Smashing Fertilizer Myths
About a decade ago, a statement by a medical doctor in the United States made overnight headlines. He was a popular television personality too. When he learned about the presence of arsenic…
Science and Technology
Celebrating Inspiring Women: An Interview with Theshini Perera
For Women’s Day 2021, Groundviews interviewed Dr. Theshini Perera, a professional in the field of science who has broken stigmas held against women, proving that not only can women drive change and…
Military Drones Flying Over Privacy and Freedom
Many are familiar with drone technology as a highly advanced aerial technology. Drones have become increasingly useful for organizations such as the United Nations to provide relief and essential items including food…
Other State Forests and the Conservation of Sri Lanka’s Rainforest Biota
Circular MWFC/1/20201 issued on 4 November by the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation has caused widespread concern and consternation. This circular seeks to make all Sri Lanka’s other state forests (OSFs)…
The need to deploy modern Technology in the COVID War
More than half a century ago, mankind placed a man on the moon, using giant Saturn-V rockets to propel spaceships. If we were to go back there now, we would undoubtedly use…
On Facebook’s New Misinformation Policy for Sri Lanka
20 July 2018 Colombo, Sri Lanka Recent news reports have surfaced noting that Facebook will be proactively taking steps to remove misinformation that could lead to people being physically harmed. Though long…
Digital Battlefield: Launch of Digital Security Wiki
In the year 2018, the divide between online and offline worlds has become increasingly blurred. Behaviour seen in digital spaces and the language used in the dissemination of content mirrors offline practice…
Invisible Barriers: The Struggle to Combat Violence, Online and Off
Rights activists have been abducted, detained and assaulted in the pursuit of their work in Sri Lanka, both during and after the war. Even under the present government, the crackdown on the…
An Uneven Playing Field
The implementation of a 25% quota for women’s representation in local councils at Sri Lanka’s 2018 Local Government Election was a welcome move, and the result of years of advocacy and activism…
Weaponising 280 characters: What 200,000 tweets and 4,000 bots tell us about state of Twitter in Sri Lanka
In light of a recent spike in suspicious activity on Twitter in Sri Lanka, is pleased to publish a detailed report co-authored by Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sanjana Hattotuwa and…
Facebook responds to open letter from Sri Lankan civil society
A day after our open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook representatives from Delhi, India, on his behalf, responded. The email is reproduced below in full. It is worth noting at the outset…
Open letter to Facebook: Implement Your Own Community Standards
10 April 2018 Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dear Mark, In solidarity with and support of a letter signed by leading civil society organisations from Myanmar addressed to you recently, we, the undersigned,…
Building Resilience: Responding to Cyber Violence in Sri Lanka
Featured image by Deshan Tennekoon Text by Raisa Wickrematunge She strikes a pose for the camera; arms akimbo, looking determined, her gaze locked into the distance. Watching her, the group laughs and…
Technology-related Violence Against Women and Girls in Sri Lanka: Key Trends
There is little research done on technology-based violence against women in Sri Lanka. In addition, there are no trilingual, easily accessible, open-source resources for digital security, key because many leaks occur due…
Blocked: RTI requests reveal process behind blocking of websites in Sri Lanka
On November 8, 2017 news began to spread that website Lankaenews had been blocked across all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Sri Lanka. The website itself has continually been mired in controversy…
