about chatbot-based AI startups, they’re going to be playing Whac-A-Mole for a while.
Bleeping Computer: DuckDuckGo now blocks Google sign-in pop-ups on all sites. “DuckDuckGo apps and extensions are now blocking Google Sign-in pop-ups on all its apps and browser extensions, removing what it perceives as an annoyance and a privacy risk for its users.”
Mediaite: Twitter Flags Mediaite Post Critical of Elon Musk as ‘Potentially Spammy’. “Twitter deemed a Mediaite article that is critical of the company’s new owner Elon Musk as ‘potentially spammy’ on Friday night, and diverted users to a warning page when they click the post. The warning had been removed as of Saturday morning after multiple media outlets – including this one – reported on it.”
How-To Geek: How to Read a Blocked Website. “These tools can help you subvert most content blocks, though we strongly urge you to make sure you’re not breaking any laws before you use them. While everything we cover below is legal in the U.S., using these tools in other countries—or using them to access illegal content—could get you in deep trouble. Like, years in prison or massive fines levels of trouble. Do your research, and use them at your own risk.”
Engadget: Indonesia restores access to PayPal, Yahoo and Valve services. “Indonesia has unblocked PayPal, Steam owner Valve and Yahoo (Engadget’s parent company), allowing them to resume operations. The country prevented residents from accessing services of several companies that missed a July 29th deadline to register with a government database.”
Mint (India): Govt issued 105 orders to block social media content under new IT rules . “According to information shared by the minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, 94 directions to block content were issued to YouTube between December 2021 and April 2022.”
Reuters: Indonesia Blocks Yahoo, Paypal, Gaming Websites Over Licence Breaches. “Indonesia has blocked search engine website Yahoo, payments firm PayPal and several gaming websites due to failure to comply with licensing rules, an official said on Saturday, sparking a backlash on social media.”
Washington Post: My video criticizing the Iranian government went viral. Then Instagram restricted my account.. “What did I do wrong? I still don’t know. Instagram didn’t initially offer any explanation. I might guess that my offense was giving voice to the voiceless in Iran. My 7 million followers on Instagram make for a powerful platform.”
The Moscow Times: New Novaya Gazeta Site Blocked in Russia. “Russia on Sunday blocked the website of a new editorial project by independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which was forced to suspend publication in March amid repression of critics of the offensive in Ukraine.”
Bleeping Computer: Microsoft starts blocking Office macros by default, once again. “Microsoft announced today that it resumed the rollout of VBA macro auto-blocking in downloaded Office documents after temporarily rolling it back earlier this month following user feedback. The change comes after the company improved its user and admin support documentation to make it easier to understand the available options when a macro is blocked.”
Reuters: Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine block Google search engine. “Russian-backed separatists in a breakaway region of eastern Ukraine have blocked access to the search engine Google, their leader said on Friday, citing what he calls ‘disinformation.’”
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