The ISPs, Kazakh Telecom and Nursat are regulated by the government and it is thought that they did this on the government’s behest.
According to Reporters Without Borders, RSF, the blocking affects neighbouring Krygystan as it depend on connectivity from Kazakhstan.

This blocking also affects Kyrgyzstan, which depends on the Kazakh Internet. This is a deliberate act of censorship that is intended to have a dissuasive effect

Worrying trend with governments we are seeing here.

Bad thing is that after telling Aussies that individuals would have opt out options, that is, not using the filters, they are forcing everybody to use the filters.  A government official says that those who choose to opt out will be put in a watered down filter-list, which beats logic, because in CPB’s books filters are filters.  Watered down or not.

The Open-Net Initiative website quotes a spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the filters will be mandatory for all Australians.

“Labor’s plan for cyber-safety will require ISPs to offer a clean feed Internet service to all homes, schools and public Internet points accessible by children,” Marshall said.

“The upcoming field pilot of ISP filtering technology will look at various aspects of filtering, including effectiveness, ease of circumvention, the impact on internet access speeds and cost.

The plan is to be implemented through the ISPs, meaning that it will be applicable to all internet users in Australia.

CPB thinks that it is very hypocritical for Australia to demand online and other freedoms from other countries and not practice the same.  We will continue monitoring the situation.

We were a little optimistic that the Malaysia Cabinet decision to rescind the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to block Malaysia Today and all other blocked sites was a step in the right direction but the arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin now under the country’s tough internal security act (ISA), this is on top of the sedition and defamation charges he is facing.

According to Committee to Protect Journalists, blogger and human rights lawyer, Harris Ibrahim was also arrested for posting about Raja’s arrest.

ZDNet Asia writes

The opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) condemned the arrest of Raja Petra and said the move “smacks of desperation” by the BN government.

Tony Pua, opposition member of parliament and economic advisor to the DAP secretary-general, said: “The government is flip-flopping and is seen as a headless chicken. They realized they did a stupid thing by banning Malaysia Today, and now they are compounding it by trying to ‘neutralize’ Raja Petra under the ISA.”

Pua reckoned that the action Raja Petra signaled the start of a crackdown not only on bloggers and Web site operators, but also on those deemed a threat to the ruling elite.

This has raised ire with Malaysia’s bloggers and opposition and we hope that the government realises it folly and ceases fighting its political wars on the internet and arresting critics.

We are monitoring this situation and we’ll give more updates as we get them.

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The Thai Ministry for Information, Communication and Technology has ordered more than 1200 sites shut down due to “violation of the computer crime act and specifically 344 of them for insulting the monarchy.”

The minister, Mun Patanotai, said that the ministry detected the sites between March and August this year and that the sites were disturbing the peaceful social order and morality of the people and others which were detrimental to the country’s national security.

He says that ISPs have been instructed to block the sites and he has sought court action against them under article 20 of the country’s laws.  Obtaining court orders against 400 of them.

Disturbing how free speech and online freedom don’t seem to exist for these blunderers.

Thanks to Bangkok Post

A technical conference for Burmese bloggers due to be held on 31 August in Rangoon was banned by the military authorities at short notice after organisers had already advertised the event.

The conference was organised by the Myanmar Computer Experts Association and was to be held at Rangoon’s International Business Centre, situated on the bank of Inya Lake. The organisers had arranged for Burmese bloggers and writers such as Thitsani and Kyaw Win to attend the conference and deliver lectures.

A member of staff from the computer association said the government had claimed the theme of the conference was not valid. “We said that we were going to talk about technical development and they insisted that [blogging] does not have much to do with technology,” he said.

During the monk-led protests last year the Burmese “government” arrested a number of bloggers, including Nay Phone Latt, and most recently arrested a comedian and blogger named Zarganar.

Magomed was a prominent critic of Ingushetiya President, Murat Zyzikov who has criticized inushetiya.ru’s reporting and has brought a court case seeking to shut it down.  His lawyer is quoted saying that the police picked him up and shot him in the temple before dumping him near the hospital.

Zyzikov has been fighting an insurgency in Ingushetiya and has taken a hardline stance to any opposition.

The website is calling for supporters to rally and demonstrate to protest the killing, and we here fully support their cause.

A MCMC official is quoted thus:

“It is being blocked because we found that some of the comments on the website were insensitive, bordering on incitement.”

He further says that all other ISPs have been ordered to enforce the ban.

Malaysia Today is often controversial with commentaries which the government finds distasteful.  Though the government purports to allow free speech this action from the MCMC which is a government regulatory body is the complete opposite.

The Malaysia Today admin are now using the other URL address that redirects to the site.

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Thanks to Kamal for the tip

SF Gate, San Francisco Chronicle says

City Manager Joseph Tanner on Monday added the Vallejo Times Herald’s local news blog and the Vallejo Is Burning Web site to the list of Internet addresses employees cannot access from city computers. “We blocked these because they are political in nature,” Tanner said. “We blocked them because one is an anti-bankruptcy site and the other is a rag of a newspaper.”

The two sites, Vallejo is burning and Vallejo Times Herald have now been ranked together with porn, gambling, social networking and hate sites that have been banned.The city labour unions are up in arms decrying the affront on free speech, the are qouoted on SF Gate

“With this bankruptcy filing, the city declared war on its employees and our contracts,” said one employee who requested his name not be used because of Tanner’s memo. “Now they want the opposition with our hands tied behind our backs and gags in our mouths.”

We, here, don’t think Tanner’s actions will save the city from bankruptcy if indeed it is indeed in the red.

Jill Tan, Asia Representative from Apple Inc. informs us that iTunes in China is now working. 

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As athletes downloaded the album “Songs for Tibet” from the iTunes store, in support of the Tibet cause,(the music is also good BTW), China retaliated by blocking the iTunes store in China, anybody who wanted to access the store got a error message.

The Apple Support forums were inundated by complaints by iTunes accounts holders in
China and here is a response one of them got from Apple support. 

My name is Bryan and I understand that you have not been able to connect to the iTunes store for the last couple days and that you are concerned that it would be an issue withChina blocking the iTunes store. I’m sorry to hear that and I’m happy to assist you with this today.

ITunes is not being blocked in China from our end, but access to the iTunes Store IS restricted in some areas inChina. This would also explain why it’s happening to your friends there as well.

I would advise that you contact your ISP about this matter. Please also note though that accessing the US iTunes Store outside of the geographic region of the United States is not supported, and that attempting to access it while inChina is at your own risk.The iTunes Store Sales and Service Policies are available for you to review:

Terms of Sale
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/sales.html Terms of Service
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/service.htmlThank you for being a valued iTunes Store customer. I hope that you have found the above information helpful and that you have a great day!Kind Regards,

Bryan
iTunes Store Customer Support  

Funny thing is that, according to China.org, the official government information site it is the Chinese citizens who are offended by the songs of Tibet album and they are the ones who want iTunes shut down,

A music album advocating “Tibetan independence” recently available for paid download on iTunes has ignited strong indignation among Chinese netizens.

According to Chinanews.com, the angry netizens are rallying together to denounce Apple in offering “Songs for Tibet” for purchase. They have also expressed a wish to ban the album’s singers and producers, most notably Sting, John Mayer and Dave Matthews, from entering China.

Many people have made remarks on online forums to express their anger, even those who have been fans of the artists in the past.

Some say they will boycott all Apple products from now on, including the popular iPhone, which is not available in China since negotiations among Apple, China Mobile and China Unicom broke down

This is completely opposite of what is happening at the apple support forums it seems to be a case of the Chinese authorities are continuing with their habit of blocking sites.

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We are trying to get word from Apple and will update you once we receive it.

h/t to informationweek

There have been concerted efforts to block, hack and delete activists websites in Tunisia with the authorities there offering tacit approval. 

The blogger, Ennaged is quoted on the Global Voices Site, saying.. 

I think that the main reason of banning my blog is crossing the “red lines” that are constraining the media in
Tunisia by talking about issues that are completely ignored by mainstream media.

Sami Ben Gharbia on The Global Voices Advocacy informs us that the number of blocked, hacked sites in increasing daily.