Skip to main content

The U.S. branded an ‘enemy of the Internet’

‘Enemies of the Internet’ is a list published every year by Reporters Without Borders, an organization that campaigns for a free press and an uncensored Internet. This year, the United States has made the list for the first time, alongside countries such as China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Iran. The United Kingdom, Russia and India have also been added for the first time in the 2014 list.

In its assessment, Reporters Without Borders points to the NSA revelations leaked by Edward Snowden as evidence that “the country of the First Amendment has undermined confidence in the Internet and its own standards of security.” The report goes on to say that “U.S. surveillance practices and decryption activities are a direct threat to investigative journalists, especially those who work with sensitive sources for whom confidentiality is paramount and who are already under pressure.”

Recommended Videos

There’s also mention of the NSA’s secrecy and lack of transparency, as well as the vast resources at its disposal. Project Bullrun — an NSA operation to decrypt communications in liaison with security software firms — was singled out as being particularly damaging to journalism and the ideal of a Web where anonymity can be guaranteed.

The ‘Enemies of the Internet’ posting goes on to name James Risen, Barrett Brown and Jacob Appelbaum (one of the developers of Tor) as three journalists who have suffered at the hands of the U.S. government and its online surveillance operations. As you may have heard, even Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has been voicing his concerns directly to the President.

Elsewhere in the publication, Reporters Without Borders criticizes the surveillance practices of the United Kingdom, the “Electronic Great Wall” put in place by China and the “digital tyranny” of the authorities in Uzbekistan. The full report is well worth a read for anyone interested in freedom of expression online — which should be just about everybody.

David Nield
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more