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 Blogging Revolution lands

My following essay appears in today’s Weekend Australian newspaper: The young online tribe is more interested in discussing sex, drugs and rock’n’roll than political revolution, writes Antony Loewenstein Early last month, some Iranian members of parliament voted to debate a draft bill that aimed to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society” by adding…

Do you trust this search engine?

Never. Trust. Internet. Companies: Several Internet and broadband companies have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers, according to letters released Monday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. And Google Inc., the leading online advertiser, stated that it had begun using Internet tracking technology that enabled it to more precisely follow Web-surfing behavior…

Battle of the Brainwashed

My latest New Matilda column is about the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in Budapest last week: Are Chinese netizens any more thin-skinned than Westerners when attacked online for their opinions? Antony Loewenstein reports from the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit During the Harvard University sponsored Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008 in Budapest last…

Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008

The issue of internet censorship has become a global concern. Harvard University’s Global Voices is one major organisation that translates bloggers from across the world and campaigns for imprisoned activists. The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit is taking place on June 27 and 28 in Budapest, Hungary. More than one hundred writers, dissidents, bloggers, journalists…

Democracy is not a foreign word

My following article appears in the Amnesty International Australia’s Uncensor campaign about human rights in China: We ignore the diversity of China’s web community at our peril, writes Antony Loewenstein Is the West afraid of Chinese patriotism? Some Chinese bloggers think it is but remain aware of the ways in which such sentiments could be…

Trouble in the Communist “paradise”

My following article appears in the Amnesty International Australia’s Uncensor campaign about human rights in China: The suffering of earthquake victims should not mask the authoritarian tendencies of the ruling elite, writes Antony Loewenstein. The ongoing humanitarian catastrophe after the Sichuan earthquake has revealed a side of China that is rarely glimpsed. After months of…

Human rights, boycotts and nationalism

My following article appears in the Amnesty International Australia’s Uncensor campaign about human rights in China: With only 100 days until the Beijing Games, human rights activists are continuing to pressure the Chinese regime and authorities may be starting to feel the pressure, writes Antony Loewenstein. After months of criticism of its human rights record,…

One confused company

Yahoo goes green. (It’s a shame, therefore, that the company collaborates with the Chinese dictatorship, though it appears to be making progress towards protecting human rights): Yahoo boss Jerry Yang, whose company once allegedly helped Chinese police nab and jail cyber dissidents, is today in the forefront of a global campaign to free those languishing…

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