[p2p-research] e-protests and e-repression, Aug-Dec 2008

[Ryan Lanham]

This is great stuff!  Thanks for sharing it.

Ryan

On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 1:55 AM, Andy Robinson <ldxar1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> More to follow soon...
>
> *  IRAN:  Attack on "immoral" websites
> *  GLOBAL:  Protest over removal of Facebook breastfeeding photos
> *  BURMA:  Technology and protest
> *  CROATIA:  Facebook-organised protests "fizzle"
> *  US:  TurboTax withdraws price hike after protest
> *  ISRAEL:  Turkish hackers hit Israeli sites over Gaza blockade
> *  TAIWAN:  Student movements go high-tech
> *  SAUDI ARABIA:  Using the Internet to create a culture of dissent
> *  RWANDA:  Arrest protests go online
> *  INDIA:  Anti-Novell protesters manhandled at free software event
> *  BRAZIL:  Protests against internet crackdown
> *  US:  The Internet in Proposition 8 protests
> *  ARMENIA - GEORGIA:  Bloggers protest church demolitions
> *  INDONESIA:  New law to require ID checks at cybercafes
> *  KENYA:  Mobile phones banned over school uprisings
> *  KOREA:  Blogger arrested over beef protests
> *  COLOMBIA:  State seeks to suppress news coverage of indigenous revolt
> *  US:  YouTube removal of McCain videos sparks concern
> *  TAIWAN:  Online protest targets US institute
> *  US:  Woman changes name to URL in animal rights protest
> *  US:  "Terrorists benefit" from wiretaps
> *  UK:  "Extreme porn" bill sparks protests
> *  NEW ZEALAND:  Protest over man jailed for refusing to remove web
> postings
> *  CHINA:  Effective use of blogs
> *  KOREA:  New media and protest
> *  INDIA:  Vigil against software patents
> *  SAUDI ARABIA:  Online protest over Jeddah redevelopment
> *  MEXICO:  Role of Facebook in massive protests
> *  US:  Backlash against ad tracking
> *  MALAYSIA:  Anti-government news site banned
> *  GLOBAL:  Newspapers cry foul over Google-Yahoo deal
> *  GLOBAL:  Facebook redesign meets protest
> *  CANADA:  Copyright bill meets web activism
> *  VIETNAM:  Govt protests Chinese postings
> *  US:  Viral wolf video hits Sarah Palin
> *  AUSTRALIA:  Support fades for net censorship plan
> *  AUSTRALIA:  Indigenous community posts video in protest at
> "intervention"
> *  RUSSIA:  Soldier sent to Siberia for YouTube rap
> *  US:  Bailout protests reach cyberspace
> *  GLOBAL:  Web brings new weapons of war, terror, protest
>
>
>
>
> http://www.rferl.org/content/Tehran_Ramps_Up_Campaign_Against_Immoral_Websites/1360082.html
>
> Tehran Ramps Up Campaign Against 'Immoral' Websites
>
> Iranians flock to Internet cafes in Tehran.
> December 15, 2008
> By Farangis Najibullah
> The Iranian authorities, who admit to blocking access to over 5 million
> websites, have decided to take additional measures to restrict Internet
> access and crack down on bloggers.
>
> Iranian news agencies recently quoted Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi as
> saying those behind irreligious and immoral websites would be "harshly
> confronted."
>
> The prosecutor's office has set up a special department to deal with
> Internet "crimes." Mortazavi said a team of Internet experts along with two
> officials would identify and block websites that "do not follow religious
> principles and are immoral."
>
> RFE/RL's Radio Farda has reported that intelligence services would also
> take part in the campaign.
>
> Earlier this month, Esmail Jafari, a blogger from the southwestern city of
> Bushehr was sentenced to five months in prison. He was found guilty of
> antigovernment publicity and disseminating information abroad.
>
> According to Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based media rights groups,
> at least two online journalists, Mojtaba Lotfi and Shahnaz Gholami, are
> currently being detained in Iran.
>
> Gholami, an editor of the "Azar Zan" blog, was charged with jeopardizing
> national security.
>
> In October, an adviser to Iran's chief prosecutor said more than 5 million
> antisocial and immoral websites have been blocked and are no longer
> accessible in the country.
>
> Most recently, an Iranian dating website, "Hamsarchat," was fined and
> banned after being accused of promoting prostitution.
>
> The popular website, which claims to be "Iran's most complete
> spouse-finding website," has been taken to court following a complaint from
> Tehran's public prosecutor.
>
> Growing Internet Presence
>
> With some 20 million people with access to the Internet, Iran is one of the
> biggest Internet users in the Middle East. And despite all the blocks,
> filtering, and other restrictions, blogging is becoming increasingly
> popular.
>
> According to media reports, there are some 65,000 bloggers in Iran, most of
> whom try to stay away from political issues, focusing instead on social,
> art, family, and other safer topics.
>
> But the popularity of the Internet, especially, among young people, and its
> impact on society is obviously a source of concern for the Iranian
> authorities.
>
> Some Iranian leaders have warned that the West is trying to provoke a
> "Velvet Revolution" in Iran using the Internet.
>
> Alongside Iranian music, news, and political websites, they have also
> blocked access to popular foreign sites such as YouTube and Facebook.
>
> However, according to Said, a blogger in Tehran, the authorities' "old
> method of filtering is not working anymore." Said tells Radio Farda that
> "with simple software or proxies, you can avoid any filter."
>
> In the meantime, Iran's authorities and religious leaders are themselves
> trying to use the Internet to get their message out.
>
> >From clerics in the holy city of Qom to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, they
> have set up personal websites to promote their ideas to the public.
>
> RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5417278.ece
>
> December 31, 2008
> Protest as Facebook removes breastfeeding photos
>
> As part of a Facebook users' rebellion against the site, a group blitzed it
> with breastfeeding photos, some of which were taken down
> Mike Harvey, Technology Correspondent
> Alpha Mummy: Facebook needs to grow up
> A mass online protest movement is gathering pace after Facebook banned some
> breastfeeding photos from the social network site.
> Angry mothers even picketed the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto,
> California, in a live "nurse-in" to complain about a ban on photos of
> mothers suckling their children that exposed too much of the mother's
> breast. Hundreds of women have had their pictures removed without warning
> and have been informed that they may be barred from using the site.
> More than 80,000 people have joined a Facebook petition group "Hey
> Facebook, Breast-feeding is not Obscene" with hundreds joining every hour.
> More than 11,000 women from around the world have also taken part in an
> online "nurse-in" protest on Saturday by posting more breastfeeding
> pictures. The protest's organisers reported that many have since had these
> photos removed from the site.
> Facebook has said that it has no problem with breastfeeding but photos that
> showed nipples or aureolae were indecent and had to be removed.
> Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman, said the website takes no action over
> most breast-feeding photos because they follow the site's terms of use.
> "We agree that breast-feeding is natural and beautiful and we're very glad
> to know that it is so important to some mothers to share this experience
> with others on Facebook.'' But, he added, some photos were removed to ensure
> the site remains safe and secure for all users, including children.
> "Photos containing a fully exposed breast - as defined by showing the
> nipple or areola - do violate those terms on obscene, pornographic or
> sexually explicit material and may be removed," he said in a statement. "The
> photos we act upon are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other
> users who complain."
> Patricia Madden, from San Jose, had a photograph of her breastfeeding her
> daughters Zoe and Isobel removed from the site. The birth doula, who
> encourages new mothers to breast-feed, was photographed by her husband while
> feeding in the bathtub.
> "It's amazing to me that we're living in a world where people are upset by
> this,'' she said. "You can't see my nipples. It's completely legal to
> breast-feed in public. Breast-feeding is completely natural and healthy.
> They took off the photo, without my permission," she told the San Jose
> Mercury News.
> The live protest in Palo Alto, under the banner of the Mothers
> International Lactation Campaign, attracted a handful of mothers and
> supporters who picketed peacefully, armed with suckling children and
> placards.
> It is legal to breastfeed in public in most states in America and in many
> countries around the world including Britain but Facebook's terms of service
> give it the right to remove content that it deems it to be inappropriate.
> Campaigners say that breastfeeding is natural and healthy and should be not
> bracketed with pornography. Facebook's stance demeans and stigmatises women,
> they say.
> Heather Farley, 23, of Provo, Utah, said she was surprised when Facebook
> took down two photos of her nursing her 6-month-old daughter, one of which
> was her profile picture. She became of the protest's organisers. She said:
> "Where I live, I can breast-feed in public or private, and there are laws
> that say it's not obscene or lewd or indecent. If I can do it in public, why
> can't I do it on Facebook?"
> Censoring such images, she said, reinforces stigmas that discourage mothers
> from a healthy, natural practice. Angry at the site, but not wanting to lose
> her online friend network by unsubscribing, she decided to take action.
> The online petition on Facebook, which has more than 120 million members
> around the world, has sparked a furious debate with more than 1,500
> discussion topics on the petition's homepage. Most comments are supportive
> but some ask why, if breastfeeding mothers don't like being censored on
> Facebook, they don't join another free site which does allow them to post
> their pictures.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/705156/80000-protest-facebooks-breastfeeding-ban/?rss=yes
>
> 80,000 protest Facebook's breastfeeding ban
> Wednesday, December 31, 2008
> 104 days 3 hours 38 minutes ago
> By ninemsn staff
>
>
> Breastfeeding mothers have launched an online protest against Facebook
> after images of them suckling their babies were removed from their profiles
> without warning.
> More than 80,000 people have joined the Facebook petition group "Hey
> Facebook, Breast-feeding is not Obscene" after hundreds of women were warned
> they could be barred from the site if photos showed too much of the mother's
> breast, The Times has reported.
> One mother, Heather Farley, of Utah, became one of the protest organisers
> after two photos of her nursing her six-month-old daughter were removed.
> "Where I live, I can breast-feed in public or private, and there are laws
> that say it's not obscene or lewd or indecent. If I can do it in public, why
> can't I do it on Facebook?" she said.
