April saw a bizarre variety of sites blocked by the Russian authorities or internet service providers – among them Pussy Riot videos, Wikipedia, the Yandex search engine, and sites promoting bribery and corruption. Compiled by Andrei Soldatov
Against a backdrop of ongoing revelations around the US Prism programme, mass surveillance dominated the discussion at the Index on Censorship event Caught in the web: How free are we online? Brian Pellot reports
Index on Censorship, English PEN, Privacy International, Open Rights Group and Article 19 are calling on the Foreign Secretary’s speech to the House of Commons on the GCHQ links to the Prism scandal, we the undersigned condemn the collection and surveillance of British citizens’ online communications and activities through the US Prism programme.
Index calls upon the UK, the EU and the US to protect the privacy and free speech rights of their citizens and end the mass online surveillance of individuals around the world.
On Tuesday, a UN report outlined how state and corporate surveillance undermine freedom of expression and privacy. Today, the news turned to how far governments have gone to spy on their citizens,
Brian Pellot writes
Index on Censorship is calling on EU Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle to press Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a meeting today on the need to ensure Turks can exercise freedom of assembly and expression in Turkey.
Index on Censorship is appalled at the reports of alleged US mass surveillance programmes sweeping up data from internet and communications firms.
Index Award-winning Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis addresses an open letter to President Barroso. Vaxevanis is due to stand trial on 10 June for violating privacy laws in connection with the publication of the Lagarde list of alleged Greek tax evaders.
The protests erupting across Turkey have shown a wider audience – domestic and international – the increasingly problematic nature of Turkish democracy, and its growing authoritarian tendencies. Index on Censorship CEO Kirsty Hughes writes
The Jordanian government began blocking over 200 websites on Sunday for failing to obtain licenses under a strict set of new guidelines, Ruth Michaelson reports.
Petitions, letters, and press releases from Index on Censorship