Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Coding for democracy in Europe
Friday, December 5, 2014
It was an audacious task - write software that would increase democratic participation in Europe. At a time when polls show increasing public disenchantment with traditional European Union institutions, the latest and 4th edition of the
EUhackathon
focused on getting European citizens more involved in the EU policymaking progress.
A total of 41 coders from all over Europe participated this week in Brussels. In addition to Google, Facebook, ICANN and Netflix sponsored the event.
Andrus Ansip,
European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, and
Alexander De Croo
, Belgian Vice-Prime Minister and Minister for the Digital Agenda, visited the coders at the Google Brussels office. Google Vice President and Internet evangelist (and “father” of the Internet) Vint Cerf, offered additional encouragement.
Belgian Minister Alexander De Croo and European Commissioner Andrus Ansip
Vint Cerf with Commissioner Ansip
After 30 hours of intense coding with only a single four-hour break, the jury heard presentations of the projects. The prize giving ceremony took place at the European Parliament – MEPs Julia Reda, Andrey Novakov, Brando Benifei, Eva Paunova and Marietje Schaake announced the winners:
First Prize: Team Videodock (the Netherlands), created a cool search for finding videos of parliamentary debates.
Second Prize: Team Commission Today (Romania/Germany/USA), created a transparency register of the meetings of the EU Commission.
Third Prize: Team Frontwise (the Netherlands),developed a tool to make easier to access to EU public consultations.
The winning Dutch team receives their prize
Posted by Marco Pancini, Senior Policy Counsel, Brussels
The Internet and news: disruption or opportunity?
Friday, June 21, 2013
A great deal of debate has erupted about the Internet’s impact on news journalism - will it destroy quality journalism or will new business models emerge to save the industry? We long have argued that experimentation and innovation will help news thrive in the Internet era.
A
report
published this week by the
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
shows that consumers are increasingly engaging with news across a range of formats; and that the growth of tablet and mobile devices are having a positive effect on both news consumption and revenues. Google part funded the research.
The report surveyed consumption of news across nine countries. Points of interest include:
The growth of devices. The number of people using tablets to access news has doubled in the last 10 months in the countries covered in both last year’s and this year’s report. As people acquire more devices, they are spending more total time consuming news and accessing news more often throughout the day.
Consumer willingness to pay. In most countries, willingness to pay for news is increasing. In the U.S., smartphone and tablet users are more likely to pay than other online news users. Across countries, 25–34 year olds are the most willing to pay for online news.
The strength of trusted news brands. While behaviour is not uniform across countries, there is strong indication that in the online world, consumers are moving towards brands they trust.
The rise of social media. For younger people, the survey found that social media had become the most prominent method of discovering news content.
The results provide welcome insight into the way access to and consumption of news is changing in the digital era. Google supports the industry’s efforts to experiment and innovate. Through products like
Google Currents
,
Editors’ Picks
, and our range of
advertising tools
, we are working with publishers to increase traffic, engagement and monetization on their sites. We look forward to doing even more to enable the digital transition.
Posted by Simon Morrison, Public Policy and Government Relations Manager, London
Transparency Report: government removal requests rise
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Three years ago when we
launched
the
Transparency Report
, we said we hoped it would shine some light on the scale and scope of government requests for censorship and data around the globe. Today, for the seventh time, we’re releasing new numbers showing
requests from governments to remove content
from our services. From July to December 2012, we received 2,285 government requests to remove 24,179 pieces of content—an increase from the 1,811 requests to remove 18,070 pieces of content that we received during the first half of 2012.
As we’ve gathered and released more data over time, it’s become increasingly clear that the scope of government attempts to censor content on Google services has grown. In more places than ever, we’ve been asked by governments to remove political content that people post on our services. In this particular time period, we received court orders in several countries to remove blog posts criticizing government officials or their associates.
You can read more about these requests by looking at the
annotations
section of the Transparency Report. Of particular note were three occurrences that took place in the second half of 2012:
There was a sharp increase in requests from
Brazil
, where we received 697 requests to remove content from our platforms (of which 640 were court orders—meaning we received an average of 3.5 court orders per day during this time period), up from 191 during the first half of the year. The big reason for the spike was the
municipal elections
, which took place last fall. Nearly half of the total requests—316 to be exact—called for the removal of 756 pieces of content related to alleged violations of the
Brazilian Electoral Code
, which forbids defamation and commentary that offends candidates. We’re appealing many of these cases, on the basis that the content is protected by freedom of expression under the Brazilian Constitution.
