This New York Times article documents the Bush administration’s successful efforts to prevent the public release of a range of government documents largely based on post 9/11 security concerns. Members of Congress have been fighting these efforts on several fronts, including protesting the removal of data from government agency websites for what has been interpreted… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Censorship
Another Internet Libel Suit
From the High Court of Australia, to the Fourth Circuit, and now the Fifth Circuit, jurisdiction issues as they apply to Internet libel cases are in the spotlight. The Fifth Circuit, in Oliver “Buck” Revell v. Lidov and Columbia University, affirmed the United States District Court For the Northern District of Texas decision that Revell,… Continue Reading
Commentary On Net Filtering
This Wired article by the co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, Lauren Weinstein, argues against the merits of internet filters in favor of education and personal responsibility. Continue Reading
Kenya Censors Internet Access
In anticipation of the December 27, 2002 national elections, the Kenyan government is essentially blocking Web access by disabling the country’s only Internet backbone service, called Jambonet. Continue Reading
Ramifications of Web Defamation Suit
As a followup to my previous posting on the Australian Internet defamation case, this Christian Science Monitor commentary provides a perspective on how the threat of Internet libel litigation by individuals around the world may result in web censorship. Continue Reading
Web Filters Block Health-Care Sites
The Kaiser Family Foundation issued a study, See No Evil: How Internet Filters Affect the Search for Online Health Information. The focus of the study was how the choice of the ‘least’, ‘intermediate’ or ‘most’ restrictive web filtering options available through six high profile systems (8e6, CyberPatrol, N2H2, Smartfilter, Symantec and Websense), impacted access to… Continue Reading
President Signs Kids Internet Law
President Bush signed into law the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002 (Dec. 4, 2002; 116 Stat. 2766, P.L. 107-317). For more information about this new Internet domain for children, kids.us, please see NeuStar’s (the domain name manager) Proposal for Guidelines and Requirements for the kids.us Second Level Domain. Continue Reading
More On Internet Censorship In China
Jonathan Zittrain and Benjamin Edelman from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School have published a new report on Web censorship: Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China. From the abstract: “The authors are collecting data on the methods, scope, and depth of selective barriers to Internet access through Chinese networks.… Continue Reading
China Net Censorship
Amnesty International has published a well researched report on the impact of state controls on Internet access to one of world’s fasted growing population of users. The report provides a timeline that documents the imposition of various controls and regulations on Web access since its introduction to the public in 1995, and their impact on… Continue Reading
Disappearing Health Data From Gov't Websites
Data on health issues including abortions and contraception have been removed from government web sites, and complaints are escalating that such actions are motivated by the President’s political agenda. See my previous posting on this topic here, which includes references to Congressional concerns over this specific pattern of censoring health related data. Continue Reading
China Censors Danish Websites
The Copenhagen press reported that the Chinese government has systematically censorsed access to the Danish search engine, Jubii. This is in no small measure due to the fact this engine provides access to sites banned by the Chinese government, including Amnesty International and the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Note: I was not familiar with Falun… Continue Reading
Australia To Block Websites By Protesters
Citing cybercrime as sufficient cause, the Australian government is planning to create a Hi-Tech Crime Centre whose power will include the ability to block web sites created to facilitate protests. Continue Reading
