The online crusade against Rupert Murdoch’s media empire

 Online mobilisation against Rupert Murdoch

Lulzsec is back in action and taking on Rupert Murdoch and his media empire. The hacker group, which had announced it would be disbanding last month, infiltrated the web site of The Sun newspaper on Monday night, redirecting web users to a fake article, announcing the death of the British daily’s founder.

The hacker group has said this is just the start of their campaign against Rupert Murdoch who is currently at the center of a phone hacking scandal in the UK.

And the media tycoon appears to be facing a growing wave of criticism on the Internet. The singer Billy Bragg has composed this song denouncing the dubious practices within News International.

But in spite of everything, the people of Britain do seem to be holding on to their sense of humour. This video for example has enjoyed great success in recent days, it’s a tongue-in-cheek trailer for a film based on this media scandal, which has also become a political issue.

The scandal has followed Rupert Murdoch to the United States, where many are urging the authorities to carry out an investigation into suspected phone tapping of the families of 9/11 victims. This online petition was set up by CREDO Action, and according to their web site it has been signed by over 110 000 people. 

Tunisia: “Free Samir Feriani”

Police officer and senior official at the Interior Ministry, Samir Feriani has been detained since the 29th of May. He was arrested after publishing two letters in a magazine in which he claimed people holding key positions were responsible for the deaths of many protesters during the revolution.

A campaign for his release was launched on the Internet shortly after his arrest. Numerous support groups have been set up on Facebook, and this online petition addressed to the interim government has already gathered over 500 signatures. More and more Tunisian artists are becoming involved in this solidarity movement, as we can see in these photos, currently circulating on the web.

There has been widespread reaction to the Samir Feriani case on the web. Blogger Jamel Dridi says that “all Tunisians are Samir Feriani” and that the police officer has become a new symbol of post-revolution Tunisia. The blog Stupidity Zone is also establishing Feriani as a national cause and calling upon the people of Tunisia to defend freedom of expression.

Protesters have been maintaining pressure on the Interim government, demanding they speed up democratic reforms. They have also been calling for the release of the police officer during these rallies, as we can see here, in the capital Tunis.

Women’s World Cup breaks all-time tweet record

The Women’s Football World Cup final on Sunday, between the US and Japan, broke Twitter’s all-time tweet record producing 7 196 messages per second at its highest peak. To compare this to other events, the British Royal Wedding generated a maximum of 3 966 messages per second and Osama Bin Laden’s death produced 5 106.

Mila Kunis' Marine Date

Schedule permitting, the actress Mila Kunis will be going on date with a marine on the 18th of November. American sergeant Scott Moore, currently serving in Iraq, posted a video online in which he asks the star to accompany him to the Marine Ball due to take place in the autumn in Greenfield, North Carolina.

Justin Timberlake urged her to accept the invitation during an interview for their latest film, and she ended her agreeing to the date.

 
Video of the day

There was a surprise in store for shoppers and passersby at a shopping centre in Port Elizabeth in South Africa. This Flash mob, organized by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University was part of an awareness campaign to get students to apply to study at the university, and it was sung entirely acappela.