My Way News - China web freedom group faces online disruption
My Way News reports: "A U.S.-subsidized advocacy group that helps Internet users inside China bypass blockages on censored content says it is suffering a mysterious denial-of-service attack disrupting its operations."

NYTimes.com - Nadim Kobeissi, Creator of a Secure Chat Program, Has Freedom in Mind
The New York Times reports: This group was building a project called Cryptocat, which has a simple, countercultural goal: people should be able to talk on the Internet without being subjected to commercial or government surveillance [...] Cryptocat and a few other services disguise the content of chat messages so that they look like gibberish to anyone who does not have the encryption key."

Comment: This looks like a tool that might come in handy for missionaries working in repressive countries. You can download Cryptocat here.

My Way News - Web site tracks world online censorship reports
AP reports: "Herdict users report their Web site problems anonymously - numeric Internet addresses are recorded but only general location is displayed - so people can post more freely, encouraging reports about sensitive topics [...] The site doesn't investigate reports, though, so there's no way to know for sure that an outage is related to government meddling rather than a cut cable or other problem unrelated to censorship. Although surges in reports do suggest a government role, a widespread technical glitch can also produce a similar spike."

Comment: The Herdict site is located here and looks to be a valuable tool for keeping tabs on censorship worldwide.

My Way News - Iran: new audience for US scholar's protest guide
AP reports: "Iranian protesters wondering what to do next are being encouraged to consult a source that helped drive a decade of nonviolent revolutions in Eastern Europe: a how-to guide to toppling dictatorships written by a retired American scholar who is little known outside of activist circles. But the Iranian regime definitely knows about 81-year-old Gene Sharp. His name and references to his 1993 book have buzzed around opposition Web sites and social networks."

Comment: His book From Dictatorship to Democracy can be downloaded here in PDF form.

My Way News - Web support pours out for Iran protesters
AP reports: "Google and Facebook have rushed out services in Farsi. Twitter users have changed their home cities to Tehran to provide cover for Internet users there. Others have configured their computers to serve as relay points to bypass Iranian censorship. [...] He and other U.S. Web users set up ways for Iranians to access the Internet using Tor, a service that allows people use the Internet anonymously. Even the file-sharing site Pirate Bay, best known for its run-ins with the law over copyright infringement, has jumped in with the launch of a network that helps Iranians surf anonymously."

My Way News - The Pirate Bay helps Iran critics dodge censorship
AP reports: "Popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay said Wednesday it has helped launch an Internet network in support of Iranian election critics allowing users to dodge the regime's censorship rules by surfing anonymously [...] The Web site, iran.whyweprotest.net, says it allows 'a secure and reliable way of communication for Iranians and friends' and also directs users to an anonymity system, which can be used to hide their Internet locations."

Comment: This kind of site can also be useful for persecuted minorities in any repressive country.

My Way News - Tweeting Iran: Elex news in 140 characters or less
AP reports: "Iranians must outsmart government blocking to use Twitter, on which users post messages limited to 140 characters called 'tweets.' Twitter and other social-networking sites remained blocked Monday in Iran. [...] Facebook was used to organize people before the election, but it was also blocked after the vote. On Monday, the site was replaced with a message that said the page was blocked under a filtering policy."

Comment: It is very important for Christians to make use of all of the new social networking technology to share the gospel and to familiarize missionaries with the tools of dissent that may be needed in repressive societies.

My Way News - China requires PCs to come with anti-porn software
AP reports: "China is requiring personal computers sold in the country to carry software that blocks online pornography and other Web sites, potentially giving one of the world's most sophisticated censorship regimes even more control over the Internet."

Tech Clampdown On Tiananmen Anniversary - CBS News
CBS News reports: "Chinese authorities blocked popular Web sites like Twitter and Flickr on Tuesday after forcing dissidents from Beijing in a clampdown ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests."

Cyberwar - Iranians and Others Outwit Net Censors - Series - NYTimes.com
The New York Times reports: "The Internet is no longer just an essential channel for commerce, entertainment and information. It has also become a stage for state control — and rebellion against it. Computers are becoming more crucial in global conflicts, not only in spying and military action, but also in determining what information reaches people around the globe."

