· March, 2008

Stories about Law from March, 2008

Bulgaria: Against Internet “Bugging”

This year, the Bulgarian government has issued a decree, which, among other things, allows the security services to gather from each internet user the data about who they have written to, who is on their contact lists, what instant communication agents they are equipped with, when they used them and the precise manner of using them. The majority of internet users in Bulgaria interpreted it as an encroachment on their civil liberties. Yavor Mihaylov reports on Bulgarian bloggers' attempts to resist the government's initiative.

31 March 2008

Lebanon: On censorship

Beirut Spring posts about “good censorship” versus “bad censorship” and on the difference between censoring the Da Vinci Code and censoring Persepolis in Lebanon.

30 March 2008

Brazil: Blogs banned from the 2008 elections

Brazil is warming up for local elections later this year, but the Supreme Electoral Court has just passed regulations that have raised eye-brows throughout the blogosphere: only candidates' purpose-built web pages will be allowed. Blogs and 'social web' facilities have not been subjected to a more comprehensive legislation and as a result these are now left in limbo. Will the netizen be silenced?

30 March 2008

Belarus: Freedom Day Protest

On Tuesday, March 25, police broke up an opposition rally in the capital of Belarus, beating protesters with truncheons and detaining dozens of people. Veronica Khokhlova translates two bloggers' first-hand accounts and a foreign political analyst's view on the Belarusian opposition's strategy.

30 March 2008

Ukraine, Poland: Tusk Visits Kyiv

Leopolis reports on Donald Tusk's visit to Ukraine: “The biggest development of the trip was the signing of a cross-border visa agreement for small-time Ukrainian traders living 50 kilometres from...

29 March 2008

Russia: A Scam

20 East writes about one of the popular scams that he became victim of during a visit to Russia three years ago.

29 March 2008

Jordan: End of Pirates DVDs Era

“Will April 1st 2008 be doomsday for Jordan’s JD 1 DVD paradise?” asks Ahmed Humaid, from Jordan, who overhears people talking about the end of the era of cheap pirated...

28 March 2008

Russia: Dmitry Medvedev

Streetwise Professor writes about “the contrast between [Dmitry] Medvedev’s words and the ongoing acts of the government that he will soon head.”

28 March 2008