Freedom of the Press 2008
Freedom House
World Press Freedom Day: May 3, 2008
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=362
Finland leads the world in press freedom of 72 noted as ‘free’ of 195 countries; and, predictably, North Korea in last place. Thailand shows as ‘partly free’ at number 119. However, 16 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region are ‘free’.
[FACT comments: Governments only think they can govern the Internet. Smart people like these who have shaped the ‘net as we know it will always be light-years ahead. You, yes, you, are invited to the conversations at Publius Project and to start your own. This is the real potential of the ‘net: participatory democracy and one of the most exciting, intelligent public think tanks we've seen.]
Advanced Internet philosophy-Publius Project
The Publius Project is composed of essays and conversations about constitutional moments on the Net collected by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Publius Project is based on the U.S. Federalist Papers, thinking resulting in the U.S. Constitution.
Publius Project brings together a distinguished collection of Internet observers, scholars, innovators, entrepreneurs, activists, technologists and still other experts, to write short essays, to foster an on-going public dialogue, and to create a durable record of how the rules of cyberspace are being formed, potentially impacting their future incarnation. We take our inspiration from the Publius authors, but our goal is to highlight a variety of perspectives on this evolutionary process, rather than to sway popular opinion towards a particular policy end. The early American context and perspective is supplanted by our modern, global and diverse experience. The notion of a singular constitutional moment is replaced with a vision of multiple forces shaping the structures that both open and constrict the online space, requiring our active attention and engagement. Participants will be asked to reflect on the various elements of this loosely-joined architecture.
This collection will highlight asynchronous moments occurring in high profile settings and at the edges of cyberspace that link to formulate the norms and realities of decision-making on the web. Through this series of essays, we hope to generate a discussion among global stakeholders and netizens regarding rule-making and governance on the net, and in the process, to envision the net of the future. We will cast fundamental questions that will intrigue both experts and laypeople, by asking who should (or shouldn’t) control cyberspace? Can it be governed? Who decides? Read the rest of this entry »
UK releases UFO docs-AP
15-05-08
[FACT comments: FACT continues to reveal the extended definition of censorship. And we really aren't conspiracy theorists. We doubt FOI really works for the public in any country. Nevertheless, the release of government UFO information makes our day.]
Britain releases batch of files on UFO sightings
By GREGORY KATZ
Associated Press: May 13, 2008
Hundreds of reported sightings are contained in more than 1,000 pages of formerly secret UFO documents being released Wednesday by Britain’s National Archives…While there are some unexplained cases in the papers, there is no reported instance in which the Ministry of Defense found any evidence of alien activity or alien spacecraft, said Clarke, who nonetheless expects conspiracy theories about a UFO cover-up by the British defense establishment to persist… The released documents deal with the late 1970s and early 1980s and are the first batch in a series that will be made public in the next few years.
Vietnam: Media protests arrests-AP
15-05-08
Vietnam Media Decry Reporters’ Arrests
By Ben Stocking
Associated Press: May 14, 2008
http://freepress.net/node/3984
The arrests of two Vietnamese reporters for their coverage of a bribery, gambling and corruption scandal have led to a highly unusual confrontation between Vietnam’s Communist government and the country’s state-controlled newspapers…”Honest journalists must be freed,” blared a bold headline in Wednesday’s Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper, where one of the reporters worked until he was jailed Monday.
[FACT comments: Honestly ask yourself, can this happen here in Thailand?]
Syria: Three-Year Sentence for Blogger Tariq Baiasi
by Razan
Global Voices: May 14, 2008
Free Tariq (English): <http://freetariq.org/en/>
Free Tariq (Arabic): <http://freetariq.org/>
On May 11, the State Security Court in Damascus stated its verdict on the Syrian blogger Tariq Baiasi who was held in detention since July 7, 2007. Tariq was detained for leaving a comment on websites disfavored by the Syrian government. Free Tariq Campaign condemned the State’s verdict and asks for freedom to the Syrian blogger:..The State Security Court in Damascus has sentenced Tariq to three years after lessening it from six years to three years (originally, Tariq received three years for each of the following charges):
1- Dwindling the national feeling.
2-Weakening the national ethos.
The militarily security arrested Tariq for leaving a comment on websites considered “suspicious” by the Syrian government.
