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Access Denied Map: Mapping Web 2.0 Censorship

Sami Ben Gharbia · 23:23, November 12th, 2007 · Projects , Announcements

lingua → pt · de · zhs · zht · es

The recent explosion in new information and communications technology and the proliferation of easy-to-use, often free, software and low-cost methods of self-publishing ranging blogging to multimedia-sharing web applications, have turned Internet users into prosumers, propelling them to a position of potential competition with the mainstream media. Even more importantly, it has transformed them into citizen watchdogs tackling sensitive human rights issues and often serving as an unofficial media outlet for dissenting voices.

The blurring of the lines between citizen and professional journalism has also resulted in the former's increasing ability to sustain the work of human rights defenders and NGO’s through first-hand reporting of breaking news exposing human rights violations, torture and harassment. The recent success of this army of citizen journalists and citizen watchdogs in Pakistan, Burma, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, have confirmed once again the enormous potential of user-generated content as an advocacy tool and as an alternative and independent source of news. The common characteristic of all these cases is that they have made efficient use of web 2.0 technologies in exposing abuses and injustice.

But despite the potential of web 2.0, in regions ridden with censorship and where the state holds the monopoly on information dissemination, open access to the Internet is often a tough goal to achieve considering the “authoritarian reflex” that is activated each time the repressive regimes feel threatened. Governments who already excel at muzzling the traditional media have been turning their efforts lately to the Internet, doing all they can to tighten their grip on this last refuge of communication. The rise of user-generated content is perceived as a threat by a growing number of countries who are seeking to block and control its dissemination by legal and technical means. Rarely does a week pass by without news about yet another major website being blocked by repressive states. Multimedia-sharing websites, social networking communities, mapping tools and popular web 2.0 websites are becoming a primary target of state censorship in more and more countries.

Over the last half-year, governments in China, Tunisia, Syria, Turkey, Burma, Thailand and Morocco have all cut off access to video-sharing websites. In the space of two months, between September 3rd and November 2nd, 2007, Tunisia has blocked access to two popular video-sharing websites, Dailymotion and Youtube, preventing Tunisian Internet users from both viewing and posting videos. Both websites remain blocked in Tunisia. Access to the Flickr photo-sharing site was recently restored in China, but it remains blocked in Iran and in the United Arab Emirates. Metacafe and Photobucket are also banned in few Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Blogging services are being targeted as well. Over the last three months, Turkey, Thailand and China have banned wordpress.com, while Blogspot is over-blocked in Syria and Pakistan and only recently restored in China. The Livejournal blogging service is blocked in Morocco and in Iran and it has been reported to be also blocked in China. Other popular services like Technorati, Blogrolling, Xanga, Movable Type, Typepad, Feedburner and Blogsome have been blocked on and off for the past couple of years in countries such as China and Iran.

Social networking websites like Orkut, Hi5, MySpace, Friendster, ZillR, Multiply, Facebook, Meetup, Digg and My Opera are banned or threatened in a number of countries. Even Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, have been blocked from time to time in China, in Tunisia and in Iran where the popular online retailer Amazon.com is reported to be blocked. Google Earth was blocked in Bahrain for a couple of days and remains inaccessible in Morocco.

[Video] Graphs Web 2.0 Censorship

Fortunately, against this substantial and highly restrictive filtering system targeting web 2.0 tools being deployed by various countries worldwide, is resistance from numerous anti-Internet filtering movements. In almost every country where state censorship prevails is a corresponding anti-censorship initiative led by citizens. And in addition to rallying to protest censorship, local activists are also continuously working on new ways of bypassing the blocks, advocating to keep the web open and interacting with each other across linguistic and cultural borders and barriers.

In order to shed light on the battle being waged between state censorship and anti-censorship groups, I’ve created the Access Denied Map, an interactive Google Maps mashup that provides information about the censorship efforts targeting various online social networking communities and web-based applications. Each marker on the map highlights the situation in a specific country that is barring access to major websites. Clicking on the marker opens an information window containing text, images or video describing the nature of censorship and the efforts to combat it.

The Map does not aim to index all kinds of web filtering, but rather to provide an overview of online censorship efforts related to the social web and major web 2.0 websites. This project will also track and explore the relationships between anti-censorship groups in different parts of the world who are collaborating to defend the right to access web 2.0 tools and websites.

The Access Denied Map will try to contextualize and situate that battle by focusing on two areas:

the crackdown on web 2.0 websites (e.g. video and photo-sharing sites like Youtube, Flickr, Dailymotion; blogging platforms such as Blogspot, Livejournal, Typepad and Wordpress; social networking websites such as Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, Wikipedia, VoIP services; etc.);

the amplifying of local campaigns defending the right to access web 2.0 tools and websites (circumvention techniques, online petitions and campaign.)

The Access Denied Map will lead interested readers to content that enables them to support anti-censorship movements and keeps readers abreast of the filtering situation in various parts of the world. It will also facilitate collaboration between activists, allowing them to find each other, share tactics and strategies and experiences.

The Map was created using data from the Open Net Initiative (ONI), Global Voices and the Global Voices Advocacy section. The Access Denied Map does not pretend to be exhaustive. Help expand and improve it by adding information about the filtering of web 2.0 applications either via the Advocacy Wiki site or by e-mail through the contact page.

Show your support by posting this badge on your blog!

You can simply grab the HTML code from here!

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Tamil Blogosphere: Anuratha's ongoing battle with breast cancer

Mathy Kandasamy · 16:56 · South Asia

Tamil Blogdom is generally considered to be a place to have ‘fun'. A bunch of people standing around in groups discussing politics, movies, music, technology. A different set of people sit together talking about literature and churning out poetry and short-stories. Yet another group can be seen jumping around bursting with joy. Amidst the chaos, small group of people can be seen sitting in a corner sharing their experience and imparting knowledge.

Anuratha from Chennai, India is one of them. She starting blogging in July 2007 and has only blogged 33 entries so far. She has shared her experience in battling breast cancer. Each post contains valuable information and she emphasizes the need to ask questions. And to keep asking them.

A few days ago, Anuratha wrote about visiting her son in Singapore. And just recently on October 23rd she wrote about her health at that time. After listing a few troubles she was facing, she confidently continued to talk about her mental state. Anuratha was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2003. And she tells us how shocked she was and how ignorant she was at that time.

Here's what she says..

My body got damaged but I didn't let if affect my psyche. There are several problems which I'm managing to fight with medicines. I'm trying to do what I can for the society. And will continue to do so.

My husband and I looked for books on breast cancer when I was getting radiation treatment. We were able to locate two books in Tamil. Manimegalai publications book on cancer and Dr. Muthukuraman's book on mouth cancer. I searched the Net with my husband's help and learned quite a bit. http://breastcancer.org a website operating from America has a chatting room for breast cancer survivors. I participated there with my husband's help.

All these opened up a new world for me. I wanted to meet some people who got diagnosed with cancer.

Kumudam Snegethy magazine carried interviews by Neeraja and Girija, both cancer survivors who were counselling others. I wanted to meet them and contacted the magazine. I was able to talk to Girija and asked to meet her. We went to meet her the very next day. She was very helpful. She told me that she visits Adyar cancer hospital every month and counsels cancer patients and their families. She told me mostly the families needed more counseling than the patients.

Anuratha continues with her experiences in meeting several people who were diagnosed with cancer and others who help those diagnosed with cancer. Anuratha had also started writing about her experience in magazines.

Anuratha also talks about what she learned from other women. She talks about the need to keep things secret. Anuratha shares anecdotes of neighbours and others avoiding women diagnosed with breast cancer. Some women did not share their diagnosis and their interaction with the society did not change. But some of their families especially husbands started avoiding them. Anuratha continues on sharing others' experiences and blogs about her decision not to share information about her illness with others.

Anuratha might have decided not to share with the people she comes in contact with in person. But she has been very generous in sharing information about her fight with cancer online.

