The UK Government Wants to Monetize Open Data

A new paper from the chair of the U.K. government's Open Strategy Board outlines the best practices for the government's open data policies. The government-commissioned Shakespeare Review – after author Stephan Shakespeare – looks into ways to monetize open data, and recommends an all-encompassing National Data Strategy.

On Threshold of Telecom Revolution, Future of Internet Freedom in Burma Uncertain

Burma (Myanmar) is on the threshold of an Internet revolution, but Human Rights Watch has warned companies to proceed with caution or risk trampling Burmese citizens' rights. GO

Chilean Anti-Corruption Resource: A Crowdsourced Database of Social and Political Connections

In countries where a small minority of social circles have a majority of the political and economic power, personal relationships can affect major decision-making, a serious concern of anti-corruption activists. A new web platform stores personal profiles of key players in Chilean business and politics, complete with biographies and personal and professional connections through family, education, social circles, employers and coworkers, to make tracking social relationships and conflict-of-interest easier. Called Poderopedia (from the Spanish word for power), the project sounds kind of like LinkedIn, but the creation and management of profiles is being crowdsourced out to journalists, activists and concerned citizens.

Middle Eastern Telecom Accused of Working With Saudi Arabia to Spy on Citizens

Mobily, an arm of the state-owned Middle Eastern telecom giant Etihad Etisalat, has been accused of working with Saudi Arabia to develop software that would allow the government to bypass protections for social media users. The exposé comes from Moxie Marlinspike (neé Matthew Rosenfield), an expert in a certain type of malicious Internet attack called MITM (man-in-the-middle), whereby attackers intercept and secretly alter private messages exchanged via email and other social media platforms. GO

Saudi Religious Leader Warns Twitter Users of Consequences in the Afterlife

In late March, Saudi Arabia's top religious cleric said Twitter was for clowns and corrupters. Earlier this week, he said anyone using social media, in particular Twitter, “has lost this world and the afterlife.” His comments might be laughable, if they did not come at a time when the Saudi government is looking into monitoring or blocking social media sites and eliminating user anonymity.

Female Organizer of Pakistan's First Hackathon Stresses Collaboration Over Competition

After Pakistan banned Valentine's Day this year, Sabeen Mahmud started an online protest in which people uploaded photos to mock the government ban. In the weeks following she received death threats and menacing phone calls, and early on she had to stay home from work. That did nothing, however, to keep her from further organizing. Last month, the café she started in Karachi hosted Pakistan's first ever hackathon, which tackled problems including sanitation, crime, disaster management, and education. She even invited a government representative to observe the initial conversations, tackling sensitive areas like government inefficiency and elections.

Are Syria's Internet Outages Increasing in Frequency?

At 3:30 Wednesday morning, Jim Cowie received an automated text message: Syria's Internet was down, again. The eight hour outage today was the second Internet blackout in Syria since the start of May, and the fourth since last November. Many have speculated the blackouts are a result of deliberate government interference, but there is no consensus as to why and indeed no concrete evidence one way or the other.

Chinese Netizens Use Digital Initiative to Gain Media Attention for Unsolved Poisoning Case

Last month a medical science student at a Shanghai university died from poisoning, allegedly murdered by his roommate. The specifics of the crime echoed a case from the mid-1990s, in which a 19-year-old student was poisoned with thallium. That case has once again been thrown into the media spotlight, but after 18 years the media has changed and the spotlight means a trending hashtag on Sina Weibo or an online petition to the U.S. President.

PDF France 2013: “Au Code, Citoyens!”

This year PDF France will take place in Paris on June 13, with the theme "Au Code, Citoyens!" ("To Code, Citizens!") The speakers' lineup includes some of the continent's leaders in the digital revolution. GO

Tools to Keep Independent Media Online in Hostile Environments

Websites and media outlets in developing countries or countries with corrupt or repressive regimes struggle daily to fend off hacker attacks, some from their own government — like the Malaysian news portal Sarawak Report, which techPresident reported was taken down in April by sustained denial-of-service attacks. The negative attention controversial reporting draws can scare local advertisers away as well, making it difficult for a media company to support itself. Media Frontiers offers two services to websites dealing with either of those problems.

Ahead of September Elections, German Pirate Party Picks Its Platform

The German Pirate Party held its election year convention over the weekend and approved its party platform, following lengthy debate over the role that online decision-making should have within the party, as German news sources reported and the party outlined on its own web platforms. GO

Peruvians Petition their President to Stick Up for their Digital Rights

Peru’s civil society advocacy groups have started an online petition outlining their ‘non-negotiable’ demands for digital rights and freedom of speech. The campaign was prompted by the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Lima, Peru, will soon host the 17th round of secretive TPP trade talks, which will take place from May 15 – 24.

Online and On Foot, UN Collects Input On New Development Goals

The United Nations is crowdsourcing input on the global development goals that will shape international policies – and the ebb and flow of billions of dollars in aid money – for up to fifteen years. The new development plan will replace the Millennium Development Goals when they expire in 2015. More than half a million people have participated in the crowdsourcing project. GO

In Jakarta, Open Environmental Data Meets Freedom of Information Law

At a recent meeting of environmental advocates, a new idea emerged: that open access to environmental data should become an international standard. David Eaves writes that this is a signal that the open data movement is growing up. GO

Bulgaria Employs Online Tools to Ensure Safe and Fair Elections

While some activists threaten violence in the run up to Bulgaria’s upcoming election on May 12, others have created online tools to help inform voters and safeguard the electoral process.

How to Jump the Great Firewall of China (UPDATED)

As the Chinese government's censorship tools becomes increasingly refined, Internet users have learned to circumvent the Great Firewall. Their primary circumvention technique is to use the same networks as government agencies and major businesses. GO

Pakistanis Take Refuge in Social Media Campaigning Before Election

In the days leading up to Pakistan’s general election on May 11, politicians from the three major secular parties have been forced, by violent attacks on political rallies that have caused more than a hundred deaths, to stop holding political events in public areas. Instead, they have come to rely on Facebook and Twitter as a campaign platform. GO

Internet You Can Actually Stick in a Suitcase

More than six months after Hurricane Sandy knocked Verizon’s landlines and Internet service out of commission, there are New Yorkers still waiting for their Internet to come back online. While a rarity in the States, unreliable access is not so uncommon in developing countries. A new device from Ushahidi hopes to solve that problem. GO

In South Africa, Organizers Combine Old and New Media to Take on Corruption

Civil society organizers engage South Africans in the fight against corruption by employing both an old and new media awareness strategy about the gravity of this issue. GO

New Web Platform Allows Students in Kenya, Uganda to Report Corrupt Professors

Students in Kenyan and Ugandan universities now have an outlet to anonymously report professors and university personnel for corrupt activities or ineffective and lazy work. GO

Mapping Violence Against Journalists, Social Media Users and Bloggers in Mexico

In a country where 87 journalists have been killed and 17 have disappeared since 2000, a new crowdsourced map offers a safe way to report and record attacks against journalists, bloggers, Facebook and Twitter users. A combined effort between Freedom House and the International Center for Journalists, as of May 3 the map already had 48 reports. Reports included physical, judicial, psychological and digital attacks.

Google Follows UN Lead In Recognizing Palestine

Palestinian Googlers might have noticed something different about their search engine homepage on Thursday. Google has changed the subheading of the Palestinian edition, Google.ps, from the “Palestinian Territories” to “Palestine.” This acknowledgement by the search giant follows the United Nations decision in November 2012 to recognize Palestine as a non-member state, in spite of objections by the US and Israel.

Now On YouTube: Indigenous Groups Burst Into Brazil’s Congress to Protest Land Rights Bill

After waiting an entire day for an audience with Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies to discuss a controversial bill, hundreds of aboriginal Brazilians bypassed security guards and burst into the session. The disruption was caught live on the Chamber of Deputies TV channel, and later posted on YouTube. A political journalist posted a second, shakier video that shows confusion and chaos during the protest.

Iraq Shuts Down Aljazeera and 9 Other TV News Channels

The Iraqi government has banned eight television news stations from broadcasting in the country, accusing them of inciting sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. GO

IBM Optimizes Ivory Coast Bus Routes by Mining Mobile Phone Data

Cell phone data might be the next indispensable resource for urban planners. Mining mobility data from 2.5 billion call records, a team of IBM researchers identified modifications to bus routes in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, which could slash travel time up to 10 percent. GO

Canada's Liberal Party Holds Online Primaries While Security Experts Scowl

Canada’s federal Liberal party elected a new leader last week. And for the first time in the party's history, the voting took place online. Justin Trudeau, the telegenic son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Canada's most famous leader, won in a landslide with over 80 per cent of the vote. But online voting critics say that despite the decisive results, the Internet remains an unsafe place to cast your vote. GO

Google Launches Mobile Micropayments in Africa

Google just announced the launch of rebranded electronic payment system BebaPay in Kenya, home to the popular and successful mobile money system M-Pesa. With the BebaPay card, Google tackles the notoriously chaotic bus system in Kenya. The BebaPay card standardizes fares and provides riders with receipts, protecting them from unscrupulous conductors charging hiked up fares or not providing change. And it costs consumers next to nothing: the card is free and there are no transaction fees, although cell phone operators can charge to transfer money to the card. With all those perks, many are asking, “What’s the catch?”

Canada Post Contests Open Data in the Courts

Last year Canada Post filed a lawsuit against a website specializing in geocoding in the US and Canada for offering a free online database of copyrighted Canadian postal codes. They recently updated their claims to include allegations that Geolytica, the company that owns geocoder.ca, has infringed on their trademark on the phrases “postal code” and “code postale.”

Hi-Tech Pooper Scoopers: Sanitation Hackathon Winners Announced

The World Bank has announced the three winners of the Sanitation Hackathon and App Challenge, which techPresident covered last December when the Hackathon took place in cities across the globe. The sanitation crisis affects approximately 2.5 billion people who live without access to toilets. That statistic is all the more staggering when compared to the number of people who do not have access to a cell phone – only one billion. That statistic in part inspired the decision to leverage mobile technology towards helping alleviate the global sanitation crisis.

To Protest Judge's Sentence, Iranians Launch Viral Feminist Campaign on Facebook

On April 15, police paraded a convicted criminal dressed in traditional Kurdish women’s clothing through the streets of Marivan, Iran, in accordance with a judge’s sentence. A local feminist organization, the Marivan Women’s Community, found the sentence humiliating to Kurdish women, and organized a protest. The protest moved online to a Facebook page with the tagline: “Being a woman is not humiliating and should not be considered punishment.” Overnight, the page garnered 3,800 fans. One week later, it now has more than 10,000 fans. The protest has prompted 17 members of Iran’s parliament to sign a letter to the Justice Ministry calling the punishment “humiliating to Muslim women.”

New App Detects Polluted Water

A new dongle for smartphones can be used to crowdsource a clean water project out to concerned citizens worldwide. The Mobosens dongle senses water quality and sends the information to the cloud where it is stored, aggregated and mapped. Users can also post and share data on social media, which adds to both the collective knowledge and the all-important awareness of an area’s water quality.

Mobile Banking Outpaces Traditional Banking in Kenya

Kenya’s mobile networks last year collectively held more in deposits than the country’s largest bank. The telecoms regulator CCK reported the mobile networks held Sh226 billion ($2.70 billion) in deposits at the end of last year while the largest commercial bank held Sh223 billion ($2.66 billion). The report said the number of mobile money transfer subscribers grew to 21.1 million from 19.3 million in the previous period, a growth of 9.4 percent.

Harnessing the Power of Cell Phones for Education in India

You might know by now the widely publicized fact that Indian’s are more likely to have access to a cell phone than to a toilet, a troubling fact previously explored on techPresident. India has surpassed the US and UK to become the world’s second largest cell phone market, and the fastest growing, boasting more than six million new subscribers every month. A recent study conducted in Hyderabad, India, turned up data specific to young students, which the researchers hope can be focused toward creating effective mobile learning platforms.

Denmark to Close Down on Openness in Government Administration

A clear majority of Danish parliamentarians supports the new Freedom of Information Act, which would increase the right of government to keep internal documents and correspondence between members of the legislative and executive branches of government secret from the public. The law could prevent the media from exposing political scandals. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and it is the civil servant culture. GO

Occupy Nigeria Documentary: Banned by Censors, Viral on YouTube

A documentary about the removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria, which drove the cost of living up, the quality life down and kicked off the Occupy Nigeria protests, went viral after being banned by the Nigerian authorities. The film “Fuelling Poverty” premiered in December 2012 and the director Ishaya Bako then submitted it to Nigeria’s National Film and Video Censors Board for approval. On April 8, the board responded by letter, banning the documentary and prohibiting Bako from distributing it independently. It now has almost 55,000 views on YouTube and on April 20, in spite of the ban, organizers of the African Movie Academy Awards voted it Best Documentary.

Google’s Eric Schmidt on the Future Digital Police State

When Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt traveled to North Korea in January, techPresident picked up on his daughter’s astonishing observations of a staged photo-op of students “engaging” with the Internet. They took the trip as part of his research for the book “The New Digital Age,” co-written with Jared Cohen, which goes on sale Tuesday. Schmidt and Cohen elaborated on their experience in a long Wall Street Journal essay this past weekend. They concluded that, while the Internet is not an incorruptible, unimpeachable force of good, “no country is worse off because of the Internet.”

Russian Anti-Corruption Activist, Blogger Aleksei Navalny on Trial for Corruption

In four years Aleksei Navalny went from being an unknown adviser to a provincial governor to “the Kremlin’s public enemy No.1” and the center of an embezzlement trial. Through his LiveJournal blog and Twitter account Navalny exposed evidence of corruption in the United Russia party and became not only a popular activist but a prominent political opposition leader as well. If convicted – and Russia has a 99 percent conviction rate – he faces ten years in prison and, as a convict, he would be prevented from running for office. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Bill Keller called it “the most important political trial in Russian in decades.”

Chechen Leader Issues Statement on Suspected Boston Bombers Via Instagram

Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian and eccentric 36 year-old leader of Chechnya, has issued a statement regarding the Tsarnaev brothers, ethnic Chechens who are suspected of committing the Boston Marathon bombings. Kadyrov published his statement on Instagram. GO

Venezuelan Man Detained For Posting "Destabilizing" Photo On Facebook

Following the presidential election in Venezuela, a government agency detained a man on April 16 for allegedly spreading photographs of burning ballots. The Interior and Justice Ministry accused twenty-two year old Daniel Andres Rondón Sayago of sharing the pictures with “destabilizing intentions.” The Minister for Information announced the detainment via Tweet.

