VERSIONS: روسيا اليوم NOTICIAS FREEVIDEO ИНОТВ RTД
breakingnews
Go to main page   News   Graffiti - the only free media in Kazakhstan?  
MORE ON THE STORY
RIA Novosti 07.04.2010, 17:15 3 comments

Will Kyrgyzstan’s unrest change the political situation in the country?

Clashes between protesters and police in Kyrgyzstan have continued on Wednesday, spreading to the capital Bishkek. Human rights organizations have described the situation in the country as "complex."

It’s estimated, during World War I up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed; two thirds of the Armenian population (1,75 millions) were deported to Syria and Palestine; 600 000 were either killed or died of starvation during the journey. 05.03.2010, 17:40 14 comments

Turkey warns US over Armenian “genocide” resolution

The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a resolution that recognizes the World War I-era deaths of Armenians in Ottoman-era Turkey as an act of “genocide”.

Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyz opposition supporters. (AFP Photo / Vyacheslav Oseledko) 20.04.2010, 17:30 2 comments

More unrest in Kyrgyzstan as new government takes control

Bishkek’s major Central Asian marketplace, Dordoi, according to Itar-Tass news agency, came under attack on Tuesday after several hundred people broke through the cordons of market guards and started looting the market.

10.06.2010, 23:50 40 comments

The silencing of Helen Thomas and the First Amendment

From the time of Eisenhower to Barack Obama, Helen Thomas enjoyed a 57-year stint working as a Washington correspondent, until an ill-advised comment on Israel sent her into early retirement.

An image grab taken from a video broadcast by Iran's state-run English-language Press TV on July 14, 2010, shows Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri (AFP Photo / DSK) 14.07.2010, 16:23 20 comments

A long, strange trip for “defected” Iranian scientist

In March, US media reported on the “defection” of Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist who went missing in Saudi Arabia who is now accusing US officials of abducting him.

27.07.2010, 17:46 21 comments

US “sparked Russian spy sensation” in wake of WikiLeaks broadside

In an effort to distract attention from the release of thousands of secret documents on the Afghanistan War, the US rounded up 11 Russian “spies” according to internal sources.

23.07.2010, 16:04 15 comments

Russia accuses US special services of lawlessness after “abduction” of pilot

As Moscow expresses its outrage at the detention of a Russian pilot in Liberia and his extradition to the US, Washington has apologized for failing to promptly provide notice about the details of the case.

RIA Novosti / Mikhail Klementev, POOL 29.07.2010, 11:20 14 comments

Medvedev expands FSB powers

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law a bill expanding the powers of the Federal Security Service (FSB). The new legislation will come into force after it is officially published.

AFP Photo / Alexey Sazonov 20.03.2010, 19:37 10 comments

“Rally of Wrath” demands action from the government

Thousands of Russians have taken to the streets to participate in so-called “Day of Wrath” opposition rallies all over the country.

RIA Novosti / Andrey Stenin, STF 27.04.2010, 17:01 1 comment

Former Kyrgyz president charged with mass murder and polygamy in absentia

Ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been charged in absentia of mass killings, polygamy, and corruption by the interim government and some human rights groups in the country.

Graffiti - the only free media in Kazakhstan?

Published: 14 May, 2009, 20:50

TAGS: CIS, Thrills&Spills, Protest, Politics, Human rights, Law


In protest against a new law regulating the media, internet activists in Kazakhstan have worked out their own bill which gives walls and fences the status of media sources.

The draft law will be sent to the Central Asian republic’s parliament, writes RIA.

Considering everything written on fences and walls to be journalism, and therefore open to government censorship, sounds absurd. But it’s no different to claiming that everything written on websites, blogs, in chatrooms and online stores, is journalism, say activists of the youth movement for the freedom of the Internet.

“The draft bill…forms the legal base for generating, sharing and storage of information on fences,” Tamara Kaleeva, the president of international freedom of speech fund “Adil Soz”, is quoted as saying.

She said the law would also define the main principles of the state “fence policy”, the rights of “fence readers” and the way information sharing should be controlled.

The main objective of this bill, Kaleeva said, is “to show the absurdity of the amendments” the lower chamber of the Kazakh parliament (Majilis) have adopted.

She vowed not to give up and said the group would also send a note to the Senate – the upper chamber of parliament.

The new laws that caused outrage among internet users and journalists were approved by the Majilis on May 13. In addition to considering internet sources to be the media, they also suggest blocking all foreign websites if their content contradicts Kazakhstan’s legislation.

Internet community activists see the move as the end of ‘Kaznet’ – Kazakhstan’s segment of the World Wide Web.

As parliamentarians were debating the amendments on Wednesday, several popular websites stopped working for an hour, which they called “An Hour of Silence”. Internet users, in protest against freedom of speech and the press limitations, didn’t visit Kaznet.

Tamara Kaleeva said the protest organizers’ idea was to show the future of Kaznet, “when it will turn into useless ruins”, reports Regnum, a Russian news agency.

Meanwhile, the law has been passed on to the Senate.

+8 (8 votes)
 
Back to top
next MORE NEWS
14.05.2009, 17:37 8 comments

Is Atheism healthy? – Studying the Godless

Religion is undoubtedly good for the soul. It offers itself as a panacea to the problems the world throws at us, but does that mean the atheists among us are doomed? Are secular societies to be feared and avoided?

14.05.2009, 21:28 5 comments

Biohacking: harmless hobby or global threat?

Security officials in the US are increasingly concerned about so-called “biohacking” – a recent phenomenon where amateur scientists grow bacteria and viruses to carry out home-based genetic experiments.