Facebook has apologised for the "Draw Mohammed Day" group and blocked the offending content from being accessed in Pakistan, rather than removing the content. I find it interesting that a company has taken responsibility for content published by users, but since they are a publisher of content they should probably be treated in the same way that a news publisher may be treated when publishing content, regardless of whether that content was developed by them or not. Brings up the issue of content moderation also.

Two Australian bloggers were selected in an online search and will now spend two weeks educating Bangladeshis on how to source content and publish a blog. Working with group ActionAid, their aim is to give poverty a voice.

Following on from the BBC's survey of 27,000 people in 26 countries which resulted in 79% of adults regarding internet access as a human right, David Vaile from the Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre and Brett Solomons, formerly of GetUp and now AccessNow.org, have both put their weight behind this approach. Some countries already include internet access as a consumer legal right and other countries regard it as a human right.

In almost an exact mirror of the situation in Pakistan, Bangladeshi authorities have banned Facebook and thousands have taken to the streets to protest. This is in response to the "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day" page that was set up on Facebook. One man has been arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) over the images. Images of Bangladeshi leaders were also posted to the site.

Most hacking activities are not reported by the websites that are victim to it, most probably so as not to scare the public. In this article, filmmaker Phillip Mora looks at the activities of hackers and cyber terrorists, likening the potentialities to the Holocaust and 9/11.

Apple's market value has overtaken Microsoft's for the first time ever. Article looks at the impact of Apple and Google on Microsoft in the areas of search, online advertising and music in particular.

Hot of the press, a new journal article analysing the apparent (alleged?) possibilites of the Internet to promote democracy.

now this is how you speak Kiwi, bro...

In my final blog post, I reflect on the reasons I believe cultural protest is just as valid a type of protest as any other and why I think people participate.

Although not strictly a "protest" in the strictest sense of the word, the Kiss Goodbye to MS movement has similarities with protest movements - people with a unified belief acting together to facilitate change. The main action required to take part is to wear red lipstick during MS Awareness Week in Australia: 26th May to 6th June. I wondered how men could get involved - the obligatory Facebook group encourages tattoos can be used as a talking point rather than lipstick. Others can simply donate to the cause. The charity sector is incredibly crowded (for good reason) and charities have increasingly bigger marketing teams to capture the public's attention. Social media is just the latest avenue that corporations and not-for-profits are using to drive awareness.

A follow up to my first post about the protest movement to save digital-only radio station BBC6 Music. A second day of protest was held in London and royalties organisation PRS for Music publishes stats showing the station is more supportive to a wide range of musicians than other stations.

D.Net, a not-for-profit research organisation has set up a program in Bangladesh called InfoLadies which involves women armed with netbooks, mobile phones to provide information gathered from the internet to villagers who would otherwise lack access to this information. The types of information provided typically cover hygiene, farming and childbirth. The program is an extension of the MobileLadies program which came before it. Another, more detailed article here: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=99804 Can programs like this contribute to a decrease in the digital divide?

Increasing "probes" on US military networks has led to the appointment of a senior general to Cyber Command operations and approximately 30,000 troops have been re-assigned from IT support to "the frontlines of cyberwarfare". The US is increasingly anxious about the vulnerability of its networks to attack. Chinese, Russian and Korean hackers have been targeted as alleged attackers so far. There is concern that cyberwarfare techniques being used by the US are outpacing the ability to develop policy surrounding their use.

Social media's role in the organisation and communication of the protests in Thailand is still small compared to the role traditional forms of media have played. This article however is a good primer on the details of how social media has been used - citizen journalism, regular journalism that is now "on the fly", amplification of messages via social media channels. Censorship by the government has also been a factor in the unrest.

Following a Facebook user's invitation for people to submit drawings of Prophet Mohammed and the ensuing condemnation from individual Muslim's and Muslim groups, The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has extended a ban on Facebook until May 31, and has also applied the ban to popular video sharing website YouTube and restricted Wikipedia. Depicting the prophet in a perceived blasphemous manner is considered sacrilegious. Over 100,000 people had become fans of the page on Facebook. Thousands of protesters have held multiple public rallies against Facebook, with anti-America and anti-European sentiment high.

A woman who believed her daughter died after being gang-raped by thugs associated with police, was supported in her efforts for justice by internet activists who posted allegedly "slanderous" material on the Internet. Rather than naming those who had allegedly been slandered, the court argued that the slander affected the state. Bloggers reported from the courthouse and spread messages via Twitter in support of the accused.

Back in March, Iranian's took part in the traditional fire festival, held at night time. A trend I've noticed with reporting in mainstream news is the use of a live blog with bloggers taking shifts to report on big events - The Guardian recently did this with the UK election and may do it for the World Cup coming up. To see this level of detail in live reporting in a mainstream news source is great, especially when it's not related to something as boring as sport ;) The reporter has contacts on the ground and also encourages other Iranians who may be reading to send him secure emails with updates from the event. Videos posted on YouTube are also linked to as soon as they're made available.

A German court has granted an injunction against torrent site The Pirate Bay (TPB) brought against it by Hollywood film studios. The injunction means that TPB's bandwidth provider cannot connect it to internet servers, meaning it is unavailable. Of course, getting one torrent site shut down is just the tip of the iceberg - there are thousands of torrent sites out there and many may originate in countries where the service providers or site owners can't be prosecuted. TPB originates in Sweden. In 2009, TPB's four founders were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay a $US3.6million fine.

In what appears to be a direct warning to the Australian founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange had his passport confiscated for a period of time at Melbourne Airport (on the basis that it looked worn) and then had his bags searched, being questioned on about his 1991 criminal record for hacking offences. Wikileaks published the confidential list of sites that would form the blacklist under the Australian government's proposed net filter. Coincidence? I think not.

Further, Assange was interrviewed on Dateline last night and said that Wikileaks was potentially going to be investigated by the Australian Federal Police over the leak. However, the AFP aren't pursuing it since it's out of their scope. http://www.zdnet.com.au/afp-called-to-investigate-wikileaks-339303208.htm

Fourth and featured blog post in my series on Protest Movements.