Journalists beaten, websites blocked amid protests in Egypt
New York, January 26, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the violence against journalists covering demonstrations in Egypt. Plainclothes and uniformed security personnel have beaten at least 10 journalists between Tuesday and today and detained others. Egyptian authorities have also shut down the websites of two popular independent newspapers and a number of social media…
Facebook enables encryption: a first step on the right road
Facebook is rolling out a a new feature starting today: its users now have an option in their account settings that will protectively encrypt all their Facebook activity as it travels over the Internet. Flipping the switch won’t change much about how you use Facebook, but you’ll see Facebook web addresses will always start with…
Preventing video takedowns when reporting
Watching the stream of reporting from Egypt today, I’ve noticed some unconfirmed reports that videos of the events uploaded to YouTube have been taken down by the company. I haven’t been able to find any concrete examples, so I can’t say whether this is true. YouTube takedowns did happen for a few of the more…
Will Tunisia’s ‘Internet revolution’ endure?
There has been a great deal written online about how much of a positive role the Internet played in recent events in Tunisia (if you’d like to catch up, Alex Howard’s link round-up provides a good summary of the many sides, both for and against). At CPJ, our focus is on slightly different questions: How…
In China, Kristof’s blogs are shut down
Nicholas Kristof’s Sunday column in The New York Times documents the latest in a series of tests the journalist has performed in Chinese cyberspace. The conflicting results he achieved while setting up a Chinese-language blog and micro-blog demonstrate how difficult it is to judge what censors will permit in an online space.
EU should press Uzbekistan on news media crisis
Dear President Barroso: We’re writing in advance of your January 24 meeting in Brussels with Uzbek President Islam Karimov to urge you to raise Uzbekistan’s grave press freedom conditions and to make clear to Karimov that any improvement of the country’s relationship with Europe is dependent on him taking steps to fix the press freedom crisis. The European Union made clear it is committed to human rights in Central Asia in its 2009 plan, “The European Union and Central Asia: The New Partnership in Action.”
Internet censorship halts in Tunisia
So much has happened in Tunisia since I last blogged on the large-scale phishing attacks against activists and journalists in the country. With the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and a new interim government in place, online censorship seems to be ending. Opposition media and human rights sites are viewable, and CPJ’s Tunisia…
In Tunisia, one journalist still jailed, another killed
New York, January 18, 2011–Tunisia’s transitional government should immediately release Fahem Boukadous, a television reporter imprisoned last year in reprisal for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also offered condolences to the family and colleagues of French photographer Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, who died of head injuries suffered while covering the civil…
As Ben Ali’s regime falls, 3 Tunisian journalists freed
New York, January 14, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is heartened by news reports that three jailed Tunisian journalists have been freed as the repressive regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fallen. CPJ calls on the new interim Tunisian government to release one other journalist believed to be still in custody.