Slideshow: Mexicans push back against threat of internet censorship
Legislative changes to a telecommunications reform package have sparked protests on and offline in Mexico. Critics are concerned the law will allow the government to stifle free speech online in a country where much of the traditional press is subject to coercion, intimidation and even physical violence. A Mexico City march against a number of provisions in the new Telecommunications Law drew more than 1,000 demonstrators Thursday afternoon. FSRN reporter Andalusia Knoll interviewed one of the organizers and took these photos.
Click on any thumbnail to launch slideshow.
-
- Promoters of open source software donned masks of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
-
- Marching under the banner “No Mas Poder al Poder” criticize a law they say will make the country’s telecom giants and security agencies even more powerful.
-
- Mexico has some of the most expensive telephone and Internet services in the world – something the law was supposed to correct – but activists say it legalizes extensive online surveillance and censorship.
-
- Emiliano Zapata was a revolutionary leader who fought for land and liberty for Mexico’s farmers. In a sign which reads “Land, Internet and Liberty,” open internet advocates appropriated his image during the march which fell on the anniversary of his assassination.
-
- Laid-off electric utility workers with the SME union joined the mobilization to protest censorship and the country’s largest media conglomerate, Televisa.
-
- Under the new legislation citizens may have to pay for access to certain Internet sites and services. This protestor’s sign reads, “information is a right, don’t use it for profit.”
-
- The Telecommunications law would increase the legal surveillance powers of the government, which critics say is especially concerning in a country in which organized crime has infiltrated police agencies and political institutions with impunity.
