Stories from March, 2009
China: Youtube confirms blocked. For what reason?
Update: Youtube unblocked in March 27 with country preference setting. While Chinese foreign ministry spokesman refused to confirm Youtube had been blocked and stressed that China is not afraid of the Internet, Youtube confirmed yesterday (March 24) its website indeed has been blocked in China since March 23. Video clips...
Planning International Day of Solidarity with Persecuted Bloggers
What:Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, an Iranian blogger, died tragically in prison on March 18, demonstrating the sad fact that a blogger’s life can be lost as easily as a blog can be filtered by authorities. Bloggers have been praised on many occasions for their contribution and value to the information...
Iran: When the Internet is Viewed through a Filter
When it comes to filtering the internet, Iranian authorities target many political and social blogs and websites, depriving many from receiving information and expressing their ideas. However, the government does not have well-defined red lines, and it changes its filtering policies often. In this post we discuss several issues related to filtering and clarify some common misunderstandings.
China: Grass Mud Horse Disappeared in Google and Yahoo Search
Two days ago, a notice was distributed among online forum managers asking them not to continue the Grass Mud Horse Hyperbole by active moderation of posts. The latest report from GFW blog is that the term “Grass Mud Horse” has disappeared in Google and Yahoo search engine in China. The...
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger Dies in Prison
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18. In December, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mir Sayafi was...
Maldives: Dissident And Anti-Islamic Sites Blocked
Several dissident and alleged anti-Islamic websites were filtered recently in Maldives. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs ordered the Telecommunication Authority of Maldives (TAM) to block access to those websites.
Kazakhstan: Filtering of the blogs expands
Blogs on mail.ru - popular Russian information, entertainment and mail portal - have become the second victim of blockage campaign in Kazakhstan after LiveJournal. Access via national telecom operator is denied only to blogs, all other services of the portal work fine. Access to the blogs section is possible via anonymizers.
Mauritania: Online Journalist Arrested, News Website Blocked and Journalists Sit-in Attacked
Update: 18 March 2009- Abbass Ould Brahim was released after being held for three days, and the Taqadoumy website was allowed to reopen 24 hours after the Nouakchott prosecutor’s office ordered its closure - Abbass Ould Braham, a Mauritanian online journalist was arrested this past Monday, 16 March 2009, for an article he published on Taqadoumy website. News of his arrest was reported by Taqadoumy.com and echoed by number of Mauritanian websites. Abbass's article "Deep into Mauritania: A Cross-Section of the new Mauritanian Regime" (in arabic) deals with the August 6 coup d'état, the Junta and the Mauritanian political system.
UAE: YouTube Ban Possible, Goodbye Flickr
Bloggers in the UAE are worried that YouTube may be banned in the Emirates, after access to photography hosting site Flickr has been totally blocked. According to Press reports, YouTube is ranked among the top 10 most popular sites in the UAE and news about its possible censorship has sparked debate in the blogosphere.
Egypt: Two Bloggers Were Tortured During Detention
Two bloggers were separately tortured in Egyptian State Security headquarters. One of them is now released, while the other has been receiving treatment in prison. After his release, the Egyptian blogger Mohamed Adel told an independent local newspaper that he was subjected to torture by the State security agents during the first 17 days of his detention.
China: Mourning for Intellectual Websites
This week, two more influential websites have been forced to close, one is Pauwang（泡網）, one is Wei-cheng Za-Wan（圍城雜文）. Pauwang is among one of the longest history BBS in China and it was forced to close on 12 of March, 2009. According to Hecaitou, the BBS is a platform for editor...
Malaysia: Rex Judicata
Six Malaysian Netizens will be charged on 13th March 2009, according to news reports. The charges are in relation to their alleged insulting of Sultan Azlan Shah on the Internet. The six will be charged in differing states within Malaysia, two of which will take place at the Sessions Court...
Anonymous Blogging with WordPress & Tor Updated!
I’m pleased to announce that the third update to the Anonymous Blogging guide with Wordpress & Tor is now available online! This update introduces the Tor Browser Bundle, an open source version of a portable browser developed by Tor Project, that lets you use Tor with zero install. Tor Browser is a great pre-configured Tor bundle with self contained Mozilla Firefox browser for USB drives or any other portable media (SD Card, Hard Drives, Compact Flash Card).
Egypt: Detained blogger Ahmed Abou Doma is at risk of torture
The detained blogger was mentally and physically abused in Al-Khalifa police station, while being transferred to prison. He was beaten up by sticks and his body was standing in a harmful posture for long hours.
Bangladesh: YouTube and File Sharing Sites Blocked
Internet users in Bangladesh are not able to access YouTube since Friday (March 6, 2009) evening. Soon people discovered that other Social Media and file hosting/sharing sites like Esnips, mediafire etc. were also not accessible. Apparently these are blocked by the firewalls at IIG (International Internet Gateway) as these can...
Thailand: Web director arrested for “allowing offensive comments”
Prachatai web director Chiranuch Premchaiporn was arrested by police yesterday for “disseminating lese majeste content on the website.” To put it in another way, she was arrested for allowing comments on the website which the police deemed as offensive to the monarchy. Chiranuch is now out on bail.
Malaysia: Reporters Without Borders speaks up for Raja Petra
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an organisation that defends press freedom worldwide, has rallied to the aid of Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK), Malaysia's renowned blogger. Secretary-general of RSF, Jean-François Julliard, wrote in February to Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Mahmud Al Mukhtafi Billah Shah, the king of Malaysia, asking him to intercede...
Hassan Barhon: yet another Moroccan blogger sued for defamation
Moroccan blogger and anti-corruption journalist, Hassan Barhon, who has been arrested since February 25th for exposing a corruption case involving the prosecutor-general for the king of Morocco at Tetouan’s court of appeals, Mohamed Masmouki, is due to appear before a court in Tetouan today.
China: Youtube On and Off
Update: Shizhao from Twitter just reported that youtube is now back to normal (Beijing time March 6: 10:40am). Youtube has been reported blocked in China for two days (March 4-5). According to William Long, netizens failed to access the youtube website since March 4, 8:00pm. The website came back around...
Two Egyptian bloggers arrested and held in unknown locations in less than a month
An Egypt Facebook activist was abducted by Police soliders, who attacked his home at 3:30am, shortly before the break of dawn. Rami El- Swaisi, 21, was taken to an unknown place since 2 days, when Officers and armed police soldiers broke into the home in Giza and took some of his personal property including his cell phone, laptop, and wallet.
