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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 03 Mar 2010
I must be missing something in the debate about three Google executives being convicted in Italy last week.
It seems that the debate is about freedom of speech, and not, as I thought, about the privacy of a tormented child being made public, and the responsibility and accountability of publishers.
What does freedom of speech have to do with a group of children tormenting a disabled child, filming it and then uploading it to a Google site for the world to see?
That child has a right to privacy — and the fact that the tormenting was filmed suggests that the whole point of the bullying was to upload it to the internet.
By convicting the Google executives, Italian judge Oscar Magi has sent a message to internet publishers that this behaviour will not be tolerated. He has also sent a message to teenagers with video cameras.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 03 Mar 2010
ENIOR ministers on Thursday were in apparent disagreement over the extent to which the state-owned company Telecom Cambodia would be able to block access to individual Web sites if it were granted control of the country’s Internet exchange – a move both company and government officials are reportedly looking to implement as soon as possible.
An official from the company on Tuesday said it would seek to block access to Web sites deemed inappropriate for a range of reasons, a statement that drew fresh outcry from representatives of the private telecommunications sector, one of whom said it could be “very dangerous” for the government to filter online content.
However, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith on Thursday said the government had not told Telecom Cambodia that it could play a role in blocking Web sites.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 02 Mar 2010
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would consider introducing an internet ombudsman after Facebook tributes to two dead children were defaced with pornography.
Rudd said he would look into an idea put forward by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon to appoint an official who would be responsible for taking complaints and action against such material.
"We actually need to do everything we can to combat cyber crime," Rudd said.
"The role of cyber crime and internet bullying on children is, frankly, frightening and we need to be deploying all practical measures."
Memorial pages on the social networking site for eight-year-old Trinity Bates and Elliott Fletcher, 12, who were allegedly murdered in separate incidents this month, have been vandalised with offensive material.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 02 Mar 2010
The plan of the Cambodian government to have a state-run exchange point to control all local internet service providers in order to strengthen internet security against pornography, theft and cyber crime is finally underway. However, there seems to be no clear-cut policy on the extent to which Telecom Cambodia, a state-owned company granted with powers to control the internet exchange point, would be able to block access to individual websites.
According the the latest report by Phnom Penh Post, there have been mixed assertions on the authority of the TC. There is also a question whether Cambodia will follow its neighboring countries where internet censorship is being practiced. While the TC's deputy director reportedly claimed that the body can control internet sites, other ministers including the Minister of Information does not endorse this assumption.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 01 Mar 2010
Chinese Internet restrictions have come under increasing scrutiny since Google announced last month that it was no longer willing to censor results on its Chinese-language search engine, Google.cn, and not just from foreign sources.
On Friday, the state-run Global Times, published by the People’s Daily, carried an unusually candid and lengthy discussion of Internet censorship in China in its English edition.
The special report, suggestively titled “Publish and Be Deleted,” looks at how Chinese Web sites are monitored and controlled by the private companies that run them, not shying from some of the trickier issues. To stay in business, Chinese Web site operators not only follow directives from authorities, but also try to preemptively determine what sorts of content would be considered too sensitive for publication.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 01 Mar 2010
The US government’s policy of leaving the Internet alone is over, according to Obama’s top official at the Department of Commerce.
Instead, an “Internet Policy 3.0” approach will see policy discussions between government agencies, foreign governments, and key Internet constituencies, according to Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, with those discussions covering issues such as privacy, child protection, cybersecurity, copyright protection, and Internet governance.
The outcomes of such discussions will be “flexible” but may result in recommendations for legislation or regulation, Strickling said in a speech at the Media Institute in Washington this week.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 01 Mar 2010
Reporters Without Borders condemns university student Ahmed Abdel Fattah Mustafa’s trial by court martial for blogging about army human rights violations. Held incommunicado since his arrest by state security agents on 25 February, he appeared today before a Cairo military court on charges of “publishing false news” and trying to “undermine people’s confidence in the armed forces.” The trial was adjourned.
“Mustafa is a civilian and there are no grounds for trying him before a military court,” Reporters Without Borders said. “These extraordinary judicial proceedings are designed to intimidate anyone who dares to criticise the army. This is further proof of the government’s inability to tolerate sensitive subjects being tackled by bloggers.”
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 26 Feb 2010
Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, was finally freed today along with around 100 ordinary offenders under a presidential pardon issued in honour of Mawlid (the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday).
“We welcome Dehah’s release after eight months of unjustified detention,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The president seems to have heard the appeals from Mauritanian journalists and the international community. We thank them for interceding.”
Dehah’s lawyer, Brahim Ould Ebety, said his client had become an embarrassment for the government. He thanked all those who fought for Dehah’s release and said without them his client would still be in prison.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 25 Feb 2010
ROME — Politicians and Internet activists in Italy have denounced a page on the social networking site Facebook that calls for children with Down Syndrome to be used for target practice.
Police were trying to track down who set up the page, which features a photo of a Down Syndrome baby with the word "idiot" superimposed on it, and by late Sunday had attracted nearly 1,700 members.
The page proposed what it said was "an easy and amusing solution" to get rid of "these foul creatures": use them as targets at shooting centres.
Equality minister Mara Carfagna, promising legal action against those responsible for the page, denouncing it as "unacceptable and dangerous."
A number of rival groups have already been set up on Facebook to denounce the original page, one of which had attracted more than 17,000 members.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 25 Feb 2010
Microsoft has managed to do what a roomful of secretive, three-letter government agencies have wanted to do for years: get the whistleblowing, government-document sharing site Cryptome shut down.
Microsoft dropped a DMCA notice alleging copyright infringement on Cryptome’s proprietor John Young on Tuesday after he posted a Microsoft surveillance compliance document that the company gives to law enforcement agents seeking information on Microsoft users. Young filed a counterclaim on Wednesday — arguing he had a fair use to publishing the document, a full day before the Thursday deadline set by his hosting provider, Network Solutions.
Regardless, Cryptome was shut down by Network Solutions and its domain name locked on Wednesday — shuttering a site that thumbed its nose at the government since 1996 — posting thousands of documents that the feds would prefer never saw the light of day.
