Because several weeks have passed without a TWiOT update, I am making this one a straight-ahead digest, listing the latest piece of news first.
Egyptian blogger receives International Press Freedom Award. The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression awarded Mohamed Abdelfattah the award for his work coverage of Khaled Said, a young man who was brutally beaten and killed by Egyptian police officers in Alexandria in June of 2010.
Burma unblocks websites. The Burmese government unblocked international media sites as well as websites run by Burmese exiles.
Malaysia repealing censorship law. Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Thursday that the Malaysian government plans to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows the authorities to detain people indefinitely without charge or trial.
Hong Kong bans online sharing of election information. Facebook, Twitter and other social media is now considered “political advertising” in Hong Kong, and therefore limited.
Syria blocks WordPress. In the midst of the protests in Syria, the government has blocked the blog host.
Cuban blogger arrested after Twittering. Luis Felipe Rojas was arrested in the town of Duaba after announcing his intent to take part in a protest for dead hunger strike activists.
Pakistan plans to block Google and YouTube. Pakistan has threatened Google and YouTube with blocking if they do not “help” the government with its alleged terrorism concerns.
Morocco arrests online activists. Blogger Mohamed Douas and others have been arrested in the midst of that country’s pro-democracy protests.
International Code of Conduct for Information Security presented to the U.N. by cohort of anti-freedom governments. In a move of operatic Andy Kaufmanesque absurdity, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan created and submitted a hilarious “code” for information security. (It’s an anti-free speech, pro-tyranny document.)
Another lèse-majesté arrest in Thailand. Surapak Phuchaisaeng was arrested for posting pictures that were allegedly insulting to the monarchy. In reality, they were probably insulting to the ruling party.
South Korea censors Internet secretly. In Korea, even the censors are being censored.
Google re-licenses in China. So much for Google’s brave stand against Chinese interference.
China fights cyberwar against exiled Tibetans. China’s cyberwarfare soldiers are directing a constant stream of attacks against exiled Tibetans to keep them from speaking to each others, the public and coreligionists in Tibet.
Facebook to work with German government on code of conduct. Facebook has agreed to work with Germany on a “voluntary code of conduct” to protect the privacy of social network users.
Hourglass photo by William Andrus, Malaysia photo by Eric Teoh,
