Global Voices Advocacy » Arrest and Harassment

Bahrain Jails Six Twitter Users for Insulting King

Global Voices — Sat, 18 May 2013 23:28:25 +0000

Six Twitter users were sentenced to a year in prison each by a Bahrain court on May 15 for allegedly insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the micro-blogging site.

According to the government-run Bahrain News Agency, the “six suspects” where charged in five different cases “related to the misuse of freedom of expression and defaming His Majesty the King on Twitter.” It added that the six were “charged [with] misusing freedoms of expression and opinion publicly and remanded…in custody ahead of their trial.”

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain with US Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England. Released to the public domain.

According to the London-based Bahrain Press Association those sentenced are [ar]:

المحكمون بالسجن في #البحرين بتهمة إهانة الملك في #تويتر هم: المحامي مهدي البصري، محمود طارش، محسن عبدعلي، حسن عبدعلي، حسن عبدعلي، عمار مكي.

@BahrainPA: Those sentenced to prison with the charges of insulting the king on Twitter are: lawyer Mahdi Al Basri, Mahmood Taresh, Mohsin Abdali, Hassan Abdali, Hassan Abdali and Ammar Makki.

The name Hassan Abdali appears twice and Global Voices Online cannot verify whether it is two separate people or a mistake. A query by Global Voices remained unanswered at the time of writing this post.

The association added:

@BahrainPA: BPA: [we] consider these sentenc[es] unfair provisions that violate the freedom of Expression

Meanwhile, the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said that five Twitter users have been sentenced to a year in prison – and called for their immediate release:

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) demands:

the immediate release of those who were arrested due to freedom of opinion and expression and to drop all charges against them;

put an end to the restrictions against social media in Bahrain;

protect the free exchange of information on the Internet and not restrict it.

The sentencing sparked criticism online.

Bahraini Freedom Prayers sees the sentences as a threat to silence other dissidents:

@FreedomPrayers: Last year twitter users sentenced to 6months. This year the offering reached 1yr. If the rest didn't shut up, next it will be 5yrs. #Bahrain

From Cambridge, UK, author Toby Matthiesen tweets:

@TobyMatthiesen: Bahrain court jails 6 tweeters for a year for “insulting” the King. Another sign of GCC trying to limit Twitter impact

And researcher Marc Owen Jones challenges:

@marcowenjones: They couldn't arrest everyone if they all insulted the King on Twitter. Or could they…? #Bahrain

Chad-Senegal: A New Axis of Blogger Persecution?

Julie Owono — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:55:19 +0000

Makaila Nguebla. Screenshot from video taken by Institut Panos Afrique de l'Ouest IPAO.

Francophone African online communities were astonished to learn on May 7 that Chadian blogger Makaila Nguébla had been arrested by Senegalese intelligence services and the deported [fr] to Conakry (Republic of Guinea) from Dakar. Nguébla, who had lived in exile in Senegal for eight years, is the editor of the collective blog Makaila Info [fr], an information and opinion site that is highly popular among Chadians inside the country and abroad.

Deportation contrary to Senegalese law, international commitments

In the phone interview with Global Voices Advocacy, Nguébla's lawyer explained that deportation to a country where a journalist would receive less protection than in his or her home country runs contrary to Senegalese law. He stated that the case was not approved by a judge, and that the move undermines the international commitments of Senegal, which ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and Protocols. Nguébla is undoubtedly a political refugee, considering this Convention and the personal situation of the blogger, who had lived in Senegal for more than eight years. Article 32 of the Convention provides that:

Article 32: Expulsion

1. The Contracting States shall not expel a refugee lawfully in their territory save on grounds of national security or public order.

2. The expulsion of such a refugee shall be only in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with due process of law. Except where compelling reasons of national security otherwise require, the refugee shall be allowed to submit evidence to clear himself, and to appeal to and be represented for the purpose before competent authority or a person or persons specially designated by the competent authority.

3. The Contracting States shall allow such a refugee a reasonable period within which to seek legal admission into another country. The Contracting States reserve the right to apply during that period such internal measures as they may deem necessary.

Makaila Nguébla has become a stateless person, as authorities in his home country of Chad have refused to issue him a new passport for more than eight years. On May 12, speaking to Radio France Internacionale [fr], Senegalese Minister of Governance and Spokesperson of the Government expressed the official position of Senegal on the issue.

His presence was merely tolerated. But under this was under the condition that he refrain from doing a number of things and making statements that the Senegalese government considers contrary to his will to live among us.

Although officials haven't explicitly stated the reason for his expulsion, it can be inferred that, had he chosen to remain silent, he would still be Senegal today. In other words, Nguébla's choice to continue writing and expressing his political ideas online qualified as a “threat to national security” or “public order,” as stated in the Convention above.

