Bloomberg – “Providers of virtual private networks, or VPNs, are recording a surge in usage from Russia after the Kremlin cracked down on Facebook and other services as part of a broader effort to silence dissent and limit information about its invasion of Ukraine. “In the past week, we saw traffic to our website from… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Free Speech
In final hours, Indiana lawmakers revive and then kill book-banning bill
IndyStar – “In the final hours of the legislative session, lawmakers revived and then promptly killed a bill that would have criminalized teachers and librarians who exposed kids to books and other materials that some may find obscene. Critics of the bill say it’s unnecessary — schools already have processes in place to deal with book… Continue Reading
The Supreme Court Just Came Perilously Close to Blowing Up Federal Elections
Slate: “The Supreme Court will not overturn a century of pro-democracy precedent and two centuries of historical practice to give state legislatures unlimited power over elections—yet. That’s the upshot of the court’s orders on Monday in two huge redistricting cases out of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The court refused to block new congressional maps drawn… Continue Reading
Twitter quietly launches Tor service in the face of Russian censorship
Mashable: “Twitter just struck a blow against government censorship, even if the tech giant won’t come out and say so directly. On Tuesday morning, Alec Muffett, a cybersecurity professional with a long history of working with the Tor network, announced he’d brought skills to bear at Twitter. Specifically, Muffett wrote that he’d helped the company… Continue Reading
How to Access the News on Tor
MakeUseOf: “When people face censorship, accessing up-to-date and accurate information becomes difficult. Censorship takes many forms, and cutting people off from sources of news, and other information is one of them. Thankfully, there are ways to access current and unfolding news stories online when the regular avenues are cut: Tor. A number of leading news… Continue Reading
A new iron curtain is descending across Russia’s Internet
Washington Post: “Advocates of an open, globally connected Internet long have worried that a major country or region would break away from the Web amid geopolitical strife, dashing hopes of a seamless network capable of uniting a fractious world. Little more than a week into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world is coming closer to… Continue Reading
Pair of cases on the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” could eviscerate legal safeguards protecting free and fair elections
Vox: “A pair of cases are currently pending before the Supreme Court that could fundamentally rewrite the rules of US elections. Both cases are redistricting cases. In Moore v. Harper, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down gerrymandered congressional maps drawn by the state’s Republican legislature. In Toth v. Chapman, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court selected… Continue Reading
The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule Download Report
Freedom House Report – Freedom in the World 2022: “Global freedom faces a dire threat. Around the world, the enemies of liberal democracy—a form of self-government in which human rights are recognized and every individual is entitled to equal treatment under law—are accelerating their attacks. Authoritarian regimes have become more effective at co-opting or circumventing… Continue Reading
Democracy Index 2021: the China challenge
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – “Democratisation suffered more reversals in 2021, with the percentage of people living in a democracy falling to well below 50% and authoritarian regimes gaining ground. This year’s report finds that democracy experienced its biggest annual decline since 2010, when the global financial crash led to major setbacks. The index score… Continue Reading
Book bans: How Amazon, Google, and Apple can fight back with a Freedom Archive
ZDNet: “Hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear from a school or library somewhere in the United States that they’ve removed a book from circulation following complaints from parents or constituents. Last week, in a school district in Tennessee, it was the removal of MAUS, the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, that… Continue Reading
Divergent Global Views on Social Media, Free Speech, and Platform Regulation: Findings from the United Kingdom, South Korea, Mexico, and the United States
Wihbey, John and Chung, Myojung and Peacey, Mike and Morrow, Garrett and Tian, Yushu and Vitacco, Lauren and Rincon Reyes, Daniela and Clavijo, Melissa, Divergent Global Views on Social Media, Free Speech, and Platform Regulation: Findings from the United Kingdom, South Korea, Mexico, and the United States (January 3, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract= “Citizens… Continue Reading
TikTok is confronting Holocaust misinformation but antisemitism persists
TechCrunch: “In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, TikTok launched a portal on its Discover page this morning, intended to educate users about the historic catastrophe, as well as the ongoing threat of antisemitism. The platform also hosted a similar portal last year. When users navigate to the Discover page on the TikTok mobile app,… Continue Reading
