Bahrain activist says charge over tweets ‘vindictive’
Prominent Bahraini rights activist Nabeel Rajab told a court on Wednesday that a charge that he tweeted insults against the government were "vindictive," as dozens of lawyers turned up to defend him.
Latest News
Pakistan Builds Web Wall Out in the Open
Many countries censor the Internet, but few spell out their intentions as explicitly as Pakistan. The government published a public tender last month for the “development, deployment and operation of a national-level URL filtering and blocking System.” Technology companies, academic institutions and other interested parties have until March 16 to submit proposals for the $10 million project — but anger about it has been growing both inside and outside Pakistan.
Jordanian blogger stabbed after post that criticized royal family
REPORTING FROM BEIRUT-- As blogger Enass Musallam of Jordan was leaving a cafe in the nation's capital last week, a man wearing a mask and gloves grabbed her from behind.
Iran.ir Email is an Anonymous Remailer
A guest blogger under the name Armin wrote a post on Osyan blog, a famous Persian blog that covers Internet-related products and belongs to Iranian journalist Nima Akbarpour. Armin posted about Iran’s national email that ends with ‘@iran.ir’. The Iranian state has been advertising on it; some say especially after blocking Iranians from access to Gmail and Yahoo.
Email Threats to Iranian Journalists
Several Iranian activists and journalists were threatened in an anonymous email received on February 14, 2012. According to the Society of Iranian Journalists’ Facebook page, the emails were titled “Warning,” and the sender indicated that they have information and documents that would implicate a list of people who are actively working "for the goals of foreigners" and who support seditious activity.
Lebanese Activists Fear Skype Surveillance
Lebanese activists recently raised concerns online after an article published in the daily newspaper, An-Nahar, revealed the country’s changing telephone surveillance policies. In an interview with a representative from the committee responsible for regulating telephone surveillance, the newspaper reported that, “Monitoring Skype is illegal except in the case of persons considered to be dangerous or part of a conspiracy.”
Iranian Web Developer Student to Death
Iran's state media announced that the Supreme Court will uphold a death sentence against a web developer convicted of spreading corruption.
The semi-official government news agency, Fars, says blogger Saeed Malekpour was found guilty of promoting pornographic sites. The news outlet confirmed that the Supreme Court approved the death sentence handed down by a Revolutionary Court that deals with security crimes.
Syria’s Internet Censorship Extends to Hotels
Syria’s current authoritarian, repressive regime is notorious for their comprehensive censorship of the Internet. Syria has been profiled by Reporter’s Without Borders as an “enemy of the Internet” and has been named by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the top ten worst countries in which to be a blogger. According to the OpenNet Initiative, the Syrian government exerts its control over the Internet through a combination of restricting the growth and development of the Internet, specific content filtering, and surveillance or monitoring the Internet usage of both citizens and foreigners within the country.
Indonesian Atheist Posts ‘God Doesn’t Exist’ on Facebook, Faces Potential Jailtime
An Indonesian atheist is facing jail time for posting the phrase “God doesn’t exist” on his Facebook page. The man, who is only being identified as Alexander, arrived for work at a government office on Wednesday, and was attacked by a group of people upset by his beliefs.
Twitter’s New Persian Service Excites Iranians
Twitter had a major role during Iran’s uprising after the disputed election on June 2009.
Twitter announced its plan to expand their right-to-left language translation service to include more languages: Arabic, Farsi/Persian, Hebrew and Urdu. Persian is Iran’s official language and is also spoken in Afghanistan.
On their blog, Twitter announced this news on January 25: “Beginning today, right-to-left languages are now available for volunteers to translate in the Twitter Translation Center, starting with Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu.
Syrian Activists Circumvent Regime Censorship
Despite the Syrian regime’s relentless crusade to ban activists from sending and receiving information in their country, dissidents have found a number of ways to stay connected. Here is a brief overview of three methods they use.
1) Proxy servers:
Dima, a young Syrian activist from Damascus, told Movements.org,“most of the websites that are important to us are banned. All of the local media outlets that oppose the regime cannot be accessed from Syria."
For example, local websites, like SHRIL (Syrian Human Rights Information Link) that is run by famed Syrian activist Razan Zaitouneh, are blocked in Syria. SHRIL contains links to hundreds of websites that are currently banned, some of which were blocked years before the beginning of the revolution in Syria.
All4Syria is a website run by Syrian intellectual Ayman Abdel Nour. The regime banned his website in 2004 because it discusses issues considered taboo. To read more, click here.
Iranian Officials’ Phobia of Grouponing
The Internet has become the Iranian government’s worst nightmare, whether it used to organize a gathering (click here to read more about the Iranian teenagers who were arrested for participating in a water gun fight), post one’s thoughts on a blog or another form of social media, or simply to try to save some money.
