Apple removes foreign VPN apps from Chinese app store - UPI.com
UPI reports: "Virtual-private network, or VPN, applications have been removed from Apple's Chinese app store. Foreign companies had developed the apps to get around China's Internet filters. [...] Residents in China utilize VPNs to get around the 'Great Firewall' that censors Chinese Internet and limits access. [...] China, Apple's largest market outside the United States, pledged to crack down on unapproved VPNs and restricted other online content as part of a 14-month campaign to 'clean up' the Internet."

Comment: Score a point for the "Great Firewall" of China. This news report casts this as a human rights issue and there's no doubt it is. Human rights workers, political activists and international visitors all use VPNs to access the global internet but there is another group impacted that this article does not mention. There is a large underground Christian church in China that exists alongside the official state-approved churches and those believers also use this technology to access Christian resources and contacts. As all internet traffic comes under the control of the state, these groups will become increasingly vulnerable to state intimidation and control.

CNN - Fake in China: 488 million social media posts a year
CNN reports: "The Chinese government cranks out 488 million fake social media posts a year in an effort to divert attention away from sensitive issues, a new study estimates. The researchers describe a 'massive secretive operation' carried out by government employees, highlighting just how far China is willing to go to control news and information."

Comment: Social media seems to take on a life of its own  with the narrative sometimes diverging wildly from the original topic. Celebrities, governments and corporations have all have their social media fails as well-intended  tweets are either misinterpreted or mocked online. But, what if you could guide the flow of the narrative? If social media is a storm would it be possible to manufacture countervailing winds to steer the storm in the desired direction? It seems that China is currently conducting just such an experiment using millions of fake social media posts. It's a fascinating and yet scary development.

My Way News - China blocks websites as Internet meeting begins
My Way News reports: "Chinese censors have newly blocked access to several popular websites as they target content delivery networks that serve much of the Internet, according to a U.S. Internet service company. The action comes as China hosts the World Internet Conference, which brings together many of the world's top technology companies."

My Way News - Pakistan pulls top news station off air amid spat
My Way News reports: "Pakistan's media regulators pulled the nation's leading news channel off the air on Friday, the latest development in a spat between the broadcaster and the military's powerful spy agency that has focused attention on media freedoms in the country."

My Way News - Turkish court backs Twitter but site still blocked:
My Way News reports: "Turkey last week suspended access to Twitter, which has been a conduit for links to recordings suggesting corruption by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, which faces local elections on Sunday. The government then blocked access to YouTube following the leak of an audio recording of a top security meeting where officials allegedly discussed a military intervention in neighboring Syria."

My Way News - Turkish attempt to ban Twitter appears to backfire:
My Way News reports: "Turkey's attempt to block access to Twitter appeared to backfire on Friday with many tech-savvy users circumventing the ban and suspicions growing that the prime minister was using court orders to suppress corruption allegations against him and his government."

My Way News - Turkey approves Internet restrictions
My Way News reports: "Turkey's Parliament has approved legislation that would tighten government controls over the Internet. With a show of hands, the legislators late Wednesday endorsed allowing Turkey's telecommunications authority to block websites for a privacy violation without a prior court decision. The legislation also would force Internet providers to keep records on Web users' activities for two years and make them available to authorities when requested, without notifying the users."

My Way News - China claims victory in scrubbing Internet clean
My Way News reports: "Beijing launched the campaign this summer, arresting dozens of people for spreading rumors, creating new penalties for people who post libelous information and calling in the country's top bloggers for talks urging them to guard the national interest and uphold social order. At the same time, government agencies at all levels have boosted their online presence to control the message in cyberspace. [...] Observers say the crackdown has noticeably curtailed speech by suppressing voices and triggering self-censorship, with more liberal online voices being more ginger in their criticism and posting significantly less."

My Way News - Techies vs. NSA: Encryption arms race escalates
My Way News reports: "Encrypted email, secure instant messaging and other privacy services are booming in the wake of the National Security Agency's recently revealed surveillance programs. But the flood of new computer security services is of variable quality, and much of it, experts say, can bog down computers and isn't likely to keep out spies."

Comment: Two reports from two different countries that reflect the ease with which governments have succeeded at controlling and monitoring communication on the internet.

