Featured stories from December 2010
Stories from December, 2010
Hungary introduces press censorship
Press censorship is a common occurrence in many parts of the world, but one does not associate a democratic nation in middle of Europe to go this route. Well, Hungary wants to change that. According to The Raw Story, “Hungary's recently elected right-wing government has introduced a law demanding —...
Venezuela: The bill to regulate internet has been approved
On Monday, December 20th, the Venezuelan Parliament passed the bill that gives the Executive the power to regulate all content accessible in Internet within Venezuela. Through an administrative organ, CONATEL, all venezuelan-based ISPs will have the responsibility to block all content that collides with article 28 and 29.
Human Rights Organizations Worldwide Decry Attacks on Freedom of Expression
It has been almost two weeks since cablegate.wikileaks.org, the website hosting leaked US diplomatic cables, was taken down, and the right of Wikileaks to publish truthful information was immediately besieged. Since then, human rights organizations around the world have condemned the attacks on WikiLeaks and have raised their voices to protect freedom of expression online.
Venezuela: Internet law moves forward, albeit with changes
In a first round of discussion, on December 14th, the Venezuelan National Assembly approved the reform to the Law on Social Responsibility in Radio, Television and Electronic Media and differed for today the Law for Telecommunications. However, the texts that were discussed yesterday were different to the ones that were published on the Assembly website, and several points were eliminated
ICANN TLD censorship mechanisms hidden in procedural details of Applicant Guidebook
In increasingly oversizied legal & policy documents, it can take some digging to find the real issues presented within. The proposed Final Version of ICANN's gTLD Applicant Guidebook is no different in this regard and many of the most important points are hidden among the details. Hence when the Dynamic...
Venezuela: A law to regulate the Internet raises controversy
Venezuelan government is promoting a law reform to regulate the access and usage of the Internet within the country, and also the implementation of a national Network Access Point.
China: No empty chair allowed online
Yesterday Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia could not attend the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway. The Nobel Prize committee reserved an empty chair to symbolize Liu's presence. In order to show their support for Liu and deliver the information about the Nobel Peace Prize across...
Iran: “A website developer was sentenced to death”
Saeed Malekpour,website developer, is facing the death penalty in Iran for allegedly designing “adult” websites. A few Iranian sites wrote Malekpour was the main manager of hard porn Avizoon site and he is not a political prisoner.
Iran:Derakhshan Released On $1.5 Million Bail
An informed source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Hossein Derakhshan was released last night on the unprecedented bail amount of $1.5 million. Derakhshan had requested a prison furlough after a lower court sentenced him to 19.5 years in prison in September.
Net Neutrality, Spain and Wikileaks
Previously, we’ve touched on the the topic of net neutrality , especially neutrality in Spain. Since last September, when Telefonica proposed to Spain’s Telecommunications Market Comission, to eliminate their flat fee and establish 3 tiers of service varying from quality and user’s data usage, things have been moving along.
Tunisia: Censorship Continues as Wikileaks Cables Make the Rounds
Tunisian activists pounced on the latest Wikileaks US Embassy Cables, dedicating a new website to republish and discuss the revelations related to their country. Tunileaks, was launched by Nawaat one hour after the whistle-blowing site unleashed the cables on Sunday, November 28th.
Actions to silence Cablegate and Wikileaks, threats against Assange
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is in danger and his project Wikileaks is under attack. A week after the release of the largest number of classified information, the CableGate, prominent politicians even expressed their wish to “hunt him” or see him “executed“. The reactions are beautifully summarized by OpenDemocracy: As international...
CommunicationisYourRight.org – advocating for stronger global communication and support of Article 19
Communication is Your Right! is a platform for media makers, human rights advocates, and citizens around the globe to speak their truths. What is the state of communications in your community and country? Share your ability to communicate where you are by creating a video, blog or podcast and add it to our campaign.
YouTube adds HTTPS; Syrians, Tunisians gain access, but…!
HTTPS has been in the news quite a bit lately; first, because of Firesheep, a program that allows users on open WiFi networks to sniff cookies and effectively hijack users’ social networking connections if they're not using HTTPS. As a result, a campaign has emerged to call on companies to...
