Stories from April, 2009
France: ‘3 Strikes’ Internet piracy law defeated in parliament
France's parliament rejected Hadopi (la Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur internet) bill on Thursday (09.04.2009) with the ruling UMP party failure (21-15)...
Prologue
My name is Tal and I'm proud to join GVA authors’ team. I intend to write about online free speech in Israel as well as Internet Filtering in the MENA...
Moldova: “Grape Revolution” / “Twitter Revolution”
Peaceful protests that took place in Moldova's capital Chisinau on Monday, following the victory of the ruling Communist Party in the April 5 election, turned violent on Tuesday, as protesters stormed and set fire to the parliament building. While it's too early to speak of the outcome of the post-election uprising, one thing is sure: the impact of social media on facilitation and coverage of the protests in Moldova - which is known as "the poorest country in Europe" - has been outstanding.
Egypt: A Blogger Attacked in His House
At noon today, while Egyptian bloggers were in their jobs, or browsing the Internet, a Twitter message reached those following prominent blogger Wael Abbas, which read: My mother and I...
Iran: A blogger freed on bail
According to Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect Bloggers, Esmail Jafari,a journalist and blogger based in the southwestern city of Bushehr was released from Bushehr prison on 18 March.Read...
Iran: Freegate is accessible again
In Donableh we read that Freegate,a software utility that enables surfers from mainland China, Iran, among others, to view websites banned by their government, is once more available for Iranians.
Egypt: A Blogger Disappears After His Release
Although he was released by the Public Prosecutor, Egyptian blogger Abdel Rahman Fares (25 ) is still missing. Fares who blogs at Lesani Howa Qalami (My Tongue is My Pen)...
Zimbabwe: My Blog is Blocked!
On Friday March 20, 2009 the Zimbabwean blog, Peace, love & happiness unto the whole world, was blocked. The author of the blog, Eusebia, wrote a short post about it saying, "I have not idea why my blog is being blocked...I refuse to be censored or cowered into silence by anyone because I know my human right of freedom of expression..."
The Story Behind Vote Report India: Citizen-Powered Election Monitoring
Vote Report India is a collaborative citizen-powered election monitoring platform for the 2009 Indian Lok Sabha elections.
Boycotting Ultraman and SARFT's regulations taking effect
Last week, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT)'s latest regulations demanded that “all movies, T.V soap opera, animation, video documentary could not be uploaded to the Internet...
Cyber Activism And Online Campaigns In The Middle East
Cyber Activism And Online Campaigns In Middle East A presentation describing the current state of cyber activism in the Middle East and highlighting successful online campaigns. It answers the following...
Interview with Robert Guerra about the Freedom on the Net Index
A new report on Internet freedom was launched by Freedom House, an organization which monitors freedom around the world. The "Freedom on the Net" study surveyed 15 countries on the basis of two key components: access to Web and mobile technology and the free flow of information through it. The report covered events that took place in the years 2007 and 2008, identifying new emerging threats to Internet freedom.
Madagascar: Security forces are harassing bloggers and twitterers
Opponents to the Haute Autorite de la Transition (High Authority for the Transition) have been holding daily demonstrations in the Malagasy capital since March 21, 2009. Last saturday's protest was...
China: Tightening control over Internet audio-visual content
Although Youtube has been unblocked, the China administration is determined to control audio and video content circulated in the Internet. On March 30, the State Administration of Radio Film and...