Chadian government stifling online dissent

The expulsion of Nguébla followed the visit to Dakar on May 3 and 4 of Chadian Minister of Justice Jean-Bernard Padaré, for the signing of an agreement on judicial cooperation between Senegal and Chad. According to sources [fr] Minister Padaré met with the democratically elected President of Senegal, Macky Sall. A few days later, Nguébla was deported to Conakry, in neigboring Guinea. This expulsion is yet another repressive action brought by Chad against bloggers and online dissent. In addition to Nguébla, two bloggers who wrote for Makaila Info, Jean Laokolé and Eric Topona, have since faced persecution. On Makaila Info, the three bloggers often wrote about political affairs and had made allegations of corruption within the Chadian government [fr]. On May 8, Topona was arrested and detained, likely in connection with his work. Last month, Jean Laokolé (who wrote using the pseudonym Vourboubé Pierre) was imprisoned and held incommunicado in a secret military prison. He has since been indicted for his work. Some Laokolé’s posts on Makaila Info [fr] dealt with an ongoing inquiry into a network of public funds embezzlement operated by agents of the Ministry of Land Affairs, the former ministerial position of Mr. Padaré.

According to Makaila Nguébla, the network of informants and sources associated with this story in Chad were placed under telephone surveillance after these allegations surfaced. Vision du Tchad surmises that government eavesdropping on the bloggers’ communications and governments searches of their personal communication devices helped unveil Jean Laokolé’s identity, and may have led to Eric Topona’s arrest and Makaila Nguébla’s expulsion from Senegal to Guinea.

These arrests also coincided with an alleged attempt to oust Chadian President Idriss Déby that took place earlier this week in Chad’s capital city of N’Djamena.

An earlier version of this post appeared on the Internet Sans Frontières [fr] website.

Malaysia: News Sites Face Attacks on Eve of Elections

Global Voices Advocacy — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:53:37 +0000

The post was co-authored by Oiwan Lam and Leila Nachawati.

The general election campaign period in Malaysia has triggered what independent news site MalaysiaKini is calling “China-style censorship.” Over the last two weeks, at least two news sites, Harakah Daily and MalaysiaKini, have suffered from DDoS attacks and connection disruption at the ISP level. MalaysiaKini reports that its Twitter accounts have been hacked and pages on its video site, KiniTV, are being blocked by certain ISPs.

On May 5, Malaysians will vote in a highly contested general election that many say could be the closest in the country’s history. Should opposition candidate Anwar Ibrahim succeed in contesting incumbent Najib Tun Razak, it would bring an end to over fifty years of single-party rule that has been in effect since the country won independence from the England in 1957.

Photo by Two Hundred Percent. Released to the public domain.

Launched in 1999, MalaysiaKini is among the most read news sites in the country and has received awards for its coverage from the International Press Institute, Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists. With tension increasing on the ground over a tight political race and alleged manipulation of electoral results, their work has been key in election monitoring and coverage. This is not MalaysiaKini’s first experience with such problems; the organization also suffered attacks that left the site offline during general elections in 2008.

Harakah Daily has experienced similar problems. In addition DDoS attacks, the news organization’s IT team has discovered that customers from a majority of local ISPs have encountered disruption in connecting to the site. Oiwan Lam, a co-author of this post, is currently in Kuala Lumpur as an election observer and was unable to access Harakah Daily on Saturday, though was able to connect later in the day.

Interference by some (but not all) ISPs

Users of ISPs including TM Broadband, Unifi, Streamyx, Maxis, Celcom and Digi have complained of unusually slow speed when accessing the Harakah Daily portal. But both sites have reported that their pages are readily accessible on YES4G and Time Internet ISPs. A pageview chart created by Malaysiakini also revealed that connections were being ‘dropped’ every now and then when using these ISPs.

Chart created by Malaysiakini.

Executives at both news sites have spoken strongly against the actions of these ISPs. Zulkifli Sulong, Harakah Daily's Editor-in-Chief, said:

If the matter is true, such dirty tactics must be stopped. ISPs should focus on their job to deliver the best service to its customers any desired websites without restriction.

Premesh Chandran, CEO of MalaysiaKini, noted that national law obligates ISPs to keep their networks open.

In line with official government policy and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, telecommunications providers such as TM have a duty and obligation to ensure that their systems are not used to censor the Internet.

Various advocacy groups have pointed out that Malaysian law explicitly protects the open Internet.

Both organizations are working to ensure that even if their sites are blocked, users will still be able to access their content via alternative means. Currently, Harakah Daily has posted all current news items on its Facebook Fan page. Malaysiakini has set up several mirror sites to prevent the complete blocking of their site during the Malaysia general election on May 5.

General increase in online controls

As the government faces a possible loss of power, online censorship and surveillance seem to be an increasing trend in the country. In a report on the commercialization of digital spyware issued by Citizen Lab, Malaysia appears among 36 countries where the remote monitoring and surveillance solutions software known as FinFisher has been used. The report includes a sample of FinFisher surveillance malware that appears to have been specifically crafted for use during the election period. Reaching users in the form of an email attachment, and written in Malay, the malicious program is disguised as election-related information.

Citizen Lab writes:

While we cannot make definitive statements about the actors behind the booby-trapped candidate list, the contents of the document suggest that the campaign targets Malay speakers who are interested in Malaysia´s hotly contested 5 May 2013 General Elections. We trust that both domestic and international elections monitoring officials and watchdog groups will investigate to determine whether the integrity of the campaign and electoral process may have been compromised.

