Tunisian Youth Activists Dissect Budget Ahead of Parliamentary Elections
BY Rebecca Chao | Wednesday, October 22 2014
Amira Yahyaoui is known for her plucky efforts to monitor the National Constituent Assembly -- turning up at private committee meetings, nettling officials with live tweets, taking their attendance and recording their every vote. Now she wants to open up Tunisia's economy too, starting with the state budget. Read More
First POST: Reminders
BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, October 22 2014
Why the RNC hasn't managed to reboot how Republican campaigns use voter data; new ways of using phone banking to get out the vote; how the UK's digital director is still ahead of the e-govt curve; and much, much more. Read More
The People's "Marsad" for the Tunisian Parliament
BY Rebecca Chao | Friday, April 18 2014
In Arabic, "marsad" means observatory, but in Tunisia citizens also know it as the name of the interactive website, created by activist Amira Yahyaoui, that tracks and provides updates on all the activities of the Tunisian Parliament, the National Constituent Assembly. The nonpartisan team behind Marsad sits in all of the Assembly's sessions and posts meeting minutes and discussions of bills, as well as a record of who votes for each bill. With no other resource like it being provided by the government, and an inventory now of 519 documents, Marsad has become an essential tool in Tunisia for journalists, activists and even Members of Parliament. Read More
Can the Internet Help Build Democracy in Tunisia?
BY Rebecca Chao | Tuesday, March 4 2014
As January 26, 2014 approached, the day Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly would vote on passing a Constitution that had been snarled in debate for two years, rather than feel relief, activist Achref Aouadi tells techPresident he had grown dismayed after his failed attempts to create an online platform that would allow Tunisian citizens to debate, discuss and vote on the provisions of the draft Constitution. A day before the vote, he had not yet found a viable platform nor the funds for a developer. A crucial opportunity would be lost for stirring civic participation, which he sees as a vital step in the building of Tunisia’s democracy. Then, an online search turned the tide in Aouadi’s favor. Read More
First POST: Triple Play Special
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, February 14 2014
More on Comcast-TimeWarner; TED and TEDWomen's policy against bringing up abortion?!; and is social media making it harder for NGOs to get attention for their causes?; and much much more. Read More
First POST: Precognition
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, August 30 2013
Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: New revelations about the government's "black budget," new warnings about facial recognition technology; and some hints about 2016 and tech from the RNC's CTO and Democratic campaign strategist Joe Trippi. Read More
Tunisian Activist Thanks Chelsea Manning For Sparking The Arab Spring
BY Jessica McKenzie | Thursday, August 29 2013
Sami Ben Gharbia, the Founding Director of Global Voices Advocacy and co-founder of the citizen journalism blog nawaat.org, published a tribute to Chelsea Manning, previously known as Bradley Manning, on Medium yesterday. In it he calls her a deity of a “new mythology,” and an inspirational and iconic figure. It is really the story of TuniLeaks and the beginning of the Arab Spring, told by an active participant, but framed as an illustration of the effect that Manning has had by releasing those infamous cables. Read More
Tunisia Announces Intention to End Internet Censorship
BY Lisa Goldman | Thursday, September 13 2012
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. Read More
World Bank Report: Tunisia, Empowered By Social Media, Still In A Fragile Transition
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Tuesday, March 20 2012
Tunisia, whose networked citizens earned their place in modern history as the inspiration for the wider world-changing Arab Spring movement, is still in turmoil more than a year after those disaffected citizens ... Read More
Book Review: Consent of the Networked
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, February 3 2012
Last night, a crowd of more than one hundred gathered on the sixth floor of MIT's Media Lab to help Rebecca MacKinnon launch her new book, The Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. The audience included net luminaries like Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, and Andrew Newman, the director of the Tor Project, and the discussion was at the same level. Herewith, my thoughts on her book salted by some observations from the event. Read More