-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 16 Jul 2010
Regulating internet content today is viewed as an anti-democratic practice but Southeast Asian governments seem able to justify it by invoking the need to save the young from the scourge of indecent sexual behavior.
Indonesia’s plan to filter web of “bad” content through its Multimedia Content Screening team was shelved last February after it was opposed by the public. Today, the proposal is being revived in the wake of a celebrity sex tape scandal which continues to shock both the young and old in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. After enacting an anti-pornography law two years ago, Indonesia now wants to enforce an internet blacklist in response to the demand of conservative voices to protect the morals of the young.
A similar celebrity sex scandal hounded the Philippines last year which paved the way for the passage of an anti-voyeurism law. The internet was also blamed for the instant dissemination of the sex tapes which prodded lawmakers to craft a cybercrime bill.
In Cambodia, the government is proposing to establish a state-run exchange point to control all local internet service providers which is intended to strengthen internet security against pornography, theft and other cybercrimes. The draft regulation is not yet final but it is expected that the government will seriously pursue this measure especially after it recently became almost helpless in stopping the cell phone and internet uploading of an illegally taped video of nude ladies bathing in a monastery.
Southeast Asian governments do no always need sex scandals to censor the web since they can always cite other reasons, like national security, to filter and monitor internet content. For example, Thailand became the first country in the world to shut down 100,000 websites for containing “dangerous” material. It punishes bloggers, writers and website administrators for violating the lese majeste law. Vietnam was accused by Google and McAfee of launching cyber attacks against some websites, specifically websites that advocate opposition to bauxite mining, a controversial issue in the country.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 16 Jul 2010
Reporters Without Borders is concerned about a new crackdown on social-networking tools, especially microblogging services. Dozens of microblog accounts went down yesterday including those of blogger Yao Yuan and lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who was interviewed by the Associated Press. Four of the leading Chinese microblogging services, Netease, Sina, Tencent and Sohu, were yesterday displaying messages saying they were down for maintenance or had inexplicably reverted to an earlier “beta” testing phase.
“This latest censorship attempt shows that the Chinese authorities, who are obsessed with maintaining political stability, mistrust microblogging and its potential for spreading information and mobilising the public,” Reporters Without Borders said.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 14 Jul 2010
BEIJING — Top Chinese social networking sites offering services similar to Twitter have experienced sporadic service disruption in recent days, triggering fears that a government crackdown could be on the way.
Netease.com's service was inaccessible on Wednesday, bearing a notice that said it had been under "maintenance" since the previous evening.
Sohu.com also has confirmed its service was shut down for three days from last Friday, the Beijing Evening News reported.
Sohu's service appeared to be operating normally on Wednesday, as did those of other major Chinese portals such as Tencent.com and Sohu.com.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 14 Jul 2010
BEIJING — A leading Chinese Internet regulator has vowed to reduce anonymity in China's portion of cyberspace, calling for requirements that people use their real names when buying a mobile phone or going online, according to a human rights group.
In an address to the national legislature in April, Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, called for perfecting the extensive system of censorship the government uses to manage the fast-evolving Internet, according to a text of the speech obtained by New York-based Human Rights in China.
China's regime has a complicated relationship with the freewheeling Internet, reflected in its recent standoff with Google over censorship of search results. China this week confirmed it had renewed Google's license to operate, after the company agreed to stop automatically rerouting users to its Hong Kong site, which is not subject to China's online censorship.
The Internet is China's most open and lively forum for discussion, despite already pervasive censorship, but stricter controls could constrain users. The country's online population has surged past 400 million, making it the world's largest.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 13 Jul 2010
Reports from China say a controversial government-backed software project to filter internet content could be on the brink of collapse.
State media said the developer behind the Green Dam Youth Escort software had closed its Beijing project team because of a lack of government funding.
Its partner in Henan said without funding, its team would soon close too.
China had insisted all computers be equipped with the software, but scaled back plans after censorship complaints.
No funding
The Chinese authorities announced last year that all computers sold in China would have to have the software pre-installed from 1 July 2009.
Officials said it would filter out pornographic or violent material, but critics complained that it could also be used to stop Chinese internet users searching for politically sensitive information.
Opponents also raised questions about the apparent monopoly enjoyed by the software providers.
The roll-out was delayed amid strong domestic and international opposition, and officials later said that using the software was optional.
