The New York Times said today the covert effort also includes attempts to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries.

The operation involves a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of young entrepreneurs are fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype “internet in a suitcase”, the report said.

Financed with a $US2 million ($1.9 million) State Department grant, the suitcase could be secreted across a border and quickly set up to allow wireless communications over a wide area with a link to the global internet.

The Times said some projects involve technology being developed in the US while others pull together tools that have already been created by hackers from the so-called liberation technology movement.

The State Department is financing the creation of stealth wireless networks that would enable activists to communicate outside the reach of governments in countries like Iran, Syria and Libya.

The US Government has also spent at least $US50 million ($47.2 million) to create an independent mobile phone network, for iphones etc. in Afghanistan using towers on protected military bases inside the country, according to the newspaper.

It is intended to offset the Taliban’s ability to shut down the official Afghan services, the report said.

From AFP Correspondents in Washington

The following is the official release from Google about World IPv6 Day;

On June 8th, 2011 — World IPv6 Day (http://worldipv6day.org/) — major web companies, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, will enable IPv6 on many of their websites for 24 hours to test how IPv6 performs in the real world.  That day, we’ll be using IPv6 (http://worldipv6day.org/faq/index.html) for Google Apps, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites.

More than 99.9% of people shouldn’t have any problems during this industry-wide test, but your experience on June 8th will depend on your computer and network configuration.

- If you only have IPv4, you’ll simply use IPv4 as usual and not see any test-related problems.

- If your configuration is ready for IPv6, you’ll automatically use IPv6 and not see any test-related problems.

- In rare cases if you have IPv6 enabled but not configured properly, you may have connectivity issues with Google Apps and other test sites on June 8th.

If you’d like to start checking your organization’s IPv6 preparedness before June 8th, you can instruct your users to visit ipv6test.google.com from the devices where they access Google Apps, like primary work machines, tablet devices and home computers.  If you discover IPv6 connectivity problems, you can find troubleshooting tips and more information here: http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=8995&answer=1299266

If you are having a major issue related to this from now until the end of June 8th, 2011 and need to contact us about IPv6, please submit your inquiry here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGx2UnV1RTdEY25HSlJ4VGQ2QW9jM2c6MQ.  We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you,

The Google Apps Team