Reporters Without Borders will celebrate World Day Against Cyber Censorship on 12 March. This event is intended to rally everyone in support of a single Internet that is unrestricted and accessible to all. It is also meant to draw attention to the fact that, by creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom. However, more and more governments have realised this and are reacting by trying to control the Internet.

A Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporter was charged with disinformation for broadcasting a report on a dispute between a Cham Muslim community leader and members of his mosque, media reports said.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemn the 13-year jail sentence passed on journalist Ngwe Soe Lin by a special court inside Rangoon’s Insein prison on 27 January. He is the second video reporter for a Burmese exile radio and TV station based in Oslo to be convicted in the space of a month.

Reading the latest and possibly last letter from jail from convicted lese majeste and computer crime law offender Suwicha Thakor dated January first 2010 was a sobering experience. The letter reflects Suwicha's lack of faith on Thai mainstream media which do not care to put his side of the story to the public. So instead, Suwicha only mentioned in his Thai-language letter, the left-leaning not-for-profit prachatai.com online newspaper which duly published his letter on Wednesday.

Reiterating its appeal to King Bhumibol Adulyadej to pardon nine bloggers (see the 4 December press release: http://www.rsf.org/King-asked-to-pardon-Internet.html), Reporters Without Borders today published a letter written by one of the jailed bloggers, Suwicha Thakor, from prison.

Press freedom in 2009

    76    journalists killed (60 in 2008)

    33    journalists kidnapped

  573    journalists arrested

1456    physically assaulted

  570    media censored 

  157    journalists fled their countries

      1    blogger died in prison  

  151    bloggers and cyber-dissidents arrested 

    61    physically assaulted

    60    countries affected by online censorship

At the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, 14 international, regional and national press freedom organisations are calling on world leaders to protect environmental journalists and give them access to the information they need to cover climate change and the environment.

Reporters Without Borders has written to King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the eve of his birthday on 5 December asking him to pardon Thai Internet users who are in jail or who are being prosecuted in connection with the dissident views they allegedly expressed online.

A young blogger, Win Zaw Naing, is facing a possibly 15-year jail sentence just for posting pictures and reports about the September 2007 protests, known as the Saffron Revolution. Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association call for his release and the release of all the other detained bloggers.

Three Internet users have been arrested in the past four days for posting articles blaming King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s poor health for last month’s fall in the Bangkok stock exchange. They have been charged under article 14 of the Computer Crimes Act 2007 with endangering national security by spreading false rumours about the king’s health.

Latest rankings for press freedom leave Thailand and all other Asean countries with nothing to shout about.

The government’s decision to prosecute the company that published the new cartoon magazine Gedung Kartun for not having a permit is a setback for press freedom in Malaysia. The decision was announced by Jamilah Taib, the head of the interior ministry’s communication unit. The company insists it did get a verbal go-ahead.

Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the recent creation of a police taskforce to monitor websites and identify those posting content that violates Thailand’s draconian lese majeste law.

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about the Computer Crime Act that took effect on 18 July. It allows the police to seize the computer files and online files of persons suspected of disseminating insulting or pornographic content.