According to the International Herald Tribune, “[a] Japanese government panel is proposing to govern ‘influential, widely read news-related sites as newspapers and broadcasting are now regulated.’ The government is also seeking to rein in some of the more unsavory aspects of the Internet, leaving in its wake, critics say, the censoring hand of government interference. The panel, set up by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, said Internet service providers (ISPs) should be answerable for breaches of vaguer ‘minimum regulations’ to guard against ‘illegal and harmful content.’ The conservative government, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, is seeking to have the new laws passed by Parliament in 2010. "Japan’s Internet is increasing its clout, so naturally the government wants to control it," said Kazuo Hizumi, a former journalist who is the Tokyo city lawyer.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that even though the European Commission has said “EU nations should avoid ‘uncoordinated responses’ [to sovereign wealth funds] that could scare off investors,” Germany said yesterday “it would push ahead with its own legislation aimed at shielding companies from unwanted foreign takeovers. The government’s draft bill could prevent foreign investors from buying 25% or more in a German company, or in a foreign company that has German interests that are viewed as crucial for national security. The commission said EU nations already have the ability to restrict investment to serve ‘legitimate public policy’ objectives.”
The Register today has an interesting article on why “[w]hile Yahoo! presses on with OneConnect, its creepy ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ service, wiser heads in the mobile industry make a strong case why it’s doomed to fail.”
NetworkWorld reveals that “[t]he Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to know all there is to know about contacts between Google and a Justice Department official involved in a highly charged 2006 government-snooping dispute that ensnared the search giant. That DoJ official, Jane Horvath, was subsequently hired by Google last year as senior privacy counsel. The government has for six months refused Freedom of Information Act requests from EFF to see correspondence between Horvath and Google for the period the former was employed as the DoJ’s first chief privacy and civil liberties officer (insert laugh track here), according to a suit filed yesterday by the EFF.”
The Los Angeles Times points out that “[i]nvestors searching for another reason to worry about the U.S. economy found it in Google. Shares of Google Inc. on Tuesday slumped nearly 5% to their lowest point in almost a year on fears that even the mighty Internet giant is susceptible to the economic slowdown. The combination of rising prices, slumping consumer confidence and slashed business spending have hurt much of corporate America. Yet Google for years remained largely immune to the economic crosscurrents. It grew to power during the last recession early this decade and continues to post huge profit. But investors started souring on Google’s prospects last month and have knocked one-third off its market value this year. They’re also quick to assume the worst in this skittish market. A research report suggesting that fewer people clicked on Google’s search- engine ads in January was enough to trigger another sell-off Tuesday. Google’s shares dropped $22.25 to $464.19 — 38% off their record high of $747.24 reached in November.”