“Internet freedom” at Google Trends: Washington, Toronto, Beijing – cities with the most searches (via Evgeny Morozov).
Showing all posts tagged internet
Web liberation in the Islamic Republic needs more than lip service
Iranian dissidents clearly need more global support but surely backing from the US government is sending the completely wrong message? At a time when the Obama administration is pressing for harsher sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program, democracy advocates in Iran have been celebrating the recent decision by the United States to lift sanctions…
Wikileaks is the wonderful site that upsets the powerful
The undeniable power of the Wikileaks website – releasing supposedly classified documents to allow transparency in the public domain – now makes a rather comical story in the New York Times: To the list of the enemies threatening the security of the United States, the Pentagon has added WikiLeaks.org, a tiny online source of information…
Why isn’t the corporate media using blogging far more?
Here’s the Mumbrella report from this week’s Sydney Battle of Big Thinking (where the audience voted me last in my section but I was against a very compelling blind man!): Yesterday saw the APG’s Battle of Big Thinking. The second session covered big storytelling ideas. Speaker: Antony Loewenstein, Writer Topic: Why the western press is…
Our fine Saudi mates
The charming behaviour of a reliable American ally: A Saudi man who was arrested in January on charges of homosexuality, a “general security” offence, and impersonation of a police officer has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes, plus a fine of 5,000 rials (US $1,333) and a year in prison. Authorities say their attention was drawn…
How the Iranian blogosphere fights back
I’ve written extensively over the years about Iranian web censorship. My following piece was commissioned by BBC Persian on the role of the web in Iran’s current political troubles (yes, it’s in Farsi). Here’s the English version: The face of murdered Iranian woman Neda Agha Soltan by a sniper’s bullet echoed around the world. Murdered…
How many more online addicts will we soon find in Havana?
What is the effect of Washington’s recent decision to allow web companies such as Google and Yahoo to operate in closed societies, such as Cuba and Iran?
A speaker at the upcoming Auckland Writer’s Festival
The following article by Linda Herrick appears today in the New Zealand Herald: A Sydney writer who describes himself as “an atheist Jewish-Australian political activist” is coming to Auckland in May as part of the international lineup for the Writers and Readers Festival. Antony Loewenstein is the author of My Israel Question, a highly critical…
Never forget that Beijing doesn’t trust its own citizens
Yes, China is a police state: Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the Chinese government latest attempt to tighten its grip on the Internet. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced today that anyone wanting to operate a website would have to meet with regulators in person and bring identity documents.
Iranian wants to remain independent (and critics may as well)
Any decent human being should be against the outrageous online censorship employed by the Islamic Republic but do dissidents in that country really want Washington giving them a hand? The State Department says it is working furiously to increase its capabilities to confront the kind of censorship promulgated by Iran last week, bringing major Silicon…