· June, 2013

Stories about Freedom of Speech from June, 2013

Myanmar's Internet Freedom Forum

Faine Greenwood writes about the first Internet freedom forum in Myanmar and the challenges facing the IT community: The event revealed optimism about opportunities for a newly connected society, even...

28 June 2013

Father of China's Great Firewall to Quit His Job as University President

Fang Binxing, an information security expert nicknamed the “father of China’s Great Fire Wall”, has resigned as president of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. His abrupt decision to step down--made during a university commencement speech --has ignited uproar online and touched a nerve with China’s Internet-savvy community.

28 June 2013

Russian NGOs Learn to Invest in Paper Shredders

RuNet Echo

At 3AM, last Saturday, Russian riot police and private security raided the offices of one of the country's oldest human rights organizations. Those inside, including the group's leader, Lev Ponomarev, were forcibly evicted from the premises. Later, allegations arose that the group was involved in certain "unpatriotic" activities.

26 June 2013

Podcast: Chinese Dissident's NYU Departure

Sinica Podcast hosts New Yorker correspondent Evan Osnos who talks about Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's departure from NYU, how the Snowden affair may or may not affect Sino-American diplomacy, and...

26 June 2013

New Regulations for Skype and Viber in Bahrain

“Security considerations” are being cited as reasons behind new regulations which could put an end to the use of popular services such as Skype, WhatsApp, Viber and Tango in Bahrain. A government official says a study is being conducted to regulate Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications - popular services, whose use is costing telecommunication companies.

25 June 2013

China: Keywords Unblocked in Weibo

Jason Ng from Tea Leaf Nation reviewed the recent unblocking of several politically sensitive words in Weibo, Chinese biggest social media platform and pointed out that the unblocking is not...

24 June 2013

Hundreds Banned from Hong Kong Website

HKGolden, a forum of great cultural and political influence in Hong Kong recently has banned more than 300 user accounts. While the website administrator explained that the move was in...

24 June 2013

The Kremlin's Kitchen Serves Up Russia's Free Press

RuNet Echo

Novaya Gazeta has implicated Vladimir Putin’s favorite restaurant owner in a bizarre scheme to defame several of the country’s most prominent news publications, involving a conspiracy to plant false information in different newspapers, in order to convince Russians that the news is for hire.

21 June 2013

Brazilians Poke Fun at Intelligence Agency Spooks

In the face of protests that have swiped across Brazil, the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) were summoned by the government to monitor protesters through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even WhatsApp. Brazilian netizens are in fits of giggles at the news.

21 June 2013

China Announces Campaign to Weed Out Party Corruption

The Chinese Communist Party is launching a year-long campaign to clean up the party to do away with corrupt elements in its organization. But many Chinese netizens have expressed skepticism toward the campaign, arguing that democracy with the open participation of the people, and not a closed internal process, is the best way to get rid of corruption.

21 June 2013

China Shoots Down Accusations that Edward Snowden is a Spy

Edward Snowden, the whistleblower behind the revelations of the United States massive Internet spying program, turned to the Guardian newspaper once again, this time for an online Q&A, shortly after China broke its silence over the leaking scandal and said Snowden was not a spy for the country. Despite a cautious response from the government, China's online world has been abuzz with chatter surrounding the case.

19 June 2013

Ecuador Passes Controversial Communications Law

After almost four years of debate, the Ecuadorian National Assembly passed a controversial Law of Communications propelled by President Rafael Correa. While government authorities have celebrated the passage of the law, journalistic organizations and the opposition consider it a "gag" on freedom of expression in the country.

19 June 2013

Caribbean: Is Somebody Watching?

The ongoing saga with U.S. Internet surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has captured the attention of the world. In two blog posts, one from Trinidad and Tobago and the other from Cuba, there is an interesting juxtaposition between high-tech spying and old-fashioned intelligence, even though they both pit the citizens against the state.

18 June 2013

Support Snowden Rally in Hong Kong

HongWrong has collected a large number of media reports on the rally to support Edward Snowden in Hong Kong on 15 of June, 2013. Hundreds rallied in the rain demanding...

18 June 2013

Cuba: Another Brick in the Wall?

The whole process is managed and legitimated by a whole army of high-level psychologists and pedagogues in the name of the common Good. Erasmo Calzadilla blogs at Havana Times about...

18 June 2013