Amnesty International today extended the campaign for Internet freedom started in the United Kingdom to the entire world, that aims to recover the network as a force for change in the face of 'the growing willingness of technology companies to assist in censorship and repression', informs the organization in a note.
The campaign – called “Irrepressible“, namely, “irrepressible”– invites users to sign a “commitment on Internet freedom“. Those signatures will be collected and presented at a UN meeting on the future of the web in November this year.. Also, AI called to publish on blogs and personal sites fragments of censored material not only by the Chinese authorities but also by those of other countries in the world, in order to counteract the practice of companies bowing to pressure from authorities for commercial reasons and blocking access to pages that criticize some governments.
'From Iran to the Maldives, from Cuba to Vietnam, Governments repress people who use the Internet to communicate their opinions and deny their citizens access to the Internet's abundance of information., adds.
In addition, 'network users are imprisoned, Internet cafes are closed, Police monitor chat rooms and blogs are deleted. Websites are blocked, news from abroad is prohibited, and search engines filter results on politically sensitive matters'.
The Internet can be a tool for promoting human rights - 'activists can tell the world about abuses committed in their country with the click of a mouse', However, its potential to generate change is being undermined by governments that are unwilling to tolerate this free medium of communication., and by companies willing to help them stifle free speech.’
‘Sun Microsystems, Nortel Networks, Cisco Systems, Yahoo and Google -according to the note- These are some of the companies that help governments censor the Internet or track down individual users..
In 2004, 'Microsoft released information about anti-nuclear activist Mordechai Vanunu to Israeli authorities, without his knowledge or consent. The data was initially used to prosecute Vanunu for maintaining contacts with foreign media..
That is why Amnesty is calling on internet users around the world to come online. http://irrepressible.info and sign the commitment that asks governments and companies to respect freedom on the Internet.
Coinciding with the launch of the international campaign, Amnesty publishes report on Yahoo's role!, Microsoft and Google 'in China's Internet crackdown'.
According to this human rights organization, Nobel Peace Prize 1977, 'The repressive apparatus of the Internet is considered to be more advanced in China than in other countries, and companies are especially willing to cooperate’ with your government
via http://www.terra.es and Clarin