INTERNATIONAL POLITICS GREAT BRITAIN:

INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN ENGLAND:





The London Metropolitan police have jumped on one of their critics, the website 'Fitwatch' (no longer operational for reasons that will become plain below) which was originally set up 3 years ago to oppose heavy handed tactics on the part of London police. The recent development comes in the wake of student demonstrations against English government austerity measures which ended in occupation of Conservative Party headquarters. With egg all over their faces for failing to anticipate the level of militancy amongst some of the demonstrators the police have reacted with a show of bravado by flailing out at their critics. Things haven't turned out as well for themas they expected. Here's a brief report on this incident from the eGov Monitor.


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Police Ire Forces Shut Down Of Fitwatch Website - But The Offending Post Unsurprisingly Is Now On Various Websites


The Metropolitan Police has forced the suspension of the Fitwatch website last evening arguing that it was "being used to undertake criminal activities".

The website has been suspended, however, unsurprisingly, the particular blog post has now been published on thousands of websites across the internet beyond the Met's jurisdiction.

The move came following a blog post was published on the Fitwatch website which gave advice to students who were afraid of police action against them following their protest and occupation of the Millbank complex last week, the Guardian reported today.



Following the protest, the blog post on Fitwatch advised students to stay calm, and not hand themselves over to the police as well as change their appearances. In addition, it asked those who are worried about being arrested to stay away from similar protests planned later.

The website's hosting company, Justhost.com was approached by the Met's public order branch C11 to request the site be removed - following which a more formal request came from the Met's e-crime unit, which argued that the blog was providing "guidance" to offenders.

The letter seen by the Guardian says: ""We hereby request [you] de-host this website for a minimum period of 12 months. The website is providing explicit advice to offenders following a major demonstration in central London. The demonstration was marred by violence and several subjects have already been arrested, with a major police operation under way to identify and arrest further offenders."

An acting detective inspector, Will Hodgeson authorised the action against the website, according to the letter.

Fitwatch was set up in 2007 to campaign against what it saw as heavy handed police tactics of the Met's Forward Intelligence Teams - who take photographs of people participating in protest.

If nothing else, this decision was not thought through at all - and once again proves that police forces do not really understand how the internet works. In fact, it could be argued by taking the action, the police ensured that the particular blog post gets massive publicity and is published on various sites around the world.
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As is argued above the police merely ended up with yet more egg of their faces through their actions as the advise given went viral and began appearing on blogs and websites across the world. Always ready to do her little bit Molly reproduces the article below courtesy of the Another Green World blog. For the life of me I cannot see any counselling to commit a criminal act in what follows. Actually it seems quite akin to what some police officers do when they retire ie set up a business to counsel people on how to get out of their traffic tickets. As a point of interest you can read more about this case and other incidents of internet censorship at the Committee To Protect Bloggers website.
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16 Nov 2010
Banned Fitwatch article here, please re-blog.
THIS IS THE BANNED FITWATCH ARTICLE
I DON'T CONDONE DROPPING FIRE EXTINGUISHER BUT PROTEST IS ESSENTIAL....any way on to the banned.

The remarkable and brilliant student action at Millbank has produced some predictable frothing at the mouth from the establishment and right wing press. Cameron has called for the ‘full weight of the law’ to fall on those who had caused tens of thousands of pounds of damage to the expensive decor at Tory party HQ. Responsibility is being placed on ‘a violent faction’, after the march was ‘infiltrated’ by anarchists.

There are an encouraging number of initiatives to show solidarity with the arrested students – something that is vital if they are to avoid the sort of punitive ‘deterrent’ sentences handed out to the Gaza demonstrators. A legal support group has been established and the National Campaign against Cuts and Fees has started a support campaign. Goldsmiths lecturers union has publicly commended the students for a ‘magnificent demonstration’.

This is all much needed, as the establishment is clearly on the march with this one. The Torygraph has published an irresponsible and frenzied ‘shop-a-student’ piece and the Met are clearly under pressure to produce ‘results’ after what they have admitted was a policing ‘embarrassment’.

51 people have been arrested so far, and the police have claimed they took the details of a further 250 people in the kettle using powers under the Police Reform Act. There may be more arrests to come.

Students who are worried should consider taking the following actions:

If you have been arrested, or had your details taken – contact the legal support campaign. As a group you can support each other, and mount a coherent campaign.

