The regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was an enemy to internet freedom. Significant resources were spent on censorship of the web. The Tunisian Internet Agency (established in 1996, and known as the ATI by its French acronym), was the regime’s...
CATEGORY: Digital Freedom
Iran: Canadian web designer sentenced to death
Iran's Supreme court has upheld the death sentence against a Canadian web designer. Saeed Malekpour was sentenced to death last January for “anti-government agitation and insulting Islam,” following his arrest in October 2008. He was accused of...
Putin censors campaign website as opposition critics debate future
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has launched a website dedicated to his run in the forthcoming presidential elections on 4 March. Minutes after the site went live on 12 January, comments in the site's “suggestions” section called on him not...

In Belarus, the freedom of the internet is at stake
Europe’s last dictatorship is clamping down on online activism, with a new law effectively requiring everyone to be a state spy. Mike Harris reports
Iran: Clampdown on internet use
Police in Iran have begun a heavy clampdown on internet freedom ahead of parliamentary elections in March, as tighter regulations on internet cafe use are introduced. Under the new rules, cafe owners will have to take the forename, surname,...
India: Anti-corruption cartoon website suspended
Cartoons Against Corruption, the website of Indian cartoonist Aseem Trivedi has been suspended by its internet host after complaints that it illegally showcased content mocking India's constitution. The complaint by a Mumbai-based lawyer described...
Hacked websites and fraud mark Russia’s parliamentary elections
Parliamentary elections were held in Russia yesterday (4 December). Several independent media websites were hacked on election day; journalists and rights activists claim this was to prevent coverage of electoral violations. With 96 per cent of...
Index condemns Max Mosley’s attack on web
Index on Censorship today condemned former motorsports boss Max Mosley's attack on search engine Google Testifying to the Leveson Inquiry into the press in London today, Mosley said: "The fundamental thing is that Google could stop this appearing...
UK: Disorder no excuse to clamp down on internet
Governments must not crack down on internet and mobile phone networks during times of unrest, the British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday. Speaking at a two-day international cybersecurity conference in London, Cameron said that...

Google: a case for internet regulation?
Myriam Francois-Cerrah looks at the search giant’s latest figures on government take down demands