Thursday, November 17

Isn't this chilling?

Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman wanted to host "Expression Under Repression," a workshop at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, but were discouraged by the Tunisian authorities who deemed their seminar's title to be incompatible with the conference's theme of ICT for Development and that it might be cancelled. Although they were initially allowed to proceed, later
a phalanx of secret police (ie scary guys in dark suits) showed up. they filled the hall outside the room, forcing cancellation of the break for fear that we'd not be allowed to re-start. as rsf started to hand out books at the non-break, the authorities stated that documents could only be distributed outside the event, not in the room. this is in direct contrast to the WSIS rules, which state that materials can be passed out inside an approved event (unless they receive special approval for wider distribution).
From Expression Under Repression at WSIS (the UN's World Summit on the Information Society)

What the hell was the UN thinking?

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