China: Four years for reporter-CPJ
15-05-08
Chinese journalist sentenced to four years
Committee to Protect Journalists: May 13, 2008
http://www.cpj.org/news/2008/asia/china13may08na.html
Qi Chonghuai, a journalist in China’s Shandong province who had written critically about local officials, was sentenced today to four years in prison for fraud and extortion in a trial that lasted 12 hours.
Evade P2P blocking-PC World
15-05-08
Elude your ISP’s BitTorrent blockade
Tom Spring
PC World: May 14, 2008
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;409444582;fp;;fpid;;pf;1
I’m a fan of live music and a patron of online communities such as eTree.org, where music junkies swap copyright-free music. So I was stung when I recently tried to download a live recording of a Dave Matthews concert only to discover that my BitTorrent client was dead in the water…More and more Internet service providers are blocking or throttling traffic to the peer-to-peer file-sharing service. Find out whether you’ve been targeted, and learn how get around the restrictions…If you suspect that your ISP is blocking or throttling your BitTorrent traffic, call your ISP and ask whether you’re being blocked. But don’t trust that you’ll get a straight answer…If you discover or strongly suspect that your ISP is slowing your BitTorrent traffic, you can try several countermeasures, none of them a sure bet. One of these techniques may work for one ISP but not for another…First, try using encryption to cloak your peer-to-peer traffic. Most clients such as BitComet, BitTorrent, uTorrent, and Vuze, support in-client encryption. Turning this feature on makes it much harder, though not impossible, for your ISP to detect that you’re using peer-to-peer software…But ISPs are catching on to these advanced encryption techniques, reportedly clamping down and throttling encrypted tunnels despite being unsure that the encrypted data is BitTorrent traffic. The most extreme method an ISP may use to manage peer-to-peer traffic is to block anything that appears to be BitTorrent traffic, encrypted or not. If that happens to you, you must either switch ISPs or stop using BitTorrent software.
Why Do ISPs Want to Make Piracy Their Problem?
Broadband Reports, May 12, 2008
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/Hey-ISPs-Dont-Make-Piracy-Your-Problem-94349
http://freepress.net/node/39761
Looking closely at new incumbent anti-piracy plans, the passage of the new Pro-IP Act and the new P4P Working Group, you’ll notice we’ve entered a new era of copyright-enforcement where ISPs plan to play a much greater role in protecting copyright law. ISPs used to claim they didn’t want the liability associated with being Internet content police…On the heels of similar discussion in France and the UK, Mike Masnick alerts me to the fact that Canada may be the latest country to implement a “three strikes and you’re out” anti-piracy policy. Under such systems, first offense users would get a warnings, while second and third offense users would face account suspension and, ultimately, account termination. A number of converging trends indicate we’re not far from such a system here in the United States.,,ISPs can barely handle tracking simple things like whether a modem is rented or owned, or whether a user is under contract…Now imagine them attempting international copyright enforcement…ISPs are also looking at giving whatever ISP decides to not to play RIAA/MPAA wet nurse a distinct marketing advantage…While it may not be bringing in as many new subscribers, piracy remains this industry’s not-so-secret “killer app.”
Web creator rejects net tracking
By Rory Cellan-Jones
BBC News: March 17, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm
The creator of the web has said consumers need to be protected against systems which can track their activity on the internet…Sir Tim Berners-Lee told BBC News he would change his internet provider if it introduced such a system…Plans by leading internet providers to use Phorm, a company which tracks web activity to create personalised adverts, have sparked controversy…Sir Tim said he did not want his ISP to track which websites he visited…”Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the person you are applying to for your first job. Imagine that it’s all going to be seen by your parents and your grandparents and your grandchildren as well.” Privacy campaigners have questioned the legality of ISPs intercepting their customers’ web-surfing habits…Sir Tim added: “I myself feel that it is very important that my ISP supplies internet to my house like the water company supplies water to my house. It supplies connectivity with no strings attached. My ISP doesn’t control which websites I go to, it doesn’t monitor which websites I go to.”
Throttle 5 million P2P users with $800K DPI monster
By Nate Anderson
Ars Technica: May 12, 2008
Procera Networks will announce today a new standard in deep packet inspection (DPI) gear: an 80Gbps monster called the PacketLogic PL10000 that is targeted at tier-1 network operators. At up to $800,000 a unit, these aren’t cheap, but when you want to throttle, inspect, and shape traffic in real-time on a major network, this is now the fastest thing on the market (and by a large margin).
