Internet censorship and surveillance are contentious issues around the world.

In Malaysia, blogging remains one of the few ways to exercise free speech, although the government has begun to crack down on sites and bloggers, blocking malaysia-today.net (since redirected) and jailing its publisher.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad joins his country’s bloggers in criticizing the government under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his chosen successor.

The EU recently criticized Turkey for its free speech violations, when the government blocked 850 sites, including Blogger and YouTube. The blockage of wordpress.com last August met a firestorm of criticism, as documented by “Global Voices” blogger Sami Ben Gharbia.

Australia is making headlines for its new Internet censorship legislation, which is being criticized by both bloggers and traditional journalists. Blogger “Stilgherrian” leads a discussion about the new laws that includes a direct reply from a member of Parliament defending the laws.

Egypt faces its own free speech struggles, as explored by a Worldfocus signature story and an interview with blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy, who claims that online free speech rights are severely limited by the government. He also started a debate at Flickr, where he feels his photos of Egyptian political demonstrations have been censored.

Bi Yantao of the “Fool’s Mountain” blog reports that China – perhaps the country most famous for Internet censorship and its “great firewall” — tightened its Internet censorship as the Beijing Olympics finished and foreigners left.

Fred Stopsky of “The Impudent Observor” shares a Finnish report stating that older Finns accept Internet censorship to prevent the spread of violence and “certain ideas.”

British blogger “Charlotte Gore” responds to member of Parliament Hazel Blears’ attack on political bloggers by insisting that “the blogosphere does not answer to the government.”

“DailyBits” provides a succinct top-ten rundown of Internet censorship, and the OpenNet Initiative provides in-depth tracking and analysis of Internet filtration and censorship around the globe.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user wolfcat_aus under a Creative Commons license.

Racial issues came to the forefront in the recent U.S. presidential election, in which Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first African-American president.

Some thought that President-elect Obama would suffer from the “Bradley Effect” — referencing when African-American candidate Tom Bradley lost his bid for governor of California in 1982 despite polls showing him ahead.

In the end, exit polls showed that Obama garnered 44 percent of the white vote, more than John Kerry, Al Gore or Bill Clinton.

Though race was not part of Obama’s campaign strategy, bloggers worldwide nonetheless seized on the issue.

Jamaican blogger “b C” of “Stories of Me” says that many Jamaicans support Barack Obama simply because he’s a black man.

Brazilian bloggers posted a banner with the words “Não vote em branco” — a phrase which carries the double meaning of  “don’t cast a blank vote” and “don’t vote for a white person.” Worldfocus previously reported on Brazilian candidates who changed their names to “Barack Obama”.

Paula Góes of Global Voices Online’s “Voices without Votes” discusses the response of Brazilian bloggers to the race issue in this election.

Enrique Gonzales of “The Latino Contrarian” blog thinks Obama is the first Latino president in the same way that Bill Clinton was the “first black president.”

Jordanian blogger Naseem Tarawnah of “The Black Iris” says that the next U.S. president is unlikely to “change” much and attributes Obama’s prophet-like status to U.S. election culture. Tarawnah discusses the Bradley Effect and argues that race played an important role in the election.

The “Armenian Economist” blog writes that Armenians see the “Bradley Effect” quite differently — because Tom Bradley lost the race to George Deukmejian,  an Armenian American.

The New York Post reports that Obama’s racial and cultural background generate support from Arabs. Columnist Mohamed al-Menshawi calls the Christian Obama “the harbinger of solidarity between Americans and the Muslim world.”

An article at Japanese news site “Asahi” looks at the Japanese view of race in the election.

The “Grave Error” blog discusses European disbelief that Americans could elect an African American as well as lingering Spanish racism.

One of the estimated 160,000 Egyptian bloggers shares his perspective in our Web exclusive video: Egyptian bloggers cite censorship, arrest and torture.

Special correspondent Hoda Osman and producer Sally Garner report on the state of journalism in Egypt from Cairo.

The video below is an exclusive Web interview with blogger and activist Hossam el-Hamalawy.

For bloggers and mainstream journalists, Egypt is far from free. Both Hossam el-Hamalawy and Nora Younis blog using their real names. Both write about protest rallies, politics and the growing — but still small — labor movement in Egypt.

Watch the video interview of el-Hamalawy, who says he’s been arrested, questioned and tortured several times during his career. He describes the blogging community in Cairo as having one foot in cyberspace and the other in the street.

It’s that activism that makes them targets for state security police.

Blogger Nora Younis told us about knowing she was being watched but choosing to continue to live and work without trying to hide.

“I never lock my door; I just leave my apartment and pull the door shut,” she said. “I never lock my door. I don’t care if they’re tapping the phone; I have to continue living as if this is safe. I have the right to do it. I should continue to do it.”

Reporters without Borders ranked Egypt 148th out of 169 countries in its annual press freedom survey.

The organization specifically cited the jailing of two bloggers last year as evidence of Egypt’s continuing crackdown on journalists. The report also pointed to the use of the Internet as a powerful tool that resulted in the “unprecedented arrest and imprisonment” of two government officials when a blogger posted video of them torturing prisoners at a local police station.

- Sally Garner