With Bloggers in Mind, Bangladeshi Islamist Group Demands Law Against Blasphemy

A radical pro-Islam group has demanded the Bangladesh government introduce a new blasphemy law in order to suppress a growing number of “atheist bloggers.” However, four bloggers have already been arrested for posting “anti-religious” statements on their blogs. Among the arrested is the award-winning blogger Asif Mohiuddin. His blog and the three others were taken down by the hosting platform, Somewhereinblog.net, after operators received takedown requests from the Bangladesh government.

French Ministers Disclose Country Homes and Cars on New Website

French government ministers and the French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault are now publishing a list of their assets on a special government website. The news comes just weeks after Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac resigned following a report on an investigative French website, Mediapart, that he had an undeclared Swiss bank account. GO

Verboice: New Tool for Social Outreach in Cambodia

Social outreach organizations including the Women’s Media Centre of Cambodia and Better Factories Cambodia have begun using Verboice to reach communities otherwise cut off by literacy or technological barriers – lack of mobile support of local dialects, for example. It has been used to give women and children on demand health information, to increase access to reproductive and sexual health services, and to monitor working conditions in garment factories.

Measuring Net Freedom and “Outrage” to Predict Next Arab Spring

While many have extolled the use of the Internet and social media in particular as a positive, democratic, organizing force in recent revolutions and turned to the web as both a tool for revolution and for predicting revolution, others say repressive regimes can effectively squash online activism. The ICT (Information and Communications Technology) for Development blog tried to predict where the next major revolution might take place by using indexes that measure Internet freedoms, autocracy and repression, and ICT development. They pitted constraint against outrage using the Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net score, The Economist Democracy Index, and the ITU’s ICT Development Index, and came up with two versions of The Revolution 2.0 Index.

A Technological Spring in the South Caucasus

Riven by ethnic conflict and destabilized by geopolitics, the year ahead might prove to be a tumultuous one in the three South Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Armenia held its presidential election in February but is still experiencing ongoing protests. Now eyes are already starting to focus on its two neighbors, which will hold their elections in the autumn. In 2013, with Internet penetration continuing to increase, new tools are playing a significant role in mobilizing citizens and in monitoring potential outbreaks of violence. GO

Japanese Court Orders Google Censor Search Algorithm

A Japanese court has ordered Google change autocomplete results that one man complains associate his name with defamatory phrases. When Google users type in the plaintiff's name, the search engine autofills criminal acts the man asserts he never committed. The plaintiff claimed that these search results caused him to lose his job.

Closing the Job Gap in Tanzania with Online Courses in IT Skills

Coursera and the World Bank have teamed up in Tanzania to use MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) to teach students market-relevant IT skills and reduce the gap between job openings and skilled workers. A World Bank blog explains employers in Tanzania complain too many jobs go unfilled because job seekers lack the specific, necessary skills, especially in IT and ICT. The World Bank thinks Coursera could play an important part in a new and improved education system.

Can Tech Solve African Agriculture's Four Big Problems?

A recent BBC article highlighted three of the tech-heavy startups trying to change the game in Africa's agriculture sector, including a franchise that gives farmers access to higher quality products, a crop insurance scheme that makes it easier for farmers to get credit, and a SMS service through which farmers can check market prices and coordinate with other farmers to buy supplies in bulk. As observed in the article, these tech solutions try to leapfrog over basic infrastructure problems – like bad roads and inefficient communications. Considering the fact that 80 percent of the arable land in Africa is not being used, tech has an awful lot to make up for.

Mapping Initiative Provides Visualization of Infrastructure Disruptions in Syria

Following months of serious Internet disruptions in Syria, including a total Internet blackout that most experts blamed on the Syrian government, the Canadian foundation SecDev launched a website to monitor such reported disruptions to critical infrastructure including Internet, telecommunication, electricity and water, and reported cyber threats in the hopes of increasing Syrian's online safety. The project relies on crowdsourced reporting and extensive monitoring of Syrian social media. Teaming up with Ushahidi, SecDev will create visualizations in the form of maps and timelines of reports of interruptions to the country's infrastructure.

Alternative Radio Stations For Malaysian Opposition Assert Cyber Attack by Government

The owner of anti-government Malaysian media outlets based in Britain says they have been the victims of cyber attacks designed to shut them down. Radio Free Malaysia, Radio Free Sarawak and the news portal Sarawak Report have reported being targeted by DDoS (denial-of-service) attacks for weeks. Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the founder of all three news outlets, asserts that the Malaysian government is behind the attacks. In a press release she announced that on April 10th the Sarawak Report was targeted by 64 million hits and the sister sites were similarly attacked; on April 11 the sites finally shut down. GO

Estonian President Submits Crowdsourced Proposals to Parliament

This Tuesday, April 9, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of the Republic of Estonia presented the parliament with 16 proposals generated by civilians though the online platform Rahvakogu, or People's Assembly. As he handed the proposals over, Ilves requested that legislators take them seriously. The proposals cover topics related to Estonia’s electoral laws, political party laws, such a party financing, and civil participation. As opposed to other ongoing solicitations for citizen-generated proposals and feedback, the Citizen’s Initiative Act in Finland for example, People’s Assembly will apparently be a one-time housekeeping event not a necessary permanent institution. GO

Latvians Create their Own Parliamentary Bills Online

The social initiative platform ManaBalss — "my voice" — offers Latvian citizens the opportunity to get directly involved in their government. Already, ManaBalss points out, two new laws have been passed because of this initiative. This might be a turning point for Latvia, which generally has one of the lowest levels of political engagement and trust in government in the European Union. According to the New York Times, until recently Latvia’s “national politics were largely controlled by a handful of business tycoons…and who are said to have chosen Latvia’s last president in a secret meeting in a zoo. GO

New Tactics in Fight Against Corruption Include Crowdsourcing, Mobile Games and SMS

Transparency International has awarded grants to its chapters implementing new solutions in their anti-corruption activism – from playing a game to learn about corruption to sending a SMS to report an incident. The projects emphasize increasing public awareness and in most cases rely on individuals taking initiative. GO

Geeks Gather for India's First Government Sponsored Hackathon

The Indian government held its first ever official hackathon on April 6 and 7. The event, which took place at 10 educational institutions across the country, was organized to communicate the 12^th five-year-plan, India's strategic and economic plan, to the public. More than 1,900 participants collaborated on apps and infographics, tackling problems such as healthcare opportunities and the difficulties faced by farmers. GO

The View From Inside Cuba's Not-So-Worldwide Web

The “Palacio Central de Computacion” lies in the heart of central Havana, amid battered monuments and the crumbling shells of grand hotels. Despite its “palace” billing, the design of the squat blue two-story building recalls its origins as a pre-revolution Sears box store. At the entrance, a government employee sits at a desk, with two uniformed guards standing by. No, she states firmly, foreigners may not enter the facility, and no, photographs are not permitted. What are those intent young Cubans doing at the desktops behind her? “Computing,” she answers, that is, writing school essays and emails to their Cuban friends on the Cuban “Intranet.” GO

Why Were Kenya's Elections Peaceful? Technology Provides Only a Partial Explanation

When Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga graciously conceded to his opponent, incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta, during a Saturday television broadcast that followed a long court battle, the country breathed a sigh of relief. Fears that Kenya would spiral into crisis, as it did after the 2007 presidential elections, did not materialize. In marked contrast to the terrible violence of the last time, this post-electoral transfer of power was, with the exception of isolated incidents, peaceful. GO

Anonymous Breaches North Korea's Intranet, Pledges to Flood it with Kittens

As North Korea's nuclear rhetoric continues to escalate, last night hackers claiming to be from the group Anonymous broke through to the nation’s cloistered Intranet, hacking into government Twitter and Flickr accounts and several websites. 

Crowdscouring to Cut Traffic Congestion in Nairobi

Traffic congestion is a major issue in many large African cities, with commuters spending hours a day on clogged thoroughfares. The Kenyan capital of Nairobi is home to some of the worst traffic not only on the continent, but also in the world, with gridlock so unmoving that you can, on occasion, sleep in the middle of the road.

Is This the End of Iceland's Crowdsourced Constitution?

When Iceland faced a fiscal catastrophe in 2008, residents took to the streets with pots and pans to demand change from the government.  Leaders in the country took the spirit of the crowd to heart. In 2011, Iceland announced that it would be crowdsourcing its next constitution, an effort that ultimately resulted in a full draft bill.  Yet amid Iceland’s election season and the turmoil to determine the country’s future, the crowdsourced constitution has now been effectively scrapped. 

Controversy Over Egyptian Comedian Facing Gov't Prosecution Morphs into a Twitter War

When the Egyptian prosecutor's office summoned a famous comedian and political satirist for questioning, accusing him of insulting the president and Islam, a war of words ensued on Twitter. On one side was the U.S. State Department, in the form of the U.S. embassy in Cairo, squaring off against the Egyptian president's office and Ikhwanweb, the Muslim Brotherhood's official media wing, which has an active Twitter account. On the sidelines ordinary 'netizens queued up to cheer and jeer. GO

In Cameroon, a Crowdsourced Site for Local Listings

As tech innovation continues to heat up in Africa from Ethiopia to Zambia, homegrown social enterprise has African developers and entrepreneurs delivering solutions to their communities. In the case of a crowdsourced online listing service form Cameroon, innovation is being driven by collaboration with everyday citizens.

China Gets an Apology from Apple

In response to an aggressive Chinese media campaign that denounced their iPhone warranty policy last month, Apple has issued an apology to consumers.  Official state broadcasts reported that Chinese customers seeking to replace damaged phones were given second-hand devices, a practice that does not exist in European or American markets. 

Russian State Regulation - and Censorship - of the Internet Begins in Earnest

Though around 50 percent of the population remains offline, Russian users make up the largest Internet presence in Europe.  There were 67 Russians people online last April, and projections have that number rising to over 90 million by this year.  Yet as the Russian web has grown, so have attempts to rein it in.  Now Russian leadership under Vladimir Putin has made a first major step towards centralized state control of the Internet, by acting on new legislation that will allow the government to selectively censor online content. 

How Open Is China's Homegrown "Open-Source" Initiative?

China is not the first emerging power to see open source as a way to enhance its autonomy and diminish the leverage of foreign stakeholders. Brazil has which began to aggressively invest in and implement open source solutions around 2003, also saw it as a strategic choice. Yes, reducing software costs of government played a role, but it too wanted to boost the develop its IT sector - which it sees as being strategically important - as well as reduce its dependency on American software companies. The question of course, is how effective will these strategies be? GO

Viennese Transport Authority to Release Transit Data in Response to Online Petition

The Viennese Transit Authority Wiener Linien announced Friday that it will make its transit data available to third parties this summer after coming under pressure from an online petition started by two developers. GO

Tribal Leader Uses Maptivism and Mobile to Improve Life in the Brazilian Rainforest

Forty years ago, the once-isolated Surui people of the western Brazilian rainforest were suffering with the consequences of contact with modern society.  Over the past several decades, the tribe has been threatened by disease, substance abuse, and the threat of deforestation on their ancestral land.  Yet today, an advanced technological agenda is helping to revive and preserve the Surui way of life, under the leadership of a tribal chief with a long-term vision for ecological and cultural preservation.

Blackouts in Cambodia Spark Online Demands for Explanation

As the dry winter season interferes with hydroelectric power production in Cambodia, the capital city of Phnom Penh has been facing rolling, unpredictable blackouts.   Now, an urban mapping platform has taken up a campaign to understand when and where in the city the outages are happening, and to make the government answerable to residents who are living in the dark. 

In the Aftermath of Major Snowstorm, Crowdmapping the Recovery Effort in Ukraine

Last week, a state of emergency was declared in Ukraine when a freak blizzard brought down nearly a month’s worth of snowfall over just 24 hours.  The storm shut down major thoroughfares during the afternoon commute on Friday in the capital city of Kiev, and caused power outages in hundreds of municipalities in the northwest region of the country. As the government struggles to restore transportation and infrastructure, a volunteer effort is crowdmapping information on shelters and other resources for storm victims – offered, in many cases, by an informal corps of citizen aid workers.

As the Internet Raises Civic Voices In Cambodia, a Struggle Brews Over Net Control

Citizen media, spread through the Internet, are becoming increasingly important in Cambodian civil society. But as people begin to make use of the newfound ease with which they can find and spread information, activists worry that the government is preparing a strategy to reinstitute social control. Officials in Cambodia, a relatively liberal state for the region, are eager to court foreign investment. They recognize the utility of the Internet for development and international commerce. And they also appear to see the threat too-free access to information might pose to unchecked government power. Cambodia today is a case study in how government and civil society wrestle for leverage in the Internet-age developing world. GO

North Korea Revokes 3G Internet Service for Foreign Visitors

North Korea's brief foray into 3G Internet service, exclusively intended for tourists, has ended as of this week. A relaxation of strict prohibitions against mobile devices for foreign visitors in this winter was followed by the opening of the country’s data network in February. Officials in the country have now announced they will terminate the service, as tensions escalate on the Korean peninsula. GO

International Sanitation Hackathon Finalists Announced

Over one weekend last December, programmers in 40 cities across six continents took part in a simultaneous effort to develop tech-based solutions to sanitation problems. 1,100 participants in the World Bank-organized International Sanitation Hackathon ultimately developed 30 new apps, addressing issues from public defecation to inadequate menstruation resources to sewage disposal.  Last week the World Bank announced the top ten finalists. 

Top Saudi Cleric Calls Twitter "Corrupt," As Government Plans to Monitor Chat Services

Of all the Middle Eastern countries that have been touched by the Arab Spring, Saudi Arabia is known as one of the few where social media discourse has flourished, with Saudis from all walks of life sharing their experiences in the country on sites like Twitter, often under their own names.  That relatively open landscape may become more limited, after recent online outcry related to the criminal trials of several major political activists has brought forth a heated response from religious leaders and governmental officials.

The Chinese Government is Running A Smear Campaign Against Apple

Foxconn, the corporation that operates massive manufacturing plants for American-branded gadgets in China, reported a 16 percent profit increase for 2012 today, raising hopes that working conditions and wages will see more improvement for 1.2 million employees.  Apple, proprietor of iPhones and iPads and perhaps Foxconn’s best-known client internationally, has been at the center of a Chinese media firestorm over the past two weeks.  Yet the focus of accusations against Apple hasn’t been the people working the factory floors.  State media has now taken up arms against the company’s mistreatment of Chinese consumers.