> A Facebook spokesperson claimed that some photos were indecent and had to
> be removed to "ensure the site remains safe and secure for all users".
> "Photos containing a fully exposed breast — as defined by showing the
> nipple or areola — do violate those terms on obscene, pornographic or
> sexually explicit material and may be removed," Barry Schnitt was quoted as
> saying in a statement.
> But Mr Schnitt also said most breast-feeding follow the site's terms of use
> and the photos removed were mostly photos other users had complained about.
> "We agree that breast-feeding is natural and beautiful and we're very glad
> to know that it is so important to some mothers to share this experience
> with others on Facebook," he said.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.radionetherlands.nl/thestatewerein/otherstates/tswi-081206-internet-myanmar
>
> Technology and protest in Myanmar
> By Dheera Sujan
> 05-12-2008
> An ordinary telephone SIM card costs just two US dollars in Bangkok. In
> Myanmar, less than an hour away by plane, it costs 1800 US dollars. This in
> a country where a surgeon is lucky to take home 100 US dollars a month.
>
> Yet there are more mobile phones in the towns and cities of this closed
> country than its army led government would like. And mobile phones were key
> instruments in the organisation and news dissemination of last September's
> pro democracy protests led by monks - illustrating exactly why the leading
> Junta fear the access to the outside world that technology offers.
> The September protests were caught by the countless mobile phones of
> ordinary people or shot at great risk by the hidden video cameras of
> undercover reporters and sent out of the country within minutes through the
> internet. Smuggled video tapes found their way to mainstream media around
> the world.
>
> Mobile video footage of a Japanese journalist shot at close range
>
> Scenes of violence shown on Al-Jazeera
>
> Unprecedented coverage
> For a few days Burmese monks led civilian protesters on the streets of
> Yangon, and the international community watched, electrified by the
> unprecedented images of a country that had remained behind its own bamboo
> curtain for years. At first, the Myanmar government was paralysed with
> indecision. Then it did what most feared it would - it called in the troops.
>
> And still the cameras rolled, still the images were loaded onto YouTube. A
> Japanese cameraman, shot at point blank range by a soldier, troops shooting
> into crowds of civilians, police beating monks with iron bars, and dragging
> off peaceful demonstrators holding banners.
> Having their story told
> The world was watching Myanmar for the first time in decades and the
> Burmese people, forcibly isolated for so long, were exultantly aware that
> they were not forgotten. "It's almost an existential desire for the Burmese
> to have their story told," says one journalist who has written and reported
> from the country for more than 20 years. She was there during the protests
> last year, and she was there when the retribution came.
> Just a few weeks ago, the government of Myanmar apprehended leaders of the
> protests, monks, journalists, and bloggers and sentenced them to up to 65
> years in prison. The bloggers were accused of violating the Electronics Act
> which regulates electronic communications.
> The sentences are breathtakingly harsh, and they send a clear message from
> the government - that it will brook no opposition from within during the
> run-up to the elections planned for 2010. But there is also a hidden message
> in the single-minded way people who sent images of human rights violations
> out of the country have been hunted down: that the government too can use
> technology to its own benefit. People have been traced through their email
> and mobile phones and internet servers have been examined for "improper
> use".
>
> Cat and mouse
> The government has even mined the very same images of the violent put-down
> of the demonstrators to locate the shops, doorways and homes where people
> may have taken the footage and then made group arrests to find the
> photographers.
>
> But as the journalist says, "it's a cat and mouse game. The government
> blocks the technology in one way and people find alternatives to go around
> it. There are proxy servers springing up all the time...it won't stop. The
> people will always find a way of making their voice heard. It's always been
> that way in Burma."
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.croatiantimes.com/index.php?id=2070
>
> 08. 12. 08. - 12:00
> Anti-government Facebook protests fizzle
> Croatian Times
> Anti-government protests organized on Facebook fizzled Friday when roughly
> 3,500 people turned out for a demonstration that organizers hoped would draw
> 60,000.
>
> About 2,500 people gathered in the capital, Zagreb. Several hundred turned
> up in Croatia's second-largest city, Split, and a few hundred more in five
> other cities to protest government austerity measures.
>
> "It's easier to click a mouse, in the safety of your home, than show up in
> public," said Jaksa Matovinovic, a spokesman for the group that organized
> the protest.
>
> Still, the protests demonstrated that online social networks have began to
> have some political impact in this former Yugoslav republic, where only 2 in
> 5 households have access to the Internet
>
> Younger generations are well-versed in the Internet, but gaffes by some
> politicians reflect Croatia's relative computer illiteracy.
>
> Speaker of parliament Vladimir Seks called the social networking Web site
> "Facebok." Opposition lawmaker Mato Arlovic, spoke of "emajl" - enamel in
> Croatian - when he meant e-mail. And former Interior Minister Ivica Kirin
> called YouTube "Jubito" in a widely played clip posted on that site.
>
> The Facebook group, called "Tighten your own belt, you gang of knaves,"
> criticized Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's measures to fight a potential
> financial crisis, saying they would hurt the average Croat while politicians
> and the rich would be unscathed. It also blames the government for failing
> to fight crime and corruption.
>
> "Only united we are becoming a force that no one can ignore," the group's
> leader, Josip Dell Olio, told the crowd in Zagreb.
>
> Recent police questioning of two members of Facebook groups critical of the
> government signalled that politicians may not be prepared for a new,
> cyberspace opposition.
>
> Irate Croat politicians still sometimes place calls over critical stories
> in traditional news media, and occasionally, stories are being pulled or
> changed as a consequence.
>
> Although there are few formal restrictions, Croatia still has some ways to
> go in shedding its authoritarian past, first imposed by communism and then
> by the nationalist forces that ruled the ex-Yugoslav country in the 1990's.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/localshows/dontwasteyourmoney/story/TurboTax-Withdraws-Price-Hike-after-Protest/8dbDygXP2UuHoNVDnHUO3A.cspx?rss=809
>
> TurboTax Withdraws Price Hike after Protest
> Reported by: John Matarese
> Email: jmatarese at wcpo.com
> Last Update: 12/15/2008 6:19 pm
>
> TurboTax has been the number one do it yourself tax program for years
> ....because it's easy to use, provides great support, and is so affordable.
>
> But that affordability may be a thing of the past, according to some people
> who have looked at the newest version for the 2008/2009 filing season.
>
> Online Complaints force Reconsideration
>
> If you're a TurboTax user, you may be amazed by the angry reviews the
> newest version is getting at Amazon.com and various online blogs.
>
> But the good news: Turbotax is now reversing at least some of its latest
> new fees....because of all the online outrage.
>
> Why are so many users unhappy?
>
> For starters, TurboTax is raising the price of its popular deluxe version
> from $45 to $59.  That was enough to anger many veteran users.
>
> But more controversial: It was also planning to eliminate free sharing
> among family members. In the past, you could use one version to prepare
> taxes for up to 5 family members.
>
> The Power of the Internet
>
> But Turbox has now reconsided and is withdrawing that plan after online
> protests, which demonstrates the power of the internet. In addition, it's
> adding free e-filing this year, so the price hike is not as bad as it
> appears.
>
> But my advice? If you dont like the new price, consider H&R Block's TaxCut,
> TaxAct (free or paid versions), or other programs. And read online reviews
> before purchasing a program: They'll tell you a lot about changes in each
> program.
>
> 'The good news is that as you prepare for April 15th, you have a lot of tax
> prep options...And if one software program has become too expensive, you
> have time to find another, so you don't waste your money.
>
> I'm John Matarese.
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/416253.html
>
> redhack team attacks 16 israeli websites in protest at israeli war crimes
> rednblack unity | 29.12.2008 00:18 | Palestine
> a group of turkish militant hackers known as the red hack team have
> launched a cyber attack on israeli sites as a protest against the israeli
> attacks against the people of gaza. the sites have been hacked with a
> militant anti-israel, anti-U$ slogan in english and in turkish as well as
> militant images and a video.
>
> the message on the targetted sites read as follows :
>
> ISRAEL, now you are doing the same genocide to palestine that Hitler has
> done to you.You killed the 230 innocent civil people.
> Do you think that you won't pay for this? One day all peoples of world will
> wake up and when they wake up they will destroy your state and the USA ,you
> trusted, on your heads which you built upon blood and betrayal . you, the
> zionist state, will pay for this sooner or later !
>
> People of israel, stop your states fascism ! do something about your
> Palestinians brothers
> Israelis and Palestinians are brothers,
> The murderer is zionist Israel and the USA,
> Down with fascism, down with zionism
> Long live peoples of world resistance
> Long live communism
> Long live RED HACK
> Real hack is the hack which is for the world's people
> We are disaster for the rich
>
>
> here are links to the sites hacked so you can see for yourself what
> occurred,
> followed a mirror of the site targeteted should it be repaired.
>   http://cpm-israel.com/
> mirror :
> http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462482/
>   http://israel.elisegal.co.il/
> mirror :
> http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462529/
>   http://guetta.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462437/
>   http://news.z10.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462552/
>   http://israel.z10.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462552/
>   http://salom.elisegal.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462531/
>   http://roymusic.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462508/
>   http://z10.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462503/
>   http://bromide.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462492/
>   http://nevehagar.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462485/
>   http://kmisgav.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462462/
>   http://orit-signon.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462453/
>   http://ninnun.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462454/
>   http://food4pets.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462435/
>   http://artzieli.co.il/
>   http://zone-h.org/component/option,com_mirrorwrp/Itemid,160/id,8462436/
> rednblack unity
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/11/21/2003429206
>
> Student movements go high-tech
> By Hung Chen-ling 洪貞玲
>
> Friday, Nov 21, 2008, Page 8
> “Hello, this is XXX, coming to you live from Taipei. We are going to
> broadcast a three-party talk live around half past 12. We are currently
> doing some technical tests, so please stand by ...”
