Information Society Watch

February 27, 2008, Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica

In an effort to preserve freedom of expression on the Internet, the European Parliament has passed a proposal to treat Internet censorship as a trade barrier. This is among the first proposals to tie trade to Internet censorship.

February 26, 2008, BBC News

The attempt by Pakistan's telecoms to block YouTube over a video clip allegedly portraying Islam in bad light resulted in a near global blackout of the site for a few hours. The incident throws light on the vulnerabilities and risks that arise out of the interconnectedness of cyber society.

January, 18 2008, Jaime FlorCruz, CNN

China has long been known for its strict curb on the flow of information, but things are changing, as is evident by the outpouring of support and anger in the wake of the recent death of citizen journalist Wei Wenhua. Wei was beaten to death by local city inspectors after he attempted to take pictures of the inspectors beating up villagers blocking trucks dumping trash.

January 6, 2008, Kultida Samabuddhi, Bangkok Post

The radical political website sameskybooks.org has been shut down for lese majeste content, in the form of articles and harsh commentary in forums about the monarchy that has been deemed as insulting to the monarchy. Media freedom advocates are concerned that the closure of sameskybooks.org signals a move towards an increase in Internet censorship in Thailand.

November 12, 2007, Mure Dickie, Financial Times

This article reports on the the double-edged of growing Internet use in China. As China first got online, some heralded the Internet as a breakthrough to toppling China's regime of government censorship, but instead the state has proven very effective at using state and commercial resources to prevent citizens from using the Internet as a tool for political dissent.

2006, Human Rights Watch

This report by Human Rights Watch documents the exact nature of censorship and surveillance practices by the Chinese authorities to curb voices of dissent over the Internet on topics including Tibet, human rights, and Falun Gong. The report describes the working of the all pervasive 'Great Firewall' of China that blocks traffic on sensitive issues.

William J. McIver, Jr., William F. Birdsall, and Merrilee Rasmussen

The traditional understanding of human rights faces several challenges with the development of the Internet. There is a very urgent and specific need to address information rights within a comprehensive human rights framework, specifically a right to communicate.

October 5, 2006, The Australian

This article illustrates the tensions between China and the internet. Just as human rights groups at Frankfurt’s book fair this week were criticizing internet bigwigs such as Yahoo and Google for complying with Chinese government requests to censor information, the media services chief of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games has declared that foreign media will be able to freely travel around China and enjoy uncensored access to the internet during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

May 18, 2007, BBC News Service

A study conducted by the Open Net Initiative group seems to suggest that state led censorship of the internet is growing and will continue to grow. This comes in wake of the fact that the number of countries which resorted to censoring had gone up from a couple to around 25.

October 24, 2006, Venkatesan Vembu, DNA World

A new move which requires all Chinese bloggers to compulsorily register their real identity details with authorities is facing severe resistance from bloggers. Bloggers and service providers warn that this violation of freedom of speech and privacy will severely hamper the growth of the blogging industry.