Anuratha presently in Singapore is facing health problems now. She has been to visit the doctors in Singapore and has been in touch with her doctor back in India. She is taking some medicines now. But she is finding it difficult to talk. Most of the time she was only able to talk one or two words. Her most recent post was written on November 11, this Sunday with her husband's help. She is going to leave for Chennai as the medical costs in Singapore are quite exorbitant compared to India.

Tamil Blogdom has come together and is continuing to leave comments full of encouragement and prayers.

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Mexico: State of Emergency in Tabasco

.hj barraza · 15:58 · Americas

lingua → pt · ar · bn · jp · es · zhs · zht

Photo by _…:::Celuloide:::…_ and used with a Creative Commons license

Since the beginning of the month the state of Tabasco, Mexico has been incrementally flooding due to massive rains. Today, more than 80% of the state is completely flooded leaving thousands homeless, and stalling the economy. all their crops have been lost. The whole state has been declared disaster zone, and it will take more than three months to clear the water from the area. Many are saying that this a worse scenario that New Orleans.

Bucefalo [ES] writes from firsthand experience and provides a list of needed supplies:

Estamos sin agua potable, ya no hay camiones que repartan agua purificada…las despensas se están agotando, y las compras de pánico ya se dieron, y queda poco, pero tampoco pueden surtirse por obvias razones. Y los que tienen todavía algo, se aprovechan con precios exagerados. Lo que no entiendo es por qué las filas para cargar gasolina (donde por cierto solo queda magna), si estamos rodeados de agua y nadie puede salir.

We are without potable water and there are no trucks to distribute the purified water….the supplies are running out and there have already been purchases due to panic and very little remains, but it cannot be stocked for obvious reasons. For those that still have things on the shelves, take advantage of the situation with exaggerated prices. I don't understand the long lines to fill up on gasoline, if we are all surrounded by water and no one can leave.

Enigmatario [ES] provide a very rich coverage of the tragedy with hour by hour updates.

J.S. Zolliker from Realidad Novelada [ES] several statistics regarding the current events.

850 towns are flooded—approximately 70 percent of the state—with flood levels ranging from 2 inches to 36 feet

An estimated 80,000 households have lost all personal property

Nearly 30,000 people were housed in 269 shelters.

More rain is expected in the coming days

Mexico has declared a state of emergency in all 17 municipalities of Tabasco State.

The government of Mexico and humanitarian agencies are unable to reach many communities as a result of the flooded roadways and raging waters.

Government of Mexico reports indicate that as many as 300,000 people are currently cut off from assistance due to the rising water.

The Mexican government has issued flood alerts for the neighbouring state of Chiapas and has begun evacuating communities in high risk areas.

Priority needs include food, water, health care and basic relief items, such as hygiene materials and clean up supplies.

The Secretary of Public Health announced that during this week a mass fumigation will take place to avoid the emerging of possible diseases. He also promotes preventive measures such as burying dead animals and getting rid of stalled water in public areas.

Government expects the emergence of diseases and the recovery efforts while they have been fast, they don't suffice the requirements. The scale of this tragedy has overwhelmed all the governments capacity. Lucky the entire country has been quick to answer to the relief call.

Margarita Almada points us to several ways we can donate anything from 20 pesos (USD$2) to food, water, and clothes and lists where to send the funds.

Videos are posted by Daria that shows an aerial view of the damage.

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Southern Sudan Has a New Health Hazard

SudaneseDrima · 15:18 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → es

We begin this round up of the Sudanese blogosphere with Drima's announcement of the launching of Sudan's DailyVoices and Iraq's DailyVoices. He recently came back from a conference in which he was happy to meet Irshad Manji, a Canadian Muslim feminist.

Amjad seems happy too but for a different reason:

This morning I went to my interview at the American Embassy in Muscat for my student visa application. Have I mentioned that my final decision is to go for Texas Tech University? I got admitted to Texas Tech al-hamdulillah to a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering program.

… I gathered my documents & everything then went to the interview. It went very well al-hamdullah and everything was smooth.

He blogged about a new documentary on Darfur:

The documentary, Darfur Now, has been released yesterday, November the 2nd, on a limited release. I just hope I can get a copy to watch as soon as possible. I guess it's a good documentary to show those people who don't know about Darfur's issue, to show them & aware them of what is really happening in Darfur.

