Stories about Feature from March, 2013
Oman: Online Activists Freed
On 21 March, the Sultan of Oman issued a pardon for online activists and writers convicted on charges of insulting the ruler, "information technology crimes" and taking part in unauthorized protests. The move, which came as a surprise to most observers, runs counter to increasing attacks against online freedom of expression in the region.
Netizen Report: Hacker Research Raises Ethical Questions
Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. This week, our report looks at new research on the insecurity of the global Internet, ISP surveillance practices in a range of countries including Indonesia, and the political influence of "opinion leaders" on Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblogging service.
New Study: Manipulating China's Most Influential Microbloggers
As China's largest online social forum and most popular micro-blogging platform, Sina Weibo is subject to heavy censorship and manipulation by government actors. Earlier this week, Global Voices Advocacy explored the implications of recent findings by a group of US-based computer scientists on Sina Weibo's filtering techniques. Today, we look a new study from a group of researchers at Hong Kong University, who worked to measure the influence of certain groups of micro-bloggers on the site.
Netizen Report: Skype Fears Regulation in France; Google Nixes Reader Everywhere
Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. This week we examine the "death" of Google Reader and its impact for countries with pervasive online censorship practices, regulatory challenges in France for Skype, and the arrests of citizens in Venezuela and Bahrain for criticizing government leaders on Twitter.
China: Researchers Uncover Microblog Filtering Mechanisms
In a recent paper entitled "The Velocity of Censorship: High-Fidelity Detection of Microblog Post Deletions," a group of computer scientists describes their study of censorship practices on Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblogging service. Sina Weibo employs a large number of site moderators to monitor and, when necessary, stop the flow of dissenting ideas on the social media platform.
Netizen Report: In Brazil and US, Transparency Efforts Carry Costs
Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. Highlights this week include a Brazilian teen's push for transparency through Facebook, revelations from the recent testimony of US Army whistleblower Bradley Manning, and India's latest swipe at privacy for BlackBerry users.
GVA Netizen Report 55
Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. This week, we report on demonstrations in Bangladesh, YouTube's lawsuit against a Russian consumer protection agency, Internet rights advocacy efforts in Azerbaijan and Pakistan, and more.
