· January, 2013

Stories about Free Expression from January, 2013

Open Source Design Tools for Human Rights Activists

  26 January 2013

The world's premier human rights organizations often have entire communications teams with dedicated graphic designers to celebrate their work. But not every organization can afford to have a designer. There are several open source design tools that allow anyone to create killer flyers, posters, icons, or campaign -- the only limit is your imagination.

Colombia: Copyright Law Rejected by Constitutional Court

  25 January 2013

On Wednesday night, October 23, 2012, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional Articles 13 and 14 of the Law 1520, better known as Lleras Law 2.0. The proposed law provides for sanctions of online copyright infringement, in accordance with the Free Trade Agreement signed between Columbia and the United States.

South Korea: How to Regain Ownership of the Internet

  19 January 2013

On January 11, 2012, Network Neutrality Forum, an alliance of South Korean Internet freedom-concerned civic organizations, hosted a public workshop to discuss ways to increase civic participation in global Internet governance. Our author Jae Yeon Kim participated in the meeting and has this report.

#DELETECONTROL/: Campaign Against Digital Repression

  10 January 2013

The Humanist Institute for Cooperation, Hivos, in partnership with Global Voices Advocacy, Witness, Mideast Youth and Tactical Technology Collective, are launching #DELETECONTROL/, a campaign to help threatened netizens fight against digital repression.

Venezuela: Home of Twitter User Raided

  9 January 2013

The home of Twitter user Federico Medina Ravell, who's allegedly behind the account @LucioQuincioC, was raided on Sunday, January 6, by Venezuelan intelligence officers. The micro-blogger is suspected of spreading rumors about the health of Mr Hugo Chávez.

South Korea: Perspectives on Chinese New Net Control Laws

  1 January 2013

On December 28, 2012, the Chinese government approved a set of new net control laws that would make it compulsory for internet intermediaries to enforce users' real name registration. In South Korea, a similar online real name registration policy has been in place since 2005. Let's examine the South Korean experiment and see what lessons Chinese netizens can learn from it.