Blogger Richard Silverstein. Image via HuffingtonPost

“I am reluctantly forced to revisit the statements your client, Richard Silverstein, has made about me on his blog. When he first attacked me personally and stated that I was a fascist, racist, and Kahanist, I ignored them, even as others of his ilk provided these baseless statements “legs” allowing countless more “eyes” the opportunity to read what your client understood and represented to be carefully calculated factual statements about me.  These statements are demonstrably false and your client made them knowing they were false or acting recklessly in this regard.  This recklessness I believe was established in his deposition testimony in the Neuwirth case.”

Yerushalmi is a Washington DC based lawyer. In 2010, ThinkProgress reported on his questionable views on Islam and Islamic law. Yerushalmi claimed in an article for American Thinker that,

“Islam was born in violence; it will die that way. Any wish to the contrary is sheer Pollyannaism. The same way the post World War II German youth were taught by their German teachers and political leaders to despise the fascism of their fathers, with strict laws extant still today restricting even speech that casts doubt on the Holocaust, so too must the Muslim youth be taught from the cradle to reject the religion of their forebears.

Richard Silverstein, a moderate voice on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is target of strong criticism from many in the blogosphere. Jewlicious accuses him of

“..veritable personification of moral decrepitude?”

Israellycool went a step ahead and called him a pro-terror, anti-Israel blogger.

Committee to Protect Bloggers has a detailed post on legal troubles pushed on Silverstein's way and has also urged people to support Silverstein's work and his right to express his views.

Written by Bhumika Ghimire · comments (0)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Police ordered all ISPs to block access in a number of gambling sites, most of them abroad, which are suspected to be owned by Israelis: http://hebrew.vcpoker.com, http://www.victorchandler.com, http://keshcard.com, http://www.stanjames.com and http://thespinroom.com.

In practice, most of the sites are part of http://www.victorchandler.com (active in several languages including Hebrew) or link directly to it. This site indicates that there are different products that have designated URLs: VC Casino, VC Live Casino, VC Games and VC Poker. However, these designated pages actually redirect to http://www.victorchandler.com.

The police instructed Israeli ISPs to block the IP addresses of relevant sites and asked to respond within 48 hours. On the other hand, the ISPs argued for lack of actual ability to block IP addresses and lack of authority for such blocking. Indeed, with the announcement of this news, reference started in various forums, including tips on how to bypass the blockage over those web sites.

This instruction of the police is not the beginning of a move against online gambling in Israel, but for now the culmination of this activity;

Three weeks ago, 28 people were arrested in connection with two major sites: victorchandler.com and stanjames.com. This was in suspicion of distributing prepaid cards worth tens of millions of NIS for gambling on the websites. These cards are sold in amounts of 100-5,000 NIS for each. The need to use alternative paying cards came after the block, since 2007 by the credit card companies and under police orders, of the option to pay on these gambling websites using credit cards. In this regard, the Police examined in mid 2009 the Israeli banks internal procedures regarding the clearing of credit cards over the Internet, including a warning to bank managers to prevent the activities and involvement of criminal organizations in the clearing on the Internet.

Mid-November 2009, an online gambling affair was exposed with a raid on the homes of 36 suspected of involvement in a network of online gambling and bets made via the sites http://bet555.net, http://betbet.us. In February 2010 indictments were filed against 22 of those who were behind these gambling sites. It was the first time that charges have been issued in respect of bets made only on the Internet.

At the end of 2009 another gambling affair was exposed. In this case the roulette was aired directly on the Internet cafe in Israel and abroad and watched by the betting users. The police raided the relevant Internet cafes and arrested 12 defendants in the case known as ‘Queen Mary'.

A few days earlier an indictment of the management involved in online gambling network that spread across more than one hundred sites in Israel between the years 2000-2002 has been made public. Those who were involved were charged with gambling money laundering and tax evasion.

Behind this campaign of eradication of illegal gambling, stand the official institutions betting in Israel, Winner-Toto and the National Lottery. The only two that are allowed to conduct lawful gambling on the Internet in the country, even if their servers are located outside of Israel. According to their argument, the scope of the legal sports books in about 5 billion ILS (around 1.25 billion USD) a year compared with a triple amount of the illegal sports betting sector. It is estimated that illegal gambling is the main income of the crime organizations in Israel.