> These familiar opening lines did not come from a TV program or a full-time
> reporter, but from the student demonstrators at Liberty Square in Taipei,
> who transmitted information to everyone with Internet access. Not only is
> this a historical change for Taiwan’s student movements, it is also
> challenging the prejudice and distortions of mainstream media in reporting
> dissenting opinion.
>
> It is not an overstatement to view the demonstration as a “high-tech
> student movement.”
>
> At the beginning, between 400 and 500 students were mobilized overnight
> using the Internet to a rally staged in front of the Executive Yuan, where
> the students expressed their dissatisfaction with alleged police brutality
> during the recent visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan
> Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法)
> that is said to have violated the protesters’ freedom of speech. While
> reporters were still covering anti-Chen demonstrations at the Grand Hotel
> and Grand Formosa Regent Taipei where a massive police presence was
> stationed, students had already sent out messages about their sit-in
> protests on the Internet.
>
> After being moved from the Executive Yuan by police, students regrouped at
> Liberty Square to protest. It was amazing that in addition to rain shelters
> and generators, tables and chairs, four to five computers were set up in a
> row at the venue. The young generation is not only familiar with Internet
> technology, but also able to broadcast news live in Chinese, English and
> Japanese and send information thousands of kilometers away. The 24-hour live
> broadcast became a live, uncut reality show of the student’s demands.
>
> They told the public: “Whatever mainstream media outlets cannot or are not
> willing to do, we will do by ourselves. We will be our own media.”
>
> High-tech social movements initiated on the Internet have existed for a
> while. The Internet allows non-government organizations and local
> communities to effectively form alliances across borders. In particular,
> when an issue comes up, the Internet can help further discussion and
> communication between organizations, or even mobilize people with a
> particular position in an attempt to change the development of the issue.
>
> Another example is the Internet mobilization of Chinese people around the
> world in protest of assaults and killings of ethnic Chinese women in
> Indonesia.
>
> Last year, up to 20,000 residents of Xiamen City in China’s Fujian Province
> were mobilized through cellphone text messages and through the Internet to
> protest against the construction of a chemical plant in the city.
>
> More importantly, the Internet serves as a mouthpiece for disadvantaged
> groups.
>
> The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary group in
> Chiapas, Mexico consisting of grassroots farmers who suffered from the North
> American Free Trade Agreement, and who were besieged by heavily armed police
> forces. However, this grassroots resistance gained international support
> after uploading locally gathered information onto the Internet.
>
> Images circulated on the Internet of masked guerillas left a deep
> impression on many people. In addition, this revolutionary movement and the
> way it is voicing its opposition have been described as the first
> “post-modern” movement by the New York Times.
>
> The way the aforementioned social movements used the real-time,
> interactivity and far-reaching high tech of the Internet can all be found in
> the student demonstration on Liberty Square. Using the Internet, the student
> demonstrators connected to all of Taiwan and implemented deliberative
> democracy to make their voice heard.
>
> Let this serve as a warning to both the establishment and its bureaucrats
> and mainstream media outlets: Passive inaction and selective or distorted
> reporting will no longer convince the public because the government and the
> mainstream media are no longer the only sources of news.
>
> Of course, it cannot be denied that a successful movement needs not only
> technology, but also the power of discourse and organization as a foundation
> for its broadcasts. This is the challenge facing student movements when they
> are trying to overcome the external obstacles to getting their voices heard.
>
> Hung Chen-ling is an assistant professor at National Taiwan University’s
> Graduate Institute of Journalism.
>
> TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.nowpublic.com/world/online-tools-amplify-culture-protest-where-there-none
>
> Online tools amplify a culture of protest where there is none!
> by astroleni | November 8, 2008 at 10:34 am
> 44 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment
> Today 70 Saudi activists launched a two-day hunger strike via Facebook to
> protest the detention of 11 human rights activists who have been held in
> Saudi Arabia for months - some for almost two years - without charge.
> Operating under oppressive restraints of freedom of expression and assembly,
> the activists' defense team and supporters have harnessed the power of
> online tools to amplify their voices and calls for justice.
>
> Calling for the release - or fair and public trails - of detainees is
> incredibly restrictive under the absolute monarch. In July 2007, the
> Mabahith, Saudi secret police, arrested five women who were peacefully
> demonstrating for the release or trial of their relatives detained for over
> two years without trial. Operating under oppressive restraints of freedom of
> expression and assembly, the activists' defense team and supporters have
> harnessed the power of online tools to amplify their voices and calls for
> justice.
> Under Saudi law, one can be detained for up to six months (and up to 60
> days in solitary confinement) without a formal sentencing or trial. Once in
> custody, detainees are "commonly the victims of systematic and multiple
> violations of due process and fair trial rights, including arbitrary arrest
> and torture and ill-treatment during interrogation," according to Human
> Rights Watch.
>
> "We are trying to introduce a culture of protest where there is none.
> Without the Internet, this wouldn't have been possible," said Mr.
> al-Qahtani, an organizer of the hunger strike in an interview with Canada's
> Globe and Mail.
>
> A combination of few freedoms to assemble, express or associate oneself
> publicly, reasonably high internet connectivity, and a 60% population under
> the age of 30 has made it possible for this unprecedented event to occur
> online. Word is quickly spreading in online chat rooms, social networks and
> the blogosphere.
>
> World media is reporting on this unprecendented act of civil disobedience.
> Watch an exclusive video interview with Saudi journalist Ebtihal Mubarak
> about the hunger strike at http://hub.witness.org/en/SaudiHungerStrike.
> WITNESS' online channel for human rights video, the Hub, was fortunate
> enough to attain the only video interview on this subject, due to its strict
> adherence to safety and security issues for participants.
> Read more about it on the Hub blog:
> http://hub.witness.org/en/blog/facebooking-a-hunger-strike
> Visit the Facebook Protest Page:
> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45829380308
>
> Listen to an audio interview with one of the people participating in the
> protest:  http://hub.witness.org/en/node/11279
> Though this is not the first human rights-related campaign from the region
> on Facebook (see WIRED's "Cairo Activists Use Facebook to Rattle Regime"),
> it is notable because it's the first one of its kind in Saudi Arabia to get
> around repressive laws by harnessing power and the ubiquity of the internet
> to gain attention and hopefully change policy.
>
> I hope you'll share this info with your online colleagues who may have more
> room to cover this story online or continue to look to WITNESS and the Hub
> as a source of stories and information about the challenges and struggles of
> people all over the world and ways in which they are confronting them face.
>
> Sincerely,
> Suvasini Patel
> Communications & Outreach Manager/WITNESS
> Tel: 718-783-2000 ext. 316|suvasini at witness.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Front/~3/445040411/
>
> Saudi hunger strikers risk arrest for protest
> •     Article
> •     Comments ( 14)
> •
> SONIA VERMA
> >From Friday's Globe and Mail
> November 6, 2008 at 10:17 PM EST
> JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Mohammad al-Qahtani rose before dawn, kissed his
> children and prayed before embarking on the most radical act of his life: He
> skipped breakfast.
> The professor of economics is among a group of 64 Saudis staging this
> conservative kingdom's first public hunger strike, denouncing the detention
> of nearly a dozen political prisoners.
> To outsiders, the two-day protest might seem tame, but in a country where
> political parties, civic organizations and public rallies are strictly
> banned, the strikers could face arrest for dissent.
> “Yes, we are afraid,” Mr. al-Qahtani, 43, said, “but to get our message out
> we are willing to take the risk.”
> He admits, however, their risk is a calculated one.
> The protest, which ends Friday, was timed to coincide with the weekend here
> so strikers could fast in hiding or in the safety of their own homes.
> Recruitment was also kept low-key, with organizers using online networks
> such as Facebook to enlist supporters and talk to each other.
> “We are trying to introduce a culture of protest where there is none.
> Without the Internet, this wouldn't have been possible,” Mr. al-Qahtani
> acknowledged.
> Saudi's state-controlled media have not reported on the strike, although
> the story is beginning to capture headlines in the international press.
> The protesters' demands centre on the cases of 11 prisoners who are being
> held in Jeddah and Riyadh jails without charge.
> Strikers are demanding the Saudi government give the prisoners fair, public
> trials or set them free.
> Nine of the detained men, who were arrested in Jeddah in February, 2007,
> were accused of supporting terrorism and sent to solitary confinement
> without formal charge.
> Human-rights groups say they were jailed for pressing for political reform.
> The most high-profile prisoner is Matrouk al-Faleh, a political science
> professor at Riyadh's King Saud University, who was arrested in May after
> publishing a report criticizing conditions in Saudi jails.
> He was previously jailed in 2003 after calling for a constitutional
> monarchy, but was subsequently freed by King Abdullah when he assumed the
> throne in 2005.
> In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. al-Faleh's wife, Jamila, said
> she didn't think the hunger strike would change her husband's fate.
> “It won't solve our problem, but at least I feel there are others who are
> standing with us,” said Ms. Al-Faleh, who is only allowed to visit her
> husband once a week and says his health is declining.
> Government officials canvassed by The Globe said they were unaware of any
> protest but, hypothetically speaking, said hunger strikes are against the
> law.
> They declined to comment on the cases of the 11 men in detention.
> With the government effectively ignoring the protest, it was unclear what
> kind of impact it would have.
> The activists, mostly young, prominent Saudis – lawyers, writers,
> professors and journalists – hold positions that would likely insulate them
> from harsh prosecution.
> Some hoped their protest would encourage others from all walks of Saudi
> society.
> Others described their participation as personal victories.
> “I see the hunger strike as my little personal gesture to the detainees,”
> wrote Ahmed al-Omran, a popular Saudi blogger known as Saudijeans.
> “I don't know what it would mean to them or if they even know about it, but
> it certainly means something to me. It means that I do not accept
> injustice,” he wrote.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200811180566.html
>
> Rwanda: Protests Against Kabuye's Arrest Go Online
> Edwin Musoni
> 18 November 2008
>
> Kigali — Thousands have signed various online petitions posted on the
> Internet calling for the release of Director of State Protocol Rose Kabuye
> who was arrested ten days ago in Germany.
