On August 22nd, the Government of Jordan approved a draft of an Internet regulation bill that threatens the rights and free speech of all Jordanians. It an attempt to bring media attention to this bill, and in hopes of having a large enough public outcry to stop its passage, over 200 Jordanian websites have gone dark, just as American websites did in anti-SOPA protests last January.

Operation #BlackoutJo is underway, and websites with large audiences have joined in the fight against this tyrannical legislation. Websites 7iber, BeAmman, and Jeeran have all gone black in hopes of drawing attention to the issue. On the blackout page you can find this link, which outlines some of the major grievances the people have with this proposed legislation, as well as a little background on how it came about. Concerning issues include; [Read more]

Since July, there has been a wave of ethnic violence sweeping the country of India. The violence began in the state of Assam, where indigenous Bodos claim that most of the Bangali Muslims living in Bodoland, an autonomous area consisting of four districts, were illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The Bodo’s believe the Muslims are encroaching on their territory and resources, and it is estimated that the violence in response to this has displaced close to 400,000 people, and killed 80.

Anger by both groups swept to other parts of the country, where two were killed in a Muslim-led rally in Mumbai. The fighting spread to the Internet, where doctored photos of violence against Muslims was propagated across social media networks Facebook and Twitter. [Read more]