· December, 2010

Stories about Feature from December, 2010

Nepal: Journalist Attacked for International Reporting

  24 December 2010

Nepalese journalist Shreedeep Rayamajhi is an accomplished blogger and journalist, writing for international news organizations such as GroundReport and CNN's iReport.  Rayamajhi writes for prestigious local publications as well, such as the Nepal Travellers Publication, and works for a US-based nonprofit in Kathmandu. Rayamajhi began receiving anonymous e-mail threats for...

Brazil: Parody Blog Censored

  23 December 2010

Brazilian freedom of expression groups, including ARTICLE 19, are organizing a campaign in support of brother bloggers Lino and Mario Bocchini, who have been sued by the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo due to the content disseminated on-line on their blog Falha de Sao Paulo. The Brazilian judiciary issued a provisional decision in the case filed against the blog, ordering its removal from the internet. The blog has been under what the brothers call “censorship” for almost 80 days now.

Mozambique: Controversial SIM card registration

  23 December 2010

Shortly after the September protests in Maputo that were convened by SMS, the Mozambican government issued a Ministerial decree law forcing mobile pre-paid phone users on the country's two networks to register their SIM cards. The process caused protest and has gone slower than the strict law requires.

Venezuela: The bill to regulate internet has been approved

  22 December 2010

On Monday, December 20th, the Venezuelan Parliament passed the bill that gives the Executive the power to regulate all content accessible in Internet within Venezuela. Through an administrative organ, CONATEL, all venezuelan-based ISPs will have the responsibility to block all content that collides with article 28 and 29.

Human Rights Organizations Worldwide Decry Attacks on Freedom of Expression

  16 December 2010

It has been almost two weeks since cablegate.wikileaks.org, the website hosting leaked US diplomatic cables, was taken down, and the right of Wikileaks to publish truthful information was immediately besieged. Since then, human rights organizations around the world have condemned the attacks on WikiLeaks and have raised their voices to protect freedom of expression online.

China: No empty chair allowed online

  11 December 2010

Yesterday Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia could not attend the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway. The Nobel Prize committee reserved an empty chair to symbolize Liu's presence. In order to show their support for Liu and deliver the information about the Nobel Peace Prize across...

Net Neutrality, Spain and Wikileaks

  9 December 2010

Previously, we’ve touched on the the topic of net neutrality , especially neutrality in Spain. Since last September, when Telefonica proposed to Spain’s Telecommunications Market Comission, to eliminate their flat fee and establish 3 tiers of service varying from quality and user’s data usage, things have been moving along.

Tunisia: Censorship Continues as Wikileaks Cables Make the Rounds

  7 December 2010

Tunisian activists pounced on the latest Wikileaks US Embassy Cables, dedicating a new website to republish and discuss the revelations related to their country. Tunileaks, was launched by Nawaat one hour after the whistle-blowing site unleashed the cables on Sunday, November 28th.

Actions to silence Cablegate and Wikileaks, threats against Assange

  5 December 2010

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is in danger and his project Wikileaks is under attack. A week after the release of the largest number of classified information, the CableGate, prominent politicians even expressed their wish to “hunt him” or see him “executed“. The reactions are beautifully summarized by OpenDemocracy: As international...

YouTube adds HTTPS; Syrians, Tunisians gain access, but…!

  1 December 2010

HTTPS has been in the news quite a bit lately; first, because of Firesheep, a program that allows users on open WiFi networks to sniff cookies and effectively hijack users’ social networking connections if they're not using HTTPS.  As a result, a campaign has emerged to call on companies to...