Before anyone outside her hometown knew her name, Disha Ravi spent four years raising awareness among young people in Bangalore about the effects of climate change. Now the 21-year-old activist is jailed in New Delhi. The allegation: She distributed a “tool kit” in the form of a Google Doc containing talking points and contact information for influential groups to drum up…
Tag: internet freedom
Internet Blackouts Skyrocket Amid Global Political Unrest
Where there’s a coup, there will probably be an internet outage. From a report: Internet disruptions in Myanmar early Monday morning coincided with reports that top politicians, including the country’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were being rounded up by the military. That’s no surprise: internet blackouts are now common around the world when power hangs in the balance. At…
Pirate Bay Founder Warns US Govt Against Mafia-Esque Copyright Lobby
One of the original founders of The Pirate Bay, Peter Sunde, is warning against the power American corporations have on the internet. After several copyright industry groups reported Sunde’s domain registration service Njalla to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), branding it a “notorious market,” Sunde wrote a letter to the USTR, not to defend Njalla but to warn against the threat…
Open Technology Fund Sues Administration For $20M in Missing Funds
The Open Technology Fund (OTF) is suing the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) over roughly $20 million in congressionally appropriated funds it says the government is refusing to provide, Axios has learned. From the report: There’s bipartisan uproar from Congress over the funding that OTF says is being withheld. The USAGM, whose new CEO is seeking to replace OTF leaders…
Inside the Plot To Kill the Open Technology Fund
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VICE News: [The Open Technology Fund is a U.S. government-funded nonprofit, which is part of the umbrella group called the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also controls Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.] OTF’s goal is to help oppressed communities across the globe by building the digital tools they need and…
Judge Forces America’s FCC To Seek New Public Feedback on Its Net Neutrality Repeal
“Earlier this week, the FCC successfully defeated Mozilla’s attempt to undo the commission’s repeal of net neutrality,” reports Engadget. “But, while siding with the body, judges have asked the FCC to determine if repealing the law to prevent a multi-speed internet has had any negative consequences.”
That includes checking if net neutrality repeal has harmed public safety, reduced spending in infrastructure or…
Are Government Shutdowns of the Internet Becoming The World’s New Normal?
An anonymous reader quotes CNN:
CNN reports that government shutdowns of the internet are becoming the new normal: An ongoing internet blackout in Indian-controlled Kashmir is now the longest ever in a democracy — at more than 135 days — according to Access Now, an advocacy group that tracks internet freedom. Only the autocratic governments of China and junta-era Myanmar have cut…
Iran’s Internet Freedom is On Life Support
An anonymous reader shares a report: In November, Iran’s government announced a price hike on oil, leading to mass protests in Tehran. To quell the spreading unrest, the Iranian government effectively shut down the internet. After a week of Iranian security forces cracking down on protesters, including an estimated death toll between 140 and 208, internet access was gradually restored around…
Digital Authoritarianism Is On the Rise Around the World, Report Warns
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Internet freedom declined for a ninth consecutive year as governments around the world used social media to monitor citizens and manipulate elections, according to a new study that warned of creeping “digital authoritarianism.” Thirty-three of the 65 countries surveyed were found to have experienced worsening internet freedom since June 2018, compared with 16…