A human rights group on Wednesday cried foul over recent moves of the Chinese Internet regulators, who want to reduce the anonymity among online users in mainland China.

State Council Information Office director Wang Chen, in his address to the national legislature in April, has called for the extensive system that would require all Internet users to use their real names when going online or buying a mobile phone.

Chen said that the new registration system will allow the Chinese government to better manage the Internet and the content being provided by its users.

The Chinese government tried to remove the full context of Chen’s speech from its websites to avoid the watchful eyes of its critics. The media’s reporting on the issue was abruptly cut by the government.

However, a New York-based human rights group in China, which managed to obtain the original copy of the speech, expressed fear that the new proposal would make another row of human rights violations in the country, saying that they have found “an unexpurgated text and discrepancies” in the documents.

“This only shows that Beijing is wary that its push for tighter information control to its people,” the group said in its China Rights Forum magazine.

China’s move, according to the group, will plug all the loopholes in its existing Internet control called “The Great Firewall” by limiting anonymous access to contents or comments online.

It will be recalled that the tight Internet control by the Chinese government led to row with online giant Google.

But the due to the large consumer and advertising potential of the country, Google was forced to vow down to the Chinese, allowing it to resume operations in the mainland after months of absence.

Despite the pervasive censorship and stricter controls online, China’s online population continued to grow with over 400 million active users, the largest in the world. Also, China has over 233 million mobile Internet users.

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A group technology experts and volunteers has released on Thursday a new version of the popular open-source blogging website WordPress.

Dubbed as WordPress version 3.0, the new software hosts more than 2, 700 upgrades, which include 1, 217 bugs fix. At least 218 volunteers have provided the software upgrades for the 13th version of the software.

Research and consulting firm Real Story Group analyst Adriaan Bloem said that WordPress has now become the “most capable” blogging platform on the Internet, citing the most notable upgrade in the website’s feature – the multi-task blogging capability.

Real Story group, a company that specializes in content management software, said that with the addition of the WordPress MU, administrators can now run multiple blogs simultaneously.

“MU has been integrated into the main version of WordPress ensures that it should be easier to deploy,” Bloem noted.

Bloem believe that the addition of the MU capability to the main WordPress website has now put it directly ahead of its rival MovableType, which has long offered the multiple blogs.

“Despite MovableType’s long history of running multiple blogs, many of the online users still prefer WordPress because of its user-friendly interface. And with the addition of the MU, WordPress has overtaken MovableType in the race for blogging supremacy,” Bloem added.

It was learned that WordPress run on PHP platform, which is much easier to use than the Perl Language platform of MovableType.

WordPress users can now define whether their articles will go to certain categories such as products, models, and other specification they will require – through the website’s custom post capability.

Prior to the implementation of the custom post, WordPress user content were often limited to just blogs.

“The custom post types will further help establish WordPress as a good candidate for managing an entire Web site’s content, in addition to just the blogs,” Bloem added.

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In a bid to attract more consumers to its doors, the world’s largest coffee chain Starbucks Corp. announced on Monday that it will be offering unlimited use of wireless internet access (Wi-Fi) in all company-operated stores starting July 1.

Starbucks hopes to take back lucrative share of the restaurant business from its rivals like McDonald’s Corp. and other coffee chains that have long used free Wi-Fi connection to attract customers.

This time, Starbucks takes one step further by giving customers free Wi-Fi access, which will include special news networks and entertainment contents.

The Starbucks Digital Network was done in partnership with Yahoo, giving customers free access to online news websites like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Patch and USA Today as well as free music downloads on Apple iTune Stores.

Previously, Starbucks offered only two hours of free Internet access to each user everyday.

The company started implementing the earlier Wi-Fi scheme based on its study, which showed that customers login on the Internet in an average of one hour on each visit to Starbucks stores. Meanwhile, Smartphone users use Wi-Fi access on an average of 15 minutes.

The coffee giant hopes to extend its quarterly gains, which has been slumped for the past 13 quarters due to the recession and rapid expansion plans.

Starbucks also hopes to take back major market shares from McDonald’s, which has offered unlimited Wi-Fi access to some 11, 5000 stores. The coffee giant lost major clientele to McDonald’s due to its McCafe chain.

Following the announcement, Starbucks shares jumped by 1.5 percent or 41 cents ($27.56) during midday trading on Monday.

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The Pakistani government blocked on Friday some 800 websites and webpages that have been identified to contain “blasphemous” materials, a Pakistan official reported

Following the ban of popular social networking sites like Facebook, Youtube, and MySpace, the Pakitan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has extended its Internet control to some 800 webpages, including restrictions on Wikipedia access, in line with its belief that the following pages contains “sacrilegious contents.”

