either act or forget

How Google is trying to live out to its philosophy that ‘you can make money without doing evil’

Pedro Teixeira — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:55:37 +0000

~~GOOGLE TO END CENSORSHIP IN CHINA OVER CYBER ATTACKS~~

Google, the world’s leading search engine, has thrown down the gauntlet to China by saying it is no longer willing to censor search results on its Chinese service.

The internet giant said the decision followed a cyber attack it believes was aimed at gathering information on Chinese human rights activists.

The move follows a clampdown on the internet in China over the last year, which has seen sites and social networking services hosted overseas blocked – including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube – and the closure of many sites at home. Chinese authorities criticised Google for supplying “vulgar” content in results.

Google acknowledged that the decision “may well mean” the closure of Google.cn and its offices in China.

That is an understatement, given that it had to agree to censor sensitive material – such as details of human rights groups and references to the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 – to launch Google.cn.

You can read the full article here

Russia Is Torn Over Push for Use of Cyrillic Web Domains

Pedro Teixeira — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:52:54 +0000

“This is one more step toward isolation,” said Aleksei Larin, 31, a construction engineer in Tula, 115 miles south of Moscow. “And since this is a Kremlin project, it is possible that it will lead to the introduction of censorship, which is something that certain officials have long sought.”

You can read the full article here

please redirect!

Pedro Teixeira — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:16:42 +0000

Since the project we’re working on is drifting away from the initial concept presented in this blog we’ve decided to create an alternate one, please visit our lower identity for more information. Hopefully we’ll come back to this in the future.

Cheers!

Pedro & Tiago

It’s like watching little Anakin grow into Darth Vader

Pedro Teixeira — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:38:52 +0000

SOME MORE ARTICLES ON HOW INTERNET COMPANIES ARE MAKING THE WEB SAFER FOR GOVERNMENTS

http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2006/01/its_like_watchi.html

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Google-to-Censor-Chinese/1940/

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/googles-china-rift-hints-at-challenges-ahead/

Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!

Pedro Teixeira — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:30:58 +0000

web 2.0 by Evan Roth

Pedro Teixeira — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:20:04 +0000

‘W eb 2.0 is a gallery installation by Evan Roth consisting of two internet enabled computers, a hacked mouse and keyboard, and a custom plugin for the popular (and free) Fire Fox web browser. Two computers are connected to a single keyboard and mouse allowing visitors to control both identical machines at the same time while using just a single input device. The only difference between the two internet terminals is their network connection; one machine is connected to the less restricted internet in Hong Kong, while the other is connected to the internet through a connection point in the mainland of China.’

–> click here for instructables on how to make the double keyboard

Simpathy is silly. Check your facts or forget.

Pedro Teixeira — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:40:20 +0000

Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas placed a stray dog, strapped to a wire, on a corner of an art gallery for 3 hours. Allegedly the dog died a few days later, rumor as it the artist refused to feed him. This version and been circulating in many sites and blogs across the web. Other accounts state the exhibit was deliberately set up to make viewers believe the dog was being neglected. The gallery’s director, in statements to british journal The Guardian, stated the dog was not mistreated or subdued to hunger. The artist, when questioned on the motives for this piece, explained the exhibition aimed to question the indifference that violent situations assume in the daily life, the same situations are viciously rejected or questioned when people are more directly confronted with them, in isolated contexts.

Here’s one opinion on the subject…

‘To be fair, stray dogs die all the time and no one raises an eyebrow. There are no petitions, no furious outrage directed at the apathetic people who ignore stray dogs as they catch their taxis in town… and pretty much no discussion of serious sterilization laws, which would cut down the stray population.

Speaking of silence on serious issues, I have never seen such an online reaction to real atrocities or real injustice? Apparently, people care more about the possibility of a dog having died in this way, than in real injustice: poverty, starvation, ethnic cleansing, war, environmental devastation, etc.

As they say in Greece: the world is burning and the pussy is combing it’s hair.’

.: via harmonicmirror.com

MORE ARTICLES ABOUT GUILLERMO ‘HABUCC’ VARGAS

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/mar/30/art.spain

http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/10/21/3308616.html

http://www.vueltaenu.co.cr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1467&Itemid=1

Complaining is silly. Either act or forget. (Stefan Sagmeister)

Pedro Teixeira — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:57:06 +0000

In the same day we signed an online petition for the end of the occupation in Tibet and we posted pictures of our holidays in the Himalayas on Flickr. In that same day chinese journalist Shi Tao was convicted to 10 years in prison for releasing state secrets. Shi Tao released a memo from the Chinese Comunist Party where journalists were instructed on how to cover the celebrations of the 15th birthday of the Tianamen Square massacre, this day was referred in the memo as the ‘event of the 4th of June’. The information that led to his arrest by the chinese authorities was supplied by Yahoo, Flickr is a Yahoo company.

Half of the journalists arrested in China in 2004, were arrested due to information published on the web. Companies like Yahoo and Microsoft work together with chinese authorities helping to implement mechanis of censorship and ways of controlling online information.

Both companies use the same argument when questioned on the subject, claiming that they are obligated to follow the laws of the countries where they operate, this is particularly useful when the country in question is the world’s fastest growing internet market.

ARTICLES ABOUT SHI TAO

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4221538.stm

http://cpj.org/awards/2005/shi-tao.php

Hello world!

Pedro Teixeira — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:47:48 +0000

we’re coming out swinging!