News Centre. Internet freedom? Not in Azerbaijan. By Rebecca Vincent / 6 November, 2012 Azerbaijan’s government locks up its online critics on trumped-up charges.
It’s an odd choice to host a giant international forum on internet freedom and Rebecca Vincent asks international visitors to look below the country’s modern veneer Azerbaijan has a shocking record on free expression. Nine journalists and three human rights defenders are currently in jail — five of these cases are linked to online criticism of authorities. Others have been subject to sustained harassment, including one prominent female journalist who has been the victim of a vicious blackmail attempt. The changing face of digital rights activism - Opinion. San Francisco, CA - In February 2012, Twitter announced a new mechanism that would allow the company to minimise the effects of government censorship requests.
Though new for Twitter, the idea of per-country takedowns has existed in the industry since at least 2006, when Google blocked Thai visitors to certain YouTube videos by IP address in order to comply with local laws. Now, Google relies upon the mechanism to operate within the laws of the more than 60 countries in which it has offices. Other companies, such as Facebook, do the same. To the surprise of many long-time observers, Twitter's announcement was largely met with anger from users who had believed the company - which last year had referred to itself as the "free speech wing of the free speech party" - was an exception. Indeed, in the past two years or so, the global threats to online free expression have not only diversified, but have attracted more public interest than ever before.