While the official Chinese reaction to Edward Snowden’s Prism leaks has been muted, ordinary Chinese have been quick to point out the US’ double standard and hypocrisy toward espionage, Alice Xin Liu writes
In the wake of the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi in Egypt and commitments to initiate a road map to return to democracy, Index on Censorship calls on Egypt’s interim government to stop all censorship introduced as part of the military takeover, immediately reverse the closure of media outlets, release journalists arrested, and to allow a free and open media to operate representing all views in society.
Following reports that some European countries have prevented a plane carrying the Bolivian President Evo Morales into their airspace, Index on Censorship calls on EU members to honour their commitments to freedom of expression.
The revelations that the United States allegedly spied on European Union diplomats marks a low in what should be a special relationship of trust between major democracies. The EU needs to remind the US that surveillance is unacceptable in the digital age.
Index on Censorship calls on the Turkish government to end its attempts to limit free speech as seen in its pressurising of journalists, criticism of social media commentary, and excessive violence in policing of recent protests.
Index on Censorship is pleased to announce Charley-Kai John as the winner of our first student blogging competition on free speech.
[View the story "Does economic freedom guarantee free media?" on Storify]
The EU needs to develop a coherent and comprehensive digital freedom strategy. Brian Pellot writes
Should search engines be forced to block results that link to newspaper articles? No, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice said earlier today, deciding Google need not block “legal and legitimate information that has entered the public domain”. Brian Pellot writes
As the European Commission opens a consultation on its planned freedom of expression guidelines, Index on Censorship is publishing a public note setting out what it sees as the key principles that must underpin such guidelines.
Petitions, letters, and press releases from Index on Censorship