CyberLaw Blog

Archive for June 7th, 2008

Behind China’s Great Firewall - Web Censorship in Other Countries - News and Analysis by PC Magazine: 06.06.08

Aside from China, there are many other countries that block access to certain sites, including some nations that might surprise you.

by Brittany Petersen

Just a few weeks before China cut off access to YouTube, the Pakistani government blocked access to the popular video-sharing site amid protests relating to controversial Danish cartoons that allegedly defame Islam. The cartoons, which were originally published in 2006 and caused rioting in countries around the world, were republished by various media outlets in February after police uncovered a plot to kill the cartoonist.

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The Indypendent » War on Terrorism Moves to Internet: By Jessica Lee, From the June 6, 2008 issue | Posted in National

Thwarted in an attempt to pass the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, which critics say could redefine some First Amendment and traditional protest activities as terrorism, members of Congress are pushing forward with measures such as censoring the Internet to combat what they claim is a grave threat of ‘homegrown terrorism’ by Islamic extremists.

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Basically they call for more controls, blocking, and censorship.

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 04 Jun 2008 (pt 0023): “4 Jun 2008 : Column 893
Internet Regulation

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn. —[Mr. Watts.]
7.32 pm

John Robertson (Glasgow, North-West) (Lab): I am pleased to have the chance to discuss internet content and internet service providers with my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy, not least because I have been trying to secure this debate for several months. I know that, like me, many of my colleagues regularly receive correspondence from constituents who are worried about internet content, and I have been especially keen to discuss those matters following the Byron review, but on several occasions I have been told by the Table Office that there is no Department appropriate to field such a debate. The strategy of representatives of each Department that we tried to assign it to has been to hold up its hands in affront and deny any responsibility for the matter.

My worry is that that is an allegory of the current situation relating to responsibility for internet content, and that the excuse is, sadly, endemic. ISPs claim to be mere inanimate conduits; search engines plead their neutrality; Ofcom has intentionally been denied any remit for content; other UK Executive and regulatory bodies, including the police, have powers over only a tiny minority of websites; and the Internet Watch Foundation is limited in the subjects it monitors and by the international nature of the internet. As a result, the various initiatives that have been implemented are piecemeal and inadequate, and the internet stands out as an anomaly against similar media as a place where, essentially, anything goes. It is a paradox that the efforts of ISPs to deal with illegal content are a strong argument for regulating them, as we see that the tools they have are the most effective method of controlling material online.
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Virgin Media and BPI join forces to attack illegal filesharing: “

Let’s make threatening music together

Virgin Media will launch a campaign against illegal downloading next week, when it’ll begin firing off warning letters to to subscribers that the BPI believes are sharing copyright music files.…

“

(Via The Register - Comms.)