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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 24 Sep 2009
Reporters Without Borders today pledged its backing to independent news website Malaysiakini which has decided to resist an order to remove two news videos judged to be “offensive” by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.
The commission told the website in a letter on 3 September that it considered the two film clips “offensive” and “intended to upset people, and particularly the Indians”. The penalty for refusing to comply is a fine of 50,000 ringgit (14,325 dollars) and one year in prison.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 22 Sep 2009
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski delivered Monday on President Obama’s promise to back “net neutrality.” But he went much further than merely seeking to expand rules that prohibit ISPs from filtering or blocking net traffic — he proposed that they cover all broadband connections, including data connections for smartphones.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 22 Sep 2009
Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy responds to criticisms that the proposed “mandatory voluntary” Internet filter would try to block BitTorrent and other P2P programs, though is a complete reversal from earlier statements.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 22 Sep 2009
The Chinese government has been trying to play Big Brother to its 1.3 billion citizens ever since the creation of the internet. In 2006, the Golden Shield Project (aka The Great Firewall of China) was completed and came under scrutiny as the world turned its eyes to China for the 2008 Olympics. This year called for the implementation of the Green Dam, a project that was put on hold after worldwide criticism. The project originally decreed that all PCs and new software must include an internet filtering system, aimed at protecting the nation's youth from pornographic sites.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 22 Sep 2009
Since the Law No. 5651 entitled Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publication came into force in November 2007, access to a considerable number of foreign websites including popular websites such as YouTube, Geocities, DailyMotion, WordPress, Google Groups, and Google Sites have been blocked from Turkey under the provisions of this law by court orders and administrative blocking orders issued by the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB). [Blog entry by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz]
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 21 Sep 2009
By day, he writes for a pro-government newspaper. After work, he becomes El Mouhtarem, author of one of the most popular political blogs in Algeria.
Until now, El Mouhtarem, who keeps his real name secret to avoid retaliation by the authorities, and his readers have been free to comment on issues that few in the mainstream Algerian media would touch. While he has received anonymous death threats, there have been no attempts by the government to censor his blog, “Algérie-politique.”
A measure likely to be approved this month or in October, however, would bring Internet users under closer scrutiny, and bloggers like El Mouhtarem are nervous. The measure ostensibly aims at cyberterrorism and cybercrime, but critics say that it is vague and could be used to muzzle free speech.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 21 Sep 2009
In a move to make good on one of President Obama’s campaign promises, Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will propose Monday that the agency expand and formalize rules meant to keep Internet providers from discriminating against certain content flowing over their networks, according to several officials briefed on his plans.
In 2005, the commission adopted four broad principles relating to the idea of network neutrality as part of a move to deregulate the Internet services provided by telephone companies. Those principles declared that consumers had the right to use the content, applications, services and devices of their choice using the Internet. They also promoted competition between Internet providers.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 21 Sep 2009
The repressive mentality that imbues France’s anti-piracy bill, even its new version, could jeopardise access to information when alternative ways exist to protect literary and artistic creation, Reporters Without Borders said today. The bill is being rushed thought parliament with the support of President Sarkozy, who has said he wants to “go all the way” with it.
The new version, dubbed “HADOPI 2” after the acronym of the special agency it would create, the High Authority for the Dissemination of Creative Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (HADOPI), was passed by the National Assembly on 15 September after the original version, “HADOPI 1,” was thrown out by the Constitutional Council in June.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 18 Sep 2009
TORONTO — It's not really up to the government to block access to pornography on computers at schools and libraries, Ontario's premier said Wednesday, amid a push for mandatory Internet filtering software to protect children across the province.
Premier Dalton McGuinty, who said he wasn't ready to commit to any new filters, said he believed that responsibility really should fall on parents themselves.
"You've got to take a personal interest in the technology in your home, you've got to understand what they've (your kids) got access to, there are certain kinds of filters that you can put in place," he said.
"It's really important for us not to devolve that responsibility to any authority or government."
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 18 Sep 2009
Countries around the world are steadily rolling out filtering systems which block citizens from viewing child abuse imagery. With the United Kingdom and New Zealand with independent filters in place, and Australia potentially soon after, Internet censorship is becoming common practice across the world.
What many don’t realise is the true extent of governmental filtering across the web.
I take on two perspectives here. One, I am a godfather of two beautiful little children which I would gladly take a bullet for. Two, I worked albeit for a relatively short time in the child protection sphere. While children frankly drive me up the wall, my views and opinions on keeping them safe could well be considered controversial to the vast majority of Republicans and Daily Mail readers.
