By the end of August, if Tehran’s plans progress as announced, Iranians going online will find themselves restricted to communicating only with each other—under the watchful eye of Iran’s cyber censors. Plans for an all-Iranian intranet to replace access to the Web were announced in early July by Iran’s Communication …
While the Internet is emerging as an increasingly powerful tool for political activism—most recently demonstrated in the Middle East up-risings—so governments around the world are becoming more expert in the means and methods to control electronic communication. This is the conclusion reached by a new report by the respected human-rights …
The Broadcasting Board of Governors will receive $10 million under the compromise spending deal reached last week. President Obama effectively sided with the BBG over his own State Department in a funding dispute involving Internet circumvention work. Obama and lawmakers agreed to language in the fiscal 2011 spending bill cutting the …
Just weeks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton complained to Congress that America is losing the information war against Al Qaeda, China and Russia, it appears that Clinton’s own State Department is one of the impediments to success. For more than 18 months, the State Department has hoarded nearly $30 million, …
Three weeks ago the BBC World Service Trust, a charity for the British network, was angling for a share of State Department funding to promote Internet freedom. But after Americans revolted at the idea, the organization has pulled out entirely, failing to even submit a grant proposal. The BBC charity …
To fund or not to fund – the State Department’s Hamlet like approach to Internet freedom. Having unequivocally declared Internet freedom one of the Obama administration’s top priorities back in January, the State Department has been sending out confusingly mixed signals ever since. In fact, what is emerging is a …
Internet freedom could well be the defining issue of the 21st century, the issue on which authoritarian regimes stand or fall. Authoritarian regimes are only too well aware that the greatest threat they face today is less from an outside military force than from populations empowered by information about their …
