links for 2007-03-15

• AsiaMedia :: CHINA: Author appeals for end to censorship
  "Banned author Zhang Yihe and three mainland lawyers have sent an open letter to National People's Congress deputies appealing to them to abolish unreasonable censorship rules and investigate publishing authorities that are suppressing freedom of speech."
  (tags: china censorship freespeech humanrights)
• Other Stuff - Where the Barriers Stand?
  "The biggest barrier for the world to build Babel and communicate is not language...the source of biggest communication barrier is probably the existence of human emotions such as arrogance, pretentiousness, prejudice and nervousness. "
  (tags: language translation chinese censorship freespeech)
• Interlocals.net | Hong Kong: Copyright=Creativity?
  "The Hong Kong Government has announced the consultation paper on “Copyright protection in the Digital Environment” in early January this year. Many has pointed out that the consultation is based on the interest of corporate copyright holders rather t
  (tags: hongkong copyright ip internet creativecommons)
• China Media Project: "Top GAPP official: user-generated content to be managed with new regulations on Internet publishing"
  "The head of China's top print media regulating agency said yesterday that newly emerging media platforms like Weblogs have "already drawn attention from relevant government offices" and stressed they would soon be brought under their supervision ..."
  (tags: china censorship blogs citizenmedia internet freespeech chineseinternetresearch)
• New Century Net: 中宣部2007年宣传口径看中共当前走向
  中宣部年初召集各省市委宣传部负责人开会，下达“2007年宣传工作口径”，内容共计十七条，要求全国各级宣传部门和刊物、报纸、出版社、电视台、广播电台认真执行，不得违反。以下记述
  (tags: china chineseinternetresearch censorship propaganda media internet)
• BBC NEWS | Africa | The web watchdog biting Kenya's MPs
  "It all got too much for Ory Okolloh when Kenya's members of parliament voted to give themselves a sizable pay rise in 2003, soon after the last national elections...."
  (tags: africa kenya blogs blogging globalvoices politics)
• Arab Media & Society: From Blog to street: The Bahraini public sphere in transition
  The large and rapidly diversifying Bahraini blogosphere is opening up fields of discussion and debate that could never have occurred in Bahrain’s traditional media.
  (tags: mideast bahrain blogs bloggers media journalism internet politics globalvoices)
• Arab Media & Society: Blogging the new Arab public
  "Do blogs represent a revolutionary new tool for Arab political mobilization? Can they break the filter of state-controlled media and give both non-Arabs and Arabs themselves direct access to real Arab voices? Can they provide the foundations for a new Ar
  (tags: blogs blogging mideast cyber-arabia internet media journalism politics freespeech)
• Arab Media & Society: Arab blogs: Or how I learned to stop worrying and to love Middle East dictators
  "I no longer feel the despair and indifference borne of years reporting on the region’s leaders. And that’s thanks to blogs."
  (tags: blogs blogging journalism media mideast politics cyber-arabia freespeech)
• Arab Media & Society: Blogging for reform: the case of Egypt
  “One of the things I believe bloggers like me have achieved,” says Malek, “is create a new breed of citizen journalists who communicate what they witness like any correspondent.”
  (tags: egypt blogs blogging politics freespeech media journalism)
• Arab Media & Society: Publicizing the private: Egyptian women bloggers speak out
  "There are many reasons why Egyptian women have embraced blogging, but primary among them, say female bloggers here, is that blogs offer a place to express themselves, often anonymously, in a way that would not be possible in other public forums."
  (tags: egypt women blogs blogging internet journalism freespeech mideast)
• Arab Media & Society: Talking back: Exiled Libyans use the Web to push for change
  "Libyans in Libya are increasingly using the websites of the Libyan opposition abroad to communicate directly to the outside world and, more specifically, to their compatriots in exile."
  (tags: libya mideast blogs internet freespeech politics humanrights media journalism)
• PressThink: Assignment Zero: Trend Reporting Gone Pro-Am
  "NewAssignment.Net just launched its first reporting project, a partnership with Wired.com and Newsvine. It's called Assignment Zero. Here's the deal, and the links. Let me know what you think."
  (tags: citizenmedia CitizenJournalism newmedia newassignment.net blogs blogging journalism news innovation)
• Pro-Am Journalism Takes off With Launch of Assignment Zero
  "Wired News (www.wired.com) and NewAssignment.net today announce the launch of Assignment Zero (www.assignmentzero.com), an attempt to bring together professional writers and editors with citizen journalists to collaborate on reporting and writing about t
  (tags: citizenmedia CitizenJournalism newmedia innovation news journalism blogs blogging)
• Newsvine - Newsvine Joins Assignment Zero
  "Newsvine is calling its contributors to join together in the first pro-am journalism project on the web. We're teaming up with NewAssignment.Net, Wired and other sites that embrace social media. "
  (tags: citizenmedia CitizenJournalism newmedia innovation journalism blogging blogs)
• PressThink: They're Not in Your Club but They Are in Your League: Firedoglake at the Libby Trial
  "What happens? One blog puts more boots on the ground than any commercial news operation. The writers bring more background, savvy and commitment to the case. And they dominate in coverage of a big news event. Journalists themselves use it to keep up and
  (tags: blogs blogging journalism citizenmedia CitizenJournalism u.s.a. politics news)
• Wired News: Citizen Journalism Wants You!
  "if you just have an interest in developing this kind of journalism for future use, join the project. There will be plenty to do."
  (tags: citizenmedia newassignment.net CitizenJournalism journalism blogs blogging wiki wikipedia innovation newmedia)
• Wired News: Wired Meets Assignment Zero
  "This project offers any willing contributor the chance to do the work of a reporter, writer, researcher or editor in a joint investigation by Wired and NewAssignment.Net."
  (tags: citizenmedia CitizenJournalism newassignment.net journalism innovation internet newmedia)
• FT.com / World / International economy - Web censorship spreading globally
  "Internet censorship is spreading rapidly, being practised by about two dozen countries and applied to a far wider range of online information and applications, according to research by a transatlantic group of academics."
  (tags: internet censorship freespeech circumvention)
• FT.com / World / International economy - Repressive governments widen stifling techniques
  "Increasingly, experts on internet censorship say, they are turning to a range of other techniques, from methods developed for “cyber-warfare” to the filtering-out of specific content deemed undesirable. In the process they have been relying on privat
  (tags: internet censorship surveillance privacy freespeech business ethics)
• FT.com / World / International economy - Dissidents find ingenious ways to hide digital traces
  "Getting stuck with a Scandinavian version of Google is seen as a small price to pay by those trying to hide their digital traces and circumvent censorship on the net."
  (tags: internet freespeech censorship circumvention privacy humanrights)
• FT.com / Columnists / John Gapper - Cyberspace freedom is a tangled web
  "the battleground on which the fight between freedom of information and censorship is now fought is corporate." A beautifully written column!
  (tags: freespeech censorship humanrights internet business ethics copyright surveillance privacy)