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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 26 May 2009
TEHRAN, Iran — A moderate challenger to hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the authorities on Monday for blocking access to the Facebook social networking site ahead of the June 12 presidential election.
With the Internet playing a mounting role in political debate, authorities have curbed access to political, human rights and news websites, and blocked Facebook on Saturday.
Former parliament speaker Mehdi Karoubi said websites should be tolerated at "such a sensitive political period."
"It (Facebook) was filtered by the authorities because of moral issues. But filtering Facebook just days before the election was wrong," Karoubi told a news conference.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 26 May 2009
The majority of ISPs participating in the Federal Government’s controversial Internet filter trials report smooth sailing but one is still scrambling to get the service online.
Earlier this month, only two ISPs, Tech2U and Webshields, had successfully successfully installed and applied the Federal Government’s contentious filter onto their network. The remaining parties – Nelson Bay Online, OMNIConnect, Primus Communications, Highway 1, Netforce and Optus – were preparing for their respective launches.
A spokesperson for Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, said in a statement to ARN that the Government had worked closely with ISPs to ensure they give the “most robust results possible” for development of an ISP filtering policy.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 26 May 2009
THE Rudd Government has indicated that it may back away from its mandatory internet filtering plan.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy today told a Senate estimates committee that the filtering scheme could be implemented by a voluntary industry code.
Senator Conroy’s statement is a departure from the internet filtering policy Labor took into the October 2007 election to make it mandatory for ISPs to block offensive and illegal content.
Responding to questions from shadow communications minister Nick Minchin on how the government may go about imposing the internet filtering scheme, Senator Conroy said that legislation may not be required and ISPs may adopt an industry consensus to block restricted content on a voluntary basis.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 24 May 2009
The Iranian government has blocked access to the social networking site Facebook amid political jockeying for the June 12 presidential elections, according to the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency.
Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi -- a former prime minister considered a threat to current hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- created a Facebook page for his campaign that has more than 5,000 supporters on the site.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 24 May 2009
Microsoft is confirming that it is cutting off Windows Live Messenger service for users in five countries that are “subject to United States sanctions.”
As reported first by LiveSide.net earlier this week, “users in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea can no longer IM with Windows Live Messenger.”
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 21 May 2009
The Democrats party has launched an anti-censorship web site in the hope of rallying the opponents of internet filtering to its cause.
The party, founded on the basis of 'keeping the bastards honest', has launched a site at nointernetcensorship.com which presents its alternative policies on online safety and a forum for the community to provide their own solutions.
Australian Democrats National President Julia Melland told iTnews the party feels the ALP Government's approach to censorship provides "the illusion of safety to parents".
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 21 May 2009
If the history of Internet policy were a movie, it would feature the public tied to the tracks before an onrushing train of corporate lobbyists.
The villain, however, is not just the powerful phone and cable companies these lobbyists represent, but the politicians who tightened the knots and then stood smugly by as our interests were crushed.
So how do we change this unhappy ending to one where the power of the Internet remains in the hands of the people who use it?
One politician at a time.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 21 May 2009
The French government, fresh from passing its controversial "three strikes" law to boot repeat file-sharers off the Internet, is now prepping its next assault on online malfeasance. A new bill would legalize government keyloggers, institute ISP censorship of child porn sites, and set up a massive citizen database called Pericles.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 20 May 2009
Two school districts representing thousands of Tennessee students were sued Tuesday for blocking access to web sites discussing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, but are not filtering sites advocating “reparative” therapy to change their lifestyle away from being gay.
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the Knox County Schools and Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools to stop the practice. Evidently, they didn’t. So the ACLU made good on its promise, and sued the districts in federal court on Tuesday.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 20 May 2009
On the anniversary of the Republic of Cuba’s creation on 20 May 1902, Reporters Without Borders calls for continued diplomatic efforts that could help improve access to news and information on the island. When Raúl Castro was installed as president on 24 February 2008, he said he wanted to do away with “the excess of prohibitions and regulations” but Cubans are still denied the Internet access enjoyed by foreign visitors and 24 journalists are still in prison.
