Since it started as a platform designed for cell phone use in 2006, Twitter has become more than just a microblogging service on the Internet. It is a platform for peer-to-peer education and a potential gold mine for citizen sensing, which engages citizens as sensors in generating geo-referenced information. The vast number of tweets and other user-generated bits of content online has prompted new approaches to data analysis.

In a joint press conference with President Obama last month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel referred to the Internet as “Neuland”—literally, an “uncharted territory”—in response to a question about PRISM. Since then, the Internet has exploded with the #Neuland meme.

There’s much debate on the ability of Facebook to effect social change, but a handful of campaigns by the social networking site over the past several years have demonstrated just how powerful social media might be in prompting real-life actions.

Internet Monitor is delighted to announce the publication of "Rationing the Digital: The Policy and Politics of Internet Use in Cuba Today," the first in a series of special reports that will focus on key events and new developments in Internet freedom, incorporating technical, legal, social, and political analyses.

This week in #imweekly: examining content control in China, Nigerian officials announce plans to heighten internet monitoring in the country, and Russia's Kremlin resorts to using typewriters to skirt foreign internet surveillance. Meanwhile, a push to heighten information control in Turkey.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in cities across the United States and Europe last week as part of the "Resore the Fourth" rallies aimed to call attention to government surveillance. What comes next for the movement?

Videos of a man filming people in public draw the ire of those on camera but raise questions about expectations of privacy in an age where institutions and individuals can easily and legally record others. Removal of the videos on various sites also highlights free speech and copyright concerns.

Circumventing digital surveillance, breaking through firewalls, and sharing data doesn't have to be high-tech. In fact, as the rate at which we produce and share data eclipses rate of Internet speed increases, many are experimenting with old-school alternatives. Will sneakernets and pigeons make the Internet obsolete?

In this week's #IMweekly: a Wikipedia edit war over Egypt's coup d'état, sentences for Saudi Arabian Facebook users accused of inciting protests, a new government petitioning platform in China, and more.

Governments around the world have taken steps to block online pornography, with some stating that the Internet is for porn, and little else. A look at the history of the Internet shows that pornography has played a surprising role, and that over-regulation of online porn may carry some serious risks.