Another place where we saw an increase was from
Russia
, where a
new law took effect
last fall. In the first half of 2012, we received six requests, the most we had ever received in any given six-month period from Russia. But in the second half of the year, we received 114 requests to remove content—107 of them citing this new law.
During this period, we received inquiries from 20 countries regarding YouTube videos containing clips of the movie “Innocence of Muslims.” While the videos were within our
Community Guidelines
, we restricted videos from view in several countries in accordance with local law after receiving formal legal complaints. We also temporarily restricted videos from view in Egypt and Libya due to the particularly difficult circumstances there.
We’ve also made a couple of improvements to the Transparency Report since our last update:
We’re now breaking down government requests about YouTube videos to clarify whether we removed videos in response to government requests for violating Community Guidelines, or whether we restricted videos from view due to local laws. You can see the details by scrolling to the bottom of each country-specific page.
We’ve also refreshed the look of the
Traffic
section, making it easier to see where and when disruptions have occurred to Google services. You can see a map where our services are currently disrupted; you can see a map of all known disruptions since 2009; and you can more easily navigate between time periods and regions.
The information we share on the Transparency Report is just a sliver of what happens on the Internet. But as we disclose more data and continue to expand it over time, we hope it helps draw attention to the laws around the world that govern the free flow of information online.
Posted by Susan Infantino, Legal Director
Supporting a free press in North Africa
Friday, December 7, 2012
These are tumultuous, exciting times in North Africa, for all citizens, but particularly for journalists. Once subject to strict controls, the press in much of the region suddenly is free to report and write. We want to encourage the free press, so we recently teamed up with the
United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
and the
World Bank Institute
to present comprehensive training on how our tools can benefit the media at
IPSI
(Institut de Presse & des Sciences de L'Information).
Some 26 journalists attended, selected from more than 300 applicants across Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Our Tunis-based Googler, Khaled Koubaa, spoke about the importance of a free and open internet and how it has evolved in the region. Workshop sessions featured hands-on training (via translation) with search, trends, Google Maps & Google Earth, Google Fusion Tables and Google+, and YouTube. The World Bank focused on finding data, showing the journalists how to use census data, GDP, health statistics and many more useful sources of information. Each participant received a certificate signed by the the UN and Google.
During the workshop’s second day, some 22 local Tunisian journalism received a glimpse into the next-generation of storytellers. Some of these students (and working journalists) have already been witness to
historic events
across North Africa. While some of the practices of data journalism are relatively new for many of them, their enthusiasm to learn and share ideas and integrate Google into their efforts was both humbling and inspiring.
Posted by Maha Abouelenein, Head of Communications, Middle East and North Africa
Keep the Internet free and open
Monday, December 3, 2012
Cross-posted with the
Official Google Blog
Update December 17, 2012:
At the conclusion of the ITU meeting in Dubai last Friday, 89 countries signed the treaty, while 55 countries said they would not sign or that additional review was needed. We stand with the countries who refused to sign, and with the
millions of you
who have voiced your support for a free and open web.
Starting in 1973, when my colleagues and I proposed the technology behind the Internet, we advocated for an open standard to connect computer networks together. This wasn’t merely philosophical; it was also practical.
Our protocols were designed to make the networks of the Internet non-proprietary and interoperable. They avoided “lock-in,” and allowed for contributions from many sources. This openness is why the Internet creates so much value today. Because it is borderless and belongs to everyone, it has brought unprecedented freedoms to billions of people worldwide: the freedom to create and innovate, to organize and influence, to speak and be heard.
But starting in a few hours, a closed-door
meeting
of the world’s governments is taking place in Dubai, and regulation of the Internet is on the agenda. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening a conference from December 3-14 to revise a decades-old
treaty
, in which only governments have a vote. Some proposals could allow governments to justify the censorship of legitimate speech, or even cut off Internet access in their countries.
You can read more about my concerns on
CNN.com
, but I am not alone. So far, more than 1,000 organizations from more than 160 countries have
spoken up too
, and they’re joined by hundreds of thousands of Internet users who are standing up for a free and open Internet. On an interactive map at
freeandopenweb.com
, you can see that people from all corners of the world have signed our petition, used the #freeandopen hashtag on social media, or created and uploaded videos to say how important these issues are.
If you agree and want to support a free and open Internet too, I invite you to join us by signing the petition at
google.com/takeaction
. Please make your voice heard and spread the word.
Posted by Vint Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist
Speak2Tweet goes live in Syria
Friday, November 30, 2012
A little less than two years ago, when Internet access was cut off in Egypt, we worked with Twitter to launch
Speak2Tweet
, giving the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.
