In the News Archives - Index on Censorship

Free expression in the news

#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)

ANGOLIA
Analysis: Angola illustrates the dangers of criminal defamation laws
South African media reacted nervously when a former Sowetan journalist was found guilty this week of criminal defamation. This was not an over-reaction, if the example of Angola is anything to go by. Do we really want to be taking media management lessons from José Eduardo dos Santos?
(Daily Maverick)

AUSTRALIA
Public servants and free speech
On Monday, August 13, Canberra public servant Michaela Banerji lost a case in the Federal Circuit Court before Judge Neville, which has paved the way for her possible dismissal from the Department of Immigration.
(The Conversation)

BAHRAIN
Bahrain activists to test demo ban at U.S. embassy
Bahraini opposition activists, inspired by the success of street protests in Egypt, plan to demonstrate near the U.S. embassy on Wednesday in defiance of a government ban.
(The Daily Star)

BRAZIL
U.S.-Brazil relations face ‘challenge’ under dark cloud of NSA leaks
The United States pledged on Tuesday that Brazil and other allies will get answers about American communications surveillance aimed at thwarting terrorism, but gave no indication it would change the way it gathers such information.
(The Globe and Mail)

EGYPT
Press Freedom at Risk in Egypt
Hopes for press freedom were high after the 2011 revolution ousted Hosni Mubarak, led to an explosion of private media outlets, and set the country on a path to a landmark presidential election. But more than two years later, a deeply polarized Egyptian press has been battered by an array of repressive tactics, from the legal and physical intimidation of Mohamed Morsi’s tenure to the wide censorship of the new military-backed government. A CPJ special report by Sherif Mansour with reporting by Shaimaa Abu Elkhir from Cairo
(CPJ)

FRANCE
Twitter in hot water again in France – this time, for Homophobic Hashtags
The problem with giving into the requests of the government is that, well, you have to follow through. After an altercation with a few advocacy groups and the French government over some anti-Semitic trending hashtags earlier this year, Twitter promised to provide a streamlined access for users ( & the government) to signal inappropriate content. They also suggested that they would be turning over account information of users who use hate speech on the social network so that the French government can pursue those users for violating France’s free speech laws.
(Rude Baguette)

RUSSIA
In Russia only tyrants’ names change
The news out of Russia never seems to be new. The names change, not the essence. Nor does the reaction of Russia-watchers: a deep, hopeless, wordless sigh. As if to say: What’s to be said? Ah, Russia!
(Boston Herald)

Olympic athletes who promote ‘non-traditional sexuality’ will be arrested
Athletes at the Winter Olympics will be arrested if they breach Russia’s controversial ‘gay propaganda’ laws, the country’s interior ministry has confirmed.
(Metro)

Previous Free Expression in the News posts
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Free expression in the news

13 Aug 13 | In the News

#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)

CANADA
Censorship Can’t be Our Default Internet Setting
Who should decide what websites you can access online? The answer is obvious: You.
(Huffington Post)

CHINA
What a murder mystery reveals about Chinese censorship
At first glance, the only thing out of place in the photograph of a dim, dingy bedroom in Kabul, Afghanistan, released last week by Xinhua, China’s state-controlled news agency, is the giant fluorescent bulb hanging inexplicably below a gilded, five-branch chandelier. It is not: the room is a crime scene, the place where, this past Thursday, an attack left three Chinese nationals dead and two more people missing.
(The New Yorker)

How Censorship Hurts Chinese Internet Companies
Beijing’s block of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter has allowed domestic equivalents to grow. But by shunning global markets, their long-term outlook is uncertain.
(The Atlantic)

INDIA
Indian court orders Facebook, Google to offer plans for protecting children
The New Delhi High Court has given Facebook and Google one month to submit suggestions on how minors can be protected online in India.
(Index on Censorship)

Freedom of Expression: Indians are Becoming Increasingly Intolerant
Instead of nurturing the spirit of debate, we have become aggressive, bigoted and abusive
(Forbes India)

TAIWAN
Censorship quietly flourishes amid outrage
Taiwan’s once-famously freewheeling press is becoming more reliant on China as cross-strait cultural and media exchanges grow
(Index on Censorship)

UKRAINE
TVA channel still off the air, censorship suspected
Nearly three weeks after local TVA channel was forced to suspend its broadcast, a group of 28 deputies from local councils of Chernivtsi Oblast asked the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting to intervene.
(Kyiv Post)

UNITED KINGDOM
Artificially inadequate: we should never let machines rule on censorship
One of the great irritations about freedom of speech is that the people who demand it most are the ones who deserve it least. The very worst, I reckon, are the oxygen thieves who demand complete freedom for themselves but try to silence others.
(TechRadar)

UNITED STATES
The Business of Financing Hate Groups: Legal to Censor, but Unwise
It’s so tempting to go for the easy answer. Credit card companies are private businesses. They generally have the right, including possibly the First Amendment right, to refuse to deal with anyone. (Exceptions might include a collusive financial blockade of any group, which could violate antitrust law, and of course there are anti-discrimination laws.) That should apply all the more to bigots, right?
(ACLU)

Strip Club Owner Brings Epic Free Speech Fight To The US Supreme Court
The owner of an Albany, N.Y. strip club called Nite Moves has hired one of America’s best free speech lawyers to help him convince the Supreme Court that taxes on lap dances should be illegal, The Daily Gazette reports.
(Business Insider)