> <
> Kabuye was on November 9, arrested in Frankfurt, following the contentious
> indictments by the French Judge Jean Louis Bruguiere.
> The Judge alleges that she was involved in the shooting down of Rwanda's
> former president, Juvenal Habyarimana's plane in 1994. She was arrested
> while on official state business.
> The online petitions are calling for the immediate release of Kabuye, they
> also attack the French and Germany governments for their collective abuse of
> the principle of Universal Jurisdiction.
> Some of the petition letters read in part that Kabuye is considered a hero
> and a liberator in ending the 1994 Tutsi Genocide that was observed and
> supervised by the French.
> The letters also express suspicion that the arrest is politically motivated
> by the French government and calls upon Rwandans, their friends and
> supporters from across the world to protest it.
> One of the websites http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/freerosekabuyecalls on Rwandans to see the action of France as another war on them.
> Another website, www.petitionspot.com/petitions/RoseKabuye, states that
> "upon signing the petition, you are strengthening this effort in gaining
> true rights, and strengthening the freedom of a world wide community."
> The petitions are expected to be produced and presented to the French
> Embassies around the world as a sign of the world communities' intolerance
> for justice.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com/2008/11/boycott-novell-protesters-man-handled.html
>
> Boycott Novell Protesters Man-handled at National Conference on Free
> Software 2008
> Here is blow by blow account of trouble that brewed up on the second day of
> National Conference on Free Software 2008 in Cochin university. The
> activists put up posters against the Novell Corp (the main sponsor of this
> event) at the Free Software exhibition complex.
> The organisers called up Kochi police and man handled Anivar Aravind a
> former student of the Cochin University and a well known free software
> activist.
> Update: Adding few more pictures
> These images are captured using mobile phone cameras by Arky and few others
> (names withheld for privacy and security concerns).
>
> CUSAT Open Air Auditorium
>
> Earlier in Day
> Anivar, Hiran and Unni working on the posters and the handouts for the
> protest.
>
> Peaceful Protest After the Incident
> Pictures of peaceful protest outside the CUSAT Open Air Auditorium after
> the man handling incident. Later Joy Job Kulaveli and Sri. Chandramohankumar
> Registrar, CUSAT, demanded the protesters to leave the place, (in a very
> undemocratic and arrogant manner), and the protesters left peacefully.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/11/16/brazil-flash-mob-protest-against-digital-crimes-bill/
>
> Brazil: Flash mob protest against Digital Crimes Bill
>
> Sunday, November 16th, 2008 @ 11:05 UTC
> by Paula Góes
> Brazilian bloggers and netizens took to the streets of São Paulo to protest
> against the Digital Crimes Bill, which typifies the cyber-crimes punishable
> by law and stipulates penalties accordingly. They claim the law has so many
> flaws that, instead of punishing real criminals, it might end up deeming as
> crime trivial conduct when surfing the Internet. Proposed by senator Eduardo
> Azeredo, the bill has passed through the Senate, has proceeded to the House
> of Representatives and has been labeled as urgent, which means that voting
> might happen at any time.
> Over 50 bloggers, students and netizens participated in the flash mob last
> Friday at Avenida Paulista, one of the city's most important avenues and
> financial centers. The protest was organized through blogs and mostly
> twitter. Lúcia Freitas reports:
> A postos, mostramos nossos cartazes. alguém de dentro do ônibus acena.
> Pessoas param nas calçadas de ambos os lados. Motos e carros buzinam. Ao
> comando, viramos para o outro lado (ímpar) da avenida. Os fotógrafos fazem
> farra. A gente diz em alto e bom som: Não!
> Put in place, we showed our posters. Someone waves at us from inside a bus.
> People stop on both sides of sidewalks. Motorcycles and cars honk their
> horns. At the command, we turn to the other side of the avenue.
> Photographers enjoy it. We say in loud and clear voices: No!
> In fact, due to bad weather and terrible traffic, many people only managed
> to get there late. Political Scientist Sérgio Amadeu [pt] says that these
> late comers demanded to be part of the protest, so a quick decision was made
> for another performance, this time attended by over 100 people:
> Bom, como uma manifestação auto-organizada ela resolveu se auto-constituir
> de novo. A flashmob virou uma refreshmob.
> Well, as an auto-organized protest, it decided to reproduce itself again.
> The flashmob became a refreshmob.
>
> Photo by Paulo Fehlauer who also has a video showing the protest at Avenida
> Paulista
> On the day before, a public hearing was held in Brasília and some bloggers
> took the time to attend the debate (see a video and twitter reactions). They
> had their mouths closed with sellotape to protest against the
> over-surveillance on the Internet that the bill may bring if approved.
> Daniel Padua [pt] was there and said it had a positive outcome as the case
> against was very well laid by both specialists and members of parliament:
> A força dos argumentos foi uma surpresa pros defensores do projeto, que
> acabaram soando ridículos e despreparados - como no caso do delegado da PF
> (alguma coisa Sobral) - que apresentou uma história na qual a PF tinha os
> IPs de suspeitos de pedofilia, mas só conseguiu prender 1/5 deles pela falta
> de um processo jurídico adequado, e foi questionado pelo deputado Paulo
> Teixeira: “bom, a PF tinha os IPs, não? então se vocês já conseguem os IPs
> das pessoas, porque precisam desse projeto de lei?”
> The strength of the arguments (against the bill) was a surprise for the
> project supporters, who ended up sounding silly and unprepared - as in the
> case of a police officer who had a history in which the police had the IPs
> of suspected pedophiles, but only managed to arrest 1/5 of them because of
> the lack of an appropriate legal process. He was questioned by parliament
> member Paulo Teixeira: “Well, the PF had the IPs, right? So if you already
> get people's IPs, what do you need this bill for?”.
> Marcelo Träsel [pt] says that a battle was won but the fight goes ahead. He
> unveils whose interests are in fact behind the bill:
> Porque no fim das contas é disso que se trata: os bancos estão tentando
> impor uma legislação estúpida para deixarem de assumir a responsabilidade
> por tornar seus sistemas de transação eletrônica mais seguros. Afinal,
> garantir a segurança de dados custa dinheiro. E dinheiro é o que os bancos
> deram, coincidentemente, para a campanha a senador de Azeredo e muitos
> outros deputados. Estão pouco ligando se vão emperrar o processo cultural ou
> o avanço da inclusão digital no Brasil.
> At the end of the day this is it: banks are trying to impose this stupid
> law so that they don't have the responsibility for making their electronic
> transaction systems more secure. After all, ensuring data security costs
> money. And money is what the banks have, coincidentally, donated to Senator
> Azeredo's and many other [politicians] campaigns. They don't care if it will
> paralyse the cultural process or the enhancement of digital inclusion in
> Brazil.
> According to João Carlos Caribé [pt], this public hearing, virtually the
> first open debate about the bill, was made possible through liaising by the
> organizers of an online petition [pt] in defense of freedom and progress of
> knowledge on the Brazilian Internet. It has been signed by over 121,400
> citizens, which is not much, considering Brazil's nearly 200 million
> population. Gabriel Sadoco [pt] writes about it at this Saturday's blog
> carnival [pt] about politics and says that people should not be so apathetic
> regarding this and others issues:
> E a esses brasileiros que não se incomodam com o que acontece no seu país.
> Que preferem assistir as tragédias do jornal antes da novela das oito e só
> servem pra fazer peso no mundo, acordem para a realidade e comecem a
> protestar, porque você ainda tem direito a isso. Não ao vigilantismo.
> Privacidade e liberdade pra todo mundo!
> For those Brazilians who do not care whatever happens in their country, who
> prefer to read the tragedies in the newspaper before the eight o'clock soap
> opera and are only good to put weight on the world, wake up to reality and
> begin to protest, because you still have the right to do so. Say no to
> surveillance. Privacy and freedom for everyone!
> Mário Amaya [pt] has designed the poster that many bloggers have been
> carrying with them, which can be downloaded and printed out. He is also the
> designer of many of the online banners that have spread on the blogosphere.
>
> Freedom on the Internet
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8211
>
> Join the Impact: taking social network activism (and LGBTQ rights) to the
> next level
> by: jonpincus
> Thu Nov 13, 2008 at 23:01:57 PM EST
>
> Kate X Messer's Young gay marriage activist leads national protests on 365
> Gay profiles Seattle Amy Balliett, who started up the Join the Impact web
> site after a blog post and email by her friend Willow Witte.  Amy's 26, and
> her day job is as a search engine optimizer.  It's also an excellent history
> of the start of the movement:
> By Monday morning, a plan had emerged: Cities around the country would
> organize their own efforts to coordinate a synchronized protest for Sat.,
> Nov. 15, 10:30 a.m. PST. The movement became officially global with hits
> from the UK and France, and by Nov. 11, over one million visitors had come
> to the site.
> Across the country, posts on Craigslist, bulletins on MySpace, and emails
> on ListServs with titles like "Meet at City Hall next weekend!" and "Upset
> about Prop 8? Here's what YOU can do about it," began to buzz with notice of
> the upcoming national protest.
>
> Nancy Scola's Once a Local Legal Battle, Is Prop 8 On Its Way to
> 'Net-Fueled Cultural Moment? on techPresident puts Join the Impact in
> context: "Its success is reminiscent of Columbia's anti-FARC movement
> launched on Facebook that spawned protests all over the world."  Yeah,
> really. jonpincus :: Join the Impact: taking social network activism (and
> LGBTQ rights) to the next level I don't mean to slight the other LGBTQ
> rights activism going on out there.  Equality Utah's brilliant idea of
> reaching out to LDS leaders by taking them at their word and asking them to
> co-sponsor civil unions in Utah presents the church with an opportunity.