US-based campaign organization Access is seeking to put pressure on the government to stop the political interference with the Internet. The group has organized a petition directed at the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) demanding that the government agency restore access to all websites during and following the upcoming elections.

Global Voices Advocacy urges concerned users to share this story widely and to sign the petition to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

In Violation of Constitution, Ethiopian Blogger Will Face 18 Years in Prison

Rainey Reitman — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:14:10 +0000

This post originally appeared on the website of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It has been modified for the Global Voices Advocacy audience.

On May 1, the Ethiopian Supreme Court upheld the conviction and extreme sentence of award-winning online journalist Eskinder Nega, who now faces 18 years in prison. Nega was arrested in September 2011 and charged with “terrorism” under a vague law in Ethiopia that has been used to target online journalists and political dissenters. His trial and appeal faced repeated delays, while international human rights and free expression groups continued to criticize his imprisonment and punishment. EFF, PEN America, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others campaigned for his release, and a United Nations panel found his conviction to be in violation of international law.

Mohamed Keita of the Committee to Protect Journalists said in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, “The persecution of Eskinder and other journalists is the hallmark of a regime fearful of the opinions of its citizens.”

Free Eskinder campaign image.

Eskinder Nega went to the United States for college, studying at American University before returning to Ethiopia to become a journalist. He founded four newspapers—all of which were shut down by the Ethiopian government—and has been jailed repeatedly for his outspoken articles. His journalism license revoked, Nega moved to the digital world, becoming a blogger and using online platforms to discuss the political situation in Ethiopia. While many journalists in Ethiopia have been silenced or fled the country to protect their lives and the lives of their family members, Eskinder Nega refused to leave or stop writing. His courage and dedication as a journalist have made him an international symbol of press freedom and the power of the Internet to maintain free speech in repressive conditions.

Eskinder Nega wrote passionately about the opportunity for Ethiopia to embrace human rights and free expression. In one blog post, he wrote:

Tyranny is in retreat everywhere. It has lost one of its two last great bastions, the Arab world. The momentum is now on the side freedom. Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries. Inevitably, freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia.

Eskinder Nega’s writings have provided a window into the realities of life on the ground in Ethiopia and served as inspiration for people in Ethiopia and around the world. His continued imprisonment denies the world of a unique and powerful journalistic voice from an area of the world that is hungry for accurate, fair, and multifaceted reporting.

Cameroon: Blogger Enoh Meyomesse Still in Jail

Julie Owono — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:52:40 +0000

Cameroonian writer and blogger Enoh Meyomesse has been held in jail in Yaoundé, Cameroon's capital city, for over 17 months. Accused of stealing and illegally selling gold, he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the Military court of Yaoundé, after a process that several organizations considered illegitimate. Many suspect that Meyomesse, who received the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award in 2013 and is now an honorary member of the PEN American Center, faced a political trial aimed at silencing one of the most prolific intellectuals of Cameroon.

Liberez Enoh by PEN American Center. (CC BY-NC 3.0 Unported)

Several events reveal the nervousness of the regime regarding the Enoh Meyomesse case. On February 22, 2013 the Committee for the Liberation of Enoh was supposed to take part in a press conference organized by Tribunal Article 53, a Cameroonian NGO, on the situation of the blogger and writer. But the conference was banned [fr] on the grounds that the statement sent to the prefectorial authority was incomplete. In this video, shot on February 22, organizers deny the allegation while public forces expel participants from the conference venue. PEN has created an interactive timeline on the jailing of Enoh Meyomesse.

In addition, since April 5, 2013, Enoh has been forbidden [fr] by the Superintendent from using the computer room of Kondengui prison, where he is incarcerated. Enoh used computers to draft three books: Poems of hope, The elite against the people from 1884 to the present day, and Cameroon: Desert of human rights. In a letter addressed to the prison Superintendent, Enoh Meyomesse expresses his surprise at how he has been treated at Kondengui.

Despite this hostile environment, mobilization continues for the release of Enoh Meyomesse. With substantial assistance from his lawyers, Enoh's appeal against his sentence was received and his case will now move from the military to the civil court.

Advocates around the world have begun to voice support for Meyomesse. A Paris-based collective composed and sang this song, based on one of Enoh Meyomesse's poem Noël en Prison (Christmas In Jail).

Cameroon will have its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council on May 1, 2013. Several international organizations have recommended that the country end the persecution of writers and protect online freedom of expression.

Advocates are petitioning for the release of Enoh Meyomesse. To join the campaign, read, sign, and share the petition by clicking here.

Will the Revolution Still be Tweeted? Venezuela's Netizens Face Uncertain Future

Marianne Diaz — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:34:54 +0000

The March 2013 death of Hugo Chávez has unleashed chaos in Venezuela, with government officials and citizens alike struggling to come to grips with the uncertainties of the country’s political future. Currents of political instability have increased steadily since news of Chávez’s illness became public. But the political icon’s death and the recent election of his heir and VP, Nicolás Maduro (who won by a margin of less than two percentage points) have further stoked the ideological flames among those opposed to Chavismo.

