Iran Shuts Down Google Mail
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran has announced plans to permanently ban Google's email service from being used within its borders.

In a move ahead of Thursday's 31st anniversary of the creation of Iran's Islamic Republic, the national telecoms agency in Tehran said that it will ban Gmail and will instead facilitate its own national email service.

The decision, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes just a month after Google threatened to leave China amid concerns that its systems had been attacked by Chinese hackers.

The Iranian announcement is understood to be part of a wider crackdown on opposition protests ahead of today's anniversary, which is likely to bring significant protests from both dissenters and supporters of the Islamic revolution. >>> James Quinn in New York | Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Gmail May Soon Be a Thing of the Past for Germans
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: If a proposed German surveillance law goes into effect unchanged in 2008, Google says, it would shut down Gmail for German customers rather than comply.

In a showdown with the German government, Google, Inc. has threatened to shut down its popular e-mail service in Germany if a planned telecommunications law goes into effect unchanged -- a law Google's chief data-protection advisor has called a "heavy blow against the private sphere." Google Threatens to End E-Mail Service in Germany (more)

Mark Alexander