Zone9 bloggers left to right: Abel Wabela, Zelalem Kiberet, Mahlet Fantahun, Atnaf Berahane, Befeqadu Hailu, Natnael Feleke. Image via Martin Ennals Awards.
The Advox Netizen
Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging
trends in Internet rights around the world.
As protests rage over land rights and ethnic
discrimination, bloggers and independent journalists in Ethiopia appear to be
losing ground in their struggle to exercise free expression. Alongside other recent arrests, four members of the Zone9 bloggers collective, who spent 18
months in prison on terrorism-related charges from 2014-2015, returned to court on October
21 following an appeal by the public prosecutor. Their case was adjourned yet again, with a new court date
scheduled for November 15.
The Addis Ababa-based blogging collective, six of whom are
Global Voices contributors, had worked to foster political debate and
discussion in the face of a near-monopoly that the state holds over media
outlets.
Charged under Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation with
“inciting public disorder via social media” and “receiving support from a
foreign government,” the bloggers appeared in court 38 times from
July 2014 to October 2015, only to be adjourned each time at the behest of the
prosecution, which sought more time to investigate their case. Some members were released without
explanation shortly before Barack Obama’s July 2015 visit to the country. The
rest were “acquitted” in October of that year, though they were never invited
to testify before a jury. And now, a year later, the four members of the
group—Abel Wabela, Atnaf Berahane, Natnael Feleke and Befeqadu Hailu—are
returning to court once again.
With the country in an official “state of emergency,” social media sites are
intermittently blocked or banned from use and mobile Internet connections are
periodically cut, the need for independent media reporting from inside the
country feels ever-more vital — and increasingly under threat.
Montenegro blocks
messaging apps on election day
WhatsApp, Viber, and other messaging apps were blocked in Montenegro on October 16, the
day of parliamentary elections. The country’s Agency for Electronic
Communications and Postal Services said the ban was intended to keep users from
receiving “unwanted information,” an official designation for spam that could
also apply to mass messages sent on behalf of specific candidates or political
parties.
Cuban journalists
barred from reporting on hurricane damage
Cuban blogger and journalist Elaine Diaz, also a Global Voices
author, was detained by Cuban State Security along
with several of her colleagues while reporting on the effects of Hurricane
Matthew in the eastern region of the island. The journalists were detained for
two days. Following their release, the group reported that addition to
subjecting them to interrogation, officials temporarily confiscated their
computers, mobile devices, voice recorders, and other reporting equipment. The
women in the group were put through full body searches.
In other news from Cuba, Dyn Research network monitoring group
(the new home of Renesys) observed that a new transit provider, UTS of Curaçao, appears to be operating on Cuba’s ALBA-1
submarine fiber optic cable. This would be the first new provider to operate on
the cable since it went live in 2013. Although the implications of the change
are yet to be seen, it could improve connection speeds in Cuba, allowing users
to reach web content hosted in the network of UTS, which is closer to the
country than the networks currently serving the island.
US court dismisses
charges against journalist over viral protest video
A US court dismissed rioting charges filed against
radio journalist Amy Goodman this week. These and other charges were leveled
against Goodman after she captured and published (via news outlet
Democracy Now!) online video footage of a September 3 protest against the
construction of a massive oil pipeline in the state of
North Dakota. The video, which quickly went viral, showed private security
contractors using pepper spray and letting dogs loose on protesters. The oil
pipeline in dispute would cut through Native American burial grounds and could
cause untold environmental damage to the Missouri River, a major water source
in the region. The Obama administration opted to stop the pipeline project
several days later.
Thai regulators scour
web for ‘inappropriate content’ about King Bhumibol
Thai mobile telecommunications operators asked customers to report “inappropriate
content about the royal institution” in the wake of the death of King Bhumibol
Adulyadej. Reuters reports that three local operators are now instructing users
on how to report posts on Facebook and YouTube, in compliance with a request
from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. Thailand has
strict laws against insulting the monarchy, which it has used in the past to shut down mediaand to send bloggers and social media users to jail.
Russian journos and
transparency activists skirt cyber attack
More than a dozen Russian journalists and activists received a strange warning from Google
last week, notifying them that “government-backed attackers” may be “trying to
steal” their passwords. The company says these attacks happen to “less than 0.1
percent of all Gmail users.” Hackers attacked three domains belonging to
Transparency International, as well as the email addresses of staff at regional
and international offices.
Livestreaming slows to
a trickle in Shanghai
Shanghai’s Public Security Bureau shut down approximately 1,000 livestreaming accounts and
required the owners of 450,000 others to submit proof of identity information
to the Bureau.
This comes after China’s Ministry of Public Security announced
in July plans to tighten restrictions on the live video technology in an effort
to minimize livestream pornography, gambling, and political content, and to
monitor companies that have failed to implement requisite safety measures,
according to Hong Kong Free Press.
China issues new child
protection rules on backdoors, ‘Internet addiction’
The Cyberspace Administration of China also drafted a new set of Regulations on the Protection of Minors Online and
has put them up for public comment before October 31, 2016. The regulations would mandate the presale
installation of unspecified software on personal computing devices, intended to
keep minors from accessing “illegal and inappropriate information” as defined
by Chinese law. They also authorize programs intended to combat “Internet
addiction,” a measure that has caused consternation on social media among
people concerned about overly punitive“treatment” approaches to the problem.
Source: Global Voice of
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