MSNBC today has as an interesting article on how technology is empowering Chinese citizens. A recent text messaging campaign by Chinese environmentalists that resulted in the construction of a chemical plant being halted “marked a rare instance of public opinion in China rising from the streets and compelling a change of policy by Communist Party bureaucrats. It was a dramatic illustration of the potential of technology — particularly cellphones and the Internet — to challenge the rigorous censorship and political controls through which the party maintains its monopoly on power over China’s 1.4 billion people.”
Yahoo!News reports that some tech advisers are advising customers to wait a few months with buying Apple’s iPhone because the iPhone “probably will be refined after Apple designers get feedback from the first wave of users. The hefty price also could drop.”
The Wall Street Journal writes that “
According to Networkworld, “[t]he U.S. Department of Justice is alerting e-mail users about a possible phishing attack using messages that claim to be from the department itself. In a news release Thursday, the department said the e-mails may have the subject field or be addressed ‘Dear Citizen.’ It also said the messages may refer to a fraudulent U.S. Internal Revenue Service case filed against the recipient, and may contain a Department of Justice logo in the body of the mail or as an attachment.”
The New York Times reports that “[t]he Motion Picture Association of America, a trade organization for Hollywood’s largest film studios, sued two Internet sites, claiming they illegally post copyrighted material. The complaints were filed Tuesday in Federal District Court in Los Angeles against YouTVpc and Peekvid.com, the group said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. They seek a court order barring the sites from posting unauthorized material.”