-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 16 Aug 2009
CAIRO: Minister of Communication and Information Technology Tarek Kamel reversed Thursday a decision to limit internet downloads for DSL and ADSL subscribers.
The minister said that restriction — labeled the fair access policy (FAP) — will only be applied on news subscribers for a two-month trial period, and will not have retroactive effects on current subscribers.
The decision comes after a campaign, led by internet users and cyber cafés owners, rallied online support and organized street protests against the FAP.
-
By: Jillian C. York
Date: 16 Aug 2009
The A Nova Corja blog [The New Scum, pt], a symbol of independent and investigative journalism on the Brazilian blogosphere, has published a farewell post [pt]. On August 6th, the last remaing blogger of the group, Rodrigo Alvares, announced that he has decided to close the blog down due to professional commitments and a consequent lack of time to carry on posting as much as he would like to.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 14 Aug 2009
In the Australian Federal Government's latest assault on the internet, draft legislation has been released that allows network operators to intercept communications to ensure that their networks are being 'appropriately used.' Such legislation is particularly important given the interference of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy in a recent copyright lawsuit against iiNet, one of the largest ISPs in the country. Conroy called prominent filtering opponent iiNet's inaction over copyright infringement 'stunning,' whereas iiNet claimed that it would be illegal under current Australian law to intercept its users' downloads. While this latest legislation appears to be a concession of that point, the government is said to be watching the case closely and along with attempts to introduce a three-strikes law in Australia, it appears the law will be changed if the government dislikes the outcome of the case. The internet villain of the year just continues to earn his title.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 14 Aug 2009
The U.S. government is covertly testing technology in China and Iran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet.
The "feed over email" (FOE) system delivers news, podcasts and data via technology that evades web-screening protocols of restrictive regimes, said Ken Berman, head of IT at the U.S. government's Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is testing the system.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 14 Aug 2009
Iraqis including journalists, writers and booksellers demonstrated in central Baghdad on Friday against what they say is state censorship.
The protest came as the Iraqi government considers banning some websites and after the imposition of book censorship rules. Journalists also object to draft legislation they say leaves them exposed to government interference in their profession.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 13 Aug 2009
China's industry minister Li Yizhong said Thursday that China won't force the mass installation of the Green Dam Internet filtering software on personal computers and other consumer products.
China will continue to install the software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, on computers at schools, in Internet cafes, and other public places, Mr. Li added.
Mr. Li's comments are China's most clear climb-down to date on the issue, after its plan to require the software to be shipped with all computers sold in China were delayed indefinitely in June.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 13 Aug 2009
The Chinese government is scaling back plans for compulsory net filtering for all citizens.
China's minister of industry, information and technology said Green Dam Filtering software would be compulsory for all computers in schools and public internet cafes, but not for individual PCs.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 12 Aug 2009
Websense has blocked two ISPs in Yemen from receiving updates after it emerged that they were using its filtering technology in a government-mandated censorship scheme.
The OpenNet Initiative, a pressure group that identifies and documents Internet filtering and surveillance, found that YemenNet and TeleYemen/Y.Net were using Websense's web filtering technology to restrict access to content, including independent news and political opposition sites (during 2006 elections, at least). The censorship was haphazard and inconsistent, not least because YemNet (the bigger of the two ISPs) purchased an insufficiently large user license, a report from ONI published last week reports. Yemen has around 150,000 internet users, mostly in businesses and schools.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 12 Aug 2009
Malaysia yesterday backtracked from a controversial plan to filter the Internet, with Prime Minister Najib Razak saying the government never wanted to impose curbs on cyberspace.
The U-turn was made after complaints by netizens and the political opposition that the move is ultimately targeted at dissent, and not just pornography as claimed by officials.
"Up till now, there is no change in the government's Internet policy," he told reporters after attending an official event.
His position differed from that taken by Information Minister Rais Yatim just hours earlier, who confirmed media reports that the government wanted to censor the Internet.
-
By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 12 Aug 2009
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who granted the Internet its Malaysian “bill of rights” is the most outspoken defender of the rights and has spoken out fiercely at past and recent attempts to curb the freedom of what goes on in cyberspace.
IT MUST have been a relief to many, probably to most Malaysians, that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak put his foot down on attempts to limit Internet access. For a while there many people thought that finally those who had always wanted to firewall certain sites of the Internet are getting their way – that the government had finally given in to demands that it break its own pledge never to censor the Internet.
