Threats to the Open Net: August 26, 2011

By: Matt Lavigueur on 26 August 2011
Posted in China, Kazakhstan, Libya, Asia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Circumvention, Geolocational Filtering, Threats to the Open Net, Political filtering, Social filtering

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* As the tide of battle shifts in favor of the rebels, Internet has returned to Libya. Libya had previously been experiencing Internet blackouts since the start of the revolution in February.

* Kazakhstan has announced that it will block 13 "extremist" foreign sites it claims propagate terrorism and religious violence. Among the blocked sites is the popular blogging site, LiveJournal.com.

* China cracked down on online activities amidst uprisings in the Middle East, announcing the banning of online circumvention software while also making a thinly veiled warning to major Chinese web portal Sina, indicating that it should be more vigilant in moderating its online content.

*Facebook's spam filter has become the target of increasing criticism after it was revealed that its spam filter was responsible for preventing activists from posting content online. Facebook has indicated that this was not done intentionally.