Internet Censorship - UPDATED

A U.S.-British-Canadian study shows that at least 25 countries censor internet access and block websites for political, social, and other reasons. The OpenNet Initiative studied 40 countries and the Palestinian authority.

China, Iran, Myanmar, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam had the most extensive filters for political sites. Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen had the strictest social-filtering practices, blocking pornography, gambling and homosexual sites.

In some countries, censorship was narrow. South Korea, for instance, tends to block only information about its neighbouring rival, North Korea.

Yet researchers found no filtering at all in Russia, Israel or the Palestinian territories, despite political conflicts.

Governments generally had no mechanism for citizens to complain about any erroneous blocking, with Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates being among the exceptions.

The OpenNet Initiative, a collaboration between researchers at Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard University and the University of Toronto, has previously published reports detailing censorship in specific countries. The latest study was its attempt to compare filtering worldwide. [snip]

The group supplied software to volunteers in each of the countries tested. Websites checked include those for gambling, pornography and human-rights abuses. (Globe and Mail)

The Chinese Communist Dictatorship has BANNED all TypePad and Blogger blogs from Chinese internet servers with the help of Cisco Systems See RConversation and Resistance is Futile, who (like me) says:

The Chinese government fears me. And well they should, for I stand for FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY and CAPITALISM and ARMED CITIZENS.

More from The Inquirer:

Instead of blocking static Web sites, they take down entire Internet-based applications like Youtube, Skype and Google Maps. They also are use furtive, just-in-time filtering to knock out the Web sites of political opposition groups during critical election periods.

China, Iran, Syria, Tunisia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Oman and Pakistan censor anything that moves or jiggles. [snip]

Filtering does not happen in Russia, Venezuela, Egypt, Hong Kong, Israel and Iraq.

In the United States and much of Europe filtering is focused primarily on copyright infringement, apparently.

Jake Shapiro says:

... I’ve watched this project grow from the days when Jonathan Zittrain and Ben Edelman were making long distance calls to China from Z’s office to test various websites 5 or 6 years ago. It’s blossomed into an important and fascinating study and this release marks a milestone in comprehending the impact and reaction to the transformative power of the Internet on a global scale.

I mentioned Censor this Beeeyotches in the Sunday Reading List.

Enjoy your freedoms. You never know when they will be taken away.

UPDATE: A representative for Cisco leaves two comments on this article you should read. Here is some further reading:

We do not help governments censor information. For more information on this, please read our Q&A on this topic here: http://blogs.cisco.com/gov/2006/03/cisco_qa_on_china_and_censorsh.html And/or read our testimony before Congress here: http://blogs.cisco.com/gov/2006/02/cisco_testimony_before_house_i.html

_________________________________________________________________ 123Beta, Open Trackback Weekend #52

Comments

[Debbie]

John Earnhardt, thanks for the information. I like hearing straight from the horses mouth. I will make a note for all to see.

Please visit again.

[John Earnhardt]

I would also like to point out that one of the links you point to (Rconversation) supporting the claims that Cisco is complicit in censorship says, "There is also an argument to be made that the existence of Cisco routers in China on the whole has done more to facilitate free speech than to stifle it." As our Congressional testimony states, "since our entry into the Chinese market in 1994, the number of Chinese accessing the global Internet has grown from 80,000 in 1995 to over 130,000,000 in 2005 – a 1625% increase in the past 10 years. While Cisco certainly cannot take credit for all of the Internet growth in China, it shows that the appetite for information via the Internet is nearly impossible to contain."

Thank you.

[John Earnhardt]

You are repeating the same false claims against Cisco. We have repeatedly tried to set the record straight on what our technology does and does not do. The technology you are citing is the same technology used to block pornography sites at your local library...nothing more. We do not help governments censor information. For more information on this, please read our Q&A on this topic here: http://blogs.cisco.com/gov/2006/03/cisco_qa_on_china_and_censorsh.html

And/or read our testimony before Congress here: http://blogs.cisco.com/gov/2006/02/cisco_testimony_before_house_i.html

Thanks for your interest in this issue and thanks for printing this reply.

Any questions, please let me know...I'm findable through Cisco website.

[Debbie]

Thanks everyone. Angel, I did get a link from you, thank you very much.

The number of bloggers in some countries who are either shutting down their blogs out of fear, or who have been jailed or killed for what they print, is terrible. It makes me very thankful to be an American.

[michael]

Yet researchers found no filtering at all in Russia, Israel or the Palestinian territories, despite political conflicts.

My guess is that Russians and Israelis just won't put up with censorship like that, and the palis haven't got the infrastructure or know-how to set up a filtering system...

[Angel]

The Chinese government fears me. And well they should, for I stand for FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY and CAPITALISM and ARMED CITIZENS. ..great line Debbie!..Hope u received my links hun.:)

[BillT]

Many forms of censorship are even more insidious. For instance, I have spoken with people in the Middle East who blog, and when they make posts that are disagreeable with some, their comments sections fill up with litle notes that anyone who's IP shows up on the blog in the future can "expect a little visit."

Freedom of thought is a dangerous thing. Especially if the ideas one uses to govern can be rendered ridiculous through minimal thought.

[Trinity]

I fear censorship in anyway. As a Conservative, almost leaning toward Libertarain; this issue above all gets me fired up. No government has the right to stiffle anyone's opinions, even Air America's. The founding fathers were brilliant as they stated in the beginning: We The People. Be vigiliant my friends.