Thomson Reuters Twitter Feed Hacked by Pro-Assad Group

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hacking is the great equalizer for "armies" that might not fare so well on the battlefield, as financial data and news giant Thomson Reuters learned yesterday.

The Web site Allthingsd.com reported that the Syrian Electronic Army ("SEA"), which backs President Bashar al-Assad in the Middle East nation's bloody, nearly two-and-a-half-year-old civil war, briefly co-opted @ThomsonReuters to spew seven tweet links to images that included pro-Assad cartoons that BuzzFeed captured.

The Thomson Reuters account was temporarily suspended until the company regained control of it. The SEA last April and May took credit for hacking into Twitter accounts of CBS, The Guardian and Financial Times, according to the Allthingsd article.

Turns out you can't believe everything you read in social media world, a shocking revelation to no one.

Syria Media Law 'Reform': No Confusing Assad with James Madison

Image via WikipediaEmbattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad took time out Sunday from unleashing his army against his citizenry to repeal Legislative Decree No. 108 that authorized jailing journalists for "attacking the prestige and dignity of  the state, national unity and the morale of the army," according to a post on the Jurist Website (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu).

The measure also calls for creation of a cabinet-overseen National Council of Information to regulate the information industry. Lest readers include Assad among John Peter Zenger and other press freedom icons, Decree No. 108 does permit censorship of publications whose content "affects national unity and national security, incites sectarian strife, incites crimes or hatred or harms state symbols," or involves armed forces-related news, Jurist reports. Journalists still would be liable for defamation to the tune of $21,000 fines.

Irina Bokova, UNESCO director-general, earlier this summer denounced Syria for repressing journalism and free speech and for its human rights violations, so President Assad's makeover as First Amendment absolutist James Madison may face rough sledding ahead.