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…
Showing all posts tagged internet
The battle between Wikileaks and Miley Cyrus
According to this Canadian writer, Wikileaks has been largely ineffective in truly bringing change because of our incredibly short attention spans: The “collateral murder” video has been viewed almost 7m times on YouTube – that’s 128 times fewer than the video for Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA. That comparison might seem silly, but it…
Stop the internet filter forum in Sydney
For any Sydneysiders: 6pm Wednesday 7th July Gaelic Club, 1/64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills Join Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, journalist Antony Loewenstein and Lee Rhiannon to discuss internet censorship issues. Communications Minister has announced plans to introduce an internet filter which will restrict Australians’ access to the internet and establish a system for widespread government…
Cairo hearts Washington and murders its own citizens
What America gets with a few billion dollars of aid every year: Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the death of Khaled Mohammed Said, a 28-year-old human rights activist who is widely alleged to have been beaten to death by police in Alexandria on 6 June, and calls for an independent and transparent enquiry. The…
Answering 20 questions for New Matilda
Here it is: Antony Loewenstein has been writing for newmatilda.com about the Middle East since the beginning. He lobs 20 Questions back our way Antony Loewenstein started writing for newmatilda.com pretty much at the beginning and has been a regular contributor on the Middle East since. His articles, particularly on Israel-Palestine, have provoked heated debate…
Turning off the web
As we learn that the Australian government is trying to force web companies to store the history of internet users, America is considering going down a path that is almost inevitable. Being able to harness the internet, a medium that loves to give the finger to regulation (hello Wikileaks), frustrates those who want to control…
The last thing Iran needs is American “assistance”
I write extensively about the web in repressive regimes but I remain skeptical (to put it mildly) when neo-conservatives talk about democracy promotion. Take Reuel Marc Gerecht in today’s New York Times: The democracy movement also needs a large supply of digital-video broadcasting cards, which function much like prepaid telephone cards and allow downloading and…
Wikileaks founder in danger
The ongoing saga around Wikileaks and the fearful establishment who now, for the first time, can’t control a medium (the web) that may publish information that upsets those in power: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
How to shame Washington with one easy online dump
The power of Wikileaks has become legendary (this recent New Yorker profile is fascinating). A website unafraid to publish sensitive information and to hell with the consequences. Transparency with few limits: Pentagon investigators are trying to determine the whereabouts of the Australian-born founder of the secretive website Wikileaks for fear that he may be about…
Rules of the cyberjihad
In my book The Blogging Revolution I examine Tehran’s various methods of censoring the web and torturing online dissidents. That campaign is only getting worse and Western firms are complicit: Iran’s mullahcracy inevitably recalls the latter days of the Soviet Union. But — at least until the very end — the Soviet censors could clamp…