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‘This isn’t freedom’: anger, anxiety and tears as Iran’s internet flickers back
After 88 days of near-total blackout, first reactions to the return of partial connectivity were not celebratory After 88 days of near-total internet blackout in Iran, long-delayed messages, images and poems flooded phones and social media feeds at about 5pm on Tuesday, when still-limited connectivity flickered back to life. The first reactions, however, were not…
The splinternet: how online shutdowns are getting cheaper and easier to impose
Iran has shown how plausible blackouts now are, with far-reaching consequences for the internet as we know it During the height of Iran’s blackout in January, people could still access a platform that, in some senses, was like the internet. Iranians could message family members on a government-monitored app and watch clips of Manchester United…
US builds website that will allow Europeans to view blocked content
Freedom.gov appears to be administered by a branch of the Department of Homeland Security The US has built a portal that will allow Europeans to view blocked content including alleged hate speech and terrorism, according to Reuters. The portal, “freedom.gov”, will allow worldwide users to circumvent government controls on their content. The site features a…
US funding for global internet freedom ‘effectively gutted’
Programme that funds groups building tech to evade oppressive government controls under serious threat For nearly two decades, the US quietly funded a global effort to keep the internet from splintering into fiefdoms run by authoritarian governments. Now that money is seriously threatened and a large part of it is already gone, putting into jeopardy…