Despite the promise of the Arab Spring, bloggers world-wide are seen as threats to public order and arrested and imprisoned for speaking out for democratic reform. Bloggers are in danger in many countries including Syria, Egypt, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. -db From a commentary by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, October 27, 2011, by Jillian C. York. Full story
During the Internet shutdown from January 28 to February 2, news continued to flow through the work of dedicated citizens determined to thwart the attempts at censorship. As Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said: “For example, France Data Network (FDN) and Telecomix News Agency responded by providing dial-up access to Egyptians during the Internet blackout. In a press release, FDN characterized the blackout as an “open attack from a state against the Internet”
Los Angeles Times January 29, 2011 With a few phone calls to the likes of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the Egyptian government stymied the social media, effectively limiting its role in organizing the demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak. -db