Information Policy

Internet censorship will hurt Malaysia’s GDP, HRW warns

By Mayuri Mei Lin

Internet censorship will inevitably impact Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and discourage businesses from operating here, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

HRW Asia Director Brad Adams added that research from China, known for its multiple bans on many popular websites like Facebook and Twitter, has shown that the move to stifle Internet freedom has affected the country’s monetary gains.

Director Of ‘Internet’s Own Boy’ On Aaron Swartz, Who Died Fighting For Internet Freedom

Editor’s Note: Aaron Swartz was not just the co-founder of Reddit, or the inventor of RSS (or Rich Site Summary – a format for delivering regularly changing web content), which he invented at the age of 14. He was the ‘Robin Hood’ of the internet. Years before net-neutrality was an issue in India, and the Government was clamping down on information – Aaron led the anti-SOPA/PIPA movement in the US, mobilising thousands for internet freedom – leading the US Govt to strike down a bill that threatened the very essence of the internet. His movement, in many ways, paved the way for the global advocacy for a free and fair internet. Aaron’s life, however, was cut short at the age of 27 when he committed suicide following his arrest and prosecution for committing a felony. His crime? Making study material available at MIT and JSTOR available to the world for free.

Anonymous Hacks Thai Telecom Firm to Protest Internet Censorship Plans

The impending move to a single gateway Internet access system in Thailand isn't going as smoothly as the local government may have hoped, with things taking a dramatic turn when Anonymous launched a series of DDoS attacks on the country's main telecom company and even managed to steal sensitive information.

At the start of the month, we reported on an out-of-the-ordinary DDoS attack that hit several Thai government websites. Apparently, following mass calls to action on social media, the people of Thailand all loaded and pressed F5 (refresh) on the websites of the Thai government (thaigov.go.th) and of the country’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) (mict.go.th).

Continue reading "Anonymous Hacks Thai Telecom Firm to Protest Internet Censorship Plans" »

by Jeff Eisenach

In mid-December, the United Nations General Assembly will meet in New York for two days to discuss the future of Internet governance. A group of countries led by China and Russia is arguing that oversight of the Internet should move from the current “multi-stakeholder” model to a more centralized, government-centric approach managed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

In 2013, Google chairman Eric Schmidt predicted that widespread encryption offered “a real chance that we can eliminate censorship and the possibility of censorship in a decade.” But CNN’s James Griffiths reports a different forecast: that an ever-stronger Great Firewall might eventually lead to a “perfect” censorship system against which circumvention tools are no longer effective:

Internet Governance: What Could Go Wrong?

by Jeff Eisenach

In mid-December, the United Nations General Assembly will meet in New York for two days to discuss the future of Internet governance. A group of countries led by China and Russia is arguing that oversight of the Internet should move from the current “multi-stakeholder” model to a more centralized, government-centric approach managed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Can China Perfect Internet Censorship?

In 2013, Google chairman Eric Schmidt predicted that widespread encryption offered “a real chance that we can eliminate censorship and the possibility of censorship in a decade.” But CNN’s James Griffiths reports a different forecast: that an ever-stronger Great Firewall might eventually lead to a “perfect” censorship system against which circumvention tools are no longer effective: