Search Engine’s Jesse Brown: “Canadian/Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan has been held and tortured in a Tehran prison for over a year, without being charged. Both the Canadian and Iranian governments seem content to let him stay there. The media has also largely forgotten his case. Hoder’s imprisonment begs the question: do we only fight for the freedom of dissidents whose beliefs we agree with?” (via Boing Boing)
Canadian/Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan has been stuck in prison in Iran for over a year and has still not been officially charged with a crime. What we know to be true is that Hodor has an independent voice that has at times been critical of Iran as well as other governments and individuals. That the Canadian government should have no complaint about one of its citizens being jailed largely on the basis of content posted online while living in Canada should be an embarassment. We urge the Canadian government to press Iran on the issues and work to free one of its citizens.
For six years, Syrian users have been affected by U.S. government trade sanctions that exclude certain goods from the Syrian market. Specifically, the Syria Accountability Act (SAA) of 2004 prohibits the export of most goods containing more than 10% U.S.-manufactured component parts to Syria, with the exceptions of food and medicine. Sudan, Cuba, North Korea, and Iran are all also affected by similar sanctions.
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This one is ok, but we would love to host any mashups of otherwise censored information escaping Iran. Send it to us via our contact form and we’ll feature it here and collect the best of them at our forthcoming project on Iran.
This morning in a packed auditorium in Washington D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the beginning of (what is hopefully) a major shift in the way the United States views the Internet at home and abroad. For too long there have been steep bureaucratic barriers preventing projects like Haystack from reaching their potential. The shift shows that the State Department and the Obama Administration understand that the Internet can be a tool for good, a tool for change, and a tool to unite us.
The freedom to connect,” Clinton said this morning, “is like the freedom of assembly in cyber space.” The comparison is apt. That freedom was codified and placed in the Bill of Rights after the British limited gatherings in a bid to suppress the fledging patriot movement. Today, citizens meet in a very different kind of forum, but with the same fundamental purpose: to connect with people like themselves, and with them, become more effective than they can be alone. Through cooperating, they can take control of their own fate and live the democratic ideal. It is heartening that the secretary sees that the Internet is what fills this niche today, and that she realizes that a change of technological venue is not a change in social purpose or need.
The secretary also called upon companies in the United States to follow Google’s example in recognizing the long-term benefits to not appeasing censors. However, she stopped short of laying out a program that would provide incentives for companies to follow these principles, and until these statements have a more concrete basis, they will merely remain fine words.
The voices of human rights defenders are among the first to be silenced by repressive Internet policies. I hope that today’s announcement leads to greater protection for these brave men and women, and takes the United States’ human rights agenda into the 21st century.
I couldn’t agree more and am continually amazed that we all, because of the Internet, have a chance to break down barriers and do what could never have been done before. I’m proud of you, Internets. All of you.
