Stories about Feature from January, 2010
Google for good…or just for money?
Google’s recent opposition to Internet censorship in China went wildly underreported in Thailand. Yet this move to seize the moral high ground has vast implications to Thailand and every other...
Egypt: blogger Wael Abbas sentenced to jail. Another still in prison despite judicial release order
The prominent Egypt blogger Wael Abbas has been sentenced 6 months in jail and LE 500 pounds (92 USD) as a judiciary bail, as a lawsuit was filed against him...
China: The monitoring of Mobile SMS
According to Xinhuanet's report, Mobile China Shanghai branch will start suspending a mobile phone's SMS function if they find the number distribute “vulgar”, “pornographic” and other illegal content. The policy...
UAE e-magazine ordered shut.
Hetta, United Arab Emirates online magazine has been ordered shut after they lost an appeal case launched against it by the Abu Dhabi Media Company. The e-magazine which was the...
Egypt: Bloggers detained for showing Solidarity!
-Update (16 Jan, 1pm Cairo Timings): arrested activists in Naga Hammadi got a release order from a while, but its still unknown where/how will they be released from Qena or...
Mauritanian Editor Hanevy Ould Dahah Remains Detained
In June of 2009, Global Voices Advocacy was the first to report that Mauritanian editor Hanevy Ould Dahah, who runs leftist site Taqadoumy, had been arrested over a comment left...
Jordan to censor the internet
Jordan's Appeal Court has extended the reach of its print and publications law to cover electronic media, meaning that it will censor sites and blogs, writing in ArabCrunch, Gaith Saqer...
Google's new approach to China
Yesterday Google lnc. issued an official statement reporting that the company had been hit by cyber attack originated from China. The attackers were trying to access the Gmail accounts of...
First Amendment and cyber bullying
In schools across America, cyber bullying is a growing problem. The case of a Missouri teenager who committed suicide after being bullied online has brought the problem into national debate....
Poland: Discussions of TOR and Internet Filtering
The end of 2009 in Poland was marked with the beginning of a public discussion of on-line privacy, the government's potential attempts to restrict access to websites and a growing...
Iran's Intelligence Ministry listed 60 organizations as ‘soft war’ agents
Recently, a list of 60 organizations was published by Iranian ministry of intelligence with the accusation that they are active in the soft war against Islamic regime in Iran. Any...
New laws for cyber activists
Reports from Iran show that, conditions for cyber activists became much more difficult and dangerous. Recently, Iran’s prosecutor published a list about internet crimes. One of the prominent laws in...
China: the Internet as an ideology battlefield
Xinhua News Agency Outlook Weekly reported on a Teleconference on national law enforcement on 4 of Jan, 2010. The Ministry of Public Security reported in the conference that the police...
Tunisia and Bahrain Block Individual Twitter Pages
First, governments blocked Blogspot. Then they blocked Facebook, and then Twitter. And just when technophiles all over the globe started groaning, a couple of governments got a bit wiser to...
Algeria Joins Filtering Fray
Algeria is the latest Arab country to join the ranks of Internet filterers, leaving only Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and Lebanon without widespread filtering. The first report of a blocked site came about a week ago, when users on Twitter reported www.rachad.org, the site of political movement Mouvement Rachad to be blocked. The sites have since been reported to Herdict.
Egypt: E-mail Monitor officially recognized
While the local and international media are getting more concerned about the Egyptian government's policy in restricting convoys to Gaza Strip, there isn't much information concerning the active monitoring of...
The Metaverse in the Arab World
Virtual worlds are becoming more complex and more intertwined with the actual world. Hence, their influence on real matters is increasing. I am speaking about the programs and games in...
The Internet in post-Saddam Iraq
The status of the Internet in Iraq, regarding both governmental policies and usage, underwent a fundamental change following Saddam Husayn’s deposal in 2003. Still, as is true with so many...
RSF 2009 Review: More than 100 bloggers and cyber-dissidents imprisoned
Reporters Without Borders released its 2009 year-end round-up on on December 30, 2009. There are 151 bloggers and cyber-dissidents arrested, 61 physically assaulted and one died in prison in 2009....
Egypt: In Cairo International Airport …Be Careful if You Are A Blogger!
Meanwhile leading NGOs and studies centers all over the world becoming more interested in listening to the Arab bloggers and their digital activism, the Egyptian bloggers have bad luck in...
