censorship
Google Streetview in Germany, some thoughts
A little while ago I wrote a little rant about the fake Streetview Google had launched in Germany, an odd Google Maps & Panoramio hybrid. Eventually that’s about to change: Google Streetview is coming to Germany for real. And boy, are people in Germany going crazy over this. On the one hand you have those [...]
Wikileaks, Afghanistan & The New Rules Of Engagement
As of two days ago Wikileaks has released 92.000 documents about the war in Afghanistan, leaked (most likely) from within the US military. After discussing this with quite a few folks, we all agreed that this will be one of the biggest – if not the single biggest – story of 2010. As a former [...]
Tech year 2009 wrap up: cloud computing, Android, privacy discussions
A couple of days ago I’ve given a short look back at the year 2009 from a personal point of view. Right after, I realized there were a couple more things with a wider tech perspective that I’d like to include – again, more for personal documentation than anything else. So here goes. Everything went [...]
Rette Deine Freiheit
This video is a great (and appropriately biased) summary of the German government laws to censor the internet under the premise of fighting child abuse. Nicknamed Zensursula (pun on the German word for censorship “Zensur” and the name of the minister in charge, Ursula von der Leyen), the plan is opposed by a more and [...]
Iran
Not to get too deeply involved in Iranian politics which I know comparatively little about. But earlier today I emailed a young woman I had the chance to meet recently at Global Media Forum with a brief question about donations to the NGO she’s involved in. I wasn’t thinking much about it, I just figured [...]
Net Censorship in Germany: Confirmed
It’s a sad day for Germany, and an infuriating one. The law hasn’t passed yet, but the major parties have agreed (Netzpolitik.org, in German) to introduce net censorship in Germany. It’s all under the pretense of protecting children against abuse, but the draft of the law clearly shows that it will neither protect children nor [...]
Petition Against Internet Censorship in Germany (FTW!)
In Germany, some odd stuff has been happening lately. It’s a fairly complex topic, and the whole discussion is happening in German, so I’ll keep it really short: Top-level politician Ursula von der Leyen (Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth) is trying to introduce large-scale censorship in Germany, thinly disguised as [...]
Liveblogging The BOBs
This Thursday (27 Nov 2008) I’ll have the honor of liveblogging the award ceremony of The BOBs, the Best of the Blogs awards. (More about the BOBs in my first announcement or the official FAQ.) Nutshell version (from the press release): Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard was a member of the BOBs jury last [...]
CCC Freedom Stick, Olympics Special Edition
It’s been around for awhile, but CCC‘s Freedom Stick, a memory stick loaded with powerful privacy software, is now also available in an Olympics Special edition: CCC – China – Privacy Emergency Response Team, extra easy to use for non-technical users. It consists mainly of a TOR anonymizer plus mobile FireFox. Image: CCC Who’s it [...]
Beijing 2008: Reporters and bloggers face threats
Sadly, the whole idea of giving the Olympic Games to China in order to get the government to respects human and media rights more has turned out to be a complete and utter failure. Without much commenting on my behalf, let me point out just some of the recent findings of human rights organizations. Amnesty [...]
