Amnesty calls for action on internet freedom

Amnesty International is calling on the bloggers of the world to unite to defend the freedoms of their brother bloggers in countries such as China, Iran, and Tunisia.

The group says freedoms are under threat and the blog community should "get online and stand up for freedom of expression on the internet".

Ahead of next week's Internet Governance Forum (IGF) the lobby group is asking the forum to put human rights at the centre of discussions. Amnesty issued a statement calling on governments worldwide to release anyone imprisoned for expressing a peaceful opinion online, stop restricting internet access, respect privacy, and get domestic laws in line with international human rights law.

Amnesty calls on technology companies to:

publicly commit to honoring human rightsbe transparent about any words, phrases or concepts they are filtering or censoring...to exhaust all judicial...remedies when faced with requests that would deny a person's right to privacy or free expressionto exercise leadership in promoting human rights to governments and to participate with civil society in efforts to promote people's fundamental rights."

Amnesty spokesman Steve Ballinger said: "We are looking forward to participating in the IGF and being part of a process that will protect human rights on the internet. Amnesty's job in Athens will be to ensure that human rights are not sidelined."

Ballinger said Amnesty's campaign has had some success - almost 50,000 people have signed the online petition and Amnesty has talked to the Chinese embassy in London as well as several technology companies.

The irrepressible.info (http://irrepressible.info/) website includes access to Amnesty's database of censored material - the idea is that bloggers include snippets of censored information and so "undermine censorship".

The site includes a Technorati page with a collection of the campaign's most recent mentions on blogs.

Amnesty has also issued an urgent appeal for the release of Iranian blogger Kianoosh Sanjari who was arrested earlier this month for reporting on clashes between government security forces and supporters of a Shi'a cleric.

'Bungee backpack' that lightens the load

A "bungee backpack" that uses rubber bands to lighten the load enables people to carry 25 per cent more weight while expending the same amount of energy. The ergonomic design, developed by an American scientist, reduces the force of the backpack's load by 86 per cent.

A person carrying 60lb (27kg) in a bungee backpack would use the same amount of energy as someone carrying a load of 48lb (22kg) in an ordinary one, according to a study published today in the journal Nature.

"It's like carrying an extra 12lb for free," said Larry Rome, a biology lecturer at Pennsylvania University, who designed the device. He said that an immediate application would be in backpacks carried by schoolchildren — "a well- known cause of musculo- skeletal injury".

Soldiers and emergency service workers would also benefit, because the design made running while carrying a heavy load much more practical. "Being able to move at relatively high speeds is crucial for many professions, such as firemen, first responders, disaster relief workers and police," Dr Rome said. "If you have ever tried to run with a heavy backpack, it is almost impossible because of the large shocks to your knees and ankles."

Dr Rome said last night that the bungee backpack was at the prototype stage but he hoped to have it in production in around two years. It was likely to cost about 25 per cent more than a traditional backpack. In a conventional backpack, the load is strapped directly to the body and moves up and down with the walking motion. The bungee cords and rails on the new design allow it to remain at a virtually constant height.

Dr Rome said: "The suspended backpack reduces the accelerative forces during the more energetically expensive phase of walking, which is when both legs are simultaneously in contact with the ground and performing mechanical work against each other."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

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