Written by Tal Pavel · comments (1)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Following the attempts being made in the last decade to limit by legislation the Internet freedom in Israel, MK Alex Miller submitted this bill, once again, on April 1, 2009 (P/456/18). The same bill was submitted in the previous Knesset (P/1752 /17) by the same member on November 27, 2006.

The proposal was discussed earlier in the Knesset on October 24, 2007 and was rejected at a meeting of the Economic Committee on February 26, 2008. To the current effort of MK Miller to pass this bill, joined six other members of the Knesset.

Now, after being approved, the bill will pass for a first vote in the Knesset. Most of the bills in the past were a real limitation on the free use of the Internet in the form of blocking sites or restricting access in workplaces and public places. However, those bills were not accepted in most cases.

Since the bill is not a direct limitation on access to websites, but to impose a duty on Internet service providers to provide information and software on this matter, it is possible that the bill will eventually be approved.

Written by Tal Pavel · comments (0)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Tom Wagner describes the events as they happened:

Shai Rozentzweig published a post named “Tzipi… Livni… achievements…” (ציפי ליבני עשייה) in his funny blog. Like many other readers, I couldn't stand the temptation and Googled “Tzipi Livni Achievements”. To my great surprise, Shai Rozentsweig's blog came up first. I found this very funny, added a comment to his blog, and wrote a note on my Facebook profile, saying - “the blogger that killed Tzipi Livni”. I added that if people who browse the web looking for her achievements see this post, it is proof that she lacks any!

One of my Facebook friends, who is close to Livni, saw this post and all of the comments it generated. He searched in Google and was alarmed as Shai's satirical post came up first. Now, several days after publishing that blog post, it is impossible to find it using Google search. If you query “Tzipi Livni Achievements” you do not see the blog post even in page 500. If one enters a whole sentence from the blog post into Google's searchbox, Shai's blog will not come up in the results.

How else can this be explained? I see a hysterical telephone call from Livni's office to someone in the Google offices, who most probably blocked Shai's blog. Everyone who trusts Google as a reliable search engine needs to know that Google is susceptible to political influence, that Google surrenders quickly, and that Google doesn't really care about information integrity when there is a possibility that nobody will find out.

Tom asked fellow bloggers to link to his story, hoping that if Google makes him “invisible” at least other links will keep the story alive. A long stream of comments trailed after Tom's story. Below are two of the many comments:

Sonny Daor writes:

It is shocking that Livni chose to deal with the situation this way, instead of doing actual things that go into her record and appear in the search result. Moreover, it is even worse that Google is realizing the Big Brother prophecies linked to the company from the very beginning.

Ronen Reznik writes:

I am not surprised from the minister's reaction - it is the anticipated behavior from a minister who is aspiring to be our next leader. Now she proved that she is not able to stand against criticism, even if light and satirical.
Google has no personal commitment towards us, but to the dollar! And the $$ interest dictates capitulation to local (political) forces (Israel, China, Saudi Arabia, and more…). We need to boycott Google. There are other information highways!

A day later, Tom receives a phone-call from Google's PR representative in Israel, Stern-Ariely. He writes:

I was very surprised - since when does Google call people who write a post against it? I will try to dictate the conversation in the most comprehensive manner:

‘…Google is not involved. It is not possible for us to block results within Google's organic search…' When asked how it is possible that a blog appears in the first place, then disappears completely and then reappears in first place after much anger and outrage, the representative replied that he still has no answer.

Personally I am skeptical that I will ever receive an answer. My interpretation - Google surrendered first time to pressure from Tzipi Livni, and second time from us readers, when realizing that they've been found. If anyone has an alternative explanation please let me know.

Written by Gilad Lotan · comments (0)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Avner Finchuk of the Israeli Civil Rights Association, addresses the Knesset legislators in an article on ynet:

החוק לא נועד, וגם אינו יכול, לחנך את הציבור לנימוסים והליכות. אם רוצים המחוקקים בכנסת להשפיע על תרבות הדיון הציבורי, יתכבדו ויתחילו לעשות זאת בביתם ואל יפגעו בציפור נפשה של הדמוקרטיה.

