“We do not work with censors”

American Jimmy Wales, the one who founded Wikipedia commented in not a very good way the Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (ROSKOMNADZOR) actions that included the Internet encyclopedia in the blacklist of sites and demand to change or delete more than 10 articles on Russian and English languages. Earlier Wales not only refused to change something in these articles but he also announced that “it is better to block than to let someone to censor”.

In the response to “Moskovskie Novosti” question “Doesn’t it better to delete one article instead of depriving millions of people from access to information?” Wales said: “Maybe it is be better for government to stop its foolish campaign that blocks the access to articles from the encyclopedia for people who love it”.

The founder of the Wikipedia is doubt, that his encyclopedia will be closed in Russia. “No one can be so silly to block the whole encyclopedia, introducing by such actions censorship on the fundamental information”, - answered Wales.

If talking about Russian version of Wikipedia, where there is information about Cannabis in one of publications, and that became the reason for Roscomnadzor decision, Jimmy Wales noted that “the better way to fight with drugs using is to spread the information about how it is dangerous”.

He told about “main principle” of his brainchild – not to work with censors. And made an example: “We were blocked in China during several years until they understand everything and started to block only certain pages, instead of the whole site. We still do not help them in such actions, but we cannot prohibit them to infringe interests of their own nation”.

He also noted that the Wikipedia policy is based on the fact that all the articles should be neutral, and Russian Wikipedia is not exclusion. “By the way, concerning placing of disputable materials, Wikipedia is guided only by laws of Florida, USA where our servers are situated.

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Ethiopia Announced Skype Illegal

Ethiopia announced Skype illegal

The use of voice communication services via the Internet (VoIP) in Ethiopia was banned. According to "Al Jazeera", the law came into force on May 24 has, however, the international media found out about the history until now.

Fall under the ban, in particular, services such as Skype and Google Talk.Their users, says TV can go to jail for up to 15 years. The country's authorities explain this step to national security and maintaining a monopoly of local telecommunications companies.

How to add TechCrunch, the law also grants the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology the right to monitor and issue licenses to all non-state companies in the country importing the equipment used to transmit information.

June 7 organization "Reporters without Borders," said also, that the only Internet provider of Ethiopia, the state-owned Ethio-Telecom, set the filter to use the service subscribers Tor. Tor allows you to go online anonymously and bypass restrictions set by providers.

As of the 2010 Internet access was at least one percent of Ethiopians.

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Pakistan blocked access to YouTube

Pakistan has blocked access to YouTube because of the "sacrilegious" content in a growing internet crackdown against sites that is considered offensive to the country's majority Muslim population. The move against the video-sharing website came a day after the government blocked access to Facebook. The anger grows over a page on the social networking site that encourages users to post images of Islam's Prophet Mohammed. Islam prohibits any images of the prophet. Regulators of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) did not point on the specific material on YouTube that prompted it to block the site, they make a reference to a "growing sacrilegious contents". The government acted against both Facebook and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the "derogatory material", it said. It asked representatives of the two websites to contact the Pakistani government to resolve the dispute in a way that "ensures religious harmony and respect". The PTA said it has blocked more than 450 internet links containing offensive material. The government blocked Facebook after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order requiring officials to restrict access to the site until May 31. It was unclear if the ban against YouTube would also be temporary. The Facebook page "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest againt the threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the animated American television series "South Park" for depicting Mohammed in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year. The page sparked protests from radical students in Pakistan, with some holding signs urging Islamic holy war against those who blaspheme the prophet. A series of cartoons of the prophet published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked violent protests by Muslims around the world, including in Pakistan, and death threats against the cartoonists.

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Pakistan Bans Facebook because of the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” online competition.

Pakistan has banned the access to Facebook because of the controversial "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" competition leading Facebook to issue strong comments about the importance of freedom of speech - right before India blocked the access to the page.

The "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was on May 20, and a "freedom of speech" protest against Islamic extremists who threaten by death against anyone who dares render an image of the prophet Mohammed. It all began with the censorship of a South Parkep isode in which Mohammed appeared, leading to death threats against creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and quickly picked up steam.

Now, the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" Facebook group has attracted well over 115,000 fans.
The nation of Pakistan is not among them, however. Following a court order, the access to Facebook from within the country was blocked entirely. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority also blocked access to YouTube for carrying "sacrilegious content."

Facebook representatives responded by saying that they were "disappointed" with this decision but insisted that they won't remove the offending page. "We strongly believe that Facebook users have the freedom to express their opinions, and we don't typically have a content, groups or pages that speak against countries, religions, political entities or ideas" the company said in a statement.

But don't get too excited about freedom just yet. Facebook may be talking about the Pakistan situation but it's taken a slightly different approach with India, where it has voluntarily blocked access to the controversial page. "It is out of respect for the local regulations, standards and customs, so we decided to restrict access to the 'Everyone Draw Mohammed!' page in India, after being contacted by authorities and reviewing the matter closely", a Facebook rep said yesterday. "We have not removed the Page from Facebook, but have only restricted access to it from India."

Source: escapistmagazine.com


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