Posts tagged Censorship at Switched

Posts with tag censorship

China Caught Snooping and Censoring Skype Messages

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 2nd 2008 at 12:14PM

By now, you've surely heard of China's so-called Great Firewall, the country's continued efforts to restrict access to material that the government deems questionable. We've also covered how Skype is becoming a bit of a haven for those with questionable intents because of the difficulty of monitoring conversations there. China, however, has found a way to track at least some traffic, filtering and censoring text messages sent via Skype.

A service in China called Tom-Skype enables users to exchange text messages directly with Skype users from their phones. Privacy rights advocates at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto have discovered that eight Chinese servers intersect every message and process it against a list of censored words and topics, relating to things like the banned religious group Falun Gong and even references to the current controversy relating to tainted milk powder. Messages that match are often blocked and archived, along with the identity of the individual sending them.

Those servers were apparently not adequately protected, enabling the Citizen Lab members to access them and download millions of messages, as well as information about the senders. Scary? Yes, very much so, as it reveals more signs that Big Brother is most certainly watching in China. [From: The New York Times]

Suicide Websites Made Illegal in U.K.

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 18th 2008 at 2:12PM

In the wake of a still-growing suicide-pact crisis in the U.K., largely fueled by Web sites that either heap praise on those who've killed themselves or give encouragement for those who are thinking about it, the British government has expanded a 1961 suicide promotion law, explicitly banning the promotion of suicide on Web sites.

The 47-year-old Suicide Act already covered suicide-related sites, but as of now, none had actually been prosecuted or shut down because of it. The change in language makes it blatantly clear that these sites are indeed illegal, but as we've seen before, shutting down illegal sites in just one nation is a tricky thing. Earlier this year, Wikileaks was ruled illegal in a California court, which took steps to block it. However, multiple other versions popped up around the world offering access to exactly the same information through different URLs. Two weeks later, the court relented and up went the main site again.

Will the British government find more success than ours did? That remains to be seen. [From: BBC News]

Saudi Judge Wants TV Station Owners Put to Death

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 15th 2008 at 11:30AM

We're no strangers to religious nuts condemning "morally offensive" television in America, but we usually manage to keep the real loons out of positions of power. Apparently, no such luck in Saudi Arabia, where a judge has issued a decree saying that owners of satellite television stations that air immoral content could and should face prosecution and possibly the death penalty.

Though no specific shows or stations were named in the decree, it is widely understood that Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan was targeting Western-influenced soap operas and comedy shows.

Sure, death penalties are a bit severe, but perhaps punishment isn't that bad of an idea -- we know of a few stations that could be greatly improved by wiping clean their schedules of nonstop reruns and bad reality television at all hours of the day. [From: Daily Times]

F-Word Town's Name Gets Censored By Internet Filter

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 1st 2008 at 4:31PM

The town of Whakatane, New Zealand found to its surprise recently that its name was censored in cyberspace. The embarrassing mix up was discovered by a tourist who tried to access the town's local wireless service (called Freenet). All of the visitor's searches for Whakatane came up blank with the explanation that, "the content is filtered so this service is for legitimate use."

It turns out the filtering service used is provided by an American company whose filter works on phonetic pronunciations. The filter is triggered because the 'wh' in Whakatane is pronounced like an 'f' -- the town's name sounds like a certain swear word that begins with 'f' and ends with a 'k.' The town has since added its name to the list of words that can bypass the filter.

Plenty of towns around the world there have even more questionable names. We wonder if these would get through the filter:

Bohner's Lake, Wisconsin
Cockplay, Scotland
Anus, France
Three Cocks, Wales
Weener, Germany
Fort Dick, Pennsylvania
Dikshit, India
Gofuku, Japan

[Source: News.com.au]

Chinese Censorship Partially Lifted For Olympics

by Tim Stevens, posted Aug 1st 2008 at 12:30PM

The pre-Olympics censorship debacle continues, and, unfortunately, it's still not completely resolved. Earlier this week, it was discovered that despite earlier pledges of Internet freedom for journalists during the games, many sites (like Amnesty International) were still blocked.

There was, naturally, a global uproar, especially against the International Olympics Committee (IOC), the Olympics governing body, for allowing such censorship to take place. In the face of all that noise, the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, has lifted some restrictions, but not all of them.

Though some previously blocked sites, such as Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, are now available, many others are still blocked. Sites for the banned religious group Falun Gong and for the exiled Tibetan government are still banned (even for journalists), making this recent gesture from the Chinese President a bit... weak, really. [Source: Reuters, and Yahoo! News]

International Olympic Committee Allows China to Censor Web

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 30th 2008 at 7:06AM

During the build-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics earlier this summer, it was revealed that China had plans to maintain its censorship of the Internet during the games, stepping away from earlier pledges of "complete freedom" of surfing for journalists. Now, with the Opening Ceremonies just over a week away, the full implications of censorship are becoming apparent as media arrive on the scene and begin discovering the sites that they can, and more importantly can't, access.

