January, 2012

Stories from January, 2012

Internet Blackout Day Fires Up Digital Rights Activism Around the World

  20 January 2012

Yesterday was a defining moment for the global Internet community. The effects of the massive online blackout in protest of U.S. Internet blacklist legislation, SOPA and PIPA, were felt around the world as countless websites joined in a global action against over-broad and poorly drafted copyright laws.

U.S. Bills Could Threaten the Global Internet

  18 January 2012

At Global Voices, we understand that we, collectively, are the Internet. Our individual participation is what makes the Internet a global conversation of startling depth and variety, but this is possible only because of its open technical and legal structure. Unfortunately, there are powerful corporate and government forces who would...

Iran: Another blogger in jail

  17 January 2012

Hadi Nili says according to confirmed reports from Tehran, Parastoo Dokouhaki, Iranian blogger and journalist, is arrested by authorities. Parastoo is a women activist as well. She writes in her blog “Zan-Nevesht“and in its English version “The Remains of the Day“.

Iran: Jailed Islamic Cleric and Blogger on Hunger Strike

  17 January 2012

In the last 33 years since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has been a kind of paradise for Islamic clerics who gained power and rule over the country. But not for all of them. Mohammad Sadegh (Arash) Honarvar Shojayi, a cleric and a blogger is one who is currently sharing the...

Iran: A cleric blogger on hunger strike

  15 January 2012

Mohammad Sadegh Honarvar Shojayi, a blogger and cleric started his hunger strike on Monday. He was arrested by the Prosecutor General on charges of conducting an interview with the reformist Kalameh website.

Venezuela: Cyberactivist Luis Carlos Díaz harassed and threatened by “hackers”

  14 January 2012

For the second time in only four months, Venezuelan journalist and cyberactivist Luis Carlos Díaz is being harassed by a so-called group of pro-government "hackers", who act under the name of N33, and who in previous months have hacked into the Twitter and e-mail accounts of about thirty different Venezuelan personalities, including journalists Sebastiana Barráez, Ibéyise Pacheco, political humorist Laureano Márquez, activist Rocío San Miguel and writer Leonardo Padrón, amongst many others.

Netizen Report: Celebration Edition

  12 January 2012

In our first edition of 2012, we take a look at the mounting challenges from all directions to online free expression, and celebrate the many ways in which netizens around the world are fighting back.

Iran: Khazali was arrested again

  11 January 2012

Shoorezar reports [fa] Mehdi Khazali, a blogger, publisher and son of a leading conservative cleric and former Council of Guardians member, Ayatollah Khazali, was arrested again last week. He was beaten up by security forces. Read more here.

Biometrics in Argentina: Mass Surveillance as a State Policy

  11 January 2012

Two years ago, the UK dismantled their national ID scheme and shredded their National Identity Registry in response to great public outcry over the privacy-invasive program. Unfortunately privacy protections have been less rosy elsewhere. In Argentina, the national ID fight was lost some time ago. A law enacted during the...

The Arms Race Over The Internet Rages Onward – part 1

  9 January 2012

2011's Chaos Computer Congress (CCC) was on his 28th edition named “Behind Enemy Lines”. The 28C3, as it is called for shortness, was thus constituted by a myriad of talks and workshops discussing what is to be behind enemy lines. To put it clearly, this idiom is quite ambiguous: for repressive governments, the freedom fighters are the enemy, and vice and versa.

Highlights from the 28th Chaos Communications Congress

  5 January 2012

The Chaos Communications Congress is the annual meetup of Germany's Chaos Computer Club, one of the oldest hacker collectives in the world. The programme mixes technical talks from the security and free software worlds with talks about online rights and hacktivism.

Will Iran Soon Have Its Own “Clean Internet”?

  4 January 2012

The Iranian regime may be losing its battle to filter content on the internet, but meanwhile it is trying news things - from slowing down internet speeds, to developing a so-called "national internet" or "clean internet".