If you fear you may be arrested as a result of identification by CCTV, FIT or press photography;

DONT panic. Press photos are not necessarily conclusive evidence, and just because the police have a photo of you doesn’t mean they know who you are.

DONT hand yourself in. The police often use the psychological pressure of knowing they have your picture to persuade you to ‘come forward’. Unless you have a very pressing reason to do otherwise, let them come and find you, if they know who you are.

DO get rid of your clothes. There is no chance of suggesting the bloke in the video is not you if the clothes he is wearing have been found in your wardrobe. Get rid of ALL clothes you were wearing at the demo, including YOUR SHOES, your bag, and any distinctive jewellery you were wearing at the time. Yes, this is difficult, especially if it is your only warm coat or decent pair of boots. But it will be harder still if finding these clothes in your flat gets you convicted of violent disorder.

DONT assume that because you can identify yourself in a video, a judge will be able to as well. ‘That isn’t me’ has got many a person off before now.

DO keep away from other demos for a while. The police will be on the look-out at other demos, especially student ones, for people they have put on their ‘wanted’ list. Keep a low profile.

DO think about changing your appearance. Perhaps now is a good time for a make-over. Get a haircut and colour, grow a beard, wear glasses. It isn’t a guarantee, but may help throw them off the scent.

DO keep your house clean. Get rid of spray cans, demo related stuff, and dodgy texts / photos on your phone. Don’t make life easy for them by having drugs, weapons or anything illegal in the house.

DO get the name and number of a good lawyer you can call if things go badly. The support group has the names of recommended lawyers on their site. Take a bit of time to read up on your rights in custody, especially the benefits of not commenting in interview.

DO be careful who you speak about this to. Admit your involvement in criminal damage / disorder ONLY to people you really trust.

DO try and control the nerves and panic. Waiting for a knock on the door is stressful in the extreme, but you need to find a way to get on with business as normal. Otherwise you’ll be serving the sentence before you are even arrested.

INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM:

FREE KARIM AMER:

Karim Amer is an Egyptian blogger who has fallen afoul of the authorities in that country for daring to publish opinions critical of both Islam (which Islam ?) and the Egyptian government. The latter rather than the former is probably the reason that he has been sentenced to four years in prison. There is an internet petition calling for his release. Here's the story and appeal.

KAKAKAKAKA
Free Egyptian Blogger Karim Amer
Target: President Hosni Mubarek
Sponsored by: Care2.com

One of the luxuries of the internet is that it's a forum of expression. And in this forum, anyone should be able to contribute to a discussion and speak their mind.

But Karim Amer, a young blogger from Egypt, was sentenced to four years in prison for this very act.

Amer was charged with publishing material critical of Islam and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarek and imprisoned, despite the fact that he acted within his universal right to peaceful freedom of expression. Amer claims that while imprisoned, he has been beaten at least twice under the supervision of a prison officer.

All people should have the freedom to peacefully express their opinions. Tell the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek to free this prisoner of conscience and accept all people's right to the freedom of expression.
deadline: Ongoing...
Goal: 15,000
15,222
signatures so far!

KAKAKAKAKA

THE LETTER:

Please go to this link to send the following letter to Hosni Mubarek, President of Egypt.

KAKAKAKAKA
Dear President Mubarek,

Karim Amer is a blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for publishing material critical of Islam and Egypt on the internet. At the time of his arrest in 2007 he was 23 years old.

Amer's actions are within his universal right to peacefully express his opinion, regardless of whether those opinions are critical of religious or political figures and ideals. While imprisoned, he has been beaten multiple times by a fellow prisoner and a prison guard, under the supervision of a prison officer.

[your comments will be inserted here]

All people should have the freedom to peacefully express their opinions. Free Karim Amer and accept all people's right to the freedom of expression.

Sincerely,
[Your name here]

INTERNET FREEDOM:

AGAINST INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN THAILAND:

The following story and petition comes from the Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) blog. As you will see below the idea that signers have to "sign their name in Thai: may be more than slightly off-puting, but I personally am going to try to do it via Google translate. Wait for the results at the end of this post.

IFIFIFIFIFIFIFIFIFIF
FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand
กลุ่มเสรีภาพต่อต้านการเซ็นเซอร์แห่งประเทศไทย
PLEASE SIGN FACT’s PETITION!
14-03-10
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) was founded on November 15, 2006 on the basis of a petition against Internet censorship which was presented to Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission and later to the Official Information Commission under a military coup government. The NHRC was disbanded by the coup and government officials refused illegally to cooperate with the OIC.

