31.05.2003
Various groups in China have made an appeal to the US and France to pressurize President Hu Jintao to release the 42 cyber dissidents languishing in prisons across the country. The Chinese premiere is set to attend the G-8 summit beginning June 1 in France.
31.05.2003
The US-led war on Iraq has triggered a climate of global anti-American fervour, clearly reflected in the growth of Websites spewing hatred on Uncle Sam. Campaigners are actively using the Internet to voice their resentment against the US in the aftermath of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
30.05.2003
Nearly a month after the war left Iraqi infrastructure in tatters, Internet access has been restored for its citizens. Though the connection speed is slow, users can avail of added facilities like e-mail and printing.
28.05.2003
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation recently launched an ICT Development Digital Library on the occasion of the World Telecommunications Day. The online library is a "one-click" collection of documents related to international ICT policy and regulatory issues.
23.05.2003
With the proliferation of corporate-sponsored computer centres, rural areas of South Africa are set for an IT revolution. The arrival of computers and software in rural high schools has sparked incredible excitement among students and teachers alike, bringing teens to school at all hours of the day.
22.05.2003
Nigeria's only international radio station, Voice of Nigeria (VON) has launched a Website recently. The site will present the station's programme schedule, radio frequencies and general information on Nigeria.
21.05.2003
Huang Qi, founder-editor of a leading Chinese Website, has been sentenced to five more years in prison. Huang, who has already spent three years in jail, was arrested on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, after some articles about the massacre written by exiled dissidents were posted on his Website.
20.05.2003
The Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) has won this year's AISI Media Award for its innovative applications of ICTs to local content, defined as "the expression of the locally owned and adapted knowledge of a community in Africa". Set up in May 2000 by several women's organisations, this NGO works to promote and support the use of ICTs by women and their organisations in Uganda.
19.05.2003
A Chinese man arrested after signing an online petition for the release of jailed activist Liu Di, was released last month, the New York-based China Labor Watch reports. Yuan Langsheng was detained, along with two more individuals, in March 2003 after expressing support for Liu, a woman student who is jailed since November 2002 for criticising China's Internet restrictions.
16.05.2003
The Nigerian government has started the construction of its Internet portal as part of a programme to deploy IT in its day-to-day functioning. A presidential network has already been set up in the first phase. The next phase will link the country's 36 states via an intranet.
16.05.2003
Politically motivated hackers have defaced a Web page carrying a call for the immediate withdrawal of US and UK troops from Iraq. Using United States and Israeli flags to obliterate the text and making an automatic link to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the cyber censors made it impossible for supporters visiting the Website to sign the demands.
15.05.2003
The world's first undersea optic fibre system was inaugurated recently in Dakar, capital of Senegal. The trail, which runs for 28,000 km, goes around parts of Africa, Europe and Asia. It is expected to allow faster data transfer, better communication facilities and an increased bandwidth between the three continents.
14.05.2003
NetAid and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme have announced the names of the "Online Volunteers of the Year" for 2003. These 10 volunteers were singled out as having performed outstanding work for international development organisations around the world.
14.05.2003
The Global Knowledge Partnership and the APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) are initiating 'The Gender and ICT Awards'. Inviting submissions under the "multi-stakeholder" and "community-based/individual" categories, the awards aim to recognise gender and ICT initiatives globally. For more information, contact gkps@gkpsecretariat.org.my.
14.05.2003
Hundreds of online forums are monitored day and night by thousands of Chinese employees and police. Dozens of users have been arrested for criticising the government on forums. Reporters Without Borders has investigated China's chat forums, finding them to be both "spaces for expression and traps for Internet users" at the same time.
14.05.2003
Digital Opportunity Channel this week launches an online discussion forum on "Information Society: Voices from the South" in partnership with the South Asian voluntary network Bytes for All. This email- and Web-based discussion list aims to help stakeholders from the South exchange ideas and debate issues about the emerging information society and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, and to provide them with a platform to take their voices to policymakers in order to influence national, regional and global strategies.
14.05.2003
Information technology revolution is opening up opportunities to access information even in the most "unreachable" of Indian villages. Information shops are becoming indispensable to the fishermen and farmers in the villages around Villianur, Pondicherry in south India.
14.05.2003
Information technology revolution is opening up opportunities to access information even in the most "unreachable" of Indian villages. Information shops are becoming indispensable to the fishermen and farmers in the villages around Villianur, Pondicherry in south India.
12.05.2003
As part of its series of one-day discussion forums, SANGONeT is organising its next Thetha on 22 May 2003, which will focus on cyberlaw and Internet rights. Thetha is a Nguni verb meaning "let's talk, discuss, debate, share opinions/ideas" etc.
12.05.2003
Study papers presented at a workshop this week show that Ethiopia stands lowest among developing countries in the use of information and communication technology (ICT). The country's information systems are not organised and information infrastructure meant to support development activities is very weak, the papers state.
