The European Commission has slammed Turkey’s newly-adopted cyber law allowing the government to block websites without a court ruling. Commission spokesman Peter Stano said on Thursday that the law raised “serious concerns” as it “introduces several restrictions on freedom of expression.” The Turkish Parliament passed the law late on Wednesday, allowing the Telecommunications Communications... 

In a world where the United Nations’ Human Rights Council unanimously ruled that Internet access is a human right, a committee of the European Parliament voted to protect the Internet for their citizens, the nation of Finland became the first country in the world to declare broadband Internet access a legal right, and the peoples of South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, France (to just name a few)... 

Pope Francis has proclaimed the internet a “gift from God,” lauding its ability to connect disparate groups and foster communication across religious, economic, and political divides. The comments were part of his message for World Communications Day. “A culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give, but also to receive,” read the pontiff’s statement. He outlined ways in... 

The US National Security Agency has subverted an international agreement in order to save and examine the phone, internet, and other communication records of UK citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing, according to a new report. The Guardian report is based on a 2007 NSA memo revealing that the shadowy agency specifically sought to “unmask” the personal data that British residents wanted to keep... 

It’s widely known that the NSA has taps connected to the various telco networks, thanks in large part to AT&T employee Mark Klein who blew the whistle on AT&T’s secret NSA room in San Francisco. What was unclear was exactly what kind of access the NSA had. Various groups like the EFF and CDT have both been asking the administration to finally come clean, in the name of transparency, if... 

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has postponed a state visit to Washington in response to the US spying on her communications with top aides. Rousseff is demanding a full public apology from President Obama. Barack Obama spoke with Rousseff on Monday in an attempt to persuade her into following through with the trip, the Brazilian president’s office said, according to AP. Brazil’s TV Globo... 

The map of XKeyscore servers from a 2008 presentation New revelations about NSA surveillance systems show that it was enough to fill in a short ‘justification’ form before gaining access to any of billions of emails, online chats, or site visit histories through a vast aggregation program called XKeyscore. The structure of XKeyscore, leaked by the UK’s Guardian newspaper, is sourced from a classified... 

The British government has set the precedent for establishing the state’s power to censor web content of its choosing by automatically blocking online porn via mandatory web filters set to be in place by the end of next year. “Every household in the UK is to have pornography blocked by their internet provider unless they choose to receive it, David Cameron is to announce,” reports BBC News.... 

Former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden Former CIA director Michael Hayden said other countries will no longer have confidence in the United States after Edward Snowden’s revelations about the US government’s global surveillance programs. In an interview with CNN on Friday, Hayden said other intelligence services around the world will no longer “have confidence in the United States that we’re... 

The logo of France’s Directorate-General for External Security France’s secret services illegally have been spying on the citizens by monitoring their telephone and internet communications as well as internet searches, a report says. On Thursday, French daily Le Monde reported that the country’s security services had stored the data from communications on a supercomputer at the headquarters of... 

Major US internet corporation Yahoo has announced that American law enforcement agencies had made between 12,000 and 13,000 demands for user data over past six months, in the latest case of tech firms admitting to their involvement in the massive US electronic spying bid. In an effort to restore confidence in its users after revelations of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) PRISM electronic surveillance... 

Following whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leaks of National Security Agency documents pointing to mass online surveillance, both Facebook and Microsoft have released details on the number of legal orders made to them by the NSA. Only a few days after revelations of the surveillance program known as PRISM, which alleged major companies such as the social networking giant Facebook and software maker... 

New documents reveal that the National Security Agency and the FBI are secretly gathering data from nine large U.S. internet companies. The Washington Post reported that the secret wiretapping program codenamed PRISM may be unprecedented. The internet companies involved include Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple, the report said. The classified program allows... 

The biggest thing to come out of Texas may turn out to be a blow to Internet freedoms: legislators there are considering a bill that would compromise privacy on the Web for all residents of the Lone Star State. Lawmakers in the State Senate are expected to vote Monday on a bill that, if passed, would compel Internet Service Providers (ISPs) anywhere in the world to fork over private Web records if... 

A number of regions of Syria on Wednesday night was cut off from the Internet and international communications, Egyptian MENA agency reported. According to sources, inbound and outbound traffic from Syria fell sharply. Representatives of Renesys company, which monitors global network traffic, confirmed the fact. According to the portal, all sites registered in the local domain zone “.sy”,...