A clear sign that Wikileaks is feared and will remain so. If Wikileaks is shut down, rest assured rivals will land and take its place. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle: The Obama administration has asked Britain, Germany, Australia, and other allies to consider criminal charges against Julian Assange for his…
Showing all posts tagged censorship
Not telling us how the web content arrives
Looks like we’ll have to fight for a truly free internet: So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it. News of this deal broke this week, sparking a public outcry that’s seen hundreds of thousands of Internet users…
ElectionWire interview on Australian election
Election Wire is an online youth portal covering the Australian election campaign (here’s their recent report about detention centres). Journalist Austin G. Mackell yesterday interviewed me about the issues in the country, including foreign affairs, the Greens, the web filter, Wikileaks and the Middle East:
How the Melbourne Film Festival embraces apartheid Israel
Back in 2009, film-maker Ken Loach withdrew his film Looking for Eric from the Melbourne International Film Festival after it was revealed that the Israeli government offered financial support for the event. This year there was supposedly no controversy despite the festival again taking funds from the Israeli government (the director, Richard Moore, is a…
Interview with New York’s Indypendent on Palestine, peace, BDS and the MSM
Here’s my interview published today by a leading New York publication, The Indypendent. It was conducted by wonderful young journalist Alex Kane: With “peace talks” between the Palestinian Authority and Israel seeming more and more like a dead end, many people around the world, including dissident Jewish voices, are turning to grassroots activism to pressure…
Where’s the outrage over Sri Lanka?
The media silence on Sri Lanka’s descent into a brutal dictatorship is shameful. Edward Mortimer, a board member on UK-based Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice (alongside me and many others), writes in the Guardian: It is now over a year since the president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, claimed victory over the Liberation…
Journalism finds a safe home in Iceland
The possibility of Iceland becoming a safe haven for investigative journalism has been brewing for some time. The Guardian provides the background to this important development: A resolution proposing the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI), has already been unanimously passed by the country’s parliament. The concept crystallised when John Barlow, an American cyberlibertarian, met members…
Google and Beijing get back into bed together
Sadly, Google has caved to Chinese demands and will once again censor some online content. Principles are clearly flexible for the web giant: Google, the US internet search… company,… has agreed to submit to official Chinese censorship. The Chinese government, on its… part,… announced the renewal of Google’s licence to operate in the country. The government’s decision came after…
Australia’s Prime Minister is a pale shadow of nothingness
Dissident writer and academic Scott Burchill on the dead heart at the centre of the ruling Labor party in Australia (and the Prime Ministership of Julia Gillard): Caved in to miners within hours of becoming PM – not prepared to stand up to corporate power in the West, or defend the population’s resources equity Gushed…
Walid Shoebat should not be heard in Pakistan
This is weird. Pakistan is reportedly planning to massively increase its online censorship regime. Just another US-backed dictatorship wanting to shut down debate. Not much new here except one site has supposedly already been blocked, of Mr Walid Shoebat, former Palestinian militant and now rabid Zionist and anti-Islam activist. Is Pakistan seriously banning this man…