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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 02 Jun 2010
BEIJING — Google's recent clash with Chinese authorities over censorship highlighted the limitations of the world's largest Internet market. But it also overshadowed a reality often missed by the West: China's Web gives citizens the ability to sound off in ways never possible before under a Communist system that restricts freedom of expression.
A generation of netizens is emerging that is worldly, informed and willing to take pokes at the government. "The Internet has taught the Chinese youth egalitarian values," said Lisa Li, founder of China Youthology, which examines the attitudes and beliefs of those ages 15 to 25.
There is a significant amount of online freedom, said Guobin Yang, assistant professor at Barnard College in New York City and author of "The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online. "In the past year, the nation's top leaders have held unfiltered Internet chats with netizens. (Premier) Wen Jiabao held a two-hour session with Internet people. He responded to all kinds of questions. They raised very challenging questions. People were very critical of him. It shows how important the Internet is and how the government is paying close attention to it."
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 01 Jun 2010
Regulators yesterday "temporarily" blocked access to Facebook, a popular social networking site.
The decision came after the arrest of a youth for uploading satiric images of some politicians, including the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
The government did not make any official statement yet, but sources in Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said part of the reason is the posting of some anti-religious and porn links by users across the globe.
"We have blocked all access to Facebook temporarily," said a high official of BTRC. "It was done in line with a decision of government high-ups."
In a late-night development, a group of Dhaka University students took to the streets to protest the government's decision.
In instant reactions to The Daily Star yesterday evening, IT experts criticised the government for the move.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 01 Jun 2010
The attack by Israel on a flotilla of ships approaching Gaza has, as you'd expect, generated a huge response on social media - and of course Twitter, with its real-time content, was quick to react.
Many users began the morning by tagging their comments about it with "#flotilla" - a "hashtag" which gives a structure to a discussion or emerging event, as you can filter searches in applications such as Tweetdeck so that you only see those with that tag.
But at around 11am, as #flotilla began "trending" - rising to the topmost-used hashtags on the service - it seemed to vanish.
Was this censorship by Twitter? Quite a few asked the question.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 01 Jun 2010
A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities to restore the Facebook social networking site.
The court had ordered the blocking of the site after a petition was filed against a competition featuring caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 01 Jun 2010
Bangladesh blocked Facebook over the weekend, leaving the social networking site marooned from another tranche of Muslim users even as Pakistan largely restored access to the site.
The latest action against the site is, again, down to the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" group. Depictions of the prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims. The group had prompted a total ban on Facebook in Pakistan two weeks ago.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 01 Jun 2010
South Africa, which has spent decades fighting repressive racial laws, wants to bring in a raft of sexual laws instead based around a firewall similar to that which is used in China and is mooted in Australia.
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By: Rebekah Heacock
Date: 01 Jun 2010
The recent Israeli attack on a flotilla of aid-worker ships in Gaza prompted a huge response on Twitter, but many users are now accusing the social media website of censoring material relating to the event.
Users began using the hashtag #flotilla with their reports and comments about the Gaza incident, which allows others to sort and search through results based on the topic, similar to other forms of web tagging. However, it was reported that at around 11am GMT the popular hashtag stopped working, resulting in numerous Twitter errors.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 May 2010
Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior plans to disallow the BlackBerry Messenger service, possibly within the next few days, according to Arab News.
An unnamed security official explained that because the service cannot be controlled by the Ministry of Communications or service authorities, users were abusing the service by spreading rumors and/or calling for strikes.
The Ministry reportedly came to the decision following meetings and studies conducted over the last two weeks. But the country’s three telecoms have not yet reported an official requested from governmental officials on the ban.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 May 2010
Google has hit back at Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's criticism of its record on privacy, questioning his commitment to plans to censor the internet.
The communications minister also came under fire more broadly on Tuesday after accusing the internet giant of being responsible for the "single greatest breach in the history of privacy".
The attack on Google and its chief executive during a Senate hearing on Monday night comes after the company criticised the government's plans to introduce a mandatory internet filter.
// But the company responded to the latest round in the debate by questioning Senator Conroy's own commitment to the filter policy.
"We were surprised to hear more discussion about Google and Facebook than about the actual proposed filter," a spokeswoman said in a statement.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 May 2010
TUNIS (AP) - Witnesses say the security forces moved to prevent a planned demonstration by internet users against the blocking of access to internet sites.
There was a strong police presence in the main avenue of the capital and adjoining streets Saturday, after a demonstration was announced in recent days via sites including Twitter and Facebook.
One of the protest organisers, opposition journalist and blogger Soufiane Chourabi, said the protesters had planned to march, wearing T-shirts with slogans such as "Lift the lockdown of the internet", to the Ministry of Communications. He said organisers had applied to the Interior Ministry for permission to hold the demonstration, but received no reply.
Internet users report that previously sporadic blocking of internet sites to users within Tunisia greatly intensified in April.
