The Musings of Scott

http://www.google.com/governmentrequests/

Still in it’s infancy, Google wanted to share which countries are censoring the internet (through Requests to them) and now has a world map depicting which nations requested information from Google, as well as those that requested that information be removed. Google explains that Brazil and India are high on both of these lists due to the popularity of Social Network orkut (owned by Google) in these countries (i.e. celebrity impersonators, etc). What Google DOESN’T touch on is why the United States ranks so high on both of these lists (4th in content removal, 2nd in user data requests). This tool doesn’t account for blocked content (Iran & China would likely dominate this list). In a related note I found the EU Times, a European News site which seems to be “blocked.” When approaching content on this site from a U.S. IP address, my browser first “warns” me of malware in the site, and then would redirect to a random spam site. However, when I routed my IP address through TOR, the site came up just fine with no redirects or warnings… While I have not been able to discover the reputability of this website (a brief exploration found it to be littered with conspiratorial and anti-Semitic stories), the site is also extremely critical of the Obama administration, and was hacked last year shortly after releasing an article claiming Obama was preparing for the next civil war (a rebellion of the people), citing Russian intelligence officials. Putting your personal opinions aside, why are Americans being prevented from seeing this site?

Popularity: 11% [?]

Another Celebrity Meme (which I am a sucker for) has begun, and I have even thrown my hat in the ring this time around

Original Ad (WTF were they thinking)

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Popularity: 12% [?]