> At the same time the fiasco at the El Coyote press conference, the sticky
> situation for Sundance, and the artistic director of the California's
> largest musical theater stepping down in the wake of reaction to his $1000
> donation ("He said his sister is a lesbian in a domestic partnership, which
> he understands to carry the same legal rights as marriage") all show the
> strength of the various boycott movements.   Still, Join the Impact, with
> its Wetpaint wiki and social network focus, is the one that has me most
> excited.
> In Towards a rebirth of freedom: activism on social networks back in July,
> I suggested
> The experiences from Get FISA Right and other social network activism
> campaigns are much more broadly applicable.   As Cheryl Contee says, a lot
> of people "aren't as concerned about, say, FISA or impeachment. They want
> jobs" - or an end to wars and institutionalized violence, voting rights,
> affordable food, different commencement speakers, marriage equality ....We
> did a fairly good job of taking notes as we were going, and so hopefully
> there's a lot for people to build on; still, there's much more to be said.
>
> Indeed.  Observing the incredible organizing skill of the Millennials who
> have grown up with these technologies it becomes abundantly clear how we
> were just scratching the surface.  My reaction is consistently "wow, that's
> kind of how I'd have approached things but they've done it much much better
> than I would have."  It starts with their positive and inclusive mission
> statement; a brief excerpt:
> Our movement seeks to encourage the LGBTQ community not to look towards the
> past and place blame, but instead to look forward toward what needs to be
> done now to achieve one goal: Full equality for ALL. We stand for reaching
> out across all communities. We do not stand for bigotry, for scapegoating,
> or using anger as our driving force. Our mission is to encourage our
> community to engage our opposition in a conversation about full equality and
> to do this with respect, dignity, and an attitude of outreach and education.
>
> Well said.  Then compare-and-contrast Get FISA Right's prototype
> Fifty-state strategy and List of Senator-specific Facebook groups with Join
> the Impact's main page (with a list of states + DC + International as well
> as the navigation on the left), and individual cities -- complete with
> embedded Google maps and links to Facebook groups.   Or check out their
> Twitter update directing people to a customizable press release template.
>
> To be clear, I'm not dissing our accomplishments with Get FISA Right (GFR);
> we prototyped approaches like the 50-state strategy and use of SaysMe.tv,
> and GFR and the Voter Suppression Wiki together clearly had a big influence
> on Wetpaint wiki activism.  We continue to be used as an example of the
> power of social networks by people as diverse as Hillary Clinton's Internet
> expert Peter Daou and Music for Democracy founder Bear Kittay, and with
> discussions like What shoud Get FISA Right do now? starting up we're about
> to test Ari Melber's and my theories about reactivating net movements.  More
> on GFR soon.
> Still, Join the Impact has taken things to another level, and as we go
> ahead on GFR we'll be looking to them for inspiration.  It's not surprising:
> for me, and the generally-older crowd that's been involed in Get FISA Right
> and the Voter Suppression Wiki, social network sites are with rare
> exceptions recently-learned behavior that typically isn't integrated fully
> into our lives.  By contrast:
> "For me it's second nature," says Balliett of social networking. "It's my
> job. I think: Need to organize an event? Use the Internet. Throw a party?
> Use Evite. Technology offers a platform on which to hold the conversation.
> It's also given a platform for us to rally together and organize."
>
> As I said in email to a couple of folks my age, "I feel old.  But in a good
> way."
> The Seattle protest's at Volunteer Park this Saturday. Festivities start at
> 10:30 a.m., the rally and margh begins at noon, and there are speeches at
> Westlake Center at 2.  See you there, I hope!  And if you're not in the
> Seattle area, check out the wiki.  There's probably a protest near you.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE4AB8RC20081112
>
> U.S. gay marriage fight takes to the Internet
> Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:34pm ES
> By Peter Henderson
> SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The rejection of gay marriage by California
> voters has unleashed a hurricane of protest on the Internet, with some
> supporters venting their anger and others planning national demonstrations.
> Amy Balliett, 26, used her lunch break last Friday to start a website --
> www.jointheimpact.com -- to call for coordinated action across the United
> States this weekend.
> In a few days, more than 1 million people have visited her site and dozens
> of marches and meetings are now planned for 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) on
> Saturday.
> By the evening jointheimpact.com was created, it was visited 10,000 times.
> By Sunday, there were 50,000 visits per hour and the computer running the
> site crashed. It has moved computers twice since in an effort to keep up.
> "Why do we have to wait for someone to step up and say let's do a protest?"
> Balliett remembered thinking after her friend, Willow Witte, posted a blog
> about California. "Over email we decided to do it."
> California's Supreme Court opened the way to gay marriage in May, putting
> it among a handful of states, provinces and European countries that allow
> same-sex couples to marry.
> But after a $70 million-plus campaign, a measure to ban gay marriage in
> California passed in a vote held alongside the U.S. presidential and
> congressional elections on November 4, stunning a community that had
> expected its first major ballot box win.
> Balliett's plan is to create an educational dialogue but others have
> diverse goals or are simply speaking out as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, text
> messages, blogs and websites buzz with protest about the vote in California.
> Members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community say they
> were hurt deeply and want to bring their civil rights argument -- that
> same-sex couples deserve the same treatment as others -- to a national
> audience.
> "It took the rights being taken away from people to really get across that
> it's not a California issue. It's a nationwide issue," said Brandon
> Williamson, who was about to start his own protest website when he found
> Balliett's and joined forces as publicist.
> 'IT'S MASSIVE'
> Gay marriage is legal in two U.S. states, Massachusetts and Connecticut,
> where court-approved same-sex weddings began on Wednesday. But dozens of
> states have laws that limit marriage to a man and a woman.
> This month's election also saw bans on gay marriage pass in Florida and
> Arizona, while Arkansas stopped gay couples from adopting children.
> This is not the first time gay marriage proponents or their adversaries
> have used technology. Both sides of California's Proposition 8, the gay
> marriage ban, used websites and more.
> But the ability of the Internet to organize grass-roots movements has been
> especially clear since the ban's passage.
> Balliett, whose job is publicizing websites through searches, says she has
> never seen anything like it. Civil rights campaigners agree.
> "It's massive," said Scott Robbe, a gay rights veteran based in Wisconsin,
> adding that election campaigns from Howard Dean to Barack Obama had paved
> the way for the civil rights movement to use the Internet on a massive
> scale.
> Balliett directs volunteer organizers to start MySpace and Facebook sites
> for their own cities but the Internet action is about more than her efforts.
> The Facebook group "1,000,000 Million Strong Against Newly Passed Prop 8"
> has about 68,000 members, for instance. The group's creators identify
> themselves as high school students.
> (Editing by John O'Callaghan)
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=27839
>
> Armenian bloggers protest destruction of Armenian churches in Georgia
> 27.11.2008 17:59 GMT+04:00
> /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian bloggers gathered at the Georgian Embassy in
> Yerevan today to demand that demolition of the Armenian cultural heritage be
> stopped and those guilty be punished.
>
> The protesters were carrying posters of Norashen church and banners reading
> “Save Armenian churches in Georgia”, “Republic of Georgia not Europe still
> Asiatic” and a small coffin with an inscription “The newborn Georgian
> democracy. This newborn democracy is dead already” on it.
>
> What is happening to Armenian churches in Georgia is nothing but genocide
> of our cultural heritage, according to historian Samvel Karapetyan. A crime
> has been committed and those guilty should be punished by the international
> court, he said yesterday.
>
> Over 650 Armenian churches are situated in the territory of Georgia, most
> of them already appropriated or destructed by the Georgian side.
>
> On November 16, Georgian monk Tariel Sikinchelashvili instructed workers to
> raze to the ground the graves of Mikhail and Lidia Tamamshevs.
>
> This barbarian act outraged Armenians, who demanded to let the graves in
> their place. However, Father Tariel responded with harsh statements.
>
> Upon arrival of representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church and
> parliament member Van Bayburt, the Georgian monk said he just wanted to
> replace the gravestones to “clean under them.”
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> Internet cafe users to verify identity
>
> Jakarta Post - November 22, 2008
>
> Jakarta -- Head of Indonesian Internet Cafe
> Association's Supervisory Body Judith Monique said
> Saturday the government should require all internet
> services users to verify their identity.
>
> "There needs to be a log for users, such as a guest
> book, at every warnet (internet cafe) so as to
> provide investigators with leads whenever
> cybercrime surfaces," Monique said, as quoted by
> Antara news agency.
>
> The National Police Cybercrime Unit head Edy
> Hartono concurred, adding that the police had
> already planned on ordering internet cafe owners to
> set up user logs with detailed identity
> information.
>
> "To date, most internet cafe operators only
> register net billing information and user IDs.
> Since these can be easily manipulated, it creates a
> conducive environment for criminals," Hartono said.
>
> He added that the police had stepped up measures in
> publicizing the 2008 Law on Information and
> Electronic Transactions (ITE), particularly among
> the internet provider community.
>
> According to legal expert Edmon Makarim, the ITE
> law allows easier access for the police in
> investigating cybercrimes.
>
> "Under the ITE, digital evidences are deemed valid
> in any investigation of alleged internet misuse,"
> Makarim said.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/23/2311544.htm
>
> Kenya bans mobile phones to stem school riots
> Posted Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:43am AEST
> The Kenyan Government has banned the use of mobile phones in schools in a
> bid to stem a string of deadly riots that have rocked the country.
> "I am banning the use of mobile phones by our students in our schools,"
> Education Minister Sam Ongeri told parliament.
> The ban, which takes effect immediately, comes a day after police charged
> dozens of students with arson after weekend riots that left at least one
> student dead and several injured.
> Officers charged several students on Monday over the burning down of
> hostels and other violence that had shut down 20 secondary schools across
> the country, said police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.
> "We will continue arresting the students for the crimes they commit," said
> Mr Kiraithe.
> More than 300 secondary schools have gone on strike in Kenya over the past
> month, while students have destroyed properties worth millions of shillings
> as they protest poor living conditions and bad management.
