Censorship Update

AMNESTY ACCUSES US FIRMS OVER CHINA WEB CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Ben Blanchard]
Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have breached the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in colluding with China to censor the Internet, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The three publicly traded companies are ignoring their own stated commitments -- which in Google's case includes corporate motto "Don't be evil" -- and are in denial over the human rights implications of their actions, the group said. "All three companies have, in one way or another, facilitated or concluded in the practice of censorship in China," London-based Amnesty said in a report. "All three companies have demonstrated a disregard for their own internally driven and proclaimed policies. They have made promises ... which they failed to uphold in the face of business opportunities and pressure from the Chinese government," it said. "This raises doubts about which statements made by these organizations can be trusted and which ones are public relations gestures."
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-07-20T052620Z_01_PEK270911_RTRUKOC_0_US-RIGHTS-CHINA-AMNESTY.xml
* Web groups ‘ignore’ human rights in China
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5989c164-1762-11db-abad-0000779e2340.html
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* Amnesty International targets China cooperation
http://news.com.com/Amnesty+International+targets+China+cooperation/2100-1028_3-6096249.html?tag=nefd.top

AFTER PROTESTS, INDIA CLARIFIES ORDER TO BLOCK BLOGS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Eric Bellman eric.bellman@awsj.com and Binny Sabharwal ]
The Indian government told the country's Internet-service providers to cease blocking popular sites full of Web logs after attempts to restrict access to the sites spurred protests from the online community. In a meeting yesterday, India's Department of Telecommunications clarified that the Internet-service providers have to block access only to specific blogs within the sites -- not entire sites that contain blogs, according to the Internet Service Providers Association of India. The confusion had resulted in many blogs being blocked inadvertently.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115333167697711352.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
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PRESS FREEDOM THREATENED IN VENEZUELA, GROUP SAYS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Chris Kraul]
Blaming a "deliberate, strategic" campaign of harassment by the Venezuelan government against the nation's news media, the Inter-American Press Assn. said Wednesday that the climate of press freedom and free speech has "deteriorated sharply" in recent years. The statement came after a delegation headed by IAPA President Diana Daniels of the Washington Post visited the offices of the Correo del Caroni, a newspaper in Ciudad Guayana. Two months ago, the state assembly passed a resolution asking the city's mayor to demolish the paper's building and revoke its business license. Neither step has yet been taken.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-venmedia20jul20,1,7055244.story?coll=la-news-a_section
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AP REVEALS ISRAELI CENSORSHIP, SAYS IT WILL ABIDE BY RULES
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Israel believes that as a small country in a near constant state of conflict, having a say over what information gets out to the world is vital to its security. Critics say the policy is a slippery slope not fit for a democracy. The range of issues subject to censorship in the latest conflict with Lebanese guerrillas are all related to the goal of preventing Hezbollah from using the media to help it better aim rockets at Israel. The Associated Press has agreed, like other organizations, to abide by the rules of the censor, which is a condition for receiving permission to operate as a media organization in Israel. Reporters are expected to censor themselves and not report any of the forbidden material. This story was not submitted to a censor. When in doubt, they can submit a story to the censor who will hand it back, possibly with deletions. The AP will note in a story if any deletions have been made. If a reporter violates the rules, he or she suffers the consequences. The rules include no real-time reports giving the exact locations of guerrilla missile hits; no reports of missile hits -- or misses -- on strategic targets; and no reports telling when citizens are allowed to leave their bunkers for supplies.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002876486