Western governments, notably the UK and the US, are pushing the software industry to open “backdoors” into our encrypted communications. The argument touted by government agencies for nearly 20 years is that terrorists use strong encryption to hide their communications, therefore we should ban strong
Browsing: Barack Obama
US President Barack Obama warned Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday that the hacking of US companies must stop, as the two leaders agreed not to engage in government-sponsored theft of intellectual property and business secrets in cyberspace. “I raised, once again, our rising concerns
You recently proposed that all Internet apps — and their users’ communications — be compelled to make themselves accessible to state authorities. I want to explain why this is a very bad idea even though it might seem like a no-brainer. You said: “I have a very
We have spent years promoting the need for change in our approach to Internet infrastructure, forcing politicians to recognise it as a serious issue. So it’s great to see US President Barack Obama tackling the issue in his state of the union address. You may agree or disagree
The financial institutions of the City of London and Wall Street are to take part in a series of “war game” exercises aimed at testing their resilience to cyberattack. The announcement comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron travelled to the White House to
As the debate over network neutrality rages in the US, South African Internet service providers, through their industry association, have urged communications regulator Icasa to steer clear of crafting regulations dealing with the contentious issue — at least for now. But what’s
Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a blog post on Thursday that he had held a telephone conversation this week with US president Barack Obama in which the Facebook CEO expressed his “frustration over the damage” the US government is “creating for all our future”. Zuckerberg, 29, has become increasingly vocal about the fallout
Eight leading American technology companies have joined forces to demand changes be made to US surveillance laws, calling for current laws and practices to be reformed in light of revelations of mass surveillance of Internet users’ activities by the National Security Agency. In a letter
The 2012 US presidential election campaign broke many records: the most money ever raised (and spent), the most ads ever flighted, the most words ever written. And, in the back offices of the Obama campaign, chief technology officer Harper Reed and his team were busy making it the most
Trust is the world’s most valuable intangible commodity. Economies, political systems, partnerships and marriages rise or fall based on it. All commerce – both online and offline – rests on it. And yet the US’s National Security Agency is actively and recklessly undermining