governance

The FBI is investigating Chinese telecommunications company ZTE for its alleged dealings with an Iranian telecom, according to a new report.

The Smoking Gun is reporting, citing sources, that the FBI is investigating ZTE for allegedly acquiring hardware and software from U.S.-based technology companies and then illegally shipping them to Iran's government-controlled carrier, the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI).

Reuters, which first reported on the allegations back in March, said at the time that ZTE bought surveillance equipment that could have been used by TCI to spy on Iranian citizens. The contract, according to Reuters, was inked … Read more

ZTE isn't giving up on the U.S.

The Chinese telecommunications giant promised to grow its investment here by 10 percent annually as it looks to smooth over security concerns expressed by the U.S. government. ZTE's head of North America, Lixin Cheng, made the comment during a conference in Atlanta, which ZTE distributed as a statement.

"Put simply, we believe Chinese investment in the U.S. is beneficial for businesses in both countries," Cheng said in his remarks.

ZTE, alongside fellow Chinese company Huawei, faces scrutiny over whether its expansion here poses security risks. The … Read more

Google reports it has seen an "alarming" incidence in government requests to censor Internet content in the past six months.

The Web giant said it received more than 1,000 requests from governments around the world to remove items such as YouTube videos and search listings. The company, which said it complied with more than half the requests, released a catalog of those requests as part of its biannual Global Transparency Report.

"Unfortunately, what we've seen over the past couple years has been troubling, and today is no different," Dorothy Chou, Google's senior policy … Read more

So few people voted on proposed changes to Facebook's privacy and user rights policies that even though most of the votes were against the changes the company will be adopting the revised policies after all.

Only 342,632 people participated in the vote, which ran for a week and ended this morning, according to a blog post announcing the official results on the Facebook Site Governance page. That's less than 1 percent -- .038 percent to be exact -- of the total 900 million active monthly Facebook users. The results would be binding only if 30 percent of … Read more

Iran is cracking down on the use of foreign e-mail addresses.

The country's telecommunications ministry is now barring local banks, insurance companies, and phone operators from communicating with their clients using foreign e-mail providers, according to the AFP news service.

Based on information from Iranian news service Asr Ertebatat, the new order requires such industries to use addresses ending in the Iranian domain .ir, effectively preventing them from using such foreign providers as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or MSN.

Customers of such companies are also included in the ban, requiring them to use local e-mail addresses in order to do … Read more

President Barack Obama will allow U.S. officials to sanction foreign nationals for using technology to engage in human rights abuses, according to a new report.

The president will speak today at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum about human rights abuses. Part of his plan to address those abuses worldwide will include taking aim at those who use mobile phone tracking and Internet monitoring to limit free speech, The Washington Post reported yesterday, citing senior administration officials.

The sanctions will only be imposed on individuals and foreign companies that assist governments in violating human rights through technology, according to … Read more

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--The struggle for control of MegaUpload's servers begins in earnest later today.

The courtroom of U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady is expected to be packed with lawyers representing the many parties with some kind of stake in what happens to the billions of files stored on MegaUpload's 1,100 servers. Expected to appear are attorneys representing consumers, MegaUpload, the six major Hollywood studios, the U.S. government and MegaUpload's hosting service.

The U.S. government in January accused MegaUpload, founder Kim DotCom, and six other company managers of criminal copyright violations, racketeering, and … Read more

Well, at least one part of Research In Motion's business is on the rise.

Speaking to Bloomberg in an interview published today, Scott Totzke, RIM's senior vice president of BlackBerry Security, said that his company's revenue on sales to the federal government "on whole is up."

"The employee base is shrinking, so if we're looking at a market with fewer employees and our install base is stable to slightly up, that would seem to indicate that we have an increasing market share," Totzke said.

Totzke's comments seem to underscore the unenviable … Read more

When the file-swapping site MegaUpload was shuttered by the U.S. government--and consequentially its offices raided, $42 million of its assets frozen, and its leader Kim DotCom arrested--some officials might not have thought of unintended consequences, such as the loss of legitimate files.

They also might not have realized that they too might be outed as having used MegaUpload.

During an interview with TorrentFreak this week, DotCom said, "Guess what--we found a large number of Mega accounts from U.S. government officials, including the Department of Justice and the U.S. Senate."

Released on bail earlier this month, … Read more