Tag archive: Libya

As evidenced by the Facebook Revolutions and ensuing Middle East turmoil, the Internet is a powerful tool and one capable of change. Of course, its eliminating citizen use of the Web under oppressive regimes has also yielded consequences. Perhaps inspired by these effects, the UN has declared the Internet a human right. A recent report titled “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and… Read More

Syria is the latest middle eastern country to catch Facebook Revolution fever. Unfortunately, it looks as if the activists may have far bigger worries than their predecessors, and recent claims report heavy violence and torture at the hand of the Syrian government. One demonstrator told the Telegraph “Some of our people who have been taken have been broken under the most severe torture, and they have revealed passwords and names.” Meaning the… Read More

According to the Wall Street Journal, Libyan-American telecommunications executive Ousama Abushagur and his team are responsible for hijacking Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s cellular network and converting it into a rebel communication system. The network is also allowing Libyans to contact others nationally and internationally after being without Internet and phone capabilities for about a month. The network, fittingly named “Free Libyana,”… Read More

With the Middle East upended by protests that were organized with the help of services like Twitter and Facebook, Al Jazeera English has plans to launch a new talk show that centers around social networking, Wired reports. Dubbed, “The Stream,” the new Al Jazeera English program has been in the works for the past year, making its soon-to-come debut simply lucky timing, as protests in the Arab world continue to percolate. (In places… Read More

As a result of its own revolutionary attempts, a conflict-plagued Libya has once again entered radio silence that is now at 12 hours. The country lost connection on February 18 as well, but Internet access was restored. As of Friday, it has again been revoked following what the AFP calls “fierce clashes” between protestors and dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In the last few weeks, YouTube has become an increasingly popular platform for Libyan… Read More

LinkedIn was shortly added to the ever-growing list of blocked sites in China. According to Bloomberg, comments posted on the site about the escalating Jasmine Revolutions were cause for the site, which was banned Thursday and accessible again on Friday. It “appear[ed] to be part of a broader effort in China going on right now, involving other sites as well,” LinkedIn spokesman Hani Durzy wrote in a statement. Durzy also revealed that it appears… Read More

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, deputy Russian prime minister Igor Sechin said Google was responsible for Egypt’s political upheaval – but he did not mean it as a compliment. “Look what they have done in Egypt, those highly-placed managers of Google, what manipulations of the energy of the people took place there,” he said. Google exec Wael Ghonim was an important figure in the Egyptian revolution, primarily using the… Read More

In an attempt to stifle a public uprising, China's leadership say they may begin to impose stricter controls on the country's already-censored Internet, reports the Wall Street Journal. The signals of increased online restrictions arrived just one day after Chinese dissidents failed to launch the “Jasmine Revolution” using social networking sites. Zhou Yongkang — China's domestic security chief and one of nine… Read More

Google executive Wael Ghonim is still making the rounds, telling the world how he used a Facebook account to aid the Egyption uprising. And before he’s through, we will similar events unfold in Libya. As tensions in the region increase and social media continues to play a significant role in the escalation, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has cautioned his citizens to hinder their Facebook use. Activist groups have been using the social network… Read More

The country has begun cracking down on sites with .ly domains that it deems inappropriate. The URL shortener, vb.ly, which billed itself as a NSFW, sex-positive URL shortener was shut down by NIC.ly (the domain registrar and controlling body for ‘.ly’) because its content was deemed to have fallen “outside of Libyan Islamic/Sharia Law”. According to one of the co-owners of vb.ly, Ben Metcalfe, the site was taken down by NIC.ly on… Read More

China, North Korea, Burma…they’re places where protest has been crushed. But yesterday people demonstrated against Net censorship in virtual locations from those countries.  Organized by the group Reporters Without Borders, the first Online Free Expression Day invited people to create avatars and take part in demonstrations in virtuallocations where protest would not be allowed in the real world.   In a statement RWB said,… Read More

Mass production on the OLPC XO low-cost notebook computer has begun at Quanta Computer's factory in Changshu, China, only a couple weeks after the project admitted a production delay. The start of production actually came sooner than the OLPC effort anticipated: the new schedule called for production to begin November 12. Children should start receiving machines this month; last month, the OLPC project confirmed its first official… Read More

Intel and Microsoft have inked a deal to supply Libya's education ministry withh 150,000 of Intel's Classmate PC laptop computers. The systems are designed for educational use in developing markets and compete with the One Laptop Per Child project; like the OLPC XO's final pricetag, the Classmate PC costs about $200 to build. According to Reuters, the deal was announced in the Libyan press in August, but Intel and… Read More

Taiwan's Quanta Computer says it has confirmed orders for one million notebook computers for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, and may be able to ship between five and ten million OLPC systems this year as new nations sign up for the project. In addition to confirmed countries Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, and Thailand, Rwanda and Uruguay have recently announced their participation in the project. The OLPC initiative is… Read More

The One Laptop Per Child Project might have just seen its first XO units come off the assembly line for developers and testing in developing nations, but the project's backers are already floating new plans to offer the inexpensive machines for sale to the general public—so long as consumer also buy one for use in the developing world. The OLPC effort is currently planning to deliver up to 5 million of the inexpensive laptop… Read More