For years, a secret Google team planned a Chinese search-engine that would censor search results and spy on users for the Chinese state authorities; when the existence of this plan was leaked, thousands of googlers objected to the plan, senior staff quit (then others followed), and things have only gotten worse since, with the company being outed for lying about the project when they claimed it was just a pilot program and nowhere near launch. Read the rest

Amnesty International's new report on family separations reveals that the Trump administration stole at least 4,000 more children from their parents than the previous total of 2,500-3,000. Read the rest

Over at Vantage, Peter Schafer's beautiful and moving photo essay, "Diary of a Sex Tourist," pegged on Amnesty International's vote in the next few days on whether or not the group will advocate for the decriminalization of sex work. Read the rest

Last week, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal said that the UK spy agency hadn't spied on Amnesty -- this week, they admitted that they had, and claimed they hadn't deliberately misled the organisation about the spying. Read the rest

Fiona from Amnesty UK sez, "Troy Davis has been on death row in Georgia, USA for 19 years convicted of a crime he maintains he did not commit. He has already faced execution three times. A recent decision by a federal district court puts him back on track for execution, despite unresolved doubts about his guilt. No physical evidence links Troy to the crime and seven out of nine witnesses on whose evidence he was convicted have since changed their testimony. Options are running out for Troy so please add your name to the petition and forward the link to your friends." Read the rest

Fiona from Amnesty UK sez,

After raising £30,000 to support an ad campaign exposing Shell's damaging practices in the Niger Delta, Amnesty International and its supporters were sorely disappointed when the Financial Times took a last minute decision to pull their ad.

Tim Hancock, Amnesty International UK's campaigns director, said:

"The decision by the Financial Times is extremely disappointing. We gave them written reassurances that we would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement. Both The Metro and The Evening Standard had no problems with running the ad.

"The money to pay for the advertisements came entirely from more than 2,000 individuals online, who we'd asked to fund an ad campaign targeting Shell's AGM -- and it really caught their imagination. And I am sure these supporters will share with us our sense of deep disappointment."

Amnesty 'disappointed' by FT's decision to pull ad targeting Shell Read the rest

Search Engine's Jesse Brown sez, "Canadian/Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan has been held and tortured in a Tehran prison for over a year, without being charged. Both the Canadian and Iranian governments seem content to let him stay there.

The media has also largely forgotten his case. Hoder's imprisonment begs the question: do we only fight for the freedom of dissidents whose beliefs we agree with?"

JESSE BROWN: Free Hoder

(Thanks, Jesse!)

A New Jersey man finally returned the Spanish-English dictionary he borrowed from the Jersey City Public Library in 1955 (using someone else's card!). He took advantage of a late-books amnesty to avoid a $1,750 late fine: "'No one remembers anyone bringing back a book this late,' said Assistant Library Director Sonja Araujo. She added the library may put it on display as part of an effort to encourage more people to return books under the amnesty program."

Man returns Jersey City library book 54 years late, forgiven under 'library amnesty'

(Thanks, Michael!)

(Thumbnail image: NJ.com)