Reporters without Borders, a France-based organisation that, among other things, fights against censorship and laws that undermine press freedom, has written an open letter to Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, condemning communications minister Stephen Conroy’s plan to introduce mandatory Internet filtering by ISPs.

In the letter the organisation says: “If Australia were to introduce systematic online content filtering, with a relatively broad definition of the content targeted, it would be joining an Internet censors club that includes such countries as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.,

It claims that the plan, as proposed would violate the rule of law. “The decision to block access to an ‘inappropriate’ website would be taken not by a judge but by a government agency, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Such a procedure, without a court decision, does not satisfy the requirements of the rule of law. The ACMA classifies content secretly, compiling a website blacklist by means of unilateral and arbitrary administrative decision-making. Other procedures are being considered but none of them would involve a judge.”

Reporters without Borders also says that the criteria the proposed law would use are too vague. “Filtering would be applied to all content considered ‘inappropriate,’ a very slippery term that could be interpreted very differently by different people. In all probability, filtering would target ‘refused classification’ (RC) sites, a category that is extremely controversial as it is being applied to content that is completely unrelated to efforts to combat child sex abuse and sexual violence, representing a dangerous censorship option. Subjects such as abortion, anorexia, aborigines and legislation on the sale of marijuana would all risk being filtered, as would media reports on these subjects.”

The organisation also casts doubts on the claimed efficacy of the proposed filtering techniques and it further notes that “As regards paedophilia, the most dangerous places on the Internet are websites offering chat and email services. So if this project were taken to its logical conclusion, access to sites such as Gmail, Yahoo and Skype would also have to be blocked, which would of course be impossible.”

Reporters without Borders calls for “A real national debate” on the subject but claims that Conroy “made such a debate very difficult by branding his critics as supporters of child pornography [thus] an opportunity was lost for stimulating a constructive exchange of ideas.”

Stuck at an airport? Have an internet ready device? Don’t want to pay for wifi? No problem!

The leading internet search powerhouse is planning to offer free wifi in 47 of the nation’s airports. Seems to good to be true? Think again. This is Google’s holiday present to the nation.

There is a positive side to this as well. They are running a charity to raise funds for 3 non-profit organizations: Engineers without Borders, One Economy Corporation and Climate Savers Computing Initiative. When Google WiFi users first log on, the landing page will offer them the option of donating to the organizations. Google will match donations of up to $250,000 per airport.

This awesome deal won’t last forever though. The final day is January 15, 2010, when the holiday season ends.

A dial up connection setting is not a common tool to use due to its slow connectivity that is why it is only an option to a broadband connection. But if you stick on your dial up connection because you don’t have any other option to connect to the internet then you should find ways on how to speed up your connection. Some of you may have tried already quality of a dial connection and know how slow it is. If this is your only way to connect to the internet then know how on how to speed up dial up your connection is must that you should learn.

Telephone lines and modem are needed to set up your dial up and connect to the internet. Many people don’t like to use dial because it is very slow especially in downloading files on the internet. But there are people who rely on dial up connection because broadband services are not available in their area. This article aims to show you, how to somehow fasten your dial connection.
•    You should always check if your modem is connected properly. If you think something is wrong or experiencing problem connecting then uninstall it and re-install by following the manual’s instructions carefully and thoroughly.
•    Some companies will give test kits or programs to test the connection of a dial up connection. Remember to refer to the guidelines in the manual when you are testing your connection.
•    You can also try to connect a phone set into the phone line that you are using for the dial up connection and check for the noise level. If the noise is too much to bear then probably there is a problem and calling the telephone company technician to examine the reason for noise is a good idea. The noise maybe due to a faulty or damaged telephone wires or someone in your neighborhood tapped your line without your knowledge.
•    Do not forget to use the latest software for your modem device to obtain added and effective performance.
•    Set your dial up connection speed to maximum by going to the Control Panel – Modems – Properties.