Turkey Blocks is a monitoring system and publicity platform set up to raise awareness of internet shutdowns – often in connection with political events in the country – to help Turkish citizens to keep communicating during emergencies.
Since its establishment in 2015, Alp Toker, a Turkish-British technologist, has set aside his day job, drew on his personal savings and brought together a team to develop new methods, including statistical models, computer hardware and network monitoring tools that have allowed them to break news of 14 mass censorship incidents during politically significant events, challenging the official narrative that the shutdowns are just coincidence.
Using Raspberry Pi technology they built an open source tool able to reliably monitor the blackouts in real time. The tool has proved so successful that it has been implemented elsewhere globally
“Our alerts, issued within minutes of detection, have helped Turkish citizens to stay online when shutdowns get implemented and provided the media with enough confidence to report assertively on digital censorship in Turkey,” Toker told Index on Censorship.
Turkey Blocks’ findings have helped explain how Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, retained power and suppressed the July 2016 coup attempt by using social media effectively, while denying that capability to opposition demonstrators on other occasions. Users were able to get online after notice of the internet restrictions and developing military uprising spread.
“We similarly tracked the Ankara bombings, Ataturk airport attacks and several others,” Toker said. “Our research has been described as instrumental in the understanding of why and how the government responds to IS and PKK terror attacks, routinely slowing of access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.”
In a country marked by increasing authoritarianism, a strident crackdown on the press and social media as well as numerous human rights violations, Turkey Blocks provides a necessary service to take control away from those who seek to restrict the internet.
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Despite growing public knowledge of global digital surveillance capabilities and practices, it has often proved hard to attract mainstream public interest in the issue. This continues to be the case in Iran where even with widespread VPN usage, there is still little real awareness of digital security threats.
With public sexual health awareness equally low, the three people behind Jensiat, an online graphic novel, saw an opportunity to marry these challenges. Dealing with issues linked to sexuality and cyber security in a way that any Iranian can easily relate to, the webcomic also offers direct access to verified digital security resources. Launched in March 2016, Jensiat has had around 1.2 million unique readers and was rapidly censored by the Iranian government.
“Our interactions with readers leads us to believe they have picked up what we’ve been discussing, and are incorporating them into their online lives,” its creators told Index on Censorship.
With a team of illustrators, satirical writers, technologists and Internet researchers Jensiat constructed a graphic novel with a unique strategy of instilling a culture of understanding and everyday practices. The first season, which finished in August 2016, was centred around six episodes. The story revolved around the main character Leila, her love interest Jamshid, and her best friend and sexual health therapist Shirin. The characters built an NGO based on counselling and advice on matters regarding relationships, sexuality and sexual health, all the while encountering cyber security concerns such as phishing attacks, unsecured networks and how to protect your social media accounts from an abusive partner.
Iranians now contact the creators of the graphic novel seeking advice on what technologies or applications to download, and to discuss and debate the many risks Iranians face online. In March 2016, Jensiat’s website was filtered by the Iranian filtering committee, highlighting the discomfort the creators bring to the Iranian regime’s attempts to control the internet.
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A well-known academic who teaches African studies and political history at the University of Rabat since returning from exile, Maati Monjib co-founded Freedom Now, a coalition of Moroccan human rights defenders who seek to promote the rights of Moroccan activists and journalists in a country ranked 131 out of 180 on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. His work campaigning for press freedom – including teaching investigative journalism workshops and using of a smartphone app called Story Maker designed to support citizen journalism – has made him a target for the authorities who insist that this work is the exclusive domain of state police. For his persistent efforts, Monjib is currently on trial for “undermining state security” and “receiving foreign funds.” He faces much persecution by police and isn’t allowed to travel.
“We lead an everyday struggle to defend citizens, journalists and artists who are persecuted and slandered,” Monjib told Index on Censorship.
Monjib has twice been on hunger strike, in September and October 2015, resulting in the lifting of his ban on leaving the country. A ban was also lifted on three of his co-accused, two leaving for France and one for Holland, who now continue their struggle for freedom of expression and freedom of the press in their host countries.
In November 2016, the Administrative Court decided that Freedom Now is completely legal. On the same day, a dozen policemen, two in uniform, broke into Monjib’s home and harassed family members and neighbours.
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Established in 2003, the LGBT organisation Arcoiris, meaning “rainbow” in Spanish, works on all levels of Honduran society to advance basic rights. Honduras has seen an explosion in levels of homophobic violence since the military coup in 2009. Working against this tide, Arcoiris provides support to many LGBT victims of violence, run awareness initiatives, promote HIV prevention programmes and directly lobby the Honduran government and police force. Its tactics are diverse and often inventive. Between June 2015 and March 2016, six members of Arcoiris were killed for this work. Many others have faced intimidation, harassment, physical attacks or been forced to flee the country.
“All our campaigns have been well received and have enabled families to get a bit closer to their diverse sons and daughters,”Arcoiris coordinator Donny Reyes says.
“I’ve been imprisoned on many occasions. I’ve suffered torture and sexual violence because of my activism, and I’ve survived many assassination attempts,” he said, in an interview with Index on Censorship in April 2016. The activist had spent a year in exile and on his return feared he would be attacked and killed. However, he felt obliged to return to Honduras to fight homophobia and transphobia.
Many LGBT activists in Honduras share Reyes’ fears as dozens are murdered each year, with killers rarely facing justice.
In the second half of 2015 alone, Arcoiris reported 15 security incidents against its members, including surveillance, harassment, arbitrary detentions, assaults, robberies, theft, threats, sexual assault and even murder. Other LGBT activists have experienced forced evictions, fraudulent charges, defamation, enforced disappearances and restrictions of right to assembly.