FACT has never deviated from its opposition to all censorship in Thailand and everywhere else. FACT’s original petition is now largely of historical interest.

FACT’s working group has now prepared a Mission Statement, our statement of principles and purpose to replace our original petition.

FACT now has more than 1,500 signers. If you have signed FACT’s petition, there is no need for you to sign again. However, if you have not signed, we urge you to sign FACT’s petition, and ask your friends, family and colleagues to sign. FACT’s petition is open to all.

For your signature to be counted, you must sign your FULL NAME in Thai and English, your affiliation, your location and your email address for verification.

FACT’s petition is hosted on FACTsite, with the Asian Human Rights Commission and at Change.org.

Please join us if you believe in FREEDOM. You have nothing to lose but your fear…and your chains.
Say NO to censorship!
These rights are universal: freedom of speech; freedom of expression; freedom of communication, including the Internet; freedom of association, including virtual association; media freedom, including the blogosphere; academic freedom, including digital learning; freedom of opinion; freedom of thought; freedom of ideas. A free Internet is our fundamental human right. Free expression is not a crime.

FACT supports all media, including the Internet, free of interference or regulation as the best means of participatory democracy possible. Every person deserves an equal voice and has a right to privacy and anonymity. These are our basic liberties.

FACT believes in transparent, accountable and democratic government. All people deserve freedom from fear.

We have the fundamental human right to unrestricted knowledge, knowledge without borders, boundaries, limits. A fully-informed public with access to all opinions is an asset to both our national and the international community. Education, knowledge and information are never a threat to national security.

Censorship in Thailand conceals a hidden political agenda used to repress dissent. Censorship reinforces social, class, gender, religious and economic divisions which, suppressed, are root causes of violence in Thai society.

Abduction, kidnap, torture, forced confessions, disappearance, extrajudicial murder, the death penalty, are the ultimate censorship. We support reconciliation in the human community.

FACT celebrates human diversity: all views share equal validity, if only for one person. Open minds, open hearts.

FACT believes most human beings choose good over evil. We believe applying community and family standards to Thai society will result in personal responsibility, the full development of our children and a truly free society.

Censorship is a clear violation of our fundamental human rights, civil liberties and basic freedoms.
NO COMPROMISE:

Stop censorship NOW!

IFIFIFIFIFIFIFIFIFIF

Well, I think I signed the petition or at least signed my support for FACT by going to the link above...all this without trying to sign my name in Thai. I don't think I can direct the reader any further, as I am quite confused by this, other than by directing you to one of the links above.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS:

FOR A FREE INTERNET:

For those familiar with recent history it is, of course, a truism that the internet began as a melding of the authoritarian needs of the US military and the libertarian needs of the international scientific community Despite the nonsense spewed out by many so-called 'anarchists' in the USA there is no more libertarian enterprise afoot in the world today than the scientific enterprise-decentralist, internationalist, egalitarian, without dependency upon a central authority. And, for those who wish to be fashionable, without any of the "isms" that right thinking graduates of political science departments are taught to consider as heresy deserving of the modern equivalent of witch hunting. Well, there is always the "law of unintended consequences" and in a few short decades the internet became what it is today, far outside of the control of the military and far removed from the concerns of science.

Today there are those who want to reign in this anarchic enterprise, to establish corporate and governmental control over it. Governmental attempts to censor the internet are the merest tip of the iceberg. The real threat to internet freedom comes from corporate control. To read more about this threat see Noam Chomsky on 'Microsoft and Corporate Control of the Internet' and the Canadian website 'Save Our Net.ca'. There are. of course, thousands of other examples that I could adduce. The following, from the Petition Site, is an online campaign to promote internet freedom. I have to admit that it is rather 'empty' in that it fails to identify the enemies of such freedom, but it may still be worthwhile for public awareness of the issue. Here's the pledge that they would like you to take. The first thing to do is to educate yourself about who exactly is the enemy of internet freedom. See One Web Day to sign the pledge.

IPIPIPIPIPIPIP

Free the Internet and End the Digital Divide:

Sponsored by: OneWebDay
The Internet belongs to everyone, yet all over the world, government regulators as well as powerful corporate entities, are making important decisions about the future of the Web. Are you at the table ?