Since the election, supporters of Maduro's opponent, Henrique Capriles, have staged massive demonstrations to demand a vote recount in Caracas and other major cities, despite efforts by the government and national guard to the block their actions. It has been reported that between six and eight people have died in these protests and several buildings have been set fire by extreme factions of the opposition, though these reports have not been confirmed.

“Tengo un dedito” [I have a little finger]. Photo by Luis Carlos Diaz. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

All of these events have had adverse effects on citizen and social media users. In just six weeks since Chávez’s death, two social media users have been arrested on charges of posting information and images deemed “destabilizing” to the country. On election day, the Internet was briefly shut down throughout most of the country. And today, social network users are facing threats to their employment status, as authorities search profiles for signs of political affiliation that have, in several cases, resulted in users losing their jobs.

The fourteen-year mandate of President Chávez was marked by controversy and divergence of views between different sectors within and outside the country. The framework of a so-called “ideological battle,” has pitted government supporters and critics against one another, though it shows few signs of real, critical debate. As the battle has been waged in traditional media and on the streets, it also has moved to social networks.

In many ways, the use of social networks was a strong marker of the unique brand of socialism cultivated by Hugo Chávez. Although traditional and digital media alike were instrumental tools for his administration, Chávez was especially known for his use of Twitter (@ChavezCandanga) as a platform for political communication. Diosdado Cabello, one of Chávez’s aides, once commented on the power of the medium in the ideological battle:

The opposition believes itself to be the owner of social networking. They think Twitter and Facebook is theirs. We are fighting the battle and we are 7 million militants who will have Twitter.

Cabello noted that they would “assault social networks to counter the views expressed by [their] opponents.” Many government officials now have Twitter accounts and use them to communicate important information to citizens. Different political parties, candidates and NGOs also use Twitter to interact with followers. This has proven effective in Venezuela, which has high numbers of social network users relative to its neighbors, and globally ranks thirteenth for its number of Twitter users.

In April 2010, the government announced the creation of the “communicational guerrilla“, a group of citizens employed to “fight the ideological battle” in independent and mainstream media and on the Internet. So today, the battle is being fought in hashtags: keyword positioning in support of and against the government is a constant, and there are, on both sides, users dedicated to monitoring specific keywords to respond, often aggressively, to those expressing controversial opinions.

Hugo Chavez Frias. Photo from anticapitalistes.net. (CC BY-SA-NC 2.5 ES)

It is widely believed that the Chávez government was characterized by an “excessive” allowance of freedom of expression. Yet during the last six years of his tenure, at least five social network users were arrested, all under similar circumstances: Users with little or no influence in social networks were taken into custody for making politically controversial comments (usually on Twitter) and were charged with “spreading rumors” that caused “instability of the country.” They were held for short detentions, and then released on parole. Since Chávez’s death, there have been two similar arrests.

Curiously, none of these detentions has been based on the Law of Social Responsibility and its applications for electronic media. The law covers a wide range of online content:

[The law prohibits content that] uses anonymity, encourages and promotes hatred and intolerance for religious, political, gender, racism or xenophobic reasons; incites or promotes and/or justify the crime, constitutes war propaganda, promotes anxiety in the citizenry or alter public order; disowns legitimately constituted authorities; induces murder, incites or encourages disobedience of the existing law, or promotes, justifies or incites public disorder.

Passed by executive order and enacted in 2010, the law has not been applied in court thus far. The law also holds Internet Service Providers liable for such content. ISPs can face fines of “up to 4% of their gross income from fiscal year prior to the infringement.” But there is no evidence that the law is being applied; users report that censored websites are only being blocked by government-run ISP CANTV, but not by privately-owned providers.

A different formula has been used to push back against influential online critics of the government and party. A collective user group known as N33, allegedly comprised of government-supporter hackers (and by some accounts, promoted and financed directly by the government), has a long history of hacking into Twitter, Facebook and email accounts of journalists, activists, politicians, and other high profile figures from the opposition. The group has also been known to issue threats via electronic means and telephone to other well-known figures of digital activism.

During the country’s brief presidential campaign cycle this April, both candidates actively used social media and other online platforms, including a web TV channel, to promote their candidacy. Citizen journalists have played a key role in counter balancing the information transmitted through traditional channels. They have uncovered abuses and acts of violence in different parts of the country and established alternate spaces for public opinion.

Initiatives like UstedAbuso (You Abused) allowed users to report on violations of electoral law during the campaign. Personal accounts like that of Eugenio Martinez (@puzkas), a journalist specializing in electoral coverage, became essential to following the pulse of the country in recent months. Luis Carlos Diaz and Naky Soto created a “live feed” on YouTube (called simply “The Hangout“), where they broadcast several nights a week to discuss the political landscape. The channel has received nearly half a million views.

Election day in Venezuela. Photo by Luis Carlos Diaz. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

On election day, government power over telecommunications networks was brought to bear in a way that Venezuelans had never seen before: for somewhere between three and twenty minutes late in the day, nearly all Internet connections in the country were blocked. This was relatively easy. In 2010, the government attempted to create a single network access point through state-owned telecommunications company CANTV, which provides over 90% of Internet access in the country. The government’s nearly complete acquisition of CANTV has made it easier for authorities to censor websites deemed illegal (such as quelacreo.com or dollar.nu). When Internet access was blocked for all CANTV subscribersat the end of election day on April 14, the Ministry of Telecommunications explained that authorities blocked the network in an effort to “avoid hacks” to the website of the National Electoral Council. This website was also made inaccessible from foreign IPs for the same reason.

