31 March 2008
Stories from 31 March 2008
Bulgaria: Against Internet “Bugging”
This year, the Bulgarian government has issued a decree, which, among other things, allows the security services to gather from each internet user the data about who they have written to, who is on their contact lists, what instant communication agents they are equipped with, when they used them and the precise manner of using them. The majority of internet users in Bulgaria interpreted it as an encroachment on their civil liberties. Yavor Mihaylov reports on Bulgarian bloggers' attempts to resist the government's initiative.
Taiwan: Voices after Presidential Election
March 22 is Taiwan's presidential election held once every four years. The victory is belonging to KMT's Ma Ying-jeou, who got 60 percent of votes and 2 million votes than the other candidate, Frank Hsieh from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). KMT lost the political power since DPP became the ruling party eight years ago. Now they are back and complete the second-round trasition of political power. After the election, in addition to the election result reported by Taiwan and international press, bloggers in Taiwan have many comments on democracy development, hot and criticism for two parties, and relationship between Taiwan and China.
Trinidad & Tobago: The Laptop Incident
Trinidad and Tobago's Opposition Leader was recently suspended from Parliament for using his laptop without permission, but only a few bloggers seemed tuned in to the story...
Japan: Views on Yasukuni, the movie
A documentary film about the controversial Yasukuni shrine, shot by a Chinese filmmaker through funding by a Japanese government agency, has sparked debate and discussion after a group within the ruling LDP party convened a screening to assess its "neutrality". Bloggers offer differing views on the move and on the idea of their government subsidizing what some see as a "political" film.
Bahrain: Scorn for inflation package
To alleviate the effects of inflation in Bahrain, the government has introduced a BD40 million (USD105 million) aid package – and Bahrain's bloggers are unanimous in questioning how effective it will be, writes Ayesha Saldanha.
































Next time we will be there again :)