Censorship
16 January 2013
Rights Group Reports on Abuses of Surveillance and Censorship Technology New York Times
A Canadian human rights monitoring group has documented the use of American-made Internet surveillance and censorship technology by more than a dozen governments, some with harsh human rights policies like Syria, China and Saudi Arabia.
10 January 2013
Google boss, ex-US governor urge N Korea openness BBC News
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has urged North Korea to end its self-imposed isolation and allow its citizens to use the internet.
08 January 2013
The Age of Surgical Censorship The Atlantic
Iran, to put it mildly, has a tense relationship with the Internet -- some evidence of the acrimony being the many attempts the country has made to curtail its citizens' use of social media. In May, its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa against anti-filtering tools that have helped citizens to access blocked material on the Internet. Last month, Iran launched Mehr, its own version of YouTube, which allows users to upload and view content they create, and to watch videos from IRIB, Iran's national broadcaster. The country has also reportedly been building a government-run network -- a national intranet -- that would operate "largely isolated" from the rest of the World Wide Web. Citing intensified online crackdowns, increased digital surveillance of citizens, and the imprisonment of web activists, Reporters Without Borders named Iran to its 2012 "Enemies of the Internet" list.
07 January 2013
Google concedes defeat in China censorship battle The Guardian
Google has reluctantly conceded defeat in its latest effort to combat online censorship in China, after a year of behind-the-scenes brinkmanship over sensitive search terms banned by authorities.
05 January 2013
China censors clash with media on reform Financial Times
Chinese journalists have clashed openly with government censors, as the new political leadership's unexpectedly tough political stance frustrates hopes for reform.
30 December 2012
Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban, for 3 Minutes New York Times
A ban on YouTube, which Pakistan imposed after an anti-Islam video caused riots in much of the Muslim world, was lifted Saturday, only to be reinstated -- after three minutes -- when it was discovered that blasphemous material was still available on the site.
29 December 2012
China Toughens Its Restrictions on Use of the Internet New York Times
The Chinese government issued new rules on Friday requiring Internet users to provide their real names to service providers, while assigning Internet companies greater responsibility for deleting forbidden postings and reporting them to the authorities.
Pakistan to Lift YouTube Ban, as a Viral Video Star Is Welcomed Home New York Times
Pakistan's interior minister announced on Friday that the country plans to lift a ban on YouTube that was imposed in September, following violent protests over a crude anti-Islam film uploaded to the site by an Egyptian-American. The government acted to rescind the ban just hours after the star of one of the year's most popular YouTube videos, a singing Pakistani fishmonger, was given a hero's welcome upon his return to the city of Lahore from Britain.
28 December 2012
China may require real name registration for internet access Reuters
China may require internet users to register with their real names when signing up to network providers, state media said on Tuesday, extending a policy already in force with microblogs in a bid to curb what officials call rumours and vulgarity.
Vietnam Dissident Arrested as Web Crackdown Intensifies Wall Street Journal
Vietnamese police have detained one of the country's best-known dissidents and bloggers, raising the stakes in the Communist-run nation's crackdown on Internet criticism of its one-party rule and potentially worsening the country's relations with the United States and other important trading partners.
Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms Reuters
Tajikistan blocked access to more than 100 websites on Tuesday, in what a government source said was a dress rehearsal for a crackdown on online dissent before next year's election when President Imomali Rakhmon will again run for office.
25 December 2012
Adding More Bricks to the Great Firewall of China New York Times
China appears to have reinforced its Internet firewall in recent days, blocking some of the leading services that allow people on the mainland to access forbidden sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
22 December 2012
Great Firewall upgrade hits China's web users ABC News
Chinese internet users who are skilled at evading the country's online blocks have suddenly found they are again being denied access to some websites.
15 December 2012
China tightens 'Great Firewall' internet control with new technology The Guardian
China appears to be tightening its control of internet services that are able to burrow secretly through what is known as the "Great Firewall", which prevents citizens there from reading some overseas content.
06 December 2012
Censorship of YouTube Is Shrugged Off as Less Than Sacrilegious New York Times
At a Kabul market that sells cellphones and downloads for mobile devices, young Afghans said government censorship of YouTube was an acceptable way to block an anti-Islamic video.
03 December 2012
Five Ways Indian Internet Users Are Fighting for Free Speech New York Times
The two young women who were arrested for their Facebook activity last week have found an unlikely champion for their cause: another young woman, Shreya Singhal, who filed public interest litigation with the Supreme Court to challenge one of the controversial laws used to justify the arrests.
02 December 2012
Internet returns across much of Syria Al Jazeera
Syrian authorities have restored internet and telephone services following a two-day, nationwide communications blackout that came during some of the worst fighting to hit Damascus, the capital, since July.
Syrians Use Old and New Tools to Stay Online During Internet Shutdown Electronic Frontier Foundation
Information coming out of Syria has slowed to a trickle in the wake of Thursday's country-wide communications shutdown, which included nearly all Internet traffic and intermittent cellular network and landline outages.
01 December 2012
What's Your Country's Risk of Internet Blackout? The Atlantic
What happened in Syria this week -- a wholesale disconnection from the Internet -- could happen anywhere. But it's more likely to happen in some countries than others.
Syrian Internet Connections Cut for Second Day; Official Syrian Web Sites Hosted in US New York Times
Activists in Syria reported on Friday that Internet connections were cut for a second successive day, fanning speculation among opponents of President Bashar al-Assad about the government's intentions in coming days.
30 November 2012
Syria throws 'kill switch' on internet ABC News
Opposition activists and monitoring firms say Syria has cut internet and phone services for the first time since the civil war started more than 18 months ago.
29 November 2012
Tougher UAE Internet dissent law shuts door to free speech - HRW Reuters
The United Arab Emirates has "effectively closed the country's remaining forum for free speech" with a decree issued earlier this month that tightened the law on online dissent, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
28 November 2012
Tajikistan blocks Facebook access to silence critics Reuters
Tajikistan has blocked access to Facebook in response to a slew of comments spreading "mud and slander" about veteran President Imomali Rakhmon and officials in the Central Asian republic.
27 November 2012
Russian Court Ruling Amps Up Pressure on Internet Providers to Block Content Moscow Times
A recent Supreme Court decision increases pressure on Internet providers to block websites without direct state interference, lawyers said Friday.
22 November 2012
Opinion: You Can't Say That on the Internet New York Times
A bastion of openness and counterculture, Silicon Valley imagines itself as the un-Chick-fil-A. But its hyper-tolerant facade often masks deeply conservative, outdated norms that digital culture discreetly imposes on billions of technology users worldwide.
