Media Regulation

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the closure of Advar News, a website linked to an independent student group, which has been shut down since intelligence agents raided its office on 19 September. A blog service, persianblog.com, was also briefly blocked “by mistake” by Iranian ISPs.

New plans to scan e-mails for illegal images of child abuse may give the appearance that children are being safeguarded but they may not be as effective as they first seem.

A Californian appeal court has decreed that online journalists and bloggers have the same right to protect their sources as other kinds of journalists. The ruling was issued in a case between the US electronics manufacturer Apple and websites that posted confidential information about some of its products. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) petition on behalf of three online journalists was upheld. See more on the Apple v. Does case, including FAQ’s.

The National Consumer Council (NCC) has called for new laws to protect users’ rights to use digital music and movies.

The authorities are censoring Wikipedia in the same way that they censor thousands of websites with information that strays from the official Chinese propaganda, RSF report.

A new report ‘Internet Filtering in Burma in 2005’ from the OpenNet Initiative raises tough questions about the use of filtering technologies by autocratic governments wanting to control what their citizens see on the web.

The Open Rights Group (Org) will serve as a hub for other cyber-rights groups campaigning on digital rights issues. Org emulates US’s Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) digital rights group.
ZDNet reports that Org has centred its focus on the proposed draft EU framework on data retention for ISPs and telecommunications companies which it believes could contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.

Weblog entries on some parts of Microsoft’s MSN site in China using words such as “freedom”, “democracy” and “demonstration” are being blocked.

Reporters Without Borders expressed concern at a new decree governing registration of websites, put forward by the Ukrainian Ministry of Transport and Communication.

Reporters Without Borders call for online journalists, as well as journalist website operators and bloggers, to be accorded the same legal protections as journalists with the traditional press.