Finnish Parliament Must Vote on Citizens' Petition for Same Sex Marriage Law

Over the course of a single day last week, Finnish advocates of equal marriage rights gathered 50,000 signatures for a petition that proposes granting legal recognition to same sex couples. According to the Citizen's Initiative Act, a modification of the Finnish constitutionthat was passed last year, this is the minimum number of signatures required for a legislative vote: the proposal has therefore been submitted to parliament. GO

Spanish People's Party Hires Out Online Commenters to Toe the Party Line

Last month, a major political scandal in Spain came to a head when the media was prohibited from attending press conferences addressing payoffs and other financial corruption within the left-wing People's Party. Now new evidence has surfaced that regional People's Party of the Balaeric Islands - Spanish-owned Mediterranean territories which include Majorca, Minorca, and Ibiza - has been recruiting netizens to comment on online articles that contradict the party line. GO

techPresident is Hiring! Full-Time Assistant Editor/Writer Wanted for WeGov

We're looking for an enterprising and well-organized assistant editor to join our existing (and illustrious, hardworking and spunky) team in tracking and reporting on how technology is changing politics, government and civic life. GO

Where in the World is Eric Schmidt? This Week, Myanmar and India

After breaking ground for American corporate executives in North Korea this January (and taking his highly observant daughter along for the ride), Eric Schmidt is continuing his world tour of digitally repressive regimes this week.  Google’s executive chairman will visit Myanmar tomorrow, in the wake of the country’s first hesitant steps to Internet freedom.   Schmidt began his Southeast Asian trip with a pit stop in India yesterday, where the government has been pushing a tech agenda over the past year.

To Fund a Political Rally, French Politician Turns to the Crowd

Platforms like Kickstarter have gotten citizen activist movements off the ground around the world. Yet in Marseille, France, this week, a local official started a funding campaign for a political engagement rally in the city, in what may be the one of the first instances of a political office using a commercial crowdfunding site. GO

After Chavez, Social Media Picks Up for Venezuelan Politicians and Censors

Longtime Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may have passed away earlier this month, but that won’t silence his voice on social media.  Chavez’s official Twitter account, from which he last tweeted to 4 million-plus followers in February as he entered the hospital, will be reactivated as a platform for the leader’s thoughts and works, as state media announced last week.  Yet recent reports of social media censorship – including a woman whose computer was confiscated by the police – confirm that, in the aftermath of Chavez’s death, Venezuela is taking a hard line on online discourse. 

Israelis and Palestinians Launch Online Campaigns Ahead of Obama's Visit

With Barack Obama set to land in Israel tomorrow for his first official visit as president, Israelis and Palestinians have taken to the Internet to campaign for their causes and to express approval or disapproval of what the Israeli government has dubbed Operation Unbreakable Alliance . GO

In Russia, Independent YouTube Programming Lures Viewers Away from State TV

In Russia, state owned television's coverage of high profile cases and events has been losing credibility amongst educated, middle class viewers who see it as anodyne, patronizing or insufficiently critical. A notorious recent case of poor television reporting occurred with the prosecution of feminist collective punk band Pussy Riot. It was impossible to miss the strong difference between state-owned television’s coverage and analysis, versus the reporting offered by independent Russian programming on YouTube. GO

Open Academic Resources Offers Education Opportunities in Emerging Economies

The launch of the Research Data Alliance this week could have major implications for the future of the academic community, bridging major institutions and driving collaborative innovation.  Yet the benefits of world universities opening their gates are more lateral than vertical, strengthening ties within communities that are already educationally privileged.  How do developing countries stand to benefit from open knowledge projects?

Live in Google Hangout, One Indian Official Says Government's Participatory Democracy Effort is Elitist

India’s government has been embracing a high-tech strategy over the past year, with new online portals and open data initiatives aiming to democratize civic life.  Last Friday, a Google Hangout with members of the Government Planning Commission was emblematic of these efforts.  But some viewers expressed skepticism that undermined the impact of the conversation, alleging that some of the “spontaneous” citizen questioners in the hangout were government plans. One commission member denounced the event live on camera.

Open Science Breaks Down International Barriers for Researchers

Two decades ago, scientists at CERN in Switzerland were among the earliest non-military users of the World Wide Web, posting the first photo to what had been a purely text-based medium, among other innovations.  This week, an international group from the scientific community aims to set new precedents for the future of the Internet, with the launch of a major open data initiative for research and knowledge. 

Quebec's Language Laws Lead to "Pastagate"

The long-running language debate in a province where English-speakers are outnumbered by French-speakers, has recently reached new heights of absurdity against the backdrop of a proposed language law tabled by the province's separatist minority government. GO

After Karzai Speech, Afghans Call Out U.S. Journo's Analysis on Twitter

A Daily Beast article that was critical of Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier this week has sparked social media backlash from Afghanis, who say that the American author glossed over real political conditions in the country for the sake of an inflammatory argument. 

Open Data Day: Lessons for Hacktivists

Now in its third year, Open Data Day events is far bigger than we ever dared imagine. More interesting still is its impact, both expected and unexpected. GO

Mobile Health Initiatives Falling Short of a Cure

As more and more mobile initiatives for the developing world are announced to great fanfare, a backlash has risen asking when we’re going to see concrete effects. Yesterday, the New York Times’ Fixes column turned an eye to the realm of mobile health, looking at some of the reasons why social limitations can work against mobile innovations.

The US Military is Trying to Track Political Upheaval Via Social Media Content

Someone at South by Southwest may have already beaten them to programming drones to do the Harlem Shake, but the US military is still getting into memes.  An intelligence tool currently in development at the Office of Naval Research will track the spread of viral content online by actually treating it like a virus, using epidemiological models to predict how and where different ideas will emerge.

Lessons from Kenya's Election

A week out from the Kenyan election, a contested victory for Uhuru Kenyatta has summoned comparisons to the country’s 2007 ballot.  But this time around, political violence has been largely absent in the public’s response to the results.  The 2013 election may be better known for its technical difficulties. 

Alec Ross, Leaving State Department for Private Sector, Talks "21st-Century Statecraft"

State Department Senior Adviser for Innovation Alec Ross will leave government Tuesday and immediately start work on a new policy analysis and advisory shop to governments, investors, and other kinds of institutions — a company that plans to advise its clients on geopolitics in a globally networked world. In a protracted email exchange and a phone interview, Ross explained to techPresident where he thinks "21st-century statecraft" now stands and discussed his future plans. GO

Worldwide Email Flow Reveals Patterns of History

Social network analysis (SNA) has proven to be an effective tool for understanding how online behaviors relate to real-world societal conditions.  SNA of Twitter updates has given insight into information flow during natural disasters, as well as the organization and rhetoric of protest movements.  But what kind of patterns can be seen in pre-Web-2.0 communications? 

How Effective was Crisis Mapping During the 2011 Japan Earthquake?

The March 2011 earthquake in Japan had a debilitating impact on infrastructure, and took a devastating cost in human life. Response to the disaster and the road to recovery were aided significantly by a wide range of communications systems. As in many disaster situations before and since, several crisis-mapping efforts immediately took off, filling in information gaps for survivors and providing a picture to the international community.  Two years later, how useful were these maps to disaster response?

Finding Names of the Dead in Pakistan's Drone War

America's secret drone campaign in Pakistan's remote tribal areas is meant to target militants, but frequently kills civilian bystanders as well. The White House argues that the campaign is a necessary and effective means of fighting terror, while watchdog groups struggle to learn more about how and why American intelligence officials kill with "aerial vehicles." But both sides predicate their arguments on one deeply flawed assumption: That we cannot know the names of the dead. GO

Putin Signs the Order For Russian e-Petition Portal

Russian citizens will soon have their own e-petition portal, though they may not be able to demand the construction of a Death Star.  President Vladimir Putin signed an order earlier this week to create The Russian Public Initiative, a site will launch in April for e-petitions to the federal government, with regional and local petitions following later in the year.

For American IT Giants, A Mission to Burma

After nearly 30 years of U.S. government imposed sanctions, several American information technology firms sent delegates on a trade visit to Burma (Myanmar), for the first time in the Internet age.  Facilitated by USAID, the US companies – including Google, Microsoft, HP, Intel, and Cisco – convened with the Burmese Chamber of Congress during an economic conference in Rangoon on February 25.  With Burma’s bid to join the Open Government Partnership looming, the meeting raises questions of a military regime’s ability to foster government accountability and transparency. GO

#KenyaDecides, 140 Characters at a Time [Storify] -- UPDATED

Votes are still being tallied for the 2013 Kenya elections, a ballot that has been characterized far more by open and civil discourse than the violence that marred the fallout from the presidential race in 2007. GO

Rocked by a Corruption Scandal, Spain's Government Limits Media Access

It’s not an easy time to be a journalist in Spain.  Even as the country’s ongoing economic and unemployment woes continue, and a political scandal of unprecedented scale rocks all levels of government, trust in the press – and incentives to produce objective journalism – are at an all-time low. 

How Open Data Is Changing The Way Vancouver Shelters Its Homeless

Last month, seemingly out of nowhere, the Province of British Columbia announced it would spend $1 million (in Canadian dollars) to address health and safety violations in a number of the single resident occupancy (SRO) buildings it owns in Vancouver. The reason...? Open data. GO

Will Mobile Banking Empower Women, or Just Telecoms?

In many developing economies, while men earn wages outside the household, women are often acting behind the scenes as the money managers at home.  Yet a recent study found that mobile banking and financial services, which have gotten a lot of press as solutions for bringing economic empowerment to citizens in developing nations, has largely passed over women who could be using them.  Could m-banking strengthen women’s financial practices and narrow the digital gender gap? Or will promoting it only line the pockets of telecom corporations?

Understanding the Global Digital Gender Gap

There are 200 million more men on the Internet than women, according to new figures from the International Telecommunication Union, and the gender gap is even wider in the developing world. Worldwide Internet usage by men currently stands at 1.5 billion, with women users at 1.3 billion. In developing nations, 16 percent fewer women than men are online, as opposed to 2 percent in the developed world. The figures come from the ITU's World in 2013 report on information technology use, released on day three of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday. GO

EU Court to Determine if People Googling Themselves Have the Right to Censor Search Results

If an Internet user sees that their reputation is getting tarnished online, should they have the right to request that the data be removed from search results?  That’s the premise of a case from Spain that the European Court of Justice will be deliberating over the next several months, after the country’s highest court ruled that Google was responsible for the spread of the harmful information. 

Code of Conduct for SMS Disaster Response Presented to Mobile World Congress

The Mobile World Congress is taking place in Barcelona this week, with mobile providers from around the world presenting strategies for proliferating and monetizing new technologies.  Yet as mobile’s reach extends far beyond the realm of the basic phone call, forming a fundamental part of the information infrastructure in developing nations, the humanitarian sector is also on display.  Yesterday, the Disaster Response Program from GSMA presented a Code of Conduct for SMS use during disaster response, hoping to address the mobile industry’s growing role in humanitarian crisis management.    

A Russian Meteor, Press Freedom, and the "New Westphalian Web"

When a meteor appeared over the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, it did more than shatter windows and turn heads. The blast — and videos of the meteor taken by the many Russians who carry cameras as protection against more pedestrian hazards like car accidents or corrupt public officials — also rained shrapnel over the debate around music, TV and movie intellectual property in the digital age, linking it once again with questions about what press freedom means in what many think is, or should be, a borderless Internet. GO

In Syria, Can Crowdmapping Technology Help Women Under Siege Find Justice?

Human rights organizers utilize crowdmapping technology for the first time in history to document sexualized violence in Syria’s ongoing war. GO

Low Price Smartphones Dominate the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

The 2013 Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona today, with representatives from over two hundred countries congregating to see what the next year will bring in apps, hardware, and initiatives.  With mobile firmly in place as primary communication platform of the developing world, the focus now turns to bringing next-generation technologies into the hands of these millions of subscribers, by creating cheaper smartphones. 

Social Networks Show Political Ambivalence Ahead of Philippine Elections

Filipinos will be heading to the polls for midterm elections in May, with senators and representatives from districts around the country set to be selected for the Sixteenth Congress of the Philippines.  Yet even as the two major political parties campaign for rule of the legislature, it turns out that their base supporters may not be that different – raising questions of the strength of the party system. 

In Bangkok Governor's Race, Social Media Acts as a Populist Poll

Bangkok residents will elect a new governor on March 3. This election cycle, more Thai voters are getting their information about candidates from social media than ever before. Could observing the chatter around the elections replace traditional polling methods, as a means of predicting the outcome of the elections? GO

In South Korea, Activists Say Transparency Must Catch Up to Technology

South Korea is one of the most wired societies in the world, but its civil society is weak, the result of decades of military rule. Censorship is common, as are government attempts to limit digital freedom of expression. With help from Google, Creative Commons and the free culture movement, democracy activists are hoping transparency can match technology. GO

On Social Media, Chinese Citizens Challenge Officials to Swim in Polluted Rivers

When the smog crisis in China escalated last month, even the tight-lipped state media broke down and joined the widespread complaints across social media that the government wasn't doing enough to curb industrial pollution.  A month later, netizens are mobilizing again; and this time they are directly confronting state officials about the country’s thousands of polluted waterways.  

In Slovakia, Student Developers Open Up the Court System

When two Slovak computer science students couldn’t easily access the information they were looking for about court decisions on the Department of Justice website, they built a solution that made their search easier.  The dataset they created from information about 400,000 rulings since 1997 could be a model for open government practices in eastern Europe. 

Spaniards Demand Prime Minister's Resignation with Change.org Petition

"I demand the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the calling of elections, as well as the resignation of any member of the People's Party named in the documents who holds office publicly or in the party." That's not an opposition leader speaking but more than a million Spanish citizens who signed a petition on Change.org as a reaction to an unprecedented corruption scandal involving the highest ranks of the government. GO

With #Shahbag, Bangladesh Protest Movement Blows Up on Twitter

Protests in Bangladesh are ongoing this week in the aftermath of the February 5 ruling that sentenced politician Abdul Quader Mollah to life in prison.  Bangladeshis who believe Mollah should have received a death sentence for his role in carrying out atrocities during the 1971 civil war have taken to the streets in outcry.  The center of activity has been the Shahbag neighborhood in the capital city of Dhaka, an area that has now given its name to the online movement and discussion around the protests. 

