Featured stories from March 2012
Stories from March, 2012
Bahrain: Where is Ali Abdulemam?
As I daily check my facebook messages and notifications, I also check Ali Abdelemam’s profile. Everyday I wonder if there are any posts from him. Everyday I check his wall to see his family’s posts, and photos hoping that I could at least know something about him. I ask my friends and colleagues in Bahrain about Ali, and no one knows anything about him. I wonder where is Ali now. Ali, a father of three, disappeared and left us wondering about his destiny. Why did Ali disappear?
China: Censoring the Red and Bo Xilai's Supporters
Since the news of the sacking former Chinese Community Party (CCP) leader of Chongqing Bo Xilai was released, Bo's supporters and supporting websites have become the target of censorship. In Sina Weibo, the Red Culture 50 center or online commentator, Sima Nan who has been advocating online censorship of “rumor”...
UAE: Activist Arrested for his Tweets
With the birth of the Arab Spring, the United Arab Emirates’ authorities seem to be intimidated by any voice asking for reforms and change. The start was with the arbitrary arrests of five activists for signing an online petition and keeping them illegally in custody for months before giving them...
Internet Freedom in Southeast Asia
Cyber political pundits, bloggers and Facebook activists in Thailand often feel deeply frustrated and annoyed with their lack of liberty to write at will. Yet netizen's frustration with seemingly increasing internet censorship is not unique to Thailand, but rather it's part of the global insurgence of state control over internet...
Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China, 2011
Chinese Human Rights Defenders has released its annual report on the situation of human rights defenders in China (2011). Despite the harsh crackdown on the Internet, netizens and activists continue to fight against the censorship machine. Below are some excerpts on the part of “freedom of expression” from the report....
How to Find and Protect Yourself Against the Pro-Syrian-Government Malware on Your Computer
A few weeks ago, we started seeing reports of a Trojan called Darkcomet RAT on computers belonging to Syrian activists which would capture webcam activity, disable the notification setting for certain antivirus programs, record key strokes, steal passwords, and more–and send that sensitive information to an address in Syrian IP...
Netizen Report: Community Edition
In this week’s Netizen Report we are excited to spotlight the ways in which the global netizen community is turning the Internet into a platform of participatory politics and preserving digital culture.
Keep the Pressure On: Canadian Online Surveillance Bill on Pause, But the Fight Continues
Last Saturday, the Canadian government announced it would put proposed online surveillance legislation temporarily “on pause” following sustained public outrage generated by the bill. Since its introduction two weeks ago, Canadians have spoken out en masse against Bill C-30, the Canadian government’s latest attempt to update police online surveillance powers....
Mexico Adopts Alarming Surveillance Legislation
The Mexican legislature today adopted a surveillance legislation that will grant the police warrantless access to real time user location data. The bill was adopted almost unanimously with 315 votes in favor, 6 against, and 7 abstentions. It has been sent to the President for his approval. There is significant...
China: Netizen detained for 3 days for reposting message to QQ group
A Poet, Zhou Nan, based in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang was arrested by re-posting a micro-blog message by Long Yihai in his QQ group. [QQ group is a popular online platform for group chat.] Long Yihai's Weibo message was about military vehicles running in the street of Baoding, Hebei province on...
