#Baidu may face tougher rules after state media criticism | Reuters

Chinese search engine Baidu Inc may face tighter regulations after facing a barrage of criticism from state media over its business practices at a time when it is cementing its dominance of the booming Internet market.

Analysts and various state media have suggested tougher rules could be imposed on the company in the wake of an investigative report by China Central Television (CCTV) which exposed how easy it was to register and promote a fake website on Baidu's search platform and conduct fraud.

Baidu has built its share of China's search market significantly since Google's high-profile exit last year citing hacking and censorship concerns.

Can't Stop Social Media-Driven UK Riots? Go After Social Media-Driven Water Gun Fights | Techdirt

As #UK politicians and law enforcement still argue over things like blocking access to social media or shutting down Blackberry Messenger during times of riots and/or protests, it seems that some UK police know when to just jump right in. They've arrested and charged a guy for daring to organize a water gun fight using Blackberry messenger and Facebook.

As Governments Get Censorship Happy, New Technologies Popping Up To Route Around That

We've been discussing more and more movements from various governments towards censoring the internet, whether it's things as simple as 'filters' of 'bad sites' or more recent efforts by governments to shut down speech they don't like from people they don't like. However, as tends to be the case, technology seems to quickly come to the rescue. Late last week a new effort from J. Alex Halderman started to get some attention. Called Telex, it's a system for getting around internet censorship on a massive level, by using a variety of distributed nodes and disguising the type of traffic being sent over them.

iOS devs pay $50,000 for collecting children's info in apps

The parent company of Broken Thumbs Apps—a prominent iOS app maker responsible for games like Zombie Duck Hunt, Truth or Dare, and Emily's Dress Up—has today settled with the Federal Trade Commission over its apparent collection of children's personal data in its iPhone and iPod touch apps. Though the FTC has gone after other companies for similar violations, this case is the first focused on mobile apps.

Cisco Sued By Chinese Political Prisoners Over 'Golden Shield'

#Cisco, one of the world's largest technology companies, is being sued by Chinese political prisoners for allegedly providing the technology and expertise used by the Chinese Communist Party to monitor, censor and suppress the Chinese people.

Police Try To Bring Wiretapping Charges Against Woman Who Filmed Them Beating A Man

You would think that Sedergren, who was suspended for 45 days for his actions in the video, would know better and just get on with his life. Instead, he's 'filed an application for a criminal complaint' against Greene, saying she violated wiretapping laws in filming him without his permission. Everyone involved knows the law is not intended for situations like this, where an officer of the law is out in public. If this officer's response to being filmed involved in questionable activities is to push for criminal charges against the person who caught him doing it, it seems like he does not deserve to be an officer of the law at all any more. What a massive abuse of the law.