U.S. countermeasures to Internet censorship detailed at CCLP forum

WASHINGTON – The "spy versus spy" world of Internet censorship was the focus of today's monthly CCLP forum here. The speaker was André Mendes, Director of the Office of Technology, Services and Innovation at the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, who showed live demonstrations of circumvention technologies – in real time – as they were being used in China, Iran and Cuba…….

Gallup survey: Cell phones now exceed radio, TV in Zimbabwe

WASHINGTON – Far more households in Zimbabwe have cell phones than have radio or television, according to a Gallup survey released here this morning. And mobile telephones have become a primary source of news and information, exceeding even radio and TV in that country's urban areas. Report briefing available here:gallup-zimbabwe-brief.pdf Power point presentation: Media-Use-in-Zimbabwe-Deck-11-7-12-FINAL-FINAL.pdf According to the survey, 76% of Zimbabwe's households now have a cell phone, while only 60% have a radio and fewer than half have a television set. And in cities, almost everyone has access to a mobile phone – 97% of households – and 86%……

African mobile technology services developed for news and empowerment: Universal access

"No Internet needed." Those three words are seen more and more often promoting new mobile phone applications in Africa, where the newest apps are more likely than not to be free, to run on cheap low-end phones, and to function even without Internet access. In Africa, you can also use your cell phone to listen to "radio" programs from sources ranging from broadcasters to public service providers – and again without Internet access…….

Report: Internet freedom in peril, ‘glass three-quarters empty’

WASHINGTON – An annual assessment of global Internet freedom has at best mixed news. The 2012 survey, "Freedom on the Net 2012: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media," by Freedom House, finds repressive governments are becoming increasingly clever in their efforts to block messages and content. Full Report: FOTN 2012 FINAL.pdf "Tactics used are becoming more sophisticated and more diverse," Sanja Kelly, Project Director for the Freedom House survey, said at this morning's briefing, and she pointed to a newly popular method that has spread widely among repressive regimes: defamation…….