The US yesterday said it will allow export of instant messaging, web browsing and other communications technology to Cuba, Iran and Sudan, in an effort to facilitate the flow of information and promote freedom of speech. The move by the US Treasury department comes after Iranian anti-regime protesters used Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other sites to great effect in the aftermath of the disputed June elections. In the months since, anti-regime forces have used the technology to organise demonstrations, spread news and communicate with the outside world, including western journalists largely barred from covering the protest movement.

Party and voter-generated online content played a big part in the election of Barack Obama, but Britain is likely to see something different This is the year that the internet is taking centre stage in British electoral politics. The once-patient news cycle is being supplanted by the always-on networked public sphere; spinmasters, reporters, bloggers and citizen journalists are jousting for attention online; and voters are coming to rely on online sources – including their own social networks – for political information and analysis more than ever before. But despite all the attention paid to the 2008 elections in the United States, Britons will be sorely disappointed if they expect anything like the massive internet-powered levels of participation that we witnessed here around Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency

Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome – a brief guide to the best of the browsers For most people, choosing a browser ought to be about just a few things. First, is it quick? That’s usually what you want: a web page that will reproduce itself as its designers meant it

There are important questions to be resolved about safeguarding privacy but the answer cannot lie in censoring everything before it is allowed to be read In a Milan court this week both prosecution and defence agreed on one fundamental thing: some videos of an autistic schoolboy being bullied by his classmates posted online were disgusting. That is why, when alerted to their presence on its video-sharing site, Google removed them within 24 hours

Judges say plans for a .xxx porn domain – blocked by Icann on moral grounds in 2007 – should be reconsidered Nearly three years after plans to create a new internet domain specifically for pornography were blocked, the idea could be back on the table once again.

Investigators said to have linked suspected author of computer code used in attacks to Chinese officials Investigators are closing in on the source of internet attacks that hit a string of US companies, most notably Google. Over the weekend, two Chinese schools linked to the attacks – which hit dozens of companies in an attempt to steal private information and trade secrets – denied their involvement. Reports last week suggested that the source of the strikes had been traced to Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang School, a large vocational training centre in Jinan

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When Google threatened to quit China, most of the focus was on human rights and the country’s extensive system of internet censorship, the Great Firewall. China rebuffed such criticism. Countries that censor political speech on the internet are quick to point out that ­western nations also have laws governing content online, some of it political.

Parliament to vote on Wikileaks-backed law that would protect sources, guarantee freedom of speech and end libel tourism Iceland is aiming to become a global haven for investigative journalism , with the country’s parliament expected to vote through legislation protecting sources, guaranteeing freedom of speech and ending libel tourism. Supporters liken the initiative to the offshore financial havens that corporations use to avoid government tax regimes – only for free speech

Handful of foreign correspondents still in Iran ordered not to report opposition protests Iran has done all it can to limit coverage of celebrations of this year’s anniversary of the Islamic revolution, using lessons learned over the past eight months of sporadic protests since the disputed ­presidential election.