Since yesterday, our Transparency Report
has shown
that Internet access is completely cut off in Syria.
Unfortunately we are hearing reports that mobile phones and landlines aren’t working properly either. But those who might be lucky enough to have a voice connection can still use Speak2Tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+90 212 339 1447 or +30 21 1 198 2716 or +39 06 62207294 or +1 650 419 4196), and the service will tweet the message.
No Internet connection is required, and people can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going
here
.
Posted by Maha Abouelenein, Head of Communications, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Celebrating free expression in Beirut
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
For more than a year, Google has been supporting the
Hay Literary Festival
, as it grew from its origins in Wales into an international organisation. The Hay brings together writers and thinkers, inspiring dialogue around freedom of expression. It recently came to Beirut, its first time ever in the Middle East and North Africa.
The timing was perfect. A new wave of freedom in the Arab world has opened the door for writers to explore new and exciting vistas - and this freedom dominated festival discussions.
One panel featured bloggers from around the region. Samir Elbahaie, Google’s Middle East and North Africa Policy and Government Affairs Manager, spoke with them about the internet and how it is changing people’s lives. Egyptian
Sondos Shabayek
who was at the forefront of the Egyptian revolution and Beirut-based
Moe Ali Nayel
discussed how an open and free web has empowered citizens. Citizens turned to the internet to verify the news when the state media on the ground failed to offer the full picture.
In another lively session , Google’s adviser on freedom of expression and long-time journalist
John Kampfner
moderated a debate around how to ensure respect for human rights. The eclectic panel included
Óscar Guardiola-Rivera
, International Professor of Law and International Affairs, and
Nizar Saghieh
, a leading Lebanese lawyer, legal researcher and human rights activist. Both speakers argued that freedom of expression and human rights were too often framed in Western terms. Saghieh suggested policy makers refer to local and regional cultural norms as much as universal ones, citing the Koran. Guardiola-Rivera said Western governments ignored the clamour for economic rights even though they were regarded as perhaps the most important in developing nations.
Other topics discussed in Beirut ranged from the serious – memories of postwar cities, and the role of writers in sectarian societies – to the more light-hearted and amusing, including a poetry
slam
contest.
It’s great to see the Arab world embrace free expression. The free flow of information spurs creativity and innovation. We believe people make better decisions in their lives when they have more information and look forward to contributing to work toward achieving this goal in the Middle East and North Africa.
Posted by Hind Rasheed, Communications Manager, Middle East and North Africa
Breaking Borders for free expression
Monday, July 2, 2012
Today in Nairobi, at the biannual Global Voices Citizen Media summit, Google and the group
Global Voices
announced the winners of the 2nd Breaking Borders Award. The award honors people who, in the view of Global Voices, are making a difference in the push for a free and open Internet.
The 2012 winners were selected by the board of Global Voices, and come from two regions in the world where free speech is often threatened — North Africa and Central Europe.
In Morocco,
Mamfakinch
has become far and away the most popular Moroccan citizen media portal. The name means "we don't give up" in that nation's Arabic dialect. Mamfakinch uses volunteer editors to aggregate and curate
materials from its contributors. In less than a year, the site grew from a "crazy idea" to a site with more than one million unique visitors.
The other award winner was Budapest-based Atlatszo.hu. Global Voices cited its work in supporting press freedom in Hungary in the wake of the passage of a new, controversial media law.
Atlatszo.hu
has worked to maintain standards of journalistic integrity and quality investigative journalism. The group, led by Marietta Le, recently fought and won an important fight for the
protection of sources
in Hungary.
We are proud to support Global Voices and the work they do to recognize and empower
citizens’ media around the world.
Posted by Bob Boorstin, Director, Global Policy 
More transparency into government requests
Monday, June 18, 2012
About two years ago, we launched our interactive
Transparency Report
. We
started
by disclosing data about government requests. Since then, we’ve been steadily
adding
new features, like graphs showing traffic patterns and disruptions to Google services from different countries. And just a couple weeks ago, we
launched
a new section showing the requests we get from copyright holders to remove search results.
The
traffic
and
copyright
sections of the Transparency Report are refreshed in
near-real-time
, but government request data is updated in six-month increments because it’s a people-driven, manual process. Today we’re releasing data showing government requests to
remove blog posts or videos
or hand over
user information
made from July to December 2011.
Unfortunately, what we’ve seen over the past couple years has been troubling, and today is no different. When we started releasing this data in 2010, we also added annotations with some of the more interesting stories behind the numbers. We noticed that government agencies from different countries would sometimes ask us to remove political content that our users had posted on our services. We hoped this proved an aberration. But now we know it’s not.
