DEEPLINKS BLOG
- Press Freedom in the Arab World Goes Online
An overview of the effect of the Net on freedom of speech in the Middle East. "The internet has been a godsend for freedom of expression in the Arab world," says the Egyptian-American syndicated columnist Mona Eltahaw.- Google Grilled on Human Rights
"We've seen little more than talk and defensiveness from Google since the problems emerged", says Amnesty International member proposing a shareholder vote on Google's behaviour in China.- Vigils, Fundraising for Malaysia's Jailed Blogger
Where almost every politician has a blog, citizen blogger Raja Petra remains under arrest for sedition. Petra's readers have already raised more money than is needed to pay his fine.- MEPs Want More IP for Sports
Sports teams and companies lobby the European Parliament to expand IP rights to cover more of sports.- CCTV Has Failed to Cut Crime in the UK
Surveillance camera footage used in less than 3% of cases.- Privacy Competition for the Commonwealth
The Privacy Commissioners of Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Canada, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria launch a $3000 competition about privacy for high school students.- UK Starts Forcing Keys From Suspects
The first cases under RIPA, where the police can compel individuals to disclose passwords or private keys.- Freedom for Fouad Al Farhan
Egypt's prominent imprisoned blogger is freed, after months of online campaigning.- Google Changes Trademark Ad Policy in UK to Match US
Allows European companies to advertise on keywords connected to a competitors' brand.- Cuba Lifts Ban on Home Computers
Internet access still forbidden.
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Related Updates
Global Condemnation for Turkey's Detention of Innocent Digital Security Trainers
The detention of a group of human rights defenders in Turkey for daring to learn about digital security and encryption continued last week with a brief appearance of the accused in an Istanbul court. Six were returned to jail, and four released on bail. In an additionally absurd twist, the...
Australian PM Calls for End-to-End Encryption Ban, Says the Laws of Mathematics Don't Apply Down Under
"The laws of mathematics are very commendable but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia", said Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today. He has been rightly mocked for this nonsense claim, that foreshadows moves to require online messaging providers to provide law enforcement...
Stalemate Continues in Negotiations Over European Copyright Filters
This week is an important one in the ongoing negotiations over new copyright rules in Europe—which will have reverberations all over the world. As you may recall , the negotiations centre around two worrisome proposals being pushed by publisher and music industry lobby groups for inclusion in a new...
Five Eyes Unlimited: What A Global Anti-Encryption Regime Could Look Like
This week, the political heads of the intelligence services of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (the "Five Eyes" alliance) met in Ottawa. The Australian delegation entered the meeting saying publicly that they intended to "thwart the encryption of terrorist messaging." The final...
Top Canadian Court Permits Worldwide Internet Censorship
A country has the right to prevent the world’s Internet users from accessing information, Canada’s highest court ruled on Wednesday. In a decision that has troubling implications for free expression online, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a company’s effort to force Google to de-list entire domains and...
While EU Copyright Protests Mount, the Proposals Get Even Worse
This week, EFF joined Creative Commons, Wikimedia, Mozilla, EDRi, Open Rights Group, and sixty other organizations in signing an open letter [PDF] addressed to Members of the European Parliament expressing our concerns about two key proposals for a new European "Digital Single Market" Directive on copyright. These are...
Aadhaar: Ushering in a Commercialized Era of Surveillance in India
Since last year, Indian citizens have been required to submit their photograph, iris and fingerprint scans in order to access legal entitlements, benefits, compensation, scholarships, and even nutrition programs. Submitting biometric information is needed for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers, the training and aid of disabled people, and...
Wikipedia Joins the Fight for Fair Use in Australia
Australia's ongoing debate over the introduction of a new fair use right took a turn last week when Wikipedia joined the fray. The world's largest online encyclopedia now displays a banner to its Australian users encouraging them to support a joint campaign of Australia's major...
Diego Gomez Finally Cleared of Criminal Charges for Sharing Research
In 2011, Colombian graduate student Diego Gomez shared another student’s Master’s thesis with colleagues over the Internet. After a long legal battle, Diego was able to breathe a sigh of relief today as he was cleared of the criminal charges that he faced for this harmless act of...
Online Censorship and User Notification: Lessons from Thailand
For governments interested in suppressing information online, the old methods of direct censorship are getting less and less effective. Over the past month, the Thai government has made escalating attempts to suppress critical information online. In the last week, faced with an embarrassing video of the Thai King ,...
