Archive for
February 4th, 2009
Stories
Brazil: The Cybercrimes Bill meets the “Cybercriminal” Camp
The Brazilian Cybercrimes Bill proposed by Senator Eduardo Azeredo [Pt] is always a source of big controversy (read more here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). It's no surprise then that the controversy should grow further when this bill is brought into debate at a huge cyberculture meeting. This is exactly what happened at Campus Party Brasil 2009, when Azeredo's aide José Henrique Portugal, and High Court Judge Fernando Botelho, were invited to defend the Bill in a debate [Pt] with the raging crowds of bit-torrent-using p2p-addicted geek Campus Party goers.
Summarizing, Alberto Marques, at gJOL blog [Pt] said:
“Portugal e Botelho tiveram muita dificuldade para apresentar seu ponto de vista sobre o projeto, sofrendo intensos protestos.”
José Henrique Portugal facing the audience that protested against the privacy violations and authoritarianism presented by the Cybercrimes Bill
Meme de Carbono blog features a long post discussing the Cybercrimes Bill in the face of the new age of communication and democracy brought by the Internet, listing many reasons to agree and even more to disagree with Azeredo's Bill. He explains in a few words [Pt] why the Cybercrimes Bill has faced such strong opposition from Brazilian digital citizens:
“Caso o projeto de lei de cibercrimes seja aprovado você terá medo de se expressar.
A liberdade de expressão apoiada pela Internet é uma grande ameaça a uma estrutura de poder estabelecida entre mídia, governos e corporações.
O poder estabelecido está acostumado a comunicar e não a interagir com seu ouvinte, mas nós queremos ser interlocutores do nosso tempo.
A pressa em aprovar a criminalização dos cibercrimes não vem de um apelo popular, mas dos interesses do poder estabelecido que defende uma forma de democracia que não é mais suficiente.”
The freedom of speech supported by the Internet is a great menace to the power established by media, governments and corporations.
These established powers are used to speaking to, but not to interacting with, their subjects. But we want to take part in the conversations in these new times.
The haste they have to approve the criminalization of said cybercrimes does not come from the urging of the masses but from the interests of the established powers that defend a form of democracy that is no longer good enough for us.”
From left to right: Ronaldo Lemos, Sérgio Amadeu, the chair of the debate (in the middle), Fernando Botelho and José Portugal.
The public applauding Sergio Amadeu's speech defending web anonymity and attacking the ‘Azeredo Bill'.
Left banner: “We defend Internet Anonymity”. Right banner: “Defend the future of the Internet in Brazil and around the World”.
“Internet Freedom = Democracy”
But a few minutes before the last speaker finished his speech, event organizers informed the public that they would not be allowed to ask questions to the panelists, because the “debate” had taken too long and would have to finish due to other events scheduled in the room. Daniel Padua complains [Pt] about the lack of a real public debate on the “debate”:
“Debate sobre lei de cibercrimes poderia ter entrado para a história com a participação direta da sociedade (o que faltou à audiência pública): o evento foi interrompido pela presença do governador em exercício próximo ao debate.”
Tux, the Linux penguin, holds a banner that reads “Say no to Online Surveillance”.
Jorge Araújo, a Brazilian judge behind the Direito e Trabalho blog, criticizes [Pt] the intention to create new crimes for the already bulging Brazilian Penal Code:
“Os defensores da lei estão errados ao buscar que se emplaque mais uma norma ao nosso combalido sistema jurídico, prevendo penas de prisão, quando sabemos que ladrões e assassinos são soltos diariamente justamente em virtude da falência de nosso sistema prisional […] Por outro lado para que se criminalize um delito é necessário que ele traga à sociedade um verdadeiro clamor, do tipo que antes de ser considerado crime ele já receba a censura da sociedade. […] Não é o que ocorre com os delitos que se pretendem penalizar. Pelo contrário muitas práticas que se pretendem penalizas são adotadas pela grande maioria dos presentes na Campus Party e desconhecidas pelo restante da população para o qual o computador é, quando muito, uma máquina de escrever sem papel.”
Many people wore red clown noses and protested against being turned into criminals by the Cybercrimes Bill.
Later on in the same post, Araújo criticizes the arguments used by Sergio Amadeu in his defense of online anonymity:
“o anonimato que se permite, e até exige, em regimes de exceção, como os regimes autoritários da China, Cuba, mas também de subjugação como dos próprios países árabes, como o Iraque em face dos Estados Unidos, não se pode confundir com um anonimato interno, que se pode voltar contra os demais cidadãos. Até porque não se cogita que atue anonimamente em um regime democrático sem um propósito escuso.”
