Index has launched a petition calling on European Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. Add your voice
#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)
BAHRAIN
Prominent Bahrain blogger arrested: Activist
The massive street demonstrations that roiled Brazil last month have eased but more radical groups are coming to the fore and resorting to violence.
(Strat Risks)
BRAZIL
Brazil’s social unrest easing but turning more radical
A rights activist in Bahrain says authorities have arrested a prominent blogger just days after warning of harsher measures against anti-government protesters in the violence-wracked Gulf kingdom.
(Ahram Online)
CHINA
Singer’s Arrest in China Fires Free Speech Debate
Hours after a man with long-running grievances against officialdom set off a homemade explosive at Beijing’s airport, a singer-songwriter turned to the Internet to release her own sarcastic wish list of to-be-bombed targets.
(ABC News)
China dismisses allegations over obstruction of Google’s Gmail service
Chinese authorities say Google’s claims that they are to blame for technical problems with the Gmail are ‘unacceptable’
(The Guardian)
GERMANY
How Hollywood bowed to the wishes of Hitler
A Harvard film scholar has revealed in terrifying detail how Hollywood was at the whim of the Nazis throughout the 1930s – censoring films and dropping others in a sinister collaboration with Hitler.
(The Daily Mail)
GLOBAL
The Picket Fenced Internet: Why Free Communication Is Over…If It Ever Existed?
The most harrowing realization of Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks is that the World Wide Web is no longer free.
(Huffington Post)
PAKISTAN
‘The biggest form of blasphemy we commit is to force another to live in fear’
YouTube has been blocked in Pakistan since September 2012 for hosting the “blasphemous” Innocence of Muslims film. But now the country’s parliament has been asked to define what actually constitutes blasphemy. Here are some suggestions to get them going
(Index on Censorship)
RUSSIA
Videotaped Bullying Of Gay Russian Youths Highlights Growing Homophobia
Some show youths being forced to drink urine, or having it poured over their heads. Others show young men being taunted with phallic sex toys, threatened with axes, and forced to carry wooden crucifixes.
(Radio Free Europe)
Russia’s anti-internet piracy law faces backlash
It’s championed by some as a new weapon to defend content-makers, decried by others as a blunt tool that could extend censorship of the net.
(BBC)
SOUTH AFRICA
SA’s outdated censorship legislation
Cracks cobwebbing across the broken screen of his tablet PC seem a metaphor for the stormy greeting given film maker Jahmil XT Qubeka’s third feature, Of Good Report.
(Financial Mail)
UNITED KINGDOM
Free speech is a bitter Twitter privilege
For too long the trolls have hidden behind cowardly anonymity in a virtual world they believe to be free of consequence
(The Daily Mirror)
Cameron Looks to China to Supply Europe’s First Internet Censorship Wall in Britain
So David Cameron’s government has finally laid his cards on the table. Getting the press and the public to comply with the draconian Leveson Star Chamber’s clampdown on freedom of expression and information was a hard sell, to say the least.
(21st Century Wire)
Ex-Tory treasurer Peter Cruddas wins £180,000 libel award
Billionaire businessman also awarded interim costs of £500,000 against The Sunday Times
(The Independent)
Twitter Abuse Isn’t a Censorship or Freedom of Speech Issue, It’s a Human Issue
Imagine you’re queuing up for a coffee. You order, and pull out a £10 note with which to pay. “Wouldn’t it be great to have a woman on a banknote?” you might remark as you hand it to the barista. “F*ck you, you f***ing sl*t,” he snarls back. “I’m going to wait for you outside later and rape you.” What do you do? Cry? Run away? Look around for help? Let’s say you look around for help. You turn to the woman standing next to you.
(Huffington Post)
UNITED STATES
Keller lawsuit vs. gamer EA Sports, NCAA clears major hurdle
Free speech – at least in the world of video games – took a hit Wednesday in the ongoing battle regarding player likenesses.
(CBS Sports)
No, the IRS Did Not Target Progressives Like It Targeted Conservatives
NPR’s politics blog has published a chart — compiled from a House Ways and Means staff analysis — of the different levels of IRS targeting between conservative and progressive groups. Bottom line? Far more conservative groups faced IRS scrutiny, they faced more questions, and were approved at a much lower rate than progressives. The chart is based on the IRS’s now-discredited “BOLO” (be on the lookout) lists.