Since election day, user profiles on social networks have begun to serve a new purpose: they are helping authorities to identify user political affiliations in order to “debug” public service and private enterprise. Countless complaints of public employees who have lost their jobs after authorities scanned their social network profiles and discovered their political support for the opposition. This has also happened to private sector employees, though for the opposite reasons. Citizens call this the “resurrection” of the Tascon List, an instrument used in order to filter out those citizens who had signed in 2004 in favor of a recall referendum against President Chávez, and to prevent their recruitment in the public service, which was allegedly eliminated by Chávez himself in 2005 [es].

The beginning of Nicolás Maduro's presidential term has been marked by a strong wave of protests, both online and offline, and rampant rumors and false information transmitted over the Internet. Maduro, Chávez's successor says he plans to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps in media strategy. He has created a Twitter account (@ NicolasMaduro, which was hacked by a collective Peruvian on election day) and has announced that his government will be “firm-handed” in media policy implementation. It remains to be seen whether this policy will affect how Venezuelan citizens make use of the Internet.

Japan: The Police Don't Want You to Use Tor [UPDATE]

Keiko Tanaka — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:01:09 +0000

UPDATE (April 28, 2013): Press outlets originally reported that authorities intended to encourage Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block Tor; this has since been corrected. Police allegedly are encouraging website administrators to blocks users of the program.

According to an April 18 news report, Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) may soon urge website administrators to ‘voluntarily’ block users from accessing their sites via Tor, the anonymous online communication program. The NPA report carrying this announcement has not been formally released; whether NPA will actually put this move into practice remains unknown.

A report published in late January [ja] quotes the chair of the NPA cyber security committee [temporal translation] saying:

例えばＴｏｒについていえば、「捜査」そのものから離れて、Ｔｏｒからのアクセスを制限するというようなことを提言して、国民のコンセンサスを得て、政策として展開していく。本部会では、このような観点から議論していきたいと思っています

As for Tor, for example we would suggest to limit access from Tor. This is something outside of investigation and should proceed as a policy with consensus of the citizens. We would like to discuss from this standpoint.

At Global Voices Online, we have written about Tor which offers a protective measure allowing users to remain anonymous in online environments where freedom of expression is limited and surveillance is prevalent.

The proposed NPA policy would be a voluntary effort to keep criminals from using anonymous networks as a way to issue threats against others. Still, the hacker collective Anonymous had something to say to NPA. ChanologyAgent who claims to be the Anonymous of Japan uploaded a message on Youtube on April 19.

Anonymous emblem. The image has been released into the public domain by its author, Anonymous.

What is regrettable is that Tor is not the dark and dangerous shadow network that you and the mass media would like to paint it as. Tor is merely a tool, and like all tools, it can be used both responsibly and irresponsibly.

The truth is, the Tor network helps people in repressive countries, such as Tibet, bypass censorship and communicate with the outside world. It helps whistleblowers safely expose unethical behavior by powerful people. Tor can and is used every day for noble ends.

At our last count, there were 52 Tor nodes operating in Japan, several of those exit nodes. Each and every one of those nodes contributes to the strength and stability of the network, and the exit nodes in particular help users in less fortunate countries than ours.

By discouraging Tor use in Japan, you weaken the strength of the entire network. You reduce the options for people in repressive regimes. And you rob your own people of a legitimate and perfectly legal tool they can use to protect their privacy in a world that regards it as less and less important with each passing day. We urge you to withdraw this report and renounce your recommendation for ISPs to block the Tor network in Japan.

On social networks and citizen media, users responded to the news, mostly with indignation. On bookmarklet service hatena, users commented in cynicism [ja] that the country's Internet is “turning Chinese”:

umeten:もうインターネットじゃないな

umeten: That's it, there will be no more the “Internet”

Another user, activecute, jokingly writes that communication methods may be very limited in the future.

activecute:今から伝書鳩事業を作っておけば、30年後には…牢屋行きか

activecute: why don't we tame pigeons to be carrier-pigeons…or we may be sent to jail in 30 years later

arajin :「一方で、中東の民主化運動では政府の弾圧から逃れるため民衆が活用。」国内で起きているのは愉快犯。どちらが重大かは自明。

arajin: it says [in the article] ”on the other hand, Tor was used by citizens in oppressive regimes during Arab Spring.” Compare this to what's happening in Japan, which is more like vicious users playing with threatening comments [without real action]. It's obvious the former matters.

Mobile developer Kenji wrote on twitter in reference to the Article 21 of the Constitution that guarantees confidentiality of communications:

@needle:警察がプロバイダに対してTor規制を言い出す。遅かれ早かれ言い出すだろうなと思ったら案の定か。露骨に通信の秘密に抵触しといて何が「理解を求める」だ。

@needle: Now the police start saying that they want to restrict Tor via ISP. I knew they would say that sooner or later, but this could violate the right to communications privacy. What do they mean by ” ask the public for understanding”?

