Meta promised free internet but it ended up costing

Meta (formerly Facebook) promised free internet access to cash-strapped users in developing countries, but it ended up costing them.

The company profits from having as many people as possible online and using its services—so while the initiative is welcome to help individuals get connected who may not otherwise be able to afford to, it’s not entirely altruistic.

However, according to documents obtained by whistleblower Francis Haugen and published by The Wall Street...

26 January 2022 | Networks

ITU and Vodafone launch initiative to connect 3.4B unconnected

United Nations agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has partnered with Vodafone to launch an initiative to connect 3.4 billion people.

An internet connection is increasingly vital in the modern world to unlock opportunities. Faster connections can mean even greater opportunity, but any connection is better than none.

According to research (PDF) by the ITU last year, of the 3.7 billion people who are not connected to the internet, 3.4 billion live within the...

20 September 2021 | Operators

FCC wants the public to help measure actual broadband speeds

The FCC is encouraging the public to download and use its Speed Test app to help the regulator gain a greater understanding of the speeds consumers are actually receiving.

Data used by regulators is often not representative of real-world experiences. The FCC’s broadband coverage maps, for example, have come under repeated scrutiny for being inaccurate—predominately due to what internet access advocates claim is a weak definition of coverage by the FCC which allows carriers to...

13 April 2021 | Broadband

Tim Berners-Lee: Improve connectivity of the young to ‘build a better world’ post-COVID

World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee is using the 32nd birthday of his invention to call for a global push to improve the connectivity of the young post-COVID.

In a blog post today, as part of the #WebChampions campaign, Berners-Lee celebrates the young people who are stepping up to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges from COVID-19, to inequality, to climate change.

https://twitter.com/webfoundation/status/1370331794789130240

However, many...

12 March 2021 | Legislation & Government

Web 3.0 storage provider Filecoin reaches 2.5EiB capacity

Filecoin, the largest decentralised storage provider, has surpassed 2.5 exbibytes (2.5 billion gigabytes) of capacity.

The provider is aiming to be the storage backbone for Web 3.0, the next evolution of Tim Berners-Lee’s invention which returns to his original vision of a medium where “no permission is needed from a central authority to post anything ... there is no central controlling node, and so no single point of failure ... and no “kill...

17 February 2021 | Telecoms

Internet Accessibility Index: Denmark is the most connected nation, Burundi the least

A new ‘Internet Accessibility Index’ ranks Denmark as the most connected nation, Burundi the least.

The index, from BroadbandChoices, looks at a range of factors to determine a nation’s connectivity ranking including download/upload speeds, internet access percentage, affordability, mobile coverage, free WiFi hotspots, and more.

Overall top 10Overall bottom 10Denmark160. AfghanistanLiechtenstein161. TurkmenistanUnited States162. Equatorial GuineaHong Kong163. São...

15 February 2021 | Networks

FBI used the Patriot Act to gather web records without a warrant

The FBI used controversial provisions of the Patriot Act to gather the records of website visitors without a warrant.

According to the New York Times, the specific provisions the US government is using to justify its actions can be found in Section 215 of the Patriot Act—which lapsed, along with two other bits of surveillance legislation, earlier this year.

Data collected about Americans includes who has visited specific web pages. Federal investigators stop short of...

4 December 2020 | Legislation & Government

Mozilla wants to ‘Unfck The Internet’ with new campaign

Mozilla wants to fix the problems with the invention we all hold dear with its new “Unfck The Internet” campaign.

The internet is not in a healthy state. Last year, Tim Berners-Lee – creator of the World Wide Web – launched a “contract” to fix it. Needless to say, a lot more still needs to be done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeu0oKBThMg

COVID-19 has brought to light some of the best and worst aspects of the internet. The internet has helped us to...

1 October 2020 | Telecoms

China begins imposing its ‘Great Firewall’ on the citizens of Hong Kong

China’s strict internet censorship is coming to Hong Kong following the passing of a controversial security law.

The so-called Great Firewall of China restricts what internet services and websites citizens can legally access. Google, for example, cannot be easily accessed in China as Beijing cannot control what information citizens can consume in the same way as national alternatives like Baidu.

Hong Kong is supposed to operate under a “one country, two systems”...

9 July 2020 | Legislation & Government

Hacker collective Anonymous re-emerges following George Floyd’s murder

The hacking collective which calls itself Anonymous has re-emerged amid protests over the murder of George Floyd.

George Floyd was an unarmed black male who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer last week after his neck was knelt on until he suffered a cardiac arrest. The officer has been charged with third-degree murder but the killing has sparked protests around the world over ongoing police brutality.

Anonymous was once regularly in the news for its...

2 June 2020 | Security