Stories from Quick Reads and Technology
At a crucial time for global crises, X (formerly Twitter) dilutes its violent speech policy
X has softened its violent speech policy significantly, decreasing both the scope of its provision on violent speech as well as the consequences imposed when such speech is detected.
Turkmenistan unveils its first ‘smart’ city, named after the former president
Arkadag’s future remains unclear given the government’s authoritarian and bizarre rules for its potential residents.
Is OpenAI biased? We checked so you won't have to
Global Voices explored how an AI image generator rendered pictures from different languages. We typed in the same phrase in nine languages and got wildly different results.
CIMER: a revolutionary platform or reporting tool in the hands of state sympathizers?
Set up in 2015, by the ruling Justice and Development Party, CIMER offers Turkish citizens communicate their “problems, complaints and requests” to the presidency.
Armenia's Prosecutor General wants to monitor internet content
In a letter addressed to the government of Armenia on July 4, Armenia's Prosecutor General, Artur Davtyan said the internet should be under state control and regulated through legislation.
Erdoğan's priorities turn to space as earthly problems mount in Turkey
As part of its national space program, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unveiled plans to have its citizens serve aboard the International Space Station.
Georgian State Security Service accused of mass-surveillance of public figures
The Georgian State Security Service (SSG) has been spying on journalists, opposition and ruling party politicians, activists, priests, businesspeople, and other public figures, according to leaked documents.
Why the Start-Up Pitch in Zimbabwe Is a ‘Waste of Time’
Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha, a communications officer for HIVOS (full disclosure: HIVOS is one of Global Voices’ sponsors) explains why Zimbabwe must ditch the start-up pitch: The start-up pitch, which involves making a rapid fire presentation of an idea followed by a question and answer session involving selected judges, is increasingly a...
Meet Sam Wakoba of TechMoran Blog
Bloggers Association of Kenya profiles Sam Wakoba who runs Techmoran blog. Techmoran won the award for the Best Technology Blog in Kenya this year: We caught up with Sam to get some insights into his blogging journey. Who is Sam Wakoba, in a few words? Sam Wakoba is a humble...
Serbian Intelligence Agency Caught Inquiring to Purchase Surveillance Software
Serbian NGO SHARE Defense reported in July 2015 that leaked emails and files belonging to Milan-based software company Hacking Team (HT) published on Wikileaks reveal that at least one Serbian security service inquired about and negotiated the purchase of surveillance software from this company in 2012. There is also evidence...
‘Films for Action’ Website Shares List of Top 100 Documentaries ‘We Can Use to Change the World’
After years of promotion and reviews of documentaries devoted to social change, the site Films for Action released a list of what they consider to be the 100 most influencial and provocative. From critiques to manistream media to the corporate world, passing through the ideas and solutions proposed in and by...
Serbian Authorities Take Control of A Man's Facebook Account Following Alleged Threats Against PM Vucic
Police in Serbia seemed to have overstepped boundaries in search and seizure proceedings, taking over a personal Facebook account without a court order.
African Startups Win FinTech for Agriculture 2015 Competition
Two African startups have emerged winners of a regional competition organised by Village Capital: Village Capital today announced the first winners of its innovative program, East Africa: FinTech for Agriculture 2015. The program supports entrepreneurs in making financial services more affordable and accessible for smallholder farmers and other underbanked individuals...
Here is Why Nairobi is Africa's Most Successful ICT Hub
Elvans Kidero explains the secrets behind Nairobi's success in ICT sector in Africa: Where is Africa’s ICT hub? Is it South Africa, Nigeria or Nairobi, the capital of Kenya? By growth, it would have to be Nairobi, with my county’s ICT sector expected to grow by 15 per cent this...
Storipot: A News Aggregator for Ugandan Blogs
Keep up to date with news and conversations on Ugandan blogosphere through Storipot, a news aggregator created by Dignited: Storipot is a News aggregator that provides you with headlines of the latest stories (“Feeds”) curated from websites and blogs by or about Uganda. Storipot helps you filter through the noise...
Winners of #HackAgainstEbola Represent Ghana at 2015 Global Editors Network SUMMIT
The winners of the “#HackAgainstEbola” competition at the 2014 Editors Lab organised by the Global Editors Network (GEN) and Penplusbytes in Accra, Citi FM are in Barcelona participating in the 5th annual GEN Summit: Citi FM, last year, competed with other major new rooms in Ghana at Penplusbytes New Media...
Amid “Intelligent” Censorship Discussions, Iran Affirms Facebook Will Remain Blocked
Discussions regarding the implementation of “intelligent” filtering have proliferated Internet policy discussions within Iran. “Intelligent” filtering is a process whereby they filter select content on a social media platform, rather than the entire site. Our recent research covered the extent of this program on Instagram. In response to “intelligent’ filtering...
Khamenei's #Letter4U Bots Still Active Four Months After Its Launch
On January 21, during the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei penned an open letter to the 'youth in Europe and North America' defending Islam, and the Western world's skewed reception of the religion. He also started tweeting the sentiments of the letter on his @khamenei_ir twitter account, starting the hashtag #Letter4U. A closer look of this hashtag indicates it remains active through bots, which are still crawling through Twitter four months after the launch of the campaign.
Venezuela Creates the Joint Staff for Cyber Defense
#SepaQue Ministerio de la Defensa crea la Dirección Conjunta de Ciberdefensa ● http://t.co/7JdVlgdDuE pic.twitter.com/ua82tGbO9d — Efecto Cocuyo (@EfectoCocuyo) May 8, 2015 #YouMustKnow Venezuelan Defense Ministry creates the Joint Staff for Cyber Defense. The Cocuyo Effect website reported that the Defense Ministry of Venezuela created the Joint Staff for Cyber Defense...
Can Electronic Games Accelerate Ghana's Development?
Join Accra Technology salon that will take place on May 26th, 2015. The theme of the salon is Games for Ghana’s Development: Electronic games are a two trillion dollar global industry. Game development in Ghana is growing rapidly, fueled by the popularity of mobile phones and climbing Internet usage rates....
Angani: First Operational Cloud Service in East Africa
Last month, Angani launched first operational cloud service in East Africa: Angani, the first fully automated cloud infrastructure company in the region, today officially launched their cloud and hosting services. Angani also announced their partnership with local data center operators that will make it safe and cost effective to provision...