· December, 2011

Stories about News from December, 2011

Turkey: No tweets from the courtroom!

  27 December 2011

  “Today the judge is more strict” says the tweet, “One undercover police for each row! All monitoring the ones who are tweeting!“ In Istanbul-Turkey, today is the 2nd day of the hearings of 10 arrested journalists. Turkey is the leader country even before China and Iran with the figures...

Netizen Report: Remembrance Edition

  23 December 2011

Vaclav Havel, a poet, playwright, dissident, last president of Czechoslovakia, and first president of the Czech Republic, died on Dec 18 at age 75. His story and words continue to inspire people around the world to fight against repression. Netizens around the world are doing their best to resist injustice and abuse of power, as events of the past fortnight make clear.

Iran: Blogger May Face Death Penalty

  22 December 2011

Several bloggers and news sites reported [fa] that Mohammad Reza Pour Shajari, a jailed blogger , may face charge of ‘Waging War Against God’ (moharebeh). A death sentence can be pronounced in this case. He criticized Islam and Islamic Republic in his blog, Iran Land's Report.

China: Micro-blog real name registration extended to Guangzhou and Shenzhen

  22 December 2011

The regulation of real name registration for micro-blogging platform has extended from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. According to local report [zh], the real name registration requirement is started today (December 22). 7 major micro-blogging platforms, including Tencents, Jinyang, Dayoo, Shenzhen News Web, OE, DIgu and Fanfou have to authenticate...

Iran: Jailed blogger stopped his hunger strike

  18 December 2011

Several sites reported [fa] that Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, Iranian jailed blogger stopped his hunger strike after about one week.Hossein is serving a 15 year prison sentence in the security ward of Evin Prison.

Iran: Jailed blogger on hunger strike

  15 December 2011

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, jailed blogger, is on hunger strike [fa] over his jail's conditions. Hossein is serving a 15 year prison sentence in the security ward of Evin Prison.

Netizen Report: Fight for the Future Edition

  12 December 2011

As we celebrate the birth of Khaled Alaa Abdel Fattah, born last Tuesday to two Egyptian cyber-activists: mother Manal Bahey al-Din Hassan and father Alaa Abd El-Fattah who is currently in prison, we ask ourselves: "What are we doing to make sure that our children will even be able to use the Internet to fight for their rights speak truth to power?"

For Chinese Netizens, SOPA is Another Great Firewall

  3 December 2011

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which expected to brought to a vote in U.S. House of Representatives before the end of the year, has spawned sarcastic commentary around the Chinese-language Internet. The Chinese government has long been criticized by Americans for obstructing the free flow of information through a filtering system popularly known as the Great Firewall. Now it is Chinese neitzens' turn to sneer at proposals for a Made-in-America Great Firewall.