A few weeks ago, we posted about Turkey’s incident with YouTube, and how YouTube was giving in to state-sponsored censorship. They did it again. This time the case is with Egypt:
The video-sharing Web site YouTube has suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what he said was brutal behaviour by some Egyptian policemen, the activist said. Read the rest.
Google’s settlement and subsequent handing over of a blogger’s IP address without being legally forced to has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for the thousands of bloggers reporting on controversial topics who previously felt protected that their ISP or blogging provider (such as Google) would fight to preserve their anonymity.
Hmm. I wonder if they’re going to pull a Yahoo and start handing out Gmail passwords of controversial activists/authors to the relevant authorities.
The Turkish government has blocked WordPress, a blog publishing system, in all of Turkey because of a private defamation case. Because this censorship silences the voices of thousands of Turkish bloggers, we are petitioning for their rights to free speech.
Banning WordPress is a clear violation of free speech that effects the citizens of Turkey, WordPress bloggers, and readers all over the world. Certainly these disputes can be handled more judiciously by the Turkish courts.
We, the undersigned, respectfully ask the Turkish authorities to reconsider the decision to block WordPress.
A lot of questions have been raised about the reliability of cyber activism. Can we effectively change the way we are being treated by the authorities, who moderate us, harass us, threaten us, and in some cases, imprison us merely because we chose to bravely express our opinions on a blog or website?
We think that we can achieve many things if we start networks like these where we come together in order to fight towards a common cause.
Press freedom should be valued! Don’t be scared to express your opinions. Every time you reconsider posting or starting a blog due to fear, you should think of how many others you are silencing with you. Speak up, and speak loudly. We are here for you, and we support your right to free speech!
Blogging services have been banned periodically in India and Pakistan, as is documented by Wikipedia here and here respectively. In such cases, to access blogs please use:
inblogs.net/yourblogname or pkblogs.com/yourblogname
So if your blog address was http://mynameis.blogspot.com, you will now type in http://inblogs.net/mynameis or http://pkblogs.com/mynameis
Inblogs.net and Pkblogs.com were developed by tech savvy Indians and Pakistanis when the Blogger ban first came up in both countries.
If blogging services are also banned, there are a host of anonymizer websites that will allow you to post through it, for example KProxy and Anonymouse.
The Pakistani blog community launched a ‘Dont Block The Blog’ campaign when the blogger ban was first enforced, and asked all Blogger users to spread the word through banners and stickers. In the event that your country’s telecommunication or IT ministry has indeed blocked blogging services, it is advisable to contact all renowned news services such as BBC, Reuters, CNN, etc, which have in the past investigated and aired reports about such issues. One can also spread the word by sending press releases to tech websites such as Boing Boing.
Remember, no one can take your right away to express yourself, and certainly not some idiot in the government who thinks he can control the internet, which has emerged as the most powerful medium of the 21st century. Viva le revolution!
Do not just request for this information to be on the BBC News website, rather ask them to include it in the news agenda so it can be mentioned on the BBC World channel as well. Provide screenshots of your campaign, preferably with pictures of the subject in the banner, in order for it to appear on the news channel. Make yourself available for BBC Radio interviews both in English and Arabic (or Farsi, Urdu, French, depending on the case and location.)
Contact Al Jazeera by e-mail at first and request that your information be provided on their website. Ask them to write back if they have further questions or if they request an interview with the campaign’s co-founders and staff.
Sample letter:
To whoever it may concern,
I am writing to you requesting your urgent help concerning a recent case that took place in [Country]. [Blogger's Name], my [friend/colleague] has recently been arrested and we would greatly appreciate it if this can receive some coverage in your news hour, if only briefly! This is a serious case and is a violation of human rights in [Country,] and reporting it is very important so that the world is aware of what is going on. [Blogger's Name]’s only crime is freedom of expression, and no matter how much one may disagree with [Blogger's Name]’s writings or opinions, free speech should never be considered a punishable crime anywhere.
We have started a campaign to Free [Blogger's Name], which can be viewed on [website.] The campaign’s founder can be reached at:
Name: Your full name. E-mail: Your e-mail address. Phone #: Your phone number. Fax #: Your fax number. Website: Campaign’s website.
Please help us spread the word, and contact us for further information. We are available for media interviews.
Take a very brief video of you discussing the case and send it to Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post. They accept all formats, but .mpeg is preferable for ease and quality. Don’t just state what happened; ask for help! Remember to give the address of your campaign in the video or request that it appears on the bottom in order for people to know how they find your campaign.
listeningpost[at]aljazeera[dot]net (Note: Remember to replace the @ and . to the appropriate symbols, they were replaced initially in order to avoid spam.)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) More specifically: internet[at]rsf[dot]org, and middle-east[at]rsf[dot]org- Contact influential bloggers (look at the detained blogger’s blogroll, and contact everyone included in this list. If their e-mails are not provided in their profiles, inform them about the campaign in the form of a comment.)
- Contact or refer to local aggregators for support or information on blogs within your country who may be supportive of this campaign, for example, in Iran, a good source might be Balatrin. In the Arab world, iToot is a place to start.)
- Contact Global Voices Online with your concerns and request that the campaign is covered.
- Create banners in your website for others to include on their blogs and websites. Eventually, create a page such as this one listing all of the different sizes (if possible, in several languages.)
After this, and after the basics of the campaign are ready (you included most of the information about said blogger through links, and explanations and updates on the case), start writing op-eds. Examples:
- You need to always be creative! After spreading the word through the global blogosphere, through social networking websites, and through international media outlets, do the following:
Use your talents. Music, video production, and especially art!
Here is an interesting example of using creativity to get a message across:
Try as many mediums as possible! From music, to radio, to videos/films to media outlets and blogs! Reach your audience on both a local and global scale for overwhelming support and added pressure. It will take much time, thought, and effort, but you can do it if you follow the steps!
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