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Iran on Monday removed online blocks on Gmail but a government Internet filtering committee official said other, additional censorship was being prepared against YouTube, according to reports.

Internet users in Iran found themselves able to freely access their Gmail accounts for the first time since the blocks were suddenly established on September 24.

The secure-protocol HTTPS version of Google search was also made accessible after being blocked at the same time. The unsecure HTTP version of Google search was never blocked.

Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, the secretary of an official group tasked with detecting Internet content deemed illegal, had said in a message last week that "Google and Gmail will be filtered nationwide... until further notice."

But Mohammad Reza Miri, a member of the telecommunications ministry committee tasked with filtering the Internet in Iran, was quoted on Monday by the Mehr news agency as saying the Gmail block was an "involuntary" consequence of trying to reinforce censorship of Google's YouTube video-sharing site.

"Unfortunately, we do not yet have enough technical knowhow to differentiate between these two services. We wanted to block YouTube and Gmail was also blocked, which was involuntary," he said.

"We absolutely do not want YouTube to be accessible. That is why the telecommunications ministry is seeking a solution to fix the problem to block YouTube under the HTTPS protocol while leaving Gmail accessible. That will soon happen."

Iran has censored YouTube since mid-2009, after opposition demonstrators protesting the re-election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in polls they believed rigged started posting videos online of their gatherings.

A Google website which monitors the amount of traffic for its services in each country shows YouTube has been effectively censored in Iran since then (http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/?r=IR&l=YOUTUBE&csd=1347730200000&ced=1348248600000).

A member of Iran's High Council on Cyberspace, which provides policy advice, Kamyar Saghafi, was quoted by Mehr last week suggesting that the action against Google services was "to boycott" the US company over an anti-Islam film available on YouTube that has sparked Muslim protests worldwide.

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Iran unblocks access to Gmail

Chinese censors blocked information on the blind activist at the center of a diplomatic storm this year.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Draconian laws, brutal attacks against bloggers and politically motivated surveillance are among the biggest threats to Internet freedom emerging in the last two years, according to a new report from free speech advocates, Freedom House.

"Freedom on the Net 2012: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media," looked at barriers to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights in 47 countries across the globe. Estonia was rated as having the greatest degree of Internet freedom, while Iran, Cuba and China were viewed as the most restrictive.

While social media was key in the uprising in Egypt, censorship there continues apace, says Freedom House, a U.S.-based independent watchdog organization.

Although online activism is increasing, the report said authoritarian regimes were employing a wider and increasingly sophisticated arsenal of countermeasures.

Read more: The full report

According to Freedom House, China has the world's largest population of Internet users, yet the authorities operate the most sophisticated system of censorship. Its "great firewall" has become notorious for literally shutting down Internet "chatter" it views as sensitive. Earlier this year, censors blocked related search terms to prevent the public from obtaining news on prominent human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who caused a diplomatic storm when he escaped house arrest to seek refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Read more: News on blind activist's escape

Major web portals and social networking sites, though not state-owned, have had to comply with strict government censorship rules -- or risk being shut down. After launching a campaign to clean up "rampant online rumors," Chinese authorities in March ordered the country's leading micro-blogging sites -- including Sina Weibo -- to disable their comment function for three days. In China, bloggers are also required to register their real names -- though it's not clear how many have complied with the rules.

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Big Brother still watching: Internet censorship is up, report says

Chinese censors blocked information on the blind activist at the center of a diplomatic storm this year.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Draconian laws, brutal attacks against bloggers and politically motivated surveillance are among the biggest threats to Internet freedom emerging in the last two years, according to a new report from free speech advocates, Freedom House.

"Freedom on the Net 2012: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media," looked at barriers to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights in 47 countries across the globe. Estonia was rated as having the greatest degree of Internet freedom, while Iran, Cuba and China were viewed as the most restrictive.

While social media was key in the uprising in Egypt, censorship there continues apace, says Freedom House, a U.S.-based independent watchdog organization.

Although online activism is increasing, the report said authoritarian regimes were employing a wider and increasingly sophisticated arsenal of countermeasures.