Hacking Cities With Open Data and Minecraft

I'm excited about how a new set of low cost tools — Minecraft and open data — seem to be increasing the opportunity space for people to rethink their city. GO

In Lima, Peru, The Digital Public Square is a Work in Progress

When the municipality of Lima, Peru launched The Metropolitano, an urban initiative aimed at solving the city's myriad public transportation woes, a local NGO came up with a platform aimed at enhancing civic participation by aggregating citizens' concerns and forwarding them to the authorities while the project was still in the planning stages. Sounds like a great idea, right? But along the way to civic engagement, the NGO discovered the fatal flaw that needs to be resolved if initiatives like theirs and other, similar projects around the world are to succeed. GO

Can Social Software Change the World? Loomio Just Might

After nearly fifty years of development and roughly twenty years of mass adoption, the Internet hasn't created many truly useful tools for groups. We may live in the age of "ridiculously easy group formation," but if you've spent any time as part of a group, you know that all the most popular internet tools --email, list-servs, blogs, chats, and wikis --basically suck at group coordination. None of these tools are built to make it easy for large groups to make decisions together. But a new upstart from New Zealand called Loomio, born in the fertile ashes of the Occupy movement, may have cracked the code. GO

Social Media Has Been a Mixed Blessing for the Arab Spring

Two years ago, social media was the star of the Arab Spring. Today it is still important, but there is ample evidence to support the theory that it is also harmful. GO

Nigerian Volunteers Google Map their Capital, Despite Some Local Skepticism

Reports have been coming in from the Google Map Maker initiative that was held in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja late last month, with Nigerians celebrating the project’s potential to improve commerce, navigability, and even public safety.  GO

How Mobile Can Hold Government Accountable for Clean Water Failures

National Geographic’s online series Digital Diversity is back this week with a report from the Aquaya Institute, a nonprofit research and consulting group working on public health issues in the global water crisis.   The UN may have announced last spring that 89% of the global population now has access to improved water sources, yet for thousands these sources remain unreliable, and, in many cases, still unsanitary or unsafe.  While building the infrastructure to enhance the water supply can be a long process, spreading knowledge about whether a source is drinkable is one simple solution. 

Secret Raytheon Software is a Search Engine For Spying on Social Media Activity

Earlier this week The Guardian broke the news that US-based defense contractor and security firm Raytheon has developed software over the past two years that can comprehensively track activity across social media platforms.  Across the web, people have weighed in on how this “Google for spies” will affect the future of surveillance – and the US government’s infiltration of the lives of foreign citizens. 

For Kenyans Living Abroad, Election Season Brings Frustrations

Kenya’s first-ever presidential debate reached a worldwide audience on Monday night, nearly eclipsing the Pope’s resignation as top Twitter trend as eight candidates for the country’s highest office addressed key issues at stake in the March 4 election. Among the most active participants in the online discussion were members of the 3.5 million-strong Kenyan diaspora. For Kenyans living abroad, the success of the debate is a point of great pride.  Yet as election season progresses, many diasporans remain frustrated at not having a voice in the political process – even as their activism benefits Kenyans at home. 

In the Digital Age, An Unmapped Place Becomes a Forgotten Place

Today’s digital maps can showcase a world of hyperlocal data and history; as of this past month, even North Korea has been meticulously cataloged by Google Maps volunteers.  Yet while some locations maintain a robust digital presence – with Wikipedia, Google, and other geolocational initiatives reinforcing their virtual existence – blank spots on the world map can fall behind exponentially, running the risk for digital obscurity. 

Kenya's First-Ever Presidential Debate Became a Significant Social Media Event

Kenya held its first presidential debate in the country's history this Monday. Millions tuned in as candidates answered questions posed by moderators. In an interesting twist, the organizers selected both the moderators and the questions from suggestions submitted by ordinary citizens via social media platforms, SMS and email. GO

In Tiny Archipelago, Tensions Over the Future of Telecom

Tiny, disputed Pacific archipelagos have been in the news recently, with Japan bolstering online security against Chinese hacks related to the Japanese claim on the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.  Now another island chain is caught in a tug-of-war between several East Asian countries – and this time, the weapons of choice are mobile networks. 

CivicOpen: New Name, Old Idea

Here are a few things open government advocates should remember if they don't want their open-source efforts to repeat past failures. GO

Techies Gather in Port Au Prince for Haiti's First Hackathon

Computer science graduate student Richardson Ciguené describes Haiti's first hackathon with a play on a local term: "konbit technologie." “A konbit,” Ciguené explains, “is something that, in the countryside, where people live more off of the earth, they’re farmers, so they make a group. One day they work the field of one person, the next day they work the field of another person. They do that until everyone’s field is worked.”

The hackathon had the same core concept. It brought technologists and civil society workers together to start working on some of the nation's toughest problems. GO

On Social Media, the African Diaspora Redirects the Conversation on International Aid

When the much-hyped Kony 2012 campaign crashed and burned last year, it became a symbol of the misguided approach taken by many glamour causes in international development.  The story quickly became a laughingstock in the international media.  Yet even before one of the campaign’s directors was found running naked on the streets of San Diego, Ugandans and other Africans living in diaspora were engaged in a social media takedown of Kony 2012. 

For the First Time, Japan's Government Hosts a Hackathon

Japan’s recent strides in open data have displayed a growing interest in transparency from both citizens and public officials.  A hackathon held this past weekend shows that the government is already letting developers in on one high-level project: maintaining national security. 

Australian Police Turn to Twitter #Mythbusting During Floods

During natural disasters, social media can be an invaluable source of information – and misinformation.  The days leading up to Hurricane Sandy brought a digital flood of faked and misattributed photos of the storm to social networks. In times of crisis, false reports are easily circulated throughout a panicked population.  Yet the rapid proliferation of these rumors can be countered just as quickly on social networks. During Australia's flood-prone summer, law enforcement officials have been using a simple Twitter solution to curb the spread of disaster rumors. GO

What Can the TruthTeller App Do for Journalism?

The Washington Post has launched TruthTeller, a prototype tool that fact-checks online videos by lining up spoken words against verified information sources.  The implications are big for catching politicians and other public figures in real-time lies, but what other uses could TruthTeller – which was born out of a Knight Foundation grant – be put to for journalistic practice?

Can Technology and "Testimony" Prevent Violence in Kenyan Elections?

Community organizers, activists and civil society workers are hoping a mix of technology and on-the-ground organizing can stave off political violence around Kenya's upcoming elections. GO

YouTube Launches Dedicated Channel for Kenya Elections Coverage

Kenya’s most wired election season ever is in high gear, with one month to go until polls open.  Now Google, a leader in the burgeoning Kenyan tech sector, has expanded its Kenya Elections Hub site with a dedicated YouTube channel for election coverage. 

After Transforming Warfare, Drones Set to Enter the Domestic Scene

A lot of modern conveniences have shadowy military roots — think the Internet and the microwave oven – but could drones soon be making an appearance at backyard BBQs and small-town police stations near you? Lev Grossman writes in Time this week that a domestic drone future is on the horizon for the US — and that it may arrive before the government or civilians can work out the ethical and constitutional implications of their use. GO

The Wacky World of Authoritarian Regimes on Social Media

For many authoritarian states, social media can present the ultimate threat: anti-regime discourse and dissent from the party line. This hasn’t stopped many despots from taking to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. GO

Is This Japan's Year for Open Data?

Last summer, the Japanese government announced a new open data strategy, with the intention of connecting the country’s governmental, industrial, and academic sectors. Now Japan is set to have a record year for open data projects, with open government advocates leading the way. GO

A New Map Aims to Show Where the Well Runs Dry and Who's to Blame

One out of six people worldwide do not have stable access to safe water sources. With the global population projected to reach 9 billion in the next few decades, the water crisis may soon be named the most pressing issue of the 21^st century. A new mapping tool hopes to give a clear picture of worldwide water risk by highlighting the stresses that cause it. GO

Questions About Who Really Gets the Hookup as Nigeria Gives 10 Million Mobile Phones to Farmers

Reports this month that the Nigerian government will be distributing 10 million mobile phones to farmers have many wondering what the return on investment will be for the rest of the country. GO

Colombian App Uses Crowdsourcing to Crack Down on Child Labor

In spite of widespread regulations condemning the practice, child labor remains a grim reality for millions of children throughout the world. In Latin America, UNICEF estimates that one out of ten children between the ages of 5 and 17 are engaged in some kind of unregulated labor. Colombia in particular has seen rising rates of child labor over the economic crises over the past several years. GO

Weekly Global Readings: Transparency

The theme of this week's global readings is transparency, whether it be government initiatives or dissident code words. GO

Can Data About Mobile User Behavior Build a Credit Score?

In some emerging economies, consumers seeking to take out a loan or sign up for a credit card can face a significant hassle: not having the credit history to prove monetary responsibility. Now several organizations are aiming to help potential borrowers by looking a non-traditional line of credit into consideration: mobile phone use. GO

With Open Data, The Transparency Medium Can Matter As Much as the Message

This is going to sound crazy, but bear with me: Transparency matters, even when no one seems to be watching. GO

Israel Has Two Pirate Parties That Hate Each Other

In a 21st century digital echo of Monty Python's Life of Brian, Israel, a country of just over 7 million, has two Pirate Parties. One is called Pirate Party Israel and the other the Israel Pirate Party. Neither party recognizes the legitimacy of the other; nor do their founders have anything positive to say about one another. GO

Canadian Site Maps Climate Change...With Skating Rinks

Climate change has been measured in rivers and oceans, mapping the rise of the world’s temperature and the impact it holds for wildlife. Now a Canadian website is tracking global warming in the human ecosystem, with an unusual approach: recording the rates at which backyard skating rinks are freezing — or failing to freeze — this winter. GO

Volunteers Crowd Source a Map to Improve Urban Life in Nigeria's Capital City

A weeklong mapping initiative that kicked off last Saturday in the Nigerian capital of Abuja aims to crowdsource accurate, up-to-date information about the city’s amenities and public facilities. GO

Blank Spot No More: North Korea Now Visible on Google Maps, Via Volunteer Cartographers

Three weeks after Eric Schmidt’s visit, Google has made its first inroads in North Korea — at least virtually. The once-blank spot occupied by the country on Google Maps has been revised to include a wealth of geographic and locational detail. GO

Open Letter Urges Skype to Come Clean on Data Collection and Monitoring

Skype has been coming under fire from Internet freedom advocates for its lack of transparency on user privacy. An open letter to Skype appeared online last week – undersigned by Reporters without Borders and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others – calling it “effectively…one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies,” and decrying “persistently unclear and confusing statements about the confidentiality of Skype conversations.” GO

In India More People Have Phones than Toilets, But Society is Not More Mobile

Twenty years ago, making a telephone call from a rural village in India likely meant a trek down to the lone public phone in the town square. Today, although there’s still a 50,000-person-deep waiting list for landline installation in private homes, mobile phones have radically transformed the country, breaking down barriers in communication, commerce, and access to services. Yet in society that retains its deep class stratifications, how significantly has mobile communication improved life for the poorest Indians? GO

Hack Day Brings Tech Solutions to Refugees Seeking Family Members

The world population of refugees displaced both within their home country’s borders and to harboring nations numbers in the tens of millions. Four fifths of that population is accounted for in the developing world, where humanitarian crisis cuts across communities, often separating families. On January 19, London-based developers worked to create new solutions for reconnecting these families, at the second Refugees United Hack Day. GO

France Orders Twitter to Identify Users Posting Hate Speech

Twitter has been ordered to provide identifying information for French users participating in racist and anti-Semitic discourse on the social network. The ruling was handed down Thursday by a Paris court in response to a lawsuit brought on by several rights groups. The American company,which maintains a policy of not screening content posted by its users, has yet to articulate its response. GO

Idle No More, a Canadian Social Justice Movement, Goes Viral On and Offline

A new social justice movement has sprung up in Canada and is spreading throughout North America. Some call Idle No More, which started with aboriginals protesting government budget cuts to environmental issues, the new Occupy. With high visibility on social media and a viral hashtag, Idle No More has achieved wide public awareness. But critics fear the movement has undermined its potential by straying too far from its original mandate. GO

Does Davos Tech Idealism Actually Do Anything?

The World Economic Forum is ongoing in Davos, Switzerland this week, with 2,600 representatives from organizations around the world coming together under the banner of “resilient dynamism,” the optimistic — if abstruse — theme for the 2013 conference. GO

Nonprofits Should Share Their Data, Too

Whenever I'm at a hackathon — or any discussion about open data, really — I'm always disappointed to see that there are few people there from the non-profit sector. Obviously this is a sector with limited resources and capacity, but not without a history of effective open data use. For example, some nonprofits — particularly those that provide housing for the elderly, or engage in advocacy around homelessness — are big consumers of census data as it helps them either plan or spot longer term trends that impact their core issues. Such analysis can help ensure scarce resources are allocated more effectively, enhancing the organization's impact. But there's more that nonprofits could be doing. Rather than just use data others create, shouldn't more nonprofits be sharing their data for like-minded organizations to re-use? GO

India's IT Ministry Sets a Tech Agenda for the 21st Century

Indian IT Minister Kapil Sibal has made his plans clear to digitalize government, with online portals and e-governance measures meant to streamline bureaucracy and increase accessibility. Now Sibal has put forth an ambitious one-year agenda for the for the country’s Department of Electronics and Information Technology (acronym: DEITY). GO

Weekly Global Readings: Creativity

This week's theme is "creativity," whether it be photos of graffiti by Syrian anti-regime activists or a social media platform that fosters creativity and collaboration between young Indians. GO

Eric Schmidt and His Daughter Both Share Thoughts on North Korea Trip

Google’s Eric Schmidt and his daughter have both shared thoughts online about their visit to North Korea earlier this month, in a delegation led by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. GO

Indonesians Combat Rape Culture Via Social Media

Indonesians have taken to social media to fight misogyny in the largely Muslim nation. Like in India, where several shocking incidents over the past year have led to outrage, public discourse over rape and other forms of sexual assault is the issue in question. GO

Abayima Makes SIM Cards Into E-Readers to Combat Information Blackouts

Over the past decade, mobile tech has grown into a dominant force in journalism, activism, and revolution across the globe. Yet one organization is going lo-tech to get information in the hands of the people – by transforming basic cellular phones into e-readers loaded with news that might be otherwise censored by the government. GO

Beyond Crisis Mapping: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Buzz During Australian Floods

When a record-breaking flooding event struck the eastern states of Australia in December and January of 2010-2011, Twitter users took to their online network to share information and communicate with fellow victims of the natural disasters. A year later, social network analysis (SNA) reports of Twitter chatter during the floods offer a picture of social media behavior in disaster response. GO

For Recovering Liberia, Tech Hub a High-Speed Link to a Digital Future

Struggling to recover from a devastating civil war, few Liberians have access to computers or even electricity. In the capital city of Monrovia, an Ushahidi initiative called iLab Liberia is an oasis where instructors teach courses in everything from basic computer skills to programming languages. GO

After the Hype, What's Next for the German Pirate Party?

