Stories about Technology from July, 2012
Russia: Lawmakers Consider Taxing Certain Bloggers
There are indications that Russian lawmakers might soon consider levying a tax [ru] on bloggers who profit from advertisements on their sites. Blogger Oleg Kozyrev [ru] argues that such a crackdown could backfire on the Kremlin, as pro-government RuNet “trolls” could then be compelled to report illicit income received from the state...
Hungary: Community News Site Takes On Neglected Fire Hydrants
Faulty and out-of-order fire hydrants made it difficult to control a fire that broke out in the Kutya mountain, close to the town of Nagykovácsi in Hungary. This inspired the founder of a community news site Nagykovácsi.net Dávid Fáber to launch a community-driven data gathering initiative to document all of the town's fire hydrants through his website's registered users.
Iran: Internet influence 43 % with 32.7 million users
The official report on Internet status in Iran by March 2012 indicates the influence rate is 43 percent, with 32.7 million users nationwide, 14.3 millions (18.9 %) connected to GPRS on their cellphones as the most common connection type, 4.5 millions of them connected through broadband ADSL, and about 860 thousands have...
Russia: A Conspiracy Theory Against United Russia in Yaroslavl's LJ Case
Writing in the politics-ru LiveJournal community [ru], user oficer2001 [ru] alleges that pat-index, the blogger at the center of the case in Yaroslavl (where LJ was banned by court order), is actually a United Russia member, raising concerns that the Russian authorities are already using state-sponsored trolls to flood the RuNet with illegal...
Wales: The State of Welsh Language Blogging
In the 1990s, William Owen Roberts, a Welsh author and playwright, remarked that writing in Welsh is akin to "writing on the edge of catastrophe". If that is the case, a Welsh language blogger might be half way off the edge already.
Tajikistan: Young People Learn to Blog
Matrix [ru], a Central Asian youth TV project focusing on Internet and new technologies, has produced a video [ru] about bloggers in Tajikistan. While few Tajiks presently run blogs, some local organizations teach young people how to start blogging.
South Korea: Mega Corporation Lotte Faces Nationwide Boycott
In South Korea, over two million small business owners have called for a nationwide boycott of products made by conglomerate Lotte Group. This unprecedentedly large scale collective action has spread like wildfire via social media.
Russia: Yaroslavl Court Bans LiveJournal
Earlier this week, a Yaroslavl court responded to a request from local police and ordered Internet provider Netis Telekom to shut off access to a handful of websites, including Russia's most popular blogging platform, LiveJournal. As a result, roughly 6,000 subscribers have lost all LJ access.
Video: Internet Society Discusses International Freedom of Speech and Censorship
Will the technologies of anonymization win out over new digital monitoring tools? And will new wireless data technologies foster democracy–or lead to more effective tracking and surveillance? A panel discussion in Washington, DC on 25 June, 2012 with 6 activists from Syria, India, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Venezuela and Azerbaijan aimed to answer these questions.
Georgia: Elections Portal Goes Online Ahead Of Parliamentary Vote
Democracy and Freedom Watch reports on the launch of an online monitoring platform ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2012. The site, Elections Portal, is available in Georgian and English at http://www.electionsportal.ge.
“Copy, Paste, Create”, a Free Online Book in Spanish on Open Culture and Piracy
Venezuelan writer, lawyer and Global Voices contributor Marianne Díaz Hernández has published the first installment [es] of her book “Copy, Paste, Create: Why I defend piracy and think that open culture is a good strategy for creators” [es]. Marianne will publish her (free) book in various installments on her personal...
Indonesia: Charismatic Entrepreneur Charmed Jakarta Voters
Residents of Jakarta, Indonesia went to the polls to elect a new governor of the country's capital. In a surprising twist, voters supported Joko Widodo, an entrepreneur and mayor of central Java city of Solo. For the first time in Jakarta elections, social networks were recognized as tools that promote voters' education and campaign awareness
China: Blogger Shorts SINA to 8% Shares Plunge With a Tweet
On July 16, famous Chinese blogger Isaac Mao wrote on Twitter that he would be shorting $SINA everyday, in reaction to SINA Weibo's (a Chinese microblogging platform) deletion of his user account. His message was delivered to investors from all around the world and next day SINA's NASDAQ listed price dropped by 8%.
China: State-run Media's English Forum
Beijing Cream looks into the “harmonious” interaction of a newly launched English Forum under State run media, Xinhua's website.
Indonesia: Social Media Impact on Jakarta Polls
Tobias Basuki observes that social media played a less effective role in the recent local elections in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Thailand: University Launches E-Bookstore
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand's oldest university, has recently launched an e-bookstore as part of its program to become a digital university within four years
South Asia: First Pakistan-India Social Media Summit Wraps
The first ever Pakistan-India social media summit took place in Karachi during 13-14 June, 2012. This social media summit managed to include not just people from India but also a sizable contingent from Lahore, as well as Karachi. Faisal Kapadia reports.
Ukraine: Politicians and Parties on Facebook
Watcher.com.ua reports [uk] that the ruling Party of Regions now has a Facebook page [ru]. For more on Ukrainian politicians’ and parties’ Facebook presence, see this Watcher.com.ua's ranking (uk; updated daily).
Ukraine: Ukrainian Wikipedia's Traffic Hiked as Russian Wikipedia Striked
Watcher.com.ua reports [uk] that on July 10, when Wikipedia's Russian-language section suspended its service [en] for one day to protest the Russian draft law “On the Protection of Children From Information Harmful to Their Health and Development,” the Ukrainian-language Wikipedia saw a five-time traffic increase. On that day, according to...
Yemen: TEDx Finally in Sanaa!
There is great excitement in Yemen and among netizens that TEDx has reached Sanaa after the license to stage the event was finally obtained on July 13th 2012. Many Yemenis are looking forward to getting the chance to share their dreams, experiences and ideas with each other and the world in December 2012.
Sri Lanka: News Websites Targeted And Journalists Threatened
Recently the Sri Lankan authorities raided offices of two news websites on allegation of criminal defamation and arrested nine journalists. In another incident the defense secretary threatened an editor of a local newspaper during an interview. Sri Lankan journalists and activists staged a demonstration protesting their repression.
