News Roundup Archive

Thursday, June 13, 2013

USIP's Media, Conflict & Peacebuilding Roundup

 

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, June 7 - 13, 2013

Media and Journalism

Internet and Social Media

What's New from PeaceMedia

**Click here to subscribe to USIP's Science, Technology and Peacebuilding News Roundup.**


Media and Journalism

Chinese Media Focus on Snowden Leaks, US Spy Programs
The front pages of Chinese state media were covered Thursday with the allegations of ex-CIA employee Edward Snowden, who says the U.S. government has been hacking computers in China for years. Those claims by Snowden were the top story on most of China's major news portals on Thursday, including on the front page of both the Chinese-language print version and and English-language online version of the Communist Party-controlled Global Times.
See the full article (VOA News, 6/13/13)
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'Harmful for Children': Turkish TV Channels Fined for Live Coverage of Protests
Turkey's TV watchdog fined four TV channels over their live coverage of the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, citing that the broadcasts were "harming the physical, moral and mental development of children and young people." The Radio and Television Supreme Council fined private channels including Halk TV, Ulusal TV, Cem TV and EM TV.
See the full article (RT, 6/13/13)
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Iran Imposes Severe Restrictions on Media Election Coverage
Severe restrictions have been imposed in Iran on foreign and domestic media to ensure that coverage of Friday's presidential election is tightly controlled. International media watchdogs and journalists say most visa applications from foreign news organisations to cover the contest have been rejected or simply ignored.
See the full article (Guardian, Ian Black, 6/12/13)
Click to read "Iran’s June 14 Vote to Replace Ahmadinejad Heats Up with Debates, Dropouts," an Olive Branch Post by Viola Gienger.
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Turkish Media: Caught in the Wheels of Power?
With the vacuum in mainstream media coverage, protesters [in Turkey] turned to social media to get their story out but this unfettered source of news potentially inflamed the situation. [This article] assesses what the domestic coverage of the protests – or the lack of - says about media ownership in Turkey and the relations those companies have with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
See the full article (Aljazeera, 6/8/13)
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Internet and Social Media

Google Detects Iran Phishing Attacks ahead of Election
Google says it has detected and stopped thousands of phishing attacks targeting email accounts of Iranian users ahead of the 14 June presidential election. In an online statement, the firm said it had noticed a "significant jump" in the region's overall volume of phishing activity in the last three weeks.
See the full article (BBC, 6/13/13)
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Internet Should be Prepared for 'Militarisation': UK Ministry Report
A recently published report on potential scenarios of cyber-conflict, The Global Cyber-Game, says it is inevitable that the internet will be “militarised” — used to serve the needs of military conflict between nations — and that ICT will increasingly be both an important means and a target of such conflict.
See the full article (Computerworld, Stephen Bell, 6/13/13)
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'Fast Diplomacy': The Future of Foreign Policy?
Foreign policy is evolving and adapting in front of our eyes, not only to new technologies but also to the different personifications of power and influence. Thanks to social media and the advent of digital diplomacy, this transformation is happening very fast and affects the very DNA of how governments interact with each other and with their publics.
See the full article (Huffington Post, Andreas Sandre, 6/11/13)
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Kuwaiti Woman Jailed for 'Insulting' Emir Tweets
A Kuwaiti court has sentenced a woman to 11 years in jail for insulting the emir and calling for regime change on social networking site Twitter. Huda al-Ajmi, a 37-year-old teacher, has been also convicted of misusing her mobile phone.
See the full article (BBC, 6/10/13)
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Iranian Government Pursuing 'National Internet'
Iranian internet users could have access to international websites such as Google and YouTube blocked, under little-known government plans to manage the internet. The Iranian government says its "national internet", currently used for domestic websites including banks and government departments, would improve browsing speeds and data security.
See the full article (BBC, 6/10/13)
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Singapore Clamps Down on News Web Sites
About 1,000 Singaporeans joined a weekend protest against a new government policy that requires some news Web sites to obtain licenses and possibly to remove offensive content. The policy, which took effect this month, has set off criticism that the authorities in the city-state are trying to enforce online media censorship.
See the full article (AP, 6/9/13)
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What's New from PeaceMedia