This is the fifth data set that we’ve released. And just like every other time before, we’ve been asked to take down political speech. It’s alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect—Western democracies not typically associated with censorship.
For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors. In Poland, we received a request from a public institution to remove links to a site that criticized it. We didn’t comply with either of these requests.
In addition to releasing new data today, we’re also adding a feature update which makes it easier to see in
aggregate
across countries how many removals we performed in response to court orders, as opposed to other types of requests from government agencies. For the six months of data we’re
releasing today
, we complied with an average of 65 percent of court orders, as opposed to 47 percent of more informal requests. We’ve rounded up some additional interesting facts in the
annotations
section of the Transparency Report.
We realize that the numbers we share can only provide a small window into what’s happening on the web at large. But we do hope that by being transparent about these government requests, we can continue to contribute to the public debate about how government behaviors are shaping our web.
We’re assembling a Big Tent in Dublin tonight precisely to address these alarming issues.
Estonia’s President Toomas Ilves
is among the participants. Years after earning its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, his country fought off a cyber attack. The Estonian government emerged determined not to shut down the Internet, but to keep it open and free.
Burma’s Nobel Peace Prize winner
Aung San Suu Kuy
will also be in the Irish capital this evening to receive an Amnesty International award. As her experience and our Transparency Report show, freedom can never be taken for granted. We must remain vigilant in its defense.
Posted by Dorothy Chou, Senior Policy Analyst
Estonian President debates Internet Freedom at Big Tent
Friday, June 15, 2012
Around the world, Internet freedom is under threat. According to the
Open Net Initiative
, more than 620 million Internet users - 31% of the world’s total Internet users - live in countries where there is substantial or pervasive filtering of online content.
On Monday 18 June, we’ll be hosting a
Big Tent
on the Internet and free expression at the
Mansion House
in Dublin, as part of the official
programme
of Ireland’s Presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (
OSCE
).
This event follows the thought-provoking Big Tent we held in The Hague last November, at which U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave the
keynote speech
.
Monday’s Dublin Big Tent features another special guest:
President Toomas Ilves
of Estonia, pictured at left. Years after earning its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, his country fought off a massive cyber attack. Instead of cracking down on the Internet, Estonia emerged determined to keep it open and free.
We’ll also be hearing from one of the fathers of the Internet,
Vint Cerf
; the U.S. Department of State’s Innovation Advisor
Alec Ross
; and the author of the acclaimed book War Horse,
Michael Morpurgo
, who will offer a lyrical take on free expression in the modern world.
By coincidence, Myanmar’s recently freed Nobel Peace Prize winner
Aung San Sui Kuy
will also be in the Irish capital on Monday evening to receive an Amnesty International award. As her experience demonstrates, freedom can never be taken for granted. We must remain vigilant in its defence.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Data journalism awards announced
Friday, June 1, 2012
At the
News World Summit
in Paris this week most of the discussion was about how technology is transforming journalism. A good example is the rapid growth data journalism, the analyzing and filtering large data sets to uncover news.
Last November we announced our support for the first international
Data Journalism Awards
organised by the
Global Editors Network
and the
European Journalism Centre
. Winners were announced this week in Paris at the News World Summit.
1.
Terrorists for the FBI
(Mother Jones and UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program, USA) Data-Driven Investigations (national/international)
2.
Methadone and the Politics of Pain
(The Seattle Times, USA) Data-Driven Investigations (local/regional)
3.
Riot Rumours
(The Guardian, UK) Data Visualizations and Storytelling (national/international)
4.
Pedestrian Crashes in Novosibirsk
(Nikolay Guryanov, Stas Seletskiy and Alexey Papulovskiy, Russia) Data Visualizations and Storytelling (local/regional)
5.
Transparent Politics
(Polinetz AG, Switzerland) Data-Driven Applications (national/international)
6.
Illinois School Report Card
s (Chicago Tribune, USA) Data-Driven Applications (local/regional)
Congratulations to all the winners who will each receive a prize of EUR7,500 We hope you’ll take a look at their projects.
Posted by Peter Barron, Director, External Relations, Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Transparency for copyright removals in search
Friday, May 25, 2012
Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
We believe that openness is crucial for the future of the Internet. When something gets in the way of the free flow of information, we believe there should be transparency around what that block might be.
So two years ago we launched the
Transparency Report
, showing when and what information is accessible on Google services around the world. We
started off
by sharing data about the government requests we receive to
remove content
from our services or for
information about our users
. Then we began showing
traffic patterns
to our services, highlighting when they’ve been
disrupted
.
