The three giants of the Internet world – Google, Yahoo and Microsoft announced last week that they have agreed on a set of principles on how to do business in nations that restrict freedom of expression. The impact of these principles and how they will be enforced are yet to be seen. Google and Yahoo in particular have been accused in the past of providing information about users to the Chinese government that is believed to have led to their prosecution.
Under the new principles, which were crafted over two years, the technology giants promise to protect the personal information of their users wherever they do business and to "narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy." They also commit to scrutinizing a country's track record of jeopardizing personal information and freedom of expression before launching new businesses in a country and to discussing the risks widely with their executives and board members.
The document introduced under an entity known as the Global Network Initiative, was crafted by a group of participants including human rights groups like Human Rights First and Committee to Protect Journalists. The companies agreed to have their compliance with the new principles monitored by independent experts.
At least one human rights organization that didn't sign onto the plan said it doesn't go far enough. For instance, the document does not address the issue whether Internet companies are violating U.S. or international laws by complying with requests from certain governments. The plan has yet to receive the support of Internet companies in China and other countries whose policies it implicitly attacks. Other influential Internet giants such as eBay are yet to sign up.
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have maintained their legal obligation to abide by a country's local laws. The new code doesn't fundamentally change that approach because it acknowledges that companies still must obey local laws in the countries where they operate. It also stops short of stipulating some specific behaviour to avoid ethically challenging situations, such as hosting servers in countries without restrictions. But the companies promise to resist government demands to the greatest extent possible and to carefully assess the human rights impact of their decisions.
Many experts have voiced their doubts that these new principles would have a significant impact in enhancing the freedom of expression for citizens in a growing list of countries around the world that have started filtering information on the Internet from their citizens.
Even western democracies such as Australia and Britain have taken the path of censorship and monitoring online communications. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are seeking to combat criticism that they have helped enable censorship in some countries and thereby salvage their integrity.
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Futurecast
Last week, we discussed how the computing power itself will be offered over networks in the not so distant future and how that will transform the face of computing – making it even more affordable and prevalent. For years, Google and Amazon.com have been trying to paint a picture of the future where the network (or the Internet) takes the place of the operating system (in most cases – Windows). One could be forgiven for thinking that Microsoft has only just woken up to the idea – but with a thunderous roar when they unveiled last week, what one executive called the most important plan in 16 years. The project, called Windows Azure, is an ambitious effort to create an operating system that allows for greater flexibility in using Windows. Azure would let companies run some programs on their own computer networks while also commissioning Microsoft to deliver a wide range of services from its own massive data centres.
If successful, Azure could transform the Windows brand from possibly becoming a liability into a revitalised driving force that would give Microsoft advantages even Google can't match. Azure could potentially affect the entire Internet, from being a strong influence on corporate IT strategy to consumer services delivered directly to teenagers' laptops and cell phones. Windows is a powerful weapon that Microsoft is at last trying to use to improve its broader Internet based offerings. That's because most companies and individuals already know how to create and run Windows-based software. Azure could let them easily extend those programs to the Web.
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Canonical last week, introduced the next version of the Ubuntu Linux desktop, targeting consumers' love of mobile PCs with technology for connecting to a wireless carrier's 3G network through a mobile phone. In addition, Canonical introduced a server edition of Ubuntu 8.10 that includes improvements in virtualization, Java development and system management. The desktop and server editions are scheduled to be available for free download Oct. 30.
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Sockstress
Also called TCP sockstress, it is a potentially serious generic issue in many operating systems that affects the availability of TCP services. It is believed that a DoS attack exploiting the sockstress vulnerability uses half-open connections to deplete resources in the machines under attack. It very quickly causes specific services to become unavailable and may even require complete machine reboots. The attack may be effective against almost anything on a network, including Windows, BSD, Linux, embedded systems TCP/IP stack implementations, and others. May also be referred to as TCP state table manipulation vulnerability.
–Webopedia.com
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