CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘Blogger’ Category

Iranian blogger gets 20 years: “

True price of freedom

Canadian-Iranian journalist Hossein Derakhshan has been sentenced to nineteen and a half years in prison for crimes relating to his blog.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Google shuts down music blogs without warning: (BBC)
Bloggers told they have violated terms without further explanation, as years of archives are wiped off the internet. In what critics are calling ‘musicblogocide 2010′, Google has deleted at least six popular music blogs that it claims violated copyright law. These sites, hosted by Google’s Blogger and Blogspot services, received notices only after their sites ? and years of archives ? were wiped from the internet.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

CN – China's Censorship 2.0: How companies censor bloggers: (First Monday)
by Rebecca MacKinnon. This study explores an under-studied layer of Chinese Internet censorship: how Chinese Internet companies censor user-generated content, usually by deleting it or preventing its publication. Systematic testing of Chinese blog service providers reveals that domestic censorship is very decentralized with wide variation from company to company. Test results also showed that a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and that chances for its survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

Azerbaijani donkey bloggers jailed: “

US rattles small sabre over ‘further erosion’ of free speech

The US has said it ‘regrets’ the jailing of Azerbaijani bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, on what human rights organisations consider a trumped-up charge of ‘hooliganism’.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Unmasked blogger Rosemary Port to sue Google for $15m$: “Google is to be sued for $15 million ($£9 million) by an anonymous blogger who was unmasked by the internet search company.

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

Vogue model Liskula Cohen wins right to unmask offensive bloggerA Vogue cover girl has won a precedent-setting court battle to unmask an anonymous blogger who called her a ‘skank’ on the internet.

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

Ruling on NightJack author Richard Horton kills blogger anonymity: Thousands of bloggers who operate behind the cloak of anonymity have no right to keep their identities secret, the High Court ruled today

In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of a blog called NightJack.

The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name.

In April Mr Horton was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing, but the judges were not aware that he was revealing confidential details about cases, some involving sex offences against children, that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions.

His blog, which gave a behind-the-scenes insight into frontline policing, included strong views on social and political issues, including matters of “public controversy,” the judge said.

The officer also criticised and ridiculed “a number of senior politicians” and advised members of the public under police investigation to “complain about every officer . . . show no respect to the legal system or anybody working in it.”

Mr Horton has now deleted his website and received a written warning from his force.

He has received several offers to publish a book after using the success of the blog to attract a literary agent.

Some of the blog’s best-read sections, which on occasion attracted nearly half a million readers a week, were anecdotes about the cases on which Mr Horton had worked.

The people and places were anonymised and some details changed but they could be traced back to the prosecutions.

In the first case dealing with the privacy of internet bloggers, the judge ruled that Mr Horton had no “reasonable expectation” to anonymity because “blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity”.

Coming down in favour of freedom of expression, the judge also said that even if the blogger could have claimed he had a right to anonymity, the judge would have ruled against him on public interest grounds.
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Blogger can’t sue over comment, rules High Court: “

Didn’t like it, shoulda deleted it

A man who was criticised in the comments section of his own blog cannot sue for defamation because he did not delete the comment when he discovered it, the High Court has said. The Court said that the man consented to the comment’s publication.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

[Blog entry by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz]

It is now been reported by a media news source that the Diyarbakir First Criminal Court of Peace has removed the blocking order it issued on 20.10.2008 (order no. 2008/2761) and executed on Friday, 24 October, 2008 with regards to Blogger.com and Blogspot. The DNS servers should be updated by end of today so currently users may still be unable to access the popular blogging sites.

It is, however, unclear why the order has been lifted and it seems like the ban is lifted until Digitürk provides to the court further evidence with regards to its claims for football streaming piracy. Therefore, I would not be surprised to see the blocking order and the ban reinstated.

A detailed assessment of the Turkish approaches to Internet content regulation will be provided in an 80 page long report entitled Restricted Access: A Critical Assessment of Internet Content Regulation and Censorship in Turkey written by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz and Dr. Kerem Altiparmak. This bi-lingual (English/Turkish) report will be published during November 2008 and will be made available as a PDF file through cyberlaw.org.uk and cyber-rights.org.tr pages.

Bianet :: Turkish Bloggers Are Furious

After Youtube.com, Wordpress and Googe Groups, now a well-known blog service blogger.com has been banned in Turkey. There has been no change in internet censorship.

Bia news center – Diyarbakır, 27-10-2008
Erol ÖNDEROĞLU – hukuk@bianet.org

The 1st Criminal Court of First Instance of Diyarbakır has banned access to the well-known blog service blogger.com.

The decision came after the Digiturk TV Platform Company filed a compliant about some internet sites broadcasting scenes from soccer games over which the Digituk had the sole right.
Blogger.com was banned upon complaint by Digiturk

Thousands of internet users are being met by the statement ‘Access to this web site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/2761 of T.R. Diyarbakır 1st Criminal Court of Peace’.

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