With the release of my new book, The Blogging Revolution, I’ve been expecting certain elements of the Left to criticise my focus on so-called repressive regimes, rather than closely examining censorship far closer to home (ie. within the US.) It hasn’t taken long. Sydney University academic Tim Anderson – who wrote an article in 2007,…
Showing all posts tagged censorship
Iranian on the inside
An Iranian student and blogger living in Sydney, Nazanin Ghanavizi, writes about The Blogging Revolution. I’ve been pleased to receive a great deal of support from the Iranian Diaspora since my book was released last week (and good wishes from inside Iran, as well.) More on this soon.
Sunday Night Safran on blogging
Sunday Night Safran is a great weekly show on ABC youth radio Triple J. I was interviewed last night about The Blogging Revolution, the role of Western multinationals in repressive regimes and how the American relationship to the internet should be viewed in the non-Western world.
The post-Stalinist reality
Despite many regimes actively filtering the internet – issues I cover extensively in my new book – a Russian minister has suggested that it’s futile: There will be no censorship in the Internet, Russian Communications and Information Technology Minister Igor Shchyogolev told students of the Moscow State University’s Journalism Department on Monday. “Such censorship is…
Behind the Ahmadinejad curtain
Radio Zamaneh (Persian: رادیو زمانه) is an Amsterdam-based Persian language radio. Hear the voice of Iranian bloggers across the world.
The Fourth Estate on blogging
The Fourth Estate is a great weekly radio program on one of Sydney’s finest independent radio stations, 2ser. In a wide-ranging interview, host Daz Chandler and I talked about the role of Western multinationals in authoritarian regimes, the seeming lack of understanding of online privacy in the West and the issues in The Blogging Revolution.
Blogging their way to freedom
My latest column for New Matilda is about the ways in which the web can challenge dictatorships around the globe and the complicity of Western firms in assisting repression: Antony Loewenstein takes a look at the work of bloggers monitoring and resisting their authoritarian governments With the Beijing Olympics now a distant memory — and…
The Media Report on blogging
I was interviewed on ABC Radio National’s Media Report today on The Blogging Revolution and the ways in which the internet is far more complex than simply being a supposedly democratising force: Antony Funnell: What do Iran, Cuba and Egypt all have in common? Well, they all have governments which suppress dissent and they all…
The authoritarian impulse
When will quasi-democratic governments learn that blocking websites isn’t a way to please the people (or increase their rule?) Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry sought court orders yesterday to shut down about 400 websites and advised internet service providers to block 1,200 sites it considers a danger to national security or disturbing social order.
How to break free in Iran
Although Iran’s Judiciary Chief claims that websites can’t be banned without a verdict from the court of justice – stating the Islamic Republic cherishes freedom of speech is a ludicrous statement considering the ever-increasing restrictions in the country – this week sees a small victory for the more reformist-minded: Female activists in Iran scored a…