Results matching “internet censorship but n”

A sampling by the Egyptian Information and Decision Support Center shows that 89% of Egyptians age 18 to 35 are in favor of an Internet censorship law.

The number of Internet users in Egypt has increased by nearly 9 million people since 2000.  74% of those surveyed use the Internet "to stay up to date with recent and current news," with 50% of those surveyed on the Internet daily.

The Internet has "connected" youth with the rest of the world, according to the survey, and 98% of the sampling agrees "the Internet makes most information accessible."  In fact, one in three people surveyed have a blog.

However, a majority of those in the 1,338 person sampling distrust the Internet, with 72% seeing it as a "bad influence," and 71% finding it "dangerous for children."  Internet relationships and friendships are also seen as "untrustworthy," and 43% have found it negatively impacting family ties.

Source:  Blogging Times via Global Voices

Internet users in China and Zimbabwe have been blocked from viewing Channel 4 News online videos in an act of self-censorship by the news organization, Guardian.co.uk is reporting.

The fear of "reprisals" against the subjects of online investigative videos sparked the channel to restrict access in the countries where subjects live, said Tim Lambon, assistant foreign editor of Channel 4 News.  The move also legally protects the station.

Prosecutors following through on the government's promise to crack down on journalists threatening "information attacks" on the economy have received criticism from the editor of an Internet news portal.

Aksana Panova, editor of www.ura.ru, accused Russian authorities of "censoring bad news about the financial crisis" after she was brought in for questioning about her sources, calling the government interference a "throwback to the Soviet Union."

In recent weeks Turkey's government and the country's largest independent media group, Dogan Holding, have been in the midst of a fierce battle over media coverage of a high-profile corruption case taking place in a German court.

Dogan Holding operates in TV, radio broadcasting, print and online media.  Dogan publishes seven newspapers including Hurriyet, Milliyet, Radikal, Posta, Fanatik, Referans and Turkish Daily News.     

The Dogan family holds the presidency of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, Tusaid.  For the last six years Tusaid has provided much needed support, international and domestic legitimacy Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).  However, over the past few months, their relationship has begun to sour.

Trouble began when Erdogan, criticized Dogan's ongoing coverage of corruption allegations surrounding him and his party, the AKP.  A German court is currently investigating the corruption charges and according to Newsweek, "alleges that an AKP-appointed bureaucrat, whose job is to monitor the Turkish media, illegally transferred money collected by a German-based Turkish Islamist charity (Lighthouse) to Turkey, and used it for private gain and political activity."  

Erdogan has accused Dogan of "media terror" for covering the case.

On Thursday, September 18, Erdogan urged AKP party members to boycott newspapers owned by Dogan Media Group.

The Editors Weblog spoke to Sabah ombudsman, columnist, and vice president of the ONO (Organization of News Ombudsmen), Yavuz Baydar, about the current crisis and what his opinions are on the future of the Turkish media.

Referring to the Internet, Russian Minister of Communications Igor Shegolev says that there is an "illusion" that anyone can become a journalist, reports Lenta.ru.

Legislation covering the media may be updated and authorities are currently looking into the ramifications to this, according to Shegolev. However, he says that the government doesn't plan on introducing any legislation obliging the media to edit content and neither would it "heavily" regulate online content, according to Gipp.ru.

Shegolev points out that Web censorship may not be viable but that things that aren't permitted offline shouldn't be authorized online. Instead, he proposes that Internet users should practice self-censorship, since the government may have difficulties regulating online content, writes Lenta.ru.

Source: Lenta.ru, Gipp.ru

Since current digital laws in the US are "inadequate attempts" to import rules from a bygone period, TechCrunch proposes that a Digital Bill of Rights be put in place, in order to know "what freedoms and rights consumers can expect from Internet service providers, content companies, device manufacturers, and the government itself."

From TechCrunch, the suggestions for the Bill include:

-The Right to Use and Reuse Content: Updating the principle of fair use so that it is balanced enough that copyright holders may still benefit financially from their material.

-The Right To Control Digital Property On Your Own Device: Digital property may sometimes be linked to a specific device like an iPhone or a Kindle e-reader, which Apple or Amazon can extract from a user without notice or permission.

-The Right To The Free Flow Of Information: Censorship may occur if there are "artificial" boundaries regarding digital data flow and Internet service providers shouldn't discriminate against information based on its data type.

-The Right To (Some) Privacy: While the concept of privacy may not be apparent online, important information (i.e.bank account number, social security number) must be protected. Furthermore physical and digital privacy laws aren't consistent.

-The Right to Control Your Digital Identity: Users should be the sole owners of their online identity and advertising networks on the Web shouldn't abuse it.

Source: TechCrunch

Portfolio.com's Jeff Bercovici questions whether or not Nicholas Kristof, New York Times (NYT) op-ed columnist, has crossed an ethical border after he pretended to be a Chinese national in order to test out the boundaries of Internet censorship in China.

