The Trouble with Governments
Oh, I can go on and on. Then go on a bit further. Then talk about the problem with huge corporations...
But case in point: A website called Change for Equality, which aims to promote equal rights for women in Iran has been filtered by the government three times in less than two weeks. What this means is that the website (despite numerous domain name changes) has been blocked by the Iranian government -- which further means that ideas about women's equality in Iran are not reaching Iranian people.
For those of you who ever felt like taking a huge bat to their systems administrator for not allowing you to check on your Friendster account, you know exactly what this is all about. And I hope you can relate with the frustration that government filtering of web content has wrought upon this campaign. So if you have a blog (or two), spend a few minutes cutting and pasting the text below in your respective spaces:
“Change for Equality,” the site of the One Million Signatures Campaign, has been filtered for the third time in less than two weeks. Despite having transferred the contents of our site to yet another domain www.we4change.com, a number of activists involved in the Campaign have decided to support our efforts further, through the establishment of weblogs, aptly titled “Change for Equality” where new articles placed on our site will also be featured.
Along these lines and based on its commitment to the continued dissemination of information about the Campaign, the Media Committee of the Campaign, is requesting all webloggers to assist us. Specifically we are asking that webloggers around the world establish blogs titled “Change for Equality” and post news about the Campaign as well as articles which appear on our site
Through this effort, we can assist in the free flow of information about the Campaign and in so doing we can also collectively object to the practice of filtering in Iran.
Not only is our contact and connection with our readers interrupted each time the site is filtered, but we are forced to expend an enormous amount of energy in reestablishing new sites. The purchase of new domains cost us 10,000 Tomans (roughly $12) each time. As a result, the continued filtering of our sites also puts a financial burden on the Campaign, which relies solely on the voluntary contributions of Campaign members and supporters to cover expenses. As such, any other suggestions for the elimination of the negative impact of filtering are most welcome.
In our initial effort to address the problem of continued filtering of our site, 6 weblogs have been established and launched. These weblogs along with our site will be updated simultaneously. Individuals interested in receiving information on new posts to our site and addresses for unfiltered websites and weblogs disseminating Campaign information should add the following Yahoo ID to their messengers: we4change@yahoo.com.
To share with us the address of new weblogs dedicated to sharing information about the Campaign, you can contact the Media Committee of the Campaign at onlinewechange@gmail.com.
New articles on the Campaign can currently be viewed on the site of the Campaign as well as on the following blogs:
http://we-change1.blogfa.com/
http://wechange1.blogspot.com/
http://wechange.blogfa.com/
http://we4change.blogspot.com/
http://we4change.blogfa.com
http://we-change5.blogfa.com/
But case in point: A website called Change for Equality, which aims to promote equal rights for women in Iran has been filtered by the government three times in less than two weeks. What this means is that the website (despite numerous domain name changes) has been blocked by the Iranian government -- which further means that ideas about women's equality in Iran are not reaching Iranian people.
For those of you who ever felt like taking a huge bat to their systems administrator for not allowing you to check on your Friendster account, you know exactly what this is all about. And I hope you can relate with the frustration that government filtering of web content has wrought upon this campaign. So if you have a blog (or two), spend a few minutes cutting and pasting the text below in your respective spaces:
“Change for Equality,” the site of the One Million Signatures Campaign, has been filtered for the third time in less than two weeks. Despite having transferred the contents of our site to yet another domain www.we4change.com, a number of activists involved in the Campaign have decided to support our efforts further, through the establishment of weblogs, aptly titled “Change for Equality” where new articles placed on our site will also be featured.
Along these lines and based on its commitment to the continued dissemination of information about the Campaign, the Media Committee of the Campaign, is requesting all webloggers to assist us. Specifically we are asking that webloggers around the world establish blogs titled “Change for Equality” and post news about the Campaign as well as articles which appear on our site
Through this effort, we can assist in the free flow of information about the Campaign and in so doing we can also collectively object to the practice of filtering in Iran.
Not only is our contact and connection with our readers interrupted each time the site is filtered, but we are forced to expend an enormous amount of energy in reestablishing new sites. The purchase of new domains cost us 10,000 Tomans (roughly $12) each time. As a result, the continued filtering of our sites also puts a financial burden on the Campaign, which relies solely on the voluntary contributions of Campaign members and supporters to cover expenses. As such, any other suggestions for the elimination of the negative impact of filtering are most welcome.
In our initial effort to address the problem of continued filtering of our site, 6 weblogs have been established and launched. These weblogs along with our site will be updated simultaneously. Individuals interested in receiving information on new posts to our site and addresses for unfiltered websites and weblogs disseminating Campaign information should add the following Yahoo ID to their messengers: we4change@yahoo.com.
To share with us the address of new weblogs dedicated to sharing information about the Campaign, you can contact the Media Committee of the Campaign at onlinewechange@gmail.com.
New articles on the Campaign can currently be viewed on the site of the Campaign as well as on the following blogs:
http://we-change1.blogfa.com/
http://wechange1.blogspot.com/
http://wechange.blogfa.com/
http://we4change.blogspot.com/
http://we4change.blogfa.com
http://we-change5.blogfa.com/