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The First Post After Filtering
An Iranian blogger known by the pseudonym, Vakil al-Raoaya, has a new post titled, “The First Post After Filtering.” Al-Raoaya’s blog had previously been targeted by filters, which the Iranian government frequently uses to block public access to websites that express criticism toward the regime.
Al-Assad Forces on Facebook
As expatriated Syrian activists use Facebook and other social networking sites to express their thoughts and keep in touch with Syrians on the ground, the Assad regime continues to harass them both in real life and online.
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.
techropology.blogspot.co
New YouTube ‘How-to’ Playlists: Circumvention and Staying Safe Online
From Syrian Sit-Ins on YouTube, to the worldwide Occupy movement, and the continued events following the transformative Arab Spring, web censorship rises as a prominent issue and concern for current social movements around the world. To share information between organizers and supporters through communication technologies has become, in some countries, risky and intensely challenging. A notable option to accessing blocked information and communicating securely is circumvention technology. Through the plethora of technologies available, digital activists of various movements and issues can both share their information with the world and mobilize within their country for change.
Interview with admins of ‘We are all Khaled Said’ Facebook page
Anver M. Emon, Ellen Lust, and Audrey Macklin interview Ahmed Saleh in Cairo and Nadine Wahab in Washington, D.C. about their experience as admins of the Facebook page which served as an information hub during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.
Campaign for Palestinians who were denied visas to Tunisia for Bloggers Meeting #ab11 #visarejected
Currently the 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting is taking place in Tunis. While many influential and important Arab bloggers are in attendance, those coming from Palestine were denied entry visas by the Tunisian Interior Ministry. Bloggers at the conference and their supporters online have launched a campaign to draw attention to the injustice and find out why the visas were denied.
The information war that rages on the Chinese internet
There’s an intensifying struggle in China over information and at the heart of it is the internet. As we all know, controlling the internet is virtually impossible. But that doesn’t stop the Chinese government, backed with a very sophisticated system of censorship, from trying.
In a new development, the country’s popular Sina Weibo micro-blogging platform has informed its users that they risk having their accounts suspended if they spread rumours that provoke social unrest.
Luke Allnut
Uzbekistan Launches Its Own Facebook, Except It’s Not For Everyone
This story was originally publisehd on Tangled Web, a blog of Radio Free Europe, by Luke Allnutt on Friday August 26.
Ever since social networks have come under greater scrutiny for their role in the Arab Spring -- and indeed in the U.K. riots -- repressive governments have been scrambling to find ways to rein in the unruly kids and their social networks.
Shutdowns aren’t always good things (except in times of crisis) as they generate bad headlines, so instead there has been a push from some governments to create their own sanitized networks. A new social network called Muloqot is being launched in Uzbekistan in conjunction with the state telecom monopoly. Muloqot can be translated as “dialogue” or “conversation”.
Protests in Belarus
Could Belarus Be the Next Setting for A Revolution?
Since 1994 Belarus has had the same President, Alexander Lukashenko. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has emerged to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line with international law and whose regime is considered to grossly violate human rights. Young activists in the Soviet republic have been the driving force behind this growing physical presence of discontent across the country. Will this lead to a full-blown revolution?
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