Threats to the Open Net: January 6, 2012

By: Qichen Zhang on 6 January 2012
Posted in Iran, United States of America, United States/Canada, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe, Legislation, Copyright, Surveillance, Threats to the Open Net, Political filtering
  • Iran's parliament has recently proposed to implement stricter controls over the Internet, including placing blog posts, comments, and text messages under the same surveillance as mainstream media. In attempts to create a "national" and "clean" Internet, the Iranian government is acting on the assumption that the Internet's tools have fueled a soft war between the regime and Iranian citizens.
  • Electronic Arts, Go Daddy, Sony, and Nintendo have all recently removed their names from the list of SOPA supporters. Congress is scheduled to vote on the bill this month after the original voting date was pushed back from mid-December to January.
  • Spain's government as led by the Partido Popular (People's Party) has implemented the Sinde Law, which cracks down on file-sharing on the Internet. According to the law, ISPs could shut down file-sharing websites within 10 days of a rights-holder complaint.

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