Offline: Alaa Abd El Fattah 503 days in prison
27 October, 2015 - 09:36
Alaa Abd El Fattah is a prominent Egyptian coder, blogger and activist who has been detained under every Egyptian head of state in his lifetime. In reporting on his case, Reuters called Alaa an “anti-Mubarak activist,” but his activism spans many issues—and governments. He protested the rule of Mubarak, but has also stood against military rule and the crackdowns initiated by former president Mohammed Morsi and current president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Freedom of expression, human rights
Energy round-up: carbon markets have failed - by : Stephen Devlin
9 September, 2015 - 08:12
In theory, the world has the solution to soaring emissions – it’s called carbon pricing. Carbon pricing is an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by charging polluters to cover their external costs. Most economists and policy-makers argue the only efficient way to do this is through establishing a market for carbon. This is done through an emissions trading scheme (ETS): a fixed number of emissions permits are issued and a cap is set on the total emissions allowed.
Climate Justice
Economist and analyst John Aziz's latest blog "On the Dehumanization of Immigrants"
31 July, 2015 - 12:43
Britain is in the grip of a worrying trend. Our own Prime Minister compared migrants in Calais to insects when he called them a “swarm”. Meanwhile, internet comment sections relating to the refugees are filled with hatred and venom.
human rights, migration
Interview with UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye on expression, opinion and religious freedom
3 June, 2015 - 18:34
By Leila Nachawati Rego for APCNewsJAKARTA, Indonesia, 03 June 2015 
media freedom, human rights
Judith Vidal-Hall: Taking on the giant
29 April, 2015 - 17:55
When a group of claimants in the UK took on Google for invasion of privacy, they had little idea that the case would become a landmark in the fight to tame the internet giant's intrusion into our lives on the web.On 27 March 2015, a group of claimants in the United Kingdom, including myself, won what is being called a “landmark victory” against Google Inc. It handles three billion searches a day globally, exercises a virtual monopoly and is valued at around £250 billion. It is also among the world’s biggest advertising agencies with revenue in 2013 of some £49 billion.
Privacy
Pro- or anti-business: a shamefully irrelevant debate by Simon Caulkin
27 April, 2015 - 12:40
The pro- vs anti-business spat currently being vented by politicians in Westminster and certain red-faced businessmen is as meaningless as it is dispiriting. To call opponents out as anti-business because they suggest that all is not 100 per cent for the best in the best of all possible business worlds is childish, self-demeaning and deeply insulting to the rest of us.
Election campaign, social benefits
#Budget2015: Welfare for Fossil Fuels, Austerity for the rest
19 March, 2015 - 20:55
Mar 18, 2015 • 3:45 pm • by mika Today, Osborne announced massive tax breaks and subsidies for North Sea oil companies. A new £1.3 billion in subsidies will be handed to oil companies, with the burden transferred to the public. £1.3 billion could cover the costs of employing another 20,000 nurses in the NHS.
Austerity, Climate Justice, Environment, Politics & Government
When is "fracking" not "fracking"?
5 March, 2015 - 22:53
Energy expert Paul Mobbs, arrested taking action against the government's "misconduct in public office", says that even the cleanest "unconventional" fossil fuel is devastating to the environment in his latest blog...
direct action, environmental risk, Fracking
TTIP: the next phase of the austerity agenda, by Thomas Fazi and Werner Raza
18 December, 2014 - 16:54
A recent report by the Austrian Foundation for Development Research has critically assessed many of the claims about the supposed benefits of TTIP, finding them to be flawed, unrealistic and ideologically biased. Most of the impact assessments on TTIP commissioned by the various European member states and by the European Commission describe the signing of the EU-US trade deal as an ‘economic El Dorado’ that will bring about more growth, more exports and more employment, and will almost single-handedly drag Europe out of the crisis.
Fear and loathing of social media, by Paul Bernal...
1 December, 2014 - 21:10
There seems to have been a lot of negativity about social media in the last few weeks and months. It has a number of different facets and works in a number of different directions.Command central for terrorists

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