Stories about Feature from June, 2009
WordPress.com blocked in Guatemala
Guatemalan users have reported blocked access to Wordpress since Friday afternoon. It seems that Internet Service Providers CLARO, TIGO and Turbonett (Telgua), Guatemala’s most prominent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have all blocked the blog domain. One blogger, reports calling customer service, but says he received no clear answer.
Morocco: Human Rights Activist Jailed for Whistleblowing
A human rights activist critical of Moroccan drug policies was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison. Chakib Al Khayari's sentence was called “a stark reminder of Morocco's tenuous and uneven progress on human rights” by Human Rights Watch. As President of the Association for Human Rights in the...
Nigeria government launches attack against bloggers
The Nigerian government has just launched a “$5 million war” against bloggers and online news media such as Sahara Reporters [...] On the one hand this is good news as the Nigerian government wakes up to the power of citizens media and that we are watching and reproting on their every step. On the other hand this is very dangerous for bloggers in the country and those outside who may wish to return home whether for a short holiday, work or permanently.
Study: Deep Packet Inspection and Internet Censorship
The academic debate on deep packet inspection (DPI) centres on methods of network management and copyright protection and is directly linked to a wider debate on freedom of speech on the Internet. The debate is deeply rooted in an Anglo-Saxon perspective of the Internet and is frequently depicted as a titanic struggle for the right to fundamentally free and unfettered access to the Internet. This debate is to a great extent defined by commercial interests. These interests whether of copyright owners, Internet service providers, application developers or consumers, are all essentially economic.
China: Blocking and framing Google
Last night, Google including search, gmail, document and other applications was blocked for 2 hours, although some ISPs have restored the access in couple of hours, a number of twitterers said that Google has still been blocked in some parts of China. Guardian quoted Xiao Qiang, the founder of China...
China: 2009 Declaration of the Anonymous Netizens
In reaction to a series of internet censorship policy, in particular the introduction of Green Dam, a declaration has been circulated on the net in the past two days calling netizens to express and protect their rights to anonymity on July 1st. Below are the declaration posters and English translation...
China: Google.cn buys Green Dam service?
Blogger dancing with G, quoted from a Google.cn source, reported that the company had spent a big sum of money to buy the Green Dam service for bettering the detection of obscene content. According to the blogger, google.cn's move is to make peace with the Chinese authority. Moreover, Google.cn has...
Egypt: A Week of ‘Bad News’ for bloggers
Last week ended up with a number of bad news for some Egyptian bloggers. Diaa Eddin Gad from Sawt Ghadeb (Angry Voice), is harassed by State Security police. Diaa, who was released last March after being arrested and ill-treated, told Global Voices in a phone call, that a force of State Security raided his house two weeks ago, and searched his apartment, and the whole building where he is living. He said:
Mauritania: Webmaster of Taqadoumy.com arrested
Hanevy Ould Dahah, 34, founder and manager of Mauritania’s leading news website www.taqadoumy.com was arrested on June 18 in Nouakchott when members of Mauritania’s security forces without presenting him with any charges, he was handcuffed and led to a police station in Mauritania’s capital.
Iran: Reformist and activist bloggers arrested
As protesters continue their demonstrations all over Iran against 12th June presidential election results, Iranian authorities have arrested hundreds of activists, including bloggers. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former reformist vice president and an adviser to Mehdi Karoubi, a reformist candidate, was arrested last Tuesday. Abtahi used to update his blog each...
CCTV's propaganda campaign against Google.cn
On June 18th, China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC) published a report in its frontage condemning Google.cn for spreading obscene contents. The report, titled as "Strongly condem google for spreading indecent and obscene information", said
The Irony of Iran's ‘Twitter Revolution’
When the dust settles down on the Iran election crisis, we will see that Twitter was more useful as a media tool and not as an organizing tool.
OpenNet Initiative Releases Results on Filtering in Asia
From the Great Firewall to the Myanmar Wide Web, Asia is well-known for its practices in Internet filtering. China has long taken the lead in blocking Web sites, filtering sites across the spectrum – from social to political content, pornography to Internet tools. The OpenNet Initiative (full disclosure: I'm involved)...
The Dawning of Internet Censorship in Germany
Germany is on the verge of censoring its Internet: The government – a grand coalition between the German social democrats and conservative party – seems united in its decision: On Thursday the parliament is to vote on the erection of an internet censorship architecture. The Minister for Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen kicked off and lead the discussions within the German Federal Government to block Internet sites in order to fight child pornography.
China: No more criticism against Green Dam!
Update: June 16 – Green Dam filter software ‘not compulsory’ – via China Daily. On June 10th, the central propaganda department issued a notice reminding all the media to report positively on Green Dam, Youth Escort, the filter and spyware to be installed in all PCs sold in China. Meanwhile,...
Indonesia: People Power 2.0
Two days after her release from jail [id] on Wednesday 3 June 2009, the first court session for Prita Mulyasari, an Indonesian housewife who was arrested and jailed since mid May for “defaming” an international hospital by writing an online complaint letter took place in Tangerang, one of Jakarta's suburban....
Peru: Attacks to human rights and freedom of expression
The bloody events in the Peruvian town of Bagua began when the police removed a road blockade of indigenous people protesting against a law (DL 1090) they believe undermines their ancestral rights to their territory. They have not just resulted in the death of an unknown number of civilians (the...
Brazil: Amplified conversations to fight the Digital Crimes Bill
In another demonstration of cyberactivism and acvistim, Brazilian Internet users are gathering around a cause: to fight Senator Azeredo's Digital Crimes Bill. This legal project, which intends to intervene severely in the way people use the Internet in Brazil is being heavily criticized by Brazil's academic field, left-wing parties and the Internet community.
Egypt: Police Asks For Information about visitors of ‘Political Websites’
After detaining more than 100 blogger in 2008 alone, Egypt is now using a new technique in controlling the internet freedom, as police officers asked an internet café owner to spy on his customers.
Global Voices Advocacy Wins Zemanta Blog Contest
Global Voices Advocacy won first prize in Zemanta's Blogging for a Cause competition today. More than 60 different websites were nominated, and the top 5 to receive the most votes from bloggers have each won $1200. Thanks for all the support!!
