Internet
Frontline Russia Presents: Cyber Conflict and the Future of US-Russian Relations
In the lead up to the US presidential elections, the US government formally accused Russia of political hacking. The US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated that the stealing and leaking of emails from the Democratic National Committee and other institutions was intended to interfere with the election process. But did Russia actually launch ‘cyber warfare’ on the US, and how grounded are the C.I.A.’s conclusions? Join us for a discussion on what the hacking debate has revealed about relations between the two countries and the new role of cyber conflict in international relations.
Screening: Deep Web + Q&A
Deep Web gives the inside story of one of the most important and riveting digital crime sagas of the century – the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht. In May 2015, the 30-year-old entrepreneur was accused and convicted of being ‘Dread Pirate Roberts,’ creator and operator of online black market Silk Road.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Alex Winter via Skype.
The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia’s Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries
On the eighth floor of an ordinary-looking building in an otherwise residential district of southwest Moscow, in a room occupied by the Federal Security Service (FSB), is a box the size of a VHS player marked SORM. The Russian government’s front line in the battle for the future of the Internet, SORM is the world’s most intrusive listening device – monitoring e-mails, Internet usage, Skype, and all social networks.
In a new book, The Red Web, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan peel back the history of advanced surveillance systems in Russia. They will be joining us to discuss what they found and to reveal how a free global exchange can be coerced into becoming a tool of repression and geopolitical warfare.
Summer Screening: The Internet’s Own Boy – The Story of Aaron Swartz
As a teenager, programming prodigy Aaron Swartz took the Internet community by storm. His intellect and understanding matched its most seasoned members. Today, his fingerprints are all over the Internet, from his help in the development of the basic Internet protocol RSS to his co-founding of Reddit. But Swartz’s groundbreaking work in social justice combined with his aggressive approach to information access ensnared him in a two-year legal nightmare, with fatal consequences.
None to Blame but All to Suffer: The Carbon Crooks + Q&A
By George Symonds What do a dead poet, organised crime and the air we breathe have in common? On Thursday 21 November the Frontline Club screened The Carbon Crooks – director Tom Heinemann’s exposé of the massive fraud and failures within global carbon trading schemes. Heinemann introduced his picture thus: “This film is a about […]
The Death of Traditional Media?
Following on from April’s meeting of the country’s top student papers, Grapevine is bringing together aspiring journalists for another night of inspiration. Once again there will be two panels, this time looking at the future of traditional media in the age of mass data, multimedia and the Internet.
Summer Screenings at the Frontline Club
This summer Tuesday’s are the day to come to the Frontline Club for our summer season exploring how technological changes shape the way we view and document the world. Tuesday 30 July 2013, 7:00 PM – Side by Side For almost one hundred years there was only one way to make a movie: photochemical film. Over […]
Screening: The Pirate Bay – Away From Keyboard (TPB-AFK)
The largest and most famous torrent website in the world, The Pirate Bay, quickly became one of many antagonists of the entertainment industry. The three Swedish founders face $13 million in damage claims by the media establishment.
TPB-AFK chronicles a historic drama beyond the copyright debate and tells a human story torn by cyberwar. Director Simon Klose tells the inside story of how a cluster of hacktivists built the internet’s largest filesharing site, challenged the entertainment industry and helped shape the debate about intellectual freedom.
Screening: Google and the World Brain + Q&A
In Google and the World Brain, director Ben Lewis connects the central story of Google Books with fundamental issues related to the Internet – privacy, copyright, data-mining, downloading and surveillance. Through interviews with experts from across the world we learn about the implications of one of the most ambitious and simultaneously controversial projects ever conceived on the Internet. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Ben Lewis.
Preview Screening: We Steal Secrets – The Story of WikiLeaks + Q&A
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Alex Gibney.
In 2010, WikiLeaks and its sources used the power of the internet to usher in what was for some a new era of transparency, and for others the beginnings of a new information war. In We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, Academy Award winner Alex Gibney explores how this enormous trove of classified US data was leaked and the impact the documents have had on international events.
#FCBBCA Cyber snooping: In whose hands should internet governance be entrusted?
By Doug Brown A packed audience filled the Frontline Club forum on 23rd October to hear a panel tackle the question: In whose hands should internet governance be entrusted? Chaired by the Chief Executive of Index on Censorship Kirsty Hughes the event, in association with BBC Arabic, featured: Icelandic MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir; developer for The Tor Project, Jacob Appelbaum; independent media technology […]
FULLY BOOKED Cyber snooping: A threat to freedom or a necessary safeguard?
This event will take place at the Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1JG.
How much freedom should the police and intelligence agencies be given to monitor cyber activity? Is cyber surveillance a threat to the public’s civil liberties or necessary to keep them safe? Join us to discuss whether a balance can be struck?
Cyber snooping: A threat to freedom or a necessary safeguard?
External event held at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Abermarle St, London W1S 4BS.
How much freedom should the police and intelligence agencies be given to monitor cyber activity? Is cyber surveillance a threat to the public’s civil liberties or necessary to keep them safe? Join us to discuss whether a balance can be struck?
