Index on Censorship is extremely concerned about the reported extent of mass surveillance of both meta data and content, resulting from the alleged tapping into underwater cables that carry national and international communications traffic.
Index calls on the UK government to clarify the extent and legality of the alleged surveillance by GCHQ. Index believes that GCHQ is circumventing laws such as the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to allow surveillance that undermines the human rights of British and other citizens.
Index CEO Kirsty Hughes said:
“The mass surveillance of citizens’ private communications is unacceptable – it both invades privacy and threatens freedom of expression. The government cannot continue to cite national security as a justification without revealing the extent of its intrusion and the legal basis for collecting data on this scale. Undermining freedom of expression through mass surveillance is more likely to endanger than defend our security.”
Index is calling on the British government to:
• Confirm whether GCHQ is undertaking the mass surveillance of meta data and content by tapping into communications cables
• Clarify which laws are being used to authorise the collection of data by this method and on this scale
• Commit to protecting the right to privacy and to freedom of expression of people living in the UK and beyond
Tunisian rapper Alaa Yacoub has been sent two prison for two years for an anti-police song. Sara Yasin reports
The rapper, who performs under the name Weld 15, has been accused of threatening police officers with a song he posted online called Boulicia Kleb (the police are dogs).
Yacoub was in hiding when he was initially sentenced to two years in prison in March. The rapper came out of hiding for his one-day retrial earlier this month in Tunis, in the hopes that he would receive a more relaxed sentence for turning himself in,according to the BBC.
In the video, Yacoub sings that “he would like to slaughter a police officer instead of sheep at Eid al-Adha”. In response to accusations that he was “inciting violence against the police”, Yacoub told Nawaat in March that he was “subject to all forms of police violence: physical and verbal. As an artist, I can only answer them through my art: aggressive art.”
The charges brought against Yacoub were brought under “anti-free speech laws inherited from the dictatorship era”, according to Index contributor Afef Abrougi. Anyone violating Article 128 of Tunisia’s Penal Code could face up to two years in prison for “accusing without proof a public official.”
INDEX POLICY PAPER Is the EU heading in the right direction on digital freedom?
While in principle the EU supports freedom of expression, it has often put more emphasis on digital competitiveness and has been slow to prioritise and protect digital freedom, Brian Pellot, digital policy advisor at Index on Censorship writes in this policy paper
(Index on Censorship)
BOSNIA Bosnians protest as political stalemate leads to infant death
In the shadow of events in Turkey and Brazil, Bosnians have been taking to the streets. For over a week, citizens of the small Balkan country have been protesting their leaders’ failure to pass a new law on citizen identification numbers, leaving babies unable to travel for medical care. Milana Knezevic writes
(Index on Censorship)
BRAZIL Unity in defense of freedom of expression of working-class and youth organisations
The right wing is attempting to co-opt the huge demonstrations of the last few days by introducing a bias towards nationalism, against corruption, against PEC 37, etc. There have also been some placards against abortion, for a military coup, and for Joaquim Barbosa (President of the Supreme Court who condemned the PT leaders without evidence in Criminal Case 470) to become the new president of the republic.
(In Defense of Marxism)
CHINA Weibo Censors Difficult to Detect
For Tea Leaf Nation, Jason Ng claims that Sina Weibo’s censorship has become increasingly opaque in the past months with the reduction of keyword blocks that allow one to easily discern banned search terms. Now, users can find previously banned terms like Xi Jinping or even June 4th, but the search yields “sanitized” results.
(China Digital Times)
GLOBAL Net censorship may backfire
The impulse to protect our children is universal and for so long now filtering or blocking certain Internet sites has been a part of that. There are strong justifications for this, of course. While the Internet is a valuable tool for both information and communication, there is much that it offers is of no value to anyone and considerable potential harm.
(Arab News)
JAPAN ‘Hate speech’ in the media, but not the legal code
This writer, on previous occasions, has expressed irritation over the recent tendency for the vernacular media to rely heavily on English borrowings for neologisms with socially negative connotations, such as sexual harassment, stalking and domestic violence — to name three examples.
(The Japan Times)
MACEDONIA Macedonia must not silence critical media, UN expert says
Macedonia must allow space for critical media, Frank La Rue, UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of expression said on June 21 2013, saying the closure of a television station and some newspapers in 2011 sends worrying signals about free expression in the country.
(The Sofia Globe)
UNITED KINGDOM In Britain, a debate over freedom of the tweet
After the recent slaying of a British soldier in a suspected Islamist extremist attack, angry social media users took to Twitter and Facebook, with some dispatching racially and religiously charged comments. For at least a half-dozen users, their comments landed them in jail.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Free speech on the Strip
Some good news on the free speech front: Clark County government now has a hands-off approach on protests, demonstrations and political expression.
(Las Vegas Review Journal)