Today we’re expanding the Transparency Report with a
new section on copyright
. Specifically, we’re disclosing the number of requests we get from copyright owners (and the organizations that represent them) to remove Google Search results because they allegedly link to infringing content. We’re starting with search because we remove more results in response to copyright removal notices than for any other reason. So we’re providing information about
who sends
us copyright removal notices, how often, on behalf of which
copyright owners
and for
which websites
. As policymakers and Internet users around the world consider the pros and cons of
different proposals
to address the problem of online copyright infringement, we hope this data will contribute to the discussion.
For this launch we’re disclosing data dating from July 2011, and moving forward we plan on updating the numbers each day. As you can see from the
report
, the number of requests has been increasing rapidly. These days it’s not unusual for us to receive more than 250,000 requests
each week
, which is more than what copyright owners asked us to remove in all of 2009. In the past month alone, we received about 1.2 million requests made on behalf of more than 1,000 copyright owners to remove search results. These requests targeted some 24,000 different websites.
Fighting online piracy is very important, and we don’t want our search results to direct people to materials that violate copyright laws. So we’ve always responded to copyright removal requests that meet the standards set out in the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA). At the same time, we want to be transparent about the process so that users and researchers alike understand what kinds of materials have been removed from our search results and why. To promote that transparency, we have long shared copies of copyright removal requests with
Chilling Effects
, a nonprofit organization that collects these notices from Internet users and companies. We also include a notice in our search results when items have been removed in response to copyright removal requests.
We believe that the time-tested
“notice-and-takedown”
process for copyright strikes the right balance between the needs of copyright owners, the interests of users, and our efforts to provide a useful Google Search experience. Google continues to put substantial resources into improving and streamlining this process. We already mentioned that we’re processing more copyright removal requests for Search than ever before. And we’re also processing these requests faster than ever before; last week our average turnaround time was less than 11 hours.
At the same time, we try to catch erroneous or abusive removal requests. For example, we recently rejected two requests from an organization representing a major entertainment company, asking us to remove a search result that linked to a major newspaper’s review of a TV show. The requests mistakenly claimed copyright violations of the show, even though there was no infringing content. We’ve also seen baseless copyright removal requests being used for anticompetitive purposes, or to remove content unfavorable to a particular person or company from our search results. We try to catch these ourselves, but we also notify webmasters in our
Webmaster Tools
when pages on their website have been targeted by a copyright removal request, so that they can
submit a counter-notice
if they believe the removal request was inaccurate.
Transparency is a crucial element to making this system work well. We look forward to making more improvements to our Transparency Report—offering copyright owners, Internet users, policymakers and website owners the data they need to see and understand how removal requests from both governments and private parties affect our results in Search.
Update
December 11, 2012
: Starting today, anyone interested in studying the data can
download
all the data shown for
copyright removals
in the
Transparency Report
. We are also providing information about how often we remove search results that link to allegedly infringing material. Specifically, we are disclosing how many URLs we removed for each
request
and
specified website
, the overall removal rate for each request and the specific URLs we did not act on. Between December 2011 and November 2012, we removed 97.5% of all URLs specified in copyright removal requests. Read more on
Policy by the Numbers
.
Posted by Fred von Lohmann, Senior Copyright Counsel
Internet at Liberty 2012 Conference: Join the discussion
Monday, May 21, 2012
This week, 300+ Internet activists, policy makers, academics and NGO leaders from over 30 countries, including many from Europe, will gather in Washington, D.C. to discuss the future of free speech online. The event is called
Internet at Liberty 2012
, and we want you to join the discussion.
The future of free expression is uncertain. According to the
Open Net Initiative
, more than 620 million Internet users—31% of the world’s total Internet users—live in countries where there is substantial or pervasive filtering of online content. And when free expression is in jeopardy, so are reporters; as the
Committee to Protect Journalists
found, nearly half of all the writers, editors, and photojournalists imprisoned around the world are online journalists.
Dictatorships and authoritarian regimes are the worst offenders, but democracies around the world are also questioning whether the Internet requires monitoring and supervision. 2012 is a crucial year. As governments are trying to draw the right lines, we are bringing the most challenging and important debates to you via Internet at Liberty 2012.
Join us on May 23 and May 24 by watching our livestream at
YouTube.com/citizentube
, and feel free to Tweet your questions and comments (@InternetLiberty). If you are in the DC area, consider joining us at the event live. You can register
here
. Space is limited, but this is a crucial issue and we want you to participate.
