Venezuela, January 2011

Seven billion people is a tough number to truly comprehend. It's like geologic time, or the number of neurons in your brain. It's on a scale that we have little mental framework to understand.

We tried to gain a little perspective on this staggering total with some statistics, but sometimes the big picture is best understood as a collection of smaller scenes. National Geographic is marking the occasion with a free "7 billion" iPad app based on their yearlong series on world population, and we've got a preview of some of the images and videos in this gallery.

Above:

Venezuela, January 2011

Sharing a hillside with high-rise apartment dwellers, children dance at a shop in one of the squatter communities that ring Caracas, a city of 3 million. One in seven people on Earth lives in slums today. Providing them with better housing and education will be one of the great challenges facing a world of 7 billion people and counting.

Photo ©Jonas Bendiksen/National Geographic

Venezuela, January 2011

Backlink: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/gallery/nat-geo-7-billion/7B_app_7Billion_01.jpg

Venezuela passes new law drastically limiting internet freedoms

The Venezuelan parliament has passed a law that bans any internet content that "promotes social unrest, challenges authority or condones crime." President Hugo Chavez's ruling party pushed the law through in less than a week. Snip from AFP:

The new law expands 2004 restrictions on content in radio, television and print media. In an unprecedented move, it now also includes content from the Internet and electronic subscription services, making webpage managers "responsible for the information and content" published on their websites."

It is meant to crack down on media content that "makes an apology of crime," "promotes unrest in the population" or "challenges legally established authorities." Webpage managers must now "establish mechanisms to restrict, without delay, the diffusion of messages... that are included in the ban." The measure increases fines imposed on media violations to "10 percent of the previous year's gross income," in addition to "72 hours of continuous suspension of services."

Here's more about the law in Spanish on the government's website, including a video.

Venezuela passes new law drastically limiting internet freedoms

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/LHgZnvfz45A/venezuela-passes-new.html