June, 2009

Stories from June, 2009

China: Blocking and framing Google

  25 June 2009

Last night, Google including search, gmail, document and other applications was blocked for 2 hours, although some ISPs have restored the access in couple of hours, a number of twitterers said that Google has still been blocked in some parts of China. Guardian quoted Xiao Qiang, the founder of China...

China: 2009 Declaration of the Anonymous Netizens

  24 June 2009

In reaction to a series of internet censorship policy, in particular the introduction of Green Dam, a declaration has been circulated on the net in the past two days calling netizens to express and protect their rights to anonymity on July 1st. Below are the declaration posters and English translation...

China: Google.cn buys Green Dam service?

  24 June 2009

Blogger dancing with G, quoted from a Google.cn source, reported that the company had spent a big sum of money to buy the Green Dam service for bettering the detection of obscene content. According to the blogger, google.cn's move is to make peace with the Chinese authority. Moreover, Google.cn has...

Egypt: A Week of ‘Bad News’ for bloggers

  22 June 2009

Last week ended up with a number of bad news for some Egyptian bloggers. Diaa Eddin Gad from Sawt Ghadeb (Angry Voice), is harassed by State Security police. Diaa, who was released last March after being arrested and ill-treated, told Global Voices in a phone call, that a force of State Security raided his house two weeks ago, and searched his apartment, and the whole building where he is living. He said:

Mauritania: Webmaster of Taqadoumy.com arrested

  20 June 2009

Hanevy Ould Dahah, 34, founder and manager of Mauritania’s leading news website www.taqadoumy.com was arrested on June 18 in Nouakchott when members of Mauritania’s security forces without presenting him with any charges, he was handcuffed and led to a police station in Mauritania’s capital.

Iran: Reformist and activist bloggers arrested

  20 June 2009

As protesters continue their demonstrations all over Iran against 12th June presidential election results, Iranian authorities have arrested hundreds of activists, including bloggers. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former reformist vice president and an adviser to Mehdi Karoubi, a reformist candidate, was arrested last Tuesday. Abtahi used to update his blog each...

Iran: Tohidloo, a reformist blogger was arrested

  17 June 2009

Somayeh Tohidloo, a female reformist blogger was arrested. As protest against Iranian presidential election grows, Iranian authorities arrested several political activists. recently she and a couple of bloggers organized an internet interview with former president,Mohammad Khatami.

OpenNet Initiative Releases Results on Filtering in Asia

  17 June 2009

From the Great Firewall to the Myanmar Wide Web, Asia is well-known for its practices in Internet filtering. China has long taken the lead in blocking Web sites, filtering sites across the spectrum – from social to political content, pornography to Internet tools. The OpenNet Initiative (full disclosure: I'm involved)...

The Dawning of Internet Censorship in Germany

  16 June 2009

Germany is on the verge of censoring its Internet: The government – a grand coalition between the German social democrats and conservative party – seems united in its decision: On Thursday the parliament is to vote on the erection of an internet censorship architecture. The Minister for Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen kicked off and lead the discussions within the German Federal Government to block Internet sites in order to fight child pornography.

China: No more criticism against Green Dam!

  15 June 2009

Update: June 16 – Green Dam filter software ‘not compulsory’ – via China Daily. On June 10th, the central propaganda department issued a notice reminding all the media to report positively on Green Dam, Youth Escort, the filter and spyware to be installed in all PCs sold in China. Meanwhile,...

Indonesia: People Power 2.0

  15 June 2009

Two days after her release from jail [id] on Wednesday 3 June 2009, the first court session for Prita Mulyasari, an Indonesian housewife  who was arrested and jailed since mid May for “defaming” an international hospital by writing an online complaint letter took place in Tangerang, one of Jakarta's suburban....

Peru: Attacks to human rights and freedom of expression

  13 June 2009

The bloody events in the Peruvian town of Bagua began when the police removed a road blockade of indigenous people protesting against a law (DL 1090) they believe undermines their ancestral rights to their territory. They have not just resulted in the death of an unknown number of civilians (the...

Brazil: Amplified conversations to fight the Digital Crimes Bill

  11 June 2009

In another demonstration of cyberactivism and acvistim, Brazilian Internet users are gathering around a cause: to fight Senator Azeredo's Digital Crimes Bill. This legal project, which intends to intervene severely in the way people use the Internet in Brazil is being heavily criticized by Brazil's academic field, left-wing parties and the Internet community.

Global Voices Advocacy Wins Zemanta Blog Contest

  9 June 2009

Global Voices Advocacy won first prize in Zemanta's Blogging for a Cause competition today. More than 60 different websites were nominated, and the top 5 to receive the most votes from bloggers have each won $1200. Thanks for all the support!!

Caste Based Communities on Orkut Mirror India's Splintered Society

  9 June 2009

I have written before about Shiv Sena's militant approach towards Orkut communities critical of the party, its leader Bal Thakeray, or its Hindutva ideology. Caste-based communities on Orkut are another disturbing example of online communities mirroring the splintered nature of Indian society.

China: Green dam PC filtering

  8 June 2009

According to Wall Street Journal (June 8, 2009), the Chinese government has required international PC makers to equip their PC shipped to China with filter software from July 1 onward. The new software, known as ‘Green Dam-Youth Escort’, would link PCs with an updated database of banned sites and block...