Blog

Mexico City, April 25, 2008 — Mexico has become the most dangerous country for journalists in the Americas.

*Just in the time for the Olympics, the Chinese government has proved itself to be a pioneer as well as a top exporter in cutting-edge online censorship methods.

As you might be aware of, GK3 is happening smack bang in the middle of a strange moment in Malaysia. We are anticipating our next elections sometime very soon. A Coalition on Free & Fair Elections (BERSIH - meaning 'clean' in Malay) was formed, and organised a peaceful demonstration on this issue. This demonstration sort of catalysed a series of events which is resulting in rapid arrests of communication rights advocates & independent media journalists, opposition party members, civil and political rights activists and BERSIH coalition members. This morning, 26 people were arrested for trying to hand over a memorandum to the parliament. There was massive road blocks on all the routes into the city, and riot police trucks along the parliament route.

The third Global Knowledge Conference, or GK3, has officially started today. The words “emerging people, emerging markets and emerging technologies”, the three main topics that structure this conference, were repeated many times by the speakers (which included the deputy prime minister of Malaysia). The words “human rights” or “freedom”, however, weren not mentioned not even once. This seemed weird, given what is happening in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, a few minutes away from fancy conference centre: people are being arrested for protesting peacefully against the government.

Today I sat in a workshop in Rio de Janeiro. A workshop in Rio de Janeiro? A capoeira, volleyball or football workshop, you must be thinking. Even though I’m just 25 metres away from a beautiful beach, imagine, I sat in a room in a hotel, full of people with laptops… on their laps. Such is life in the second Internet Governance Forum. And let me tell you that it’s worth it. One of the 97 workshops unfolding here in Rio was called “Content regulation and the duty of states to protect fundamental rights”, brought to you by the APC’s women’s programme, the APC WNSP for all of you acronym-lovers. Read the full article on Feminist Talk.

Yahoo has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought against it on behalf of several Chinese dissidents, according to papers filed in a California court.

iCommons announces a new project called the ‘Free Culture House’ project, recognising the growing importance of physical spaces in building the kinds of communities that will spread the global commons. The creative and information commons is by its nature a virtual and intangible thing, and having a physical space where people can learn from and talk to one another, becomes more and more important.

Are you troubled by pornographic materials on the internet? Do you consider it damaging? Or is it a valid expression of fantasy or of diverse forms of sexualities? Have you been harmed by sexually explicit and/or violent content through information and communications technologies? How have you dealt with this in your own use of the internet, mobile phone etc.?

Share your thoughts! APC WNSP invites you to Take Back The Tech, and let your experiences and thoughts count. Write a post about harmful content on 1 November 2007.

Graciela Selaimen of APC member organization RITS (Information Network for the Third Sector) was one of three panellists invited to speak about internet rights during the session Know your rights: Article 19 in cyberspace, on 7 October 2007, the first day of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) conference.

Citizens in China and Europe from the academia, NGO, companies, government met in Liège (Belgium) to exchange perspectives and discuss on the topic of Information Society and the Internet in China and Europe. The workshop on "IT systems on the age of the Internet" (4-5 October) was the first step of the China-Europe Forum (6-7 October).