In the end, the Green Dam software was only installed in 20 million computers in internet cafes and schools, state media said.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 13 Jul 2010
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan authorities on Monday accused two people of spreading false rumors about the country's banking system using Twitter.
Luis Enrique Acosta and Carmen Cecilia Nares are suspected of violating a provision in the country's banking laws prohibiting the dissemination of "false information," the attorney general's office said in a statement.
They were detained last week for posting online messages "against the Venezuelan financial system," the statement said, and were later arraigned and released by a court pending legal proceedings.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 12 Jul 2010
Now, I know what I’m thinking about on a Monday morning. Is there anything creepier than a doll? And I say no, nothing is creepier than a doll. Dark alleyways, a creak on the stairs, men with moustaches but not beards, and even clowns pale in the creepiness stakes next to a doll. You find me a doll that doesn’t look like it’s plotting to kill me and I’ll buy you a drink. A long way from the freaking doll, so at least I have a chance of hearing it coming after me.
And even though dolls are the objective measure of all that is evil in the world (remember Robert Shaw in Jaws, explaining that the shark has “a doll’s eyes”?), most of us co-exist with them peacefully. Sure, I’d like them to be outlawed, in that ideal world where I finally fulfil my natural ambition to be a kindly despot, but I’ve learned to live with my limitations in this less-than-ideal world.
But Facebook, luckily for those of us who like to write about this kind of thing, shows no such compunction. Over the weekend, they sent a series of warnings to Victoria Buckley, a jeweller in Sydney. She, for reasons best known to herself, displays her jewellery on highly collectable, extremely expensive, absolutely vile porcelain dolls. They have articulated metal joints, polished nails and realistic nipples (there, right there, is the epitome of why dolls are foul. Realistic tits but metal-jointed arms and legs. Jesus).
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 12 Jul 2010
DEFINE "legitimate''.
Does it mean lawful in a purely legalistic sense? Or perhaps, according to one definition in the Macquarie Dictionary, "of the normal or regular type or kind''?
Then give me a definition of ``normal or regular''. And while you're doing that, try not to be in any way subjective - do not frame your definition from a purely personal perspective of right and wrong, normal or regular. As if.
I can guarantee you the answers would be as broad and varied as the tapestry of Australian society. One woman's normal would be another's aberrant; one man's pornography will be another man's art.
Which brings us, yet again, to the ongoing debate surrounding the Federal Government's planned internet filtering regime: a scheme which would see mandatory filtering of all banned or objectionable content at an Internet Service Provider level.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 12 Jul 2010
The Foreign Ministers of twenty states will meet in Paris in October and then later this year in the Netherlands to agree on common measures that would strengthen freedom of expression on the Internet. These conferences have been decided during a meeting in Paris held last week.
A meeting on the Internet and freedom of expression took place on 8th of July in Paris at the initiative of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen. Held at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the meeting brought together the representatives of 17 governments, as well as those of several NGOs, international organizations and companies.
One of the main issues discussed was the growing Internet censorship efforts observed around the world, especially in countries governed by authoritarian regimes. "Measures are needed," said Mr. Verhagen, who opened the conference. "Authoritarian regimes restrict access to the Internet, censor the content, and even use it to prosecute citizens for their views. But free speech applies everywhere, including on the Internet," he stressed.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 12 Jul 2010
BEIJING — China confirmed Sunday it has renewed Google's license to operate in the world's most populous country, ending a monthslong standoff over Internet censorship.
An official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates Internet operations in China, said the government had approved the license for Beijing Guxiang Information Technology Co. Ltd., the operator of Google's China website, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Officials at Google's U.S.-based headquarters announced Friday that the company had received approval for another year.
China's decision to allow Google to continue operations has resolved a monthslong dispute that had threatened the company's future in the country.
The conflict arose in January when Google decided to end its four-year practice of omitting search results that the Chinese government considers subversive or pornographic. Google made the decision after blaming Chinese computer hackers for an attack it said was aimed at stealing the company's technology and e-mail information from human rights activists.
The ministry official, who was not identified, said Guxiang had agreed to "abide by Chinese law" and "ensure the company provides no lawbreaking content," Xinhua said.
The government website listed Guxiang among some 200 companies whose licenses had been renewed until 2012.