Shahar Ilan of The Marker, writes:

נציגת משרד המשפטים, עורך דין תמר קלהורה, הביעה התנגדות להצעת החוק של חסון. לדבריה, אין להשתמש באמצעי החקיקה הקיימים לגבי מדיום חדש כמו האינטרנט אלא יש לבנות לו כלי חקיקה חדשים כמקובל בעולם. הצעת משרד המשפטים היא שברגע שתתקבל תלונה על תוכן גולשים. טוקבק או כל תוכן אחר האתר המארח יפנה לכותב, אם הכותב יודיע שהוא מתכוון להגן על התוכן בבית משפט, התוכן לא יוסר, אם הכותב לא יעשה זאת התוכן יוסר.

From this proposal, it is not clear how content provided by anonymous sources will be handled. Yonatan Klinger of 2jk writes:

The website owners got what they wanted, Hasson got his headlines (and removed his legislative whip), but the public, users who surf the web, came out losers. It was decided that within this framework of “self-regulation”, each website will decide its own comment-censoring policy, under the patronage of the Israeli Internet Association (which is, by the way, today's biggest winner) in order to protect the public from being exposed to the horrors of web-comments!… oh, the horrors!

Today's losers are the public. If up until now, comments on Israeli sites represented a form of public space - a city square which supported open conversation. From now on these conversations will depend upon the policy which each website decides to use.

Alisa describes Israeli “talkbalk” culture as important, but not always at its best:

Israel is a small country with a very vibrant political atmosphere. As everyone knows, every Jew, especially an Israeli one, has at least one opinion on any given issue, public or otherwise. Add to this the fact that we live in a somewhat interesting neighborhood, and that the issues we have to deal with are often just as interesting, and it is a small wonder that the advent of the Internet brought with it an explosion of various sites that deal with current affairs. But the really big explosion and the real action is in the commentary sections of these sites - the Talkbacks. The Talkbackists, as they have become known, are often the real stars, very often not in a good way.

Written by Gilad Lotan · comments (0)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

There have been numerous online conversation for and against banning of these sites. Ilana, a representative of the Israeli portal, responded to the petition calling to close down blogs that encourage anorexia. Below is a translation of her response:

Israblog is a network of blogs created to provide every person with the means to express themselves as long as it abides by the country's laws. Our motto, ‘life is here', refers to all aspects of life, even the more hurtful sides can be expressed here. Any person can own a blog through our system, even if their self perception is problematic or if their body fat percentage is lower than the norm.

The second, and more important reason, is that we do not believe that erasing blogs will have a positive effect. On the contrary, it may be damaging. We realize that there exist other blogging platforms which erase this type of content, however we strongly believe that if we act in a similar manner, we will simply pass this ‘burning hot potato' onwards without actually making positive change.

We agree that these blogs are problematic, but they also represent a true call for help. And it is best that this call will be heard here, in Israblog, a place where there are attentive listeners and arms ready to reach out and help, rather than a lonely, underground or extreme space.

One must remember that it is not possible to help someone with eating disorders by shutting her mouth. It is possible to help by providing an opposing voice, anti-anorectic, anti-bolemic.

This is precisely why we contact the psychologist Liran Rogev, from the Shahaf organization, who created the blog winning over eating disorders. In this blog, Liran describes ways to cope with eating disorders from his experience as a professional in the field. He tries to engage in supportive dialogue with those suffering from this complex issue, and suggests alternative methods of dealing.

In addition, we are looking for other ways to integrate other professionals who could consult, advise and support our bloggers. However the greatest force to support and make a difference is in your hands. The best thing about Israblog, which is always heart-warming, is these connections of concern, support and friendship made here between bloggers.

We ask you to sharpen your critique over western culture which idolizes the skinny, and point out these social messages, hidden or visible, which relate a person's value, especially women, to their looks and weight. You can enter pro-ana blogs and leave comments. Don't answer simply by saying “c'mon, what are you doing…” or “don't you know that bones are NOT sexy?!”. Comments of this type cause detachment and anger. Liran posted a list of things to remember when formulating anti-anorectic responses in pro-ana blogs. Amongst all his recommendations, we want to emphasize the last - “try to make a true connection - do not criticize or be judgmental. Otherwise, the pro-ana blogger will only reach out to other people with eating disorders, something that can certainly feed this disorder and lead to a further deterioration in their health”. In other words - be friends, real friends, so that those suffering from eating disorders will not seek out only other pro-ana friends.

Written by Gilad Lotan · comments (6)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

According to the proposal, a popular site, defined as one with an average of 50,000 hits or more per day, will be considered a “newspaper” and thus liable for the damage or harm caused to a person as a result from its user generated content (i.e. - comments). Ironically, the web post describing this case, published yesterday on the popular ynet news site, has already received over 200 comments.

