Indonesian bloggers mobilise against web control

INDONESIA: INTERNET CONTROL    

The Indonesian government is planning to toughen up control regulations on Internet sites. They declare it is to battle pornography and slander. The announcement has provoked an outcry online. Experts and bloggers fear it to be a step backwards towards censorship, just as freedom of thought had become well established in Indonesia, a decade after the fall of the dictatorship.  
 
Interviewed by the site Global Voices, the blogger Enda Nasution states that such control is the last thing the country needs. He believes that Indonesians will fight to the end for an open and free Internet.

And the twitter community is mobilising in a country which has been ranked as the country to have the 6th most twitter users and tweets in the world. A tag has been created to reject the bill which advocates web regulation. This Indonesian man appeals to his government to not make the country a clone of China or Iran.

On Facebook, over just several days, over 10 000 users have joined a page campaigning against web control. On it, one net user ironically suggests to the authorities that they get rid of the web and only use land lines and to ask themselves the question: is Indonesia a country or a prison?.

A site with an online petition has also been created. Indonesians are invited to send emails to the Department of Communication and Information before the bill is passed on the 19th February.

In a country where up until now freedom of expression has been respected, the web has played it’s part in denouncing several cases of corruption, like in November. Two falsely accused members of the anti-corruption commission were freed thanks to the mobilization of web users.

DREAM ACTION WEEK

Undocumented students are mobilising in the United States. They are defending the Dream Act, a proposed federal legislation which could help over 65 000 students who arrived in the country as children to get their residence status sorted out. And the week of action which will begin on the 22nd of February is being organized via the web.

Associations and movements like DREAM Activist are proposing free virtual seminars to organize campaign action. Amongst the seminars on offer:  guidelines for campaigners and how to lobby local media.

Twitter users, and also many bloggers, like those from the web site Immigrants to the United States, are relaying information to encourage students to take part in the Action week. The objective being then to defend the Dream Act, and also immigration reform.

The site dreamact.info has a list of members of congress and whether they support the Dream act or not. And it asks web users to do some research and contact those whose opinion on the subject is not yet known.

In this video, to make as many people possible aware of the importance of Dream Act, this undocumented Filipino student tells her story. Despite her qualifications and her education, she cannot get her official papers and therefore cannot work in the United States.

DANCING SHOES

Could you recognize this musician from their feet? The German photographer Gerrit Starczewski has taken shots of the shoes and feet of current rock stars. Some of the photos are available on the artist’s web site so that you can see your favourite musicians in a different light. 

FLATTR

Peter Sunde, the co-founder of the Pirate Bay has just launched ‘Flattr’, a social micro payments service. It’s an idea born from the fact that there is currently no solution for remunerating the work of the many musicians, video directors or programmers who share their creations on the Internet. Flattr is trying to respond to this problem by encouraging it’s users to pay a small fee every month which will then be transferred to the online creators they have chosen to remunerate.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Could we use the image editing software Photoshop to do some cooking ? If you believe this funny video then it could in fact be possible. An original stop-motion creation which should be a hit with food lovers and will wet your appetite.