Daana, contemplated the idea of using clean and renewable energy to power Sudan:

Sudan is suffering widely from under-development and most areas of Sudan do not have access to basic services, let alone energy or power. Is it possible that we could convert to the use of alternative energy sources that we are so abundantly blessed with? After all we have plenty of water that is not being utilized, the sun shines all over the country almost all year long, and wind energy is easily produced.

Kizzie, Wholeheartedly-Sudaniya blogged about a Sudanese novelist:

I just heard about “Travelling with Djinns”, a book written by Jamal Mahjoub. Mahjoub was born in London to an English mother and a Sudanese father. He was brought up in London and Khartoum.

Dr. Konyokonyo tells us about a new annoying menace facing Southern Sudan:

Anyone who steps into Juba will definitely notice that there are as many motor cycles as there are people! It is utterly unbelievable.

Long time back, motor cycles are very few. Post CPA there is a flock of imports, especially new model call Senke. The bad side is that it is the young people, barely ten or or years who cruse around town in them. And there are the accidents.

Doctors know long time back that when the mangoes are in season, many children will be admitted to hospital with mango fractures, sustained due to a fall from a mango tree.

Now the trend is in the senke. They almost make accidents every single day. One time, they were really piled up at the traffic police station. What a menace! These young people also drove them while intoxicated.

Senke has become a health hazard.

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Syria: Foreign Policy

Yazan Badran · 13:50, November 12th, 2007 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → es · zht · zhs

This month's topic on Creative Syria's Blogger Forum was one that is guaranteed to cause storms of debate among the different bloggers.

The question read:

Syria's Foreign Policy
Which international and regional powers (Turkey, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Untied States, Russia, France) should Syria try to have good relations with. Should Syria be more involved or more hands off in its surrounding region's many conflicts.

We start with Wassim, who argues that Syria ought to stay the course in its current foreign policy, especially when it comes to strengthening its ties with Russia, Turkey and Iran.

The death of Arabism and the realignment of many regional players on the side of Israel and the United States meant that a new appraisal had to be made and Syria has in fact made it. At this moment it has no need to be flexible on any issues since it (and Iran) remarkably still hold all the cards. However, rather than expect to rest on its success and hope to negotiate a better offer, Syria must intensify its efforts to roll back this influence, anything less could jeopardise all it has worked for.

Qunfuz, while agreeing in general terms with Wassim, brings out the notion that the current conflict is not in reality a sectarian one, in spite of the many attempts to depict it as such.

The current regional division is often misleadingly cast in sectarian terms, despite the Syrian regime’s secularism and Hamas being a Sunni organisation. It is much more useful to understand these opposing alliances in terms of those who welcome US-Zionist hegemony underpinned by American military bases, control of resources and the unfettered penetration of regional economies by Western capital, and those who refuse to submit. It is my opinion that Syria is on the right side in this.

Tarek Barakat, argues simply that it is a better relation with all of these countries [including Israel], that is the answer.

But Iran and to even a lesser extent Turkey, can offer Syria so much before the latter will need to move back to a multi-polar realm. Syria needs Saudi Arabia and the Americans way more than they need her because both can provide Damascus influence Iran cannot. And if the Syrians can’t win the American support due to conflicting strategic interest then at least they should avoid antagonizing them.

SimoHurtta, thinks that Syria's relations with its regional neighbors is much more important than its relations with the EU and the US.

Syria should concentrate on finding the elements which unite the areas/nations and actively work for a tighter Middle East’s political and economical union. Only co-operation can save the area from decades long civil wars and the faith of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ehsani, feels that the Syrian regime has the mistaken view that Americans will be leaving Iraq in the near future, a view that is jeopardizing their foreign policy and interests.

Failure to deal with this reality has cost the country dearly. Having resisted the American invasion while working tirelessly to sabotage any chances of it becoming a success, Damascus made itself a target in this White House. The first price to pay was in Lebanon. The old tacit approval of its total control of that country’s political process soon gave way to a sudden reversal of fortunes. The Hariri murder was the final catalyst. Syria soon found itself forced to undo a strategy that has been carefully put together by Hafez Assad over the past 30 years.