The German Pirate Party's poll numbers have declined significantly since the early days. This is partly due to infighting, but analysts believe the party still has an opportunity to get its act together and make an impact in the upcoming elections. GO

Two Indian States Launch Government Portals for Mobile Phones

As mobile saturation transforms and connects the country, Indian states are making strides with mobile-accessible portals for civic services and information. GO

For 2013 Elections, Kenyans Have Multiple Online Platforms

With fraud and disorganization plaguing the lead-up to the Kenyan elections on March 4, new web portals have launched to give voters a platform for election information, as well as for reporting and tracking corruption, as Aljazeera reported yesterday. GO

Weekly Global Readings: Wellbeing

The theme for this week's global readings is wellbeing. In China, cartoonists use social media as a platform for cartoons lampooning state censorship, evoking the old line about laughter being the best medicine. In Kenya, smartphone users can access healthcare services via a phone app. And in the Netherlands, a human rights organization is launching a campaign to show bloggers how to protect themselves. GO

As Prop, Cudgel or Sensor, Digital Maps Have a Future in Global Activism

Over the past five years, mapping has become an indispensable part of our daily lives, whether it is used for commercial purposes or crisis management. While some development workers and community organizers feel it is overhyped as a tool for certain types of crisis management, crisis workers and aid agencies find it indispensable. GO

A Map For Haiti's Success Stories

Over the past several years, the proliferation of crisis mapping has provided a hyperlocal perspective on the threats faced by people throughout the world — in conflict zones and corrupt states, under governments practicing human rights violations and in areas ravaged by natural disasters. Yet in Haiti, where crisis mapping played a significant role in the response to the 2010 earthquake, a group of community action workers wants to turn the concept on its head. GO

Vietnam's Government-Hired Propaganda Bloggers

The Vietnamese government acknowledged last week that up to 1,000 bloggers and online tastemakers in the country are hired propaganda agents, enlisted to steer Internet discourse towards support of Communist policies. These mercenary netizens have been a vocal presence in the Vietnamese blogosphere and on social media over the past few years, espousing pro-governmental opinions and attacking dissidents. GO

Slovenian Pirates Might Be Tested Sooner Than Expected

The Pirate Party of Slovenia (Piratska stranka Slovenije) started, as in most countries, as a movement focused on digital issues and it has been around for three years now. But countrywide protests against austerity and political corruption — and, possibly, upcoming elections — might force them to test their strength sooner than planned. GO

China's State Media Shows Unusual Transparency in Beijing Smog Crisis

Dangerously high levels of air pollution in Beijing have prompted remarkable transparency from the Chinese state media this week, with the safety of children and others vulnerable to smog apparently trumping censorship mandates. GO

New Syria Website Creates a Web 2.0 Portrait of a Complex Conflict

Syria Deeply is a new site that aims to broaden understanding of the Syrian conflict in the English-speaking world, through a multimedia portrait of its history and ongoing development. GO

Taiwan Fights Dengue Fever with Data

The Center for Disease Control in Taiwan has implemented a geolocational initiative for response to an outbreak of dengue fever. GO

Breaking Silence, Eric Schmidt Says North Korea Needs Internet Freedom

Eric Schmidt has broken his radio silence on the subject of his North Korea trip. After returning to Beijing yesterday, Schmidt spoke frankly to members of the press, saying that it’s time for the DPRK to implement Internet freedoms. GO

To Increase Corporate Transparency, Denmark is Making Companies' Tax Records Available Online

A new database will make corporate tax records available to the public in Denmark, the result of legislation passed this summer that called for greater transparency in the Danish business sector. The database is the latest in a series of online transparency practices implemented by the Danish government. GO

China's WeChat Now Automatically Censoring Social Media Updates

The Chinese mobile social media app WeChat is now automatically censoring certain keywords, in a further development to the Southern Weekly scandal that has rocked China’s netizens over the past week. GO

Citizen Journalists Tweet Mexico's Drug War, Replacing Traditional Media

Over the past several years, a growing number of Twitter users in cities throughout Mexico have taken to their feeds with real-time coverage of violent crime. Part public service, part journalism, sometimes completely anonymous, these feeds have become, in many cases, an alternative to traditional news media when it comes to coverage of the country’s escalating drug war. GO

Mobile Apps to Combat Street Harassment Follow Brutal Delhi Gang-Rape Case

Last month, techPresident reported on India’s first all-female hackathon, where many programmers focused on apps to help tackle issues of sexual harassment. Only a handful of days later, the country was shocked by a horrific gang-rape and murder case, in which a young medical student from Delhi who died after being brutally sexually assaulted on a moving bus became the symbol of an escalating crisis of violence against women. GO

Weekly Global Readings: Repression

From today, techPresident will publish a weekly global mashup of stories about the intersection of technology, democracy and civil society. GO

Schmidt and Richardson Have Arrived in North Korea and Are Touring Computer Facilities

Google’s Eric Schmidt arrived in North Korea earlier this week on a humanitarian visit led by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. On Tuesday, the group — which also includes Google Ideas director Jared Cohen, formerly of the State Department — was taken on a whirlwind tour of computer facilities in the capital of Pyongyang. GO

Communities in India, Fighting for Rights, Solve a First Problem: Proving They Exist

Transparent Chennai works to empower city residents by providing them with data and information about the city, where at least 20 percent of the population lives in unrecognized slums. But while e-mapping brings the message home to outside observers, community workers find that other tools are more important for effecting change. GO

Twitter Users Call Out Fraudulent Voter Registration in Kenya

Voter registration fraud in Kenya has been brought to the fore by Twitter users in the country, who are taking issue with political parties illegally inflating the number of their supporters. GO

Chinese Microblogging Platform's Censor Claims the Company is On Netizens' Side

A long post on the Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo from a user claiming to be a manager at the company raises questions over Sina’s stance on government regulations that require it to censor user-generated content. GO

Without Fanfare, Google Removed Censorship Warnings from China Search in December

Google China appears to have removed a feature that warned users of the search engine that they were querying words censored by the government. The change to the Google.cn homepage is speculated to have occurred sometime early last month. GO

Dhaka is Getting a Crowdsourced Bus Map

The capital of Bangladesh is among the most densely populated areas in the world. Like many cities in Southeast Asia, it is serviced by a labyrinthine bus system used by millions of commuters every day. The problem is, dozens of different companies provide bus services, and there’s no map, making travel around the city far from intuitive. GO

Mobile Phone Use in Zambia May Be Enabling Violence Against Women

A study in Zambia has revealed that, in a country where men often have the upper hand in society, mobile phone use may actually reinforce patterns of violence against women. GO

Google's Eric Schmidt Is Going to North Korea

Reports that Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt will be taking a trip to North Korea sometime early this year have led many to speculate how information technology will play a role in the isolated nation’s future. GO

Israeli Transparency NGO Shows Voters How to Cast Informed Ballots

As Israelis prepare to cast their ballots in national elections on January 22, the country's only transparency NGO has launched a campaign to encourage voters to educate themselves by consulting their Open Knesset website, where they can find previously unavailable information about how their legislators are doing their jobs and whether they are representing their constituents as they would wish to be represented. GO

Women Make Their Mark on Kenya's Expanding Tech Sector

What’s the best way to get women engaged in tech? In Nairobi, a burgeoning African Silicon Alley, it’s to have women implement tech culture in the first place. A NPR story from late last month dropped in on the Akirachix, an all-female collective of programmers and technologists who are collaborating to tackle social issues in Kenya. GO

What Technology Can and Cannot Do In the Fight Against Corruption

There are a slew of newly organized and emergent efforts to tackle various forms of corruption, particularly by using new technology, from the global — such as the Open Government Partnership, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Transparency International — to the very local — such as ipaidabribe and its various clones. These efforts have also benefited from a number of traditional players, like state and independent regulators, apparently becoming more aggressive in enforcing laws. There's a lot to celebrate. But there are a few words of caution I would like to add to the conversation. GO

Police Surveillance in Sao Paolo is at All-Time High, as Crime Wave Shocks City

BBC Future has a look into the Orwellian surveillance technology that police in Sao Paolo are using to monitor crime in the metropolis of 41 million. An integrated network of databases, tablet technology and mobile cameras are giving law enforcement officials an unprecedented eye on activity in the city streets. GO

Putting Rights Violations on the Map in Iran

A new interactive map from the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran will track rights violations in the country by region. The Mapping Iran's Human Rights project geographically situates violations in four categories — perpetrators, victims, prison corruption, and regional trends — while generating new knowledge about corruption from sources in Iran. GO

Cambodia Could Worsen Its Digital Divide By Banning Internet Cafés Near Schools

An order from the Cambodian government to keep students out of Internet cafés could spell inaccessibility for many in a country where few have personal computers. GO

Twitter Could Stop the Next Great Fire of London

London emergency responders are piloting the world’s first Twitter-based fire reporting program, the city’s Fire Brigade announced earlier this week. While officials cautioned this is not a replacement for dialing 999 – that’s British English for 911 – Rita Dexter, the Deputy Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, explained that implementing social media-based emergency calls is simply looking forward. GO

The Ayatollah Is On Facebook, Even If Iran Isn’t Supposed to Be

A Facebook page for Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini,appeared online last week. The apparently state-sanctioned page has garnered over 18,000 likes, though the popular social network has effectively been banned in the country since dissidents gathered online to power protests after the 2009 reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. GO

Questions of Privacy, Politics and Murder in Lebanon Text-Message Row

In the wake of a high-profile car-bombing in Lebanon, text messages might finger the killers — or they might just be a useful diversion. GO

EU Data Retention Laws May Be Illegal, Rules Austrian Court

On the tails of the U.K.’s deliberation on the Data Communications Bill , an Austrian court has ruled that the E.U.’s data retention policies could be illegal. GO

EU Fines Turkey for Blocking Google Sites

An EU court has ruled against a blocking of the Google Sites service in Turkey, in a case filed by a Turkish citizen. A 2009 ruling by a regional court in the southwestern city of Denizli blocked all pages hosted on sites.google.com, apparently after a single page was found to insult Republic of Turkey founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Defamation of Atatürk or Turkish identity is illegal in the country. GO

Years In the Making, India Delivers an Open Data Portal

India has joined in on the open data movement with Data Portal India, an initiative to provide transparency across a diverse array of governmental agencies. The new site comes on the tails of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, which was announced by the nation’s Department of Science and Technology earlier this year, and the 2005 Right to Information Act, a transformative piece of legislation that made government records accessible to ordinary citizens. GO

No Capslock Allowed: Ecuador Has Online Conduct Code for Election Banter

Ecuador is gearing up for national elections in February with an online portal aimed at giving voters transparency in their process of choosing a candidate, and 14 guidelines for good behavior online. GO

In Egypt, the Government Issues Official Announcements on Facebook

Last week the Egyptian government announced draconian tax increases and subsidy reductions that caused a huge wave of protest. Within hours, the president revoked the announcement — in the middle of the night, on Facebook. GO

Thawing Relations Between Transparency Activists and Government in Russia Yield Results

The Russian transparency environment is not without both opportunities and innovations. Legally, there are requirements for government transparency encoded in Russian law — they are however infrequently adhered to. But this does give advocates some legal ground to stand on. And politically, there is opportunity as well. The government is talking more and more about fighting corruption, creating room for both advocates and government officials to talk about how transparency could play a role in addressing this issue. GO

New Data Visualization of Poverty and Corruption in Colombia

A new data map compares poverty rates and World Bank aid with the Colombia Transparency Index in regions across the Latin American nation. Transparency International writes that the visual correlation between these factors brings issues of corruption to the fore. GO

Internet Freedom Dominates Debate at International Telecommunications Union Conference in Dubai

As we reported Monday, the ITU was negotiating revisions to its 1988 international communications treaty this week in Dubai. Now controversial measures added to the treaty on the governance of the Internet have thwarted a consensus. GO

Women Programmers Fight Sexual Harassment at India’s First All-Female Hackathon

Bangalore was the scene of the first all-female hackathon in India this week. The event brought developers together to collaborate on humanitarian projects that could improve the lives of women across the country. GO

Despite Some Glitches, Ghana's New Biometric Voting System Widely Viewed as a Success

Technology dominated Ghana's recent presidential elections, with candidates using popular social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to spread their messages. But it was the introduction of a biometric voter identification system that captured the most attention. GO

Chinese Social Media App Poses a Threat to Activists and Authorities Alike

The most popular new social media app in China is raising suspicions over its geolocational abilities. WeChat, a phone app that combines the functions of Skype, Twitter, and Facebook with the power to locate nearby users, has ousted traditional texting as a contact method for many young people in China. But as the Guardian reported last week, a technology that tracks its users’ movements can be dangerous: GO

The EU’s New Digital Media Strategy Was Crowdsourced

The EU is poised to adopt its first Digital Freedom Strategy, after a majority in the European Parliament endorsed a resolution sponsored by Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake yesterday. GO

For Afghan Women, Bright Screens and Uncertain Futures in Mobile Learning Effort

Mobile phones are in the hands of about 15 million Afghans and some 85 percent of the population lives in a part of the country with network coverage. Given high mobile penetration and low literacy levels for women, the Paiwastoon Networking Services recently developed the Ustad Mobil literacy program using $80, 000 in U.S. aid money. But while the project's initiators are no doubt well intentioned, they have not taken into account obstacles resulting from local culture and custom. GO

Proposal to Allow Police Internet Monitoring Shot Down in UK Parliament

The deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom is leading efforts to block a bill that would give law enforcement unmitigated monitoring of Internet use in the UK. Nick Clegg criticized the scope of the proposed Communications Data Bill, which would require ISPs to store users’ email and web browser data for up to a year and permit law enforcement agencies to access this information without permission. GO

No Internet For You! In North Korea, A Small Elite Accesses Limited Online Content

Though North Korea remains as isolated as ever from the technological community (as TechPresident wrote last year,it was a full 48 hours after the death of Kim Jong-Il before the news broke on Twitter), the Internet is a temptation both for the country’s citizens and for the government of Kim Jong-Un, as the BBC reports. GO

Russia Advocates State Regulation of the Web, Then Pulls Back

A Russian-led proposal intended to give world governments regulatory power over the Internet has been effectively withdrawn, says the International Telecommunications Union. The plan was presented at the UN World Conference on International Telecommunications, held in Dubai this past week, where members of the ITU are renegotiating an upgrade its 1988 communications treaty. GO

With YouTube Blocked, Iran Offers State Sanctioned Online Video Alternative

After restricting nationwide access to Gmail and Google Search earlier this fall, Iran has put forward a new effort against the Internet conglomerate’s YouTube arm, in the form of a state-sanctioned online video provider operated by the IRIB(Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Service). GO

