Social filtering

ONI Blog: CPJ Ranks Ten Most Censored Countries
In preparation for World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists published its findings on the most censored countries in the world. The top three countries with the most press restrictions and least access to media information were revealed to...
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: April 27, 2012
ONI releases its annual "Year in Review" report, which details all the most significant cases of Internet censorship and surveillance around the world. Among the most high-profile controversies were the SOPA/PIPA debates in the US Congress and European software firms' cooperation...
ONI Blog: ONI Releases 2011 Year in Review
The OpenNet Initiative is proud to announce the release of its 2011 Year in Review, a collection of the year's top instances of filtering, surveillance, and information warfare around the globe. Starting domestically, 2011 saw the beginnings of SOPA and PIPA, bills...
ONI Blog: Iran Plans to Implement "Clean Internet" by August 2012 [Update: Govt Denies Intranet Plans]
Update, April 10, 2012: The Iranian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is denying that the government has plans to implement a national intranet. According to the AFP, the Ministry posted a statement on its website (available only inside...
ONI Blog: CISPA Threatens Online Freedom
Media organizations have been in an uproar over the newly proposed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) put forth by the House of Representatives. The proposal, named H.R. 3523 and intended to protect individuals from cyberattacks, falls victim to the same...
ONI Blog: Global Internet filtering in 2012 at a glance
The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) has been documenting Internet filtering globally since 2003. Since that time, the number of countries found to be engaging in the censorship of online content has increased dramatically. While early reports of Internet filtering only identified a small...
ONI Blog: Microsoft Accused of Censorship for Blocking Pirate Bay Links
Microsoft has banned links that advertise the Pirate Bay on Windows Live Messenger. Torrentfreak reports that any Live Messenger user who tries to send a chat with a Pirate Bay link will receive a message saying that the link has not...
ONI Blog: Egypt's Government Plans to Block All Online Pornography
Mohamed Salem, the head of Egypt's Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology, told the Egypt Independent that the government will begin banning pornography completely from the Internet. The National Telecommunications Regulation Authority will form a committee to lay out the technical...
ONI Blog: Food Blogger Evades Iran's Censorship
A food critic who goes by the online pseudonym Mr. Taster recently spoke about getting around Iran's sophisticated Internet restrictions, as Mashable reports. At the 2012 Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference, he discussed how he uses virtual private networks to use Facebook...
ONI Blog: China Cracks Down on Weibo Discussions of Bo Xilai
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese government is cracking down on Weibo again, this time in a more direct measure to prevent outlash against the removal of Chinese politican Bo Xilai from his Party position as secretary of Chongqing...