In 2 major efforts, journalist security tailored to fit
April 30, 2013 11:18 AM ET
In the past, donors and groups providing security to journalists in less-developed nations tended to export a Western, military-style of training designed for a war-time environment. But the danger of covering combat is one thing. Being fired upon by...
Attacks on Knight Center sites reflect digital dangers
April 5, 2013 12:49 PM ET
The two websites at the University of Texas at Austin, at first blush, seemed to have been unlikely targets for attack. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and its blog cover news about journalism, press freedom and...
Don't get your sources in Syria killed
May 21, 2012 11:28 AM ET
Because foreign journalists have been virtually banned from Syria during the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime, news coverage has relied heavily on citizen journalists and international reporters working with sources inside the country. Syrians who communicate with foreign news...
Internet giants submit to external free expression scrutiny
April 18, 2012 4:46 PM ET
Journalists and bloggers in authoritarian countries have their work cut out thwarting governments that try to restrict their writing and reporting. The last thing they need to worry about is the provider of their publication platform helping authorities with censorship...
UK surveillance plan must be watched carefully
April 10, 2012 12:38 PM ET
When journalists make enemies in high places, they become vulnerable to the powers those figures wield. One such power is the state's capacity to wiretap and obtain personal records from communications companies. From Colombia's phone-tapping scandal to last year's case...
Farsi guides to the surveillance attack in Iran
September 16, 2011 4:23 PM ET
As we've reported before, there's strong evidence that forces with widespread access to Iran's internet infrastructure have been engaged in large-scale surveillance of https traffic in July and August, certainly of Google traffic, and perhaps many more websites, including Facebook...
Spying on media exposes French government's dark side
September 3, 2011 10:52 AM ET
"The freedom of the press and the lie of the state." The headline Thursday in the influential newspaper Le Monde was bound to make a big splash. While President Nicolas Sarkozy was basking in the glory of his Libyan...
Catching the Internet's spies in Iran and elsewhere
September 1, 2011 10:34 AM ET
In August, Google introduced a new, if rather obscure, security feature to its Chrome web browser, designed to be triggered only under extreme circumstances. If you were talking to Google's servers using the web's secure "https" protocol, your browser makes...
In lawsuit, Chinese writers allege Cisco aids government
August 24, 2011 5:20 PM ET
Three Chinese writers who have spent time in prison for articles published online are suing California-based Cisco Systems Inc., according to international news reports. The suit accuses the company of providing information and technology to Chinese authorities that facilitated...
The 10 Tools of Online Oppressors
May 2, 2011 8:45 AM ET
The world’s worst online oppressors are using an array of tactics, some reflecting astonishing levels of sophistication, others reminiscent of old-school techniques. From China’s high-level malware attacks to Syria’s brute-force imprisonments, this may be only the dawn of online oppression....