My Way News - Internet blocks return in Iran after brief opening
My Way News reports: "Word of the opening of Iran's blocked social media sites was spread, of course, by social media itself: in celebratory tweets and breathless Facebook posts. Hours later, the same sites Tuesday chewed over the sobering reality that the four-year-old firewalls were back in place. Iran's Internet overseers blamed a 'technical' glitch on the brief window to the Web."

My Way News - Brazil looks to break from US-centric Internet
My Way News reports: "The effort by Latin America's biggest economy to digitally isolate itself from U.S. spying not only could be costly and difficult, it could encourage repressive governments to seek greater technical control over the Internet to crush free expression at home, experts say."

My Way News - China in big push against opinion-leading blogs
My Way News reports: "Many famous Chinese - from pop stars to scholars, journalists to business tycoons - have amassed substantial online followings, and these larger-than-life personalities don't always hew to the Communist Party line. Now Beijing is tightening its grip on China's already heavily restricted Internet by making influential microbloggers uncomfortable when they post material the government doesn't like."

Ayatollah Online: You've Got Mail

My Way News - Report: Iran opens national email service
My Way News reports: "Iran has discussed for years having its own domestic email service as the government occasionally has blocked access to foreign email providers like Gmail and Yahoo. The country also has blocked and made illegal virtual private networks that allow Iranians to freely use the Internet and access banned websites like those for opposition groups."

My Way News - Iran building software to control networking sites
My Way News reports: "Iran's police chief says the Islamic Republic is developing new software to control social networking sites. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam was quoted in Iranian newspapers Saturday as saying the new software will prevent Iranians from being exposed to malicious content online while allowing users to enjoy the benefits of the Internet. He did not say when the software would be introduced."

My Way News - China requires Internet users to register names
My Way News reports: "Beijing encourages Web use for business and education but tries to block material deemed subversive or obscene. It has steadily stepped up censorship, especially after social media played a role in protests that brought down governments in Egypt and Tunisia. The latest measure requires users to provide their real names and other identifying information when they register with access providers or post information publicly."

My Way News - Internet service goes out across Syria
My Way News reports: "Internet service went down Thursday across Syria and international flights were canceled at the Damascus airport when a road near the facility was closed by heavy fighting in the country's civil war. Activists said President Bashar Assad's regime pulled the plug on the Internet, perhaps in preparation for a major offensive. Cellphone service also went out in Damascus and parts of central Syria, they said."

My Way News - Google's services unable to reach much of China
My Way News reports: "Google says its search engine and other Internet services have been cut off from much of China just as the country's ruling party picks new leaders. Data posted on Google's website shows its services in China became largely inaccessible beginning around 1 a.m. PST Friday. That would be about 5 p.m. Friday in Beijing. A Google Inc. spokeswoman says the company found no problems in its own computer or network that would disrupt its services in China. That raised the possibility that China's Communist government decided to block Google's services at a politically sensitive time."

My Way News - Iran swipe at Web brings angry reply:
My Way News reports: "Iran's cyber monitors often tout their fight against the West's 'soft war' of influence through the Web, but trying to block Google's popular Gmail appeared to be a swipe too far. Complaints piled up - even from email-starved parliament members - and forced authorities Sunday to double down on their promises to create a parallel Web universe with Tehran as its center."

My Way News - Governments asking Google to remove more content
My Way News reports: U.S. authorities are leading the charge as governments around the world pepper Google with more demands to remove online content and turn over information about people using its Internet search engine, YouTube video site and other services."

Comment: The idea that the U.S. is the leading internet censor is very discouraging. 

My Way News - China looks to boost Internet limits on microblogs:
My Way News reports: "China plans to stiffen restrictions on Internet service providers as it seeks even greater control over the opinions voiced on the country's lively microblogs and other web forums [...] In December, China began requiring real name registration for nearly all microblog services on a city by city basis, though compliance has been patchy."

My Way News - Thailand welcomes Twitter;s new censorship policy
My Way News reports: "Thailand is welcoming Twitter's new policy to censor tweets in specific nations where the content might break laws. Technology minister Anudith Nakornthap said Monday the new policy was a 'constructive' development. The Southeast Asian country routinely blocks websites with content deemed offensive to the Thai monarchy."