Freedom of expression

Says Amnesty International: "Independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas has been staging a hunger strike since 31 January 2006 to obtain access to internet for all Cubans. Internet remains under governmental control, accessible only through official organizations or at hotels from where Cuban nationals are normally barred".

APC condemns the unjust detention of free speech bloggers and journalists in Egypt. Alaa Seif Al-Islam, a seasoned blogger and APC colleague, is one of four Egyptian online diarists being held in detention for criticising the current regime since May 7. In addition, APC has heard disturbing reports about violent actions taken by state security against several of the bloggers who were released ...

Internews Pakistan (http://www.internews.org.pk) compiles an annual State of the Media in Pakistan report. The one for the year 2005-06 has recently been launched. Welcoming the report, Hasan Rizvi, one of the pioneers in ICTs and development communications guru in the country commented that "The report is somewhat sketchy, especially in terms of media’s coverage/access (geographic, de...

Alaa is fine, treatment is fine in prison..the problem is in the state security.. they can interfere with any other authorities.

South Korea is seeing some conflicts between IPR and access to knowledge (or, A2K). Over-protection of IPR may hamper access to knowledge. It is unfair to use the copyright law to prevent the public use of digital libraries.

“Pro-democracy demonstrators have been locked up and reformist judges face dismissal for criticising the Egyptian regime over its grip on power,” writes The Guardian on May 8. Sign the petitions for the immediate release of Alaa and the rest of the group that was kidnapped yesterday – and who’ll be detained for 15 days – on this blog.

Where the Government in Pakistan, Intellectual Property Organization, Federal Investigation Authorities and the Business Software Alliance BSA are initiating a crackdown on Software Piracy in Pakistan, there is hardly any awareness of piracy and its implications within society apart from members of the IT Industry. It is crucial to the basic Human Rights of the citizens of Pakistan that they fi...

Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), a government entity has drafted “Electronic Data Protection Act 2005” by outsourcing the work to an individual Mr. Aslam Hayat Khan. As per PSEB, the proposed Act aims to prevent unauthorized access and theft of electronic data and to ensure intellectual property rights with regards to the processing of electronic data in Pakistan.