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Tuesday 11 March 2008

Protest Internet Censorship in Armenia! Join Reporters Without Borders 24-hour online demo!

Armenia: Protest Internet Censorship

Given that various media sites as well as YouTube have been blocked in Armenia since the declaration of a state of emergency in the country last weekend, Reporters Sans Frontieres’ first International Online Free Expression Day comes at an appropriate time. On 12 March its second 24-hour online demo against internet censorship will be held. Perhaps Armenia will take its place alongside countries such as China, North Korea and Turkmenistan.

"To denounce government censorship of the Internet and to demand more online freedom, Reporters Without Borders is calling on Internet users to come and protest in online versions of the nine countries that are “Internet enemies” during the 24 hours from 11 a.m. on 12 March to 11 a.m. on 13 March (Paris time). Anyone with Internet access will be able to create an avatar, choose a message for their banner and take part in one of the nine cyber-demos (Burma, China, North Korea, Cyba, Egypt, Erithrea, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Viêt-nam).

Reporters Without Borders will release its latest list of “Internet enemies” together with a new version of its Handbook for Cyber-Dissidents.

When the first “24 hours against Internet censorship” was held last year, some 40,000 Internet users came and clicked on an inter-active map of the world to help make the “Internet black holes” disappear. This time we can do even more to make this new protest a success and to put pressure on the governments that try to muzzle what should be space where people can express their views freely."

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