In a comment on Araújo's post, Raquel Recuero [Pt] discusses the issue of anonymity and the possible uses of all information that will be made available to the government, and to whoever else takes hold of it, if the Cybercrimes Bill is approved, forcing Internet Service Providers and LAN-houses to keep a log of user activities:
“A lei prevê a obrigação dos provedores de registrar dados de navegação de todos os usuários. TODOS. Isso é, para mim, uma invasão de privacidade por presunção de que, ao navegar, estarei cometendo um crime. Dados esses que poderiam ser usados para outras coisas - penso, por exemplo, no valor publicitário de conhecer os hábitos de navegação das pessoas (eu detesto spam); nas investigações privadas de adultério (detetives); etc. etc.”
Araújo finishes his post criticizing Eduardo Azeredo for not showing up for the debate, sending his right arm man José Portugal instead:
“achei desrespeitosa a ausência do Senador Azeredo. Não há justificativa para que um representante do povo deixe de comparecer para prestar a este os esclarecimentos sobre a sua atividade. Dificilmente o senador encontrará uma reunião com tantos interessados na sua atividade parlamentar quanto no CParty, e encará-los e ouvi-los, mais do que um ato de cortesia, seria a sua obrigação.”
A participant holds his notebook with the slogan “Did you chicken out, Azeredo?”, after the confirmation that Eduardo Azeredo wouldn't attend the debate.
At the end of the debate, on being informed that there would be no questions to José Portugal and Fernando Botelho, the audience turned their backs on the speakers and left in protest while Portugal was still delivering his final speech.
All pictures in this post, except for the first, were taken by Daniel Duende, published by Daniel Padua and are available here under a Creative Commons licence.
Paraguay: Loofah and Plastic makes a home
Loofah gourd (luffa cylindrica) by Laura512
Paraguayan innovator Elsa Zaldívar has won the 2008 Rolex Award for Enterprise thanks to her project which consists of not only training women heads of households about processing the luffa cylindrica gourd to make bath scrubbies and sandals, but also in mixing the leftovers of the vegetable sponge with recycled plastic and turning it into a strong material which can be used to make walls, a technology which might save the forests by substituting wooden planks for the plastic composite.
In the following video [en], Elsa speaks about her Paraguay: the low cost housing shortage, the quickly shrinking forests and the pollution caused by plastics, and how this project can address all of these issues:
So, what is a luffa? It is a type of gourd that grows on a climbing vine. Some varieties can be eaten when young, others are bitter, but mostly the luffa (or loofah) is famous for being a bath sponge, used as an exfoliating agent to remove dead skin cells while in the shower. On the cmc-cmc blog [en], the author took pictures and videos of a farmer harvesting loofah gourds, peeling and cleaning them right on the spot. On the blog post, he also mentions that the seeds are sometimes ground to make a natural remedy against high blood pressure.
WilliamSabber on YouTube [pt] made this short video from the garden of Mr. Adair Satler in Brazil, when he saw a really long loofah gourd, easily surpassing 120 cm (47 inches):
The good news is that in Paraguay, the loofah industry is up and growing, and some NGO's like OIPIC [es] are promoting its farming as a way for families to be able to compete with the soy or cotton industries. The loofah can be used as a filling for furniture or car seats, for making handbags, shoes, and bath sponges, insoles, sandals, as pot scrubbers (they are safe for use with metal non-stick pans), as an ingredient for natural hand-made soaps and even medication against sinus problems. Another benefit for loofah planting is that because it flowers year round, it is great for bee-keping, to keep a colony healthy, well fed and increase honey production, as the Bees for Development [en] website states. And well, it seems that now, thanks to Elsa Zaldívar, it will be a staple for construction as well.
Egypt: Erdoğan, Leader of the World
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip has new fans across the Arab world, notably in Egypt where one blogger went on to describe him as the “leader of the world.” Another sees fault in Arab leaders who are not standing up for the Palestinian cause.
By storming out of a debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and after the moderator refused to give him extra time to rebut Israeli President Shimon Peres' explanation of what happened during the Israel-Gaza conflict, Erdoğan is getting the thumbs up from bloggers.