On technology news blog techdirt.com, user JarHead posted a comment wondering whether this move has any effect in decreasing online crimes.

JarHead: Say that there's an “effective” ways to block Tor. What's to stop people to just abandon ship and use yet another anonymizer? Tor isn't the only one in the game, there are others. Then they'll be calling to block those as well, and people just pick up yet another one. This will go on and on until everything is blocked including legal channels.

Police were criticized last year for making wrongful arrests of citizens who they identified using IP addresses. On user submitted news site and forum slashdot.jp [ja], many commented, doubting the ability of the police to tackle cyber crimes.

However, hatena bookmark user festerfester writes that measures are needed and that the anonymous online bulletin board is becoming the hotbed for crimes.

festerfester: 警察の情報通信関係の捜査のずさんさには心底憤りを感じるけど、だからといって２ちゃんねるなどの悪質な書き込みを放置していいという話は全く別問題のはず。元管理人とかあまりにも無責任すぎると思う。

festerfester: I do feel furious about the cops for being so terrible at investigating cyber crimes. With that said, it's a different story that vicious posts on 2channel can be remain untouched. I think the former manager of the 2channel is way irresponsible.

Global Voices Advocacy will continue to cover this threat as it takes shape in Japan. If you have information or ideas for our Japan Internet policy coverage, tweet to us @Advox.

Mexico: Another Voice Goes Silent [UPDATE]

Tlanonotsalistli — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:10:46 +0000

UPDATE: Valor por Tamaulipas has reappeared on Facebook and Twitter since making the announcement below. This abrupt change has added to speculation about the trustworthiness of VxT. Because the accounts are operated anonymously, it is difficult to know who might be operating them and whether or not administration of the accounts has changed hands.

On April 7, a social media user known only as Valor Por Tamaulipas announced plans [es] to close Facebook and Twitter accounts that have become popular sources of information on drug violence in northern Mexico. Valor por Tamaulipas (Courage for Tamaulipas) has been using social media to crowdsource reports from citizens in the state of Tamaulipas, which has been riddled with drug-related conflict and corruption since 2006. Little is known about the administrator of the Valor por Tamaulipas (VxT) accounts — although messages from VxT are written in the first person, it is possible that the VxT online identity is managed by a group of people.

Protest against narco-state violence. Photo by Jesus Villaseca Perez. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Some following the situation believe that VxT is a credible source working in the interests of civilians who may be harmed by violence in the region. But given the degree of anonymity that VxT has used online, and the general lack of reliable information on drug-related crimes in Mexico, this is also difficult to verify.

In February of 2013, an unidentified drug organization circulated a pamphlet offering MX$600,000 for information on the whereabouts of the administrator(s) of the VxT social media accounts. Shortly afterwards, VxT announced plans to suspend reporting; we can only speculate if this threat had something to do with it. Last week, VxT told readers of plans to close both its Twitter and Facebook accounts [es].

Below is are consecutive excerpts from the official message posted on Facebook [es]:

Lamento haber cerrado la página de forma intempestiva y sin hacer aclaraciones al respecto, la página sigue su curso para su cierre definitivo en menos de 9 dias, entré hoy para primero que nada deslindarme de cualquier otro esfuerzo que se genere de comunidades de apoyo a SDR en la que se indique o se infiera algún tipo de aprobación de mi parte.

I am sorry to have closed the page abruptly and with no explanations, the page will remain live until its final closing in less than 9 days. I logged in today to make it clear that I will no longer be part of any effort to support SDR [situación de riesgo, situation of risk or threat] or anything that might infer any endorsement on my part.

[...]

Tienen que estar conscientes que hay muy pocas personas que podrían realmente estar interesados en hacer un apoyo como el que algunos usuarios realizamos en los que no tenemos ningún tipo de interes personal o por parte de organizaciones criminales, o de autoridades estatales o federales.

No pueden confiar en la primer página que salga diciendo que siguen los pasos de VxT, solo pueden confiar con el tiempo, evaluando lo que se indica y con que razón pueden estar haciendo esas indicaciones en el modo que lo hacen. En la experiencia que he tenido en el año y meses de administrar la página, me he encontrado que las redes sociales son un campo de batalla en el que los usuarios principales tienen algún tipo de interes o rol en esta misma guerra…

You have to know that there are few people who could really be interested in advocating the way some users do, with no personal interest or criminal or government allegiance – state or federal. You cannot trust the first page that comes your way saying it is following VxT's (Valor por Tamaulipas) steps.

You can only trust after time, evaluating what's been said and the reasons behind what they say. In my year-and-a-half of experience managing this page, I have learned that social networks are a battle field in which key users have a certain interest or role in this same war.

[...]

Yo no digo que no colaboren con otras redes de SDR, pero por Dios sean conscientes de lo que hacen, utilicen cuentas genéricas, y no hagan caso que VxT mandó decir tal cosa. Ya se deben de imaginar la cantidad de personas e intereses que hay por replicar lo que se ha logrado aquí.

