Boing Boing: China has perfected the internet control playbook and now it’s exporting it to the world . “After decades of back-and-forth over internet freedom, China has figured out a method for allowing people to use the internet for social and business purposes, but not for political reform — a combination of huge boiler-rooms full of censors, centralization of internet services under tight government control, and control over standards to ensure that surveillance and censorship are always possible. At the same time, China’s increasing wealth, combined with other large powers’ increased austerity and withdrawal from foreign aid, has enabled it to create large and growing spheres of influence over other states in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, and these trading partners look to China for examples of how to create their own internet policies.”
internet access
Pew: Social Media Use Continues to Rise in Developing Countries but Plateaus Across Developed Ones
Pew (PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW!): Social Media Use Continues to Rise in Developing Countries but Plateaus Across Developed Ones . “There has been a steady increase in internet use over the past five years among the 19 emerging and developing economies surveyed. Between 2013 and 2014, a median of 42% across these countries said they accessed the internet at least occasionally or owned a smartphone. By 2017, a median of 64% were online. Meanwhile, internet use among the 17 advanced economies surveyed has remained relatively flat, with a median of 87% across these nations using the internet at least occasionally in 2017, similar to the 86% who said this in 2015 or 2016.”
New Westminster Record: UK judge bans singer from social media over anti-Semitism
New Westminster Record: UK judge bans singer from social media over anti-Semitism. “A folk singer who posted videos on YouTube insulting Jews and mocking the Holocaust has been banned from using social media. A judge at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court sentenced Alison Chabloz on Thursday to a 20-week suspended prison sentence, a year-long social media ban and community service.”
Reuters: Vietnam lawmakers approve cyber law clamping down on tech firms, dissent
Reuters: Vietnam lawmakers approve cyber law clamping down on tech firms, dissent. “Vietnamese legislators approved a cybersecurity law on Tuesday that tightens control of the internet and global tech companies operating in the Communist-led country, raising fears of economic harm and a further crackdown on dissent.”
Social Media in the Middle East: The Continued Rise of Messaging Apps (Medium)
Medium: Social Media in the Middle East: The Continued Rise of Messaging Apps. “This is the first in a series of ten short extracts from my sixth annual round-up of social media trends from the Middle East and North Africa (written with University of Oregon student Amanda Lam). Social Media in the Middle East: The Story of 2017 is available for download from the University of Oregon Scholars’ Bank and on Scribd, SlideShare and Academia.edu.”
Slate: Day 1 of a Worse Internet
Slate: Day 1 of a Worse Internet. “Monday, June 11, is the first day of the post–net neutrality internet. In December, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the Obama-era rules that prohibit internet companies from slowing down or speeding up access to certain websites, but it took about six months for the repeal to get a signoff from the Office of Management and Budget and for the new rules to be published in the federal register. Beginning, well, now, your internet access could—emphasis on could—feel dramatically different than it did yesterday.”
Reuters: U.S. says internet use rises as more low income people go online
Reuters: U.S. says internet use rises as more low income people go online. “Among Americans living in households with family incomes below $25,000 per year, the survey found internet use increased to 62 percent in 2017 from 57 percent in 2015, while households earning $100,000 or more showed no change at 86 percent.”
