Blogs & Ecology

Brazilian bloggers and netizens took to the streets of São Paulo to protest against the Digital Crimes Bill, which typifies the cyber-crimes punishable by law and stipulates penalties accordingly. They claim the law has so many flaws that, instead of punishing real criminals, it might end up deeming as crime trivial conduct when surfing the Internet. Proposed by senator Eduardo Azeredo, the bill has passed through the Senate, has proceeded to the House of Representatives and has been labeled as urgent, which means that voting might happen at any time.

Ever wonder how to get dozens of people to work together over the internet to collaborate on translations to multiple languages? In nearly two years Global Voices' Lingua translation community has grown to include 15 different languages (7 more up-and-coming!) and over 75 volunteer translators. Honestly, we're astounded by the growth ourselves.

Making headlines in Trinidad and Tobago today is the controversy surrounding the Prime Minister's alleged “storming” of a radio station to complain about critical comments made against him during a newscast - a move which some maintain is dangerously close to infringing upon freedom of the press.

After a huge success of Nasza-klasa.pl (”Our Class”), the most popular Polish social network similar to the British FriendsReunited, a new project is becoming well-known in Poland: Nasz-parlament.pl (”Our Parliament”) invites its users to become e-members of parliament and take part in e-voting to show the government the real opinions of the real citizens!

One of the most enduring legends of South East Asia is the Pontianak, said to be a bone-white lady, with ruby-red eyes, who is borne from her death in birth-giving. The Pontianak, or sometimes called the “Kuntilanak”, lives in almost all of South East Asia, except the Indochina region. Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines have the blood-drinking ghoul in their folklore. According to the Chap Ayam Photographers' blog:

Photo by JMRobledo and used under a Creative Commons license

Lush with primary and secondary virgin jungle, Malaysians have long held a respect for the forests. It also helps that myths, whether bearing down from the forefathers or from urban legend, has caused a lot of superstition surrounding the vast jungle of Malaysia.

According to Hungzai.com,

Entering the jungle? Respect the place and don’t “talk big”. Don’t relieve yourself anywhere you like. Don’t call out your friend’s name. Break these traditional taboos and unseen spirits may just wreak havoc on you – for instance, a “voice” may just imitate your companion’s name and lead him far astray from the path.

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Source: Global Voices Online

Foto by Mesas de Diálogo.

The past month has been very difficult for many Guatemalans. During tropical storms, heavy rains and flooding, a lack of public policies aimed at preventing tragedies resulted in even more damage, as agricultural crops have been ruined, houses completely destroyed and people have even been buried alive because of landslides.

In its third year, the Kolena Laila campaign took a different turn, reaching out to women with no access to the Internet and giving them a chance to speak to the world.

The annual event, spearheaded by Egyptian female bloggers, aims at giving women, identified as Laila, a chance to speak up and have their say.

In the words of the organizers of the We Are All Laila campaign, the event geared at posting podcasts, featuring interviews with women from all walks of life:

Ecuador is well-known for its biodiversity and boasts many species of interesting plants and animals. However, there is one beloved animal that is not native to the country, and residents of Loja are mourning its recent death. A giraffe named “Chelito” was found dead near his pen in the Loja zoo, where he had been living since 2003. One of the region's most recognizable tourist attractions, Chelito was the only giraffe in Ecuador and was proud symbol for residents of all ages. See here for a tourism poster designed by Sur Ecuador [es].

The success of Twitter has had an enormous influence on many new sites, that want to copy the formula: short messages, from all kinds of devices, for a restricted audience. One of the sites that follows this example is Reporting On, a kind of Twitter for journalists, that has been in working in beta phase since last year. And if you register, you'll find the site is getting quite successful particularly among Latin American journalists.

Interrupting his blogging holidays, police officer Alexandre de Sousa [pt] posts in solidarity with Major Roberto Cavalcante Vianna, the first Brazilian citizen jailed for commenting on a blog:

From education through health, fashion, art and culture to women’s empowerment Cameroonian women are telling the stories of their lives on the web. For instance, Betty who lives in Manchester, England blogs about her preganancy at Betty’s Pregnancy Diary. At week 34, she ponders on the consequences of the current credit crunch in world markets:

Visit to Carandiru, photo by Flickr user silmaraelis, published under a Creative Commons license. The caption says “the souls had longer been forgotten there”.