Karimova gets schooled in Twitter debate

How does she manage it all?

Even though her schedule must be packed, Gulnara Karimova, an ambassador to the UN and daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, still seems to find time to lecture human rights activists, though not too successfully. Read More »

Social Media in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

Bridging the digital divide (one Central Asian language at a time)

The localization of Skype into the Kyrgyz language in 2011 has been the first step to opening the world’s most popular messenger to the people who do not – surprise, surprise – speak Russian or English. Read More »

Russia shutters more than 90 sites over child pornography

More than 90 Russian-registered websites have been shut down since January for content containing child pornography, according to a  4 February  announcement by the Interpol National Central Bureau, RIA Novosti reports.  Read More »

Hackers break into official Uzbek TV site to highlight media propaganda

Uzbeks visiting the state-run broadcaster’s official website on 30 January got a surprise: a short message reading, “The news you spread are lies!” The proclamation was the product of hackers who disabled the site then posted the message, RFE/RL reported. Read More »

Hackers warn Turkmenistan cybersecurity dreadfully low

On January 25th, the database of nic.tm, the domain name registrar responsible for all .tm domain names, was breached. The full database of usernames and passwords was posted on the hackers’ website ha.cker.ir. Read More »

Critics question neutrality of Kazakh Wikipedia

Ties between the Kazakhstani government and WikiBilim, the NGO founded to promote the expansion of the Kazakh-language version of Wikipedia, have prompted critics of the online encyclopedia to accuse it of providing the Kazakh regime with an opportunity to use the website as a propaganda machine. Read More »

Looking East: The Russian example of volunteerism for Belarus

Mapping Czech open data (and dangerous food)

One of the biggest topics we cover at Net Prophet is the growing acceptance of open government data. At least in some sectors, many countries are beginning to see the benefits of opening up their wealth of information to their citizens and journalists. Some interesting platforms have been developed in the process, but we have noticed that even the best examples really only go so far in truly opening up their data. Yes, a ministry may make a document or database available online, but often they are too difficult for average citizens – and even journalists – to use.
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New Russian website sets targets on apartment repairs

After struggling to coalesce the increasingly targeted Russian opposition movement, anti-corruption activist Aleksei Navalny has launched a website to tap into public frustration over poor conditions in Russian apartment blocks. And after a month online, the site seems to be hitting a nerve, The New York Times reports. Read More »

In Belarus, converting online power to offline momentum

Belarus is known for its peculiar attitude to its own culture (or maybe it’s better to say we have a peculiar attitude to our president who has been running the country without any changes since 1994). Read More »

‘Carousel Voting’ Goes Viral in Kyrgyz Elections

Nearly three months of intrusive and irksome electoral campaigns in Kyrgyzstan came to an end as votes were counted for the five municipal elections held on November 25. But with the results in, a scandalous piece of citizen media has left a sour taste in the mouth. Read More »

Interactive map charts Russia’s environmental problem areas

Azerbaijan: How to Measure Free Speech on the Internet?

Originally published by EurasiaNet.org.

Civil society activists in Azerbaijan are trying to push back against government efforts to restrict space for public debate. And they’re hoping a recent global Internet forum in Baku will expand international support for their cause.

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