D.C.-based NGO Asks the Crowd to Map an Israel-Palestine Border

A Washington, D.C.-based NGO has launched a interactive map called Is Peace Possible that seeks suggestions for a border between Israel and the West Bank via crowdsourcing. GO

Hacking Some Transparency into the Secretive Corridors of the EU Lobbying System

At a recent London hackathon organized by the Open Knowledge Foundation, participants looked for ways to make the European Union's complex lobbying system more transparent. GO

After 3-Day Internet Shutdown, Syria's Regime is Now Targeting Activists with Powerful New Malware

When the Syrian Internet system was cut off last week, observers feared the regime had cut the civilian population off for good so that the army could do its worst without having to worry about activists filming massacres and uploading the footage to YouTube. In fact the Internet was restored after three days. But now the regime is using powerful new malware to target activists. GO

Phone Apps for Toilets: Hackathon Mobilizes Techies for Hygiene Solutions

Last weekend the International Sanitation Hackathon took place simultaneously in 40 cities across the globe, from Vancouver to Jakarta and Helsinki to Porto Alegre. The World Bank-organized event brought together development workers and techies to brainstorm solutions to a problem that confounds the developing world — poor sanitation and waste disposal, which causes disease and raises mortality rates. GO

Newly Discovered Malware Used to Hack Dalai Lama Website

A website associated with the Dalai Lama's YouTube account has been hacked using Dockster, "...a rare piece of Mac malware which can secretly log users' keystrokes," reports Neal Ungerleider for Fast Company. GO

In Canada, Online Campaign to Protest Gov't's Digital 'Snooping Bill' Turns Nasty

In Canada the issue of online privacy has become contentious, with experts, law enforcement officials, and legislators sharply divided. Bill C-30, formally called the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, was tabled in the House of Commons in February. The bill proposes expanding police powers so that telecoms and Internet Service Providers would be required to turn over subscriber data without a warrant. The opposition responded with a furious online campaign that took a bizarre turn into the realm of personal attacks. GO

Sierra Leone Teen Becomes MIT Media Lab's Youngest "Visiting Practitioner"

A video about a boy from Sierra Leone who creates innovative technology solutions with household goods and materials he sources from dumpsters has gone viral, with over 3.5 million views in two weeks. Kelvin Doe, 16, figured out how to make his own batteries out of acid, soda, and metal when he was 13 years old. He also made a generator out of a cast-off voltage stabilizer and built the equipment to start a community FM radio station, which he runs with a team of friends who act as reporters and station managers (Doe goes by the name DJ Focus). He created these things out of necessity — because batteries were too expensive and his family home did not have access to regular electricity. GO

In Egypt, Digital Maps Start a Conversation About Harassment that Continues In the Street

Several months before the Egyptian revolution, a group of Cairo-based volunteers launched Harassmap, an Ushahidi-based interactive map that provides a visualization of reported sexual harassment incidents. Two years later, the organization has grown and secured its funding. But what role has mapping played in their community outreach work? GO

Dashboard Government: The Politics of Measurement

The other week I was informed that the city of Edmonton, Alberta, published an online dashboard of various metrics that it hopes will both educate residents about the city's services. As more and more of what governments do — from running buses to fixing potholes to processing paper — is managed by computers, there is an ever-increasing capacity to measure, and make public, the results of any given activity. The opportunity to create more accountable systems and governments is real. If we are going to end up with government dashboards all over the place — and frankly, I hope we do — dashboard-makers had better do a bunch of things right. GO

Pakistan Considering Bill that Would Ban Independent Mapping Projects

The government of Pakistan is about to propose a law that would make it illegal for independent bodies to engage in mapping. The Land Surveying and Mapping Bill 2012, proposed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), transfers all mapping authority in Pakistan to Survey of Pakistan (SoP), which reports to the MoD and takes its orders from General Head Quarters (GHQ). GO

Portuguese Activist Blog Shut Down by Google for Defamatory Content

Over the past few days, the Portuguese blog Precários Inflexíveis (Inflexible Precarious Workers) has reportedly been silenced and then blocked by Google. The blog was devoted to exposing the working conditions of freelance workers without permanent contracts: Google allegedly shut the blog down because of a complaint made by BF Grupo after the “precários” accused the company of illegal work and tax evasion”. GO

India's Successful AIDS Prevention Program Threatened by Proliferation of Mobile Phones

Inexpensive mobile phones have brought independence to India's sex workers. Rather than work in brothels, where the madam takes a cut of their fee, they can now deal directly with their customers. But this financial freedom comes with a prices — a steep rise in HIV and AIDS rates. GO

With "Betatext," German Green Party Tries Out Open-Source Politics

As Germany gears up for its parliamentary elections in fall 2013, the parliamentary group of the German Green Party has released a tool called betatext to allow supporters to comment on position papers, motions or legislative drafts. "While others only talk about more participation and transparency in the political process -- we implement it," the parliamentary group states. Users of the tool can also see other people's comments and rate them. GO

Following Government Orders, Tajikistan's Telecoms Have Blocked Facebook

Facebook is now totally blocked in Tajikistan. Starting from last week, the Ministry of Communications ordered the country's six mobile service providers and six Internet service providers to block access to the popular social media platform. GO

Reporting from Uzbekistan With a Lens Hidden in Plain Sight

A BBC journalist who recorded interviews with her iPhone and Skype in order to circumvent official restrictions on the media discovered that these tools were so effective in producing broadcast quality content that she no longer needed the bulky conventional equipment, reports Journalism.co.uk. GO

Media Analysts Wonder if Israel and Hamas are Allowed to Issue Death Threats on Twitter

Did official Israeli and Hamas spokespeople violate Twitter's terms of use by using the social media platform to issue threats of violence? GO

In India, Your Facebook Status Could Get You Arrested

Often described as the world's largest democracy, India's legislation on free speech would probably surprise the average American. Vague wording of laws that define defamation issues and hate speech, for example, have affected freedom of expression on the Internet — perhaps most notably, on social media platforms. As the New York Times India edition reports, there have been several cases of otherwise law-abiding citizens being arrested and even jailed for their tweets and status updates. Most recently, two women were arrested for Facebook updates. GO

The Geopolitics of the Open Government Partnership in Action

While in Burma, President Barack Obama welcomed the country into the Open Government Partnership — an example of the OGP as part of a global U.S. strategy to forge a set of alliances with key partners around the world. It may also advance transparency and anticorruption through collaboration and new technology — but there are other chess games in progress, too. GO

Mapping the Gaza-Israel War

As the latest Middle East war rages on, informative interactive maps aggregate social media data from Gaza and Israel. GO

At the 2012 IGF in Baku, the Azeri Government's Disdain for Freedom Was on Full Display

The 2012 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan — a country that makes all the Top 10 lists of human rights violators, Internet censors and political freedom repressers. At this year's conference, their disdain for freedom of expression was all too apparent. GO

How "We The People," the White House e-Petition Site, Could Help Form a More Perfect Union

With nearly one million people signing petitions on the White House's "We the People" e-petition site calling for their state to secede from the Union, it's tempting to dismiss the platform as a lightning rod for the most disaffected Americans. But people petitioning the government could also be invited into a new kind of civic dialogue, one that might build on what "We the People" already promises: an official reply from the powers-that-be. Freed from the demands of another election and blessed with some of the smartest technologists in the country, the Obama Administration could use "We the People" to begin the work of constructing a real digital public square, not just another e-Potemkin village. Will they? GO

Egyptian Belly Dancer's Salacious Video Mocking Muslim Brotherhood Goes Viral

Last week Sama El Masry, a famous Egyptian belly dancer, uploaded a home-made video to YouTube; it shows her in a skin tight outfit, swinging her hips seductively to a song rife with anti-Muslim Brotherhood political innuendo. The sexy little number set the Egyptian social media and political worlds ablaze — but not only because it mocked the prudish Islamists with the double whammy of gyrating hips and lyrics that were a blatant political satire that pulled no punches. In a bizarre twist that could only happen in post-revolutionary Egypt, the dancer was also famous for claiming to be the ex-wife of a Salafi member of parliament. GO

Free Phone App Teaches Afghan Women to Read

The Ministry of Education in Afghanistan is rolling out a free phone app that it hopes will raise the literacy level amongst women, reports Wired.co.uk. Currently, only 15 percent of Afghan women can read and write. GO

To App Contest or Not App Contest

Ever since the City of Washington DC did Apps for Democracy there have been a running series of skirmishes — that from time to time bubble up into a larger debate — about whether or not app contests, or even hackathons in general, are worthwhile endeavor. I've never been a huge fan of app competitions, but I do think there exist a set of specific conditions under which they can make sense. Ultimately, everything rests on your goal. What do you want to achieve? GO

[Op-Ed] How Obama’s Foreign Policy Can Be Savvier about Tech and Democratization

In this op-ed, author Philip Howard looks at recent events in Georgia, Hungary, Myanmar and Venezuela, countries that are all in flux--some moving toward greater democracy, some less. He argues that "the transportable strategy for all four countries—countries that have actually become archetypes for how a country can open up or close down—involves encouraging open Internet access and competitive media environments. These countries are now ideal points of intervention, where a deliberate US response on information policy reform would not only solve problems in those countries. It would send the right signals to the strongmen in neighboring countries." GO

U.A.E. Passes New Law Prescribing Mandatory Jail Time for Online Dissidents

The United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) is cracking down on dissent with a new law that stipulates jail time for anyone who criticizes the government online, reports the Global Arab Network. GO

Montreal Hackathon Aims to Combat Government Corruption

Canada's first anti-corruption hackathon was held this past weekend in Montreal, which has been rocked by nearly two years of corruption scandals involving construction kickbacks, organized crime and prominent politicians. GO

Armenia's Capital City Launches Interactive Municipal Website

Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, just launched a website with interactive features that allow citizens to report issues online and communicate directly with the municipality. Funded by the UNDP, the site is meant to increase government transparency. But with Internet penetration relatively low in Armenia, is the project more hype than help? GO

European Officials at Internet Governance Forum in Baku Report their Laptops Hacked

Azerbaijan's hosting of the 7th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has turned into something of a fiasco, with EU officials reporting their laptops hacked and an official from another European organization visiting during the forum for the purpose of lambasting the government for restricting freedom of speech and human rights. GO

EU Initiative Will Map Cyber Repression Around the World

The EU is about to launch "a global monitoring system that will help chart digital repression by mapping the Internet’s "cyber geography" in near real time," reports Slate. GO

After a Shaky Start, Slovakia's Open Gov't Portal Succeeds With Help from Open Contracts

Earlier this year the government of Slovakia launched a portal that was supposed to make all public contracts and invoices available online. But as Sunlight Foundation International Fellow Matej Kurian recounts, there were serious problems from the outset: The site "...was half-baked, missing full-text search, documents preview or space for comments. While the policy produced more data (“transparency,” if you will), it left accountability untouched." GO

Rethinking Government Services Online

Governments have been talking about how they will deliver services online for over two decades. (Anyone up for some e-government?) The sad truth is, at the national level, few users of online government services believe governments have succeeded - most citizens' experience with government websites are marked with frustration, a sense of loathing, and pretty much the opposite of whatever we imagined e-government would be. But there are three reasons why I waded through not one, but three lengthy UK reports about its vision, and now believe that if you care about government services online or better still, advise a government, there are some things worth knowing about the UK's new Digital Government Strategy. GO

Ukrainians Document Election Irregularities on Social Media

Social media played a prominent role in reporting results and irregularities in Ukraine's October 28 national elections, which were widely viewed as far from ideal in terms of a level playing field and transparency. GO

In Zambia, a Phone App Allows Citizens to Participate in Drafting Their Constitution

Zambia is in the process of writing a constitution that will reflect the aspiration of the people. In order to make the process inclusive, the government has created a phone app that allows people to read the draft, sharing and commenting on pages. The Zambian draft constitution app is available free for download on Google Play — but not on iTunes, which shows the extent to which low-cost Androids are kicking dust in the face of the prohibitively priced iPhone in developing nations. GO

Crisis Tracker: An Open Source Map that Curates Crowdsourced Information

An open source map mines data from Twitter, curates it and presents it with an Ushahidi-like interface. GO

Open Source Interactive Map Curates Crowdsourced Information

An open source map called CrisisTracker mines Twitter for reports, clusters them, and supports curation of report clusters with the help of volunteers. GO

Inexpensive Smart Phones Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks

While the release of low cost smartphones is a welcome development, their rapid proliferation could come at the cost of presenting an opportunity for malicious hackers. GO

Examining eDiplomacy: Like it or Not, It is Essential and Here to Stay

A new paper from the Brookings Institute examines the reach and effectiveness of eDiplomacy. GO

"Don't Retreat, Retweet": The Story of Ai Wei Wei, China's Leading Netizen

There are really two stars of the new documentary "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"--the artist himself, and the Internet. The two are inseparable in the film, which both documents the life story of the man who has become one of China's most creative and courageous dissidents, and shows how he has maneuvered through the cracks in China's vast system of social control by using social media to reach a global and local audience. GO

France's Techies Flap their Wings at Tax Increases With Online "Pigeons" Protest

They call themselves “Les Pigeons” — in French, “pigeon” is slang for “suckers,” easily fooled and easily abused. The name was adopted by a group of young Internet entrepreneurs who at the beginning of October launched an online campaign in protest of the government's planned tax hike, which they said would hurt small companies like startups. GO

Upcoming Hackathon to Investigate Influence of EU Lobbyists

The Open Knowledge Foundation and the European Journalism Centre are hosting a hackathon aimed at creating tools that will make the influence of EU lobbyists more transparent. Open Interests Europe will take place in London at the Google Campus Cafe on November 24-25. GO

The Rough and Tumble of Digital Diplomacy, For Better or Worse

Digital diplomacy is a bit of a buzzword these days. It is practiced widely, both formally and informally, by governments across the globe — the United Kingdom has a particularly extensive site. Brian Fung of the Atlantic explores the impact of direct engagement via social media in an article for the Atlantic: Digital Diplomacy: Why It's So Tough for Embassies to Get Social Media Right. GO

Watch Australian Dept of Justice Explain its Social Media Policy in Three Minutes

The Department of Justice for Victoria, Australia, created a 3-minute video that explains cogently, in simple terms that do not patronize, what social media is and the steps an employee of the department must take in order to use it responsibly. GO

India's New Generation of IT Entrepreneurs Driving Social and Economic Change

As India's information technology sector continues to grow, new startups are looking toward the domestic market rather than focusing primarily on developing technology for export. Driven by a rapidly growing middle class, the boom in India's IT industry is fueling an optimism that would make Silicon Valley veterans shed a tear of nostalgia for the halcyon days of the 1990s. But while these entrepreneurs are driven by old-fashioned capitalism, they also recognize the potential of low-cost, profitable solutions that benefit India’s poor — and, by extension, civil society. GO

