World Day Against Cyber Censorship
p2pnet news view Politics | Freedom:- Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International want Google, Yahoo and Microsoft not to censor their search engines for one day this week to, “help protest cyber censorship”.
Calling it World Day Against Cyber Censorship, it’d be a, “day to advance and celebrate a free Internet as an open window to the world and denounce the attacks made on the free flow of information online,” says RWB.
Censorship isn’t limited to cyber-dissidents currently in jail because of what they posted online, says the Overseas Press Club, going on:
“In some countries, the authorities control the Internet and select what Internet users are allowed to see. Access to websites such as YouTube, Facebook and many blog platforms is restricted on the basis of the freedom of expression allowed to their users. Your website may also have been rendered partially inaccessible.
“News websites and Internet-related shows will be asked to participate, an action essential to promote online free expression.”
Announcing the campaign last month, “Come and demonstrate in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square or chant slogans in support of Internet freedom in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang,” said RWB, adding »»»
Everyone will be able to create an avatar, choose a message and brandish it in one of the countries that are “Internet enemies.” You can protest for 24 hours and turn the Internet into a way to put pressure on the cyber-censors.
Post information about this 24-hour online protest on your blog, website or profile in Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere. Website banners will soon be available to help you announce it. You will find them in the “24 hours against cyber-censorship” group in Facebook and in the Internet section of the Reporters Without Borders website.
Reporters Without Borders is aware of more than 2,600 websites being censored by governments in 2007, while 64 cyber-dissidents are currently in jail for using their right to online free expression. China continues to be the world’s biggest prison for cyber-dissidents.
Bloggers are increasingly under threat because they circumvent government censorship and sustain and contribute to a space where people can be outspoken and express their views freely. Many Internet users will be taking a risk to demonstrate online during these 24 hours. For you, for us, it means offering them a platform and allowing them to be heard.
On March 12, RWB will release its latest list of “Internet enemies”, together with a new version of its Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents, it says.
Open window to the world
In their letter to Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google, Carol Bartz, CEO Yahoo, and Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft, “World Day Against Cyber Censorship is a day to advance and celebrate a free Internet as an open window to the world and denounce the attacks made on the free flow of information online,” say Jean-Francois Julliard, RWB secretary-general, and Larry Cox, executive director, Amnesty International.
They go on »»»
In the spirit of fostering freedom of expression, we are asking that you do not censor any of your search engines or blog platforms anywhere around the world on this day.
Your companies have grown on the concepts of open platforms for interaction, communication, idea development, and exchange. However, these concepts remain merely unfulfilled dreams for millions of people who live in countries where freedom of expression, creativity, and peaceful thought are not respected or protected.
Currently there are more than two dozen countries restricting Internet access on a regular basis. Authoritarian regimes are becoming increasingly efficient at blocking any material they deem “objectionable.” Your assistance allows states, such as China, to out-right ban access to information on “human rights”, “dalai lama”, “Charter 08″ or “democracy”, as well as to respected human rights websites, including those of Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International.
Especially after having participated, for months, within a multi-stakeholder initiative with your firms, our organizations understand the challenges of operating in countries that restrict Internet access; these countries are trying to pressure you to obey local laws that do not comport with international law and standards that protect freedom of expression. But complying with local demands that violate international law does not justify your actions.
We urge you, on March 12th, to champion the vision of the Internet as a free space for everyone, regardless of nationality or geographic location, and fulfill the idea of a truly worldwide webâ even if just for one day. This would send a strong message to all “netizens” – individuals, organizations and states alike – that censorship online is not the only way forward.
Advertising companies Google and Yahoo, and monopolist Microsoft, swear they only follow local strictures because they have no choice.
If they fell in with World Day Against Cyber Censorship, wouldn’t they be admitting they do, after all, indulge in censorship, whether for business or other reasons?
Stay tuned.
RWB – Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International write to Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, March 6, 2009
Overseas Press Club – Event: ‘World Day Against Cyber-Censorship’, March 9, 2009
RWB – With more than 2 600 websites blocked and 64 cyber-dissidents jailed, come and protest online next month to free the Internet, February 14, 2009
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March 9th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Well, I think that they probably do have significant problems in censored nations. If China decided to block Google because Google was an open platform, then Google would lose a significant portion of their customers. Does that mean that they don’t have a choice? No, not really. But look at it this way:
1. the nations will censor, whether Google, microsoft, or anyone else helps them.
2. if Google, microsoft, or someone else complies, then they aren’t blocked.
3. if Google, microsoft, or someone else does not comply, then they are blocked.
4. It is bad for business to be blocked.
5. From 2,3,4, it is necessary to comply with the countries’ laws
I can see why they would comply with the censorship. And I don’t see that it causes any more harm than the censorship that is already in place (other than to block access to yet another possible online tool). Of course it is for business reasons, but that isn’t, in and of itself, a bad thing.
Does it make censorship acceptable? No, not at all. If it were up to me, I would say “To hell with china. Let them block google.” because at least if that happened, the people would be made aware of their predicament. If Google “uncensored” china for a week, way shorter than the time it would take for them to setup their own search engine (or have they already?), then it might shock those unfortunate people into action. That’s what the world day about cyber censorship is about, right?
March 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Unfilter the webz!!!