The Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. It originally appears each week on Global Voices Advocacy. Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Weiping Li, Leila Nachawati, Laura Vidal and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

The U.K. Parliament passed the long-debated Investigatory Powers Act on Nov. 16, codifying practices of requiring telecommunications companies to store and provide the government with access to a wide range of user data, and to break encryption at the government’s behest.

Ethiopia blocks Global Voices, jails more writers
Befeqadu Hailu, a member of the Zone9 collective, a Global Voices author, and one of the best-known voices in Ethiopia’s stifled media environment, was arrested Nov. 10. Authorities told him that the reason for his arrest was an interview he gave on Voice of America about Ethiopia's state of emergency. Since the government declared an official state of emergency last month, social media and mobile internet connections have been periodically blocked, and any form of speech or gesture indicating opposition to the government can merit punishment.

A few days prior to Hailu’s arrest, Global Voices contributors and others in Ethiopia reported that the international citizen media website was no longer accessible in the country. Technical tests conducted by Global Voices’ partners have since confirmed their findings.

#IamMyOwnGuardian: Saudi women’s rights activist arrested
Saudi authorities arrested women’s rights activist Mariam al-Oteebi on Nov. 1, following a complaint submitted by her father for “parental disobedience.” Al-Oteebi has been very active in the online campaign #IamMyOwnGuardian, launched by women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia to call for an end to Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system. Under the system, women must have the consent of a “male guardian”—usually a father, husband, brother, or even a son—to travel, get married, and work. According to Saudi activists, al-Oteebi has previously been harassed by her brother over her Twitter profile photo, which displays her passport and national ID card.

Copyright case against Colombian biologist carries on
The trial of Colombian biologist Diego Gomez, who is facing charges for sharing an academic paper online for which he did not have copyright, has been postponed yet again. The case against Gomez, which has been in progress for three years, is likely to set an important precedent in Colombia about the right to access knowledge online.

Bahrain protests are met with internet service cuts
According to estimates by the Bahraini rights advocacy group Bahrain Watch, internet disruptions in the protest-village of Duraz, have cost residents at least $265,000 since June 20. A previous investigation published by the same group revealed that internet service providers were imposing “an internet curfew” in Duraz, a hotbed of anti-regime protests, by deliberately shutting off internet service from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. locally on a daily basis.

Turkey ups censorship game, blocks beloved anonymity tools
Turkey expanded the network throttling campaign it began in Kurdistan in late October by blocking circumvention tools including Tor, Hotspot Shield, Tunnel Bear, and Psiphon. Though Turkey has instituted internet blockages before, Turkish netizens say the current blocks are unusually expansive. The disruptions have been linked to the arrests of Kurdish party leaders.

Ecuadorean draft law would protect privacy of citizens—and public servants
Ecuador’s national assembly is debating a draft law addressing privacy and data protection. The draft law aims to protect the privacy of personal data that can be found in databases, electronic archives, and other physical and digital platforms. It also extends specific protections for data pertaining to public servants. This element of law has raised concern among academic and civil society groups.

Oman’s sweeping censorship of independent media
In Oman, the online independent newspaper Albalad—which was launched in 2012 and covered a range of topics in the sultanate including politics, economy and culture—put an end to its operations on Nov. 3. In a farewell post, the newspaper mentioned pressures it had faced in the past but did not specify a reason behind this decision. Albalad’s closure coincides with a broader crackdown on press freedom in Oman. Last August, the government closed the daily newspaper Alzamn and suspended its website over a report on government interference with the judiciary.

New research
“It’s Parliamentary: KeyBoy and the Targeting of the Tibetan Community”—Citizen Lab, University of Toronto