Stories about News from April, 2013
Netizen Report: Israel Asserts Right to Search Email
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 focus on a new set of surveillance issues in Israel and the United States, as well as challenges to online activists in Singapore and Malaysia.
Human Rights Verdict Could Affect Cisco in China
In 2011, two separate lawsuits were filed against Cisco Systems alleging that its technology enabled the government of China to monitor, capture, and kill Chinese citizens for their views and beliefs. To what extent are these human rights violations attributable to technology provided by Cisco?
Netizen Report: News Sites Face Cyberattacks, Censorship
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 focus on a series of attacks on digital news sites in Guatemala, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh, and examine challenges to online activists in Russia, Venezuela, and Nigeria.
Japan: The Police Don't Want You to Use Tor [UPDATE]
According to an April 18 news report, Japan's National Police Agency may soon urge Internet Service Providers to 'voluntarily' block the use of Tor, the anonymous online communication system. The NPA report carrying this announcement has not been formally released; whether NPA will actually put this move into practice remains unknown.
Hong Kong Citizen Media Site Faces DDoS Attack From China
Hong Kong-based citizen media platform inmediahk.net was hit by a DDoS attack last week, coming mainly from China. Inmedia, a volunteer citizen media network, has been blocked in mainland China since 2007. Inmedia members believe that recent coverage of controversial issues, including a dock workers' strike in Hong Kong and the construction of a military pier in the city's center, may have triggered the attack.
Venezuela: Facebook User Detained for “Destabilizing” Photograph
Two days after presidential elections in Venezuela, authorities 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 has been accused of sharing the photographs with “destabilizing intentions.”
Netizen Report: Wikimedia Stands Ground in Russia, France
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 focus on the Wikimedia Foundation, which is challenging take down orders in both Russia and France, and chart a wave of threats against netizens in Chad, Mexico, and various countries in the MENA region.
Venezuela: Internet blocked for “three minutes” on Election Day
Late on Election Day in Venezuela on Sunday, April 14, Internet access through the country's primary service provider CANTV was interrupted for about twenty minutes according to users' declarations and for "no more than three minutes" according to the authorities.
Chadian Blogger Detained
Internet Without Borders reports that Jean Laokolé, a Chadian blogger and writer, was arrested on March 22 by security forces in N'Djamena, Chad's capital. In a petition released today, the advocacy group calls for the blogger's "immediate and unconditional release." Laokolé writes under a pseudonym for one of Chad's most popular blogs, where he covers corruption and other problems in politics.
Netizen Report: Tibetan Internet Users Targeted With Malware
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 China's efforts to deploy new surveillance tactics against users in Tibet, the questionable prison sentence of an Azeri web editor, and WordPress' decision to step up their game on user security.
SecDev Foundation to Monitor Syria’s Digital Security
SecDev Foundation is launching the Syria Digital Security Monitor, a site that maps and visualizes reports of disruption to critical infrastructure in Syria including internet, telecommunication, electricity and water, and reports on cyber threats.
Kuwaiti Twitter User Jailed for Insulting Emir
Insult the Emir on Twitter and go to jail: Hamid Al Khalidi has been sentenced to two years in prison for insulting the Emir of Kuwait on Twitter. His attorneys plan to appeal his case to a higher court next week.
Netizen Report: Bloggers Under Threat in Bangladesh and Beyond
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 begin with Bangladesh, where authorities are targeting bloggers accused of "anti-Muslim" writings. We then look at cases of bloggers in Vietnam, Egypt, and Kuwait, all of whom are facing government threats for political expression online.
Accused of Blasphemy, Three Bloggers Detained in Bangladesh
The Detective Branch of Bangladesh Police has detained three bloggers- Rasel Parvez, Mashiur Rahman Biplob & Subrata Adhikari Shuvo yesterday night for their alleged write-ups demeaning Islam and Prophet Muhammad. Since yesterday the community blogging platform Amarblog.com has become inaccessible from Bangladesh. It is yet to be known whether the authorities have blocked it and why.
Cyber Attack on Pakistan's Electoral Commission Website
The Electoral Commission of Pakistan, an independent body tasked with supervising the upcoming general election, had its website attacked on Friday, March 29, 2013. According to local media, an "[Indian hacker] defaced the home page" and may have "compromised its availability to visitors.”