(American Center for Law and Justice)
Does chief have right to post profane gun videos?
Police Chief Mark Kessler of Gilberton, Schuylkill County, has come under fire after posting profanity-laced videos on YouTube. Some have argued it’s a free-speech issue. Others have said it’s outrageous behavior for a police chief who is also a school board member. Reporter Nicole Radzievich” talks with two people with opposing viewpoints.
(The Morning Call)
Your free speech right comes with a hefty price tag these days’
They used to say freedom of the press belongs to those who can afford to own one. Perhaps, we should now say the right to exercise your free speech rights before local government agencies belongs only to those who can afford to pay for sending out public notices.
(4th ST8)
ACLU says begging is ‘free speech’
Calling the statute an infringement on free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union wants a federal judge to block police in Arizona from enforcing a law making begging a crime.
(Maricopa Monitor)
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Asianet-Pakistan / Shutterstock.com
This article was originally published at Dawn.com
Dear Parliamentarians,
I write to you in the hope of assisting you in a rather arduous task being assigned to you by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). If recent reports are to be believed, the Pakistan telecommunication authority has done the unthinkable; in a rare moment of clarity the PTA has requested the parliament to define ‘blasphemy’.
Yes, after the country’s governor was shot 27 times for seeking pardon for a blasphemy accused mother, his murderer garlanded by lawyers and defended by the ex-Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, a 14-year-old young girl and her family driven out of the country, a 70-year-old mentally unstable woman sentenced to 14 years in jails, several hundred burnt houses and dozens of lynched dead bodies later, you’ve finally been approached to determine what exactly classifies as blasphemy.
If you ask me, it’s rather strange that none of the incidents – or call them random acts of insanity – I summarised were able to do what a B-grade filmmaker was able to achieve. But then again, priorities! We are a nation of strange people and reactions; we forgive the unforgivable and punish ourselves for the crimes of others.
Without wasting much time, I’d want to discuss the important issue at hand. Now that you’ve been given the responsibility of defining blasphemy for the nation, given how difficult it is to be specific, and government policies are by their nature vague, I’d say go with enlisting instances of blasphemy for clarity’s sake:
For the biggest form of blasphemy that we all almost always commit is to force another to live in fear for believing, speaking, thinking and sometimes even existing, as we justify it in the name of our faith or stand silent as we bear witness.
No videos, sketches or hate speeches have hurt Islam more than the reckless army of blood thirsty goons justifying vandalism in the name of religion.
There doesn’t exist a form of disrespect bigger than justifying cold-blooded murder and hate in God’s name. To instill fear and lawlessness in the society and to justify that as an act of faith. End the insanity now, tell the nation that we aren’t all potential blasphemers waiting to be lynched as and when the opportunity arises.
Trust me; it might do a lot more than just unblocking YouTube.
Yours,
A fellow potential blasphemer
#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)
AFRICA
MISA express concern over rise in media freedom and freedom of expression violations across SADC
Having gathered in Lusaka, Zambia on Saturday, 27 July 2013, for its annual general meeting, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) made a statement.
(Lusaka Times)
CHINA
Tech Terms Censored Online in China
China’s surveillance of its citizens’ digital activities is common knowledge. However, questions remain concerning what content is targeted by government censors and how these blacklists change in response to current events.
(Mashable)
EGYPT
AFTE highlights the fine line between freedom of expression and incitement
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) released a report Tuesday distinguishing between what it called legitimate freedom of expression and hate speech tied to incitement of violence and racial discrimination.
(Daily News Egypt)
FRANCE
Censorship, Mediapart and the butler’s tapes
Following a court decision that became effective last Monday, independent French news website Mediapart has had to withdraw the infamous Bettencourt “butler tapes” from its website, as well as 72 articles including quotes from the recordings, prompting a campaign of solidarity in the French and international media.