No se como explicarlo pero en mi caso específico si ganó una batalla, pero me la ganó a mi no a la sociedad, me ganó a mi y a mi familia, sin embargo no le ganó a las 200,000 personas que confiaron y los miles que hicieron colaboraciones a pesar del temor. No puedo seguir en esta trinchera por diversas razones, que creo no es necesario explicarlas….creo he dado todo lo que podía y ya empieza a ser notoria mi incapacidad para administrar la página, los reportes, los riesgos, etc.

I am not saying you should not collaborate with other SDR networks, but for God's sake be conscious of what you are doing, use generic accounts and don't believe that VxT gave this or that message. You can imagine the number of people and interests that want to replicate what we have succeeded in doing.

I don't know how to explain it, but organized crime in my specific case won the battle, though it won it over me not society, it won it over me and my family, not the 200,000 persons who trusted [me] and the thousands that collaborated despite being afraid. I can no longer be in these trenches for several reasons that I believe it's not necessary to explain….I believe I've given everything I could and it's already obvious I'm incapable of administering the page, the reports, the risks, etc.

This is not the first time a crowdsourced citizen media initiative covering drug violence has gone silent for fear of reprisals. Recently, Ruy Salgado, author of the popular blog el5antuario.org disappeared from public view and stopped adding content to the site. In a three-hour message, he explained that he could not go into detail about his victimization during the 42 days of silence after his disappearance “because there is no security that what happened to me will not happen again and I cannot put my family at risk” but he did refer to a “forced disappearance” caused by Mexico being “a failed narco-state.”

This conflict has forced many traditional news organizations to curb their reporting on drug violence; the Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that sixteen journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2006, mostly due to their coverage of drug-related crime and corruption. As citizen and social media users work to fill this silence and report on what they see and hear on the ground, leading figures like VxT and Ruy Salgado have become new targets for drug organizations. Global Voices Advocacy will continue to cover these threats as they progress. We invite readers who have news or information about the issue to contact us in the comments field, on Twitter, or by email.

Recent GVA and GV coverage of drug-related violence in Mexico:

Mexico: Lethal Threats for Citizens Reporting on Drug Crimes

Twitter Turns Mexicans Into ‘War Correspondents’

Retio: A Free Application to Fight Drug Trafficking in Mexico

Mexico Adopts Alarming Surveillance Legislation

Mexico: Online Activists Targeted

Two mexican citizens face jail over “terrorism” via social networks

Venezuela: Facebook User Detained for “Destabilizing” Photograph

Marianne Diaz — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:11:41 +0000

This post was co-authored by Marianne Diaz and Luis Carlos Díaz.

On April 16, two days after presidential elections in Venezuela, the Interior and Justice Ministry detained Andrés Rondón Sayago, a citizen who allegedly spread photographs of burning ballots. Officials say that the photographs were taken during 2007 elections, not in the present day. Rondón Sayago was detained, accused of sharing the photograph with “destabilizing intentions.” According to Ministry officials, Rondón Sayago works as security employee up a private television station. The Minister for Information tweeted:

Detenido sujeto que difundió imágenes falsas de material electoral de 2010 para desestabilizar aporrea.org/actualidad/n22…

— Ernesto Villegas P. (@VillegasPoljakE) 16 de abril de 2013

A subject who spread fake images of electoral material from 2010 [intending] to destabilize has been detained http://t.co/MCmgveBsux

Soon after, Jorge Galindo, head of public relations for the Interior and Justice Ministry, tweeted a picture that showed Rondón Sayago along with this message:

OJO: Este sujeto confesó que la foto difundida por el en redes sociales sobré material electoral son del proceso 2007 twitter.com/JorgeGalindoMI…

— Jorge galindo(@JorgeGalindoMIJ) 17 de abril de 2013

The subject confessed that the picture spread by him in social networks about electoral materials is from the 2007 process pic.twitter.com/EMTwoXkpcQ

Galindo later tweeted [es] a link to a video, uploaded to the A Toda Vida Venezuela (“Venezuela Full of Life,” a government program intended to reduce crime) YouTube channel, where Rondón Sayago issues an official statement in which he declares to have published the picture “by mistake” via Facebook, and asks people to “stop publishing this kind of material” and avoid situations of “terrorism”. The video [es] can be seen below.

Several incidents of online censorship have been reported from Venezuela in recent years. In 2010, two Twitter users were detained by police for allegedly “spreading false rumors” about the banking system. Last month, a woman was detained for tweeting a comment about Hugo Chavez's demise. All of them have since been released on parole.

Russia's #1 Netizen Heads to Trial

Global Voices — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:04:43 +0000

Pussy Riot, eat your heart out. On Wednesday, April 17, 2013, Russia’s most polarizing blogger, Alexey Navalny (often described as the opposition’s greatest hope for electoral breakthrough, should it ever happen), will stand trial for embezzling roughly half a million dollars from a state-owned timber company in the city of Kirov, home to about as many people as dollars Navalny allegedly stole. In a country constantly plagued by politicized legal proceedings, prosecuting the nation’s most prominent netizen promises fireworks.

