Stories about Advocacy from November, 2011
Stop Online Piracy Act: The Fight Continues
A recent hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), companies and organizations that oppose the bill were branded as “pro-pirates.” But civic activists and law professionals have stressed it would give corporations unprecedented power to censor almost any site on the internet, thereby stifling free speech online.
Netizen Report: Bullets and Pepper Spray Edition
Today is the International Day to End Impunity, honoring those who have been killed for exercising their right to free speech. Now that everybody can commit journalism on the Internet, any citizen in the world can end up on the list unless we fight to defend our rights against the many who want to silence us. Read on for a roundup on news about the latest power struggles between citizens, governments and corporations on the Internet.
Northern Exposure: Unmasking Online Spying in Canada
The Canadian national anthem proudly honors “The True North strong and free!” Yet Canadians face an imminent round of frightening online spy proposals that threaten long held civil liberties and privacy rights. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has insisted that he won’t budge in his support of online spying legislation despite heavy criticism from privacy watchdogs.
US and European firms help Syrian regime spy on citizens
To track and surveil citizens online, repressive regimes in the Middle East and North Africa have relied on Western technology for years. US company BlueCoat has been accused for months of providing the Assads with products for online crackdown, and the firm finally acknowledged that the Syrian regime has been...
Brazil: Cybercrime Law Could Restrict Fundamental Rights, Internet Openness
Pending in Brazil’s House of Representatives is a proposed cybercrime law that could criminalize many ordinary online activities and that would mark an abrupt shift in Brazil’s progressive digital policy environment. The Committee on Science and Technology will vote on the bill on November 9, 2011.
Netizen Report: Transparency Edition
This installment of the bi-monthly Netizen Report reviews latest developments in the power game between citizens, governments and companies. We begin with applause for Google's latest Transparency Report, then overview the landscape of Internet governance fights, surveillance and censorship outrages, plus a few heart-warming developments as well.
Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference brings stakeholders to the Internet freedom table
The Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference, organized by Access Now and held in San Francisco late last month gathered bloggers, activists, mobile advocates, privacy advocates, corporations, technologists and many more to discuss the human rights implications of technologies today.
ICANN: Why the Registrar Accreditation Agreement Matters
Law enforcement demands to domain name registrars were a recurring theme of the 42nd ICANN public meeting, concluded last week in Dakar. This is an important debate because domain names are often tools of individuals' and groups' online speech. Thus they can be a chokepoint for censorship and suppression of speech.
