Helpful ISP is Too Helpful: Australia's Censorship Fiasco, And How It Could Have Been Stopped
Australian Internet users have been cursed for over a decade by governments who appear to neither understand nor care about the consequences of Internet censorship. The current Communications minister, Stephen Conroy, has been particular notorious on this matter: after failing to get parliamentary approval for his Internet blacklist plans,...
Anonymity, Encryption, and Free Expression: What Nations Need to Do
In his landmark report to the 23rd session of the Human Rights Council, Frank La Rue, the U.N's free speech watchdog, makes clear that anonymous expression and secure communication are critical for an open society. We gave you a quick look at that report yesterday. Now we...
Confirmed: The NSA is Spying on Millions of Americans
Today, the Guardian newspaper confirmed what EFF (and many others) have long claimed: the NSA is conducting widespread, untargeted, domestic surveillance on millions of Americans. This revelation should end, once and for all, the government's long-discredited secrecy claims about its dragnet domestic surveillance programs. It should spur Congress and...
Internet Surveillance and Free Speech: the United Nations Makes the Connection
Frank La Rue, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion delivered this week a landmark report [PDF] on state surveillance and freedom of expression. In preparation, the Special Rapporteur reviewed relevant studies, consulted with experts including EFF, and participated in the state surveillance...
Singaporean Websites Must Pay To Mention Singapore... And Not Mention Gay People At All
It's been a bad month for Singaporean netizens. First came the news that the Media Development Authority (MDA), the country's press oversight agency, now requires that websites that have more than 50,000 viewers and that post one "Singapore news programme" (a loosely defined term that basically includes any news about...
Jordan Takes a Disappointing Turn Toward Censorship
We knew it would happen. After months of anticipation, Jordanian authorities have initiated a ban on news sites that have not yet registered and been licensed by the Press and Publications Department, effectively blocking more than 300 news websites. According to local media organization 7iber (which means “ink” in...
From Bad to Worse: Online Repression in the Gulf
In Kuwait, dozens imprisoned in an effort to stifle online dissent. In the United Arab Emirates, a sentence of 10 months in prison for describing a court hearing without “honesty and in bad faith.” And in Qatar, a draft cybercrime law that threatens the relative freedom of...
Standing Their Ground: Internet Activists in Jordan and Palestine
In the past couple of years, there have been striking developments in Internet regulation across the Middle East and North Africa. But while the governments of some countries—such as Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan—have proposed draconian regulation threatening a free and open Internet, civil society across the region is...
Prenda Law Is The Tip of the Iceberg
The Internet is rejoicing with news that notorious copyright troll Prenda Law, and its attorneys John Steele, Paul Hansmeier, Paul Duffy, and Brett Gibbs, received a stinging sanction from federal judge Otis D. Wright, II - over $81,000 in attorney's fees and a referral to federal prosecutors. Using no fewer...