For more information, check out the
detailed schedule of events
.
Posted by Bob Boorstin, Director, Public Policy
Keep the Internet open
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
It was a needed wake up call. Vinton Cerf, our Chief Internet Evangelist, recognised as one of "
the fathers of the Internet
", came to Brussels this week to talk about keeping the Internet open.
At meetings at the European Commission and European Parliament, at a lecture at the University of Leuven, and at other encounters, Vint explained how the Internet stands at a crossroads. Built from the bottom up, powered by the people, it has become a powerful economic engine and a positive social force. But its success has generated a worrying backlash: the number of governments that censor Internet content has grown to 40 today from about four in 2002.
Of course, Vint acknowledged that “like almost every major infrastructure, the Internet can be abused and its users harmed.” But he argued that “we must take great care that the cure for these ills does not do more harm than good.”
In particular, Vint cautioned against a move by governments to seize control of the Net at the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations organisation which counts 193 countries as its members. The ITU is conducting a review of the international agreements governing telecommunications and aims to expand its regulatory authority to the Internet at a summit scheduled for December in Dubai. Vint warned that such a move holds potentially profound implications for the future of the Internet and all of its users.
Last June, then–Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated the goal of Russia and its allies as “establishing international control over the Internet” through the ITU. And in September 2011, China, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan submitted a proposal for an “International Code of Conduct for Information Security” to the UN General Assembly, with the goal of establishing government-led “international norms and rules standardizing the behavior of countries concerning information and cyberspace.”
The decisions taken in Dubai in December have the potential to put government handcuffs on the Net. To prevent that - and keep the Internet open and free for the next generations - we need to prevent a fundamental shift in how the Internet is governed. I encourage you to take action now: insist that the debate about Internet governance be transparent and open to all stakeholders.
Posted by Posted by Al Verney, Communications Manager, Brussels
Supporting innovation in journalism
Monday, April 30, 2012
The digital age generates reams of raw data. Much of that data is interesting or important, but since there’s a lot of it out there it’s often hard to find and analyze. This is where journalists can help. Journalists are experts at delving into complex issues and writing stories that make them accessible—essential skills for dealing with the data deluge of the digital age. In order to support and encourage innovative data journalism, we’re sponsoring a series of prizes all across Europe.
Let’s start in the Nordics, where we recently partnered with Danish newspaper Dagbladet Information and Southern Denmark University’s Center for Journalism to sponsor the
Nordic News Hacker 2012
contest. Contestants were asked to create and submit a piece of data journalism—anything from a data mash-up to a new mobile app.
This year’s winner is Anders Pedersen. Ander’s project,
Doctors for Sale
, inspired by
Pro Publica’s Docs for Dollars
investigation in the United States, used raw data to uncover doctors who receive money from the pharmaceutical industry. He wins a $20,000 scholarship to work with the
Guardian Data Blog
in London for one month to further his investigative skills.
Several thousand kilometers south of Denmark at the
International Journalism Festival
, the
Global Editors Network
announced the 60 shortlisted projects for the Google-sponsored
Data Journalism Awards
. Some 320 projects were submitted from a diverse group of applicants including major media groups, regional newspapers, press associations, and entrepreneurial journalists from more than 60 countries. Six winners will be announced during the
News World Summit
, on May 31, 2012 in Paris.
In Vienna, the
International Press Institute
recently announced the winners of their News Innovation contest, sponsored by Google. Fourteen projects were selected, including digital training in the Middle East, corruption chasing in the Balkans, and citizen photojournalism in the UK. All use digital data and new technologies to tell stories or reach new audiences. The
winners
received a total of more than $1.7 million.
Congratulations to all the journalists and publications who are embracing the digital world!
Posted by Peter Barron, Director, External Relations Europe Middle East and Africa
Meeting a royal leader in Belgium
Thursday, April 26, 2012
It’s not everyday that you meet a crown prince to discuss the future of the Internet. We had the privilege this week to address Belgium’s
Prince Philippe
.
Each year, the Prince’s
foundation
invites 16 aspiring young journalists between the age of 20 and 25 to compete in a journalism contest called
Belgodyssee
- Belgian Odyssey.
Winners are picked in December. Importantly, the contestants come from all the Belgian’s three (French, Dutch and German) language communities and they are obliged to work together.
Before the competition begins, the contestants attend series of master class courses on journalism. Google was invited to speak about freedom of speech, alongside Belgium's top-notch journalists Alain Gerlache of French-speaking RTBF and Luc Rademakers, the editor in chief of Flemish national television VRT. In addition to this year’s contestants, more than 100 participants in previous years attended the event at the Residence Palace in Brussels.
