Stories about Feature from November, 2010
Egypt: Facebook Disables Popular Anti-Torture Page
Update 1: The deactivated page is back. According to an email received by the page admin, “After reviewing your situation, we have reinstated the page, and you should now be...
Iran: We are all Computer Criminals
Iran's government has a law at its disposal that make it possible to label almost any Internet user a criminal. The “Law of Computer Crimes” (one law with 56 articles)...
Syria: New e-Publishing Law Announced
A new e-publishing law in Syria is now in its final stages for approval. The law has received considerable coverage since the drafting started in early 2010. The detail of...
Egypt: A Facebook User in A Military Court
Many of Egyptian Facebook users are both surprised and outraged by the military trial of one of them; Ahmad Hassan Bassiouny, is one of the 2.4 million Egyptians on Facebook,...
Iran: World's Youngest Detained Blogger on Trial
The Iranian government is not only world-class when it comes to persecuting bloggers, they have also set numerous records: from the first jailed blogger in history, to the first blogger...
Azerbaijan: ‘Donkey bloggers’ released
Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two video blogging youth activists, were conditionally released late this week in Azerbaijan, the oil-rich former Soviet republic. However, both men maintain their innocence while international human rights groups and organizations consider the charges against them to be politically motivated.
China: Activist sentenced to 1 year labour re-education for political satire
According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders’ tweet human rights activist Wang Yi, real name Cheng Jianping 程建萍, was sentenced to one year labour re-education for forwarding a political satire post...
Palestinian blogger arrested for criticism of Islam on Facebook
Palestinian blogger, Waleed Khalid Hasayin (pen name: Waleed Al-Husseini), a 26-year-old barber from the West Bank city of Qalqilya, has been arrested by the Palestinian authorities for creating a facebook...
Egypt: Netizen Facing Military Trial for Creating Facebook Page
Update 1: On November 30th, 2010, the military court sentenced Ahmed to 6 months imprisonment for broadcasting secrets of defense on Facebook. For the second time in Egypt an internet...
Cuba: Telecommunications, Internet Access, and US-Cuba Policy
US-based and US-affiliated telecom companies, which is to say, nearly all telecoms that offer service in the Caribbean, face severe restrictions in the US- Cuba embargo legislation, and this has put Cuba in a fundamental disadvantage for decades when it comes to telecommunications. The blogosphere reacts
Chiapas: Warrantless arrest of Free Software activist
Chiapas was a pioneer in the use of digital activism by grassroots social movements. It started in 1994 with the Zapatista movement and it keep growing to become a tool of empowerment beyond the rebels. It provides alternative digital media - newspapers and radio - it helps Chiapanecos develop their own software - they even have hackerspaces in autonomous communities such as Oventik and Tzajala - and their digital communities are growing as you can see in the Chiapatuit, Fedora and Free Software community.
Thailand now blocking 277,610 websites
Conservative, Royalist Manager media network published the first govt announcement of further Internet censorship since July. Buried in Manager’s propaganda, we learn that the new Army commander has signed a memorandum of understanding with the ICT minister and the ministers of justice and culture. The MOU specifies 43,000 new websites to be blocked immediately and 3,000 pending for lèse majesté content.
Peru: Blogger Sentenced for Defamation of Former Politician
On Friday, October 29th, the court's sentence was handed down for the offensive libel suit brought by the former government minister and parliament member Jorge Mufarech Nemy against the law school graduate and blogger José Alejandro Godoy. The judge's ruling calls for a suspended sentence of three years imprisonment, commuted to a three-year probation as long as Godoy fulfills additional obligations: a payment of 350 thousand soles (approx. $125,000) and 120 days of community service. The reaction from the media and bloggers has been immediate.
China: Blacklisting netizens
Shanghai government has blacklisted 80 netizens and exposed their user names and IPs on the Expose Channel of Shanghai Internet Social Credit Investigation Web. Most of the listed netizens are...
Turkey Unblocks YouTube, but Will Ban Be Short-Lived?
YouTube has been banned in Turkey since 2007. Now, for the first time in two years, the popular video-sharing site is once again accessible in Turkey. Since the site was unblocked, however, videos that were the initial impetus for the censorship have been restored. Will the unblocking be short-lived or will Turkey stand by this step toward Internet freedom?
