April 30, 2007

CA Conrad interviews Ashraf Osman on Facebook, homophobic censorship & what you can do to help.

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from Phillysound:

FROM ASHRAF OSMAN

It has just come to the attention of the administrators of the petition to prevent Arab LBTG from being shut down that we have been the subject of a malicious ploy. It has emerged, after concerns about the authenticity of the person representing Facebook have been raised, that the person in question is an impostor and does not represent Facebook. Facebook stated that they have not been contacted by any governments about the group, and that they will not be shutting it down. (The full statement can now be found on the petition page.) I apologize on behalf of the petition administrators for propagating this without being more questioning in the first place. And while this certainly is a huge relief, and the reaction to the matter was highly validating of the genuine concern for civil liberties and free speech in this country and the cyber-society as a whole, it remains that many of the issues brought forth by this unfortunate debacle are true, including the lack of rights for persons of alternative sexualities in Arab and Islamic countries, and the censorship of governments around the world of cyber-content.

Thank you for your understanding,

Ashraf