All three lectures focused on journalistic responsibility in dealing with new social media and on freedom of expression on the net. We presented our approach to these issues. The debate was animated and the Prince himself intervened with a question about the limits of free expression. As a company with the explicit mission to “make all the world’s information universally accessible and useful” - we explained how we protect our users’ privacy in the face of government demands for information and how we grapple with the tough question of how much speech is too much speech.
Right now we are standing at a critical crossroads in ensuring human rights and civil liberties for people around the world. Its good to know that royal leaders are taking note and the next generation of journalists is taking interest.
Posted by Tineke Meijerman, Communications, Benelux
Honoring Innovation for Free Expression
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Update, Thursday, March 29
: Kubatana's FreedomFone won the first Google-sponsored Innovation Award given out last evening at the Index on Censorship's annual Freedom of Expression awards.
FreedomFone's Upenyu Makoni-Muchemwana accepted the prize, describing how their product allows information to "be shared and received at anytime in any language wherever there is mobile coverage. Traditional roadblocks of licensing, regulation and literacy are bypassed, and freedom of expression is broadened."
Judges explained the reasons behind their choice in this video:
Index on Censorship
holds its annual awards this evening in London, celebrating the work of journalists, artists and activists who champion free expression, often at great personal risk.
This is the third year that Google is sponsoring the awards evening. We're delighted that this year's edition includes a new Google-sponsored innovation award which recognises the original use of new technology to foster debate, argument or dissent.
Nominees come from all across the globe. They include Zimbabwean NGO
Kubatana
, which has developed a Freedom Fone. It uses open-source software to help organisations share pre-recorded audio information in any language via mobile phones and landlines. Another nominee is ObscuraCam, a free smartphone application developed in the United States that uses facial recognition to blur individual faces automatically. This helps protect activists who fear reprisals but want to safely capture evidence of state brutality. A full list of the nominees is
here
.
The Awards ceremony takes place on Wednesday 28 March at 6.30pm at the
St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
in King’s Cross, London. We’ll begin with champagne and canapés, followed by the Awards ceremony at 8pm hosted by BBC presenter Jonathan Dimbleby with a keynote from the author of War Horse, Michael Morpurgo. We will be on hand to celebrate the winners.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Syrian citizen journalists capture Netizen Prize
Monday, March 12, 2012
For the past year, Syrian citizen journalists have continued to collect and disseminate information on the uprising wracking their country.
Reporters Without Borders
tonight honored these courageous activists, awarding them the
2012 Netizen Prize
.
Jasmine a 27-year-old Syrian activist living in Canada, accepted the award in a ceremony in Paris on behalf of the
Local Coordination Committees
. She preferred to use a pseudonym to protect her family inside Syria. “The Netizen Prize proves that our voices were heard and that we succeeded in delivering the stories of millions of Syrians who are struggling on the ground to achieve what they have always dreamed - to live in freedom and dignity” she said.
This is third year in a row that Google has sponsored the Netizen Prize. Reporters Without Borders counts 200 cases of netizens arrested in 2011, up 30% over the previous year. Five were killed. This is the highest level of violence against netizens ever recorded. More than 120 are currently in jail for keeping us informed. Our own products are blocked in about 25 of 125 countries in which the company operates. “The Internet allows courageous individuals in Syria and elsewhere to tell their story to the world,” said Google France President Jean-Marc Tassetto. “The Netizen Prize and our work with Reporters Without Borders testifies to our belief that access to information will lead to greater freedom and greater social and economic development.”
Syrian journalists and bloggers are threatened and arrested by the government. International news organizations are, for the most part, kept out of the country. In their absence, the committees have become almost the only way to keep the world abreast of the violence wracking the country. They emerged spontaneously following the start of the Syrian revolution last March, bringing together human rights activists and local journalists, and now are found in most cities and towns across the country. “The Netizen Prize proves that our voices were heard," Jasmine said.
Informants on the ground send information and the committees confirm it from multiple sources. A third group translates the news into English and distributes it. News, videos and pictures are posted on the group's
Facebook page
, on its
photo blog
, and on the group’s own
website
. "There are millions of stories that made us cry, laugh, get mixed emotions since the uprising began,” Ola added. “We were talking to a mother of three detainees and she made us all promise each other that no matter what, we will never stop covering the events of our beloved Syria."
