Web contrarian Evgeny Morozov (I use that term with affection) argues that web tools such as Twitter and blogging are not really assisting dissidents in Iran but are in fact making it far easier for the regime to crack down.
Showing all posts tagged internet
“Very limited” web blocking in China, says a clueless Bill Gates
Microsoft founder Bill Gates seems a little too keen to keep the Chinese authorities as friends by grossly ignoring the Communist state’s sophisticated censorship program: You’ve got to decide: do you want to obey the laws of the countries you’re in or not? If not, you may not end up doing business there. Chinese efforts…
The internet leads coverage of Israel’s East Jerusalem cleansing
The Jerusalem Post explains why the growing public protests over Sheikh Jarrah have been helped greatly by the web (and ironically, the failure of the Western press to adequately report an issue a few kilometres from their offices): Social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, along with a slew of blogs, are playing an…
Religious Jews fear sex, violence, drugs and liberalism online
Here’s a catchy opening paragraph to a story: Ultra-orthodox rabbis in Israel have launched what they claim is a ”divinely ordained war” against use of the internet among their followers.
The spirit of Iranian resistance is far stronger than we know
Nasrin Alavi, a keen follower of Iranian politics and its blogosphere, has a fine piece in the latest New Internationalist that challenges our media-led perceptions of the Islamic Republic: A simple glance at the background of Iran’s prominent student leaders tells you that, by and large, they are not the children of affluent citizens of…
Life on the streets in Iran, an eyewitness perspective
On the ground reports from Iran are hard to obtain these days. Western journalists are largely writing stories about the political chaos in the country. So I’m publishing this exclusive report from a friend currently in Tehran. He’s an Australian traveling around the country. Names and identifiable places have been removed to protect all concerned:…
How vulnerable is Gmail to Chinese meddling?
The role of the Chinese regime in hacking sensitive information just became even creepier: Reporters Without Borders is deeply disturbed and outraged by cyber-attacks on the Google E-mail accounts of several Beijing-based foreign journalists. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) sent its members a note today alerting them that at least two foreign news…
Google’s likely China departure causes waves of debate
A key reason behind Google’s announcement this week that it will probably leave China was allegedly due to human rights concerns: Google moved quickly to announce that it would stop censoring its Chinese …service after realising dissidents were at risk from attempts to use the company’s technology for political …surveillance, according to a source with…
What is Google now doing in China?
My following article appears today on ABC Unleashed/The Drum: Google has threatened to withdraw entirely from China in protest at the authoritarian regime’s oppressive online censorship and continuing attempts by Chinese hackers to gain sensitive information of local human rights workers. Perhaps most significantly, Google’s Chinse search engine, Google.cn, now allows once banned material to…
Egyptian blogger continues to face repression behind bars
The definition of a US-backed police state, funded and armed by the US tax-payer: Reporters Without Borders deplores the way the authorities continue to persecute Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, a jailed blogger better known by the pen-name of Kareem Amer. For the third time in a row, one of his lawyers has been denied the…