As sustainable development was being discussed in the UN Conference Rio+20, The Guardian asked a number of activists and researchers what they thought about the conference and which changes they had seen since the first summit 20 years ago. Read what APC member VOICE’s Ahmed Swapan Mahmud had to say about Bangladesh.

Southeast Asia has been a trade hub for thousands of years and is a digital crossroads for internet and mobile innovation now as well, according to the new report by Mobilemonday, “Mobile SouthEast Asia 2012: Crossroads of Innoivation,” available online

The Government of Pakistan is working to revive and restructure the cyber crime law, which lapsed in 2009. Stakeholders who are being consulted are corporations such as telecom operators, ISPs, and governmental organisations. However, no representative civil society organisation holds an opinion even though it is a globally accepted norm that governments use a multi-stakeholder process to ensure active participation by civil society.

The recent amendments to the Malaysian Evidence Act, passed without debate at Parliament on May 19 2012, clearly signal the government’s intention to increase censorship on the internet.

On Sunday, 20 May 2012, APC member Bytes for All (B4A) reported that “once again, Government of Pakistan has managed to block yet another social networking website Twitter.” Service to the website was restored the same day, yet civil society must “reject this oppressive slap on citizens basic human right to democracy, freedom of expression and access to information.”