Stories from December, 2009
China: Online protest against CNNIC
A group of webmasters puts up a protest website called FuckCNNIC to protest against the recent policy that bans individuals from registering CN domain. Last week, the China Internet Network...
China: Battle against containment
A diagram has been circulated through twitter indicating how netizens in China fight against information blocking and manipulation by state institution in the past few days. Below is a translated...
Moroccan Blogger, Internet Cafe Owner, Sentenced
On Monday, December 14, Moroccan blogger Bashir Hazzam (also spelled Hazem, Hazzem) and Internet cafe owner Abdullah Boukhou were sentenced, to four months and one year, respectively, in a Goulmim...
2009 a bad year for bloggers and freelance journalists
Freelance journalists and bloggers did not have a good year in 2009. According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ” At least 60 freelance journalists are behind bars worldwide, nearly...
Interview with Jacob Appelbaum from Tor
Jacob Appelbaum is a computer security consultant and developer and advocate for the Tor Project, a tool and privacy network which protects internet users’ privacy and security. At the Arab...
Tunisia: Student Mohamed Soudani Jailed for Media Interview
Tunisian student Mohamed Soudani, 24, disappeared on October 22, 2009, in Tunisia after giving interviews to Radio Monte Carlo International and Radio France International. Soudani was missing for 18 days...
Moroccan Blogger Bashir Hazem Arrested
Moroccan blogger Bashir Hazem was arrested on December 8, 2009 following a protest in Tarjijt, during which students clashed with security forces, after posting a press release about the clash on his blog. He has been interrogated about his blogging, specifically his most recent post, which contained the signatures of a committee of arrested students. He faces trial on December 14, 2009.
Jacob Appelbaum Presents Tor at Arab Bloggers Workshop 2009
The second annual Arab Bloggers Workshop is currently taking place in Beirut, Lebanon (see other blog posts here); the Workshop consists of various presentations and smaller workshops on topics ranging from "Arab techies" to online campaigns to anonymity and circumvention technologies. Today, Jacob Appelbaum (@ioerror on Twitter)
Interview with Eman AbdElRahman
Eman AbdElRahman or “Lasto Adri” covers Egypt for Global Voices Online and is very active in the project Kolena Laila (in English here). The project devotes an annual day to...
China: English news translation platform shut down
A popular translation website Yeeyan.com was shut down by Chinese authority last week. The website had been online for two and a half year. It translated news content from English...
2nd Arab Bloggers Meeting
The Heinrich Boell Foundation and Global Voices are organizing the Second Arab Bloggers Meeting in Beirut from the 8th till the 12th of December 2009. This meeting is a follow-up...
Russia: Blogger Arrested For Pneumonic Plague Rumors
Ivan Peregorodiev, a 22-year-old medical student and blogger, has been arrested on December 3 for spreading rumors about pneumonic plague in the city of Saratov. Authorities accused him of disseminating...
United States: Justice Department's illegal “fishing expedition”
Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us was sent a subpoena by the Justice Department, demanding details of visitors on a certain day. Declan McCullagh at CBS News says that the Department also asked that...
