Stories about Technology from October, 2011
Russia: The Data Leak War and Other Pre-Election Surprises
Current online political activity in Russia points to information warfare occurring between independent civil-society groups or remnants of 'traditional' political opposition, against various government officials and pro-government youth movements.
Tunisia: Let's Invade Social Networks!
A crazy wave of posts hit the world of social networks when Tunisian netizens decided to invade Facebook and Twitter with their comments. First came the official Facebook page of US President Barack Obama. Soon other world leaders got a taste of this spam-attack.
Mexico: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt over Anonymous’ #OpCartel
Over recent days many media outlets have widely publicized news about a video by Anonymous Mexico threatening the Zetas cartel as a response to the kidnapping of one of the former's members. Inconsistencies in reports about the operation are however evident.
Russia: Alternative Voting Portal Launched
Habrahabr-user uhaby writes [ru] about otdamgolos.ru, a web-portal that offers users to propose alternative parliamentary and presidential candidates as well as to vote for them. The author claims that within 10 days his website attended 137,500+ visitors. In the virtual parliamentary election three parties received most votes: 1. The Pirate Party,...
Russia: Izhevsk City Manager Caught on Camera Talking About Election Bribery
Udmurtia.tv publishes a video [ru] of Denis Agashin, Izhevsk city manager, telling the representatives of veteran organizations that the next year's financial support will depend on the results of “United Russia” party in their district. As Alexander Kynev, a prominent political analyst, points out: “Progress it's not only forcing students...
Japan’s IT Exodus: A Personal Perspective (Part 1)
37-year-old software architect Ryo Asai writes at his blog “Becoming a Master Programmer” about his reasons for leaving his previous job, a Japanese system integration company, to work at Amazon Japan. In explaining his reasons for the move, Asai provides a unique perspective on the underlying roots of Japan's failure to keep up in the new digital economy.
Trinidad & Tobago: Celebrating Anya's Project Runway Win
The Trinidad and Tobago blogosphere has been extremely active over the past week as Season 9 of Lifetime's hit reality show, Project Runway, drew to a close. Home-grown design hopeful, Anya Ayoung-Chee eventually walked away with the coveted title of Season 9 designer.
Malawi: New Blog for Free and Open Source Software
The Blantyre Free and Open Source Software Users Group has a new blog: “Welcome to the blog of Blantyre Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Users group. Blantyre Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Users Group is a grouping of individuals that use free and open source software but are...
Open Access Africa: Spreading Knowledge, Increasing Collaboration
We celebrate Open Access Week with a special focus on Open Access Africa. As the internet lowers the bar for publishing and disseminating information, print-era publishing models still keep African researchers and students separated from colleagues in different countries and their ideas. How has Open Access changed scholarship in Africa?
Cuba: Internet & Human Rights
“2011 will hopefully be looked back as the year when both the right to internet access and the threat to internet freedom were both recognized and tech companies collaborating with human rights organizations set out standards to address the problem and uphold a fundamental right”: Notes from the Cuban Exile...
Africa: New Social Network for African Radio Broadcasters
Digital4Good and Farm Radio International have launched social network for African radio broadcasters: “Barzaradio.com helps farmers increase crop yields through connecting radio broadcasters to each other.”
Russia: Fake ‘Crowd Sourced’ Election Monitoring Portal Launched by the Ruling Party
Gazeta.ru writes [ru] about government-sponsored NGOs that help simulate legitimacy of the election process. Among others authors mention ktonarushil.ru, a fake crowdsourcing monitoring portal launched by “United Russia” party. Not only it reminds kartanarusheniy.ru [an authentic monitoring website run by independent election monitor “Golos.org”] but it also doesn't allow to file...
Russia: Crowd-Sourced Citizen Lawmaking Platform
The Economist writes about WikiVote (e.g. see projects dedicated to the laws on education, Sberbank, state-owned bank), Russian croudsourcing platform to comment and contribute to the creation of the laws. Pavel Burov, creator of the platform, claims his project can ‘prevent idiocy [in lawmaking] from happening.’
Russia: Prison Officer Who Abused Female Inmates Arrested After a YouTube Leak
Anonymous male prison officer from Amur region who had been captured beating and abusing female inmates was arrested, Ria.ru reported [ru]. The arrest was conducted after the shocking video [warning: graphic content] of prison violence was uploaded by the YouTube user MrArtur113.
Nicaragua: Blogger Argues Digital Journalism in the Country is on the Right Track
Carlos R. Fonseca says [es] he was surprised when participants in a discussion panel at the Universidad Centroamericana affirmed that digital journalism in Nicaragua is “stagnant”. Carlos argues that digital journalism in the country is actually progressing. However, he also admits there is room for improvement and lists specific issues...
Russia: 24,300+ Personal Records Belonging to Pro-Kremlin Youth Camp Participants Leaked
Russia is entering a personal data leak war led by anonymous hackers. After the partly-fake contents of the Alexey Navalny's mailbox was published, the RuNet was struck with another massive leak of personal data belonging to 24,324 participants of the pro-Kremlin youth camp “Seliger 2011,” ridus.ru reported [ru].
Tanzania: Who Killed Zinjanthropus?
TEDxDar 2011 asks, “Who Killed Zinjanthropus?”: “This year’s TED theme is “storytelling” and from this we have created our central theme for TEDxDar 2011: “Who Killed Zinjanthropus?” With Tanzania approaching its 50 years jubilee of independence, we are using Zinjanthropus – a fossil of early man discovered in Tanzania –...
Tanzania: New Blog to Connect College Students
TZCampusVibe: Life of University Students is a new Swahili and English blog in Tanzania that connects University students in the country.
China: Internet Management and the 6th Plenum Report
Bill Bishop looks into the 6th Plenum Report and highlights the part that discusses the strengthening of Internet management in China.
Russia: Hacked Mailbox of Anti-Corruption Blogger Published Online
Private mailbox allegedly belonging to Alexey Navalny, famous anti-corruption blogger, has been hacked and published at navalnymail.kz by an attacker nicknamed onenavnav [ru]. Navalny hasn't confirmed the authenticity of the leaked e-mails yet. Observers suggest that the leak might be connected to the plan of Navalny's discreditation.
Trinidad & Tobago: Divali Delicacies
“The cross-section of families and individuals from all walks of life always brings a smile to my face and reminds me of the Divali celebrations of my childhood”: TriniGourmet.com posts her mouth-watering menu for this year's Divali celebrations, which take place tomorrow.
