Currently browsing posts tagged: filtering.

West Censoring East: Or Why Websense Thinks My Blog is Pornography

Today, the OpenNet Initiative has released a paper, authored by Helmi Noman and myself, enumerating the widespread use of American- and Canadian-built filtering technologies in the Middle East and North Africa.  The paper, entitled “West Censoring East: The Use of Western Technologies by Middle East Censors 2010-2011“, looks closely at Websense, McAfee’s SmartFilter, and Netsweeper [...]

28.03.2011

15 Comments

Iran but not Tunisia: Where’s the outrage?

I fear this post will raise more questions than it will provide answers.  I know that I will likely come across as naive, not able to grasp realpolitik.  I’m angry, on behalf of my friends in and exiled from Tunisia, as to why so little attention is being paid to the current situation (in case [...]

06.01.2011

5 Comments

Filtering Pornography Online: Why You Should Care

The UK is in talks for a national filter that would block pornography. Not child sex abuse (nobody sane is arguing over whether that should be accessible), but legal, adult pornography. The idea is to protect the UK’s children, and since adults have the choice of getting out of the filter, then there’s nothing wrong [...]

21.12.2010

2 Comments

More on Content Regulation: Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, India

Rob Faris concluded his speech by introducing three panelists: Tattu Mambetalieva of the Civil Initiative on Internet Policy (Kyrgyzstan) and the OpenNet Initiative; Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society (India); and Shahzad Ahmad of Bytes for All (Pakistan). Tattu (I’ll be referring to her by first name for the sheer fact that [...]

21.09.2010

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Are UK and German ISPs blocking Hamas-sponsored website? Probably not.

Recent reports on Twitter (and Herdict) indicate that ISPs in the UK and Germany might be blocking the English-language site of Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center.  Some users, when visiting the site, have reported timeouts: A report from blogger Prosebeforehos indicates that US ISPs Comcast and Verizon have blocked the DNS entry for the site, however, [...]

08.09.2010

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Government Filtering: Not the Answer

Awhile back, in response to a particularly naive column defending Australia’s proposed Internet filter on the basis that it will protect kids from child pornography, I wrote a piece on the HuffPost explaining why filtering isn’t the solution.  Yet, similar articles keep cropping up.  Most recently, CJ Lambert, writing for New Zealand’s 3 News, argues [...]

22.08.2010

3 Comments

A Deeper Look into Tunisian Internet Censorship

This report was written jointly by Sami Ben Gharbia and Astrubal; I translated it from its original French into English and am sharing it here.  Originally posted at Global Voices Advocacy. We learned that the censorship imposed illegally on hundreds of Tunisian blogs and websites, both Tunisians and foreigners, was “shut off” temporarily for few [...]

18.08.2010

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Internet Killed Israeli PR; Israel Killed YouTube Video

In Turkey and in Thailand, and perhaps elsewhere, there are a few YouTube videos you can’t see; videos in violation of local laws–in Turkey, insulting Ataturk, and in Thailand, lèse majesté. Though both governments filter their fair share of websites (and now, Turkey blocks YouTube as well), in this case, the filtering is not coming [...]

13.08.2010

21 Comments

UN Security Bans ONI Poster from IGF

Rarely do I cross-post from elsewhere onto my own blog, however, this warrants widespread discussion.  From the ONI blog: Whilst 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 [...]

16.11.2009

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Do You Herdict?

I’m a bit behind in pushing this on my own blog, but since the launch last Wednesday, it’s been a massive whirlwind of excitement. Herdict.org, or Herdict Web uses crowdsourcing to gather information on Internet accessibility around the globe (which sometimes means filtering and sometimes doesn’t). As a part of the Herdict core team, I’m [...]

02.03.2009

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I Love Bruegger’s Bagels, or Why Panera Can Seriously Bite Me

My love-hate relationship with Panera Bread has officially turned to all-hate, all the time.  I spent the majority of last Sunday at Panera’s Brookline location, in an effort to plow through my workload uninterrupted.  Mind you, the food at Panera is delicious for fast food…ever since my high school days of sneaking away to Panera [...]

08.02.2009

19 Comments