The Changing World: China Considers Lifting Ban on Social Media

The world is a global village and the trend if not properly handled could consume a nation with the spread of social media. The precarious situation and vulnerability could 'destabilize' any nation who is not a member of the game being played by the powers who control the media; mainstream and social. The various revelations of Edward Snowden as well as Wikileaks have shown that nowhere is really fully safe from espionage activities.

An example of such fears in a country like China is the New York Times op-ed on Premier Wen Jiabao's family in 2012 which was greeted by massive ill-feelings from Chinese officials after the paper reported that several of Mr. Wen's close relatives had control over vast, secret assets worth at least $2.7bn. Beyond blocking websites Chinese authorities also monitor internet activity by individuals.

Investments and businesses are two formidable determinants of nations' behaviours as regards media freedom; mainstream or social. Investors want a relatively stable country with good records of press and people's freedom. Russia despite being known for its clampdown on dissenting voices is also dancing to the tune of change. Moscow is realising that the voice of the people is crucial in the scheme of things in a nation. Protests are now organised with little or no police intervention.

With the changes in the world, China seems to be considering lifting a ban on social media and major foreign news websites in a bid to provide comfortable living for western investors. The sites will be open only in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ), covering 28 square kilometers of the Pudong district. It is set to open for business on September 29. It is hoped to attract foreign investment and business, increase economic activity and inflows into China, as well as to boost massive economic reform.

The rest of Mainland China will not be given such an access. In many places on Mainland China, access to Facebook and Twitter have been blocked and both banned since 2009 due to mass-scale riots in the western city of Urumqi in Xinjiang province. Dozens of major news websites are also inaccessible as China’s government censors and blocks websites it considers inappropriate or politically sensitive.

Earlier in September, China's top court adopted a judicial interpretation allowing any internet user engaged in disseminating "false information" or "slanderous comments" to face up to three years in prison. Those found guilty of using "false online information" to provoke "serious public disorder" could face a prison sentence of 10 years. More recently, prosecutors are now obliged to open investigations if "defamatory" comments were "viewed by at least 5,000 internet users or have a re-tweet up to 500 or more times."

With the continuous efforts to draw in business experts and investments, things might be changing gradually for the Chinese and in China. The need  to make living conducive and convenient and move in line with globalisation and global demands led to the opening up of China initially in the late 70s. The current trend could begin to have impacts on its political spectrum and outlook as more and more Chinese demand reforms at home.

Israel runs the World: Twitter hands over confidential data of anti-Semitic users to French authorities

A legal battle started last year between Twitter and Jewish students in France when the French Union of Jewish Students sued Twitter for allowing hate speech. In a bid to end the legal fracas and dance to the tune of the students, twitter decided to hand over confidential account information to French authorities in order to track the anti-semitic users.

Twitter said in a statement that the disclosure of information “enables the identification of some authors" and  "puts an end to the dispute" with the French Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), AFP reported. The social network added that the two parties had "agreed to continue to work actively together in order to fight racism and anti-Semitism.”

In June, the court upheld a January  ruling that said the social media site must provide personal information on some users to the UEJF and four other organizations that filed a complaint against the company in November last year. On Thursday, Twitter lost its legal fight after the Paris Court of Appeal dismissed its objections against the original ruling.

The complaint came after a deluge of anti-Semitic messages tweeted under the hashtag  #unbonjuif (#agoodjew), with some users posting offensive tweets such as “#agoodjew is a dead Jew.” Some of the tweets were later removed by the social network.

Hate crimes are strictly punished in France. However, Twitter originally argued that it does not adhere to French law, and that only an American judge could force the company to release such information, Twitter’s lawyer, Alexandra Neri, said. While Twitter says it defends freedom of speech from anonymous users, French prosecutors say the social media site has “commercial interest.”

“Twitter is playing a commercial game by raising a number of legal hurdles to not having to comply with its legal obligations,” Stephane Lilti, counsel for the UJEF students, told the court.

Twitter also shut down the account of neo-Nazi group “Better Hannover,” following a request by German police last year, which was banned by the state for spreading nationalist socialist ideology and damaging to Israel who suffered greatly during Adolf Hitler's reign. It was the first time Twitter withheld content by request of a specific country.

Becoming Wholly Self-Reliant?: Iran to Launch Three Space Satellites

Iran will launch three satellites to mark the country’s National Space Technology Day, Iranian Space Agency President Hamil Fazeli has announced. Fazeli explained that “due to inherent problems using international satellites,” Iran plans to put more of its own satellites into orbit over the next five years.

The Islamic Republic has also built her own National Internet Service to fully complement the restrictions on the usage of Twitter, Facebook and other Western-backed international social media. The country is advancing speedily steadily in technology and science especially military technology.