(Index on Censorship)
GLOBAL
Extreme Internet censorship proposals challenged
As you may have heard, the latest round of secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks have been taking place in Malaysia over the last two weeks. As with previous rounds, the Malaysia TPP talks took place in an atmosphere of near-total secrecy. Citizens, public interest groups, and internet users have been completely excluded from the negotiations, which are taking place between a small cabal of old industry lobbyists and unelected bureaucrats.
(Rabble)
MALAYSIA
Let people judge controversial movies
The decision by the Film Censorship Board to review the film ‘The New Village’ after having already given it the green light makes a mockery of our nation’s laws, policies and commitment to the right to freedom of expression.
(Free Malaysia Today)
RUSSIA
Russia to Ban Swearing Online: UK to Follow?
Yesterday I wrote about the slide into censorship and self-censorship that the UK government’s misbegotten plans to impose a default set of Net blocks could bring about. Of course, the UK is not alone in seeking to introduce disproportionate schemes.
(Computer World UK)
Russia should learn from Britain’s record on gay rights
Russia’s new ‘propaganda law’ is a more extreme version of the UK’s infamous section 28. It must be internationally condemned
(The Guardian)
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi liberal blogger sentenced to 600 lashes and seven years in jail
A Saudi activist is being punished after calling for a “day of liberalism”
(Index on Censorship)
SLOVAKIA
Slovak lawyers demand apology for being depicted as pigs
The Slovak Bar Association has demanded an apology for a political cartoon depicting them as pigs, saying it is defamatory and dangerous.
(Index on Censorship)
TUNISIA
Release Femen Activist Held On Politically Motivated Charges
Today’s decision by a Tunisian court to dismiss a defamation case against the 18-year-old FEMEN activist Amina Sboui is only a partial victory, Amnesty International said as it called for her release.
(AllAfrica.com)
TURKEY
Intimidation and self-censorship rising in Turkey
Turkey currently holds 64 journalists in its prisons, according to the opposition. Since the begin of the Gezi Park protests, working as journalist critical of Premier Erdogan has become increasingly difficult.
(DW)
Turkey stands at the crossroads. Will it opt for democracy?
If the government changes its attitude to the protests, Turkey could become an exemplar state in the Muslim world
(The Guardian)
In Turkey, Critics of Erdogan’s Government Claim Familiar Pattern of Reprisal
The fallout from the June protests in Turkey is settling into a growing pattern of reprisal against those dissenting against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, critics of his government say. But that pattern may be backfiring, as it is fueling further discontent among Erdoğan’s opponents, and bolstering their ranks with some of his former supporters.
(Time)
UNITED KINGDOM
We can make Twitter better, but never perfect
Online misogny is a complex problem with no single solution
(Index on Censorship)
When it comes to free speech, Twitter is caught between a rock and a very hard place
An incident in which a British journalist was subjected to hundreds of abusive tweets has highlighted Twitter’s ongoing struggle to balance its defence of free speech and the rights of its users with the need to curb abuse.
(GigaOM
When it comes to free speech, Twitter is caught between a rock and a very hard place
It’s a question of where to start: TalkTalk’s filter provided by Huawei; more than porn will be blocked; UK’s ‘pornification’ MP Claire Perry hacked and now sued; at least one ISP in open rebellion; and Anonymous launches op PornStorm.
(Info Security)
Don’t lose your head over Hirst
Academics in Leicester object to a photo of Damien Hirst posing with a severed head being put on show – but why? It’s a work of genuine artistic integrity
(The Guardian)
UNITED STATES
Index on Censorship condemns verdicts in Bradley Manning case
Free speech organisation Index on Censorship condemns the guilty verdicts in the trial of Bradley Manning. However, we welcome the verdict of not guilty to the charge of aiding the enemy.
(Index on Censorship)
Bradley Manning: A verdict that shows a sense of perspective
In finding the the WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning guilty of espionage but not of aiding the enemy, a US military court delivered a verdict which showed a welcome sense of perspective after one of the most convulsive episodes in recent American judicial history.
(The Independent)
NYPD attempts to censor anticipated Park Avenue art project
An artist’s protests over his New York art installation raises the question of how to play nice in public spaces
(The Guardian)
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