Mission Journal: Challenges for India’s press increase as Modi marks first year in office
“Modi has tightened the screws on information.” This statement from Bangalore-based journalist Subir Ghosh underscores a common challenge repeated to me by several of India’s journalists, who say the space for criticism is shrinking under Narendra Modi’s rule. Since a landslide victory made him leader of the world’s largest democracy nearly one year ago, the…
Mission Journal: Fewer arrests but fear still lingers for Somaliland’s press
Conditions for the press in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland may, on the surface, appear to be improving. But without a functioning media law to lend protection, and pending legislative elections, journalists remain wary of state harassment.
CPJ requests information about alleged detention of two journalists in Egypt
New York, April 17, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to the Egyptian Ministry of Justice on Thursday requesting information about two journalists who were allegedly arrested on Tuesday while attempting to cover the bombing of two electrical pylons that transmit power to the Media Production City in Cairo.
Chinese journalist Gao Yu sentenced to seven years
New York, April 17, 2015–A Beijing court today convicted Chinese journalist Gao Yu of leaking state secrets and handed her a seven-year sentence, according to news reports. Gao, a freelance journalist, has written about Chinese politics, the economy, and social trends for Chinese media in Hong Kong and overseas. She was arrested in April 2014,…
When it comes to Great Firewall attacks, HTTPS is greatest defense
The power of HTTPS to protect has been brought into sharp focus by a series of attacks against software collaboration site GitHub. These attacks consistently failed because of the site’s universal use of HTTPS. Most recently, GitHub reported a blistering series of distributed denial of service attacks in March, which it believes were an attempt…
Evolution of Pakistan’s proposed cybercrime law
A pointer to our colleagues at Bolo Bhi, Pakistan’s independent Internet freedom and electronic privacy watchdog (it’s involved in gender issues too). The watchdog has been tracking the evolution of Pakistan’s attempts at cybercrime legislation since 2007.
Malaysian police arrest editors, executives of news portal
Bangkok, March 31, 2015–Police have detained three editors and two executives of The Malaysian Insider news portal in Malaysia’s Kelantan state and accused them of sedition, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate and unconditional release of those arrested.
Yahoo! End-to-End email preview promises greater protection for journalists
Good news for journalists wanting added protection from surveillance. Yahoo! has announced a technical preview of its email security tool End-to-End, which it has been developing in collaboration with Google. This is another milestone in the tech companies’ efforts to protect users not just from outsiders, but also from the companies themselves.
Media outlets raided and banned as conflict spirals in Yemen
New York, March 27, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of Yemeni journalists amid escalating violence in the country. Houthi forces have raided news outlets, detained journalists, and banned websites, while satellite TV operators ceased to broadcast stations that recently came under Houthi control, according to news reports.