Sami Ben Gharbia

My personal blog is at [fikra] فكرة (which means idea in Arabic).
I'm the co-founder of nawaat.org (which means the core in Arabic), a Tunisian collective blog about news and politics.

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Latest posts by Sami Ben Gharbia

Anonymous Blogging with WordPress and Tor guide in Spanish

  21 June 2011

The Anonymous Blogging with WordPress and Tor guide is now available in Spanish thanks to this translation by our dear contributor Marianne Diaz. The guide outlines several methods of protecting one’s identity in order to avoid retaliation and can considerably reduce the risks that a blogger’s identity will be linked to his or her online writings through technical means.

Alert: Ali Abdulemam goes missing in Bahrain

  18 March 2011

We just received the following news from the Bahrain Human Rights Society alerting us about the missing of our dear friend and colleague Ali Abdulemam. Ali Abdulemam, a leading Bahraini blogger and Global Voices Advocacy author, has been arrested earlier on 4 September 2010 and released on 23 February 2011...

Palestinian blogger arrested for criticism of Islam on Facebook

  13 November 2010

Palestinian blogger, Waleed Khalid Hasayin (pen name: Waleed Al-Husseini), a 26-year-old barber from the West Bank city of Qalqilya, has been arrested by the Palestinian authorities for creating a facebook page named “Allah”. According to blogger Marwa Rakha, the page has been reported and shut down, but Waleed has created...

Our Guide “Mirroring a Censored WordPress Blog” now available in French

  8 October 2010

Global Voices Advocacy is pleased to release the French translation of our Mirroring a Censored WordPress Blog guide. The guide has been written by Sami Ben Gharbia (Global Voices Advocacy Director), with Rebekah Heacock (a research assistant for the OpenNet Initiative) and Jeremy Clarke (Global Voices web developer and Wordpress designer), and translated by our friend, blogger Anna Guèye.

Our Guide “Mirroring a Censored WordPress Blog” is now available in Arabic

  20 August 2010

This guide is for bloggers with self-hosted* WordPress blogs who believe their sites may be blocked by government filters. Its goal is to help bloggers use a mirror site to make censored content available to readers despite these filters. It contains step-by-step instructions for setting up a mirror for an original (”source”) WordPress blog.

A First Glimpse at the Internet Filtering in Tunisia

  18 August 2010

We learned that the censorship imposed illegally on hundreds of Tunisian blogs and websites, both Tunisians and foreigners, was “shut off” temporarily for few hours on Monday, August 16, 2010. And although the information on this brief lifting of the censorship in the country is still contradictory – as some...

A Jordanian student sentenced to two years in prison over IM

  19 July 2010

According to the Next Web - Middle East, citing the Ammannet website, a Jordanian computer engineering student, by the name of Imad Al-Ash, has been arrested since February, 2010, and sentenced on July 13th, 2010, by state security court to two years in prison over charges of lèse majesté for sending an IM (Instant Message) to his friend

Anti-censorship movement in Tunisia: creativity, courage and hope!

  27 May 2010

Following the recent massive wave of online censorship carried out by the Tunisian censor, targeting major social websites, such as the popular video-sharing websites, flickr, blogs aggregators, blogs, facebook pages and profiles, the anti-censorship movement adopted very creative, outspoken and brave tactics in protesting the online censorship. A censorship that...

GV summit 2010 Videos: A Discussion of Content Moderation

  7 May 2010

During this panel discussion, Victoria Grand, Senior Manager for Communications at YouTube, speaks on content moderation processes providing a “behind-the-scenes” look at YouTube's content removal and deactivation policies. A “behind-the-scenes” look at YouTube's content removal and deactivation policies The panel, which was moderated by Rebecca MacKinnon, also includes Jillian York,...

Guide: Mirroring a Censored WordPress Blog

  22 April 2010

Global Voices Advocacy is pleased to release another Advocacy 2.0 guide: Mirroring a Censored WordPress Blog. The guide, which has been written by Sami Ben Gharbia (Global Voices Advocacy Director), with Rebekah Heacock (a research assistant for the OpenNet Initiative) and Jeremy Clarke (Global Voices web developer and Wordpress designer), is for bloggers with self-hosted* WordPress blogs who believe their sites may be blocked by government filters. Its goal is to help bloggers use a mirror site to make censored content available to readers despite these filters. It contains step-by-step instructions for setting up a mirror for an original (”source”) WordPress blog.

Guide: SEO Tips for Advocacy Bloggers

  19 April 2010

Global Voices Advocacy is pleased to release its third Advocacy 2.0 Guides: SEO Tips for Advocacy Bloggers: How to Apply Search Engine Optimization to Grow Your Readership and Influence More People. The guide has been written by my friend and colleague, The Sudanese Thinker, a Global Voices author, an internet marketing and online business consultant, with an initial focus on SEO, and on managed 7-figure online properties.

Tunisia: WAT.TV, the 3rd video-sharing website to be blocked!

  2 April 2010

Few days ago, the Tunisian regime has blocked access to WAT.TV, a social networking and media-sharing website, which is believed to be the 3rd video broadcaster on the Internet in France. This is also the third video-sharing website to be blocked in The country. First they blocked Dailymotion on September...

Blog for a Cause! is now available in Macedonian.

  22 March 2010

Blog for a Cause!, the Global Voices Guide of Blog Advocacy, is now available in Macedonian thanks to this translation by Elena Ignatova from Global Voices in Macedonian. Blog for a Cause! has already been translated into Spanish, French, Chinese and Arabic. The guide outlines easy-to-follow tips on how to...

Libya blocks access to Youtube and independent websites

  9 February 2010

On January 24th, 2010, Libya Telecom and Technology (LTT) has blocked access to the popular video sharing website Youtube and to several Libyans based abroad political and independent websites such as Libya Al Youm, Al Manara, Jeel Libya, Akhbar Libya,and Libya Al Mostakbal. And while Google didn't confirm the ban...

2nd Arab Bloggers Meeting

  5 December 2009

The Heinrich Boell Foundation and Global Voices are organizing the Second Arab Bloggers Meeting in Beirut from the 8th till the 12th of December 2009. This meeting is a follow-up to the First Arab Bloggers Meeting which took place in August last year in Beirut and was the first gathering...