John Kampfner defends the libel reform campaign and explains why England’s defamation laws are not fit for purpose
Plus, So you think we’ve got free speech in Britain? Think again
CATEGORY: News and features
Phone hacking: The role of the phone companies
The latest revelations in the phone-hacking scandal have prompted the suspension of a News of the World executive, but they also raise serious concerns about security — and possible corruption — at mobile phone companies, Brian Cathcart writes
So you think we’ve got free speech in Britain? Think again
Nobody sensible wants to abolish libel law, to allow a free-for-all in which reputations are impugned without a right to redress. It’s about balance and proportion, says
John Kampfner
Tunisia: The Middle East’s first cyberwar
Conventional wisdom suggests that the web’s power to drive social revolution is over-rated, but the Tunisian government still isn’t taking any chances. Its agents are hacking its opponents’ networks and sabotaging them, even as foreign hackers retaliate against the state. Rohan Jayasekera reports
India’s information ministry reaches adolescence
The introduction of a de facto broadcast watershed may signal progress a more mature attitude, says Leo Mirani
Belarus’s new order
Has Lukashenko given up flirting with the west, asks Olga Birukova
Fresh eyes needed on WikiLeaks’ treasure trove of secrets
With maybe hundreds of human rights activists named in the WikiLeaks files, and frontman Julian Assange threatening to throw them open to the world, it’s time for fair assessment of the potential threat to free expression advocates argues
Rohan Jayasekera
Radio journalist charged over Kenyan election violence
Press censorship feared in Eastern Africa as the ICC indicts first media personality.
Ernest Waititu reports
Belarus: KGB issues warrant for Nikolai Khalezin
Nikolai Khalezin in hiding after the KGB issue arrest warrant for the co-founder of the Belarus Free Theatre. Mike Harris reports
Speaking out for Jafar Panahi
Index on Censorship calls on the head of Iran’s judiciary to overturn the prison sentences handed down this week to the film directors Jafar Panahi and
Mohammad Rasoulof