Malaysia Internet Blackout Day on 14 August 2012, was a series of coordinated protests occurred against a proposed laws in amendment of the Section 114A is the second of two amendments made to Malaysia's Evidence Act 1950 by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) member of IFEX and SEAPA, initiative, [1] [2] this campaigning against the newly introduced Section 114A to the Evidence Act 1950—Malaysia Internet Blackout Day—by the protesters also placed their poster in their sites based on content is gaining momentum and has received more endorsements from prominent websites, netizens, and politicians were reported globally. [3] [4] [5]
The amendment of section 114A "makes individuals and those who administer, operate or provide spaces for online community forums, blogging, and hosting services, liable for content published through its services". This enables law enforcement officials to hold publishers of websites accountable for seditious, defamatory, or libel lous postings even if they are not the actual authors of the content. [6]
Internet Blackout Day was also supported by media sites FreeMalaysiaToday, Malaysiakini , Digital News Asia , The Nut Graph , BFM 89.9 , Merdeka Review , and party organ news sites Harakah Daily and Keadilan Daily . [5]
The CIJ also organised a public forum on 12 June 2012, entitled ‘Section 114A Evidence Act: Crime-busting or Online Control?’ with lawyer Foong Cheng Leong, online activist Jac SM Kee, and tech experts A. Asohan and Jeff Sandhu to discuss about the repercussions of the amendment.
On 11 August 2012, the CIJ, along with the National Young Lawyers Committee, and Pusat Rakyat LoyarBurok co-hosted a discussion on legal implications of Section 114A with lawyers K. Shanmuga, Faisal Moideen, and Foong Cheng Leong and Member of Parliament and Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. [5]
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) was the United States Congress's first notable attempt to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In the 1997 landmark case Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court unanimously struck the act's anti-indecency provisions.
Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon members of the community playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information. Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism "as an alternative and activist form of news gathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism". Jay Rosen offers a simpler definition: "When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another." The underlying principle of citizen journalism is that ordinary people, not professional journalists, can be the main creators and distributors of news. Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, both of which are practiced by professional journalists; collaborative journalism, which is the practice of professional and non-professional journalists working together; and social journalism, which denotes a digital publication with a hybrid of professional and non-professional journalism.
An anonymous post, is an entry on a textboard, anonymous bulletin board system, or other discussion forums like Internet forum, without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym. Some online forums such as Slashdot do not allow such posts, requiring users to be registered either under their real name or utilizing a pseudonym. Others like JuicyCampus, AutoAdmit, 2channel, and other Futaba-based imageboards thrive on anonymity. Users of 4chan, in particular, interact in an anonymous and ephemeral environment that facilitates rapid generation of new trends.
Internet censorship in India is done by both central and state governments. DNS filtering and educating service users in suggested usages is an active strategy and government policy to regulate and block access to Internet content on a large scale. Measures for removing content at the request of content creators through court orders have also become more common in recent years. Initiating a mass surveillance government project like Golden Shield Project is an alternative that has been discussed over the years by government bodies.
Internet censorship in Singapore is carried out by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Internet services provided by the three major Internet service providers (ISPs) are subject to regulation by the MDA, which requires blocking of a symbolic number of websites containing "mass impact objectionable" material, including Playboy, YouPorn and Ashley Madison. The civil service, tertiary institutions and Institute of Technical Education has its own jurisdiction to block websites displaying pornography, information about drugs and online piracy.
Uncyclopedia is the name of several forks of satirical online encyclopedias that parody Wikipedia. Its logo, a hollow "puzzle potato", parodies Wikipedia's globe puzzle logo, and it styles itself as "the content-free encyclopedia", parodying Wikipedia's slogan of "the free encyclopedia" and likely as a play the fact that Wikipedia is described as a "free-content" encyclopedia. Founded in 2005 as an English-language wiki, the project spans more than 75 languages as well as several subprojects parodying other wikis. Uncyclopedia's name is a portmanteau of the prefix un- and the word encyclopedia.
Hindu Rights Action Force, better known by its acronym HINDRAF ; is a Hindu-activism right-wing non-governmental organisation (NGO) with its renowned slogan of Makkal Sakti or Kuasa Rakyat translated as People's Power. This organisation began as a coalition of 30 Hindu NGOs committed to the preservation of Hindu community rights and heritage in a multiracial Malaysia.
The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) foundation dedicated to fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. The organization advances First Amendment freedoms through programs that include Today's Front Pages, the Power Shift Project, the annual Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference for high school juniors, annual First Amendment Festival, Free Expression Awards and other conferences. Freedom Forum operated the Newseum in Washington, D.C. until 2019, when it sold the building to Johns Hopkins University.
In the United States, Section 230 is a section of the Communications Act of 1934 that was enacted as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which is Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and generally provides immunity for online computer services with respect to third-party content generated by its users. At its core, Section 230(c)(1) provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an "interactive computer service" who publish information provided by third-party users:
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
The New Zealand Internet Blackout was an online protest organised by the Creative Freedom Foundation NZ (CFFNZ) against changes to copyright law in New Zealand. It constituted two separate blackouts: one in 2009 to protest Section 92A of the Copyright Amendment Act 2008; and another in 2011 to protest the Copyright Amendment Act 2011, although the CFFNZ did not take part in this one.
Internet censorship in Ireland is a controversial issue with the introduction of a graduated response policy in 2008 followed by an effort to block certain file sharing sites starting in February 2009. Beyond these issues there are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. Irish law provides for freedom of speech including for members of the press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system act jointly to ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
Wong Chin Huat is a Malaysian political scientist, scholar, analyst, activist, commentator, columnist, observer and lecturer.
Autoworld.com.my is a Malaysia-based automotive web portal operated by Autoworld.com.my. Sdn. Bhd., a wholly owned subsidiary of job portal JobStreet.com.
The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is a British independent charity providing training to journalists, researchers, producers and students in the practice and methodology of investigative journalism. It was incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee in June 2005 and registered as a Charity in March 2007. Using grants from the Lorana Sullivan Foundation, the CIJ organises annual three-day summer conference and courses in data journalism and investigative techniques. It has provided training to thousands of journalists, researchers and students from over 35 countries. The CIJ is based at the School of Journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London, which has held the CIJ summer conference each year since 2014.
Internet censorship in Syria is extensive; with numerous websites and online platforms being banned for political reasons. Internet usage is authorized only through state-run servers and people accessing through other means are arrested. Filtering and blocking was found to be pervasive in the political and Internet tools areas, and selective in the social and conflict/security areas by the OpenNet Initiative in August 2009.
The PROTECT IP Act was a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to the sale of infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S. The bill was introduced on May 12, 2011, by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and 11 bipartisan co-sponsors. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that implementation of the bill would cost the federal government $47 million through 2016, to cover enforcement costs and the hiring and training of 22 new special agents and 26 support staff. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill, but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on it.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), provisions included the requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the websites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers to block access to the websites. The proposed law would have expanded existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
On January 18, 2012, a series of coordinated protests occurred against two proposed laws in the United States Congress—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). These followed smaller protests in late 2011. Protests were based on concerns that the bills, intended to provide more robust responses to copyright infringement arising outside the United States, contained measures that could possibly infringe online freedom of speech, websites, and Internet communities. Protesters also argued that there were insufficient safeguards in place to protect sites based upon user-generated content.
Free Malaysia Today (FMT) is an independent, bilingual news online portal with content, in both English and Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), with a focus on Malaysian current affairs, published since 2009. It is one of Malaysia's most accessed news sites with monthly visits of 11.83 million.
Censorship in Ecuador refers to all actions which can be considered as suppression in speech in Ecuador. In the Freedom of the Press Report 2016 by Freedom House, the press in Ecuador is classified as "not free". The 2016 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders placed Ecuador in the "noticeable problems" category for press freedom, ranking the country 109 out of 180.