17 Mar 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
A recent report by the OpenNet Initiative has revealed that search terms in both Arabic and English relating to homosexuality are censored in some Middle Eastern countries. The study showed that the level of censorship on Microsoft’s Bing ranged from ‘substantial’ to ‘pervasive’ and ‘selective’ in Algeria, Syria, Jordan and United Arab Emirates. Other sexually explicit search terms were also found to be censored.
15 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost
According to an internal source quoted in the Financial Times, Google is “99% certain” to close the Chinese version of its search engine after prolonged disagreements over censorship laws. Last week Google’s Chief Executive Eric Schmidt confirmed that “something will happen soon”. In response to Google’s threats to shutter Google.cn, Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and Technology, told the National People’s Congress on Friday that Google must “bear the consequence” of its “irresponsible and unfriendly” actions.
8 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Investigators looking into web attacks on Google and dozens of other American companies last year have traced the intrusions to computers at Jiaotong University as well as Lanxiang Vocational School in Shandong Province, an institution with ties to the Chinese military, according to a report in the New York Times. Beijing has subsequently denied these claims as “groundless“, fighting back against reports that investigators are drawing closer to hackers in China. China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Qin Gang, told reporters: “Reports that these attacks came from Chinese schools are totally groundless and the accusation of Chinese government involvement is also irresponsible and driven by ulterior motives.”
However, US analysts now believe they have identified the Chinese author of the critical programming code used in the alleged state-sponsored hacking attacks, making it far harder for the Chinese government to deny involvement. A freelance security consultant in his 30s wrote the part of the program that used an unknown security hole in the Internet Explorer web browser to break into computers and insert the spyware, a researcher working for the US government told the Financial Times.
4 Feb 2010 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost
The editor of Taqadoumy website Hanevy Ould Dehah remains in detention after a Supreme Court decision to retry him on a charge of ‘offending public decency’, a crime for which he has already served a six-month sentence. Commenting on his original trial Reporters Without Borders said “The sole aim of this disproportionate sentence is to restore the reputation of Ibrahima Moctar Sarr, a politician whose financial dealings Dehah examined.”
