Rapid Web News

Google is highly likely to be shutting down Google Search in China, after discussions with Chinese authorities regarding censorship laws appear to have reached an impasse.

Last Friday, the Chinese government challenged Google directly, stating that it refused to compromise its censorship laws to prevent Google from leaving China. Google’s removal of censorship occurred after a number of ‘cyber-attacks’ has occurred to Google’s systems from an apparent Chinese origin.

Li Yizhong, the Chinese minister for industry and information technology, has this to say on the topic:

“If [Google] takes steps that violate Chinese laws, that would be unfriendly, that would be irresponsible, and they would have to bear the consequences.”

“[Google] has taken 30 per cent of the Chinese search market.”

“If you don’t leave, China will welcome that, if you don’t leave, it will be beneficial for the development of the Internet in China.”

Islam is getting a little help from Britain’s Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism, which says it plans to train government-approved groups to “flood the Internet” with “positive” interpretations of that religion in an online fight against radicalization.

The OSCT plans to coach moderate Islamic groups on how to manipulate the Google rankings of their Web sites in order to boost the online profile of moderate voices in the Muslim community, reports The Register, a British online investigative newspaper.

(Credit: International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation )

It is widely understood that terrorists use the Web to radicalize and recruit the vulnerable and disaffected; search engine optimization, or SEO, training is part of the campaign to counter this, a Home Office representative confirmed to The Register. “In order to support mainstream voices, we work with local partners to help develop their communication, representational, and leadership skills.”

Source: cnet news article

This is a rather unusual and political use for search engine optimisation. It seems that the British govnernment is employers content writers and SEO experts to promote the positive elements of Islam, in an attempt to reduce the negative interpretation commonly associated with the Islam religion.

Search engine optimisation is generally only utilised for commercial purposes to promote e-commerce websites and other types of websites. If you’re interested in SEO strategies for your own website or websites, please feel free to contact us here at Rapid Web.

So finally legislation is to be put in place to stop repeat piracy offenders but is it enough? Lord Mandelson believes so…

“…Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, has outlined action to tackle piracy that will see repeat offenders’ internet connections disconnected within a minimum of 15 months from their offence…” 15 months eh? Nothing like rushing it through. Surely in that time ‘pirates’ will continue to download, with a potential 50meg unlimited download speed that’s more than enough time to build up quite a collection – wouldn’t a suspension pending investigation be a better move? This breaks down like this; say for instance I were to start downloading music/movies/ T.V. shows etc now and got caught no punishment at all would potentially happen until 2011 or later! The pirates, I’m sure, are laughing their illegal socks off!

“…In Stage One, illegal file sharers will first receive a warning letter. Then there will be an indefinite number of subsequent warnings, which will state that legal action will be taken if the account holder continues to download illegally. Legal action will then be taken by the rights holder against the worst offenders. Communications regulator Ofcom will set up a body to hear appeals. The regulator will report quarterly to the Secretary of State, with a goal to reduce piracy by 70pc. If the Stage One process is unsuccessful, then the internet disconnection process, or Stage Two, will begin. This will begin with further warning letters threatening internet suspension and further infringement will lead to the offender being included on a “serious infringer list”…”

Some big names are chomping at the bit for stronger legislation to be put in place, names like Sir Elton John. Noel Gallagher, James Blunt and Lily Allen stating that piracy is particularly harmful to young, new musicians and also composers who are not performing artists. James Blunt claimed that websites which make money from file shares are akin to drug dealers, strong but true in a way. Maybe holding out and sending letters over such a long period isn’t really displaying the severity of this digital theft? But as ever I guess you can draw your own conclusions.

Any media is still best as a bought item, come on peeps, get your cash out