The Web is a vital resource, but many people around the globe cannot breach the barriers to access.

Right now, governments, corporate entities and technical elites decide the fate of the most powerful, inclusive communications platform ever created. They're making decisions about who will have access, at what speeds, and at what price. They're deciding how to invest in training and education in 21st century communications.

Even the principles that make the Web an open platform for the creativity of every user are in question. The global economy is in crisis, and the open Internet is a pathway to economic opportunity. Everyone should have access, and everyone should help in deciding the future of the Web.

Sign the pledge to free the Net and increase Internet access to all citizens around the world!
The Pledge:
I pledge to work to extend access to the Internet -- the open, free Internet -- to all, across boundaries of place, culture and class.

IPIPIPIPIPIPIP

Very nice, but it should have a lot more content than that-Molly.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-THAILAND:

AGAINST CENSORSHIP IN THAILAND:

The following is from the Asian Anarchist Network, and it deals with the matter of censorship in Thailand, a struggle that is unfortunately all too common across the world.

.............................

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) releases 2008 blocklists - 1,303 new websites CENSORED!‏:
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand:
กลุ่มเสรีภาพต่อต้านการเซ็นเซอร์แห่งประเทศไทย
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2008 MICT secret Thai blocklists
http://facthai.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/2008-mict-secret-thai-blocklists-1303-new-websites-blocked/
2008 Thailand blocklist statistics
http://facthai.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/2008-thailand-blocklist-statistics-1303-new
2008 Blocklist Analysis: 1,303 new websites censored:
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) has just received secret blocklists leaked from Thailand's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. We know they're secret because each one is stamped
ลับ!
Under conditions imposed by the Computer-Related Crimes Act 2007, no website may be legally blocked without a court order. In fact, this pesky legal stipulation is not rigorously adhered to and both the Royal Thai Police and the more than 100 Thai ISPs typically block as they wish.

However, the leaked blocklists, dated June 27 (nine webpages), July 21 (19 pages of 403 webpages), August 1 (four pages of 63 webpages), December 1 (24 pages of 400 webpages), December 8 (24 pages of 400 webpages) and 28 further undated webpages, are accompanied by court orders detailing applications of the Ministry which authorise most of the websites censored. The court orders to ISPs cite reasons of lese majeste and national security and are dated June 27, August 1, August 25 and December 9 signed by ICT ministry officers Thanit Prapatnan

ธนิต ประภาตนันท์ and Aree Jiworarak อารีย์ จิวรรักษ์.
Blocked websites are located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, the European Union, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Vietnam.

Court orders are not customarily sealed from public view. In fact, maintaining such documents via an open judicial process as a matter of public record is a crucial democratic cornerstone. However, these court orders authorising web-blocking are the first to come to light under the new cybercrime law.

Every site requested for blocking has the stated reason of lese majeste, however, it is obvious that many sites were blocked for quite different reasons. It would appear, in fact, that the court did not examine each site before issuing its order but instead relied on MICT's judgement.
Although we have not yet found the opportunity to examine each website censored, as in the past, an eclectic mix of censorship has been revealed resulting in overblocking of many benign webpages.

Along with the obligatory YouTube videos and their mirror sites alleged to be lese majeste in Thailand, numerous blocks to Thai webboard pages, particularly at popular discussion sites, Prachatai (45 separate pages) and Same Sky (56 separate pages). Of course, all webboards in Thailand, including Prachatai and Same Sky, moderate all threads and discussions and self-censor to avoid closure. It is interesting that bureaucrats still find reasons to censor.

Also blocked are weblogs referencing Paul Handley's unauthorised Biography of Thailand's King Bhumibhol, The King Never Smiles, and its translation into Thai along with Thai Wikipedia entries.

The webpages of respected Thai Buddhist social critic, Sulak Sivaraksa who is currently on bail for his fourth accusation of lese majeste, and Matthew Hunt, respected Thai journalist, anticensorship activist and FACT signer, are also blocked as are pages of the respected international newsmagazine, The Economist.

A total of 860 YouTube videos have been blocked, far in excess of the blocking conducted by The Official Censor of the Military Coup; a further 200 pages mirroring those videos are also blocked.

Curiously, "bum fight movies", Hillary Clinton's campaign videos, and 24 Charlie Chaplin videos have also been blocked, perhaps due to their Web location at Clown-Ministry.

