Human Rights
Burma Celebrates Independence Amid Criticism
Burma is marking the 64th anniversary of its independence from Britain Wednesday, amid criticism that the government’s recent clemency program is not doing enough for political prisoners. President Thein Sein, in a statement commemorating independence day, praised the military’s role in bringing about the recent democratic reforms. He said Burma is “marching towards a democratic [...]
Free Speech: Nigerians Protest End to Fuel Subsidy
Protesters in Nigeria marched against a government decision to end a popular consumer fuel subsidy, which has sent prices soaring in the oil-rich nation. Demonstrators in Lagos Tuesday chanted as they carried banners and signs critical of President Goodluck Jonathan. Some protesters went to gas stations to disrupt business. Jonathan has said ending the $7.5 [...]
Media Censorship: Vietnam Writer, Priest Handed Jail Sentences
A court in central Vietnam sentenced a female writer to five years in prison and ordered an activist priest jailed for two years for “activities undermining the state,” official media said Friday. Ho Thi Bich Khuong, 44, was handed three years under house arrest in addition to her five-year sentence, while Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton, [...]
Internet Censorship: China Clamps Down on Microblogs
New microblog rules requiring account holders to use their real names are being rolled out in two other major Chinese cities following the first clampdown on Twitter-like services in Beijing earlier this month. Seven major websites in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, in the southern province of Guangdong, began on Thursday to ask new users to register [...]
Media Censorship: Unrest Spreads In Southern China
Residents protest a power plant they say is polluting their village in China’s Guangdong province. Thousands of angry residents surrounded government buildings and blocked roads in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Tuesday in protest at a coal-fired power plant they say is polluting the environment, officials and protesters said. Police clashed with large [...]
Internet Censorship: Chinese Netizens Jailed for Wedding Video
Chinese authorities move quickly to discourage ‘negative’ postings online. Two men who posted a video of columns of police they said were a guard of honor at a wedding party in the central province of Hunan have been sentenced to five days’ administrative detention for using the Internet to spread rumors and “disturb public order.” [...]
Free Speech: Mass Anti-Government Rallies Spike Across Syria
Large crowds of anti-government protesters poured into the streets of many Syrian towns and cities Friday, heeding calls by opposition leaders to make a show of strength, as Arab League observers pursue their mission. Government forces fired on protesters causing a number of casualties. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the northern Syrian [...]
Internet Censorship: State of the Arms Race Between Repressive Governments and Anti-Censorship Tor Technology
| Sourced from boingboing (Creative Commons) | By Cory Doctorow | Wednesday night’s Chaos Computer Congress (28C3) presentation from Jacob Applebaum and Roger Dingledine on the state of the arms race between the Tor anti-censorship/surveillance technology and the world’s repressive governments was by turns depressing and inspiring. Dingledine and Applebaum have unique insights into the workings [...]
Internet Censorship: Meet Telecomix, The Hackers Bent On Exposing Those Who Censor And Surveil The Internet
| By Andy Greenberg, Forbes Staff | Read the full article on Forbes | One morning in mid-August, seven months into the Arab Spring protests and government crackdowns in which thousands have been killed, something strange happened on Syria’s Internet. As users aimed their Web browsers at Google and Facebook, they instead saw a page [...]
Internet Censorship: How Even Highly-Targeted Censorship Can Lead To Overblocking
By Glyn Moody | Sourced from TechDirt | As the battle rages over SOPA and PIPA, censorship is very much on people’s minds. But there are many different kinds of censorship, operating at different levels of precision. For example, while some forms are crude and inexact, like Homeland Security’s shutdown of 84,000 sites, others are [...]
Internet Censorship: Turkey Blocks Web Pages Touting Darwin’s Evolution Theory
The blocking by Turkish state authorities of Web pages advocating the theory of evolution has put the focus on wider concerns by teachers and academics that the ideas of Darwin increasingly are being undermined by the Islamic-rooted government. Numerous web pages advocating the theory of evolution recently were deemed unsafe for children by Turkey’s regulatory [...]
Internet Censorship: Senator Wyden Demands Answers About Feds’ Seizure Of Dajaz1
| By Mike Masnick | Sourced from TechDirt | If the feds thought that they could seize the Dajaz1.com blog, hold it for a year in secret, then return it and pretend nothing really happened… it appears they may be in for a bit of a surprise. Senator Ron Wyden has begun his investigation into the matter, [...]
