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Iranian authorities target Internet, media before elections

New York, June 13, 2013–Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on the Internet, including on media outlets and journalists, in the days leading up to Friday’s presidential election, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Several opposition websites have reported being briefly hacked, while Google issued a statement on Wednesday that said tens of thousands…

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President Barack Obama defends NSA surveillance activities. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Secrecy, scale of PRISM raise alarms

Government surveillance of electronic communications “should be regarded as a highly intrusive act that potentially interferes with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and threatens the foundations of a democratic society,” Frank La Rue, U.N. special rapporteur for freedom of expression, warned in a report issued less than two months ago. “States should…

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Facebook joins Global Network Initiative

With more than a billion users, Facebook is not only the biggest global social network but also an increasingly important forum for journalists. In some repressive countries it has even served as a publishing platform for journalists whose newspapers or news websites have been closed down. That is why journalists and bloggers should note today’s…

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Attacks on the Press: Press Braces as Iran Vote Looms

The 2009 vote seemed open for the press. Then came the brutal crackdown. By D. Parvaz

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Egyptian court bans YouTube for one month

The Cairo Administrative Court ordered the government-run National Telecommunication Regulation Authority (NTRA) on February 9, 2013, to ban YouTube for one month after the website failed to remove a video widely considered anti-Islamic, according to news reports. Similar judicial attempts to block websites have been overturned on appeal in the past.

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Kachin Independence Army soldiers guard an outpost in Northern Burma's Kachin-controlled region on January 31. Journalists who cover the conflict have been subject to email hacking attacks. (AP/Alexander F. Yuan)

As censorship wanes, cyberattacks rise in Burma

Cyberattacks on news websites and apparent government hacking into journalists’ email accounts have raised new questions about the integrity of media reforms in Burma. The New York Times reported on Sunday that several journalists who regularly cover Burma-related news recently received warning messages from Google that their email accounts may have been hacked by “state-sponsored…

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Yahoo HTTPS mail not a moment too soon, nor too late

I remember sitting with a Yahoo employee in 2009, talking about the lack of protective encryption on Yahoo’s Web mail accounts. Like many, the employee had been caught up in the news of how Iranians were using the Internet to document and protest the presidential elections in that country, and had grown worried about the…

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Iran steps up its campaign against the press

New York, October 3, 2012–In a flurry of new anti-press actions in Iran, a jury has voted to convict a Reuters bureau chief on anti-state charges while authorities have jailed the head of the state’s official news agency, blocked Google services, and shut one reformist newspaper.

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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh turned 80 on Wednesday. (AP/Saurabh Das)

For India, celebrations not in order on Singh’s birthday

This week, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh marked his 80th birthday. He spent the day, Wednesday, in the company of family and at public events, according to news reports. “There are no celebrations. He prefers to be with his family in the morning–then work as usual,” Singh’s spokesman told the media.

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A protester holds a poster depicting jailed journalist Shi Tao. (AP/Miguel Villagran)

As Wang is freed, Chinese journalist Shi Tao still held

Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning was released today after serving a 10-year prison term on charges of “incitement to subvert state power,” a case built in good part on client information supplied by Yahoo. Wang had used his Yahoo email account and the discussion forum Yahoo Groups to spread ideas the government deemed dangerous. His case…

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