While we may never learn the real extent of government Internet censorship, these blocklists provide us some perspective for analysis in the current ultra-Royalist social climate.

Typically, web censorship in Thailand is conducted in secret. We think there is a right to know inherent in a free society. We call for transparency and accountability in government and freedom of expression, freedom of communication and freedom of association as fundamental human rights.

On December 21, a new ICT minister was appointed to Cabinet, Ranongruk Suwanchawee. He must be held accountable for censorship.
--000--
Box 31, Udomsuk Post Office
Bangkok 10261 Thailand
http://facthai.wordpress.com
telephone. +66-7-976-1880

email. facthai@gmail.com
----------- -------

Website / เว็บไซต์ :

<http://facthai.wordpress.com>

Petition / คำร้อง :

<http://thailand.ahrchk.net/fact_petition/>

ไม่ประนีประนอม!

NO CENSORSHIP!

NO COMPROMISE!

Contact details / ติดต่อ :

CJ Hinke (English)

email: <facthai@gmail.com>

tel. [+66] (0)87-976-1880

Skype: unblocktheplanet

CURRENT EVENTS:

TAINTED BABY FORMULA NOW:

Last year the news in the spring was all about tainted pet foods which were laced with melamine in order to give a false high protein content. These products were produced in China, and the Chinese government made claims that it had addressed the problem. This year the news is restricted to China itself, and the victims are human, babies poisoned by infant formula adulterated with melamine. The following article from the IUF website tells how there is another culprit in the scandal besides the Chinese government- the Nestlé corporation. Molly would like to extrapolate from what is said below to insist that what the IUF says is very much true, that consumers cannot depend upon either the corporations or the state for protection, that there has to be independent organizations to monitor both government and the corporations. Note also how the Chinese government is still in its own business of censorship, something it seems to do quite more effectively than monitoring food safety.

................................

Nestlé Puts Public Relations Before Precaution in China Milk Scandal:

Share this article.

The Olympics have come and gone, and melamine, the toxic chemical used in the production of plastics, fertilizers, fire retardants and inks, among other products, is back in the news. Melamine, which can cause acute kidney failure when ingested, has become a favorite ingredient of Chinese food manufacturers to boost apparent protein content in adulterated products. In early 2007, it turned up in North American pet foods, including those marketed by Nestlé's Purina brand. It periodically surfaces in animal feed and even toothpaste. Now it's the culprit in the widening scandal arising from the contamination of Chinese-made milk products, fresh and powdered, which has resulted in the death of at least 4 babies, sickened over 53,000 and hospitalized some 13,000.

While other dairy producers initiated recalls and suspended production, Nestlé, putting public relations before safety, asserted that "that none of its products in China is made from milk adulterated with melamine." Shortly thereafter, the Hong Kong government found traces of melamine in a Nestlé milk product manufactured in mainland China. The traces were low, according to the government authorities, but it was recommended that it not be given to children. Following on a recall by leading supermarket chains, the product was eventually recalled at the request of the government. Nestlé responded with a press statement that all its milk products manufactured in China are "absolutely safe".

Massive, often fatal food contamination scandals have become a matter of such routine in China that no company, operating directly or through a joint venture, can claim to be manufacturing safely unless all stages of production and distribution are monitored for every possible source of contamination and adulteration. The policy of official laxness bordering on complicity was summed up in the official China Daily, which observed that the largest dairy manufacturers were exempt from safety inspections on the grounds that it was necessary to assist "internationally competitive producers of high quality products" by…sparing them regular testing. The explosive growth of China's booming market for dairy products, which saw annual sales double over the last five years to USD 18 billion, was an important spur to this regulatory exemption. Several Chinese commentators (since banished from the internet) have suggested that melamine adulteration was one way for companies to pass on rising input prices.

In this context of widespread corruption, criminally loose standards and the total absence of independent worker organizations to monitor worker and consumer health and safety, companies bear a particular responsibility. Repeated iterations of product safety aren't enough. Death and illness are the price of laxness

Safety concerns with Nestlé milk products aren't new. In 2002, Nestlé imported spent milk powder to Colombia, where it was repackaged (with new best before dates). Health inspectors found it before it was released for sale. Nestlé said it was repackaging the powder for health reasons.

