16 Feb 11 | Index Index, minipost
On 15 February, French opposition socialist and communist groups challenged the constitutionality of a new security law (Loppsi 2) by referring it to the Constitutional Council. They claim that Article 4, which provides for the blocking of child pornography sites, “does not provide sufficient guarantees against the possibility of arbitrary violations of freedom of expression”. The law’s opponents are concerned that the article could be abused for political reasons.
10 Feb 11 | News and features
Amidst the hype over “Twitter revolutions”, have we forgotten the crucial role played by small media? To examine these crucial organising tools, the Small Media Initiative is partnering with Index on Censorship to create the Small Media Symposium 2011. Klara Chlupata reports
A quick glance at the news seems to suggest that we are living in the digital age of Twitter revolutions. In August 2010, Wired published an article entitled From Samizdat to Twitter: How Technology is Making Censorship Irrelevant. But is it?
The role played by social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in political protests and “revolutions” continues to be passionately debated by academics, activists, politicians and pundits. While there are plenty of examples of creative new politics, recent protests in Burma, China, Iran and Egypt remind us that governments can simply shut communication down. The question then becomes: where do we go after moving from samizdat to Twitter? What alternative channels and technologies of communication can facilitate the flow of information when authoritarian regimes flick the kill switch? What alternative political practices can we invent to circumscribe state repression?
Recent events in Egypt suggest that alternatives can be as low-tech as paper leaflets with practical and tactical advice or as high-tech as the speak-to-tweet application that lets individuals dial a phone number and leave (or listen to) a message translated to text on a Twitter page.
When authoritarian regimes can easily disrupt communication channels to restrict the free flow of information and to control the narrative, small media can be useful in providing alternative means of mass communication. These tools are given many titles: small media, alternative media, participatory media and social movement media. This will be the focus of the Small Media Symposium, which will take place in London on 8-9 April 2011. The symposium will gather together academics, activists and media developers to discuss small media theory, practice and innovation.
The event will be held at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and will be open to the public on 8 April. On 9 April, there will be a series of closed-door workshops.
Contributors are invited to submit their proposals on a wide range of topics and approaches related to small media. Research, practical experience, insights, product demonstrations, case studies, work-in-progress, posters, conceptual papers and proposals for workshop themes are all welcome. The deadline for submission of an abstract (400 – 600 words) is 10 March 2011. Abstracts can be submitted to contact[at]smallmediainitiative.com.
Klara Chlupata is curator at Index on Censorship and the primary organiser of the Small Media Symposium 2011
01 Feb 11 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa
Last night at around 11pm local time Egypt’s last remaining ISP was taken offline. There are also unconfirmed rumours that mobile network services are to be cut today. The Noor Group ISP served the Egyptian stock exchange and a number of hotels serving an international clientele.
As soon as I have a way to circumvent the system, I’ll be back with an update.
31 Jan 11 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features
As Egypt enters a seventh day of open revolt against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, the country’s internet access continues to be largely shut down. That extended closure is one of the clearest signs that Mubarak still sees this as a fight he can win.
The longer the internet shutdown continues, the more and more mysterious the government’s thinking becomes. The last week has proven not only that the protesters don’t need Twitter and Facebook access to challenge the system but also that the world’s media don’t necessarily need it to bring details, images and even videos of this mass revolt to the world.
Each day brings new evidence of the complete futility of the gesture. Prominent local bloggers and online activists are simply calling friends overseas to tweet details on their behalf, the flood of journalists entering the country are almost all coming in armed with Thuraya satellite phones and Bgan receivers that enable you to get online from anywhere.
At this point, it’s likely that the main victim of the government’s online blockade will be the Egyptian economy. The country’s banks and stock market were shut down on Monday and the overall economic damage from the government’s decision to cut Egypt off from the world is something that will be hard to measure for a while.
Yesterday I met up with a prominent blogger and digital activist who blogs and tweets under the name of Sandmonkey. He gleefully told me that cracking the internet blockade was becoming an international cause célèbre for the international digital expression community. There were plans afoot, he said, for a group of “hardcore open source guys from Germany” to arrive here with satellite phones and all the equipment they needed to set up a local internet network completely beyond the reach of the authorities.
“They’re going to bypass the whole system,” he told me.
