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                Date: 1998-12-22
                 
                 
                Zensur in YU: Filter gegen Demokratie
                
                 
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      Erst wurden die dem Belgrader Regime nicht genehmen  
Radiostationen abgedreht, jetzt wird Filtersoftware  
eingesetzt, um missliebige Websites wie Opennet zu  
blockieren. Interessant wär es zu wissen, ob zum Zweck der  
politischen Zensur "net nanny" oder der "cybersitter" dient.   
 
post/scrypt: Unter den 1463  teils hochgradig IT/qualifizierten  
Subscriber/inne/n des quintessenziellen Depeschendiensts 
könnten auch solche mit einem spontanen Herz für Mirrors  
sein. 
 
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(New York, December 21, 1998) Human Rights Watch today  
condemned a new clampdown on the Internet in Serbia, part  
of a concerted effort by President Slobodan Milosevic to stifle  
free expression and academic freedom.  The university  
administration's order prevents students, professors, and  
researchers throughout Serbia from accessing a website  
fromOpenNet, the Internet branch of Belgrade's independent  
Radio B92. 
 
On December 10, the new governmentappointed dean of the  
School of Electrical Engineering, Vlada Teodosic, ordered  
"filters" to prevent users of the Yugoslav academic Internet  
network from accessing the OpenNet website, a major  
source of independent news and information.  The measure  
also affects the independent media and nongovernmental  
organizations in the country, many of which access OpenNet  
through the university. 
 
"OpenNet has played a central role in breaking the  
government's information blockade," said Human Rights  
Watch academic freedom specialist Joseph Saunders.   
"President Milosevic and his allies are spearheading a direct  
assault on the free flow of information." 
 
The act of censorship comes as the latest step in an ongoing  
attack on the universities by Yugoslav President Slobodan  
Milosevic.  In May 1998, a new university law stripped  
Serbian universities of their autonomy and required all  
professors to sign new contracts within sixty days regardless  
of the terms of existing contracts and guarantees of tenure.   
Professors who refused to sign the new contracts, viewed by  
many as loyalty oaths to the government, have been  
harassed, suspended, and fired. 
 
Teodosic, who has authority over the computing center at the  
University of Belgrade, has been a central figure in academic  
repression. In October, he suspended twelve engineering  
professors who refused to sign the new "contracts," including  
professors such as Branko Popovic, with nearly 150  
publications to his name and awards from several  
international scientific societies.  Teodosic hired private  
security guards to forcibly remove any of the twelve  
professors who attempted to return to their classrooms. 
 
The attack on the Internet also comes amidst increased  
government harassment of the independent media in Serbia.   
A new Law on Information, passed on October 20,  
established a system of prior censorship and imposes  
prohibitively high fines on journalists, editors, and publishers;  
three newspapers have been shut down thus far. 
 
The immediate motive for blocking OpenNet access appears  
to have been a link on the website to a political cartoon that  
showed Teodosic in a Nazi uniform giving a Nazi salute.  The  
cartoon also portrayed another newlyappointed administrator,  
Milos Laban, as a monkey.  The OpenNet site also hosts  
detailed, regularly updated information on the conflict  
between academics and the government, and includes letters  
of support for Serbian academic freedom from academics and  
universities around the world  
(see:www.hrw.org/hrw/press98/aug/serltr810.htm). For more  
information, visit the OpenNet website at www.opennet.org  
For further information contact: 
 
Joe Saunders (212) 2161207 Fred Abrahams (212) 2161270 
 
relayed by 
jsm6@columbia.edu via othereurope@columbia.edu via  
donalds@hrw.org via erekosh@law.columbia.edu via  
gilc-plan@gilc.org 
 
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edited by Harkank 
published on: 1998-12-22 
comments to office@quintessenz.at
                   
                  
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