In 2005, Chinese authorities detected excessive levels of iodine in Nestlé infant milk formula. Nestlé contended that the levels were "only a little bit higher" than the prescribed limits, and had to be dragged into a product recall and eventual apology. In 2005 again, this time in Europe, 30 million litres of Nestlé baby milk products were confiscated in Italy and the products were recalled in four other European countries when ink was found to be leaking off the packaging into the contents. Tetra Pak, maker of the packaging, claimed it had been aware of the problem and changed its production methods in September. The recall came only in November, after Italian police began confiscating the product from supermarkets, depots and lorries. Nestlé CEO Brabeck called this "a tempest in a teapot", insisting that the product posed no health risks.

Other transnational producers with operations in China have hardly covered themselves with glory in this affair - there are significant gaps in the chronologies spanning the discovery of the contamination and the effective implementation of product recalls and suspensions of productions. But Nestlé - the world's largest food company - has again distinguished itself by its dogged insistence on spin over precaution.

ROMANIA:

CYBER-ATTACK ON CONTRA-DOXA CONFIRMED:

This morning both the Contra-Doxa site and the Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej sites are working. The Romanian comrades confirm that there has been a denial of service attack on their site (see below). They hope to keep the site up and running, but the attack is ongoing. They, therefore, offer other alternatives for information. The now working site also has two videos of the police attack on the gathering point for the planned protests. More on this matter later. I reproduce the following without my usual nit-picking editing.

.....................................................................................

Flooding on Contra-Doxa and SummitNato


Published in : The News, NATO
Starting the day of 1st of april the sites www.contra-doxa.com and www.summitnato.ro are a continuous attack from different ip's.
We will try to keep the sites up as much as possible.
The sites aren't canceled they are just flooded using a D-DOS attack.
whoever can offer us a better hosting ... let us know using this email:

contradoxa@gmail.com


This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it



we will post updates as fast as possible
it the sites are down use the following: romania.indymedia.org summitnato.wordpress.com balkans.puscii.nl
Last update: 03-04-2008 12:16

EASTERN EUROPE:

IS THERE A CYBER-ATTACK AGAINST EASTERN EUROPEAN ANARCHISTS ???

As Molly has mentioned here before there have been problems with the connection to the Romanian anarchist site Contra-Doxa in the last two days. Molly was agnostic about the cause of this though she was suspicious because it was occurring at the same time as the Romanian state was attacking their local anarchists. When you attempt to access Contra-Doxa you are diverted to a page from Ask.Com, a search engine. No amount of trying will get you from there to Contra-Doxa. Ask.com is the successor to the old 'Ask Jeeves' search engine. This company has been engaged in some past shady practices as you can see from the article on them on Wikipedia.

All that is fine and good. As I said before I have never seen this happen in the many months that I have been accessing and reading Contra-Doxa via my Links section. Imagine my surprise when I attempted to access the Polish Centrum Informacji Anarchistcznej site, which has been linked to this blog for far longer. The exact same thing came up. Now the C.I.A. (an unfortunate acronym) has never seen such a thing before. I've started to go through other eastern European sites. Avtonom and three Czech sites haven't been affected. But I think that the fact that both the Romanian site and the Polish one have had their connectivity cut is much more than coincidence.

Who to blame ? Perhaps Ask.com, as some sleazy business maneuver. Perhaps fascist groups. Perhaps the Romanian government. perhaps some other set of secret police. Who knows. All that I can say is that something seems to be happening that is rather disturbing as it points to a vulnerable spot in present day anarchism.

INTERNET CENSORSHIP:

FIGHTING INTERNET CENSORSHIP- THE CITIZEN LAB:

The last post mentioned one organization, Wikileaks, that is fighting internet censorship, especially in the case of recent events in Tibet. There is another one, a Canadian project, that has been in the news because of the events in Tibet. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk Centre for international Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. It is focused on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital media and world civic politics.

It is a "hothouse" that brings together social scientists, filmmakers, computer scientists, activists and artists. The Citizen Lab sponsors projects that explore the cutting-edge of hypermedia technologies and grassroots social movements, civic activism and democratic change within an emerging planetary polity.

The centre and its website is an invaluable resource for those who are concerned about and wish to make a "run-around" internet censorship. The following news item about one of their recent products- Psiphon- and the award it has won is just one of the exciting things to be found at the Citizen Lab....

................................................................................................................................................................

