Internet freedom - Page 2

Report: China Made Epidemic Worse by Censoring Coronavirus News

A report published by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab on Tuesday charged the Chinese government with heavily censoring news and discussion of the coronavirus outbreak beginning at the end of December. The report noted that China’s broad censorship practices could “restrict vital communication related to disease information and prevention.”

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 21: A Chinese man wears a protective mask as he crosses a footbr

U.S. Helps Iranian Protesters Bypass Regime Censorship

Iranian opposition leaders said on Monday that protests against the regime are ongoing, with helpful assistance from U.S. initiatives to provide hardware and software that allows Iranians to bypass Internet censorship from their repressive government.

Iran protests

Iranian Celebrities Join Protesters in Challenging Regime

In addition to some Iranian journalists quitting their jobs in anger because the regime lied about shooting down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752, Iranian celebrities are speaking out against their tyrannical rulers, while the common people persist in acts of defiance such as refusing to tread on American flags and holding banned funeral services for airplane victims.

TOPSHOT - A woman holds a sign for one of the victims of Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 whi

Putin Signs ‘Sovereign Internet’ Law, Expands Government Control

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law on Wednesday that paves the way for Russia to isolate its Internet from the rest of the world. The so-called “sovereign Internet” law is billed as a means of making the Russian Internet more “independent,” but independence will be in short supply as Putin’s authoritarian government tightens its grip on cyberspace.

A man looks at a computer monitor displaying the main page of Russian Prime Minister Vladi

Tanzania Charges Bloggers $930 Annual Fee in Free Speech Crackdown

Tanzania’s new suite of Internet regulations includes a $930 annual fee for anyone who runs a blog, coupled with extensive registration paperwork that includes a bizarre amount of financial information about the applicant, comparable to the business plan that would be submitted to secure a commercial loan from a bank.

TO GO WITH AFP BY HABIBOU BANGRE Clients surf the internet at an internet cafe on February

Internet Takeover Update: China’s ‘Consensus Net’ Goes Offline

A few months ago, China’s mildly iconoclastic Consensus Media Group began worrying about Beijing’s authoritarian crackdown on “liberal voices in mainland publications.” Since that time, one of the group’s magazines has ceased publication, management has been reshuffled at another, and the popular “Consensus Net” website has suddenly gone dark.

cyberattack

Pakistan Tries to Block 400,000 Websites, Fails

Pakistan launched one of its most ambitious censorship initiatives in memory at the beginning of 2016, with a Supreme Court order to “take remedial steps to quantify the nefarious phenomenon of obscenity and pornography that has an imminent role to corrupt and vitiate the youth of Pakistan.” It’s apparently not going well.

People on computers

Republicans, FCC Commissioners Push To Make Secret Net Neutrality Plan Public

ObamaCare for the Internet, also known as “Net Neutrality,” is getting shoved down our throats the same way ObamaCare was. The plan remains secret from the public, while those promoting it talk about a more “free and open Internet” without bothering to explain how further government regulation would lead to that outcome.

AP Photo/Gregory Bull