06 Dec 11 | Index Index, minipost
The Indian Government have asked internet companies and social media organisations to censor internet content before it goes online. India’s acting telecommunications minister Kapil Sibal met with top officials from the Indian units of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook on Monday to discuss implementing the removal of disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content before being published online.
Three un-named executives of Internet companies were told in a previous meeting that Sibal expected them to set up a proactive pre-screening system using people, not technology.
19 Oct 10 | Index Index, minipost
Microsoft is extending its program of giving free software licences to non-profit organisations. The initiative was first applied to Russia, after it was discovered that authorities were using software piracy inquiries as a method of suppressing independent media outlets and advocacy groups. The program will now include 500,000 NGOs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Prior to the announcement NGOs could only obtain a free licence if they were aware of the program and followed the necessary procedure. According to Microsoft’s official blog announcement, the unilateral licence will last until 2012.
20 Apr 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Microsoft has denied claims that its staff were involved in the silencing of internet television station Stan TV, which was raided by police on April 1. Initial reports claimed the police were accompanied by a Microsoft representative, who came armed with an order from Kyrgyzstan Prosecutor General’s office authorising him to seal the station’s equipment. The order alleged that Stan Media LLC was using pirated Microsoft software.
The use of anti-piracy legislation by local law enforcement agencies to legitimise harassment of the independent media is becoming more frequent in ex-Soviet republics, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In November 2007, the Samara edition of award-winning Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta was effectively shut down due to accusations that the company was using unlicensed Microsoft software. In 2008, Vyatsky Nablyudatel was subject of similar allegations, but took the decision to move over to open-source software to beat the regulations, as its editor reported in Index on Censorship magazine at the time.
17 Mar 10 | 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.