Maher Mahmoud wrote in his blog Kelmety:
…
وقال أردوغان في وقت لاحق إنه لم يغادر جلسة النقاش بسبب خلافاته مع بيريز ولكن لأنه منح وقتا أقل بكثير من بيريز للرد على ماقاله الرئيس الإسرائيلي.
…
Erdoğan said later on that he did not leave because of the debate itself, but because he was lesser time than Peres to reply to what the Israeli President has said.
Abu El Maaly Fayek also wrote about the incident in his blog Lokmet Eish:
Zeinab - Bent Masreya - wrote another post here calling him the “leader of the world”:
إنما الآن.. هناك زعيم حقيقي، يراه شعب آخر، لمسوا جهوده وعرفوا نظافة يده وسمعوا صوت الحق صادرا منه بقوة وبصراحة.. فاستقبلوه في المطار ملوحين له بأن “أهلا وسهلاً بزعيم العالم”
هكذا استقبل الأتراك رئيس وزرائهم، هكذا أشعر أنا أيضاً.
But now, there is real leader, a leader who has been received by his people at the airport with the slogan “Welcome, the Leader of the World,” after they have seen his honesty and heard the voice of truth coming out of his mouth.
This is how the Turkish people have received their Prime Minister, and this is how I feel too.
And finally Ahmed Abdel Moneam wrote in his blog Tasrehat:
…
ثم تكتمل اليوم ببعض الاخبار و المواقف التي تؤكد اعلان شهادة وفاة الجالسين علي مقاعد قيادة الوطن العربي فهذة اسبانيا و القضاء الاسباني الذى يلاحق القادة الاسرائلين في جرائم الحرب التي ترتكب في غزة “ بغض النظر عن ما يقال حول تعديل القانون بحيث ان لا تحاكم هؤلا و لكن علي الاقل هناك هيئة في الدولة تحتكم الي الضمير الانسانى “ من جانب اخر نرى ذلك الرجل الذى يستحق كل تحية و احترام و تقدير انة رجب طيب اردغان
…
And today the Spanish judicial system decided to chase after the Israeli leaders and punish them for their crimes in Gaza, which emphasizes the political death of the Arab leaders. Regardless of what is being said that the Spanish law may be changed in order not to try the Israelis, yet there is an organization out there that tries to listen to the human conscience. And on the other hand, we see this man who deserves praise and respect. He is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Also on Global Voices Online:
Turkey: Prime Minister Storms out of Davos Hearing
Italy Seethes over Brazil's Extradition Refusal
Italians are still debating a controversial decision of the Brazilian government [en] to guarantee political asylum to convicted felon Cesare Battisti, [en] in spite of an extradition request by the Italian foreign ministry.
The decision to grant asylum is currently being considered by Brazil's Supremo Tribunal Federal. In Italy, Battisti was tried and sentenced in absentia to life in prison for a series of crimes, including murder, committed in Italy in the late 1970's as a member of the far-left armed group Armed Proletarians for Communism [it].
Battisti escaped from prison in Italy in 1981. He then fled to France, where he started a family and became a novelist. In 2002, he reached Brazil, allegedly with the help of the French secret service [it]. Five years later, in 2007, he was arrested in Rio de Janeiro for entering the country with a fake passport, and is now imprisoned in Brasilia.
A fugitive of justice?
In Italy, the case has been a top story in most news media the past two weeks, and the local cybersphere is engulfed in heated discussions. Most Italian netizens seem to favor an extradition of Battisti [it] and strongly criticize Brazil's decision.
On a group blog, Atomo del Male, “il gorgonauta” writes [it]:
Un rifugiato politico secondo wikipedia [it] è chi è fuggito o è stato espulso a causa di discriminazioni politiche, religiose o razziali dal proprio Paese e trova ospitalità in un Paese straniero. Peccato che questa definizione non calzi molto alla situazione attuale: uccidere un macellaio o un poliziotto è un delitto politico? Una rapina è politica? Battisti è stato condannato per degli omicidi o delle opinioni? E l’Italia lo vuole per discriminarlo politicamente o per eseguire un condanna? Ma forse in Brasile hanno una giustizia tutta loro e l’imbelle ministro vive in mondo tutto suo.
In his blog, Gery Palazzotto argues [it] that any intellectuals defending Battisti as someone of their own league are misguided:
Il terrorismo ha fatto in Italia [it] quasi 350 morti e circa 750 feriti (cifre dell’Associazione vittime del terrorismo). Le pallottole sono di piombo e, anche se accompagnate da una citazione filosofica, da una frase di Bernard-Henri Lévy o da una semplice preghiera, generalmente uccidono. Gli ideali non sono né giubbotto antiproiettile né lasciapassare.
