8 Dec 2011 | Index Index, minipost
A blogger has been jailed for two and a half years after posting excerpts of a biography online deemed offensive to the Thai monarchy. Joe Gordon, a Colorado resident who was born in Thailand, translated excerpts of a locally banned biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and posted them on his US blog. Gordon pleaded guilty to disseminating information that insulted the monarchy. In November, government minister’s warned that Thailand’s notoriously tough lese-majeste law could even affect “liking” a page on Facebook.
8 Dec 2011 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost
An Azerbaijani human rights activist was detained for more than 24 hours at Istanbul airport on Tuesday evening. Intigam Aliyev was returning to Baku from the Civil Society Parallel Event, organized by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vilnius, when he was accused of insulting an airport officer, and the return of his passport was refused. Aliyev reported being beaten by police whilst he was detained. He arrived in Baku in the early hours of this morning.
6 Dec 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Plans to intensify South Korea’s review of web content, including social networking sites and mobile phone applications have been released.
The review, which aims to combat a surge in “illegal and harmful” information online, has been underway since 2008, but the Korea Communications Standards Commission’s latest plans to reshuffle departments will make way for a review team that will oversee new media content.
Social media users and civic groups believe the new plans constitute a clamp down on freedom of expression.
6 Dec 2011 | Index Index, minipost
The Indian Government have asked internet companies and social media organisations to censor internet content before it goes online. India’s acting telecommunications minister Kapil Sibal met with top officials from the Indian units of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook on Monday to discuss implementing the removal of disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content before being published online.
Three un-named executives of Internet companies were told in a previous meeting that Sibal expected them to set up a proactive pre-screening system using people, not technology.
