Political filtering
ONI Blog: Taking offline censorship online: Rwanda may start filtering
In April the Rwandan government suspended two independent newspapers, both critical of the ruling party. The six-month suspension will prevent the papers from covering the country's 2010 presidential elections.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called the move "a...
- Posted on 07/Jun/2010; tagged in Rwanda, Sub-Saharan Africa, Take-down, Elections, Political filtering
ONI Blog: Bangladesh unblocks Facebook
Last week we reported that Bangladesh had blocked Facebook for offensive content, including depictions of Mohammed and "obnoxious images" of the country's political officials as well as links to pornographic sites. According to the BBC, Facebook has taken down the...
- Posted on 07/Jun/2010; tagged in Bangladesh, Asia, Take-down, Political filtering, Social filtering
ONI Blog: China Blocks Foursquare, Unblocks Porn
A year ago this week, I wrote about how China was cracking down on social media sites in preparation for the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square. This year, government censors are taking a different tack, making a flood of...
ONI Blog: #Flotilla Censored?
Tweeters and observers The Guardian, TechCrunch, and The Arabist have been wondering if Twitter censored hashtag #Flotilla and search term "flotilla" when it began trending on Sunday night. #Flotilla refers to a group of aid ships sailing to...
- Posted on 02/Jun/2010; tagged in Israel, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Take-down, Search result removal, Political filtering
ONI Blog: Facebook Blocked in Pakistan Following "Draw Mohammad Day" Competition
Last month, following controversy over Comedy Central's decision not to show a depiction of the prophet Mohammad on the popular TV show South Park, Seattle-based cartoonist Molly Norris came up with the idea for "Draw Mohammad Day," to assert the right...
- Posted on 19/May/2010; tagged in United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Asia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Hate speech, Political filtering, Social filtering, Overblocking
ONI Blog: Blocked or Not Blocked? Lessons from an Intriguing “Filtering” Instance
Determining whether a Web site is blocked by a state filtering regime is sometimes a complicated issue that goes beyond finding out whether the site is simply accessible or inaccessible, and requires a multi-disciplinary approach, which ONI has been uniquely employing in...
- Posted on 30/Apr/2010; tagged in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), ONI, Political filtering
ONI Blog: Google.cn Redirects to Hong Kong...For Now
In January of 2010, following attacks on Google's corporate infrastructure originating from China, Google made the fateful decision to stop censoring results on its Chinese-language Google.cn site. Just a few days ago, Google finally made good on its promise, shutting down...
ONI Blog: Green Dam Goes Mobile?
Last year when China’s Ministry of Public Security announced a directive calling for the obligatory pre-installation of Internet filtering software on all computers sold in China, the public response was one of widespread concern and opposition. After pervasive criticism and resistance,...
ONI Blog: Pakistan Blocks YouTube Videos
In 2008, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority blocked YouTube in what was said to be a reaction to a trailer of Geert Wilder's film "Fitna" hosted on the video-sharing site. The ban was reversed soon afterward, and Pakistani netizens have enjoyed unfettered...
ONI Blog: ONI Releases 2009 Year in Review: Filtering, Surveillance, Information Warfare
The OpenNet Initiative is proud to release its 2009 Year in Review, a look into instances of filtering, surveillance, and information warfare around the world in 2009.
The events of 2009 demonstrated a global rise in third-generation Internet controls. ...
- Posted on 03/Feb/2010; tagged in United States/Canada, Asia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia/New Zealand, Legislation, Non-filtering content restrictions, Obscenity, Search result removal, Human rights, Cybercrime and security, Publications, ONI, Political filtering, Social filtering, Conflict and security filtering, Internet tools filtering, Voluntary filtering, Reverse filtering, Overblocking, DNS tampering, IP blocking, Proxy blocking, Filtering tech and software