Hasson's reasoning for the importance of such a law:

“It is unreasonable that a response, possibly anonymous, sent to a newspaper, will be held under the editor's responsibility, but a response submitted to the online portal of that same newspaper will be under nobody's authority… We must not turn the network into a vandalizing, evil tool.”

Gal Mor's recent post describes Hasson's argument as coarse and lacking reference to implications on the basic right for freedom of speech:

Israel Hasson's proposal, which imposes criminal responsibility on commentators, editors and operators of large websites, passed the preliminary vote today. 29 Knesset members supported and only two opposed this evil law proposal. Evil - not because those who slander will tremble before writing now, but because of the lack of reference to the thin texture of freedom of speech. The legislator's coarse treatment of the internet is similar to that of a Beitar (sports group) fan's visit to a museum.

It is hard to claim that Shelly Yachimovich, who opposed the proposal along with Gideon Sa'ar, saved the Knesset's dignity, not even that of the Labor party. But her vote and reasonings are definitely worthy of respect: “the internet works by a different code of conduct from those of traditional media. True, it is not pleasant to have slanderous talkbacks pointed at you, even I feel unpleasant sometimes, but not enough for me to lower the gavel as a legislator. I suggest to remove this proposal from the daily agenda. It harms freedom of speech and will not be effective. The immense advantages of the web outweighs its disadvantages by far.”

It is necessary now to think of an effective response to protest the continuation of this legislative process. For instance, set one day when all the websites block the option to insert a talkback in order to demonstrate what will happen if this proposal is accepted.

UvalS writes about privacy and posts a link to an online petition:

Part of what I like about the internet is anonymity… I do not like being forced to identify or expose of my information on the web. But I do it when I want to, and that is the big difference. No one forces me to identify and give my private information. And here essentially is your problem, Israel Hasson.

I don't really believe in petitions, but to sit and do nothing will never help. Nana created an online petition against the Talkback Law here.

Jonathan Klinger's argument notes the government's attempt to make private entities liable to censor data, and warns that a future implementation of this law will diminish freedom of speech and conversation, as in Iran:

I'd like to emphasize two major topics: death to the culture of discussion on the one hand, and forcing websites to report the amount of traffic on the other. It is clear to everyone that filtering content on the web leads to censorship. It is clear that forcing websites to be liable, will lead to them not supporting the conversation. I do not believe that, by Hasson's words, “we have progressed today a substantial step towards a culture of conversation and mutual honor in the State of Israel”. The only advancement that we saw today, after the approval of this law proposal in the government's committee, is towards a country where censorship is operated by private entities for the government… We will all pay the price for this censorship!

The real blow in rights is that of the websites and their right of property: they will be obliged to report to a government apparatus the number of hits on their pages, the information of their editors and their information stored in a site list. This is substantial damage to one's right of expression, especially when the person does not have the ability to open a website that will act as a stage because he/she will be subject to sign up with a government official. Israel will be like Iran, where website owners must register with the government and be fully liable (for their content).

Hanan Cohen describes his feeling of fatigue, constantly trying to protect Israeli democracy:

… I have a feeling that every time we shout about a new topic, from subject to subject, from law proposal to the next, we become tired. The struggle over a law or against censorship drown us with the little details. And in the meanwhile, the general trend is increasing. We need to start talking about the general trend and point to the forest, not just the trees.

Earlier in his post, Hanan relates to various law proposals which have been brought to the discussion board during the current government's reign in power:

The Talkback Law
The Internet Censorship Law
Communication information Law (Big Brother Law)
Censorship during the second Lebanon war
Daniel Friedman's reform in the legal system
Reduction of the strike's legitimacy as a method for protest

In the meanwhile, the Hebrew blogosphere braces for a fight. Various commentary cartoons and slogans have already been created to draw activists attention to the implications of the Talkback Proposal. Following are two images. The first, a slogan, designed by Liz Cugan and posted on Ma'ariv's site. This translates to “Talkback Now” and relates to a well-known campaign in Israel, rallying for “Peace Now”. The following image is designed with similar font, colors and wording.

The illustration below was created by Roni, describing the possible result of posting comments on a site.

Written by Gilad Lotan · comments (4)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Sami Ben Gharbia · comments (0)
Share: facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper