Global Internet Filtering Talk & Book
I’ve done a bad job this week of telling you about cool events before they happen. I’m at a book release talk about global Internet filtering based on research by the OpenNet Initiative. Behind the speakers, various Web pages blocked in different countries flash on a screen as do pages from different countries indicating the content you’re trying to reach has been blocked.
Jonathan Zittrain shares a story about how a country trying to filter out search terms blocked searches like embassy because it has ass in it and George W. Bush because of bush. (Forgive my language, but those were the examples he used and I think they’re quite good.) Someone else mentioned how some countries just quietly pass you to a completely different page and hope you don’t notice. Rob Faris mentioned how Pakistan was trying to block access to specific sites and managed to take out YouTube.
Some countries might filter as a gesture for the conservative factions in the country. Many people think of circumventing the filters as an offense as minor as how some Cantabridgians think of parking tickets.
The OpenNet Intitiative has several maps showing Internet filtering, like this map showing political filtering and this map showing filtering based on content. (Think this issue isn’t alive in the US? According to that map, the US selectively filters.)
A professor raised in South Africa mentioned that Anna Sewell’s book Black Beauty was banned in that country when he was growing up.
An expert on fiiltering in China suggested access to the unfiltered Internet in China is somewhat elitist and talked a bit more about filtering in light of China’s culture and political situation.
Another professor discussed different levels of censorship, like governments not doing anything to help their people learn to read. If most of the people in a society can’t read, what does filtering the Internet mean to them? Also, if a country actively chooses not to encourage computer literacy and the growth of the Internet, that can lead to a form of censorship. Rob picked up the thread by saying in some areas, certain organizations have become more important that the Internet’s mission of sharing information.
One of the authors used child pornography as an example of a problem for which Internet filtering is an easy fix. Canada prevents access to a number of sites hosted in the US that have child pornography. By blocking access to these sites, Canada is also inadvertently decreasing awarenes of the problem of online child pornography. In order to get people working toward ending those sites and protecting children, they need to be aware that they exist. Internet filtering can give the perception that child porn is not a problem or not the huge problem that it is.
Are governments using filtering to increase or decrease freedom? We hear about governments oppressing opposition parties a lot, but that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes limiting access to controversial political parties maintains peace.
A reception at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society follows the talk. Check out their redesigned Web site. Spiffy, eh?
(PS–Before I forget, Lisa Stone, founder of the BlogHer conference, talks about the power of women online on Thursday, March 20, at 6 p in Austin Classroom West, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School.)
