http://www.dw.de/the-bobs-award-recognizes-online-activism/a-17404295
The Bobs award recognizes online activism
As Internet users search for ways to share information while protecting their
privacy, DW's 'The Bobs' is looking for the best examples of online activism
for its 10th annual award. Submissions can be made until March 5.
Since it started in 2004, The Bobs, Deutsche Welle's award for online activism,
has focused on recognizing efforts made to protect freedom of expression not
just for the media, but also for individuals around the world.
"Before this era of connectivity, freedom of expression was - mostly - a
privilege of those with access to mass media," said Jose Luis Orihuela, a
former member of The Bobs' jury and professor of multimedia communication at
the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.
"From the revolution of blogs, freedom of expression is a right that should be
protected for every single citizen because a connected phone lets everyone be
part of the global media," Orihuela said.
A game of cat and mouse
But depending on where people lived, sharing opinions with the world has always
been a dangerous proposition as Internet freedom has declined around the world,
according to watchdog organization Freedom House's annual report for 2013.
"We are seeing the continued used of violence against journalists and bloggers,
which the world needs to keep watch on," said Hauke Gierow, the head of the
Internet freedom desk at Reporters Without Borders Germany.
Ten years ago, Internet surveillance was a known problem in China, Iran and
under other repressive regimes. Activists and those opposed to the governments,
aware they were being watched, had to take steps to get around censors and
avoid exposing themselves and their work to the authorities.
Governments go to great lengths to censor and block the Internet
The Chinese government goes to great lengths to prevent the public from
accessing the websites and online services it wants to block and a
cat-and-mouse game between censors and people creating circumvention technology
has gone on for decades, Gierow said. We Fight Censorship, a project run by
Reporters Without Borders, lists 164 online activists in prison around the
world.
Surveillance's spread
After the revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, however, it
has become clear that it is not only the citizens living under authoritarian
regimes that need to be concerned about their right to privacy. The documents
Snowden revealed show the US National Security Agency (NSA) can, among other
things, track phone calls, monitor text messages, and access people’s e-mail
and web browsing history.
"The Snowden revelations should lead us to hold accountable those collaborating
with governments to spy on everyone, to weaken our systems and undermine the
trust of users," Renata Avila, a Guatemalan human rights and intellectual
property lawyer and jury member for The Bobs, said.
Broken trust
While many people in the United States and other democratically governed
countries trusted in government institutions to protect their privacy, The Bobs
jury member Arash Abadpour said Iranians had already learned that they need to
watch out for themselves.
Few activists will open up online after learning about the scope of NSA spying
"What Snowden did was show that this trust is sometimes imaginary," Abadpour
said. "I sometimes wonder what a more practical level of trust is."
But until such a form of trust is created, Avila added, people around the world
will need to continue to find ways to share information while protecting their
privacy and safety.
"When mainstream press is silence, a blog hosted in a clever jurisdiction,
shielded by anonymity is the antidote against censorship," she said.
The Bobs taking submissions
Starting on Wednesday (02.05.2014), The Bobs is again looking for people’s
views on the best and most inspiring projects and campaigns in support of
freedom of expression and online activism. Internet users from around the world
have one month to make submissions in any of the contest’s 14 languages at
www.thebobs.com.
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