13 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The mayor of Murmansk a city in north-west Russia, has been accused of censorship by the editor of Vecherni Murmansk newspaper. Nataliya Chervyakova’s claims relate to an article that accused local officials of failing to re-calculate citizens’ payments for heating in 2009 – in defiance of a government order. Chervyakova says that she was summoned to the office of Mayor Sergey Subbotin a few days before the article was due to be published on April 6, and told not to publish the story. When she refused to pull the piece , Subbotin allegedly threatened both her and her family.
8 Apr 2010 | Events
Friday 16 April 2010, 6.30pm at the Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3GA.
David Bond lives in the UK, one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by attempting to disappear – a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind he tries to vanish and finds himself tracked across the database state by two ruthless private investigators. This is a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy – and its loss.
This is one of a few exclusive preview screenings before a nationwide cinema release on the 29th April. Jo Glanville, the editor of Index on Censorship, will introduce the film and will lead a Q&A afterwards with the Director and the private investigators who hunted him.
“Delivered with one hand on your pulse and the other hand smacking you in the face, Erasing David is a timely clarion call to those of us interested in guarding our civil liberties in an increasingly invasive digital age. An intelligent and subtle reminder that YOU are in charge.” – Sheffield Doc/Fest UK “A brilliant new documentary.” – Henry Porter, The Guardian
“A rousing and fascinating call to arms to protect our privacy.”- The Independent, UK
Please email: [email protected] or call 020 7324 2570 to book your FREE place.
The latest Index on Censorship magazine, “Brave New Words”, opens the debate over whether technology is the saviour of free speech. With Rebecca MacKinnon interviewing Google, Wen Yunchao on how China wields control online and Gus Hosein on why governments should respect privacy.
For more information about the nationwide cinema release, please visit: http://erasingdavid.com/
6 Apr 2010 | Uncategorized
Shadows in the Cloud, a report released on Monday by the Munk School of Global Affairs in Toronto, recoumts the activities of Chinese internet hackers and the interception of their stolen documents over a period of eight months.
Some of the high-level classified information recovered by the investigation included documents pertaining to Indian national security and its diplomatic relations with various countries, NATO travel plans in Afghanistan, as well as a year’s worth of the Dalai Lama’s personal email correspondence. Unlike the GhostNet publication of March last year, which only showed malicious trojan viruses sent from China to specific targets, Shadows in the Cloud managed to recover the stolen data, proving the dangerous threat posed to international security by such operations. IP tracking managed to locate some of the hackers to Chengdu, but as is often the case such networks operate throughout the whole country. Although the attacks cannot be proven to be politically motivated, Nart Villeneuve, one of the main researchers of the group, has commented that given the sophisticated level of the operations, and the fact that the stolen documents correlates “with the strategic interests of the Chinese state”, it is plausible that some of the stolen data “may have ended up in the possession of some entity of the Chinese government.”
Ron Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski, two of the leading members of the research group, has recently written an article on Cyber War for Index on Censorship, as well as another article on internet espionage published on Monday.
6 Apr 2010 | Events
April 17 2010, 2pm – 4pm
Project Phakama, a young people’s theatre company, leads a session of participatory drama and discussion to explore different positions on self-censorship, freedom of expression and causing offence.
Phakama’s young people and tutors work together in the UK and around the world to create trailblazing, risk-taking theatrical events in any location with any young person who wants to take part. Phakama’s process, based on the ‘give and gain’ principle, establishes creative equality among everyone and puts the imaginative engagement of different cultures at the core of all activities.
In association with the performance of ‘Behud’ at Soho Theatre, this enjoyable and revealing session will provide a forum for a wider investigation into the themes of the play.