Iceland Citizens Vote in Favor of Crowdsourced Constitution

Last Saturday, the citizens of Iceland voted in favor of the new Constitution, EurActiv reports. The bill was drafted thanks to a crowdsourced process that started a year and a half ago. GO

Getting it Right: Gov.uk

For possibly the first time in my life, I’m actually excited about a national government website. It would appear that in the United Kingdom, the designers, the developers and the content creators of a government have finally beaten the managers. And the result? Not only is it stunning, but it actually stands to be compared against the websites that citizens regularly use. Citizens will compare government websites not to one another but to sites like Google or Facebook, and Gov.uk easily stands up to that comparison. GO

To Protest Electoral Corruption, Putin's Opponents Hold Their Own Parliamentary Elections Online

To protest irregularities in the Russian elections, opponents of President Vladimir Putin are putting their time where their Internet is: They are, reports Reuters, "instead holding their own Internet contest to choose a "shadow parliament" they hope will reinvigorate the flagging opposition movement." GO

In Macedonia, a Draft Law on Defamation May Lead to Online Censorship

The Macedonian Parliament is discussing a draft law on defamation related to online communication which may lead to strong censorship of online communication, the European Digital Rights reports.
The bill considers online service providers liable for penalties, along with the author, for any damage resulting from offensive or defamatory information the provider has allowed access to, but it fails to provide a clear definition of what a provider is, thus allowing the possibility of an arbitrary judgement. GO

Shot by Taliban, Pakistani Teen Activist Malala Continues To Be Target of Online Threats and Conspiracy Theories

Malala Yousafzai, a 14 year-old Pakistani girl, was shot in the head last week by Taliban. Her crime was spreading western values — i.e., insisting on the right of girls to attend school. Malala had been the target of online threats for several years; and now, even as she lies unconscious in a U.K. hospital, the Taliban continues to threaten her life if she recovers, while prominent nationalists tweet conspiracy theories accusing the CIA of being involved in the shooting. For Malala, the Internet has been a mixed blessing. GO

Morsi Meter Releases Status Report on Egyptian President's First 100 Days

The people behind the MorsiMeter, a website that monitors and updates readers about the Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi's progress in implementing his campaign promises, have released a report assessing his first 100 days in his office. GO

Bridge to Somewhere: Open Data in Public Policy

If you haven't had the chance, check out saveourbridges.com. It's a simple but wonderful example of data journalism that shows both the effectiveness and the limits of opening up data. given the media attention it has received, there is some evidence to show that a well presented visualization of data can engage the public and help prompt a conversation on an important, if fairly mundane, issue. GO

New iPhone App Allows Reporting of Bribes in Russia

A group of Russian entrepreneurs have released an iPhone application that encourages the reporting of bribes, the Moscow Times reported. GO

Internet Users Learn to Protect their Online Privacy at Crypto Parties

Even ostensibly transparent, liberal democracies are increasingly considering legislation that would limit online freedom and privacy. To combat these measures, CryptoParties bring together ordinary Internet users at events held at cities around the world where they learn how to protect their right to online privacy. GO

Iranian Gov't Blocks Downloading of Foreign Media Files

The Iranian government is now blocking the downloading of MP3, MP4, AVI and SWF files hosted on foreign servers, reports Storify Middle East. GO

Lawyer for Hacktivists: U.S. Law Criminalizing Cyberattacks Should Be Modified

Jay Leiderman, the California based attorney who represents notorious hacktivists like Anonymous, spoke to the Atlantic about why he represents some of his clients pro bono, why he thinks the law criminalizing DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service Attacks) should be modified and why he once described certain variations of this type of "cyberattack" as "the equivalent of occupying the Woolworth's lunch counter during the civil rights movement." GO

Indonesian Activists Mount Online Anti-Corruption Campaign

With Indonesia's official anti-corruption agency threatened by the police for targeting graft amongst its senior officers, local activists have mounted a comprehensive online campaign to protest and raise awareness of corruption. GO

Indonesian Grassroots Group Promotes Internet Freedom

With the increase in around the region of government legislation that would limit online freedom of expression, Indonesian bloggers have formed an organization to raise awareness and possibly fight back. GO

Russia to Restrict Access to Public Free WiFi

In its latest move to control Internet access, the Russian government plans to put into effect a law that will restrict minors from accessing public, free WiFi. GO

Putin Expels USAID; Organization Contributed to Russian NGO that Mapped Electoral Balloting Irregularities

The Russian government booted USAID out of the country following accusations that the well known aid agency had been "meddling in internal affairs," as Vladimir Putin put it. He was referring to Golos, a group that mapped balloting fraud in the Russian election. A Russian journalist provides the background and some valuable insight into the circumstances surrounding this incident. GO

Phone App Helps Locate People in Disaster Zones

An Australian mobile phone app developer has produced Earthquake Buddy, which allows users to track down their loved ones when conventional communications break down in a disaster zone. GO

Indian Gov't to Distribute Low Cost Android Tablets to Millions of Schoolchildren

The Indian government is rolling out the distribution of millions of small, affordable Android Tablets for Indian schoolchildren. GO

Investing in "Crazy" Innovative Ideas to Promote Global Transparency and Accountability

Global Integrity, a Washington, DC-based NGO that works for government transparency and accountability launched two major new initiatives this week — a hub for like-minded NGOs and an innovation fund that provides grants for projects that promote transparency and fight corruption. GO

The OGP at Year One: Off the Ground - So Where Next?

In some ways the OGP is like the infamous Spruce Goose: a plane so innovative and big, it was unclear if it could fly while carrying the large and diverse payload it was designed to hold. Thus having generated an international conversation (and sought to spur dozens of domestic conversations) about technology, transparency, openness and engagement can the OGP serve as a vehicle that can simultaneously satisfy the interest of all its stakeholders. Having managed to get this large organization off the ground, can the OGP pilot itself somewhere useful, while keeping its various stakeholders onboard? GO

Jordan's Flourishing IT Economy Could Falter With Passing of New Media Law

Jordan's parliament has passed controversial legislation that would give the government sweeping powers to censor and block online content. Jordan is a regional IT innovation hub that has benefited from the small kingdom's political moderation and free Internet. But the new law could undermine both the innovation sector and online freedom of expression. GO

In Wake of Public Outcry, Iran Lifts "Indefinite" Block on Gmail After One Week

One week after announcing that access to Gmail and Google search would be blocked indefinitely in the Islamic Regime of Iran, regime officials restored access to the popular online platforms while claiming that they had unintentionally blocked them while trying to filter the crude anti-Islam film, "Innocence of the Muslims." Meanwhile, the Ministry of Telecommunications launched its own official email service, which requires users to register. GO

In Finland, "Open Ministry" Brings Legislation From the Crowd

Tech entrepreneurs in Finland have created Open Ministry, an open-source platform for citizens to discuss proposals and collect the necessary signatures online. GO

What and Where of Chinese Factory Riots Reported on Social Media, But What Of Why and Who?

When workers rioted at Foxconn, the largest electronics manufacturing factory in China, the story was broken on social media with images of smashed cars and confrontations between workers and riot police. But when journalists tried to corroborate the story, they were unable to obtain first-hand information or even a measure of clarity. GO

Graphic Map Shows Disappeared Mexican Journalists as Anti-Corruption Blogger 5algado is Still Missing

An infographic and map produced by freedom of speech and information advocates Articulo 19 present a grim picture of murdered and disappeared Mexican journalists. Meanwhile nothing has been heard about the anti-corruption blogger Ruy Salgado (@el5anto), who went missing three weeks ago. GO

Vietnamese Dissident Bloggers Handed Heavy Jail Sentences

Vietnam has sentenced three dissident political bloggers to harsh jail sentences, reports Reporters Without Borders. GO

Africa in Flux: How Urbanization and Digital Technology are Changing a Continent

A new report details the ways in which urbanization and mobile technology are driving profound change in Africa. GO

In Thailand, Apps to Track Risks of Flood

The Thai government has launched an iPad and iPhone app that tracks and updates constantly with information about rainfall and flooding in the country. The apps, called Water4Thai, include information in both English and Thai; they can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store. GO

How to Score Politicians Without Turning Parliament Into a Game

There is no "right" way to assess the performance of parliamentarians. There is no algorithm that will rank them perfectly, no set of stats that will objectively determine their effectiveness. The problem with parliamentary monitoring websites like NosDéputés, TheyWorkForYou or even OpenCongress is not that they don't measure performance the right way, the problem is that they are the only websites in their respective countries really measuring performance at all. Should the public care how many questions their representatives ask in parliament? Maybe. Maybe not. But if you had a number of sites comparing parliamentarians performance you'd find out pretty fast what the public did care about. And frankly, I could care less if it made parliament more or less effective for the sitting government. GO

Interactive Map Tracks Defections of High Ranking Syrians

As Syria's civil war rages on, with no end in sight, defections of high ranking citizens — government officials and arm officers — continues. An interactive map produced by Aljazeera English tracks the defections, provides context and details. It's an excellent resource for Syria watchers. GO

[OP-ED] Are Innovation Hubs the Future of Open Government In Africa?

Set alongside one Nairobi’s main roadways, the Bishop Magua Centre looks on the exterior no different than any other mid-rise office building. However, inside its drab khaki walls are some of the most innovative technology projects in Africa. Why this building? Because the Bishop Magua Centre’s fourth floor is home to what has been named the “unofficial headquarters of Kenya’s tech movement,” less grandiosely called the iHub. More than simply a space to build the next Instagram, these hubs could be home to the next wave of open government innovation in Africa. GO

A Prominent Mexican Anti-Corruption Blogger Has Gone Missing

A prominent Mexican anti-corruption blogger named Ruy Salgado, a.k.a. "el5anto," has been missing since September 8. His colleagues at El5antuario.org, the blog he founded, have started a campaign to have him found. Mexico is particularly hostil to journalists and to freedom of the press, with 85 journalists killed and another 15 missing over the past decade alone. GO

Tunisia Announces Intention to End Internet Censorship

Nearly two years after the ousting of long-time authoritarian leader Ben Ali, Tunisia has announced that Internet censorship will be lifted. Under Ben Ali, Tunisia was classified by Reporters Without Borders as an Enemy of the Internet. Many restrictions have been eased since the revolution, but there are signs that the government has not really stopped snooping. GO

NGO Project Will Allow Local Gov't to Use Voice Recognition Instead of Transcribers

mySociety, the U.K. transparency NGO, is developing software that would allow cash-strapped local governments to keep and transcribe minutes of their meetings using voice-activated technology. GO

Spanish Physicians Mount Online Campaign to Protest Cuts to Immigrant Health Care

In response to budget cuts that would eliminate free health care for undocumented immigrants, Spanish physicians created an online protest campaign under the auspices of Medicos del Mundo. GO

Burma Liberalizes Internet Access, But Connectivity Remains out of Reach for the Vast Majority

The Burmese government is lifting media censorship and lowering the cost of Internet access, but the cost remains prohibitive for most people in this impoverished nation. Freedom House examines the pros and cons of digital liberation in Burma in a report authored by a researcher who recently spent 10 days meeting activists in Rangoon. GO

Websites as Political Organizers

A prominent Egyptian activist and labor organizer explains in detail how websites can be used for effective political organization. Includes fascinating data about the rise in Internet access amongst the very poor, whose primary portal is increasingly their mobile phones. GO

Firefox Targets Developing States with Open Source Affordable Smartphones

Firefox has announced the 2013 launch of an open source operating system for smart phones. Since open source will bring down the price of a smart phone significantly, the initial launch will be in Latin America, with other developing regions to follow. GO

In the Middle East, Marginalized LGBT Youth Find Supportive Communities Online

In the Middle East, where homosexuality is so taboo that until very recently there was no word to describe it in Arabic, LGBT youth are increasingly turning to the Internet for support and community building. GO

Jordanian Websites Go Dark in Protest of Proposed Legislation to Censor Internet

More than two hundred Jordanian websites went dark on Wednesday to protest proposed government legislation that would give the government sweeping powers to censor the Internet. In contrast to other Middle Eastern countries, Jordan's government, because of its unique economic and geographical circumstances, cares very much about public opinion. GO

In Georgia's Troubled Border Region, Text Messaging is Fostering Community Safety

On the troubled northern border of Georgia, next to the disputed territory of South Ossetia, where two wars have been fought in the last two decades, an NGO has been quietly pioneering a new kind of distributed reporting system, one that uses SMS text messaging and the web to combine the data-rich mapping of Ushahidi with the meticulous requirements of human-rights researchers. In a region where few people have internet access, they've come up with an ingenious solution for data gathering via text. GO

Crowdsourcing Disaster Response Via Social Media and SMS

In two detailed and important blog posts, Patrick Meier explains how grassroots activists are using social media platforms and mobile phones to coordinate disaster relief, often when the government's response is inadequate. In many cases, Meier points out, the grassroots networks existed already, having been created as a means of coordinating political protest. GO

What to Do When Open Data Is Either Wrong, Scandalous, or Both?

David Eaves asks: How do governments and advocates handle open government data if it misreports the facts? GO

Vietnamese Authorities Charge Political Bloggers With "Conducting Propaganda Against the State"

Vietnamese authorities have charged three prominent bloggers with "creating propaganda against the state" for having published videos and photos showing violent clashes between farmers and the police who had come to enforce the appropriation of their land for the construction of a luxury hotel. GO

How Mobile Phone Technology is Changing Lives in Developing States

The Toronto Star has published a nice overview of how mobile phones are facilitating information access and improving peoples' lives in undeveloped regions with poor infrastructure. GO

How Simple Technology Facilitates Effective Communication and Relief in Disaster Zones

Mobile phones and Internet access are now common in developing nations, but aid agencies have been slow to use that technology in order to implement effective two-way communication in disaster zones. A BBC media action policy briefing presents several case studies that illustrate how community organizations are effectively using simple available technology to create communication hubs and facilitate disaster relief. GO

Young Iranians Use Mobile and Social Media to Mobilize Grassroots Relief for Earthquake Victims

In response to the government's poor response in delivering aid to earthquake survivors in northeast Iran, young middle class people from Tehran are mobilizing grassroots relief efforts to collect and deliver supplies via social media platforms, circumventing the government's block on Facebook via VPNs. GO

Mapping Syria's Civil War

The BBC reports that the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has compiled a map that shows what parts of Syria are in the hands of the Free Syrian Army and what parts are still under the regime's control. GO

India Bans Bulk Text Messages in Vain Attempt to Quell Rumors of Internecine Conflict

In an attempt to stop a panicked mass migration due to rumors spread via text messages and social media, the Indian government blocked websites and ordered mobile service providers to cap subscribers' emails at five per day. But Internet savvy phone users easily circumvented the cap on text messages and Indians jeered on Twitter, using the hashtag #5SMS to criticize the government's ham fisted attempts at censorship GO

Is Sina Weibo a Means of Free Speech or a Means of Social Control?

