One application, called Shibboleth, is a piece of open source software that enables users to share restricted online resources.

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In Asia, Japan restricted investor bets on falling share prices, so-called "short selling, " to try to end a stock market slide that has particularly hit its banking sector.

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"There are a lot of us who think that some of the information we share with the public probably should be restricted in some fashion, " Ridge said.

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