Source: Katie Scott, Wired
In its Freedom on the Net 2011 report, Freedom House states: “The country reports and numerical scores in this study reveal that a growing number of governments are moving to regulate or restrict the free flow of information on the internet.
Tag Archives: Filtering
Technology web surveillance: Some of the world’s most invasive regimes
April 26, 2012 – 5:19 pm
Bolobhi press kit on Pakistan’s proposed Great Firewall
March 8, 2012 – 2:55 pm
Source: Bolobhi
On Wednesday, the 22nd of February, the ICT R&D Fund under the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT), announced through newspapers and their website a Request For Proposal (RFP) for national “URL filtering and blocking system”.
Pakistan’s government may set up national internet blocking system
February 25, 2012 – 11:04 am
Source: Tribune Express
In yet another move that appears to be aimed towards internet censorship in Pakistan, a government department has called for proposals for the development, deployment and operation of a national level URL Filtering and Blocking System.
Locking up the cyberspace in Pakistan
February 24, 2012 – 11:10 am
Source: Bytes for All
The Government of Pakistan has repeatedly exhibited the obsession to lock up the Pakistani cyberspace at every given chance.
Political repression 2.0
September 1, 2011 – 10:44 am
Source: The New York Times – OpEd by Evgeny Morozov
Agents of the East German Stasi could only have dreamed of the sophisticated electronic equipment that powered Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s extensive spying apparatus, which the Libyan transitional government uncovered earlier this week. The monitoring of text messages, e-mails and online chats — no communications seemed beyond the reach of the eccentric colonel.
Bluecoat’s role in Syrian censorship and nationwide monitoring system #OpSyria
September 1, 2011 – 10:28 am
Source: Reflets
Today, thanks to our friends from Telecomix and to the support of other hacktivists more or less affiliated with Anonymous, we are able to release new elements on BlueCoat’s implication in the setting up of Syrian censorship and repression. We’ve studied how Syrian censorship works more closely. We suspect they use two different technologies. The first one is rather simple and reasonably efficient (but can also be easily bypassed): a filtering proxy.
Muslim countries filter Web on faith grounds, report says
August 4, 2011 – 4:47 pm
This Financial Post article reports on a new research paper published by the OpenNet Initiative, which finds that in many majority Muslim countries, control of the Internet is based primarily on interpretations of the religious instructions of the Islamic faith. The author of the article, Helmi Noman, is a Senior Researcher at the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and a Research Affiliate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University. Mr. Noman says that “a number of Internet-specific fatwas (religious decrees) have been layered on top of regulatory boundaries on acceptable use.” For example, fatwas against browsing forbidden websites have resulted in the development of “websites with more palatable content such as NaqaTube.com, which promises users a Sharia-compatible YouTube-like experience.”
Internet filters will protect kids: Arınç
July 29, 2011 – 12:52 pm
Source: Hürriyet Daily News
The recent deadly attacks in Norway demonstrate the necessity of the Turkish government’s plans to institute an Internet filtering system in August, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said Thursday.
According to Arınç, the confessed perpetrator of the massacre in Norway, Anders Behring Breivik, acquired the know-how to build bombs and use guns through the Internet.
“Now this villain [Brevik] says he learned about how to manufacture a bomb by searching on Google for weeks. Let them [filtering opponents] think once more about whether sites that give practical [instructions] on how to manufacture a bomb, [set] a landmine [or] blow up a bridge have any use for humanity after the deaths of [76] people in Norway,” Arınç said during a commencement ceremony held by the North Aegean Journalists Society in the northwestern province of Balıkesir.
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For full original article, see here
Websites on illegal downloads to be banned
July 27, 2011 – 1:09 pm
Source: Elin Yunita Kristanti and Syahrul Ansyari, VivaNews
The government through Information and Communication Minister Tifatul Sembiring is planning to block music or movie websites offering free downloads which can be easily found in the internet.
“I’m expecting innovators and the industry to work hand in hand in an effort to produce phenomenal works. I think it’s a sin for the government to abandon creation of its people. I don’t wanna be a sinner. So, a strategy is needed,” said Tifatul today.
In addition to the possible ban, Tifatul explained, the perpetrators of illegal downloading could also face a penalty of 9-year imprisonment, or Rp3 billion of fine, according to Article 25 of Electronic Information and Transaction Law. Thus, the general public need to be more careful.
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For full original article, see here
Iran tightens online censorship to counter US ‘shadow internet’
July 13, 2011 – 1:47 pm
Source: Saeed Kamali Dehghan, The Guardian
Iran has stepped up online censorship by upgrading the filtering system that enables the Islamic regime to block access to thousands of websites it deems inappropriate for Iranian users.
The move comes one month after the United States announced plans to launch new services facilitating internet access and mobile phone communications in countries with tight controls on freedom of speech, a decision that infuriated Tehran’s regime and prompted harsh reactions from several Iranian officials.
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For full original article, see here
