September, 2011

Stories from September, 2011

Kuwait: Three Netizens Detained

  28 September 2011

Kuwait does not have a history of detaining citizens for expressing their views online; the first arrest case in relevance to the internet happened to Bashar Al-Sayegh (@balsayegh) a Kuwaiti journalist who was detained by the State Security Police four years ago because of a post written in a forum...

Connect your Rights! Internet Rights are Human Rights.

  27 September 2011

Joy Liddicoat of APC.org points out that while governments are positioning themselves around internet governance issues, the politics associated with this must not detract from the issues that are facing civil society in developing countries, nor be a smokescreen behind which governments, or others, can hide their increasingly sophisticated interference with human rights and the internet.

Netizen's Guide to the Internet Governance Forum

  26 September 2011

The Internet Governance Forum is a multi-stakeholder forum where people from all over the world – from government, industry, the technical community and civil society – come together to discuss the Internet's future. The Sixth Annual meeting officially kicks off on Tuesday morning in Nairobi, Kenya. A number of pre-meetings...

The Netizen Report: Governance Edition

  23 September 2011

Tweet of the week: “If you are not at the table, you are probably on the menu.” via @guatemalia The sixth annual Internet Governance Forum meets in Nairobi next week. The schedule can be downloaded here. If you are not going in person you can participate remotely. Links to the...

MagyarLeaks: This Is A Test of the Hungarian Media Law

  19 September 2011

Not long after the launch of the first Hungarian whistleblower website police started an investigation against its editor-in-chief. Reason: “keeping the confidentiality of informants is perjury, or even aiding or abetting in the blackmailing.” Atlatszo.hu is a watchdog NGO and online magazine for investigative journalism started in July 2011 by Tamás Bodoky and other pro-transparency and anti-corruption journalists, and lawyers, IT-specialists, academics, independent experts. (The meaning of the word ‘átlátszó’ is ‘transparent’ in Hungarian.)

Syrian Government Blocks WordPress

  18 September 2011

Syrian Twitter users are reporting that the popular blogging platform WordPress is blocked on ISPs in the country. This move comes amidst a wave of anti-regime protests that's taking the country by storm despite being faced by a brutal governmental crackdown.

The Netizen Report: Inaugural Edition

  16 September 2011

This is the first post in a new series on GVA called "The Netizen Report:" A regular overview of recent global developments related to the power dynamics between citizens, companies and governments on the Internet.

Cameras Everywhere: Current Challenges and Opportunities at the Intersection of Human Rights, Video and Technology

  9 September 2011

I’m pleased to announce the launch of our new report: “Cameras Everywhere: Current Challenges and Opportunities at the Intersection of Human Rights, Video and Technology.” You can read and download it on our website. The report, like the initiative of the same name, aims to ensure that the thousands of people turning to video for human rights can do so as effectively, safely and ethically as possible.

Egypt: On Maikel Nabil, first blogger to be jailed since January 25

  7 September 2011

Maikel Nabil , the first Egyptian blogger to be jailed since the January 25 revolution started, has been on a hunger strike since Monday, August 22. On August 30, Maikel stopped taking any liquids, including water. He was taken to a hospital two days later after falling into a coma....

Two mexican citizens face jail over “terrorism” via social networks

  6 September 2011

Marucho Bravo Pagola (@maruchibravo) and Gilberto Martínez Vera (@gillus_22) are two Mexican citizens arrested under charges of “terrorism and sabotage” in the State of Veracruz in México, after being held responsible of spreading rumours of a narco related attack trough Twitter and Facebook. Daniel Hernández in Los Angeles Times writes:...

Police lèse majesté “experts” in Prachatai trial

  2 September 2011

A capacity crowd of supporters filled the lèse majesté trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand’s independent online news portal Prachatai, which continued into its seventh day at Bangkok’s Criminal Court. Yesterday’s animated senior judge, The Honourable Kampol Rungrat, was joined by a second. An affable police major-general, Suraphon Tuanphong,...