Free expression in the news

12 Aug 13 | In the News

#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)

AUSTRALIA
Party profile: The Pirate Party
The Pirate Party of Australia will be fielding eight Senate candidates at the upcoming federal election.
(World News Australia)

BAHRAIN
Teacher ‘should have faced trial’
An American kindergarten teacher, who was deported for having links with radical opposition groups, should have been put on trial, according to political societies.
(Gulf Daily News)

CHINA
Popular China bloggers should ‘promote virtues’
Chinese Internet celebrities have been told to “promote virtues” by a leading official, state media said Sunday, after a singer sparked a free speech debate by venting about bombing government offices.
(Yahoo)

GLOBAL
The Pirate Bay Launches Censorship-Dodging Web Browser
Notorious torrent-sharing site The Pirate Bay is 10 years old today, and they got you a little something. They launched PirateBrowser, a custom Firefox browser that skirts Internet censorship and lets you access the Pirate Bay from anywhere. We should at least send them a card or something.
(Geekosystem)

INDIA
Stand up for freedom of expression: Anand Patwardhan
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker AnandPatwardhan believes civil society groups in Gujarat must unite to defend the right to free expression, especially of oppressed sections.
(Times of India)

Freedom of Expression: Indians are Becoming Increasingly Intolerant
Instead of nurturing the spirit of debate, we have become aggressive, bigoted and abusive
(Forbes India)

RUSSIA
Russia asked by IOC about gay propaganda law
Mr Rogge said in Moscow that Russian written reassurances over the Winter Olympics in Sochi needed clarification. “We don’t think it is a fundamental issue, more a translation issue.”
(Radio New Zealand)

SOUTH AFRICA
Fear of offending betrays hard-won rights
When President Jacob Zuma and the ANC calls on “intellectuals” not to be “antagonistic”, it raises several questions, says Judith February and Richard Calland.
(St Kitts News)

ST KITTS
Press Freedom and Freedom of Information Act
Press freedom and Freedom of Information Act are like two wings on which transparency, accountability and openness in government rises to the needs of democracy and good governance.
(St Kitts News)

SWITZERLAND
The power of pictures
Swiss photographer Christian Lutz began a reportage on the International Christian Fellowship (ICF) more than two years ago after gaining explicit approval from the founder of the community, its managers and event organisers. But more than 20 legal complaints stopped the publication of Lutz’s book, In Jesus’ Name.
(Swiss Broadcasting Corporation)

UNITED STATES
‘Boobies,’ the courts and free speech
The courts must protect the rights of students to express themselves on social and political issues.
(Los Angeles Times)

Political signs are free speech, not a blight on suburban lawns
While many consider political signs ugly and annoying, they are free speech at its purest. In case after case, courts have struck down efforts to limit this most basic form of political speech. In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in City of Ladue et al. v. Gilleo that curbs on political lawn signs were unconstitutional.
(Syracuse.com)

Free expression in the news

09 Aug 13 | In the News

#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)

CHINA
Fault Lines Laid Bare in Hong Kong
To her supporters, Alpais Lam Wai-sze, an award-winning primary schoolteacher who shouted obscenities at the Hong Kong police last month over their handling of a street dispute between a pro-Chinese Communist Party group and an anti-Communist group, is a free-speech heroine.
(The New York Times)

GAZA
Gazans Use Satire to Bypass
Political Censorship
Cynical television presenters such as Egyptian Bassem Youssef may soon no longer appear on Palestinian television outlets as a result of the increased censorship imposed on local media. Yet, this same censorship has stood helpless with the spread of sarcastic literature and media published on social networking sites.
(Al Monitor)

MEXICO
Mexico: self-censorship for survival
Journalists in Mexico are increasingly publishing their articles anonymously. Attaching your name to a report, an article or a picture is an obligation and a right. But doing so in Mexico can cost journalists their jobs or their lives. The biggest danger facing reporters there is not being hit by a stray bullet. No, the main peril is being murdered in order to silence and censor the media.
(Radio Netherlands)

PAKISTAN
Pakistani artists challenging YouTube ban
YouTube is a source of entertainment and news for billions around the world, but Pakistanis have lost access to the video site for almost a year after clips of the controversial film “Innocence of Muslims” prompted a government ban.
(CNN)

SINGAPORE
Singapore: End ‘Scandalizing the Judiciary’ Prosecutions
Singapore’s Attorney General’s Chambers should cease using contempt of court charges to muzzle critics of the judiciary.
(HRW)

TURKEY
Singapore: End ‘Scandalizing the Judiciary’ Prosecutions
Singapore’s Attorney General’s Chambers should cease using contempt of court charges to muzzle critics of the judiciary.
(HRW)

UNITED STATES
The more nefarious US foreign policy, the more it relies on media complicity
Americans are shielded from the ugly consequences of US military power by our journalists’ self-censorship
(The Guardian)

National Park Service’s First Amendment Violations Covered Up by Hometown Paper
During the Saint Augustine Tea Party’s month-long saga of standing up for Free Speech, the Right of Assembly and the American way, the local print newspaper, The St Augustine Record, remained elusive and nowhere to be found.
(Examiner.com)

States take aim at sex-ad websites, but run into resistance
A two-word change proposed to one of the nation’s first online laws has triggered a battle between law enforcement and Internet libertarians.
(The Free Press)