Access to the Internet, especially during times of political unrest, is a basic human right, says a report released by the United Nations .

“Facilitating access to the Internet for all individuals, with as little restriction to online content as possible, should be a priority for all States,” says the report, published on May 16 by Frank La Rue, a “special rapporteur” for the UN’s Human Rights Council.

“… The unique features of the Internet, which allow individuals to spread information instantly, to organize themselves, and to inform the world about situations of injustice and inequality, have also created fear among Governments and the powerful,” La Rue said in a press release. [Read more...]

Amid a deluge of Facebook updates, Twitter “retweets” and blog posts, science is increasingly getting an airing on social networks, but the scientific community is proceeding with caution.

The Media140 conference in Brisbane yesterday looked specifically at how science-related issues are dealt with in the world of social media, from using platforms like Facebook as a forum to discuss climate change to leveraging the power of the web to run citizen science projects.

Kicking off the conference Andrew Maynard, Director of the University of Michigan Risk Science Cente, compared social media to a Jackson Pollock painting – seemingly messy and complicated, but containing underlying clarity and truth. He said social media held huge promise for science communication efforts, but a battle for authority and domination of online discussions often drowned out sensible debate. [Read more...]