The award was distributed on
World Day Against Cyber Censorship
. In 2010, the Netizen Prize was awarded to
Iranian cyberfeminists
. Last year, it went to
Nawaat
, a group blog run by independent Tunisian bloggers. The nominees for the Netizen Award 2012 come from across the globe, ranging from Russia to Syria to Brazil and China. their geographic diversity a reflection of the growing impact of the Net.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Freedom of Expression at the United Nations
Friday, March 9, 2012
Sessions at the
United Nations Human Rights Council
-- the UN body in Geneva that holds countries to account for their international obligations -- are almost always predictable affairs. Lots of diplomats talking about the same problems year after year. But the UN last week devoted a special session for the first time to free expression on the Internet, and we at Google were pleased to be one of the first private corporations invited to participate in such an official UN event.
The moment signaled how the international community is waking up to the importance of Internet freedom. The UN council’s auditorium was packed with almost 300 people. More than 50 ambassadors and delegates raised their hands to speak. Officials said they had rarely seen so many requests. Obviously, the stakes are high.
Some delegations outlined the limits on free expression and openness that many countries would like to impose. Some even tried to quash the session entirely through procedural means. The critics emphasized the dangers of the Net to promote terrorism, violence, or religious hatred, proposing that governments should be able to limit freedom by deciding how much opposition "legitimate authorities" should face from their citizens.
But many others - the majority, in fact - spoke up in favor of an open Internet where information flows freely. When Gutenberg invented the printing press, many feared the evils in books, argued
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
, whose country was the primary sponsor of the session. The same rules that govern freedom of expression on paper or the television airwaves should apply online, he insisted.
For Google, this UN session represented an opportunity to encourage governments to protect free expression online by disclosing when and why they make requests to companies to remove content or turn over information about users. We publish our own
Transparency Report
. This way, government/citizens can evaluate whether or not laws that may be well intentioned are enhancing/eroding freedoms. But our Report represents at best only a partial view. It would be much better if governments would do this themselves for their entire countries.
This session offered a critical look at the issues facing countries around the world as we debate the future of protecting and promoting the free flow of information online. The stakes are huge and all those who care about keeping the Internet open and free must come together to press the cause.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Celebrating Courageous Citizen Journalism
Monday, March 5, 2012
Each year on
World Day Against Cyber Censorship
, Google and
Reporters Without Borders
join together to celebrate and hand out a prize for defending online freedom. This year, we’ll be gathering in Paris on March 12 to debate the issue of cyberfreedom and name our annual
Netizen of the Year
.
The 2012 nominees come from around the globe, from Russia to Syria to Brazil, China and beyond. Their geographic diversity a reflection of the growing impact of the Net. Once connected, each one of us is now able to share our thoughts and observations with the world.
Forty countries engage in active censorship, up from four a decade ago. Google products are blocked in about 25 of 125 countries in which we operate.
Reporters Without Borders inaugurated the annual World Day against Cyber Censorship in 2008, with the aim of protecting a single Internet, free, and accessible to all. Google joined in 2010 to sponsor the Netizen of the Year award, which recognises a user, or a blogger dissident who became famous for his work in defence of freedom of expression on the Net. An independent jury of press experts chooses the winner who receives prize money of EUR 2,500.
In 2010, the Netizen Prize was awarded to
Iranian cyberfeminists
. Last year, it went to
Nawaat
, a group blog run by independent Tunisian bloggers. The nominees for the Netizen Award 2012 are:
Leonardo Sakamoto, Brazil
: Journalist and professor, Sakamoto covered East Timor's war of independence and Angola's civil war. On his blog, he investigates the plight of Indian minorities in the Amazon.
Wukan, China
: The village of Wukan (13,000 inhabitants) in Southern China was the scene of a violent revolt last December. Village inhabitants used the Internet and social network Weibo to mobilise public opinion.
Maikel Nabil Sanad, Egyp
t: This blogger denounced abuses by the army during the popular protests of spring 2011 and was imprisoned in post-revolutionary Egypt.
Grigory Melkonyants, Russia
: Melkonyant’s
KartaNarusheniy.ru
publishes an interactive map illustrating irregularities in Russian election campaigns. It allows users to locate and report fraud by posting photos, videos or audio recordings.
Media Centers Local Coordinating Committee, Syria
: Groups of citizen journalists collect and disseminate, in real time, information and images of Syria's uprising.
Paulus Le Van Son, Vietnam
: Le Van Son is a 26-year old blogger covers religious and human rights issues. After he reported on anti-Chinese protests and police violence, he was arrested on August 3, 2011, in Hanoi.
We look forward to seeing you in Paris on March 12 to celebrate cyberfreedom and learn the name of the winner.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
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