Mediaboss Marketing

In an unsurprising move, Thailand has become the first government to support Twitter censorship. While the rest of the Twitterverse voiced its displeasure of the social media platform's announced policy change of blocking messages in countries where they were deemed illegal, Thailand's technology minister, Anudith Nakornthap, lauded Twitter's censorship on Monday, calling it a “constructive” development. In an AP report, Anudith said it was a good thing that Twitter “felt responsible to cooperate with governments to make sure basic rights are not violated through the use of social media.”

RELATED: Thailand Elects First Female Prime Minister

It's worth noting that the Thai government has always enforced strict censorship laws and has recently been on a mission to censor social media to enforce lese majeste, the punishable act of smearing the Thai monarchy.-In the past few months, it has warned that people "liking" certain Facebook statuses could be punished if they visit the country. And the AP reports that Thailand’s taskforce that monitors anti-monarchy content has blocked 1,156 websites since December. So, it does make sense that the Thai government would be all in favor of the policy shift where a government request is all that it would take to block an offending tweet.  But as The Guardian points out, that offending message would still be seen in other countries. 

Follow this link:
Twitter Censorship Sounds Good to Thailand

26-01-2012 10:29 Key websites are being hijacked, on a day that thousands of internet freedom supporters marched outside in a major two-pronged protest. It's because the country's just signed up to a global web piracy pact, covering everything from movies and music to fashion and pharmaceuticals. But its net stretches wide. One of the key problems seen with ACTA is that it's completely bypassed people and their governments as Polish liberty activist Katarzyna Szymielewicz has been explaining to RT. RT on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com RT on Twitter: twitter.com

Go here to read the rest:
ACTA Anger: Poland signs up to 'censorship' without debate - Video

28-01-2012 09:12 As Twitter introduces a new procedure for self-censorship, is this the end of freedom of expression on the internet? Guests: Wael Abbas, Egyptian blogger, Tom Royal, deputy editor, Computer Active Magazine, Danvers Baillieu, Technology

More here:
Inside Story - The impact of Twitter's censorship plan - Video

A Twitter blackout aimed
at protesting censorship on the social media site is sweeping
the web as its proponents urge users to "go dark" Saturday.

Like us on Facebook

And it has since taken off, bringing users from all corners of
the social media site together in a coordinated effort to send
a message via boycott to Twitter that censorship will not be
tolerated by its users, and that anyone who opposes censorship
should boycott the site Saturday.

The blackout plan arose out of the Thursday announcement
on Twiter's blog that the social-media giant will implement
a policy under which it can censor Tweets on a
country-by-country basis:

"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter
countries that have different ideas about the contours of
freedom of expression," the posting read. "Some differ so much
from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others
are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict
certain types of content, such as France or Germany,
which ban pro-Nazi content."

That aspect of the announcement was Twitter's way of prefacing
the censorship policy that has the Twittervers up in arms:

"Until now, the only way we could take account of those
countries' limits was to remove content globally. Starting
today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold
content from users in a specific country - while keeping it
available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way
to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld,
and why," Twitter continued. "We haven't yet used this ability,
but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a
specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we
will clearly mark when the content has been withheld."

The announcement seemed to many Twitter users who follow the
ongoing issue of protecting Internet freedom and First
Amendment rights to be nothing more than yet another step
toward the censorship of social media.

Twitter account @The99Percenters
announced in a
concise Tweet on Friday that it will be participating in
the Twitter blackout:
"#TwitterBlackout We
R protesting country by country Twitter censorship on 1-28-2012
I will be tweetless."

Twitter user @ItsSoDamien on Friday
Tweeted
his reason for joining the Twitter blackout in a dispatch
that resonates with many of its participants: "#TwitterBlackout Because
this is not what I signed in for."

The censorship announcement by Twitter comes on the heels of a
number of news reports revealing the extent to which the U.S.
government is getting involved in the social media site's
affairs.

In one of the most recent cases to emerge regarding Twitter
censorship, The New York
Times exposed on Dec. 19 that "some American
officials said the government was exploring legal options to
shut down the Shabab's new Twitter account," referring to
the @HSMPress account
supposedly run by Somalia's Shabab militant group.

A profile image created specifically for the Twitter
blackout event, featuring a jet-black background with the
Twitter bird mascot's eyes and beak poking through the
darkness, and the words "twitter blackout" in stark white, was
adopted Friday by many users planning to participate in the
protest.

Social media expert Jeff Jarvis called Twitter's new policy
part of "a slippery slope of censorship," according
to The Associated Press.

"I understand why Twitter is doing this--they want to be able
to enter more counties and deal with local laws. But, as Google
learned in China, when you become
the agent of the censor, there are problems there," he said.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article,
e-mail:
To contact the editor, e-mail:

Go here to see the original:
Twitter Blackout: Censorship Protest Urges Users to 'Go Dark' Saturday for #TwitterBlackout

26-01-2012 03:53 There's swelling anger in Poland over the country signing up with others to a global anti-piracy pact. Critics say the deal is as bad, if not worse, than America's planned laws, which were shelved when web giants like Wikipedia and Google went on a protest blackout

Read more:
ACTA of War: Cyber attacks