The Brazilian Government is scheduled to vote on a newly drafted a bill of rights for Internet users. Global Voices explains that the proposed ‘Marco Civil da Internet’,
[E]stablishes a clear set of rights and responsibilities for users, sets strong net neutrality principles, and shields Internet intermediaries (Internet service providers, hosting platforms, social networking and blogging sites) from liability for illegal content posted by users.
Interestingly, the Brazilian Congress treats Internet issues as a civil rights problem, not a criminal law issue. This frames the issue in terms of users’ rights in relation to the interests of online companies. This is in contradistinction to other Internet legislations that focus on the criminality of online piracy and copyright infringement.
It is unclear whether the Brazilian Congress will pass the legislation. In a subsequent article, Global Voices explains that while a majority appears to support the legislation, “some position themselves against it, because of the broad freedom that Marco Civil brings to the Internet.” Given this, the hashtags #MarcoCivil and #MarcoCivilJa have been quite popular on Twitter with Tweets both for and against the legislation.
The vote was scheduled for August 8, however, there are now reports surfacing that it has been postponed. No official word has been released yet about the future of the vote, however, @internetlegal now claims the vote will be on September 19. More to come once the official news is disclosed.
On July 30, Bishoy Kamel was arrested in Egypt for sharing cartoons on Facebook that allegedly defamed the Islamic faith and the Prophet Muhammad. The 32 year-old Coptic Christian teacher from Sohag Province could face up to 5 years in prison. Egyptian citizen Mohamed Safwat pressed the charges, claiming that Kamel also insulted President Mohamed Morsi and his family. Although Kamel admitted to managing the Facebook page, he argues that he was not responsible for the controversial content, especially since the page was hacked the weekend prior to his arrest.
This is not the first time members of a religious minority in Egypt have faced criminal charges of insulting the Islamic faith as a result social media usage. Earlier this year, a court sentenced 17 year-old Gamal Abdou Massoud, also reportedly Christian, to three years in prison for uploading cartoons of Muhammad to Facebook and sharing them with friends. Massoud was tried in juvenile court, and received the maximum sentence allowed by law.
In January, Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris was arrested for posting pictures of Mickey and Minnie mouse in Islamic garb on micro-blogging site Twitter. He was later acquitted in court.
Tensions between Muslims and minority Coptic Christians have been on the rise for a number of years, but relations have markedly worsened since last year’s Arab Spring. On Tuesday, Muslim and Coptic leaders in the US petitioned the Egyptian government to exclude Shariah law in the new constitution. Egypt’s new constitution will be announced by the end of this week.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has called for authorities in Tajikistan to unblock access to YouTube to ensure the free flow of information. In the last two weeks, Tajik authorities blocked the file-sharing website as well as foreign and independent news websites after deadly clashes between security forces and armed rebels in an eastern autonomous region of the Central Asian republic.
Users believe the censorship is directly related to uploaded videos of a protest against the deadly violence near the city of Khorog, where numerous civilians have been killed. According to The Epoch Times, the city is home to an ethnic minority that has been embroiled in tensions with the central government since the post-Soviet civil war in the 1990s. These tensions escalated when the head of the regional security services was murdered in June, resulting in swift retaliation by the Tajik government against militants and civilians in the region. According to Russia’s RIA Novosti service, about 30 militants were killed by security forces. While authorities reported no casualties among civilians, “opposition media reported that some 30 civilians were killed.”
Residents of the city held a protest on July 23, “demanding an end to the bloodshed in the mountainous region.” Video of that protest was posted on YouTube, which was then blocked by Internet service providers at the behest of authorities. Other websites that were blocked include the Russian version of BBC, Russian TV channel Vesti, RIA Novosti and Asia Plus, a Tajik independent news service. Access to Asia Plus was later restored.
The OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, said in a statement that “only courts should be allowed to decide whether websites can be blocked, not authorities. She said blocking deprives citizens of their right to know, to receive, and impart information about development in their own country.” A recent study from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism concluded that YouTube has emerged as a major platform for news, especially during major events.
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