ONI Releases Reports on Filtering in Asia, China

Jillian C. York — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:42:14 -0400

New research from the OpenNet Initiative reveals accelerating restrictions on Internet content as Asian governments shift to next generation controls. These new techniques go beyond blocking access to websites and are more informal and fluid, implemented at edges of the network, and are often backed up by increasingly restrictive and broadly interpreted laws.

The reports also point to an emerging inclination for states to actively engage in cyberspace as a way to achieve the same effects of information controls:

“Since 2006, many Asian governments have quickly realized the potential benefits of exploiting opportunities for conducting propaganda or public relations strategies over the Internet, even while cracking down on independent and critical voices thriving in these online spaces– an example of the evolution towards next generation controls,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and one of four principal investigators at the ONI.

China continues to stand out amongst its neighbors due to its devotion of significant resources to consistently pursue both aggressive technical measures to pervasively filter information, as well as a regulatory regime aimed at perfecting these next-generation controls against private companies and other non-state actors.

These controls were evidenced recently in ONI’s analysis of China’s latest attempt at controlling the flow of information, Green Dam Youth Escort filtering software mandated for pre-installation on PCs sold in China starting July 1. “However, even China’s example demonstrates that restrictions on information are far from uniformly effective, and will meet resistance and be contested by the very groups they are intended to silence,” said Rafal Rohozinski, CEO of the SecDev Group and co-founder and principal investigator of ONI and ONI Asia.

“The Internet has been shown to be an especially effective tool for journalists, civil society activists and opposition leaders in Asia during elections or other national political crises,” said Al Alegre, regional coordinator for ONI Asia, which has developed into a regionally focused ONI network.

The reports for Asia, as well as Burma, China, Pakistan, and South Korea will be featured in a forthcoming MIT Press volume, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Rights, Rule, and Power in Cyberspace, to be published by MIT Press (2010). Access Controlled will include a series of analytical chapters and regional overviews that contribute to the developing discourse around global Internet regulation and censorship raised in the first ONI volume Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering, (Cambridge: MIT Press) 2008.

The OpenNet Initiative is the global leader in the study of Internet censorship and a collaborative partnership of three leading academic institutions: the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto; the SecDev Group (formerly the Advanced Network Research Group at the Cambridge Security Programme, Cambridge University); and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University. The ONI’s principal investigators are Ronald J. Deibert
Director, The Citizen Lab, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto; Rafal Rohozinski, Former Director, Advanced Network Research Group, Cambridge Security Programme, University of Cambridge; and John Palfrey and Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard University.

ONI Asia is a collaborative research, advocacy, and networking project whose aim is to foster the respect for human rights online, and inform local, regional and global public policy. ONI Asia is funded by the International Development Research Council (IDRC), Canada.

View the reports on Asia and China here:

Asia Regional Overview
Internet Filtering in China

Indonesian Government Ratified Internet Law: Death to Bloggers' Voice?

epeterson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:59:43 -0400

On March 25, the Indonesian government ratified Undang-undang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronic (ITE) which, in short, means Internet Law. The law regulates everything online under Indonesian government's territory effective April 1. Some highlights of the statute:

Article 10: government has the right to give Certificate of Credibility to Online Businesses
Article 11: Giving electronic signature a legal standing
Article 15-22 : regulate online transaction security
Article 25: protection for intellectual property
Article 26: regulates privacy
Article 27: Prohibit contents that is indecent, gambling related, defamation, extortion, and threat
Article 28: Prohibit contents that invokes hate based on lies, ethnic, religion, race, and affiliation.
Article 31: Prohibiting the transmission of content that is not one's own.
Article 45: Punishment for this statute ranges from 6 years to 12 years in prison or Rp 1 billion – Rp 12 billion and any additional charges.

The ratification of the Internet Law ignited uproar from Indonesian bloggers who feel that the Internet law, especially Article 27, 28, and 31, threatens freedom of expression guaranteed by the original 1945 constitution.

Previously, Indonesian government only loosely controlled the Internet. With the rise of cybercafes in cities, Internet usage in Indonesia has been increasing dramatically. In a country where the press is controlled tightly by various telecommunication laws [1,2,3], many Indonesian journalists had turned to the Internet to free their voices. How the Internet law will be implemented, and whether extensive filtering will be put in place, is unclear. The law itself seems to have come from a push from the Cyber Crime Direktorat Ekonomi Khusus Badan Reserse dan Kriminal (Bareskrim), the police cyber crime division for another cybercrime law . Under the new law, many critical journalism pieces could be challenged under articles 26, 27, 28, or 31 and thus would be unpublishable online as well as in print.

If used improperly, this new law will, again, silence Indonesian journalism.

(Disclaimer: All links are in Bahasa)

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ONI Releases Reports on Filtering in Asia, China

Indonesian Government Ratified Internet Law: Death to Bloggers' Voice?