China and Russia Join Hands for Internet Censorship
May 2, 2016 3 min. read

China and Russia are trying to establish a system of their own for internet governance as an alternative to the “hegemonic” Western system they fear.

Read more
Why is the Internet not Fostering China’s Democratization?
March 15, 2016 7 min. read

In the past, scholars tended to believe that the internet was an effective tool to challenge authoritarian regimes and facilitate the development of civil society. However, as an expert that has been investigating the issue for a number of years, I disagree with this widely held belief.

Read more
Ben Bernanke’s Monetary Policy: Bubble Double Toil and Trouble ?
May 28, 2015 8 min. read

Bernanke’s speech back in 2002 can help shed some light on the question of how asset prices have been taken under consideration in the past by the Fed. It also helps explain how these prices will affect monetary policy in the future.

Read more
Tear Down This Firewall: Challenging Internet Censorship in China
December 23, 2013 4 min. read

Chinese government censorship is a core concern for democracy promotion efforts in China. All media in China, including newspapers, television, and the internet, are strictly controlled by the Chinese government for the very purpose of preventing democracy promotion. There may be little that democracy advocates can do to challenge the government’s control over traditional domestic […]

Read more
Foreign Policy: Silicon Valley’s Final Frontier
October 25, 2013 6 min. read

Last week, in an apparent fit of inspiration brought on by the government shutdown, Balaji Srinivasan gave a speech on what it would be like if Silicon Valley were to secede from the United States government. Srinivasan,  a tech entrepreneur, praised Silicon Valley and the broader high-tech industry it represents for not being responsible for securitized mortgages, […]

Read more
Iran’s Crackdown on Dissent Escalates in Run Up to March 2 Elections
February 29, 2012 5 min. read

The following is an announcement by Amnesty International. (New York) – Iran has unleashed a wave of repression in the lead up to parliamentary elections this week, Amnesty International reports today, targeting everyone from students, lawyers, religious leaders and bloggers to political activists and their relatives. The authorities have launched a new “cyber army” and […]

Read more
Fighting for the Future of the Internet
December 20, 2011 3 min. read

The online world has been all aflutter in recent weeks over the introduction of two pieces of legislation in Congress: the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House of Representatives. As PROTECT IP already passed in the Senate, last week the focus shifted to the hearings […]

Read more
Turkey's internet censorship controversy
May 15, 2011 2 min. read

Thousands of Turks gathered in some 40 cities and towns around the country on Sunday, May 15th, to join marches organized on Facebook against state Internet censorship. The trigger for the protests was a decision by Turkey’s Internet regulator, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, or BTK, to introduce a selection of filters that Turkish […]

Read more
Trading With The Enemy: Sino-American Cyber-Espionage
April 19, 2011 7 min. read

China has over 400 million internet users, more than any other nation.  This exponentially increasing population of Chinese netizens entering the global  internet community has not come without serious negative externality.   Over the past decade, there has been a marked increase in cyber-espionage and hacking coming from Mainland China.  Espionage is not new, even between […]

Read more
Freedom versus Regulation 2.0
March 7, 2011 3 min. read

The U.S. government, like a parent trying to stay hip, has hired younger staffers and put them in charge of using technology to build diplomacy and democracy. For example, Hilary Clinton in the State Department hired Alec Ross to head up technology and innovation in diplomacy. Terms invented include Gov 2.0, Web 2.0, Statecraft 2.0 […]

Read more
[Jasmine] Revolution Interrupted, Hoax, or Trap
February 21, 2011 4 min. read

This is a follow-up to Nasos’ earlier post on China’s response to the Egyptian Lotus Revolution.  As has already been discussed, China used it’s elaborate 30-50,000 man strong  internet shield, known as the Golden Shield (金盾工程: jīndùn gōngchéng) to censor references to the recent social upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa from the […]

Read more
Internet Restrictions in Venezuela?
March 18, 2010 2 min. read

President Hugo Chávez wants to place restrictions on the Internet in Venezuela after he criticized negative coverage from Noticiero Digital, a website generally opposing the government. The site had incorrectly reported the assassination of a top government official. Frustration with a false report is understandable. Any broader move to limit news sources, however, appears to […]

Read more

Popular from Press