Stories from August, 2014
Malaysian Government Threatens to Block Facebook Over “Abuse” Reports
Other legislators want to create a government registry of Facebook accounts or amend the country's Sedition Act to address online hate speech -- moves that would still threaten free speech.
Iran's Internet Users Outsmart Government in Cat-and-Mouse Censorship Game
The Iranian government periodically releases new filtering rules intended to block Tor traffic, to which the Tor community typically responds with a same-day antidote for the block.
Web We Want Festival Will be Globally Crowdsourced: Get Involved!
We’re asking you -- community groups, neighbors and strangers, techies and technophobes, old and young, urban and rural people -- to make the Web We Want Festival your own.
Leaked Data Suggests Bahrain's Government Hacked Its Own Fact-Finding Commission
The government's crackdown against a popular uprising spurred the creation of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Investigation -- new data suggests that the government is spying on the Commission.
Will Russia Start Blocking Websites in Real Time?
Already plagued by Roskomnadzor blacklists, blogger registration, and the blocking of Twitter accounts, a Russian organization now wants to introduce real-time filtering of online content.
China Slams Messaging App Industry with Real-Name Registration Mandate
Critics believe the new policy is intended to target WeChat. The messaging app's soaring sign-up rates outpaced Sina Weibo in early 2014.
Netizen Report: Russia's Official Blogger Registry is Open for Business
This week, Israeli army soldier-turned-whistleblower Eran Efrati was arrested in Israel, Facebook is giving free apps to Zambia, and Tor is under attack.
Forgot Your Password? Don't Worry, the Kremlin Has It.
To ease the process of developing a national "blogger registry, the Russian government is inviting bloggers to share something every Internet user knows never to divulge: their logins and passwords.
Malaysia’s Longest Serving PM Repeats Call to Censor the Internet
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad says Web platforms and services are worse for online freedom than government regulation...and that the Malaysian government needs to start censoring the Web.
“From the [Four] Compass Points of the Earth Arises a Mighty Cry — #FreeZone9Bloggers!”
From Hong Kong to Islamabad to Cairo to San Francisco, allies across the globe tweeted their support for Ethiopia's Zone9 bloggers, who have been in prison for 102 days.
Sonia Ordóñez, Translating Threats to Free Expression Online for Global Voices Advocacy
Global Voices depends on its hard-working team of volunteer translators like Sonia Ordóñez, who has devoted most of her time to translating Advocacy stories.