Content submitted by Mary tagged with "censorship"

Inside Out: How Tibet Showed the Cracks in the Great Firewall of China

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 21/03/2008 at 21:14

Last week, as protest rocked Tibet, the news was not only of the protests themselves but also of the role of the Internet in bringing news of those protests to a global audience. However, it was unclear whether the overall Internet story was hopeful or pessimistic. Did the Tibet case show critical weaknesses in the ability of China to control the Internet or was it just another story of oppression and censorship?

On one hand, the protests demonstrated the capacity of native and expatriate Tibetans, as well as foreign tourists, to use the Internet to get news of the protest

(Read more)
Tags:

Tibetans Use the Internet to Get the News Out

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 17/03/2008 at 13:25

Last week hundreds of Tibetan monks took to the streets in and near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa to protest Chinese rule. Although the heavily censored Chinese media refused to cover the story, both Tibetans and foreign tourists used the Internet to get the news out.


cell phone image of protests published on the site of a Tibetan rights NGO based in India

According to the Vancouver Sun, “Amateur cellphone photos and video clips showing what were described as confrontations between police and Tibetans protesting Chinese rule poured onto websites big and small, including those for major news media,

(Read more)
Tags:

In Saudi Arabia, Fouad is Still in Prison

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 10/03/2008 at 21:14

I've been blogging a lot recently about Fouad Mourtada, the young Moroccan man sentenced to three years in jail for posting a joke profile of the King's brother on Facebook.

Yet there is another Fouad - Fouad Alfarhan - who has been in jail for three months with no release imminent. Fouad, who is a politically vocal blogger, was arrested on December 10th, and an online campaign to free him started soon after.

However, when President Bush visited Saudi Arabia in mid-January, Fouad's wife asked the people taking part in the campaign to back down, fearing that the campaign

(Read more)
Tags:

Sign the Petition to Free Fouad Mourtada

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 27/02/2008 at 13:17

Last Friday, Moroccan computer engineer Fouad Mourtada was sentenced to 3 years in jail for posting a fake profile of Prince Rachid (the King of Morocco's brother).

His sister Amina has set up a web page www.helpfouad.com to push for the decision to be reversed. Part of this effort (more actions to come) is a petition to free Fouad.

Please click the image below to sign the petition:

Tags:

What Exactly Happened to the Burmese Internet?

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 23/10/2007 at 16:16
Wondering exactly how the Burmese government sent down the country's whole Internet structure?  Then check out this new report from the OpenNet Initiative, available for download here.
Tags:

How YOU Can Evade Internet Censorship

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 11/10/2007 at 10:29

 

                        

One of the most serious limitations on the ability of activists to use the Internet to organize for political change is that freedom of the Internet is inversely proportional to political oppression. That is, the greater the need for Internet organizing methods, the less the ability of activists to make use of those tools.

In short, It is most difficult to use the Internet for activism in countries in which that activism is most necessary. This is no coincidence, of course. Censorship or control of the Internet is part of the overall repression policy of autocratic governments who feel the

(Read more)
Tags:

When Autocrats Prohibit It, You Know it Must be Good

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 04/10/2007 at 18:25

The exile site Irrawaddy.com posted these images e-mailed from those still in Burma

 

I wish I had more time and knowledge to devote to the shutting down of the Internet and phone lines in Burma (Myanmar). As the New York Times reports, until last Friday, text messages, cell phone and digital camera images, and e-mail accounts were pouring out of Burma showing in vivid detail how the Burmese government is repressing the pro-democracy rallies there. Even as a means of information (the article does not mention that there tools are bring used to organize the protests), the Internet and

(Read more)
Tags:

Anti-Censorship Video

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 05/09/2007 at 23:49

Here's an older video from last December of an episode of Al Jazeera's "The Listening Post." It's about Internet censorship and how to evade it by using tools like Psiphon. My talented colleagues at the Citizen Lab, Ron Deibert and Nart Villeneuve, talk about their product and I give a short comment about the role of business in the last 40 seconds.

Tags:

The Internet That Was

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 21/08/2007 at 15:11

Why do people want to be "on the Internet?" One of the main reasons is simple freedom. The Internet is a rare example of a true, modern, functional anarchy. There is no "Internet Inc." There are no official censors, no bosses, no board of directors, no stockholders.

Today that paragraph, written in 1993, seems naive and ill-informed. There certainly are censors on the Internet. Look at China and Saudi Arabia. While there is no "Internet Inc." the Internet is most certainly a commercial entity with its associated "bosses," "boards of directors" and "stockholders." I am not just talking about the

(Read more)
Tags:

Chinese Activists in Xiamen Organize Online

Posted by Mary in ZapBoom on 06/07/2007 at 11:55

A man (center) wears a gas mask to protest a proposed toxic chemical plant in Xiamen

 

Despite the fact that China has the most elaborate system of internet censorship in the world, creative Chinese activists are still finding ways to use the medium for political activism.

On June 1, one million residents of coastal Xiamen protested against the proposed construction of a toxic chemical plant near the city center. Cell phones and the internet made it possible. The Chinese blogger collective Bullog used the internet and SMS to promote the event.

Because the state-controlled media refused to broadcast details of

(Read more)
Tags:

1 | 2 Next Last