Censorship

Censorship / Most Viewed

Berners-Lee: Ted Cruz Wrong About How Free Speech Is Censored on the Internet

"Sen. Ted Cruz wants to engineer a United States takeover of a key Internet organization, ICANN, in the name of protecting freedom of expression," said Tim Berners-Lee and Daniel Weitzner in a co-op piece today in the Washington post. more

Distributed Reporting of Web Filtering

Today the Berkman Center announced a new project that might be of interest to readers. Since 2002 I've studied Internet filtering around the world, most recently as part of the OpenNet Initiative. Last year with support of the MacArthur Foundation we published "Access Denied," a study of filtering in about 40 states. Our work so far has been centralized... We're now complementing that effort with a distributed reporting system... more

Internet Three Strikes Laws Violate International Law, Says UN Report

Michael Geist reporting in his blog: "The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression has released an important new report that examines freedom of expression on the Internet. The report is very critical of rules such as graduated response/three strikes, arguing that such laws may violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Moreover, the report expresses concerns with notice-and-takedown systems, noting that it is subject to abuse by both governments and private actors." more

Why DNS-Level Piracy Enforcement Is a Trap

Efforts to combat online piracy are pushing courts to weaponise the Internet's naming system. Turning DNS operators into enforcement agents may deliver quick takedowns, but risks collateral damage, jurisdictional conflict and long-term fragmentation of the Internet. more

Report on Governments Involved in Edited DNS Responses

Earl Zmijewski reporting in Renesys Blog: "There's been sudden interest recently in a Chinese route hijacking incident that occurred way back in April, brought about by a new report to the US Congress that highlighted the event. A second Chinese event, also in the report, has received almost no attention despite being much more interesting (technically, anyway). A Chinese DNS censorship incident occurred just one month earlier, in March..." more

WikiLeaks: Ecuador Has Cut Off Assange’s Internet Access

WikiLeaks has accused Ecuador for cutting off Internet access of its founder, Julian Assange. The activist organization first reported the incident via Twitter last night stating that Assange's internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. more

Nauruan Gov’t Says Ban on Facebook and Such Protects Citizens from “Abuse, Harassment and Bullying”

The Nauruan government says ban on websites such as Facebook is to protect its citizens from "abuse, harassment and bullying" as the United Nations urges the island's controversial regime to lift its ban on freedom of expression and human rights. more

Lu Wei, China’s Internet Gatekeeper Stepping Down

China's state news media has reported Lu Wei, the gatekeeper of China's internet, is stepping down. more

Turkey Blocks Access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp

Access to multiple social media services including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been reported throughout Turkey beginning Friday Nov 04 2016 1:20AM local time – ongoing as of Friday noon. more

The Fractured Web: How Internet Fragmentation Threatens Our Connected World

As governments, firms and engineers reshape networks, the internet is fragmenting into rival systems. Interoperability erodes, raising costs, curbing rights and weakening resilience, with global growth, innovation and cooperation increasingly at risk. more

The Cuban Internet in the Aftermath of the Anti-Government Protests

In an earlier post, I looked at the use of the Internet by anti-government protesters last month and the government's attempt to block them. Now, a few weeks later, let's see how the Internet changed after my July 18 post. The protesters used messaging and social media services, which the government tried to block, and posted images and videos of protests around the island. more

China Orders Sites to Halt Original News Reporting

"China Clamps Down on Online News Reporting," reports Andy Wong of Associated Press via New York Times: " China has ordered several of the country's most popular internet portals to halt much of their original news reporting..." more

Google, Facebook Quietly Start Using Automation to Remove Extremist Content

"Google, Facebook quietly move toward automatic blocking of extremist videos" report Joseph Menn and Dustin Volz in Reuters: "Some of the web’s biggest destinations for watching videos have quietly started using automation to remove extremist content from their sites, according to two people familiar with the process." more

US Senators Push Bill to Boost Internet, Communication Channels for Iranians

Voice of America reporting: "U.S. lawmakers say they plan legislation that would fund efforts to help Iranians receive and send information despite government restrictions. Independent Senator Joe Lieberman said Thursday that the bill intends to help the Iranian people stay 'one step ahead of the Iranian regime.'" Also a related report by AFP. more

China Forbids News Reporting from Social Media Unless Approved

The instruction, issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China, came only a few days after Xu Lin, formerly the deputy head of the organization, replaced his boss, Lu Wei, as the top gatekeeper of Chinese internet affairs. more