censorship

The Russian government has turned to censorship on the Web.

According to the New York Times, the government is utilizing a new law, which the Russian parliament approved in July and which took effect in November, that allows the government to selectively censor Web pages within its borders because of content that it believes is illegal or harmful to children. The law's supporters have said that it protects against child pornography and other harmful content, but detractors say that it's giving the government too much power to block whatever it deems unfit for its citizens.

Although smaller sites … Read more

Widely followed Chinese commentator Kai-fu Lee, a former Google and Microsoft executive, took to Twitter today to lay out just how often his blog posts get censored.

Turns out, it's quite often.

Lee, who ran Google's China division and founded Microsoft's China research lab before that, is now an investor in China. He speaks out regularly about censorship in China and recently encouraged his 30 million followers on the Chinese social-networking site Weibo to follow him on Twitter.

Today, Lee tweeted to those followers that his posts have been deleted dozens of times during the last year. … Read more

Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide earlier this year while under federal prosecution, will be posthumously honored for crusading for open access rights to documents on the Internet.

The activist, who hanged himself in January while facing 13 felony charges of document theft, will receive the 2013 James Madison Award on Friday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren announced today. Administered by the American Library Association, the award recognizes "individuals who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public's right to know national information."

Lofgren, a Democratic congresswoman who represents Silicon Valley, will … Read more

European citizens can breathe a sigh of relief after a vote in the European Parliament has rejected proposals to ban "all forms of pornography" -- including on the Web -- in the region.

Today, 625 members of the European Parliament voted 368-159 in favor of passing a report aimed at stamping out gender stereotypes in the region, with 98 abstaining. However, the controversial "porn ban" section of the proposal was rejected.

This vote forms a majority opinion based on Europe's voting politicians, from which the European Commission can form legislation. Such a law would again … Read more

National governments are increasingly purchasing surveillance devices manufactured by a small number of corporate suppliers and using them to control dissidents, spy on journalists, and violate human rights, the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders warns in a new report released this afternoon.

The group's 2013 report for the first time names five private-sector companies "Corporate Enemies of the Internet" for their choice to become "digital mercenaries" and sell surveillance and censorship technology to authoritarian regimes.

"If these companies decided to sell to authoritarian regimes, they must have known that their products could be used … Read more

Iran has stepped up its efforts to deny its citizens unfettered access to the Internet, blocking a popular tool used to get around government blocks.

Quite aware of the censorship they face, many Iranians use proxy servers over virtual private networks to circumvent government restrictions and mask their activities. However, officials now say they have blocked use of the "illegal" tool.

"Within the last few days illegal VPN ports in the country have been blocked," said Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard, head of the Iranian parliament's information and communications technology committee, according to a Reuters story posted today. &… Read more

One member of the European Parliament (MEP) claims the upper house's own IT department is censoring e-mails from citizens.

Pirate Party member Christian Engström MEP blew the whistle on his fellow political colleagues after they had complained to the parliament's IT department that they were receiving vast numbers of e-mails from the very people they represent.

It comes only a day after CNET reported that other European politicians are set to vote next week on a report that could lead to a pan-European EU ban on all forms of pornography in the region.

On his Web site, … Read more

The European Parliament will vote Tuesday on a proposal that could lead to a blanket ban on pornography in any forms of media with potentially wide-ranging implications for freedom and expression in the 27-member state bloc.

Passage of the proposal, "Eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU," would allow the EU to help secure the rights for those across the gender spectrum, particularly women. While the report states that there is an "increasingly noticeable tendency...to show provocatively dressed women, in sexual poses," it also notes that pornography is becoming mainstream and is "slipping into our … Read more