Comment: This report describes both the methods used by governments to control access to information and the software tools used by activists to circumvent them. Missionaries operating in repressive countries would do well to look into the following:

• Global Internet Freedom Consortium
• Tor Project
• Psiphon

My Way News - Internet companies embrace human rights guidelines
AP reports: "Leading Internet companies, long criticized by human-rights groups for their business dealings in China, agreed Tuesday to new guidelines that seek to limit what data they should share with authorities worldwide and when they should do so."

Comment: It's nice to see that these companies recognize that they have a responsibility when dealing with repressive countries, but I'd like to see how these new polices fare when tested by real events. Is this just PR?

My Way News - Some Web sites unblocked for Olympics, but not all
AP reports: "Olympic organizers unblocked some Internet sites at the main press center and media venues Friday while others remained off limits for journalists covering the Beijing games."

Off The Field - smh.com.au
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting on censorship in China and I'm noting this even though Chinese attitudes towards Christianity have become much more relaxed of late, they still censor other religions and spiritual movements. Mindful of Pastor Martin Niemöller's warning, we stand with them. According to the report:

The Great Firewall of China - or the Golden Shield Project, to give it its official name - is intended to prevent, deter and detect anyone who reads, downloads or publishing reports deemed to challenge the government's hold on power.

In addition to the hardware and software - some of it supplied by US companies like Cisco - China also employs tens of thousands of human censors to trawl through popular forums and blogs, spotting and then erasing references to banned or sensitive topics.

I find it particularly shameful that American companies are doing this.

Olympic organisers agree to China blocking 'sensitive' internet sites - Times Online
The Times Online reports: "Kevan Gosper, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) press commission, confirmed that some of its officials had agreed to Chinese demands that some sensitive sites be blocked on the ground that they were not related to the Olympics."

Comment: It is again demonstrated how easy it is for a government to control internet access. We can only assume that in the future such government control over the internet will only increase, and the capability for such control will always exist, even in countries which prize free speech. There are ways around such control, of course, but the original dream of the internet as a global information commons has been dashed.

My Way News - China paper censored for Tiananmen photo
AP reports: "Within hours of Thursday's publication, the photos and article were removed from the newspaper's Web site. Authorities also ordered issues of Thursday's newspaper recalled from newsstands, Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper reported Friday."

Ahead of Olympics, Congressman Pushes 'Global Online Freedom Act' - Wired.com
Threat Level reports: "Republican congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey used a meeting with international human rights group Reporters Without Borders last week to lobby for passage of a bill aimed at curtailing U.S. tech companies' participation in foreign countries' internet censorship schemes. Smith is hoping that the bill reaches the floor of the house and passes before the Olympics begin in August."

Comment: I've always felt it was indefensible for American companies birthed in freedom and liberty to sell technology to be used for oppression.

My Way News - FCC chief says Comcast violated Internet rules
AP reports: "The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. [...] Comcast has 'arbitrarily' blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so."

My Way News - Rights like free speech don't always extend online
AP reports: "Meanwhile, in response to complaints it would not specify, Network Solutions LLC decided to suspend a Web hosting account that Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders was using to promote a movie that criticizes the Quran - before the movie was even posted and without the company finding any actual violation of its rules."

Comment: Think about this for a minute, before "offending" content could even be posted on a website, the provider suspended the account. There were no TOS violations, it was an act of preemptive censorship. I wonder if this would have happened if the religion that might have been offended had been any other religion than that "religion of peace," whose followers take it upon themselves to riot whenever there is a perceived slight.

Indonesia apologises for YouTube blockade - Yahoo! News
AFP reports: "Indonesia ended its blockade of websites carrying a controversial anti-Islam film and apologised to the public on Friday after a string of angry complaints and accusations of censorship."

My Way News - China Orders Video Web Sites to Close
AP reports: "The government announced in December that all video-sharing sites had to be state-owned. [...] Chinese Web surfers have recently been blocked from seeing YouTube after video about the Tibet protests appeared on the popular U.S. site. Foreign Web sites run by news organizations and human rights groups are regularly blocked when they carry sensitive information."