Kicking blame to France too
Several people also express criticism of France's past behaviour. After learning that Battisti in a recent letter wrote [it], “French intelligence helped me flee to South America,” Il Jester points a finger at both French and Brazilian governments [it], because they both:
…permettono e hanno permesso che un assassino resti libero e si goda la vita come premio per quel che ha fatto e causato: morte e dolore. Vorrei proprio che Mr. Lula e Sarkozy spiegassero (…) a chi ha sofferto la scomparsa insensata dei loro cari: “I vostri compianti sono morti per causa di un ideale politico di un uomo. Lui non ne ha colpa. (…)”
Una vergogna! E l’Italia non solo non dovrebbe giocare la partita con un Brasile che ha davvero poco di amichevole, ma dovrebbe persino protestare sonoramente contro una Francia che si è sempre rivelata poco amica del nostro Paese (…).
What a disgrace! And Italy should not even play a soccer game with a Brazil that shows very little friendship, but should instead file strong protests against France too, for failing to be a friend of our country…
The blogger refers here to a friendly soccer match between Italy and Brazil, scheduled for February 10 in London. Some major newspapers have held instant polls on this topic: “Should we play against Brazil?”, with a majority (59-62%) still answering “yes”, while the Italian defense minister Ignazio La Russa [en] proposed a public boycott of the game - thus stirring more harsh debate.
Few defend Battisti online
There are around 40 groups supporting an extradition of Battisti on Facebook and the most popular - “Cesare Battisti must come back to Italy to serve his life sentence” [it] (Cesare Battisti deve tornare in Italia per scontare l’ergastolo) has more than 20,000 members.
Of the only two groups advocating for his freedom, “Freedom for Cesare Battisti” [it] (Libertà per Cesare Battisti) blames the media for exploiting his case:
Crediamo si tratti dell'ennesimo capro espiatorio, del mostro (creato da pennivendoli e strumenti di disinformazione) da dare in pasto per placare la sete di giustizia. A qualcuno ovviamente fa comodo che gli italiani, invece di indignarsi per le ingiustizie sofferte quotidianamente, ingiustizie di natura economica e sociale, si indignino per fatti di 30 anni fa, che non hanno nessun impatto sulla loro esistenza.
Similarly, Titus, from the Selvas blog [it], believes this episode is being used by the (center-right) Italian government as “an amazing mass distraction weapon” from the economic crisis, while another blog devoted to literature and counter-information, Carmilla On Line [it], posted a very detailed FAQ on Battisti's case [it]. One of these answers states reasons that his trial was not fair, including the alleged use of torture tactics to extract confessions.
In his blog Panni di piombo [it], another former member of an armed group, Mario Ferrandi, highlights a similar case but with Italy in the opposite role:
Il “nostro Cesare Battisti” è uruguayano, anche se da qualche anno ha la nazionalità italiana. Si chiama Jorge Troccoli. (…) È stato capitano dei Fucilieri Navali dell’Uruguay, ed è accusato di aver fatto sparire un numero imprecisato di persone nel suo Paese tra il 1975 e il 1983. Tra questi sei cittadini italiani. Il governo Berlusconi, nel settembre scorso, ha respinto la sua richiesta di estradizione.
Global Voices also has Brazilian blogger responses to Italy's extradition request.
UPDATE (02/05): Yesterday Brazil's Supremo Tribunal Federal ruled [it] that Battisti's current status as ‘political refugee' does not stop nor prevent the extradition procedure request. Essentially, nothing has changed: judges and politicians have opposing opinions, but ultimately the decision is in the hands of the Brazilian government.
This post was co-authored by Stefano Ignone.
Japan: Bloggers respond to new filtering measures
Over the past week, Japan's major mobile phone operators have commenced filtering web access on mobile phones contracted to minors (users under 18 years of age), following on legislation introduced in late 2007 and on developments over the last year toward the regulation of “harmful” content. On January 30th, NTT Docomo became the first mobile phone company to apply [ja] the new filtering policy [ja], with others set to follow suit: KDDI Corp., parent company of mobile phone operator au by KDDI, will begin applying filtering on February 10th, while Softbank Mobile Corporation will start from the first week of February. While earlier measures had, over 2008, already enforced default web filtering on phones held by new users in some cases, the current filtering is more extensive and applies uniformly to all users under age 18 (and not only to new users).
