-
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 15 Dec 2009Categories: Australia, Australia/New Zealand, Social filtering, Internet tools filtering, IP blocking, Filtering tech and software
As celebrated today on iTWire, Australian and international activists are fighting Australia's impending filtering policy on Twitter. Users opposing the filter are using the hashtag #nocleanfeed to disseminate information, and to fight against the filter.0 comment(s) -
By: Helmi NomanDate: 20 Nov 2009Categories: United Arab Emirates, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Political filtering, Conflict and security filtering
The UAE unblocks access to Web sites on the Israeli country code top-level domain “.il." ONI noticed earlier this month that .il Web sites have been accessible from the UAE, and has since been testing for filtering of tens of .il Web sites from different categories including government, politics, religion, and entertainment. All sites have been found consistently accessible via the country's two ISPs, Etisalat and du. -
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 18 Nov 2009According to an AP report, access to Facebook in Vietnam has been intermittent over the past week, with many users fearing a government block. Facebook has over 1 million users in Vietnam, a considerable amount in a country with 22 million Internet users total, or about 25% of the total population.
-
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 16 Nov 2009Whilst attending the Internet Governance Forum in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the OpenNet Initiative (along with partners of ONI Asia) gathered to present their upcoming book, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace. A poster advertising the book was hung for the reception; UN security officials requested removal of the poster, which contained mention of China's "Great Firewall." When ONI officials refused to remove the poster, UN security bundled up the poster and took it away.
-
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 04 Nov 2009Categories:Today, on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, protesters once again charged into the streets, some protesting the June Iranian elections, others, pro-government supports chanting anti-American slogans. Reports from Iran indicate that, in the wake of the protests, Internet filtering is again on the rise.
-
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 01 Oct 2009Categories: Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Uganda, Sub-Saharan Africa, Publications, ONI, Political filtering, Conflict and security filtering, Filtering tech and software
The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) has released updated reports on Ethiopia and Zimbabwe and new reports on Uganda and Nigeria, where ONI tested for the first time in 2008 and 2009. All four profiles can be accessed at: http://opennet.net/research/regions/ssafrica. -
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 08 Sep 2009Categories: Oman, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Political filtering, Social filtering, Overblocking, Filtering tech and software
The OpenNet Initiative recently released new profiles for a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including updates of previously researched countries. One such country is Oman, which has a reputation for overblocking amongst some activists. -
By: Rebekah HeacockDate: 02 Sep 2009Categories: Social filteringThe summer of 2009 was a hectic one for online social media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a bevy of other sites fell under the censors' axe in China and Iran as political events — namely the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the Iranian presidential election — shook both countries. Based on testing conducted in 2008-2009, the OpenNet Initiative has compiled data on the most frequently blocked social media sites around the world.
-
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 01 Sep 2009Categories: United States of America, United States/Canada, Obscenity, Social filtering, Voluntary filtering
Is filtering in schools the answer? That's the question being asked across the United States. Although it is required by federal law to filter pornographic and other obscene content, many K-12 schools are choosing to also filter social networks, video sites like YouTube, sexual education sites, and other potentially valuable content, much to the chagrin of some educators. -
By: Rebekah HeacockDate: 13 Aug 2009Last week Malaysia's Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr. Rais Yatim announced that the country would consider implementing a nationwide Internet filtering plan similar to China's Green Dam. This week, the Prime Minister pulled an about face, claiming there would be "no change" in the country's Internet policy.
-
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 12 Aug 2009Following the release of ONI's research on Internet filtering in the Middle East and North Africa, including on Yemen's use of commercially available software for government filtering, Websense, a U.S.-based filtering software company, has barred the government of Yemen from downloading software updates.
-
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 12 Aug 2009Categories: Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The OpenNet Initiative is proud to announce the release of our 2009 research on filtering and controls in the Middle East and North Africa. Today’s release of new data and analysis follows the ONI’s May 2007 release of its first global survey, and the subsequent publication of Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering (MIT Press, 2008). In the coming months, the ONI will release additional updated reports on countries in Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as on North America and on Australia and New Zealand. These reports will provide the analytical basis for a book to be released in early 2010, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights and Rule in Cyberspace. -
By: Jillian C. YorkDate: 06 Aug 2009On the heels of a crackdown on television and radio in Venezuela, a law has been proposed which would route all Internet traffic through a state telecom during times of emergency. Critics say the law would severely limit freedom of speech in the South American nation.
-
By: Rebekah HeacockDate: 29 Jul 2009Five days ago, the Appfrica tech blog reported an Internet blackout in Benin, a West African country roughly the size of Ohio. The outage, which also affected neighboring Togo, Niger and Nigeria, was caused by damage to the SAT-3 submarine communications cable, which links Portugal and Spain to South Africa via the West African coastline.
-
By: Helmi NomanDate: 27 Jul 2009Categories:As the debate over Internet censorship has intensified around the globe, many researchers, journalists, and human right advocates have been increasingly interested in the role of Western firms in state sponsored-imposed censorship regimes.