“Since the our government’s order to ban access to Facebook and Youtube, at least 800 individual webpages and web addresses have been blocked to prevent our people from viewing or reading such blasphemous contents,” Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan Spokesperson Wahaj Us Siraj.

The order came after the “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” on Facebook has been removed.

The said competition was aimed to promote “freedom of expression” among Muslim communities. But the government immediately seized control since Islam Law prohibits such illustration and depiction of their holy prophet.

Also, millions of conservative Muslims in other countries were angered by the said contest. Even moderate and well-educated elite expressed disappointment over the said action but stressed that the blanket ban on the popular website is “too much.”

They said that the ban should only be implemented on the webpage that has done the sacrilegious contents and not the entire Facebook website.

But PTA, along with the Internet service providers in Pakistan, vowed to block or close down any attempt in restoring the social networking site.

Before being closed down, the “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” Facebook page has attracted over 105, 000 fans and has produced over five pages of “crudely manipulated” pictures and caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.

Meahwhile, PTA Spokesman Khurram Mehran stressed that the ban on Facebook will only be lifted if they receive instructions from their government.

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The United States, European Union and the rest of the global community have asked China to drop or temporarily suspend the deadline to technology companies to enable them to finish computer encryption and other security programs that will be used in country’s “Green Dam” policy.

The US and EU has condemned the pressure by the Chinese government to technology companies, saying that it is an act of protectionism.

Earlier, China has warned computer suppliers and manufacturers to immediately comply with the deadline set this Saturday or face sanction. The Chinese government also said that it will not hesitate to shut out the companies that will fail to comply for billions of dollars in computer purchases.

Many of the suppliers of smart cards, anti-spam software, and security routers were also asked by China to bare the encryption codes and other trade secrets during a government panel meeting.

But the technology firms expressed fear from the deadline imposed by the government, saying that the information they will reveal in the panel discussion might leak out to Chinese rivals.

Meanwhile, the US and EU accused China of using its Internet regulation program as an excuse to gain grounds over its foreign rivals.

“No other nation imposes such high demand from foreign companies. China should scrap the policy, or at least, suspend its implementation,” the group said in a statement.

Some of the companies believe that the Chinese government is helping its own companies at the expense of other countries’ technology, citing the recent dispute between Europe, America, and China.

The Chinese people have scaled back a technological plan to favor its companies’ technology products in US and European government procurement.

But this time, Washington stood pat, saying that China should now follow global norms in dealing with other countries.

“China is bullying the other companies by imposing a deadline that has no real base in reality,” a company spokesperson said.

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A new study by media watchdog Ofcom showed that the number of children, aged 12 years old and below, who have Facebook and other social networking accounts increased in the past couple of years.

According to the report, many of these children have ignored the age restrictions by the social networking sites by posing as older persons. The average age restriction for social networking sites is 13 years old.

The study also revealed that one out of five (19 percent) children, aged 12 years old below, uses social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. But the most alarming fact about the study is one out of six parents did not even know that their kids have social networking accounts.

The study also included the number of young Internet users that visited social networking sites from their homes, showing the number grew by more than 37 percent.

Many of the experts who have reviewed the new data said that the new study could spark a new set of debates on how social networking sites should regulate theirs age policy. They also said that despite the warning on the age limit, there is no real verification process to distinguish if the applicants were on the right age group.

It will be recalled that Facebook has faced a barrage of criticism from Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center for its refusal to install the CEOP abuse report program in its website. The program aims to look after and report inappropriate behavior of the youth in the website.

Sophos Internet safety expert Graham Cluley said that there are mix types of dangers that children will encounter on social networking sites, including being preyed by adult users.

He also mentioned that racism is a popular topic among the people in this websites, which could potentially misinform millions of youth in the website.

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A United States District Court sentenced a 28-year-old computer hacker to 20 years in prison after pleading “guilty” to charges of orchestrating one of the largest credit and debit card data theft in history.

US District Judge Patti Saris, in his order, said that Albert Gonzalez will spend 15 to 25 years in prison after he confessed of the crime and reached for an agreement with the government prosecutors.

The judge rendered the decision after the convicted hacker asked for an apology to his family and the companies that were affected by his wrong doings. The firms, banks, and insurers said that they have lost more than $200 million due to the scheme.

Earlier, Gonzalez, who is a former federal informant, said that he masterminded the scheme to break into the networks of major companies including BJ’s Wholesale Club, Barnes & Noble, TJX Cos., and Office Max.

“I did not do it out of greed. I did it because I can’t stop myself from my pursuit and my addiction to the Internet. I blame nobody but myself,” Gonzalez said during the promulgation of the case.

