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19 May 2013
Bahrain Jails Six Twitter Users for Insulting King
Six Twitter users were sentenced to a year in prison each by a Bahrain court last week for allegedly insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the micro-blogging site.
18 May 2013
Chad-Senegal: A New Axis of Blogger Persecution?
On May 7, Chadian blogger Makaila Nguébla, who had lived in exile in Senegal for eight years, was arrested by Senegalese intelligence services and deported to Conakry (Republic of Guinea) from Dakar. Nguébla is the editor of the collective blog Makaila Info, an information and opinion site that is highly popular among Chadians inside the country and abroad. Advocates fear this may be part of a larger trend of online censorship and blogger persecution in Chad.
15 May 2013
Interview: Chadian Blogger and Journalist Expelled from Senegal to Guinea
The Senegalese government expelled Chadian journalist and blogger Makaila Nguebla on May 8, 2013, sending him to Guinea. He explained his situation in an interview with Global Voices' Anna Guèye.
8 May 2013
Hungary: Government Limits FOIA Transparency Law
Last week, Parliamentarians in Hungary took action to change the country's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in an effort to limit the scope of data accessible to the public under the law. The Freedom of Information Act, known as Act CXII of 2011 in Hungary, is vital to the work of Hungarian journalists who cover government activity and corruption. If President János Áder signs the amendment, it will become law.
4 May 2013
Malaysia: News Sites Face Attacks on Eve of Elections
The general election campaign period in Malaysia has triggered what independent news site MalaysiaKini is calling “China-style censorship.” In recent weeks, independent news sites Harakah Daily and MalaysiaKini have suffered from DDoS attacks and connection disruption at the ISP level. With elections on May 5, both sites are calling on ISPs and government officials to protect the open Internet.
3 May 2013
In Violation of Constitution, Ethiopian Blogger Will Face 18 Years in Prison
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. Mohamed Keita of the Committee to Protect Journalists said in response to the Court’s ruling, “The persecution of Eskinder and other journalists is the hallmark of a regime fearful of the opinions of its citizens.”
1 May 2013
TPP: Biggest Threat to Global Internet Since ACTA?
The United States and ten governments from around the Pacific region will soon meet to hash out the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP). Negotiations of the agreement have been secretive from the beginning of the process, but based on leaked documents and the undemocratic nature of the entire process, advocates have every reason to be alarmed about the copyright enforcement provisions contained in this multinational trade deal.