Russia is a place that’s no stranger to courtroom outrage. Last August, Pussy Riot may have set a new standard for global scandal, but the trials against former oligarchs Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev in 2004 and 2010, as well as the “judicial murder” of investment banker William Browder’s colleague Sergei Magnitsky in 2009, have all blackened Russia’s image at home and abroad for nearly decade now. This is to say nothing of the looming trials against the more than two dozen “Bolotnoe Delo” suspects (supposedly involved in instigating acts of violence against riot police at a mass rally last year on May 6). More than half of these people have been rotting for months in pretrial detention. Others were spared incarceration, but they too await their day in court. The muscly Maxim Luzianin has already been sentenced [ru] to over four years in prison.

Alexey Navalny at a Moscow protest, 26 May 2012. Photo by MItya Aleshkovskiy, CC 3.0.

Activists have created a website, 6may.org, to spread awareness about the still-ongoing investigation, regularly publishing sympathetic bulletins about individual suspects, and encouraging the public to donate money [ru] to their legal defense and publicity campaign. Navalny’s own “political prisoners” project, rosuznik.org, also collects crowdsourced funds for the Bolotnoe Delo accused, among others.

On what netizen support, other than his own RosPil offshoots, can Navalny rely, if he too finds himself behind bars, come the end of his trial in Kirov?

At the time of this post's publication, exactly five hundred Facebook users had pledged to attend a demonstration [ru] outside Novopushkinsky Square in Moscow, scheduled for the day that Navalny’s trial in Kirov begins. The rally—yet to be sanctioned by the city’s authorities—is being organized by “The Citizen Federation,” a movement tied [ru] to quasi-oppositionist oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov and human rights activists such as Lev Ponomarev.

The comments section on that Facebook event features your standard mix of earnest support and jaundiced Internet trolling. Sergei Valuev, for instance, writes:

Я не поддерживаю Навального, потому что ему не верю

I don’t support Navalny because I don’t believe him.

Ilya Barsukov declares:

Наваленный такой же вор как и правящая псевдо элита! Стране нужен настоящий лидер- оппозиционер, но я такого пока не вижу. И видимо не увижу, т. К. Путин в своем деле профессионал

Navalny is the same kind of thief as all the ruling pseudo elite! The country needs a real leader-oppositionist, but I don’t see anyone like that. And apparently I’m not going to see one, as it seems Putin is a professional [at keeping out competition].

The group’s creator Igor Bakirov, meanwhile, has tried to stay on message:

Друзья, реально нужно чтобы на митинг пришло много много людей, приглашайте своих друзей и друзей своих друзей

Friends, we really need for lots and lots of people to come to the rally. Invite your friends and your friends’ friends!

Elsewhere on Facebook, journalist Alexandra Astakhova has launched a group [ru] titled “The Case Against Navalny Is a Case Against Us All!” The group’s self-description begins with the following fighting words:

Эта группа объединяет тех, кто понимает: уголовные дела, сфабрикованные против Алексея Навального, направлены против всех нас. Шаг за шагом преступный режим, опьяненный безнаказанностью, делает жизнь в нашей стране невыносимой, шаг за шагом подбирается к нам, к нашим друзьям.

This group unites those who understand that the criminal cases fabricated against Alexey Navalny are directed at us all. Step by step, the criminal regime—intoxicated on impunity—makes life in our country more unbearable. Step by step, it closes in on us, on our friends.

Astakhova’s group (open to the public) now boasts over 1,660 members [ru], including many prominent members, both Russian and foreign, of the Moscow press corps (and more than a few activists), such as: The Guardian’s Miriam Elder, Ekho Moskvy’s Tikhon Dzyadko, activist Ilya Yashin, satirist Viktor Shenderovich, The New Times’ Ilya Barabanov, activist Olga Romanova, Slon.ru’s Tonia Samsonova, Berlingske’s Simon Kruse, The New Times’ Yevgenia Albats, EJ.ru’s Aleksandr Ryklin, and Ekho Moskvy’s Ksenia Larina—just to name a few.

Screen capture from Oleg Kalman's LiveJournal instructions for “becoming Navalny's secret agent,” 13 April 2013.

In a photo campaign that somewhat mirrors the anti-homophobia website loveislegal.ru (an association Navalny and company would probably wish to avoid), Navalny-supporters have begun publishing photographs [ru] of themselves holding up signs that read, “The case against Navalny is a case against me!” Oleg Kalman, Astakhova’s colleague at the newspaper Vedomosti, has similarly encouraged [ru] Russians to get involved by “becoming Navalny’s secret agents” and spray-painting Navalny’s surname onto the asphalt wherever possible. (Kalman insists this is legal, so long as people keep the paint on the ground, though he also advises readers to carry out the deed at night, when nobody is looking.) “It’s not vandalism, you’re not destroying someone else’s property, and the inscription will wear off after a couple of months,” he assures his audience.

Russia’s netizens—or at least Moscow’s most active denizens—seem to be ready for a fight. Will their protests pass with a whimper or unleash a new wave of social unrest? Are Russians ready to take up Navalny’s cause? Or does the nation suffer from a crippling “political prisoner” fatigue? The sanctity of Moscow’s pavement, along with the fates of several human beings, hangs in the balance.