Paul Mason: journalism and the power of the network
He’s a self confessed “geek” who bought a Sinclair Spectrum computer with his first wage packet and says the arrival of the internet was "like Christmas". So it’s not suprising that BBC Newsnight‘s economics editor Paul Mason embraced social media with enthusiasm. One of the first BBC journalists to start a blog, Mason said during […]
‘In Facebook, it is not me,’ says Azeri politician
Recently, one Azeri politician and analyst Ilgar Mammadov called another politician and analyst Eldar Namazov: “I’ve sent you a friendship request through Facebook, accept it please.” Eldar Namazov raised his eyebrows in surprise: “But I have no profile in Facebook!”
Two Azeri Bloggers receive prison terms
On 11th November, despite huge international and internal pressure, Sabail District Court of Baku presided by Justice Araz Huseynov convicted two Azerbaijani bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade on controversial hooliganism charges.
Detained Azeri blogger turns 30 in jail
Today, on 14 October, detained Azerbaijani blogger Emin Milli is celebrating his birthday in a Baku jail.
Republic of Facebook
Following the beating and arrest of two youth activists and bloggers in Baku, who were using new media as well as Facebook to spread their ideas among their followers, the local online community has exploded in a way that prompted support from global community ifor the arrested bloggers and in general, the freedom of speech […]
Beaten activists sentenced for two months while investigation goes on
On 10 July 2009, a session of Sabail District Court of Baku, chaired by Justice Rauf Ahmedov, has sentenced two civil society activists – Emin Abdullayev (Milli) and Adnan Hajizada to two months of pre-trial investigation detention. Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada are accused of ‘domestic group hooliganism’ according to Article 221.2 of Criminal Code […]
Waiting five years for a five-minute chance
This recent blog post by an Iranian blogger “cautiously speaking from inside Iran” sounded to me so familiar that I wanted to share it with you: As you might know, private television channels are forbidden by the law in Iran. In general, power-holders are really touchy about any media that could challenge their authority. […] […]
Welcome to the axis of evil
It’s a devastating critique. Syria is being kept in the dark ages because of a lack of American culture, and poor access to the internet argues a Gulf-based journalist. "Less fortunate young Syrians who [didn’t go to the American school] used to look forward to movie night at the [American] Cultural Centre every Wednesday. … […]
Welcome to the axis of evil
It’s a devastating critique. Syria is being kept in the dark ages because of a lack of American culture, and poor access to the internet argues a Gulf-based journalist. "Less fortunate young Syrians who [didn’t go to the American school] used to look forward to movie night at the [American] Cultural Centre every Wednesday. … […]
Nagorno Karabakh: Blogs, social networking sites cross ethnic fault lines
In May, Armenia and Azerbaijan will mark the 15th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement which put the conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian-populated autonomous oblast situated within Azerbaijan, on hold. Since then, international mediators continue to talk of a lasting peace agreement being in reach, but few following the […]
Fleeced on Flickr?
Amid all the chatter about how using social media can help journalists and photographers broaden their audience and win new business, a cautionary tale emerges from the Flickr/Twitterverse. Via @michald on Twitter, I notice that photographer Shaun Curry, who I believe works for AFP, has removed all his photos from Flickr and posted a holding […]
Leading Azeri Online News Portal Shuts Down
Not so long ago, on 12 February, Anar Mamedkhanov, founder of Day.az, leading Azeri media outlet, and one of the biggest online news portals in Caucasus warned his Armenian colleagues: Gentlemen, wake up, it is XXI century, year 2009 (just in case to remind you of), only day.az with the quantity of its visits and […]
Public or Private?
Social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo are awash with video and pictures uploaded by the general public. News organisations are grappling with what they can and can’t use from the sites, but there is no agreed standard and recent months have seen them make a litany of mistakes. In January, Steve Herrmann, Editor of […]
A new kind of foreign coverage?
A year ago the Boston Globe newspaper closed its last three foreign bureaux. The closures followed the axing of four foreign correspondents from the Daily Telegraph in September 2006. Writing in the Washington Post, Pamela Constable summed up the misery: “Between 2002 and 2006, the number of foreign-based newspaper correspondents shrank from 188 to 141… […]
Watch this MySpace
The message “So and so has added you as a friend on Facebook” is about as common as offers for Viagra in email inboxes nowadays. Until September last year Facebook was restricted to people with .edu email addresses but they have grown spectacularly since opening their doors to everyone and are certainly the talk of […]
Inside Out – June 07
How about this for a stunning statistic? In February, more than a third (37%) of US internet users visited MySpace.com. When Rupert Murdoch -that mogul of moguls of old media – purchased MySpace in 2003 for $580 million he grabbed a sizzling hot property in the new media world. MySpace and its ambitious rival, Facebook.com […]
Web 2.0 meaning?
Web 2.0 was a phrase coined in 2004 by Dale Dougherty and Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media, a publishing and conference firm, to describe second generation internet services The phrase has made the authors a lot of coin too through their annual Web 2.0 conference for the Silicon Valley aristocracy and glitterati. But what does […]