Wed, May 19th 2021 10:45am
Mike Masnick
One of the earliest themes on Techdirt, going back decades, is the difficulty of jurisdiction on the internet that easily crosses nearly all geographical borders. We wrote a post back in 2002 raising the question of how is it possible to enforce local laws on a borderless internet. Of course, that hasn t meant that various countries haven t tried either trying to issue global injunctions or going even more extreme. One preferred idea is to just
jail the employees of a company who happen to be in the country that wants content blocked. Over the years we ve seen that happen (or attempt to happen) in Italy, Brazil, and recently India.
Facebook, Twitter walk the tightrope in India
8 hours ago
Dean DeChiaro,
Tribune News Service
When Facebook and Twitter sought to limit the extent to which their platforms could be used to spread disinformation related to last year’s presidential election, Amal Chandra, a 22-year-old university student in Kerala, India, applauded their efforts.
Now, Chandra, who studies political science at Pondicherry University, is wondering why the same companies are complying with demands by the Indian government to remove social media posts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the pandemic.
“During the US presidential election, we saw a fair, neutral, objective position from the side of social media,” Chandra said in an interview. “So why can’t they do the same in India?”
In India, Facebook and Twitter walk censorship tightrope with government gazettextra.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettextra.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Deplatforming Trump: The Facebook Oversight Board Decision
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On Wednesday, May 5, the independent Facebook Oversight Board will announce its binding decision on the suspension of Donald Trump following the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Join us for an on-the-record public discussion with Oversight Board members and other experts about the decision and its far-reaching implications.
We will be joined by:
Facebook Oversight Board Members
Ronaldo Lemos, Professor, Rio de Janeiro State University’s Law School
Julie Owono, Executive Director, Internet Sans Frontières
John Samples, Vice President, CATO Institute
Commentators
Henry Olsen, Senior Fellow, Ethics & Public Policy Center; Columnist, The Washington Post
The writer is director of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital rights.
HORRIFIC events have played out in Myanmar in the past few months as its military deposed a democratically elected government and imposed martial law. It has killed over 800 civilians so far in demonstrations against the coup, and arrested journalists covering the violence. An information and communication blackout has been imposed, including intermittent internet shutdowns, blocking of social media, limiting public WiFi, and disabling wireless broadband internet, acts that the Global Network Initiative has strongly condemned.
This is a gross violation of fundamental rights of the people of Myanmar and a violation of international human rights laws. A military coup in the region emboldens anti-democratic forces, worsens the refugee crisis, cuts off people, and stifles voices.