Posts Tagged ‘internet’
February 1st, 2012
Several Tibetan-language blogs hosted in China are reported to have
gone offline today, amid a period of
severe unrest.
AmdoTibet’s blog section has been temporarily shut down, a message on the site reads, “due to some of the blog users not publishing in accordance with the goal of this site.” Tense events of recent weeks have included a stream of self-immolations in Tibet protesting against Chinese rule, and more recently,
deadly clashes between officials and demonstrators.
January 27th, 2012
Micro-blogging site Twitter last night [26 Jan]
announced it would begin withholding tweets in certain countries, sparking claims of censorship. Prior to this move, Twitter had to remove a Tweet from its global network if it received a government takedown request from a government, but it will now be able to restrict content in a specific country while keeping it available in others. In the interests of transparency, Twitter has also expanded its partnership with the
Chilling Effects website, making it easier to find Twitter takedown notices.
January 6th, 2012
Police in
Iran have begun a heavy clampdown on internet freedom ahead of parliamentary elections in March, as
tighter regulations on internet cafe use are introduced. Under the new rules, cafe owners will have to take the forename, surname, paternal name, national identification number, postcode and telephone number of each customer, along with the date and time of internet use and the addresses of sites visited. Newspaper reports have also suggested plans to launch a national internet network are underway, prompting fears that Iranian web users could be cut off from the World Wide Web.
November 3rd, 2011
Index on Censorship and six other international rights groups call for the five activists known as the UAE 5 to be released from detention and the charges against them to be dropped (more…)
September 16th, 2011
Censors in
Burma this week
unblocked the websites of international media outlets such as the Voice of America (VOA) and the BBC, as well the Democratic Voice of Burma, Radio Free Asia and YouTube. The unannounced move is the latest step taken by the nation’s new leaders to boost hope that authoritarian rule here could be softening. In August, state newspapers
dropped half-page slogans accusing the BBC and VOA of “sowing hatred among the people”.
August 31st, 2011
Internet access in educational institutions
must be under control, said
Belarusian President
Alexander Lukashenko as he addressed educators on 29 August. Lukashenko said they and teachers should pay close attention to communication among young people online, primarily on social networks, which he labelled “a dangerous weapon” that could be used for “destructive purposes.”
August 31st, 2011
Courts in the
Brazilian state of Ceará have
blocked access to 140,000 USD in the accounts of Google Brazil after the internet giant refused to take down a series of blogs with content deemed “offensive” toward the mayor of Várzea Alegre. The blogs in question accuse the mayor of corruption and diverting public funds, although no sources have been cited for the accusations. The mayor has reportedly said the blogs’ anonymous messages smear his image.
August 24th, 2011
Bucking a trend of
official anxiety over the explosive growth of microblogs in the country, Beijing’s Communist Party Chief
urged China’s internet companies to put an end to the spread of fake and harmful information when he visited major internet firm Sina this week. Liu Qi praised the company for its achievements with Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging platform with 200 million registered users, but said internet companies should “step up the application and management of new technology, and absolutely put an end to fake and misleading information.”
