CPJ mourns the passing of Richard Holbrooke
Richard C. Holbrooke, “one of the giants of American foreign policy” in President Barack Obama’s words, was also an ally of press freedom and a good friend to CPJ. In a statement marking Holbrooke’s death at age 69, Chairman Paul E. Steiger said: “CPJ mourns the passing of Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke. He was a…
Internet Blotter
Wikileaks hit by denial-of-service attack, turns to Amazon hosting… …but Amazon drops the site following pressure from a U.S. senator. Google extends its https encryption to YouTube, making video blocking harder. Censorship of the Net directly related to how authoritarian a regime is, claims a study. Venezuala’s telecom regulator proposes stronger takedown powers over Internet…
Internet Blotter
Egyptian blogger Karim Amer is finally free after four years in prison. Iran launches yet another police force to deal with the Internet, headquartered with the Revolutionary Guard. Its commander says the state plans to quadruple its Internet control budget. Google lobbies U.S. policymakers to consider online censorship a free trade issue. Is breaking into…
In exile in the U.S., Ethiopian journalist struggles forward
After almost a year in exile in America, an icy ocean away from his home in Ethiopia, journalist Samson Mekonnen, left, only recently received his work permit in Washington. In the interim, like most journalists undergoing the emotionally and financially grueling resettlement process, he has relied on friends, family, and international organizations like CPJ to…
Press Club honors jailed Iranian Kouhyar Goudarzi
The National Press Club next week will honor an Iranian journalist who is languishing in prison. Kouhyar Goudarzi, an online reporter and human rights activist, was pursuing an aerospace degree at Sharif Industrial University when security agents put him behind bars, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Goudarzi, left, was an…
Internet blotter
CPJ protested the arrest of Bahrain blogger Ali Abdel Imam back in September — The Wall Street Journal has a story on his continuing detainment. Activism around the imprisonment of Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan continues: PEN Canada is focusing on his case and Canada and France’s foreign ministers have urged his release. Local Thai ISPs are…
Derakhshan case: When keeping quiet does not work
The severity of the nearly 20-year jail sentence handed down to veteran Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, left, has shocked many exiled Iranian journalists and bloggers with whom I’ve spoken. It’s also reinforced their belief that the best way to help jailed colleagues is not through quiet diplomacy but by making a lot of noise.
In U.S., dangerous misconceptions from TSA poster
Back in 2004, Iraqi gunmen loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr abducted U.S. freelance photographer Paul Taggert because, as they later told The Associated Press, they thought he was a spy. Now, a new poster from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration reinforces dangerous misconceptions by depicting a photographer as a terrorist.
U.S. proposals undermine secure, uncensored Internet
UPDATE, OCTOBER 22, 2010: CPJ’s board of directors sets policy for the organization. At the October 18 meeting of the board, directors discussed the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, known as COICA. The September 30 blog post below incorrectly stated that CPJ had “joined with other press freedom and civil liberty organizations and the…