Over noodles in Beijing, David Eaves and Michael Anti discussed how Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging platform in China, actually creates a new means of social control for the central Chinese government. While it allows dissent, Anti argues, Weibo serves as a central platform for citizen speech — operated by a company over which the Chinese central government can exert significant influence. GO

Spain's Draft Law on Transparency and Access to Information Disappoints Civil Society NGOs

Spain is the only large European democracy that lacks a law mandating government transparency and the right of citizens to access information. Recently, in response to public demands and the country's deepening economic and social crisis, the government passed a Draft Law on Transparency and Access to Information. But the law does not include clauses that civil society groups regard as fundamental — such as the recognition that access to information is a citizen's fundamental right. GO

Is This the Rise of the Civic Hacker Hub?

The tech startup space has a long history of creating work spaces that bring together the various players — VCs, ideas people, business types and developers – necessary to launch new projects. Some of these spaces — the iHub in Nairobi strikes me as the most powerful example — have served as hosts to hackathons and sessions that bring together a similar set of actors in the open government and civic hacking space. It will be interesting to see if efforts to transfer that model to the opengov space develop. GO

With Text Messages, Saving Lives Through Timely Words

Sometimes all it takes to save lives is the right words at the right time. That's what researchers are finding as they explore two projects to use text messages in an effort to influence people's behavior. Early intervention specialist Patrick Meier describes how this knowledge was used in conflict resolution — specifically in a project called CeaseFire Chicago, which reduced dramatically the number of shootings in the city's marginalized neighborhoods. Now a Kenyan NGO is employing the same methodology to reduce conflict in the slums of Nairobi. And this is all based on earlier work that a World Health Organization found used text messaging to improve treatment results for patients with HIV in Kenya. GO

Ukrainian Civic Movement Unveils Online Tool to Monitor Parliament Members

A new tool for monitoring parliament members' activity is now available online, the Kyiv Post reports. The tool has been created by Chesno (“honest”), a civic movement founded a year ago by a group of civil society organizations with the aim of empowering citizens with information tools and improving their knowledge and political choices. GO

Succeeding Means Letting Go: A Response to David Eaves

Responding to David Eaves, mySociety Director Tom Steinberg pulls the lid off of a project in the works: a new open-source component for civic hackers, built by Chile's Ciudadano Inteligente, that will fit into mySociety's new Components framework. "It's because we believe," Steinberg writes, "that the only way that the Components can really thrive beyond our organizations is if they are truly interoperable over the web, truly owned by different people, and if they can handle massively varying political and cultural contexts. It is our goal that in the future any of the Components being used to underpin a website or app can be out and replaced by a clone that speaks the same API, but which may be built by a different group, in a different language. Interoperability and flexibility are everything." GO

Mapping Technology Allows NGOs to Coordinate Disaster Relief in West Africa

In a textbook example of how technology can be used to coordinate crisis management, SahelResponse has created a map that helps NGOs coordinate food relief in the drought-and-conflict -afflicted Sahel region of West Africa. GO

Is Civic Hacking Becoming 'Our Pieces, Loosely Joined?'

David Eaves writes: "So far, it appears that the spirit of re-use among the big players, like MySociety and the Sunlight Foundation*, only goes so deep. Indeed often it seems they are limited to believing others should re-use their code. There are few examples where the bigger players dedicate resources to support other people's components. Again, it is fine if this is all about creating competing platforms and competing to get players in smaller jurisdictions who cannot finance creating whole websites on their own to adopt it. But if this is about reducing duplication then I'll expect to see some of the big players throw resources behind components they see built elsewhere. So far it isn't clear to me that we are truly moving to a world of 'small pieces loosely joined' instead of a world of 'our pieces, loosely joined.'" GO

YouTube Now Lets You Blur Faces in Videos: What This Means for Safety-Minded Activists

Today YouTube is rolling out a new feature that allows users to obscure faces that appear within videos before posting them.

"Whether you want to share sensitive protest footage without exposing the faces of the activists involved, or share the winning point in your 8-year-old’s basketball game without broadcasting the children’s faces to the world, our face blurring technology is a first step towards providing visual anonymity for video on YouTube," YouTube policy associate Amanda Conway wrote in a blog post.

One expert in video in activism calls this "a step in the right direction," but warns that the most important tool for videographers is an understanding of when and why to use this kind of feature.

How the New York Times Uses Citizen Media to Watch "Syria's War"

Forced to watch ongoing violence and unrest in Syria from afar, the New York Times launched "Watching Syria's War," an interactive page that presents, parses and explains videos coming out of the country from a growing group of activists and everyday citizens. In an edited interview with Lisa Goldman, page editor J David Goodman explains how the project works, from the way the Times breaks down what is or isn't credible for its visitors to what the entire endeavor might say about the future of conflict reporting. GO

Can Mobile Payments Reduce Corruption and Help Workers in the Developing World?

Back in May, federal officials revealed a sweeping new "digital government" strategy that included an international flavor: technologists coming to the federal government through a fellowship program would work on projects related to an initiative by USAID, the U.S.'s international development agency, to push for more people in the developing world to get paid by mobile phone instead of in cash. In announcements, government officials framed mobile money as a new and innovative solution to some financial problems for people without access to a bank. But mobile money is also an industry that's old enough to have a broad user base in some parts of the world and a few known problems, some of which a USAID-backed pilot program encountered firsthand. Despite these issues, officials are pushing ahead — so let's dig into how, and why. GO

Ushahidi and the Long Tail of Mapping for Social Change

A new website called DeadUshahidi launched recently with the express purpose of tracking Ushahidi mapping projects that experienced little use. While the Ushahidi team responded in good form, but it was hard not to see the website as a shot across its bow.

David Eaves explores why there are so many Ushahidi-powered mapping projects that appear to have fallen by the wayside — and why that might actually be a good thing for people who want to use geospatial data for social change.

Can Tech-Savvy Activists Change Mexico's Presidential Elections?

Are Sunday's presidential elections a fulcrum for the scales of power in Mexico? Is it fair to say Internet-powered student protesters are on one side of that balance beam? And if so, which way is it swinging? I asked Diego Beas, a columnist for Reforma and a keen observer of technology's role in politics throughout the Americas, and Andrés Monroy-Hernández, a post-doctoral researcher at Microsoft Research and a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Both have been following Mexico's presidential elections closely, and both have the tech background necessary to understand and explain the role of networked politics in this election, but the two have very different perspectives on whether the student protesters are getting anywhere. Click through for a video of our conversation. GO

Brazil's Open-Government Shock Treatment

Countries arrive at more transparency and greater freedom of information either through long training or sudden shock treatment.

The U.S. experience, with decades of incremental law and legal precedent, is synonymous with the archetypical training regime. Brazil, on the other hand, is undergoing the epitome of shock treatment. In one month, May 2012, Brazil formally launched an ambitious freedom of information law that outlines a "right to information" – replete with provisions for the release of information in open, computer-readable formats – and, at around the same time, a new open-data portal. For added shock, the Brazilian government inaugurated a second new fundamental right, the "right to historical truth." This right is embodied by the newly established Truth Commission, whose aim it is to reconcile abuses from the military dictatorship that controlled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Brazil also currently occupies the co-chair of the Open Government Partnership. In short, Brazil is in the midst of a massive transparency offensive and there are positive signs that it is moving in the right direction.

Reporter Detained in Sudan After Posting YouTube Video of Khartoum Protests

For the sixth day in a row, Khartoum university students were out protesting massive increases in the price of meals and transportation that stem from new government austerity measures. Reporters and activists on the ground in Sudan say the size of the protests are clearly worrying the government of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir — and government forces are cracking down, attempting to limit people's ability to publish video and photos from a political moment that some are debating whether or not to call the arrival of the Arab Spring in Sudan. Efforts to capture images of the unrest, they say, are being hampered by government forces, including the brief detention of one reporter who posted video to YouTube. GO

OGP Diplomacy and South Africa’s Secrecy Law

Open Government Partnership member South Africa has proposed a bill that would make it illegal to publish or even possess leaked government documents, an early test of the partnership's ability to set new international norms for transparency and open government. GO

In Cairo, #Jan25 Activists Sidelined as Muslim Brotherhood Marches On

Thousands of Egyptians thronged Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday night to protest a judicial decision that hands sweeping powers to the ruling military junta, in a move many see as a consolidation of the military’s power. The Revolutionary Socialist Youth and the April 6 movement, both composed of liberal and leftist anti-Mubarak activists, called for a protest in Tahrir Square. And so did the Muslim Brotherhood. All issued their calls via their Facebook pages. But according to many observations tweeted by people on the scene, the crowd at Tahrir was dominated by Muslim Brotherhood supporters who chanted in support of their candidate, Mohamed Morsi. GO

Hoping to Help Curb Corruption in Morocco by Mapping It Online

Tarik Nesh-Nash conceived of and became part of the team that built Mamdawrinch, a just-launched site to map incidents of bribery in Morocco. Built with Transparency Maroc, the Moroccan chapter of Transparency International, the site tackles what Nesh-Nash says is an "endemic" problem in the North African country. Transparency International ranks perception of corruption in Morocco as about as bad as it is in Greece and Columbia, but slightly better than in India. ("Mamdawrinch" means "we will not bribe" in Moroccan dialect.) The focus, says Nesh-Nash, is on the petty corruption that has become part of everyday life in Morocco. "I wanted to open up the debate on the topic," says Nesh-Nash. GO

Open Data, Open Standards, and Community Activism

Of a project in Western New York to help local residents track pollution in their area, David Eaves writes, " activists and non-profits have not even begun to tap the power of open data." GO

Culture Hacking: How One Project is Changing Transparency in Chile

A few weeks after the launch of Inspector de Intereses — a Chilean website that allows citizens to map money trails in politics — the team at La Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente, the organization behind the site, had an interesting visitor. At the doorstep stood a member of parliament, carrying a stack of papers which outlined his interest in various corporations. He had received the team’s letter inviting him — and his colleagues — to update his records, and here he was, ready to do so, in person no less.

That eager senator wasn’t alone: about 20 percent of Chilean parliamentarians took the opportunity to update their records. In a country where conflicts of interest are not regularly discussed or acknowledged, this was an interesting shift, a change in culture and in process that was part of a Ciudadano Inteligente's strategy to make more transparent the link between money and power in Chile.

[OP-ED]: My Government's Commitment to the Surveillance State – the UK Queen's Speech

Jon Worth argues that the Queen's Speech, delivered last week, presages a return to the "Big Brother" state in the UK. GO

How to Evaluate the State of Open Data

The Open Knowledge Foundation recently announced that it will organize and coordinate an Open Data Census. The intent is to create a basic baseline against which governments can measured around how much (and how relevant) their open data is.   GO

How the German Pirate Party's "Liquid Democracy" Works

In the midst of the political upheaval affecting Europe, a relatively new movement is making stunning progress, particularly in Germany. On Sunday, the Pirate Party entered its third German state parliament in eight months, demonstrating momentum that surprises even its core members. The party is now on track to pick up a double-digit percentage of the vote in next year's federal elections. And it's dealing with this explosive growth through the medium it knows best: technology. GO

Why Open Corporate Data Matters

We don’t normally think of corporate data as democratic data. But limited liability – the right to have an legal entity that protects its shareholders from personal bankruptcy – is an enormous privilege conferred by the state to individuals. In a 19th century democracy – to say nothing of a 21st century one - who is making use of this privilege, and to what ends, should be a right of public knowledge. Here's why--and a new report on who is doing it well. (The bad news is, no one.) GO

The Opportunities and Challenges of the Open Government Partnership

A multilateral partnership on open government and transparency, the Open Government Partnership is still in a formative stage — just learning how to walk. But it will be tested early by a number of issues and how the steering committee reacts over the next few months are likely to determine the fate of the initiative — whether it becomes a transformative body that fosters and supports strong new expectations for what qualifies a country as open and democratic or if it becomes more of a talking shop, like the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which shepherds along more incremental progress. GO

Announcing "WeGov," Covering Technology in Politics and Governance Worldwide

Welcome to WeGov, the newest experiment at Personal Democracy Media and a special new section of techPresident that we are launching today with the financial support of the Omidyar Network. This new section of techPresident has a simple but ambitious goal: To report on the stories of efforts around the world to reshape politics and governance using technology, and to assess the impact of those efforts. GO

U.S., Brazil To Lead International Open Government Partnership

Ask the State Department and it is a return to a challenge President Barack Obama issued at the last U.N. General Assembly, encouraging other countries to embrace open government. Ask some observers, and it is a return to the American practice of democracy building, just under a different name. Either way, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota this morning announced international partnership to promote transparency, citizen participation, and accountability in participating countries. The event was streamed live on State.gov. GO

In Search of a New American Vision at Netroots Nation and Right Online

The Right knows what it wants, but its base needs to learn how to better use technology. The Left knows how to use tech, but its base needs to figure out what it wants. Both can't help but be reactive to each other. And neither seems to have a fresh vision for America in the 21st century. GO

Bright Lights, Small City: Is Tiny Roosevelt Island a Microcosm of Urban Innovation's Future?

The Roosevelt Island tram, one of the only urban tram systems in the country. Photo: Shinya Suzuki / flickr Jonathan Kalkin gets excited when he talks about his latest scheme, a plan to build one of the world's first zero-net-emission parking garages. His eyes widen. His eyebrows raise. We are sitting in Riverwalk Diner on Roosevelt ... GO

"The Two Tribes of Open Government"?

The Project on Government Oversight's Danielle Brian takes issue with former White House Deputy CTO Beth Noveck's breaking down of the open government space into "Good government reformers who focus on a certain kind of transparency and the Open Government innovators who focus on collaboration informed by data." Writes Brian on ... GO

New Pew Report on "Govt Online" Shows Big Citizen Participation But Little Govt Engagement

"The more we can enlist the American people to pay attention and be involved, that's the only way we are going move an agenda forward. That's how we are going to counteract the special interests." --Barack Obama, speaking to a campaign audience in Indianapolis, April 30, 2008 GO

The Three Branches of We.Gov

There’s a very interesting confluence of conversations taking place at the moment on the topic of how technology is changing politics. One is on the idea of government 2.0, or government-as-a-platform. The second is on whether the net is better for campaigning than governing. And the third is on what happens when you open up the process ... GO