North Korea to offer mobile internet access

North Korean mobile phone provider Koryolink is planning to launch a 3G data service for foreign visitors and residents from abroad.

Egyptian telecoms firm Orascom, which is a partner in Koryolink, estimates that more than 1 million North Koreans use mobile phones.

They will not be able to use the new service, according to reports.

Orascom launched a 3G phone network inside North Korea in 2008, but users can only use it to make phone calls.

International calls, including calls to South Korea, are banned.

In January 2013 the government began allowing foreign visitors to bring their own mobile devices into the country with them for the first time.

Following a recent visit to the notoriously closed country, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt wrote in a blog post that North Korea's decision to isolate itself "is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth."

He added that it would be "very easy" for 3G internet access to be enabled on the existing service.

Current internet access is extremely limited for locals, with most people only having access to a small number of state-run pages.

North Korea expert Scott Thomas Bruce previously told the BBC this comprises mainly "message boards, chat functions, and state sponsored media".

"The system they've set up is one that they can control and tear down if necessary," he said.

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Microsoft attacks Google over Gmail privacy

Microsoft has continued its campaign against Google with a new site claiming that users who allow their emails to be scanned for ads are getting "Scroogled". 

 

In its promotion of Outlook.com, Microsoft highlights what it claims is Gmail's "invasion of your privacy" on its Scroogled website.

"Outlook.com is different," Microsoft says, "we don't go through your email to sell ads.

The site includes a feed of quotes from Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, including his infamous declaration that "if you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place". 

The Gmail campaign follows a series of Scroogled adverts last year that targeted Google's privacy policies.  

According to Microsoft, 70 per cent of people don't know that some email services scan the text of their messages to deliver advertising. The company says that, according to its own survey, 88 per cent of people disapprove of the practice.

Nevertheless, some industry observers have argued that Microsoft omits certain facts. For example, Microsoft claims there is no way to opt out of targeted advertising in Gmail, which is not strictly true.

Danny Sullivan, a search engine and online marketing expert, wrote on his blog: "Is the campaign fair? I’d say mostly no, but there are some things that Google could do to improve things."

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Google boss Schmidt labels China an 'IT menace'

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt uses a new book to call China an Internet menace that backs cyber-crime for economic and political gain, reports say.

The New Digital Age - due for release in April - reportedly brands China "the world's most active and enthusiastic filterer of information".

China is "the most sophisticated and prolific" hacker of foreign companies, according to a review obtained by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

China denies allegations of hacking.

Revolution coming?

Beijing has been accused by several governments, foreign companies and organisations of carrying out extensive cyber espionage for many years, seeking to gather information and to control China's image. 

The New Digital Age analyses how China is dangerously exploiting an Internet that now permeates politics, business, culture and other aspects of life, the WSJ says.

It quotes the book as saying: "The disparity between American and Chinese firms and their tactics will put both the government and the companies of the United States at a distinct disadvantage."

This, it says, is because Washington "will not take the same path of digital corporate espionage, as its laws are much stricter (and better enforced) and because illicit competition violates the American sense of fair play".

The book argues that Western governments could do more to follow China's lead and develop stronger relationships between the state and technology companies.

States will benefit if they use software and technology made by trusted companies, it suggests.

"Where Huawei gains market share, the influence and reach of China grow as well," the WSJ quoted the authors as writing.

The WSJ this week said its computer systems had been hacked by specialists in China who were trying to monitor its China coverage.

It was the second reported attack on a major US news outlet in days, as the New York Times reported earlier that Chinese hackers had "persistently" penetrated its systems for the last four months.

China's foreign ministry dismissed the New York Times' accusations as "groundless" and "totally irresponsible".

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Google Earth images reveal North Korea prison camp

Blogger discovers development 'striking similarity' existing before coming to prison camps

