The Digital Divide: Is Internet Access a Human Right?

The Digital Divide continues throughout the world. A 2015 paper from the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings notes that although 3.1 billion people have Internet access, there are still 4.2 billion people on this planet, or 58 percent of the world, that do not. This gap exists due to several factors including (but not […]

Brazil to Boost Internet Speed Through Europe

Brazil will boost its Internet communications to reduce dependence on U.S. hubs and be able to host global data centers for heavy users like YouTube and Netflix, Jorge Bittar, head of state-run telecoms company Telebras, said in an interview. At present, all submarine fiber-optic cables connect Brazil to the Internet through the United States. That’s […]

US firms complained about Google: EU regulator

Several U.S. and European companies have complained about the dominance of Google, the European Union’s new competition commissioner told CNBC on Thursday, one day after antitrust charges were filed against the technology giant. Margrethe Vestager, a Danish native who took the role in November, said the complaints had been “direct” and “balanced,” with the relevant […]

Tribunal says UK spies’ Internet surveillance was unlawful

U.K. spies acted illegally when they scooped up data about Britons’ electronic communications gathered by the U.S. National Security Agency, a court ruled Friday in a landmark judgment against Britain’s security services. But the judges said now that details of the practices are known, they are within the law. Britain’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which deals […]

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt: “The Internet Will Disappear”

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Thursday predicted the end of the Internet as we know it. At the end of a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where his comments were webcast, he was asked for his prediction on the future of the web. “I will answer very simply that the […]