Internet

It's been less than a year since Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom appeared on CBS to discuss his controversial file-sharing business and show off a sprawling, 60-acre estate located just outside beautiful Auckland, New Zealand. Now, it appears that ... after a three-year legal fight, things could be coming to an end. Dotcom says he has lost everything in an attempt to defend himself against accusations of copyright infringement. With over 50 million visitors a day, Megaupload was one of the biggest file-sharing services established on the Internet. It's estimated that Megaupload at one time ... (view more)

A new report suggests that Americans pay more for their Internet plans than residents of most other industrialized nations. Not only that, but Americans also pay more for slower service. The report was produced by the New America Foundation's Open ... Technology Institute, which compared Internet service in major US cities -- like Kansas City, Missouri, and Bristol, Virginia -- with large European and Asian metropolises, including London, Seoul, Paris, Tokyo, and Copenhagen. Internet Cost Comparisons of USA, Europe and Asia The report found that the estimated monthly cost for a plan featuring ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Dave' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a question which I can't seem to find a clear-cut answer to. Can you tell me: is it possible to view a web site / web page and determine when it was last updated? " My Response: The simple ... answer is that there is no easy way to know when a page was last updated - which is most likely why you're having trouble finding the answer. Information regarding the 'last modified date' of a page is usually reserved for web site owners (via direct access to the web site files / database with their associated time stamps). However, there are ways to ... (view more)

Facebook's Privacy Checkup is finally being rolled out in an effort to help users understand and control their privacy settings. It's a step-by-step process - interestingly, led by a nameless blue dinosaur - that shows users who can see their data ... and how they can customize their privacy settings to their liking. While some critics view the new Privacy Checkup system as a step in the right direction, others suggest that its impact will directly affect Facebook's bottom line. Privacy Checkup Guides Users Step-by-Step The program was first announced back in the spring of 2014. It's a three- ... (view more)

Twitter says it will remove some images of deceased people upon request from members of family. But the new policy has limitations and may not cover two high-profile situations that brought attention to the issue. Following the death of Robin ... Williams last week, his daughter Zelda announced she would no longer use Twitter. She claims to have been abused by " Internet trolls " that produced digitally altered images of her father, and then posted them on Twitter, along with her name tagged in the post. It's believed the images depicted her father's death based on media reports ... (view more)

A new report reveals the states with the fastest and slowest Internet speeds -- and the results are quite surprising. According to information technology and communications firm Broadview Networks, the fastest Internet service in the United States ... can be found in Virginia, which boasts an average speed of 13.7 megabits per second (Mbps), or approximately 1625 kilobytes per second. In fact, the eastern seaboard is home to many states with fast Internet: Delaware and Massachusetts tied for second (13.1 Mbps), followed by Rhode Island (12.9 Mbps) and Washington, DC (12.8 Mbps). Of course, there ... (view more)

Edward Snowden thinks you should avoid using popular cloud storage service Dropbox . In a recent interview with United Kingdom news source The Guardian, Snowden suggested that the information stored through Dropbox is not secure. As a former systems ... administrator with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) , Edward Snowden made headlines last year when he released documents unveiling the United States government's invasive PRISM program . The U.S. Department of Justice then charged Snowden with violating the Espionage Act, which prompted him to flee to ... (view more)

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg says that a basic Internet service should be free of charge to everyone. He likened it to phone services where calling 911 (used for emergencies) carries no cost. Zuckerberg discussed the topic in a Wall Street Journal ... article in which he promoted Internet.org, a project trying to expand Internet access around the world . The group is made up of Facebook, browser maker Opera, and several leading tech hardware and communication firms. (Source: internet.org ) The group's aim is for everyone in the world to have Internet access, something that only one-third of ... (view more)

Facebook is making negative headlines once again - this time for a 'data experiment' which was carried out on approximately 600,000 of its members without consent. The experiment reportedly took place two years ago, though only came to light in ... recent days. According to reports, Facebook toyed with the minds of more than half a million users by altering the wording of their News Feeds. Specifically, the social network employed a special computer algorithm that cut or added words associated with positive or negative emotions in order to influence those reading the feeds. A news feed is ... (view more)

Facebook has altered its privacy policy and it's unlikely the change will be popular with the social network's 1+ billion members. In the next few weeks, Facebook will begin tracking user activity outside of it's own web site, so that it can ... generate 'more appropriate' advertisements tailored towards its members. In the past, Facebook kept close tabs on what its users posted to their profiles in an effort to bring forth more relevant advertisements. But the social network only monitored user activity on the Facebook website itself, including the pages they liked and the links they clicked ... (view more)