Stories from 2009
Global Voices partners with Google on freedom of expression award
Nominations open today (December 29, 2009) for the Breaking Borders Award, a new prize created by Google and Global Voices to honor outstanding web projects initiated by individuals or groups that demonstrate courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression. The award is also supported...
Social Media in the Arab World, Snowball heading to Democracy
On its website, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Arabic network that promotes freedom of speech, announced: The internet has a snowball effect on the process of democracy in the Arab world. This new force cannot be stopped by government’s actions of censorship, blocking the internet and arresting...
Uzbekistan: Criminal Charges Filed Against Documentary Photographer Umida Akhmedova
Umida Akhmedova, Uzbek documentary photographer, has been accused of insult and slander against Uzbek people and traditions. The maximum penalty for these charges includes remedial work on two up to three years or detention for up to six months. She is incriminated in the production of "Women and men: from dawn till dusk" photo album, produced in 2007 under support of Swiss Embassy Gender Program.
China: White-listing the Internet?
According to today's the Beijing News and Mingpao, The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is preparing to white-listing the whole Internet under the pretext of proliferation of pornography on mobile devices. The Beijing News quoted a recent meeting of the MIIT, summarized and explained the policies into 5...
China: Online protest against CNNIC
A group of webmasters puts up a protest website called FuckCNNIC to protest against the recent policy that bans individuals from registering CN domain. Last week, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the CN domain name supervision body, announced that starting from 21:00 on December 14, 2009, it would...
China: Battle against containment
A diagram has been circulated through twitter indicating how netizens in China fight against information blocking and manipulation by state institution in the past few days. Below is a translated version of the diagram. The red flags are government and party institutions involved in information regulation, opinion making and censorship....
Moroccan Blogger, Internet Cafe Owner, Sentenced
On Monday, December 14, Moroccan blogger Bashir Hazzam (also spelled Hazem, Hazzem) and Internet cafe owner Abdullah Boukhou were sentenced, to four months and one year, respectively, in a Goulmim court. Hazzam was sentenced for “spreading false information harmful to the kingdom's image on human rights,” while Boukhou's sentence was...
2009 a bad year for bloggers and freelance journalists
Freelance journalists and bloggers did not have a good year in 2009. According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ” At least 60 freelance journalists are behind bars worldwide, nearly double the number from just three years ago. CPJ research shows the number of jailed freelancers has grown along with...
Interview with Jacob Appelbaum from Tor
Jacob Appelbaum is a computer security consultant and developer and advocate for the Tor Project, a tool and privacy network which protects internet users’ privacy and security. At the Arab Bloggers Workshop he gave a presentation about circumvention, online security, and anonymity. He is @ioerror on Twitter.
Tunisia: Student Mohamed Soudani Jailed for Media Interview
Tunisian student Mohamed Soudani, 24, disappeared on October 22, 2009, in Tunisia after giving interviews to Radio Monte Carlo International and Radio France International. Soudani was missing for 18 days until Tunisia’s police contacted his family inform them that he is detained in the Murnaguiya prison about 15km away from...
Moroccan Blogger Bashir Hazem Arrested
Moroccan blogger Bashir Hazem was arrested on December 8, 2009 following a protest in Tarjijt, during which students clashed with security forces, after posting a press release about the clash on his blog. He has been interrogated about his blogging, specifically his most recent post, which contained the signatures of a committee of arrested students. He faces trial on December 14, 2009.
Jacob Appelbaum Presents Tor at Arab Bloggers Workshop 2009
The second annual Arab Bloggers Workshop is currently taking place in Beirut, Lebanon (see other blog posts here); the Workshop consists of various presentations and smaller workshops on topics ranging from "Arab techies" to online campaigns to anonymity and circumvention technologies. Today, Jacob Appelbaum (@ioerror on Twitter)
Interview with Eman AbdElRahman
Eman AbdElRahman or “Lasto Adri” covers Egypt for Global Voices Online and is very active in the project Kolena Laila (in English here). The project devotes an annual day to raise awareness about the problems “facing oppressed women in the Arab region.” She also posts on her personal blogs Lasto...
China: English news translation platform shut down
A popular translation website Yeeyan.com was shut down by Chinese authority last week. The website had been online for two and a half year. It translated news content from English press by a community of volunteers and started collaborating with The Guardian since May 2009. There are some speculation that...
2nd Arab Bloggers Meeting
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...
Russia: Blogger Arrested For Pneumonic Plague Rumors
Ivan Peregorodiev, a 22-year-old medical student and blogger, has been arrested on December 3 for spreading rumors about pneumonic plague in the city of Saratov. Authorities accused him of disseminating false information related to an act of terrorism. On December 2, the Russian bloggers actively discussed allegations that a large...
United States: Justice Department's illegal “fishing expedition”
Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us was sent a subpoena by the Justice Department, demanding details of visitors on a certain day. Declan McCullagh at CBS News says that the Department also asked that the website not to disclose the existence of the subpoena. “The subpoena from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded...
Russia: Tatarstan Blogger Sentenced to Almost 2 Years in Penal Colony
On Nov. 26, the Kirov district court of Kazan, which is the capital of the Republic of Tartastan, convicted Irek Murtazin, a 45-year-old journalist and blogger, of defamation and incitement to hatred, reports Gazeta.ru [RUS]. The court sentenced Murtazin to one year and nine months of imprisonment in a penal...
China: Human rights webmaster sentenced to three years
Huang Qi, founder of Tianwang Center for Missing Persons (later renamed as Tianwang Human Rights Center), was sentenced to three year imprisonment on November 23 in Chengdu Wuhou district court for “illegal possession of state secrets” in connection with material published on his website. According to BBC's report, Huang's wife...
Iran: Internet senior officers will be trained to counter Internet activism
Recently, the Islamic Republic of Iran Intelligence Ministry announced that in order to counter Internet activism in Iran, senior officers will be trained. The minister of the intelligence counted internet activism as a new challenge for the regime. The minister urged that, as a result of existing contacts and collaboration between...