Sites targeted by the new filtering policy include adult and dating (deaikei) sites, as well as so-called “communication sites”, which include bulletin boards and blog services. Some of the affected blog services have already posted explanations about the change to their users. At the goo staff blog [ja], an entry posted on February 2nd [ja] explains:
2009年１月下旬頃より、携帯電話会社（docomo、au、SoftBank）にて18歳未満を対象としたフィルタリング（アクセス制限）が実施されております。
現在、モバイル版gooブログはフィルタリングの対象となっており、携帯電話のご契約名義が18歳未満の場合には、ブログの閲覧・投稿が出来なくなる可能性がございます。
このフィルタリングは各携帯電話会社のショップ窓口等で解除が可能となっておりますので、携帯電話の契約名義が18歳未満の方は保護者の方と相談し、ショップ窓口にてモバイル版gooブログにもアクセス可能なフィルタリングサービスを選択していただく、または解除手続きについてお問い合わせください。
gooブログでは皆様が安心・安全に全てのサービスをご利用いただけますよう取り組んでおりますが、18歳未満のお客様におかれましてはしばらくご不便をおかけいたします。
他ご不明な点等ございましたら、お手数ですがご利用の携帯電話会社まで直接お問い合わせください。
Not all Japanese social media sites will apparently be subject to the filtering, however. A J-CAST article [ja] explains that while Ameblo [ja], a popular blogging site featuring famous tarento bloggers, is subject to the filtering, Japan's hugely popular social networking service Mixi is exempt, as is Mobage Town, Japan's largest social network site with gaming functionality.
For the one in five Japanese who already choose to have their web access filtered, the moves described above will likely mean no great change. Many other bloggers, however, responded with puzzled reactions. One blogger writes [ja]:
えー、誠に残念なことに、私のケータイ、いつのまにかフィルタリングかかってましたwww
blogに投稿は出来るんだけれども、アクセス制限のため見れないんだなこれが／(^O^)*＼
なーんてこったーいＯTZ
I can post entries to my blog, but there's an access restriction so I can't read them! ／(^O^)＼
I don't even know what to say…
At PECO's favorite things, blogger Peco writes:
そんなことするよりもネット機能のないケータイを作ればいい
そもそもフィルタリング機能って意味がわからないし
例えば卑猥な情報をシャットダウンするものだとして
卑猥な情報ってなに？
I don't even understand in the first place what filtering really means anyway.
Suppose for example you blog obscene content,
Well what is obscene content?
例えば真面目な性教育のサイトでもセックスとか女性器男性器って単語で卑猥なくくりにされちゃうでしょ？
女性は16歳から結婚できて、結婚してれば当然性生活もあるわけで、法律上は未成年でも結婚して子供もいれば大人として義務を果たさなきゃいし、立派な大人だし
それなのにフィルタリングする必要あるの？
At Tokotoko Diary, another blogger warns readers [ja] that the filtering is not automatically removed when users turn age 18:
ちなみに、適用されたフィルタは１８才以上になっても自動的に解除されません！
１８才になったら忘れずに手続きしましょう（笑）
So please don't forget to apply [to get it removed] when you turn 18 (LOL)
Another blogger describes their experience requesting removal of filtering:
フィルタリングを
解約しましたよー！
やったー(´∀｀)
やっと
自分のブログが
見れるように
なりましたよー
てか、
ありえないですよね
自分のブログを
自分でみれないとか…
いやー良かった
I did it (´∀｀)
Finally,
I can view my own blog again.
I mean, isn't that unbelievable?
That you can't even see your own blog.
I'm so relieved.
Finally, while many bloggers were puzzled and confused by finding their blog entries blocked, others worried that the filtering was in fact not sufficient. Blogger Nakono Hitorigoto explains:
我が子はもちろんフィルタリングしていましたが、最近みたいサイトがみれないから
「フィルタリング解除して」って言ってきます。
フィルタリングといってもいくつか選択肢があるわけですが、
どこまではずしたらどうなるかがまったくわからないんです。
and I really have no idea how much gets through for different levels of filtering.
もう少し、簡単な選択方法が知りたいな～
（勉強すればいいのでしょうが、難しいよあせる）
(I guess I could study up on it, but I'm impatient and it's difficult.)
