28 Apr 2010 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The Saudi Arabian government broke the Arabic record for the fastest time to block a new website, clocking in at just 15 hours. On 25 April, they blocked a US- based site created by Egyptian activists The Egyptian Association for Change, eacusa.org, only 15 hours after it launched. Tunisia was the previous record holder, blocking www.yezzi.org in 18 hours after it went live in 2005.
26 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Stephen Conroy has come under fire for not revealing information about his recent discussions with the US State Department over Australia’s controversial mandatory ISP filtering plan.
US Ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich recently criticised Conroy’s plans on an Australian news programme, stating that “the internet needs to be free”. In a letter to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, Liberal senator Sue Boyce criticises Conroy’s refusal to publicise any information, claiming that “[i]t is a deplorable situation when Australians have to rely upon the frankness of a foreign diplomat to provide information about bilateral discussions on a very important matter because relevant Australian ministers either dissemble or just refuse to say anything.”
21 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost
On 20 April, Wikileaks tweeted claiming that their Facebook fan page was deleted by Facebook for violation of the Terms of Service. According to Wikileaks,the page had been disabled because it “promotes illegal acts“. A Facebook spokeswoman said the group, which had 30,000 members, could have been taken down for a number of reasons, most likely because it had received a complaint from a member about objectionable content.
16 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost
The Irish government has been engaged in high level discussions on introducing technology to censor websites, according to documents obtained by campaign group Digital Rights Ireland through a Freedom of Information request, and seen by the Irish Times. The exact nature of the Government discussions cannot be determined as Digital Rights Ireland was refused access to many documents by the Department of Justice. However, the extent of government interest in censorship is indicated by the list of documents that were refused. For example, one refused item details a meeting between the department and Vodafone on the “introduction of internet filtering in Ireland”. The potential scope of such technologies is evidenced by a refused document in which documents relating to the blocking of child pornography websites were forwarded to the official in the Department of Justice in charge of casino gaming regulation.