Media are being blocked from accessing the site of Amnesty International, the international human rights organization that recently published a report reminding everyone of China's less than stellar record when it comes to human rights. Media are also prevented from accessing the site of Falun Gong, which according to a Chinese spokesperson is "an evil, fake religion which has been banned by the Chinese government."

Any way you look at it, it's going to be an interesting Games -- we just hope between the reports on censorship, human rights and pollution, people don't forget to report on the athletes from time to time! [Source: Yahoo! News]

51 Places You're Not Supposed to See on Google Maps

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jul 16th 2008 at 7:01PM

Google Maps may be great for sightseeing in areas of the world to remote, dangerous, or expensive for you to visit, and even better for creepily checking in on the dwellings of friends and family, but there are a few places that have been taken off of the service.

Governments have had military installations removed, residents have had homes and entire towns cleared from the site, and sites of a sensitive nature (such as nuclear power stations) are missing for security reasons. Even some colleges such as MIT and SUNY Stonybrook are blurred out to obscure the location of research laboratories. There are some odd entries as well, such as the Playland Amusement Park in Rye, NY and the the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

All told, the site IT Security has found 51 separate instances of locations being removed from Google Maps and Google Earth. You'll find the full list after the break. [Source: IT Security]

Gallery: Google Maps Censored

Continue reading 51 Places You're Not Supposed to See on Google Maps

Record High Blogger Arrests in 2007

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 18th 2008 at 2:10PM

As blogs have become more powerful and prominent as sources of political information and dissent, governments have increased their crackdown on the online outlets of opinion and news. According to the World Information Access (WIA) report, 64 bloggers have been arrested since 2003, but 2007 saw the number of bloggers arrested triple from the previous year. Most of the bloggers arrested have been in China, Iran, and Egypt. The arrests usually lead to jail time, with the average sentence handed down for blogging being 15 months.

The number of bloggers arrested is hard to measure due to the difficulty in confirming identities and that arrests even took place at all in these highly secretive nations. WIA expects the number of arrests of bloggers to continue to increase in 2008 as political uncertainty looms in China and Pakistan and as blogs become even more ubiquitous. [Source: BBC]

Teen Kicked Off Student Council for "Douchebag" Blog Post

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 3rd 2008 at 8:32AM

Blog posts and social networking sites have cost people jobs, relationships, and freedom. But it's rare that high school students get blatantly censored and reprimanded for using for using foul language on said online outlets outside of school.

Avery Doninger was the class secretary at Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington, Connecticut, but was barred for running for re-election her senior year after she referred to school officials as "douchebags" in posting on her personal blog.

The trouble began when the school repeatedly delayed a battle of the bands the student government had organized. After being rescheduled twice already, the school wanted to reschedule again because a particular teacher could not make the event to work the lighting equipment. When the student government suggested hiring a professional or letting a parent work the equipment, the school balked.

Continue reading Teen Kicked Off Student Council for "Douchebag" Blog Post

Singapore Bans Two YouTube-Like Adult Sites

by Peter Mychalcewycz, posted May 27th 2008 at 7:29AM

Singapore has banned two YouTube-like file sharing porn sites in what the government is calling a "symbolic statement."

The two sites, Youporn and Redtube, have been added to a list of 100 "mass objectionable" Web sites that the government finds especially accessible and therefore especially harmful to children. The sites stream home-made porn as soon as the link is clicked upon.

The intent here is clear, but what is not clear is what effect the government believes this will have, seeing as how there are literally millions of pornographic Web sites readily available to anyone with an Internet connection. No matter how quickly sites are banned, there is always a new site ready to take its place. Publicized political moves have always favored style over substance, so perhaps this is just par for the course.

Ah politics. Big talk, little impact, and a host of national ills that politicians choose to paper over with painfully ineffective political dribble. [Source: Reuters]

China Closing Down All Non-Earthquake-Covering Web Sites and TV Shows

by Evan Shamoon, posted May 20th 2008 at 12:17PM

Chinese media mavens, get ready to be kinda bored: According Marc van der Chijs, CEO of Spill Group Asia and co-founder of Todou.com, the Chinese government has issued orders that all entertainment Web sites and regular television programming be shut down for the next three days. Apparently, only Web sites and television stations covering the country's recent earthquake will be allowed to remain live.

