Censorship in America

For a while, it seemed that the hacker group with the silly name was running rings around the FBI. In the end, however, it appears it was the FBI running the show. In the summer of 2011, LulzSec – supposedly short for “Lulz Security” – erupted out of nowhere and began a flashy string of [...]

Several alleged leaders of the international hacking organization “Anonymous” are not anonymous anymore. U.S. officials Tuesday announced the arrests of six high-profile hackers, including Hector Xavier Monsegur. Documents filed in a federal court in New York indicate that Monsegur, known in the hacking community as “Sabu,” cooperated with the investigation, leading to the arrests. The [...]

Tightened press controls followed official concerns about ‘Jasmine’ uprisings. China has fallen once again in world press freedom rankings, following a year marked by crackdowns around the world, the Paris-based press monitor Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in an annual report. “Control of news and information continued to tempt governments and to be a question [...]

A Mogadishu radio-station director has became the third Somali journalist killed in as many months. The death underscores the constant threat against journalists working in the war-torn country. Abukar Hassan Mohamoud is the latest journalist to be killed in the bullet-ridden Somali capital, Mogadishu. Witnesses say unidentified gunmen assassinated the Somaliweyn radio station director late [...]

Russia’s protest movement grew and got organized with speed that startled many in the political establishment. Russia’s uncensored Internet allows people to communicate, coordinate and raise money for rallies, all through their computers. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is running for president in elections March 4. His campaign website photos show him skiing, skating and fighting [...]

Just What, If Anything, Did Wednesday’s Protest Achieve? Not content to leave the battle un-joined, the hacker group Anonymous stepped into the SOPA fray Thursday evening by launching a massive denial of service attack on several SOPA supporters, including Universal Music, the RIAA and MPAA. Also targeted was the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. [...]

Joss Wright, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, speaks to RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz about the possible impact of the Megaupload copyright case on Internet freedoms around the world. RFE/RL: The U.S. government shut down the file-sharing websites of Megaupload on grounds of copyright infringement [...]