Chinese Authorities appear to have lifted some of the internet restrictions for journalists covering the games after holding talks with the International Olympic Committee yesterday.

Journalist are now able to access websites such as, "Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the BBC's Chinese service", according to Bloomberg.

Beijing Olympic organizing committee spokesman Sun Weide said that, "Beijing organizers will honour the promise to the IOC to provide sufficient access'' and that "at the moment the channel for reporters to use the Internet is fully open.''

On 17 July IOC President Jacques Rogge said that there would be no censorship of the Internet during the Olympics. However, earlier this week China decided to censor sites such as Amnesty International or any sites with "Tibet" in the address. According to China these sites "propagated information'' banned under Chinese law.

Sophie Peer, China campaign coordinator for Amnesty International, said that is was rare that Chinese Government "changes its policy over media issues".

Despite this easing of restrictions, blocking still remains for sites such as "Free Tibet".

Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a rare interview with foreign reporters on Friday, "We also hope you will provide objective and impartial coverage of what you see here so that your report can enhance the communication and understanding between Chinese people and people from other parts of the world."

Source: BBC and Bloomberg

See also:

Thousands Protest China's Press Freedom Violations
China: Internet restrictions for jounalists at Beijing

Journalists heading to the Beijing Olympics will not be able to have complete access to the Internet, despite Chinese officials earlier assurances, Associated Press report.

The 5,000 reporters working in Beijing for the games will not be able to access any site with Tiibet in the address or such sites as Amnesty International.

Chinese officials told International Olympic Committee members in April that Internet censorship, which is routine in China, would be lifted for journalists during the games.

IOC members issued a clarification yesterday, stating that unrestricted Internet access only applied to websites related to ''Olympic competitions.''

Source: European Journalism Centre

Human Rights Watch has released a guidebook for the estimated 25,000 journalists traveling for to China to cover the Olympic games. The "survival guide" covers reporters' risks and rights, human rights issues outside the arena, tips on dealing with censorship and the police, protecting Chinese contacts, and the "Great Firewall" of internet censorship.

In 2001, Wang Wei, vice president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, said, "We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China."

This commitment was central to Beijing's successful '08 Olympic bid, having failed to win the 2000 Summer Games; however, China remains the leading jailer of journalists and continues to censor the internet and retaliate against citizen sources critical of the government.

The guidebook is available as a free download here.

Source: New York Times' Olympic blog, Rings

Reporters Without Borders is launching on March 12th the first International Online Free Expression Day, organized under UNESCO patronage, which will be accompanied by the organization's second "24-hour online demo against Internet censorship."

Reporters Without Borders has created virtual representations of nine countries with government censorship, and is calling on internet users to protest web censorship by creating an online avatar and joining an online demonstration. Demonstrations will take place in Burma, China, North Korea, Egypt, Cuba, Eritrea, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, or Vietnam.

According to the European Journalism Centre, 63 cyber-dissidents are currently imprisoned worldwide.

Source: European Journalism Centre

In the last weeks of the Russian presidential election, Russian blogs are offering an anecdote to the major media’s unfailing positive coverage of Deputy Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s anointed successor,

Blogs such as Live Journal, Russia’s most popular social network and blogging site, is serving up humorous, witty, and sometimes blistering criticism of Menvedev and Putin, reports MediaChannel.

One blogger named “lekka_reka” said an old lady asked him on the street: “Have they named Medvedev president yet or will we be able to actually go out and cast our votes?”

Granted Russian political blogs don’t enjoy the same popularity as their US counterparts, due to both the Kremlin’s virtual monopoly on political power, and to technical barriers including limited access to high speed internet, or in certain parts of Russia, to personal computers themselves.  

Nonetheless the blogs do present an alternative to increasing censorship. Throughout Putin’s eight years in office, Russia’s media has fallen increasingly under the Kremlin control, mainly through the purchase of national broadcasters and major newspapers by state-controlled corporations or loyal billionaires, reports MediaChannel.

The latest change on the Russian media playing field came to pass last Friday,when shareholders of two major broadcasting companies announced the decision to merge their interests into a new conglomerate, National Media Group. It must be mentioned that Bank Rossiya chairman Yury Kovallchuk, one of the companies involved in the merger, is a well-known Putin loyalist, reports FollowtheMedia.

Sources: MediaChannel, FollowtheMedia

The Washington Post’s Edward Cody wrote an interesting outlook piece on the notion of journalism as seen in China: “For China’s Journalism Students, Censorship is a Core Concept,” claimed the headline.

Reporters Without Borders has expressed their concern that the number of websites to which access is blocked in Syria has been growing steadily for the past month.

The Citizen Lab, based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, is about to release a free program supposedly capable of bypassing Web censorship. The project called Psiphon has been Beta tested since this summer, and will be launched on December 1st.