The news was leaked yesterday by van der Chijs via social messaging Web site, Twitter. Probably gonna make for some depressing television watching (there's really so much earthquake damage one can watch), but you can't really argue with respect. [Source: Blourge]

China Will Block Internet During Olympics, But Will Go Easy On Pirates

by Tim Stevens, posted May 8th 2008 at 10:50AM

China Will Block Internet During Olympics, Not Pirates

Despite having the highest number of online users in the world, China is still one of the most strict censors of the Internet. In the build-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer, the nation has been talking about the easy availability of Internet access for the media covering the games, but now it's backing away from pledges of "complete freedom," indicating that some sites will continue to be censored.

So, the media may find themselves blocked from some sites while in the country, but, in an ironic twist, the Chinese government is also saying that it's unable to block those selling Olympic-themed memorabilia. Officials have complained about seeing vendors openly selling knockoff shirts and mascots (along with pirated copies of Hollywood movies and the like) on street corners in Beijing. The government has fined a number of them recently, but is indicating it is powerless to stop it completely.

So, between the censorship and bionic swimming suits, it's certainly shaping up to be an interesting Olympics, and we haven't even started talking about the competitors yet! [Source: Reuters]

Uncensored Cuban Blogs Speak Out

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 28th 2008 at 3:03PM

Yoani Sanchez, dressed as a tourist in her own country, ducks into posh hotels that provide Internet access for foreign travelers on a regular basis, just so she can spend large chunks of her modest paycheck to post complaints about the Cuban government on her blog. Her blog, Generation Y, is widely read both in Cuba and abroad and has earned her many fans. Sanchez posts under her real name, something that just 10 short years ago would have been unthinkable and would have guaranteed her arrest.

Thanks to being granted the right to own personal computers one month ago, younger generations of Cubans are becoming more vocal in their opposition to government policies and less afraid to openly state their opinions. Sites such as Sin EVAsion and Petrosalvaje also feature Cubans voicing opposition to the government under their real names.

While the Cuban government has yet to try and arrest the authors and owners of these Web sites ,it is still dangerous for them to operate. These brave Cubans risk arrest every day by illegally connecting to the Internet and posting anti-government speech. [Source: AP/AOL News, via USA Today]

Russian Prosecutor's Office Considering Internet Censorship

by Evan Shamoon, posted Apr 24th 2008 at 10:46AM

In yet another not-entirely-unexpected grasp at media censorship, the Russian government wants its tough anti-extremism laws to be applied to the Internet. The story is being reported by state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, and is fueling the fears of growing media censorship in the country.

The prosecutors office has proposed a legal amendment that would bring the Internet under the same rules as printed media, Vyacheslav Sizov, a top official at the prosecutor general's office told the paper.

Under current laws, newspapers deemed "in court" to have published extremist material can be shut down by the government. The new proposal demands that any site hosting extremist material be blocked by providers in Russia "within a month," said Sizov, or face similar repercussions.

Thus far, the Internet has been relatively free in Russia, where almost all television and many newspapers are under formal or unofficial government control.

"It is a worry whenever the government tries to change any law," Oleg Panfilov, director of the Centre of Journalism in Extreme Situations, told AFP. "It is difficult to find anyone who is not against extremism but it depends on how the law is used. The government uses (it) selectively."

You might recall that the news website www.gazeta.ru was warned for extremism last year after it wrote about cartoons that satirised the prophet Mohammed.

Makes the US media seem almost ... legitimate? Russia needs its own version of the Daily Show. [Source: AFP]

College Student Twitters His Way Out of Egyptian Jail

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 16th 2008 at 8:17PM

Journalism Student Arrested in Egypt Twitters his Way to Freedom

We've heard the micro-blogging service Twitter called a lot of things -- everything from fun and indispensable, to frivolous and stupid. Now, you can add lifesaver to the mix. At least one man, James Buck, can thank Twitter for his freedom after being picked up, along with his interpreter Mohammed Salah Ahmed Maree, by Egyptian authorities while taking pictures of a demonstration.

Buck, a U.C. Berkeley graduate student of journalism, managed to type out a simple one word message -- "Arrested" -- to his network of followers on Twitter. Friends, fellow students and journalists quickly sprang into action by contacting U.C. Berkeley, the U.S. embassy in Egypt, the Associated Press, and other media outlets. The next da, Buck walked out of jail a free man with a U.C. Berkeley hired lawyer at his side and the U.S. embassy on the phone.

Buck is now spearheading an effort to free his interpreter Maree and other other imprisoned journalists in Egypt by drawing more media attention to the struggles against censorship in the Middle East through his writing, and, of course Twittering. [Source: Mercury News]

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