Canadian software tool blows away Net censorship, wins global award
Posted Feb 25, 2008 in MediaCoverage by sarahb
Canadian software designed to evade government censorship of the Internet is the first recipient of a new award for digital pioneers chosen by an international group of specialists and awarded in Paris in mid-February.

From ITBusiness.ca

Canadian software tool blows away Net censorship, wins global award

Psiphon - designed by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab - is the first recipient of a new award for digital pioneers chosen by an international group of specialists and awarded in Paris this month.

2/25/2008 5:00:00 AM

by Grant Buckler

Canadian software designed to evade government censorship of the Internet is the first recipient of a new award for digital pioneers chosen by an international group of specialists and awarded in Paris in mid-February.

The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab designed Psiphon for citizens of countries that block access to many Web sites.

Psiphon evades such censorship through an encrypted connection between the user's computer (in the country with Internet censorship) and another piece of software – essentially a Web proxy – on a volunteer's computer in a country where Internet access is not controlled.

Psiphon was chosen from about 100 technology projects from around the world that were nominated for the Netxplorateur of the Year Grand Prix award.

Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin presented the award to Ronald Deibert, a University of Toronto professor and director of the Citizen Lab, and Michael Hull, head of spinoff company Psiphon Inc., at a Paris ceremony in mid-February.

An international network of specialists chose the initial list of 100 projects considered to be “concrete and innovative at the same time, but also loaded with meaning,” according to Ingrid Brégeon-Fall, a spokeswoman for the awards.

This was narrowed to a short list of 10 Netxplorateurs of the Year, from which the Citizen Lab was chosen the Grand Prix winner.

This is the first year the prize has been given, Brégeon-Fall says. There is no cash award associated with the prize.

The Citizen Lab has been researching Internet censorship for several years, Deibert says.

It has seen a gradual growth in the number of countries practicing it, from only two or three in 2002 to 26 countries where there was some evidence of sites being blocked in 2006.

The six countries that censor Internet access the most are China, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, Tunisia, Iran and Uzbekistan, Diebert says.

Danny O'Brien, international outreach co-ordinator at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group concerned with Internet freedom, describes net censorship as “a growing problem.”

That's due partly to the advance of filtering technologies, he says. “More and more countries are finding ways to do fine-grained censorship of the Internet.”

O'Brien says that is fueling a technology arms race between censors and groups like the Citizen Lab.

Citizen Lab senior researchers came up with the concept of Psiphon in 2004, Diebert says.

According to the Citizen Lab, Psiphon's design makes it virtually impossible to detect and block.

A computer user with unrestricted Internet access can download and install a small Psiphon application from the Web site at the Psiphon Web site.

They then give the unique connection information for this node to a friend or relative in a country with restricted access.

This connection information is the computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address with an extension chosen by the user.

Only people who know the address of a Psiphon node can use the software to evade Internet censorship.

The Citizen Lab and Psiphon Inc. are now working on a plan to host Psiphon nodes themselves on behalf of trusted individuals in censored countries, Diebert says.

Those people would be able to control the nodes and give out access information to people they trust.

A government that monitored Internet use and became suspicious of repeated connections to an IP address in a distant country could detect that someone was using Psiphon, and could block access to the specific node, says Deibert, but that would not affect the many other nodes.

Being detected could be dangerous for citizens in some countries, he adds.

So a person who is being watched would probably not be safe using it, but for ordinary citizens, detection is unlikely.

Psiphon is free, open source software and has been available from the Citizen Lab since 2006.

As of last week, Diebert says, 145,000 copies had been downloaded. He adds that the Citizen Lab has had no reports of any of those nodes being detected and blocked.

Recently, the Citizen Lab launched a startup company called Psiphon Inc. which will provide professional services for media outlets and other organizations that want to use the software for unrestricted Internet access.

Reporters covering the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer will need a way of gaining unrestricted access to the Web while working in China.

Psiphon Inc. is working with several media companies – which it can't name because of possible repercussions from the Chinese government – to provide open communications from Beijing, says Hull.

Psiphon is also working with non-governmental organizations such as Witness.org, which operates a Web site documenting human rights violations.

Witness.org wants to ensure access both so that people in countries with censored Internet access can both view the site and send information to it, Hull says.

Psiphon has previously been recognized by Esquire magazine, which named it one of Six Ideas to Change the World in December 2007, and by Fast Company magazine, which listed Psiphon Inc. as one of 50 companies to watch for in 2007.