The blogger then makes a suggestion:
できればURLをみただけでこれはフィルタリングだと見れないとか
フィルタリング何段階のものだとかの判断ができれば、
子どもが見たいサイトのアドレスを見て
判断できるのですが。
and you could determine at what level of filtering [the page would not be viewable],
then just by seeing the address of the site that your child wants to see,
you could make your decision [about whether to let them see it or not].
実際パケホ（DOCOMO)でメールのやり取りは自由なのは理解していますが、
ネットが見れるのもなんとなく不思議な感じ。
どこまでiモード対応なのか、iアプリなのか
そして、パケホの範囲なのかが理解できていないです
But the fact that they can access the Internet seems strange to me.
I really don't know far [filtering] on i-mode goes, how far it goes on i-apps,
and how far it goes on Pakeho.
Cuba: A Look at Sports Blogs
Editor's Note: The following is a translation of the article written by Yudivián Almeida Cruz on the site Bloggers Cuba and it is republished with permission.
Photo by Jungle/Arctic and used under a Creative Commons license
Sports form a large part of the Cuban identity. Passion can be seen for the sport of baseball all the way to the unexpected participation of a Cuban in another sport. We all feel capable of questioning sporting decisions and we are comforted by those results that permit us to keep believing that this small Caribbean island is a world sporting power. Anything short of this causes us to call for their heads. Despite all of this, information and appraisals of Cuban sports is still insufficient on the net. I believe that the alternate means of communication taking place on blogs is the ideal space for the diffusion and analysis of the present dynamics of daily Cuban sports. However, this has not been sufficiently exploited, neither by communication professionals, nor sports fans.
Despite this, there exists some spaces that have been providing the first steps towards this goal. Despite the fact that Cubans enjoy the controversy related to politics or sports, these digital spaces lack the emotion of a Cuban street corner, since very few comments appear that can help enrich the posts. Of the sports blogs that I am familiar with, my favorite is Palco Deportivo [es] and is written by the Cuban journalist Abelardo Oviedo. Here the frequency of the posts are spread out and no one has commented, although the quality of his articles and interviews forces one to visit each time a new post appears.
Mi Columna Deportiva [es] is another site that I usually visit. This sports blog is the work of journalist and professor of the Department of Communications [es] at the Havana University [es] Miguel Ernesto Gómez Masjuán. This blog is where I first read about the Cuban sporting blogosphere [es]. In this site, the posts appear regularly and it may be the only space that has broken the ice with comments, not as much as I would like, but it may be the point of entry for enriching debates. Another sports blog is Cuba El Deporte [es]. The author is José Luis Basulto and his articles don't appear as regularly. On this blog, as of the majority of sports blogs, readers do not leave a trace and do not comment.
In the case of Infodeportivas [es], RomoDeportes [es], and Siempre Con Ustedes [es], these blogs specialize in information about sports in Santiago de Cuba, Ciego de Ávila and Holguín, respectively. These blogs are updated frequently and are one of the best examples of the usefulness of blogs. National online media do not provide in-depth coverage of sports in each one of our provinces and the blogs are one of the best solutions to spread local information. Hopefully, I will discover more blogs that imitate these blogs and allows us to know the happenings, not only sporting events, of each possible corner of Cuba.
These are some of the Cuban sports blogs that one can find after invoking Saint Google and navigate among the links. There is a lot to be done by those that attempt to create and maintain a Cuban sports blogosphere and by those who read the blogs, but don't dare to comment and contribute to the dynamics of those blogs. I, who am always optimistic, believe that soon we can have many more digital spaces.
Links for Wed, 2009-02
Another update on the political situation in Latvia - at Baltic and Free Speech Emergency in Latvia (the latter post includes a video from today's peaceful protest).
Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about the lawsuit filed by the Slovenian police against writer Goran Vojnović for a novel he has written: “But the problem arises when the only organisation which can legally use force against a citizen starts using these powers to curb freedom of speech, thought and artistic expression. Sure, file a libel suit against a writer for writing a work of fiction. Make a fool of yourself. But treating a work of fiction as a criminal offence is dangerous.”
Belgraded writes about president Boris Tadic's failure to congratulate Barack Obama on becoming president, and explains the situation with Pescanik (“Hourglass”) radio show.
Andrei Tuch of AnTyx writes at Th!nk About It: “So, for the eleven member states who still use their own currencies - and especially the more developed ones, whose economies might have some chance of standing on their own without leaning on the European Central Bank - the question is: do we want to join the Euro?”
Sri Lanka celebrates 61 years of Independence today but A Janusis is not flying the Sri Lankan flag. Read the reasons why.
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