13 Jan 2010 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Google has announced it will stop censoring search results in China after discovering that hackers have been targeting the company’s Gmail system in order to access the email accounts of Chinese human rights campaigners.
The company revealed its new approach to China in a post on the company’s blog last night. It claims that while investigating a series of sophisticated cyber attacks “we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of US-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third party”
The company whose “don’t be evil” motto was called into question by their 2006 decision to censor local results in order to run a limited China-based search engine. Google claim they launched Google.cn “in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results.”
However, in the face of sophisticated cyber attacks and the Chinese government’s increasing efforts to limit free speech on the web Google have announced that unless they are able to run an unfiltered search operation they will consider pulling out of their Chinese operations.
12 Jan 2010 | Index Index, minipost, News and features, Uncategorized
Three press freedom activists who organised a flash-mob protest in support of jailed Kazakh journalists have been put on trial. The group – which includes Raushan Esergepova, the wife of the jailed newspaper editor Ramazan Esergepov – are accused of holding an authorised demonstration, they have rejected the charges as politically motivated. Kazakhstan’s record on press freedom has come under increasing scrutiny as the country assumes the chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
23 Dec 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
A hit television series has been prevented from continuing according to newspapers in China. The drama “Snail House” was set in a fictional mainland city and the plot centered on rising housing prices and the “fangnu,” or mortgage slaves, as they work non-stop to repay their loans. The series captured national headlines because of its relevance to real life in mainland China. The fate of the show remains unclear. One recent government website posting said some TV stations that air the series may continue, but that no others may start it or show reruns prompting outcry amongst viewers. Read more here
23 Dec 2009 | News and features
The killing of 12 journalists in Mexico this year and the failure to bring murderers to justice poses a serious problem for Mexican democracy argues Ángel García Català
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