> Mr Ongeri said mobile phones had been used to coordinate the riots, which
> he blamed on widespread political incitement and drug abuse.
> "We cannot afford careless actions; we cannot afford a carefree attitude.
> If we don't have discipline in our schools, life will be chaotic," he told
> reporters.
> -AFP
>
>
>
>
>
> http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2008102057938
>
> Protest Leading Fugitive Arrested in Seoul
>
> OCTOBER 20, 2008 08:44
>
> A deputy leader of an online community against President Lee Myung-bak was
> arrested yesterday on the charge of leading illegal street demonstrations.
> Baek Eun-jong, 55, was apprehended by the Jongno Police Station in Seoul.
> “We arrested Baek yesterday," a police spokesman said. "He had been hiding
> in the (Buddhist) Jogye Temple for more than 100 days. We will send him to
> an arraignment hearing for his involvement in illegal protests.”
> To evade police, Baek sought safety at the temple on July 5, along with
> fellow fugitives. He ventured out Saturday to join a demonstration at
> Cheonggye Plaza and got arrested.
> The goal of the street protest, meanwhile, changed from blasting U.S. beef
> imports to urging action on the economic downturn. Over the last two months,
> they had not held a rally.
> A total of 1,100 members of leftist groups held a demonstration at the
> plaza Saturday, criticizing the Lee administration for the national economic
> crisis. They said recent tax cuts will help only the top one percent of the
> income bracket and blasted the police crackdown on protestors as
> undemocratic.
> Authorities said the latest protest was an overture for continuing
> demonstrations to topple the administration by highlighting the hobbling
> economy. The protesters plan to launch a new organization this coming
> Saturday.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/South_Korea_jails_man_for_internet_lies_during_beef_protests/rssarticleshow/3631392.cms
>
> South Korea jails man for internet lies during beef protests
> 23 Oct 2008, 0910 hrs IST, AFP
>
> SEOUL: A South Korean court has jailed a man who spread false Internet
> rumours that police raped a demonstrator during protests against US beef
>
> imports, officials said on Thursday.
>
> In the latest legal action against Internet rumour mongers during the
> protests, court officials said the man was sentenced to 10 months in prison
> plus two years' probation and ordered to perform 160 hours of community
> service.
>
> The court said the man used a fake identity to join a website and posted
> two articles alleging police had raped one participant in the protests,
> which rocked the country a few months ago.
>
> "He was fully aware that his post was untrue, but he even went so far as to
> fabricate pictures to support the false argument, posing a great danger to
> society," the court said in its judgement.
>
> Internet postings fuelled the mass protests, which began in May after Seoul
> lifted a ban on US beef imports. The ban had been imposed in 2003 over fears
> the meat was infected with mad cow disease.
>
> The rallies died down after Seoul negotiated extra safety conditions for
> the imports.
>
> Courts have punished several groups and individuals for breaking the law in
> various ways during the sometimes violent rallies. The demonstrations took
> on an anti-government flavour and rocked the administration of President Lee
> Myung-Bak.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97848
>
> COLOMBIA:      PRINT PAGE
>
>  AUTHORITIES SUPPRESS COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS PROTESTS
>
> At least one person was killed and more than 130 were wounded during
> indigenous demonstrations last week in several departments in Colombia. But
> with multiple press freedom violations being committed, you would be
> hard-pressed to find out what's going on.
> Indigenous community media groups in the department of Cauca complained
> recently that several of their websites have been blocked, and a local
> community radio station has reported suspicious power outages - at a time
> when indigenous communities have been protesting to protect their
> fundamental rights, reports the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), IFEX
> member in Colombia.
> Thousands of indigenous Colombians, mainly in the southwest and northwest,
> mobilised last week on a five-point plan. It calls for the reestablishment
> of their territorial rights as laid out by the Inter-American Commission on
> Human Rights, and rallies against the Colombian free-trade deal with the
> U.S., Canada and the EU and the increasing militarisation of the country by
> the government and paramilitaries.
> As part of the protests, indigenous groups blocked several roads last week,
> including the Pan-American Highway, the country's main north-south
> thoroughfare, in at least four locations between Colombia's third largest
> city, Cali, and the city of Popayán, 135 kilometres to the south.
> But they were met with a repressive response. Violent clashes broke out
> between protesters and security officers on 14 and 15 October, when officers
> attempted to reopen the highway, allegedly firing into the crowds and
> assaulting them with tear gas and hand grenades. According to the National
> Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC), the clashes have resulted in one
> death and more than 130 people injured, many gravely.
> On the same day, the websites of the Association of Indigenous Councils of
> Northern Cauca (ACIN) and the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council (CRIC), two
> of the main organisations that have been mobilising through their own media
> channels, went out of service, reports FLIP.
> CRIC told FLIP that its website was down for more than 12 hours until staff
> temporarily transferred it to another server. CRIC said, "It's very
> coincidental that the website crashed at exactly the same time that the
> demonstrations began." The websites of both CRIC and ACIN have previously
> been down during demonstrations.
> Several radio stations had their power cut while they were broadcasting
> information about the demonstrations. La Libertad radio station, based in
> the municipality of Totoró, says power outages are common in the area.
> "However, it appears suspicious to us because this has happened several
> times when we are broadcasting this type of information," La Libertad said.
> Sources in Cauca told FLIP that they believe the obstruction of the
> independent media outlets may be aimed at preventing the dissemination of
> allegations of excessive use of force by security forces during the
> demonstrations.
> Meanwhile, journalists who have been covering the demonstrations have
> expressed concern over their safety. "We are in the line of fire," one
> journalist told FLIP.
> According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), foreign journalists have been
> stopped and questioned and even expelled for "taking part in political
> activities". Julien Dubois, a French journalist planning to document the
> protests in Cauca Valley, was detained on 13 October, expelled the next day
> and banned from Colombia for five years.
> Colombia has a long tradition of community, citizen-based media projects
> that consistently present an alternative narrative to the corporate media.
> They are linked to a broader network of national, alternative media (such as
> Indymedia-Colombia and SICO, among others). But as concluded at
> International PEN's recent World Congress in Bogotá, their perspectives are
> rarely heard through mainstream channels, which often give an unfiltered
> voice to the official authorities.
> The mass media have been mainly echoing the government's perspective: that
> the protests have been infiltrated by "destabilising forces" - the
> Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The accusations have been
> denied by protesters.
> "The (Álvaro) Uribe government continues to make the unsubstantiated link
> in an attempt to avoid any dialogue with the communities. This fact does not
> come through in any of the coverage whatsoever, leaving the audience in a
> permanent state of being misinformed," said Mario A. Murillo, a respected
> professor at Hofstra University in New York, who has been documenting the
> protests on his blog in Colombia.
> "The government's claims... have almost become conventional wisdom in the
> last few days because of the capacity of the Uribe administration to set the
> agenda, present its arguments to domestic journalists with indignation and
> authority, and come off as the victim once again," he added.
> In some respects, the indigenous groups have defied the odds and have been
> successful in gathering support on an international level, and getting other
> rights groups to take notice. An open letter demanding an international
> mission go to Colombia, addressed to Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
> has already garnered more than 150 signatures, including some from Canada's
> First Nations groups.
> In the meantime, at least 12,000 indigenous people started a march from La
> Maria, Cauca to Cali on 21 October to continue to pressure President Uribe
> to address their concerns. They have vowed to continue marching to Bogotá if
> he doesn't show. Despite talks over the weekend with three ministers and the
> promise by Uribe to buy land for the indigenous peoples, there was no deal
> made between them and the government.
> The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) recalls that the
> protests occur within a general context of grave, systematic and repeated
> violations of the rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia. According to
> FIDH, in the last month, 29 indigenous persons were killed in the country,
> and over the past six years more than 1,240 indigenous persons have been
> murdered and at least 53,885 displaced.
> Visit these links:
> - FLIP: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97745/
> - RSF: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97757/
> - International PEN: http://tinyurl.com/5ourg7
> - Mario A. Murillo's blog, with "Media Representations of Popular
> Mobilizations Ignore the Movement's Message":
> http://mamaradio.blogspot.com
> - Statement by President Uribe (15 October): http://tinyurl.com/6czykk
> - FIDH: http://tinyurl.com/6ojjsd
> - ACIN: http://nasaacin.org
> - CRIC: http://www.cric-colombia.org/
> - ONIC: http://www.onic.org.co/
> - Indymedia-Colombia: http://colombia.indymedia.org/
> (Photo: Demonstrators blocking the Pan American Highway last week clashed
> with security forces. Luz Edith Cometa/nasaacin.org)
> (22 October 2008)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28583.shtml
>
> http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/22/colombia-indigenous-protests-and-murders-under-media-blackout/
>
> Breaking: Colombia: Indigenous Protests and Murders Under Media Blackout
> By Juliana Rincón Parra
> Oct 23, 2008, 19:48
>
> >From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made an
> international SOS to call attention on their plight. They accuse the armed
> forces of opening fire with live ammunition during their marches along the
> main highways in the country, killing and injuring indigenous protesters.
> The government keeps stating that the live fire comes from indigenous
> members or confabulated guerrilla infiltrated within the armed forces to
> create chaos, and calling these protesters terrorists. The indigenous groups
> are marching to ask, among other things, for justice for the thousands of
> Indigenous Colombian people murdered in the past years, including community
> leaders.
>
> >From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made an
> international SOS to call attention on their plight. On their website,
> cric-colombia.org they explain how they have been protesting the human
> rights abuses they have been victim of, represented by the murder of one of
> their community leaders by hit men and the death threats on other regional
> and community leaders and spokespeople. They have requested a public
> audience with the Government Officials, and have been protesting since
> October 12, demanding the protection of their human rights and making the
> government live up to the promises of the signed treaties of the past.
