News: Asia/Pacific
Indonesia bans website for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
The website for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is the latest victim of censorship in Indonesia. It joins a number of other LGBT rights organisations which have been blocked by pornography filters.
APC member Bytes for All condemns SMS keyword filtering in Pakistan
Bytes for All, APC’s member in Pakistan, has written an open letter to the Prime Minister and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority criticising the proposed plan to filter keywords in sms messages.
Bangladesh: Focus on climate change means that e-waste has been ignored
Bangladesh has committed to becoming “Digital Bangladesh” by 2021. But fifteen years after liberalising the telecommunications industry, the country faces a significant e-waste problem. And because e-waste belongs to no specific sector but rather, crosses over into several, it is a challenge to create any policies for its management and disposal, says a new report commissioned by APC and written by Partha Sarker and Munir Hassan.
APC member Bytes for All condemns Pakistan's new censorship policy
The Pakistan Telecommunications authority has issued a directive to all cellular providers to begin filtering SMS keywords, the latest in a series of restrictions to freedom of expression in the country.
APC in Qatar for an interfaith dialogue on social networking
Followers turned to Twitter to receive words of guidance from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chief Rabbi and Muslim leaders during the London riots in August. APC’s Dafne Plou was in Qatar to follow how today’s religious progressives are using social networking to spread their messages.
90% of India's e-waste is recycled informally – when will gov't policy recognise this?
According to the GISWatch 2010 report, electronics is the fastest growing sector in India and are purchased by about 52 million people. From 1993 to 2000 the number of PCs owned by Indians grew 604% and one can only imagine how many computers have been bought since then.
Turkey abandons unpopular filtering software
Turkey abandons plans to install mandatory filtering software after months of widespread protest. The reversal of this controversial policy shows the power of determined advocacy.
Most influential Twitterati in Pakistan include 5 working to end violence against women
The Express Tribune has named 5 Take Back the Tech! campaigners as among the most influential “Twitterati” in Pakistan. Thanks to the MDG3 funding, these women are using ICTs to raise the visibility of violence against women on and offline.
Take Back the Tech! allows abused women to unburden in Pakistan: But what next?
Denouncing sexual abuse in Pakistan is a risky move. But after over six years of abuse by her biological father, a young woman who attended an APC Take Back the Tech! workshop in Peshawar could contain herself no more.
Pakistan blocks sex, drugs AND rock and roll
Pakistani authorities have blocked Rolling Stone magazine’s website for criticising the country’s level of military spending. But other banned sites are back online, APC has been informed.
Pro-democracy protesters in Malaysia warn of internet clampdown
As the Bersih 2.0 protesters campaign for free and open elections, signs of a stuttering internet from various providers are becoming apparent, and are pointing to a possible internet and telco blackout warns the group . APC supports the Bersih protesters in their fight for democracy.
APC questions new Pakistan petition to filter the internet
A recent petition which calls on Pakistani internet service providers to filter the internet has sparked concern among internet rights advocates. APC criticises the proposal as inappropriate in a democratic society which values freedom of expression and the right to information.
Out of the shadows: Filipino youth survivors of violence transform the personal into the digital
The narrator of The Shape of My Youth recalls how two years previously, a relative sold her for US$ 23. She was just 12. But this and other digital stories produced by a group of young Filipinos are not just stories of betrayal – they are also stories of hope.
From Islamabad to Geneva, Feminist Tech Exchanges creates young reporter
After attending APC WNSP’s Feminist Tech Exchange in Islamabad, 24 year old lawyer and activist Sana Masood attended the she never imagined it would lead her to be a young reporter for the International Committee of the Red Cross. View her new digital story Pakistan: Youth in armed violence. Photo © ICRC / Gassmann Thierry
APC member JCA-NET speaks out against Japanese digital surveillance bill
The proposed bill criminalises a number of online activities, granting Japanese authorities extremely broad powers to monitor and investigate their citizens. It also requires network providers to record and hold communications data on all users so it can be used by law enforcement agencies.
APC breaks down the issues behind the Pakistan social media ban for Radio France International
On May 13 2011, the Lahore High Court in Pakistan ruled that Facebook and other websites were in violation of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and should be banned in the country. Curious to understand more about this ruling, Clea Caulcutt of Radio France International’s Web Watch programme speaks to Grady Johnson of APC’s Internet Rights are Human Rights campaign to get a better understanding of what is at stake. Listen to the interview
BREAKING NEWS: Social networking sites face ban in Pakistan
A new ruling by the Lahore High Court may result in a total ban of social media in Pakistan reports APC. Critics condemn the ban as unnecessary, unjust and ultimately counterproductive.
India's untapped potential: Are a billion people losing out because of spectrum?
As one of the world’s fastest growing economies and with over 65% of its billion-plus population under 35, India has huge potential. But according to a new report by Shyam Ponappa, commissioned by APC the current model for managing spectrum in India could be a huge barrier to the country’s economic and social development. Instead, he suggests that “it would be much more conducive to a sound economy…to have two to three main operators as we do with the provision of utilities.
Local radio, sms helplines, and the internet: Filipino women think local in stopping eVAW
From radio dramas by a student theatre collective, to an sms helpline for migrant Filipinas working abroad, to web-based technology to help victims of violence in ex US military bases, five organisations that work with women and ICTs are being awarded with small grants to implement these projects through the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme’s (WNSP) Take Back the Tech! to end violence against women project, which targets the third Millennium development goal on equality for women.
Irresponsible Pakistani media and authorities violates rape victim's privacy
One women was raped and another beaten in Pakistan. Both electronic media and law enforcing agencies, rather than respecting the survivors’ privacy, publicly identified them by their names and gave irrelevant information about them (that they were returning from a ‘dance party’ at 2:00 am), reinforcing the ‘she asked for it’ mindset. The rape survivor withdrew her case. Read the open letter that Take Back the Tech Pakistan wrote to Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh, one of the authorities harmed the survivor’s reputation.
