Communication

CNN - August 11, 2011

Suspected rioter David O'Neill leaves court Thursday in London after posting bail on charges, including aggravated violence.

British Prime Minister David Cameron thinks he's found some culprits to blame in the recent riots that have rocked London and other cities -- Facebook and Twitter.

Saying the "free flow of information" can sometimes be a problem, Cameron's government has summoned those two social-networking sites, as well as Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, for a meeting to discuss their roles during the violent outbreaks.

"Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organized via social media," Cameron said Thursday during an address to Parliament. "Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence, we need to stop them."

Cameron said that government officials are working with authorities "to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

submitted by Luis Kun

The Wall Street Journal - August 19, 2011

NEW DELHI – A little-known, privately held company Friday launched a tablet computer for $99 in India, adding to competition in a market where local players are bringing in low-cost versions of the device to take on the likes of Apple Inc.'s iPad and Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Tab.

Industry experts expect many Indians, especially in rural areas, to buy tablets instead of laptop and desktop computers to access the Internet, just the way they embraced mobile phones over fixed-line phones.

Internet penetration is still very low in the world's fastest-growing telecom market where more than half the population of 1.2 billion people has access to mobile phones.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security Newswire - August 18, 2011

Communication networks typically collapse when they are needed most -- during and in the immediate aftermath of massive disasters; researchers have developed a -- an innovative wireless system called LifeNet designed to help first responders communicate after disasters; LifeNet is a mobile ad-hoc network designed for use in highly transient environments that requires no infrastructure such as Internet, cell towers or traditional landlines.

In the aftermath of most disasters — from the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to this year’s earthquake in Japan — communication systems have been overwhelmed, leaving people without phones and Internet when they need these tools the most.

Georgia Tech College of Computing researchers have developed a possible solution. It is an innovative wireless system called LifeNet designed to help first responders communicate after disasters. LifeNet is a mobile ad-hoc network designed for use in highly transient environments that requires no infrastructure such as Internet, cell towers or traditional landlines.

by John F. Burns and Alan Cowell - The New York Times - August 15, 2011

LONDON — Divided over Prime Minister David Cameron’s plan to bring in a retired American police officer after last week’s riots, politicians staked out competing positions Monday for both the causes of the violence and the cures for what the British leader called his country’s “slow-motion moral collapse.”

The speeches by Mr. Cameron and the Labour opposition leader, Ed Miliband, seemed to signify a further retreat from a cautious consensus as the riots flared and some politicians were forced to return early from vacations after apparently underestimating the fury of the arson and looting.