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Israel: Arab Citizens of Israel Oppose National Service

Gilad Lotan · 13:47 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → jp · es · mg · ar

“Arab citizens of Israel” is a phrase used to describe Arabs or Arabic-speaking people who are not Jewish, but are citizens of the State of Israel. (definition: Wikipedia)

The Arab-Israeli sector comprises of over 1.4 million people (some 19.8 per cent of the Israeli population). Their dual identity is highly complex, in a country torn by an ongoing struggle between their two nationalities. Many Arab citizens in Israel feel that the state actively discriminates against them, just from being in its essence a ‘Jewish state'. Arab-Israeli youth are not required to serve in the military so as not to place them in an awkward position, fighting against their brothers. However, there has been a recent government initiative, aimed at passing a law requiring all Arab-Israeli youth to engage in some form of national service. This includes a range of volunteering possibilities with organizations in deprived communities and towns.

This proposal was received poorly by many of the Arab-Israeli community leaders. Here are translations of several Hebrew blog posts from Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel, reacting to this minority's complex social stance.

In his blog post, Avraham Pechter, an Israeli lawyer and consultant, describes the problematic reactions from several Arab-Israeli community leaders regarding the proposed national service:

Two months ago the government decided to start encouraging national service in Israel within the Arab-Israeli sector. This is voluntary service, which is also directed towards the Arab sector. Youth who are currently exempt from Military Service will be asked to volunteer in hospitals, community centers, drug rehabilitation centers, schools, clinics or any other charity services. Israeli-Arabs are exempt from the compulsory military service for obvious security and ethical reasons; they are not placed in the embarrassing position to fight the Palestinians. Yet they long for equality in this country without showing any intent on integrating and improving the Arab-Israeli community's social status, which can benefit immensely from this proposed national service. It is hypocritical behavior, trying to maintain the existing conditions: highlighting our differences, deepening poverty and crime, which result in their internal political gains.

…

Arab-Israeli parliament member Jamal Zahalka claimed that “the Arab society will extract those who volunteer to the national service and consider them as lepers”, in reaction to the formation of the national service committee. Other Arab community leaders who support Zahalka's stance stated that national service is the first step for the physical extermination of the Arabs.

And I ask - where is the logic here? How can the Israeli youth be required to serve and help the Arab sector's welfare while Arab youth are exempt because of their leader's requests? While the Arab community leaders righteously claim that there is a rise in crime, drug usage and violence within their communities, they still request volunteers from the national service and more funding, while they label those of them who want to volunteer as “traitors” or “lepers”.

…

In another blog post an Israeli reacts:

The Israeli government is trying to pass a law for compulsory national service for the Arab-Israeli sector. The protests did not fail to come, some hair-raising when reading their comments and claims regarding this law - “This will bring to Israelization of our youth”, claims an Arab-Israeli parliament member.
Excuse me, but are you not Israelis already?
Or are you Israeli only when it comes to accepting your national stipends, government pension, health insurance, water and electricity service? A committee gathered in Haifa today to discuss the topic of this new law proposal. Reading the comments and claims that were stated there, I wonder how we will all end up. The gap between our two separate sectors seems impossible to bridge.

In the following blog post an Israeli-Arab describes how it is to be an Israeli born Christian Arab:

As an Israeli born Christian Arab, my identity is complex and confusing. Even though I feel completely Israel, voices from the Arab side claim that I am Palestinian. Our roots were conquered here 60 years ago. The Israelis do not really let us feel Israeli. They look at us differently. I don't really know what we are. If we rebel against this country, the Jews will make us feel shameful that we, as Israelis, oppose our own country. But on the other hand, if we protect Israel because it is the land we live in, the Palestinians will call us traitors, and claim that we forgot our own people; forgot where we had come from… But the truth is that the Palestinians do not like the Israeli-Arabs. In fact, they hate and despise us even more than their hate towards the Jews. And the Jews in this country hate the Arab Israelis, because they are similar to Palestinians. So which side do we belong to??

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