Controlling what users can and can’t see on computers using filtering software is standard in US libraries. APC questions the Denver Public Library on their filtering policy and practices in a fictional exchange that tackles very real questions of freedom of information.

Can information and communication technologies (ICTs) transform women’s realities? Undoubtedly, yes. This connection between ICTs and the advancement of women’s rights will be addressed during the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 22 February – 4 March in New York. The CSW is a global policy-making body of the United Nations dedicated to gender equality and the advancement of women. APC’s GenderIT.org has released a special edition that speaks directly to this year’s theme of the CSW: gender, education and technology. APC staff attending the CSW will provide live coverage from the session in GenderIT.org’s Feminist Talk section on the website, so stay tuned.

Freedom of speech and its flipside, access to information, is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. However federally-funded libraries are required to prevent people under eighteen accessing “harmful” content. Kevicha Echols and Melissa Ditmore investigate the use of internet filters on public library computers and find that measures adopted by libraries range from installation of filtering software on all computers for child and adult use to no filters at all! The law is being implemented differently varying across city, county and state. Sectors of the society most likely to be affected by this ad hoc censorship are young people and the economically-disadvantaged who rely particularly on library computers to access online information. Photo: “FallWithMe”:http://www.flickr.com/people/fallwithme/

While members of the Pakistani parliament were on a diplomatic trip in the United States to talk about the impact of the ar on terror on northern rural tribes in the country, they were asked by airport security in Washington to be body-scanned. The right not to undergo a body scan is a privilege given to parliamentarians the world over. APC member Bytes for All in Pakistan applauds the Pakistani parliamentarians’ firm stance and refusal to be scanned.

May First/People Link, a New York collective, has been hosting websites and providing technology solutions and support to the city’s non-profits since the late ’90s. They have doubled in size since 2005 to about 250 members – without government or foundation funding. During the US Social Forum 2007 they provided all the technology for the event and are in the middle of planning for the next USSF. Find out more about APC’s newest member.

In recent years, Kerala India has come forward in the international free and open source software (FOSS) community for its use and promotion of free software. As an emerging FOSS user, Kerala will host the second international conference on freedom in computing, development and culture: Free Software, Free Society. From December 09 – 11, APC staff member Cheekay Cinco will be one of five women speaking at the conference, among a list of 50 prominent speakers. APC is also working with experts on free software Aslam Raffee and Sunil Abraham, who will be speaking at the conference about implementation of pro-FOSS policies in South Africa and on the topic of open information sharing/licensing. Find out more about the programming and how to watch a live video stream of the events as they unfold.

The use of free software in West Africa would represent an opportunity to reduce the digital divide with the South. In this region, the low level of free software production goes hand in hand with marginal usage. Free software is present in certain businesses, in education, etc. but there is mistrust, as a result of the fact that free software is developed rapidly and is proliferating. It causes fear because there is a belief that “whatever is free is not of good quality”. IDLELO3, a panafrican conference on free software, will look at these questions and beliefs from March 16 to 20 2008 in Dakar, Senegal.

The first APC FOSS Prize established in 2006 to honour Chris Nicol, a long time FOSS advocate and activist who for many years, worked with APC, has been jointly awarded to Free Geek (USA) and NepaLinux (Nepal).

Contribute your work, and get a computer! That’s the option offered by the Portland,Oregon-based Free Geek. They have been "helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the third millennium”. In recognition of their work – made possible with GNU/Linux and free software – this not-for-profit community organisation was jointly awarded the first APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize. Journalist and BytesForAll co-founder Frederick Noronha (FN) interviewed Elizabeth Swager of Free Geek, to find out more about the project, its challenges and how it can be replicated.