Updated Analysis of Google Earth satellite images identified what appears to be another one of North Korea are notorious prison camps.
Blogger Curtis Melvin, a North Korean Economy Watch publishes, discovered new development near existing prison Camp 14, some 3km of fencing, and use near Camp 18.
Although not confirmed as the new prison, gave Melvin a "striking similarity" to existing camps and visible security fence. It is speculated that the area to expand Camp 14, a new camp or in relation to a whole new type of facility.
Melvin said the new field was built some time between December 2006 and September 2011, and identified what appear to be guard posts, staff entrance, residential units and abandoned coal mine.
North Korea's the prison camps brutality demonstrated last year in book Defector Shin Dong Hyuk, who worked with reporter formerWashington Post Blaine Harden to tell of his experience since he was born in Camp 14.
Camps North Korea is estimated to hold as many as 200,000 people, many are locked because they are related to former prisoners, tried to contact outside the country or for "insulting the Kim dynasty".
Prison camps in remote and mountainous region of North Korea the most severe, with reports of gas chambers and chemical experiments, according to Amnesty International.
Shin said forced labor in the camps, including military uniform sewing factory and dangerous and often deadly work in coal mines. He eventually escaped at 23, and now living in Seoul, South Korea.
"Hidden Gulag" report by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea last month recommended Google Earth for high resolution imagery, which allowed identification camps, monitoring and detailed testimonies confirmed escapes.
The executive chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, drew criticism on a visit to North Korea earlier this month, the U.S. state department described as "ill-timed", although the power of the search giant's proposed mapping tool.
After a four-day visit, Schmidt said North Korea is necessary to empower citizens through access to the global Internet.

 

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Google's Schmidt Pitches Android to Chinese Devs

Today in international tech news: Android still rules in China, Google's Eric Schmidt reminds Chinese developers. Also, RIM is flooded with app submissions, a judge acquits former Nortel execs after their lucrative mistake, China's top browser strikes a deal to expand to Africa and the Middle East, and Norway plans to discuss new anti-piracy legislation.

Fresh off his trip to North Korea -- and right behind Apple CEO Tim Cook's trip to China -- Google chairman Eric Schmidt joined a panel discussion at the "Geek Park" conference in Beijing, according to Tencent Tech.

Schmidt reportedly reminded the developers in attendance that despite Apple's popularity in China -- the iPhone 5 sold more than 2 million units in one weekend -- Android is still the top dog in the Middle Kingdom.

Schmidt stressed that it's no harder to monetize on Android than iOS, and focused on the monetization possibilities for Android apps, according to Tech In Asia.

Apple's Cook recently made his second trip to China in less than a year. 

Chinese Browser King Heads to Africa, Middle East..

A deal with Telecoms outfit Orange will help Baidu, creator of China's top Web browser, to launch its mobile browser in Africa and the Middle East, according to ZDNet.

Orange, a mobile subsidiary of France Telecom, will pre-install Baidu's browser on mobile phones in the Middle East and Africa, where the company has some 80 million subscribers.

Baidu has an 80 percent share of the search market in China. Aggressive domestic competitors have thus far been unable to take a sizable chunk of Baidu's Chinese users, but Baidu nonetheless seems eager to expand its operations.

France Telecom, likewise, has made an overseas push of its own.

WeChat Maker Denies Censorship ..

Tencent, the Chinese Web giant, has denied that there is global censorship of its popular chatting platform WeChat, according to the BBC.

Following up on posts from The Next Web and Tech In Asia that allege censorship of WeChat, the BBC reported that WeChat will have problems expanding overseas because information will be subject to monitoring -- and, presumably, subject to censorship -- from the Powers That Be in China.

WeChat has 300 million users worldwide.

RIM Flooded With App Submissions..

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion received 15,000 app submission in less than two days after offering US$100 for any app approved to its app store, according to All Things D.

It is unlikely, according to All Things D, that all of the apps will be approved, but the article nonetheless chalks this up as a win for the BlackBerry 10 ecosystem.

Judge Acquits Nortel Execs

On Monday, a Canadian judge acquitted of fraud charges three former Nortel Networks executives, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The trio, each of whom faced two counts of fraud and up to 10 years in jail, were found innocent of flubbing Nortel's financial results between 2000 and 2004. The erroneous numbers entitled them to about $13 million in bonuses, so it was a valuable mistake.

Nortel, a former telecommunications equipment manufacturer, announced that it would cease operations in 2009.

Norway to Present Anti-Piracy Plan..

The Norwegian government will present a new anti-piracy plan later this month, according to Torrent Freak.

Torrent Freak writes that piracy has long been a hot topic in Norway. In 2009, for instance, the country's largest Internet service provider was pressured by movie studios to block The Pirate Bay. The ISP, Telenor, refused, but that didn't stop efforts to enact stiffer anti-piracy policies, which will be taken up in court this month, according to Torrent Freak.

Other European countries, including the UK and the Netherlands, have enacted anti-file-sharing legislation in the last year.

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