"Activists Hold Protests around the World for Press Freedom in Burma" - Press TV
Human rights and free speech activists held demonstrations in different cities of the world from Bangkok to Paris to protest the continued imprisonment of activists, journalists and politicians.
See the full video
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USIP's Science, Technology & Peacebuilding Roundup

 

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Science, Technology and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, June 7 - 13, 2013

Table of Contents

**Click here to subscribe to USIP's Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding News Roundup,
which includes a special section on Internet and social media.**


TEDGlobal: Are Drones Tools of War or a Social Good?
Speakers at the TEDGlobal conference have been debating the positive use of drones in society. Delegates heard how drones, more usually seen as military tools, are increasingly playing a positive role in civilian life They are offering new ways of transportation and carrying out vital conservation work.
See the full article (BBC, Jane Wakefield, 6/12/13)
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Tech Companies Urge U.S. to Ease Secrecy Rules on National Security Probes
Technology companies stung by the controversy over the National Security Agency's sweeping Internet surveillance program are calling on U.S. officials to ease the secrecy surrounding national security investigations and lift long-standing gag orders covering the nature and extent of information collected about Internet users.
See the full article (Washington Post, Craig Timberg and Cecilia Kang, 6/11/12)
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Is There A Silver Lining To The President's Cyber War Policy?
When the Guardian published the top secret Presidential Policy Directive 20 (PPD-20) last week, [it] largely confirmed what those who pay close attention to these issues already knew: the United States is working to build up its offensive cyber warfare capabilities. But the document provides other insights as well, and perhaps even a small measure of consolation for cyber war critics.
See the full article (Forbes, Sean Lawson, 6/11/13)
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The Outsourcing of U.S. Intelligence Raises Risks among the Benefits
An examination found that 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence. At the same time, tens of billions of dollars have been spent on computers, networks, satellite systems and other technology to collect and mine information. Those systems have been shown repeatedly to be vulnerable - to attacks and exploitation by both hackers and insiders.
See the full article (Washington Post, Robert O'Harrow Jr., 6/9/13)
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U.S. and China Move Closer on North Korea, but Not on Cyberespionage
Even as they pledged to build "a new model" of relations, President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China ended two days of informal meetings here on Saturday moving closer on pressuring a nuclear North Korea and addressing climate change, but remaining sharply divided over cyberespionage and other issues that have divided the countries for years.
See the full article (New York Times, Jackie Calmes and Steven Lee Myers, 6/8/13)*NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
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U.S. Helps Allies Trying to Battle Iranian Hackers
The Obama administration has begun helping Middle Eastern allies build up their defenses against Iran's growing arsenal of cyberweapons, and will be doing the same in Asia to contain computer-network attacks from North Korea, according to senior American officials.
See the full article (New York Times, Thom Shanker and David E. Sanger, 6/8/13)*NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
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UN Drone Investigator Expecting 'Dramatic' Decrease in US Strikes
The United Nations' drone investigator says he expects a "significant reduction" in the controversial strikes by the US in the next 18 months. After meeting the CIA drector John Brennan and other high-ranking Obama administration officials this week, Ben Emmerson told the Guardian it was his expectation that strikes would decrease substantially.
See the full article (Guardian, Spencer Ackerman, 6/7/13)
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Obama's Surveillance State
The war on terror has taken over not just U.S. foreign policy, but also our inboxes, smartphones, and Facebook pages. And we're only beginning to understand how much harm that's caused. It's official. We are living in a surveillance state.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, Suzanne Nossel, 6/7/13)*FP sign-up may be required to view the full article
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Obama Orders US to Draw Up Overseas Target List for Cyber-attacks
Barack Obama has ordered his senior national security and intelligence officials to draw up a list of potential overseas targets for US cyber-attacks, a top secret presidential directive obtained by the Guardian reveals. The Directive ... says the government will "identify potential targets of national importance where OCEO can offer a favorable balance of effectiveness and risk."
See the full article (Guardian, Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill, 6/7/13)
[Return to top]

Click here to subscribe to USIP's Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding News Roundup,
which includes a special section on Internet and social media.

Did we miss anything?

 

 


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