Featured stories from May 2012
Stories from May, 2012
Nabeel Rajab: The struggle continues in Bahrain
President of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, has been released on $800 bail, his lawyer Mohamed Al Jishi said. Earlier this month, Rajab was arrested at Bahrain International Airport on his return from Beirut. Charges against include writing “insulting” posts in social networks (Twitter). He has also been...
Pakistan: Twitter has been Blocked
Twitter has been blocked in Pakistan on Sunday. The country's top telecommunications officials said that it was blocked because it refused to remove tweets considered offensive to Islam. The tweets were promoting a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, said Mohammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan...
Zambia: President Sata Sues Citizens, Media Criticizing Him
President Sata recently sued United Party for National Development leader Hakainde Hichilema, the Daily Nation newspaper, radio station Hot FM and University of Zambia lecturer Cholwe Beyani for defamation of character and demanded to be paid K1.2 billionor US$266,667 in damages.
Letter for Civil Society Involvement in WCIT
This page features a letter from academics and civil society groups from around the world to International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré regarding the lack of opportunity for civil society participation in the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) process.
Venezuela: State-owned ISP presumably blocks news website
As of May 17th, Venezuelan netizens have reported through Twitter that the news website lapatilla.com might have been blocked by governmental ISP, Cantv.net.
Netizen Report: RuNet Edition
Our weekly review of developments in the global struggle for freedom and control of the Internet begins in Russia, where citizen media has been under attack in the wake of President Putin's inauguration. From there we travel on to China, Iran, Syria, India, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Facebookistan, Twitterland, the United Nations, and more.
A man serving an anti-royal sentence in Thailand dies in prison
Akong was sentenced to 20 years in jailed for an unproven lese majeste case on the basis of Thailand's Computer Crime Act. The 61-year-old grandfather, who had long battled with oral cancer, was believed to have died as a result of this disease. Attempts to get bail for Akong, most notably due to his illness, was repeatedly denied.
Zambia: Citizen News Website Hacked
On Wednesday, 9 May 2012, netizens who flock to various citizen-run news websites such as Zambian Watchdog and Tumfweko were met with “page not available” or messages to similar effect. Zambian Watchdog reported that its website was a target of a sustained attack allegedly by the PF government.
Breaking Borders Award 2012!
We're excited to announce the second edition of the Breaking Borders Award for 2012. The award is a prize created by Google and Global Voices to honor outstanding web or mobile projects initiated by individuals or groups that demonstrate courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression. Closing date for applications is May 20, 2012.
The Monarchy of Bahrain: An enemy of the Internet
Last week, the Bahraini authorities arrested the President of the Human Rights Centre in Bahrain, Nabeel Rajab when he returned from Lebanon at Bahrain’s International Airport. Apparently, the Bahraini government claim that Rajab was arrested because of his “insulting tweets.”
Netizen Report: Raise Your Voice Edition
In our weekly report on the global battle for freedom and control of the Internet, we begin in India where activists are fuming over the country’s sweeping new Internet restrictions on objectionable content. From there we survey the global state of censorship, surveillance, activism, corporate actions and government regulation.
Netherlands: First country in Europe with net neutrality
The Netherlands is the first country in Europe to implement net neutrality it in its law. Together with the net neutrality provisions, it passed privacy protections for users against wiretapping and disconnection by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Tim Berners-Lee: Protect the Open Web! #WWW2012
On April 16-20, 2012 the 21st International World Wide Web Conference (#WWW2012) gathered in Lyon, France to discuss matters of global concern for the Internet and the Web. A major highlight was an inspiring keynote by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.
Netizen Report: Follow What You Believe Edition
Our inaugural weekly report honors Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, who was arrested in 2009 for violating Thailand's Computer Crimes Act because she failed to delete a user comment insulting the King of Thailand quickly enough. Also covered, censorship, surveillance, copyright and other net freedom issues from around the world.
