Links

Should Corporations Control Online Communication?

It's not hard to find cheerleaders for the latest rise in online participatory media communities. But there seems to be nobody questioning the parallel rise in corporate buyouts, such as of MySpace and YouTube. These sites are starting to feel like newspapers that have front pages filled with ads, with the opinion section way in the back. While corporate participatory media websites do provide a level of exposure that is hard to find elsewhere, we should also support existing participatory media websites run by pubic interest organizations (non-profits), and create new ones to fill the gaps left by corporate media. (Steve Anderson, COANews.org, 10 October 2006)

http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/899/

(Added: Mon Oct 16 2006   Hits: 63)

Corporate conquest, global geopolitics: Intellectual property rights and bilateral investment treaties

This article examines how bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements which contain specific investment provisions reflect geopolitical concerns and redefine rights and privileges for transnational corporations, including with respect to commercial control over biodiversity through intellectual property rights. (Aziz Choudry, Seedling, January 2005)

http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=1464

(Added: Wed Nov 15 2006   Hits: 211)

Google carves a middle path on privacy

The Internet search-engine company has recently found itself defending the privacy of alleged pedophiles and racists against São Paulo's attorney general. In doing so, the company moved a step closer to establishing a global legal precedent on how Internet firms cooperate - or not - with government requests for information about Web users. (Andrew Downie, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 September 2006)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0908/p01s03-woam.html?s=hns

(Added: Fri Sep 08 2006   Hits: 64)

Internet Filtering in Burma in 2005

Legal, technical, and political research finds Burma uses Internet filtering technology to conduct surveillance of communication methods such as e-mail, and to block users from viewing Web sites of political opposition groups, organizations working for democratic change in Burma, and pornographic material. Burma's on-line restrictions mirror off-line regulations implemented by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), a group of authoritarian military officials who run the state. (Open Net Initiative, October 2005)

http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/burma/ONI_Burma_Country_Study.pdf

(Added: Wed Jun 07 2006   Hits: 95)

Irrepressible.Info

Irrepressible Adj. 1) Impossible to repress or control. Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information. The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments - with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world - are cracking down on freedom of expression. Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress.

http://irrepressible.info/

(Added: Wed Jun 07 2006   Modified: Wed Jun 21 2006   Hits: 267)

Open Net Iniative

The number of states seeking to control the Internet has risen rapidly in the recent years. Mustering powerful and at times compelling arguments -"securing intellectual property rights," "protecting national security," "preserving cultural norms and religious values," and "shielding children from pornography and exploitation"- extensive filtering and surveillance practices are being proposed and put in place to curb the perceived lawlessness of the medium. The ONI mission is to investigate and challenge state filtration and surveillance practices. Their aim is to generate a credible picture of these practices at a national, regional and corporate level, and to excavate their impact on state sovereignty, security, human rights, international law, and global governance.

http://www.opennet.net/

(Added: Wed Jun 07 2006   Hits: 69)

Race to the Bottom: Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship

This 149-page report documents how extensive corporate and private sector cooperation - including by some of the world's major Internet companies, such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and Skype - creates censorship which abuses fundamental human rights in China. Legislation and a strong industry code of conduct are necessary to end the complicity of Western Internet companies in political censorship in China. (Human Rights Watch, July 2006)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/china0806/

(Added: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 81)

Reporters without Borders Annual Report 2008 Asia-Pacific

The report includes surveys of press freedom in every region of the world over the past year and chapters on 98 countries, including European Union members and the United States. The report's introduction lists problems expected in the coming year, especially physical attacks on journalists during key elections in Pakistan (18 February), Russia (2 March), Iran (14 March) and Zimbabwe (29 March) (Reporters without Borders, February 2008).

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/Report%20ASIA.pdf

(Added: Thu Feb 14 2008   Hits: 64)