Internet

China partially blocks Google search results from Hong Kong, the saga continues

You didn’t think that just because Google started redirecting its Google.cn domain to its Hong Kong site, we were coming to a neat compromise to the big brouhaha between the search giant and China, did you? Oh no, brother, this thing is far from over. China has now responded by whipping its state computers into a filtering frenzy, blocking and censoring out content it considers objectionable from Google’s HK-based search results. Adding to its show of strength, it’s expected the Chinese government’s influence will also result in China Mobile canceling a deal to have Google as its default search provider on mobile handsets. We suppose it’s Google’s turn to respond now. How about offering a friendly game of badminton to settle their differences?

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United States Internet Speed is on the Decline [REPORT]

According to Akamai’s Q3 State of the Internet report, the United States’ internet speed did not qualify for a place in the top ten list of countries with the fastest internet in the world, and its average overall speed has actually decreased by 2.4% year-over-year from 2008 to 2009.

The United States actually ranked 18th out of 203 nations tested in terms of average connection speeds, falling behind speed leaders like South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.

When looked at from a global perspective, the results are quite positive. The report states:

“The global average connection speed is once again increasing, after an unusual drop in the second quarter. The average connection speed of 1.7 Mbps returns it to a level consistent with the first quarter of 2009. South Korea maintained its position as the country with the highest average connection speed, and was joined by Ireland as one of two countries in the top 10 posting quarterly gains of greater than 25% (on top of minor quarterly gains also seen in the second quarter). Romania, Sweden, and the Czech Republic all saw quarterly declines in their average connection speeds, though they all maintained positive yearly growth. While the United States saw a small quarterly gain in average connection speeds, increasing to 3.9 Mbps, from a year-over-year perspective, the trend is negative, though just slightly so.”

If you live in Delaware, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, or Utah you can be quite pleased with your region’s Q3 performance as they each increased upwards of 15% in average connection speed from Q2 measurements.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Akamai, the company serves as a distributed computing platform for companies worldwide. Their quarterly State of the Internet report analyzes data gathered from their global server network and covers security, internet penetration, mobile internet, average connection speeds and broadband connectivity.

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Obama Seeks Power to Shut Down the Internet

Senator Democrats are attempting to pass legislation which will give President Obama the authority to shut down the Internet and seize private networks.

On CNET News, Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), stated “As soon as you’re saying that the federal government is going to be exercising this kind of power over private networks, it’s going to be a really big issue.”

The bill, misleadingly titled “The Cybersecurity Act of 2009″, allows Obama to declare an emergency based upon no hard criteria. Once he declares this emergency, he can effectively shut down free speech on the Internet.

Jay Rockefeller, the bill’s sponsor, said “I know the threats we face. Our enemies are real. They are sophisticated, they are determined and they will not rest.” Unfortunately, it looks like the threat which Jay is most worried about is free speech from Americans who do not approve of Obama’s plans to impose national socialism upon the citizens of the United States.

In addition, the bill will require government licenses of any individual who seeks employment as a “cybersecurity professional”, effectively giving the Democratic party authority to prevent their political opponents from being involved in protecting either government or private networks from attack.

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U.S. Web Users Spent Just Over 66 Hours on the Computer in November

The Nielsen Company today reported November 2009 data for the Top Parent Companies/Divisions and Top Web Brands, as well as average Internet usage.

Example:  The data indicates that 62.1 million home and work Internet users visited at least one of the Apple Computer-owned sites or launched an Apple Computer-owned application during the month, and each person spent, on average, a total of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 23 seconds at one or more of their sites or applications.

The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division. The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content.

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