Accessing gambling and pornography sites may well get harder in Australia, if plans for mandatory age-verification go ahead. But there are already technical workarounds for determined web users.
A recent federal court ruling lets big telecom companies censor the internet in ways that boost their own profits – but also allows local and state governments to outlaw censorship if they wish.
Connecting with the digital economy is a trickier prospect out here.
NGRMG
Remote Queensland farmers are among the least “digitally included” communities in Australia, according to a new report that documents the impacts of low access, affordability and digital ability for families and communites.
Out of the science labs, our internet connectivity is now part of our everyday lives.
Shutterstock/AngieYeoh
In just three decades we’ve gone from a very limited internet connection in Australia to now sharing our lives online.
People with poor broadband services spend more time in queues at the bank and for other services that should easily be accessible online.
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Labor’s 2019 NBN election policy will disappoint those hoping for a fast-tracked return to that party’s 2009 vision of high-speed fibre for (almost) everyone.
Cubans attend a public discussion to revamp the country’s Cold War-era constitution in Havana, in August 2018.
Reuters/Tomas Bravo
Cuba will not legalize same-sex marriage, as gay activists hoped. But its new constitution adds greater protections for LGBTQ people and for women, and gives Cubans the right to own private property.
When a website blocks access, it sometimes delivers a notice saying so.
Screenshot from airbnb.com
Private companies – many based in the US – are blocking access to their websites from particular countries around the world. It’s contributing to a splintering of the global internet.
Days before their Oct. 28 presidential election, Brazilians protested news that supporters of right-wing front-runner Jair Bolsonaro had used WhatsApp to spread false information about his opponents.
Reuters/Nacho Doce
Facebook retired its ‘Move fast and break things’ slogan – perhaps because, as new research from Brazil confirms, democracy is among the things left broken by online misinformation and fake news.
Mexicans surf the web at a ‘digital village’ in Mexico City in 2015, part of the country’s effort to get all citizens online.
AP Photo/Sofia Jaramillo
Mexico made internet connectivity a constitutional right in 2013, but most poor people still aren’t online. Research shows that internet access would give these residents more economic mobility.
Cellphones are everywhere in Africa - but that doesn’t mean the digital divide is closing.
Legnan Koula/EPA
Tasmania’s digital inclusion increased dramatically and more than the national average from 2017 to 2018. This change is underpinned by a doubling of access to NBN in Tasmania in that period.
Does this man understand how his company can be a responsible member of society?
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Facebook is realizing it has broad obligations to society. Here’s how it could start meeting them.
People in remote areas use the internet much less for entertainment and formal education compared to their urban counterparts.
Mai Lam/The Conversation NY-BD-CC
The people who have the most to gain from the extraordinary resources of the internet are missing out, including those not employed, older Australians and migrants from non-English speaking countries.
Telecommunications wires stretch along a rural Kansas road.
Technology & Information Policy Institute, University of Texas
Many people in rural America don’t have access to fast, affordable internet access. How might those communities connect to the global exchange of goods, services and ideas?
As the issue of an open and free internet again comes up for public debate, Congress could participate – and help regulators devise a workable set of policies.
Online retailing is a relatively new phenomenon and a small element of retailing in Africa.
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The rapid penetration of internet technologies in Africa provides hope for e-commerce’s continued growth. Potential online stores need to understand what draws or pushes customers away.
Are we really headed for a two-speed internet?
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