The 61 countries that could easily be unplugged from the internet. It's becoming the trademark move of failing regimes: silence your critics and cripple their communications by cutting off the internet. Libya did it. Egypt too. And last week, Syria pulled the plug on its own internet system. According to new research from network monitoring company Renesys, it could just as easily happen in many other countries too, including Greenland, Yemen, and Ethiopia. Sixty-one of the world's countries have just one or two service providers connecting them to the rest of the internet. "If you're a sufficiently small place it's almost inescapable that there will be so little internet that it's almost trivial to turn it off," says James Cowie, chief technology officer with Renesys.
On the other extreme, more than 30 countries -- including the UK, Canada and the US -- have over 40 network providers each at their electronic frontiers. So what makes for an easily un-switched country? So Greenland fits the mold. Interestingly, though, Afghanistan does not. The Coalition Has No Digital Rights Policy. The Pirate Party movement believes that the way information is shared and controlled is a key fight in 21st century politics. The Internet gives us tools to participate in a more active and equal way in culture, political life and the economy - if we are able to grasp them. These tools, which we could only have only dreamt about two decades ago, have opened up a new front in politics. Every key story this year has had a digital dimension; from the riots to “Hackgate”, from the Middle East to failings in our education system.
We all should have the right to take part in the peaceful information revolution. Yet, at every turn, the coalition has been exposed as having no coherent policy on digital rights. A key moment was the BT/NewzBin2 case. This was not just a personal view, or a casual evening's tweeting. Not satisfied, however, rights holders from the music industry to the Premier League immediately began piling on the pressure to ‘streamline’ the process. Democracies learn from Mubarak's example.
British PM proposes social media ban for rioters. Suspected rioter David O'Neill leaves court Thursday in London after posting bail on charges, including aggravated violence. British PM David Cameron says "free flow of information" can be "used for ill"In wake of UK riots, Cameron says he's considering blocking Facebook, Twitter for someFree-speech advocates say Cameron's words could have "frightening consequences" (CNN) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron thinks he's found some culprits to blame in the recent riots that have rocked London and other cities -- Facebook and Twitter. Saying the "free flow of information" can sometimes be a problem, Cameron's government has summoned those two social-networking sites, as well as Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, for a meeting to discuss their roles during the violent outbreaks. "Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organized via social media," Cameron said Thursday during an address to Parliament.
The defining image of London riots. British Prime Minister Does a 180 on Internet Censorship. After several days of destructive riots throughout the UK, British Prime Minister David Cameron is practically tripping over himself in his eagerness to sacrifice liberty for security. In a speech before an emergency session of Parliament today, Cameron highlighted concern over rioters’ use of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter: ...when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality. I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers. Exactly what kind of government censorship of social media Cameron has in mind is unclear, but he went on to urge Twitter, Facebook, and Blackberry to remove messages that might incite further unrest across the country.
UK to Twitter, Facebook & RIM: We Won't Ban Social Media. In a meeting Thursday with representatives from Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry-maker RIM, British officials made it clear that they will not restrict social media use during times of chaos. "This was a dialogue about working together to keep people safe rather than about imposing new restrictions on Internet services," a Facebook representative said in a statement.
Prime Minister David Cameron gave a reason to fear otherwise when, following riots that swept through the UK earlier this month, he told Parliament that the government was examining whether to ban suspected troublemakers from social media. In anticipation of the meeting between UK officials and representatives of Twitter, Facebook and RIM — all of which make tools that were used by some to coordinate violence during the riots — human rights groups wrote an open letter to the British Home Secretary regarding Cameron's comments. Image courtesy of Flickr, Steve Punter. Blackberry would close UK service in unrest if ordered. Twitter study casts doubts on ministers' post-riots plan. Analysis of more than 2.5m Twitter messages relating to the riots in England has cast doubt on the rationale behind government proposals to ban people from social networks or shut down their websites in times of civil unrest.
A preliminary study of a database of riot-related tweets, compiled by the Guardian, appears to show Twitter was mainly used to react to riots and looting. Timing trends drawn from the data question the assumption that Twitter played a widespread role in inciting the violence in advance, an accusation also levelled at the rival social networks Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger.
The unique database contains tweets about the riots sent throughout the disorder, which began in Tottenham, north London, on 6 August. It also reveals how extensively Twitter was used to co-ordinate a movement by citizens to clean the streets after the disorder. David Cameron had previously indicated he would contemplate more restrictive measures. US railway blocks phones to quash protest - Americas. BART San Francisco cut cell services to avert protest - BlogPost. Posted at 05:12 PM ET, 08/12/2011 Aug 12, 2011 09:12 PM EDT TheWashingtonPost (Robin Weiner/AP) As politicians in London debate whether or not social media services should be shut down to prevent possible crimes, an American transit company did just that. On Thursday, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) interrupted cell phone service on its platforms to prevent a possible protest. Last month, hundreds of people turned out at BART stations to protest the July 3 killing of a man during a confrontation with transit police.
The demonstrations turned violent. In a statement released Friday, the government-run transit company said it allowed expressive activities, protected by the First Amendment in its public areas. (Read the full statement below.) No protest occurred on Thursday night, but cell phone service was still interrupted. But some are saying that BART’s actions were an infringement on the First Amendment. Full statement from BART Cell phone service was not interrupted outside BART stations. S.F. subway muzzles cell service during protest | InSecurity Complex. The operators of the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway system temporarily shut down cell service last night in four downtown San Francisco stations to interfere with a protest over a shooting by a BART police officer, a spokesman for the system said today. "BART staff or contractors shut down power to the nodes and alerted the cell carriers," James Allison, deputy chief communications officer for BART, told CNET.
The move was "one of many tactics to ensure the safety of everyone on the platform," he said in an initial statement provided to CNET earlier this afternoon. Activists had planned to protest the fatal shooting of Charles Blair Hill, who BART police said went after them with a knife before an officer shot him on July 3. "Organizers planning to disrupt BART service...stated they would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate about the location and number of BART police," said the original BART statement. Updated 3:05 p.m. Statement on temporary wireless service interruption in select BART stations on Aug. 11. The Free Speech Blog: Official blog of Index on Censorship » More guidance needed for judges sentencing Facebook “thought criminals” Plenty are worried by the inconsistent sentences across England being handed down by a justice system tasked to crack down on participants in last week’s mass riots — years in jail for some, community service orders for others.
It raises fundamental questions about the independence of the judicary and its response to crimes one judge called “completely outside the usual context of criminality”. For most of the English court system, that seems particularly true of Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry “thought crimes”. Thousands of connected citizens poured views, fears and news into social media during the night of August 9. A few exploited it to instigate — organise is barely the word — fast moving raiding parties to loot whole neighbourhoods amidst self-replicating chaos.
They wrongfooted a police force geared to manage public disorder usually scheduled around fixed objects — football games, nightclubs, the Houses of Parliament. Then came the reckoning.