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, “From now on, we will organize activities every 12 March to condemn cyber-censorship throughoutthe world. A response of this kind is needed to the growing tendency to crack down on bloggers and to close websites." “Today, the first time this day is being marked, we are giving allInternet users the opportunity to demonstrate in places were protests are not normally possible. We hope many will come and protest in virtual versions of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square,Cuba’s Revolution Square or on the streets of Rangoon, in Burma. At least 62 cyber-dissidents are currently imprisoned worldwide, while more than 2,600 websites, blogs or discussions forumswere closed or made inaccessible in 2007.” UNESCO had originally supported the demonstration, but later withdrew its support. RWB lists 15 countriesas Internet Enemies (Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe) which censor Net use and imprisondissenting voices. Another 11 – Bahrain, Eritrea, Gambia, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen – are classed as “countries underwatch.”
Tag Archive: Yemen
Cyber Demos Protest Online Censorship
Bible On Yr Moby
If you’re someone who likes to carry the Bible with you, it just became a whole lot easier. ChristianMobile, a South African-basedcompany, is offering downloads of the Old and New Testaments for $12 each in the UK. The company will also offer daily inspirational messages by text. The company already operates in severalcountries, including the US, offering the same services. It claims to have distributed 80,000 virtual Bibles in the South Africa alone (the Bibles are in proper English, not text speak, in case youwondered). According to their site, ChristinaMobile exists so “to enable every mobile phone user to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that each phone user may believe in Him, call uponHis name and be saved by Him. That they may be equipped with wisdom and revelation for faith and action through His leading by the power of the Holy Spirit into the ministry of reconciliation of manwith God.” Of course, this isn’t really anything new to the US, where Christian content online and on mobiles has been quickly adopted. But it brings something different to the UK,which has never been a hotbed of religion. However, according to a report in The Guardian, ChristianMobile will have its work cut out in the future, asit plans to expand its efforts to Bahrain, China, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