> However, it is said that armed government forces,  have shot live ammunition
> at the protesters, leaving 2 dead and more than 60 indigenous members
> injured. On this blog post on the indigenous community site they show
> pictures of the protest and the injuries some have sustained as well as the
> list of those injured up to October 14th. On October 15th, the armed forces
> opened fire once again on the protesters, killing one and leaving 39
> injured. They have also blocked the roads and ambulances can't get in to
> help those who are hurt and needing assistance. (Links in Spanish unless
> otherwise noted)
> They write:
> "la fuerza publica entró disparando con armas de largo alcance y ya hay 3
> heridos mas de gravedad. la fuerza militar entro ya al territorio de dialogo
> y negociación.
> Se solicita de manera urgente que organismos internacionales frenen esta
> violencia. tambien a los pueblos inigenas que refuercen el personal que esta
> siendo atacado."
> The armed forces came in shooting with long range weapons and there are
> already 3 other persons seriously injured. The military forces have barged
> into the territory of dialogue and negotiation.
> We urgently request international organizations to stop this violence. Also
> for the indigenous communities to get more people to back those who have
> been attacked.
> The indigenous community has been sending emails and posting on their
> website[es] updates on the situation.
> The following video was posted last week by user nasacin, including
> cellphone and video camera images from the manifestations, clips showing
> shot indigenous community members, a soldier speaking about the differences
> between the Mob Control ESMAD and the armed forces, stating that the armed
> forces are to keep the peace, and the ESMAD is the one in charge of defusing
> violent situations. However, when asked who it is that is shooting with
> rifles, the soldier doesn't answer.
> Blogger Alejandro Peláez last week wrote of how foreign media is reporting
> on the indigenous protests, but local media hadn't published anything at
> all:
> Las noticias son hechos, y para escribir sobre hechos toca salir del
> escritorio, entrevistar personas, buscar en archivos, viajar al monte . Las
> masacres, por ejemplo, son hechos. Pero en este país los medios cubren este
> tipo de hechos con diez años de diferencia y ahí ya no son noticia, son
> historia. En este momento, como lo cuenta AdamIsacson (sí, un gringo
> sentando en Washington D.C.), hay serios disturbios en el Cauca y El Tiempo
> ni lo anota. Tal vez presenten una crónica completísima dentro de diez años.
> Chévere.
> News is facts, and to write about facts you have to get out from behind
> your desk, interview people, search the archives, head out into the
> mountains. Massacres, for example, are facts. But in this country the media
> covers this type of events with a 10 year difference when they are no longer
> a news story, but history. In this moment, as Adam Isacson (yes, a gringo
> sitting in Washington D.C.) reports, there are serious disturbances in the
> Cauca, and El Tiempo doesn't even have a note on it.  Maybe they'll present
> a full chronicle of it in ten years. Great.
> In Gacetilla Colombiana, a Digg style application for Colombian news,
> posters have been linking foreign news as an alternative for those who are
> under the “media blackout” on this event, in particular to a major foreign
> news chain's video [en] where a citizen media recording shows what could be
> an armed but hooded person dressed in green with a rifle going moving
> through the mob squad and shooting at the indigenous protesters as the
> members of the mob squad move to let him pass. In the blog “Lets Change the
> World”, Decio Machado posts the email chain sent out by the Indigenous
> groups, the means through which most Colombians have found out about the
> crisis.  The Selvas.org blog also posts updates on the situation, how
> indigenous groups are all marching towards a main city called Cali and
> blocking the Panamerican Highway and other roads with 10 000 people,
> including cane pickers, farmers women and children.
> In the national blogging award winner Tienen Huevo blog,  they write
> outraged at the fact that at the same time there is an ethnocide going on in
> the streets of Colombia, trying to reach Cali, while a fashion and makeup
> expo is taking place, with people more concentrated on clothing and fashion
> shows than the indigenous situation.
> The government has responded to the accusations of opening fire on the
> indigenous protesters by saying that they have orders not to shoot, so it
> must've been an inside job, someone infiltrated from the indigenous
> communities among the police in order to cause panic and bad feeling.
> Bacteria Opina blog has a caricature of the situation where two indigenous
> protesters comment that in spite of marching with “indigenous malice”, a
> phrase used to determine  the ability to make do with whatever is doled out
> their way, the government is accusing them of being an “indigenous milicia”.
> The government has issued statements saying that these indigenous protests
> are infiltrated by guerrillas and are terrorist activities, statements the
> indigenous communities refute absolutely on their blog.
> These other videos online on YouTube show the indigenous community's past
> struggles,
> Colombia
> ________________________________________
>
> Breaking: Colombia: Indigenous Protests and Murders Under Media Blackout
> By Juliana Rincón Parra
> Oct 23, 2008, 19:48
>
> >From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made an
> international SOS to call attention on their plight. They accuse the armed
> forces of opening fire with live ammunition during their marches along the
> main highways in the country, killing and injuring indigenous protesters.
> The government keeps stating that the live fire comes from indigenous
> members or confabulated guerrilla infiltrated within the armed forces to
> create chaos, and calling these protesters terrorists. The indigenous groups
> are marching to ask, among other things, for justice for the thousands of
> Indigenous Colombian people murdered in the past years, including community
> leaders.
>
> >From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made an
> international SOS to call attention on their plight. On their website,
> cric-colombia.org they explain how they have been protesting the human
> rights abuses they have been victim of, represented by the murder of one of
> their community leaders by hit men and the death threats on other regional
> and community leaders and spokespeople. They have requested a public
> audience with the Government Officials, and have been protesting since
> October 12, demanding the protection of their human rights and making the
> government live up to the promises of the signed treaties of the past.
> However, it is said that armed government forces,  have shot live ammunition
> at the protesters, leaving 2 dead and more than 60 indigenous members
> injured. On this blog post on the indigenous community site they show
> pictures of the protest and the injuries some have sustained as well as the
> list of those injured up to October 14th. On October 15th, the armed forces
> opened fire once again on the protesters, killing one and leaving 39
> injured. They have also blocked the roads and ambulances can't get in to
> help those who are hurt and needing assistance. (Links in Spanish unless
> otherwise noted)
> They write:
> "la fuerza publica entró disparando con armas de largo alcance y ya hay 3
> heridos mas de gravedad. la fuerza militar entro ya al territorio de dialogo
> y negociación.
> Se solicita de manera urgente que organismos internacionales frenen esta
> violencia. tambien a los pueblos inigenas que refuercen el personal que esta
> siendo atacado."
> The armed forces came in shooting with long range weapons and there are
> already 3 other persons seriously injured. The military forces have barged
> into the territory of dialogue and negotiation.
> We urgently request international organizations to stop this violence. Also
> for the indigenous communities to get more people to back those who have
> been attacked.
> The indigenous community has been sending emails and posting on their
> website[es] updates on the situation.
> The following video was posted last week by user nasacin, including
> cellphone and video camera images from the manifestations, clips showing
> shot indigenous community members, a soldier speaking about the differences
> between the Mob Control ESMAD and the armed forces, stating that the armed
> forces are to keep the peace, and the ESMAD is the one in charge of defusing
> violent situations. However, when asked who it is that is shooting with
> rifles, the soldier doesn't answer.
> Blogger Alejandro Peláez last week wrote of how foreign media is reporting
> on the indigenous protests, but local media hadn't published anything at
> all:
> Las noticias son hechos, y para escribir sobre hechos toca salir del
> escritorio, entrevistar personas, buscar en archivos, viajar al monte . Las
> masacres, por ejemplo, son hechos. Pero en este país los medios cubren este
> tipo de hechos con diez años de diferencia y ahí ya no son noticia, son
> historia. En este momento, como lo cuenta AdamIsacson (sí, un gringo
> sentando en Washington D.C.), hay serios disturbios en el Cauca y El Tiempo
> ni lo anota. Tal vez presenten una crónica completísima dentro de diez años.
> Chévere.
> News is facts, and to write about facts you have to get out from behind
> your desk, interview people, search the archives, head out into the
> mountains. Massacres, for example, are facts. But in this country the media
> covers this type of events with a 10 year difference when they are no longer
> a news story, but history. In this moment, as Adam Isacson (yes, a gringo
> sitting in Washington D.C.) reports, there are serious disturbances in the
> Cauca, and El Tiempo doesn't even have a note on it.  Maybe they'll present
> a full chronicle of it in ten years. Great.
> In Gacetilla Colombiana, a Digg style application for Colombian news,
> posters have been linking foreign news as an alternative for those who are
> under the “media blackout” on this event, in particular to a major foreign
> news chain's video [en] where a citizen media recording shows what could be
> an armed but hooded person dressed in green with a rifle going moving
> through the mob squad and shooting at the indigenous protesters as the
> members of the mob squad move to let him pass. In the blog “Lets Change the
> World”, Decio Machado posts the email chain sent out by the Indigenous
> groups, the means through which most Colombians have found out about the
> crisis.  The Selvas.org blog also posts updates on the situation, how
> indigenous groups are all marching towards a main city called Cali and
> blocking the Panamerican Highway and other roads with 10 000 people,
> including cane pickers, farmers women and children.
> In the national blogging award winner Tienen Huevo blog,  they write
> outraged at the fact that at the same time there is an ethnocide going on in
> the streets of Colombia, trying to reach Cali, while a fashion and makeup
> expo is taking place, with people more concentrated on clothing and fashion
> shows than the indigenous situation.
> The government has responded to the accusations of opening fire on the
> indigenous protesters by saying that they have orders not to shoot, so it
> must've been an inside job, someone infiltrated from the indigenous
> communities among the police in order to cause panic and bad feeling.
> Bacteria Opina blog has a caricature of the situation where two indigenous
> protesters comment that in spite of marching with “indigenous malice”, a
> phrase used to determine  the ability to make do with whatever is doled out
> their way, the government is accusing them of being an “indigenous milicia”.
> The government has issued statements saying that these indigenous protests
> are infiltrated by guerrillas and are terrorist activities, statements the
> indigenous communities refute absolutely on their blog.
