Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace (Day 2)

Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace

The second day of the Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace was quite interesting to say the least, which covered issues of technology and legal implications on free speech movement

Issac Mao, hails from China and talked about some very interesting ways how the Chinese by pass the GFW (Great Fire Wall). The authorities maintain a very active blocked list, which can dynamically change on a minute to minute basis adapting to any new and offensive content that the Chinese might cause problems. After hearing the lengths to which the internet surfers in china go about in attempting to by pass this blockage one really needs to appreciate the access we usually take for granted

Dr. Awab Alvi Don’t Block the Blog talked about the struggle of bloggers in Pakistan fighting against the local censorship (Slides, Audio)

Nart Villeneuve, Citizen Lab showed how their organization helps in doing research in a number of countries trying to better understand how governments which can be a resource to the internet users in that specific location, hence maybe armed with that knowledge one can proceed accordingly (Slides, Audio)

Dini Wildiastuti, Article 19 discussed the benefits of the hundreds of reports freely available on the Article 19 website which are predominantly legal implications in this interconnected world (Slides, Audio, Video)

Jeff Ooi, RSF talked on the impact of terrorism and national security laws affecting cyberspace (Slides, Video)

Rebbecca Mackinnon, Global Voices / Berkman Center shed light on the business of the Internet and how to learn from the guru’s like Yahoo and Google, she discussed the creation of the extremely successful Global Voices Project (Slides, Video)

JV Rufino, INQ7 an editor discussed how the his local Philippine internet news agency caters to the booming Internet and has positioned itself into a highly successful local business model. He discussed a few interesting interactions between the Marketing and Editorial team trying to balance content to profit (Slides)

Owais Aslam Ali, Pakistan Press Foundation shed some interesting views of how the offline community slowly embraces the world wide web (Video)

Andrew Lih closed the day with a technical workshop on wikipedia demonstrating the value and easy of edit ability of this massive constantly evolving encyclopedia, he also showed examples of how to implement the wiki model in organizing projects on a global basis.

The day ended with a delicious dinner at Jade Garden hosted by Smart Communications


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2 responses to “Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace (Day 2)”

  1. Dean Jorge Bocobo Avatar

    It was a very great pleasure meeting you. Pakistan has a human face I can attach to it. Thanks for many good conversations with the Teeth Maestro!

  2. cyberbaguioboy Avatar

    hi there teeth maestro. It was nice to have met you. You’re now the dentist of this country, trying to clean up the “cavities” hampering free speech. Clean them hard, and take out all those cavities 😉