Category: Free Speech
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GVSummit08: Day 1 Session 2: Citizen Media and Online Free Speech
MODERATOR: Mary Joyce. SPEAKERS: Ory Okolloh (Kenyan Blogger), Wael Abbas (MisrDigital, Egypt), Mehdi Mohseni (jomhour.org, Iran), Amine (digiactive.org, Morocco), Oiwan Lam (Global Voices, Hong Kong), Au Wai Pang (Singapore) Citizen media allow for more active and open participation in political processes, but threats of censorship and oppression discourage citizens from expressing their own opinions. This…
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GVSummit08: Day 1 Session 1: Toward a Global anti-censorship network
MODERATOR: Helmi Noman.SPEAKERS: Andrey Abozau, (Belarusian activist from LuNet), Chris Salzberg (Global Voices, Japan), Alaa Abdel Fatah (Egyptian Blogger), Ethan Zuckerman (Global Voices), Awab Alvi (Don’t Block The Blog, Pakistan) Internet censorship by governments around the world has threatened both freedom of expression and free access to information. In response, free speech activists are leading…
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GlobalVoices Advocacy Summit ’08
I share with you the Global Voices Advocacy Summit help today on 26th June 2008 at Budapest, Hungary. I apologize for posting this live blog late after the event, it was more because I arrived in Budapest at noon after a 13-hour journey, and screeched into the meeting room just before lunch. The advocacy session…
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GlobalVoices Summit ’08 Budapest, Hungary
I am scheduled to depart for Budapest, Hungary in a few hours to attend the Global Voices Summit 08 and also be a part of the Advocacy session a day before. In the next few days, I hope to blog extensively about the Global Voices Summit and then later maybe share my travel experience during…
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STORY OF A SOLDIER: Samad Khurram!
Guest Post by Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi Reference is the news item, published in the daily news, titled “Pak student refuses to receive award from US envoy“, dated 19th June, 2008 – The News In this world of hypocrisy, it takes guts to stand up for your beliefs. No one has the courage to challenge…
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Student refuses award from US Ambassador
Samad Khurram, an active member of SAC and an undergrad at Harvard Business School refuses an award from the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson in protest of US policies regarding the support of an illegal President Musharraf and the Mehmand Agency attack. As the video shows that Samad Khurram is called on stage to…
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Reporters Without Borders question GEO blockage in UAE
RSF issues an immediate press release questioning the blockage of Capital Talk and Meray Mutabiq on GEO tv PAKISTAN-UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Dubai-based satellite TV station GEO News censored again Reporters Without Borders calls on the governments of Pakistan and United Arab Emirates to explain how GEO News, a Pakistani privately-owned TV station that broadcasts by…
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Capital Talk & Meray Mutabiq blocked in UAE
Reports are coming in that Hamid Mir’s Capital Talk and Dr. Shahid Masood’s Merey Mutabiq on GEO both programs have been banned by UAE govt. Hamid Mir on Aaj says it is because of Rehman Malik What’s the latest gossip? And why? It truly irks me to see Rehman Malik interfering with Pakistans affairs
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Mainay Uss Say Yeh Kaha – Habib Jalib
A poem by Habib Jalib called “Musheer” (advisor) [lyrics]. Jalib wrote it as a satirical piece against Hafiz Jalandari in the period of Ayub Khan. It is equally valid today. Credits: Shahram Azhar – Vocals Taimur Rahman – Music Mahvash Waqar – Backing Vocals Taimur Khan – Director Producer Dita Peskova – Assistant Director Jamie…
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YouTube Blocked again in Pakistan
It is being reported on the mailing list for the Society Against Internet Censorship in Pakistan that YouTube is yet again being blocked here in Pakistan. Though no notification has yet surfaced from the the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority but most users are reporting a total blackout showing error pages while accessing youtube.com A little investigation…
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Geert Wilders uploads Fitna, but host forced to delete video a day later
The Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders has posted his controversial film critical of Islam’s holy book, the Koran, on the Internet. I personally have not seen this video and do not plan to watch it simply in protest of his deliberate attempt to spark hatred along religious lines. Generally when reading the description of the…
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Internet Service Provider shuts down Anti-Islamic Dutch Film website
Network Solutions, the host of Geert Wilders website for hosting his Anti-Islamic Video has shut down the website after receiving numerous complaints against it. The following text appeared on the offending website This site has been suspended while Network Solutions is investigating whether the site’s content is in violation of the Network Solutions Acceptable Use…
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Pakistan-wide censorship results in 2-hour YouTube Global Shutdown
Yesterday in a funny yet serious incident youtube was knocked off-line for over two hours and in a comedy of events the blame goes squarely on our beloved Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and their attempt to censor the offending video of the Dutch (Right-Wing) Politician Geert Wilders. Yesterday we had reported that the offending video has…
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Blasphemous YouTube video removed due to TOS violation
We have just been informed that the blasphemous youtube video has been removed from the youtube servers for violating the Terms and conditions of Youtube, this video had been the cause of censorship of the entire youtube domain in Pakistan as enforced by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority I hope this development can convince the PTA…
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TWA Internet backbone blocks only Blasphemous video URL
Yesterday all Internet users in Pakistan were up in arms protesting the sudden censorship of the entire Youtube.com domain. A number of theories circulated which ranged from vote rigging videos to the cartoon video containing the blasphemous images disgracing our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Pakistan Telecommunication Authority the appointed monitoring agency had issued a notification blocking…