According to court documents, Gonzalez was able to steal around $2.8 million after he stole several account numbers of credit and debit card owners. He said that he used the money to buy a condominium unit in Miami, Rolex watches, and a Tiffany ring for his girlfriend.

With the help of their laptops, Gozalez and two other foreigners, tapped into the wireless signals of the retailers before installing “sniffer programs” that would help them gather credit card numbers.

The trio would then sell the stolen account numbers to other people overseas.

Gonzalez, also known as “soupnazi” in the online community, started hacking computers since 2003 where he was first arrested. He then became an informant to the Secret Service and help them trace other hackers trying to push through their network.

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World’s largest online search engine Google Inc has ended four years of censoring to China’s Internet searches when it finally pulled the plug to the mainland on Monday.

But despite the parting of ways with the Chinese government, Google said that it will still maintain other operations in the country.

Many of the experts said that the company’s move to maintain operations in China is part of a maneuver that would balance the effect of the removal of the search engine blockade. They added that maintaining balance would help Google to hold ground in the fastest growing online market in the world.

It will be recalled that Google and the Chinese government engaged in a heated argument over the decision of the online giant to pull out from the mainland. Up to now, no clear indications were being presented by both sides whether the issue has already been resolved.

Google said that it will no longer block Internet searches in China. But the government retaliated by threatening the online giant that it would face sanction if it will not adhere the country’s Internet rules.

As of Monday, online users of the old Google service in China (Google.cn) are now being redirected to the Chinese-based online service in Hong Kong where China has no control over the online search results.

Users were greeted by the Google HK homepage with an announcement “Welcome to Google Search in China’s new home.” Millions of users were also surprised when they can now view otherwise limited searches.

However, many of the users still can’t view blocked search results inside mainland China after a massive filtering campaign of the Chinese government in line with Google’s pull out.

In a related development, Google said that it is keeping its engineering and sales offices in the country to gather technological advancements, adding that it will continue to sell advertisements to its Chinese version of its search engine in the US.

Google also said that it will maintain its mapping and music services in the country.

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Seattle: Microsoft Bing has gained strength after the number of online consumers using the search engine tool has significantly increased in February, according to a research group.

The Nielsen Co. on Tuesday said Bing currently ranks in the third position as the most used search engine tools in US, following its rivals Yahoo Inc. which ranked in the second place and Google Inc. which has dominated the market for the past several years.

According to the survey, Bing’s market share has increased to 12.5 percent in February from 10.9 percent in the previous month.

In June 2009, Microsoft has overhauled its search technology and marketing campaign in an effort to topple Yahoo and Google which have dominated the search engine market for booking travel, medical information, and shopping.

Microsoft’s ambitious plan has been successful as the survey shows that Bing has inched its way on the top position but at the expense of Yahoo which has experienced a slight market decline from 14.5 percent to 14.1 percent last month.

Google’s shares has also decreased to 65.2 percent from 66.3 percent during the same period, according to the survey.

Google has always dominated the search engine market due to its more precise search technology and algorithm methods, according to some online communication experts.

Instead of focusing on keywords, this search engine places websites on the top page ranking which have the most number of inbound links and viewership.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has made previous attempt to topple the popular search engine tool with its ambitious plan to buy its rival Yahoo.  However, the merger was unsuccessful after Microsoft and Yahoo officials did not agree on how much share and control each one will have.

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Beijing: After Google Inc. has threatened China that it will stop its operation in the country, the government on Tuesday warned the technology giant to continue filtering its search engine results or face “consequences”.

In a press conference, Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian said that Google should “respect and abide” the Chinese laws if the company wants to operate in the country.

“While we welcome foreign investments, the government is expecting that companies to follow the law”, the official said.

According to previous reports, Google said it may abandon its business in China after Gmail accounts of human rights advocates and politic activists were allegedly hacked by Chinese authorities.

Also, the US-based technology giant said it “no longer wants to bow to the country’s web censors” which prevent users from accessing websites which are deemed by the government to be insidious.
  
“If the only option is to shut and leave the country, we are prepared for that”, Google deputy counsel and vice president Nicole Wong said during a speech in the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

Wong also said that they [Google] will stop censoring the search results in China.

However, Google spokeswoman in China has denied rumors that the technology giant has stopped censoring search results, adding that the company has changed its plan.

The Chinese government has a tight control over the online content by using a system dubbed as the “Great Firewall of China”.  While the system sanitized the search results by filtering sites with violence and pornography, it also removes those which are containing politically sensitive content.

China has previously warned Google from violating its law, adding that the company would face consequences if it does not conform to the government’s expectations.

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