Read more: The full report

According to Freedom House, China has the world's largest population of Internet users, yet the authorities operate the most sophisticated system of censorship. Its "great firewall" has become notorious for literally shutting down Internet "chatter" it views as sensitive. Earlier this year, censors blocked related search terms to prevent the public from obtaining news on prominent human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who caused a diplomatic storm when he escaped house arrest to seek refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Read more: News on blind activist's escape

Major web portals and social networking sites, though not state-owned, have had to comply with strict government censorship rules -- or risk being shut down. After launching a campaign to clean up "rampant online rumors," Chinese authorities in March ordered the country's leading micro-blogging sites -- including Sina Weibo -- to disable their comment function for three days. In China, bloggers are also required to register their real names -- though it's not clear how many have complied with the rules.

See the original post here:
Big Brother still watching: Internet censorship on the up, report says

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

24/7 Media, WPPs marketing technology company, announced today a new hire in its New York headquarters. Mario Vaccari joins the company as Director, Product Management.

Vaccaris 12-plus years of experience in product management and software development include positions at PerformLine, ImageRights International, and Viewpoint. He joins the Product Management team with a focus on automation of 24/7 Medias publisher and advertiser offerings, including 24/7 Open AdStream, the companys propriety ad serving technology, and 24/7 Connect, the technology platform that simplifies media transactions for publishers and advertisers.

Vaccari is a graduate of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. He lives in Belleville, NJ with his wife and two sons.

About 24/7 Media, Inc.

24/7 Media, Inc., formerly 24/7 Real Media, is a leader in digital marketing technology, serving advertisers, agencies and digital publishers worldwide. The company has been in the forefront of media innovation for fifteen years. The 24/7 technology platform spans every digital channel, providing users with unprecedented control and consolidated data analysis.

This technology powers two specialized business units: Real Media Group helps marketing organizations engage their audiences with superior precision, transparency and return on investment. The group also helps digital publishers monetize their properties and manage advertising operations more effectively. Media Innovation Group provides advertisers and agencies with strategic consulting and implementation services that deliver competitive advantage in fields being transformed by technology.

24/7 Media is a WPP Digital company headquartered in New York with 18 offices in a dozen countries. For more information, please visit http://www.247media.com.

24/7 Media is a member of the NAI and adheres to the NAI privacy principles that have been applauded by the FTC. These principles are designed to help ensure Internet user privacy. For more information about online data collection associated with ad serving, including online preference marketing and an opportunity to opt-out of 24/7 Media cookies, go to: http://www.networkadvertising.org.

Continued here:
24/7 Media Announces New Hire In New York

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Yahoo! (YHOO) and Media.net today announced a long-term agreement to launch Yahoo! Bing Network Contextual Ads, powered by Media.net. The program aims to provide web publishers with a powerful and effective new solution for earning advertising revenue. Publishers can now use the Media.net platform to create and customize ad units that display relevant text ads from across the Yahoo! Bing Network.

Since its inception, Media.net has invested tremendous resources people, capital and time to build what Yahoo! identifies to be a terrific monetization solution for web publishers, said Al Echamendi, Vice President, Business Development, Yahoo!. During our evaluation process, we recognized Media.net as a technology and innovation leader, with a strong management team that has a significant business track record and industry experience.

Yahoo! holds a key leadership position in online advertising, said Divyank Turakhia, Founder & CEO at Media.net. Teaming up with Yahoo! allows us to offer web publishers with a solution that generates additional revenue for them and provides customization, control and flexibility that they would like.

Media.net will exclusively manage technology, business operations and relationships with respect to publishers worldwide for the program. Yahoo! will manage technology, business operations and relationships with respect to advertisers and drive advertiser sales worldwide for the program. Yahoo! will also manage all aspects of network operations to adhere to existing quality traffic standards.

The program is designed to work for websites that have premium content, where placing contextually relevant ads could result in high user engagement rates. The program is currently limited only to websites that primarily receive the majority of their traffic from the United States, Canada or United Kingdom.

Key Features of the program for publishers include:

To learn more about the program, visit http://contextualads.yahoo.com.

Advertisers can access this publisher inventory by signing up with the Yahoo! Bing Network. Existing Yahoo! Bing Network search advertisers that have selected to distribute their ads via syndicated search partners or that have opted-in to advertise on the content network will automatically and instantly access this high-quality publisher inventory.

Implementation of the deal has already begun with Contextual Ads appearing on several Yahoo! properties.

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Yahoo! and Media.net Launch Contextual Ads for Web Publishers