Tag: Network interference

Access Now and the Internet Society on the need to protect the core of the internet for digital rights

In a recent interview, former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the Syrian government was not to blame for a nationwide internet blackout on Nov. 29, 2012, the NSA was.

May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, a day to celebrate the fundamental principles of independent media. But WPFD is also an opportunity to pay attention to where press freedom is under attack around the world–and the increasing tendency of those attacks to occur online. Bloggers and citizen journalists are arrested, jailed, and murdered for the words they write and the images they share; citizens are cut off from each other and from the information they seek because of what governments or companies deem appropriate for society.

On Sunday, May 5th, Malaysia will go to the polls for a highly contested general election, potentially ending 56 years of single-party rule. But ever since the elections were announced in April, the internet has become become a target: opposition websites and independent media have experienced significant network interference–and with the election days away, pressure is intensifying.