> These other videos online on YouTube show the indigenous community's past
> struggles,
> Federico Ruiz posts a play-by-play ping-pong match style summary of events
> up until Saturday:
> los indígenas decretan un paro, el gobierno lo declara ilegal, los
> indígenas se toman la panamericana, el gobierno manda a una fuerza especial
> antimotines de la policía para que desbloqueen las carreteras, más indígenas
> se suman a las movilizaciones, el procurador de la nación dice que va a los
> diálogos, el presidente dice que está muy ocupado para ir a resolver el
> problema, los de la policía intentan desbloquear la carretera a las malas,
> los indígenas dicen que no se van porque les tienen que arreglar sus
> problemas y cumplirles los compromisos que les habían hecho hace como 15
> años y que están en ese link que es una “carta abierta al presidente”, entre
> tanto en las protestas matan a un indígena y hieren como a 10 según las
> informaciones de El Tiempo, pero que en realidad no son 10 sino 90 según lo
> dicen los indígenas, y los de la policía dicen que en la manifestación o en
> el paro hay infiltrados de la guerrilla, los indígenas dicen que no, y justo
> luego los indígenas descubren que si hay un infiltrado pero que justamente
> es policía y que tenía unos panfletos de las farc y unas armas para
> encochinar a los indígenas, y por si fuera poco, justo llega el defensor
> regional del pueblo, o sea un representante del gobierno, y dice que “la
> Fuerza Pública se ha excedido en el uso de las armas de fuego”.
> The indigenous groups decree a strike, the government declares it is
> illegal, the indians take the panamerican, the government sends a a special
> force of riot police to unblock the highways, more indians join the marches,
> the nation's procurer states they are going to dialogue about this, the
> president says he is too busy to go solve the problem, the police tries to
> unblock the road the “bad” way, the indians say they are not leaving because
> the government has to keep their promise to solve their issues as stated in
> a 15 year old treaty, that there is an open letter to the president,
> meanwhile in the protest an aboriginal is killed and 10 are injured
> according to El Tiempo [ed note. national newspaper], but really they aren't
> 10 but 90 according to the indigenous organizations, the police state that
> in the march and strike there are people infiltrated from the guerrilla, the
> indigenous people say there aren't, and just then the indians discober that
> there IS someone infiltrated, but that he is from the police force and had
> some FARC (Colombian Armed Forces) pamphlets and weapons to incriminate the
> natives, and if it weren't enough, the regional defender for the people, a
> government representative, comes and says that the “Armed Forces have
> exceeded themselves in the use of fire weapons”.
> EDITED to add:
> The organization who sent in the recording of the hooded shooter among the
> mob squad team have uploaded it online with other images of the protests.
> The images of the shooter amongst the mob squad, shooting at protesters
> starts at 1:44. They also add images of President Uribe calling military
> leaders to ask about the murders of the protesters, to which the military
> replied it was a shrapnel wounds from a pipe bomb and wasn't a bullet
> injury.The indigenous people are also shown with segments of a handmade
> grenade full of metal pieces and ball bearings they claim the armed forces
> are using against them.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9117240&source=rss_news
>
> Update: McCain protests YouTube's removal of his campaign videos
> GOP candidate says YouTube acted too quickly to comply with copyright
> notices that are 'without merit'
> By Heather Havenstein
>
> October 15, 2008 (Computerworld) Republican presidential candidate John
> McCain is accusing YouTube LLC of acting too quickly to comply with
> copyright infringement notices by yanking his campaign videos.
> McCain's campaign sent a letter Monday to YouTube parent company Google
> Inc., protesting YouTube's removal of unnamed videos from the site after
> receiving take-down notices claiming copyright infringement under the
> Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The McCain camp goes on to suggest
> that YouTube set up a special process for reviewing the legal merit of
> take-down requests for YouTube accounts associated with candidates or their
> campaigns.
> The letter asserts that numerous times during the campaign, YouTube removed
> videos that do not violate the DMCA, but instead are examples of fair use of
> material because the videos included less than 10 seconds of footage from
> news broadcasts. The use of material from news broadcasts is protected as
> fair use under the DMCA, McCain's letter claims, because the videos are
> noncommercial uses of the material, the material is factual and brief, and
> the videos don't affect the market for the allegedly infringed material.
> "Overreaching copyright claims have resulted in the removal of
> noninfringing campaign videos from YouTube, thus silencing political
> speech," according to the letter.
> Despite the "complete lack of merit in these copyright claims," YouTube has
> removed McCain's campaign videos immediately upon receipt of the take-down
> notices, the letter goes on to note.
> "It is unfortunate because it deprives the public of the ability to freely
> and easily view and discuss the most popular political videos of the day,"
> according to the letter. "Nothing in the DMCA requires a host like YouTube
> to comply automatically with the take-down notices, while blinding itself
> from their legal merit."
> The McCain campaign went on to propose that YouTube commit to a full legal
> review of all take-down notices on videos posted from accounts controlled by
> political campaigns and candidates.
> "Surely, the protection of core political speech and the protection of the
> central role of YouTube has come to play in the country's political
> discourse is worth the small amount of additional legal work our proposal
> would require."
> In a letter sent yesterday to the McCain campaign, YouTube said that
> performing a substantial legal review of every DMCA take-down notice that it
> receives is not a "viable solution."
> It is not possible because of the scale of YouTube's operations, the letter
> said. "Any such review would have to include a determination of whether a
> particular use is a 'fair use' under the law, which is a complex and
> fact-specific test that requires the subjective balancing of four factors,"
> the letter said. "No number of lawyers could determine with a reasonable
> level of certainty whether all the videos for which we receive disputed
> take-down notices qualify as fair use."
> In addition, YouTube does not have the required information about the
> content in user-uploaded videos, such as the source of the content and
> ownership rights, to make the determination as to whether a take-down notice
> includes a valid claim of infringement, YouTube said.
> "Moreover, while we agree with you that the U.S. presidential
> election-related content is invaluable and worthy of the highest level of
> protection, there is a lot of other content on our global site that our
> users around the world find to be equally important, including by way of
> example only political campaigns from around the globe at all levels of
> government, human rights movements and other important voices. We try to be
> careful not to favor one category of content on our site over others."
> Mike Masnick, president and CEO of IT research firm Techdirt, noted that it
> is rare to see politicians delving into the fair use issue.
> "This is impressive and somewhat unexpected," he noted in a blog post.
> "It's certainly not an issue you'd expect to see raised by a presidential
> candidate (of either party). I'm sure the McCain campaign recognizes that
> YouTube is completely within its legal rights to automatically pull down the
> content, but in sending this letter the campaign is suggesting that,
> specific to videos put up by either political campaign (the letter cc's the
> Obama campaign), that YouTube take into account fair use."
> He further noted that the real issue has nothing to do with Google or
> YouTube, but in the way the DMCA itself is structured.
> "Since it provides clear safe harbor for a recipient of a take-down notice
> if they take down the content, it's a reasonable business decision to simply
> take down the content and then follow the proper procedures for letting the
> uploader file a response notice," Masnick wrote. "While it certainly would
> be nice for YouTube to take into account fair use before deciding whether or
> not to pull down the content, the real problem is with the law itself, and
> the incentives it puts in place for any recipient of such a letter."
> He suggested that McCain or Democratic candidate Barack Obama push to have
> the legislation changed so that DMCA explicitly notes that recipients of
> take-down notices can keep their protection under fair use if they refuse to
> take down content because they believe the content in question is a fair use
> of the material.
> The DMCA has taken center stage in the $1 billion copyright infringement
> lawsuit filed against Google by Viacom last year alleging that YouTube
> violates Viacom's copyrights by showing unauthorized video clips.
> President Bush signed into law yesterday a bill aimed at bolstering
> protection of intellectual property like software, films and music by
> raising penalties for infringement and creating a national "IP czar."
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/16/taiwan-an-online-protest-against-american-institute/
>
> Taiwan: An online protest against the American Institute in Taiwan
>
> Thursday, October 16th, 2008 @ 08:26 UTC
> In September, Taiwanese artist Chen Chieh-jen started a website against the
> American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) called, “I suspect that you intend to
> stow away to the U.S.”.
> When he was invited to attend New Orleans Biennial, he went to the AIT to
> apply for a U.S. non-immigrant visa (business/tourist visa) at 12:45pm on
> September 23, 2008. When he delivered his application documents, he was told
> that there was an error in his document. He asked what the error was, but
> the officer yelled at him arrogantly, “Come here! Do you want to argue with
> me? I suspect that you intend to stow away to the U.S.”
> After the accident, he left the AIT and claimed,
> 我當然要拒絕被這樣的羞辱，更不會再去申請美國簽證。
> I surely reject this kind of humiliation, and I will never apply for a U.S.
> visa again.
> Moreover, he invited others to share their experience if they faced a
> similar situation. He said,
>
> 我相信這個世界總是被點點滴滴的緩慢改變，我誠摯地邀請有類似經驗的人，無論是親身經歷、身旁朋友的經驗，或是你曾目擊的過程，都希望你能在這個部落格上留下你的見證。當這許許多多的經驗聚集起來時，或許能幫助我們想：我們為什麼會被如此對待？我們可以如何改變它？
> I believe this world will be changed slowly, little by little. I sincerely
> invited people who have has a similar experience, either your own experience
> or your friends' experience or what you have seen, to write down your
> testimony in this blog. These gathered experiences may help us think: why
> are we treated this way? What can we do to change the situation?
> There are many people leaving message in his blog supporting his protest.
> “usa ng” is one of them.
> 我很好奇為什麼有人會認為：用粗暴的語言和態度對待一個文件沒有填妥的簽證申請人是合理態度。
> I am curious about why some people think it is reasonable to use abusive
> language and attitude toward a visa applicant when his or her document has
> some errors.
> “Anonymous” thought U.S. government needs to clarify
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>


-- 
Ryan Lanham
rlanham1963 at gmail.com
Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
P.O. Box 633
Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
Cayman Islands
(345) 916-1712
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