Political Crossfire Forums

[FCTE]

Scary stuff and I hope it never becomes this way in America as the net truly is the last vestige of total free speech.

Internet 2 could be coming soon so who knows what's in store.

Quote: Net censorship spreads worldwide
By Mark Ward
Technology Correspondent, BBC News website

Repressive regimes are taking full advantage of the net's ability to censor and stifle reform and debate, reveals a report.

Written by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) pressure group the report highlights the ways governments threaten the freedom of the press.

The report has a section dedicated to the internet and the growing roster of nations censoring online life.

This censorship is practised on every continent on Earth, said the report.

Power play

Although the internet is changing the way the media works as blogs, chat forums and social networking sites turn passive consumers into active critics, it is not just citizens who are taking advantage of its technological power warned the report.

Julien Pain - who heads the internet freedom desk at the RSF and was one of the report's authors, noted: "Everyone's interested in the internet - especially dictators".

Mr Pain said the world's dictators have not remained powerless in the face of the explosion of online content. By contrast, many have been "efficient and inventive" in using the net to spy on citizens and censor debate.

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In many nations, the net used to be the only uncensored outlet and the place people turned to for news they would never hear about through official channels.

However, noted the report, governments have woken up to the fact that the people they regard as dissidents are active online. Many are now moving to censor blogs and the last year has seen many committed bloggers jailed for what they said in their online journal.

For instance, in Iran Mojtaba Saminejad has been in jail since February 2005 for putting online material ruled offensive to Islam.

China was the nation that came in for most criticism for its efforts to monitor and censor the net. The RSF noted that net censorship in the country had undergone a significant shift in the last two years.

Originally, said the report, China was only interested in monitoring political dissidence on the net. Now its scrutiny covers general unrest in its population - ironically something that has grown because the net makes it easier for people to communicate.

Jail term

China's success at censorship means it has effectively produced a "sanitised" version of the internet for its 130 million citizens that regularly go online.

The wide-ranging scrutiny also means that it is the biggest jailer of so-called cyber dissidents. RSF estimates that 62 people in China have been jailed for what they said online.

Net users have also been jailed in Egypt, Iran, Libya, the Maldives, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam.

Where China has led, other nations are following and taking active steps to filter the net before it gets to their citizens. Zimbabwe is reportedly buying technology directly from China to beef up its censorship efforts.

Many other nations, including Burma, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Nepal, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam censor the net. Often this filtering involves stopping access to some types of sites, such as those showing pornography, but it can also involve blocking sites critical of governments or religions.

Some nations, such as Turkmenistan, have banned home net connections and restrict people to using net cafes which, said the RSF, were much easier to control. Burma has banned web e-mail systems such as Hotmail and Yahoo mail and every five minutes screen grabs are taken of what people are looking at in net cafes.

But criticism of the obstacles put before open net access was not limited to nations known for their repressive policies. The European Union was criticised too for its policy of leaving the decision on which sites to censor up to net service firms. This, said the RSF, created a "private system of justice" in which technicians take the place of a judge.

The 153-page report also criticised Western firms for selling technology to repressive regimes to help them monitor what people do online.

The report was produced to mark World Press Freedom Day.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4973114.stm

[Protostar]

Sad. But I didn't see South Korea, Thailand, or Brazil (all countries I am interested in moving to) on that list so thats good. I agree that is pretty scary as the net is the last bastion of free speech.

[Protostar]

But the longer that idiot Gonzales in office, the more and more likely such censorship might come to pass here. All in the name of "protecting the children" of couse. Christ, I hate that F**K**.

[FCTE]

Protostar wrote: But the longer that idiot Gonzales in office, the more and more likely such censorship might come to pass here. All in the name of "protecting the children" of couse. Christ, I hate that F**K**.

Rumor has it that Internet 2 will be moderated and censored like China to a certain degree.

[micfranklin]

Protostar wrote: But the longer that idiot Gonzales in office, the more and more likely such censorship might come to pass here. All in the name of "protecting the children" of couse. Christ, I hate that F**K**.

Anyone who tries to censor the Internet in America is attempting to supress freedom of speech, and does this man even have children? And BTW I heard that Korea is the world's most censored nation.

[Green]

It is whoever's choice to show themselves naked on the internet, however disgusting it is. Parents should tell their children to not look at porn. Then all the anti porn parents' children will not look at porn. The internet should be completely free to all ideas, but get rid of hackers, bots, and viruses.

[Protostar]

Green wrote: The internet should be completely free to all ideas, but get rid of hackers, bots, and viruses.

Thats a noble idea, but trying to get rid of them would be like trying to get rid of bad drivers on the road.

[micfranklin]

Protostar wrote: Green wrote: The internet should be completely free to all ideas, but get rid of hackers, bots, and viruses.

Thats a noble idea, but trying to get rid of them would be like trying to get rid of bad drivers on the road.

And getting rid of bad drivers on the road is already difficult enough as it is....