censorship

3:00 pm on December 5, 2011 · censorship (19), copyright (79), DNS (36), filtering (3), isoc (163), PIPA (5), protectIP (1), SOPA (14)

Internet Society statement on DNS Filtering in the US # PIPA #SOPA

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The Internet Society has noted with concern a number of U.S. legislative proposals that would mandate DNS blocking and filtering by ISPs in order to protect the interests of copyright holders. We agree with proponents of the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that combating illegal online activities is a very important public policy objective. However, policies that are enacted to achieve this goal must not undermine the viability of the Internet as a globally reachable platform. After close examination and consultation with the Internet community, we do not believe that the current U.S. legislative proposals are consistent with these basic principles.

In particular, we are concerned with provisions in both laws regarding DNS filtering. DNS filtering is often proposed as a way to block illegal content consumption by end users. Yet policies to mandate DNS filtering have not proven to be effective – these approaches interfere with cross-border data flows and services undermining innovation and social development across the globe. In addition, DNS blocking raises significant concerns with respect to human rights and freedom of expression and may curtail fundamental international principles of rule of law and due process.

The United States has an important leadership role when it comes to online Internet freedoms and should show the way when it comes to balancing local responsibilities and global impact, especially with respect to Internet policy.

In short, the negative impact of DNS filtering far outweighs any short-term, narrow, legal, and commercial benefits. The Internet Society believes that sustained, global collaboration amongst all parties is needed to find ways that protect the global architecture of the Internet while combating illegal online activities. We must all work to support the principles of innovation and freedom of expression upon which the Internet was founded.

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5:44 pm on November 16, 2011 · censorship (19), copyright (79), Protect IP (2), SOPA (14), trademarks (3), USG (40)

House Judiciary Committee holds hearing on HR.3261, opposition mounts #SOPA

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US House

Today, Wed. November 16 2011 the U.S House of Representatives Judiciary Committee held a hearing on H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, which was introduced October 26, 2011. This hearing, of which no recording is currently available, was controversial – not only because of the provisions of the Act, but also because, with the exception of Google, every invited witness is a vocal proponent.

Opponents have deemed today American Censorship Day and statements have been issued opposing the bill including letters from corporations, advocacy groups, members of Congress and law professors.

A petition on the White House site has already surpassed its target of 25k signatures.

 

3:40 am on July 4, 2011 · censorship (19), copyright (79), netfreedom (8), NYT (3), open (20)

New York Times editorial on Free Speech and the Internet #netfreedom @nytimes

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New York Times

New York TimesToday, July 4, Independence Day in the USA the New York Times has chosen to speak out on the freedom on the Internet in an editorial entitled Free Speech and the Internet.

Endorsing the recent UN rapporteur’s report, and noting heavy-handed moves like Chinese censorship,  Italy’s defamation case, data retention in Brazil,  three-strikes laws, & the United States’ dubiously legitimate domain seizures, the Times concludes:

The U.N. has proposed sound guidelines to defend free expression: censorship of content online must be transparent and enforced only through the courts. Governments should not rely on private entities like service providers to censor content and should not hold them liable for user content. Counterterrorism should not be an excuse to bar expression, unless it is to prevent imminent threats.

With few exceptions, governments should not adopt Internet registries that require users to reveal their identities. And defamation — so often used as a legal tool to repress political speech — should be decriminalized. Finally, nobody should be banned from the Internet. It is a fundamental tool for enabling free speech.

3:31 am on June 12, 2011 · censorship (19), john markoff (1), mesh (9), net freedom (7), new america foundation (14), sacha meinrath (1), USG (40)

New York Times details US “Stealth Web” projects #netfreedom @SaschaMeinrath @StateDept

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A New York Times story today – U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors by John Markoff and James Glanz, details United States efforts to build alternative communications networks in repressive states These range from alternative cellphone systems to “Internet in a Suitcase” mesh networking. The latter project is headed by Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Initiative at the New America Foundation, and has received $2 million in funding.

From the story:

“We’re going to build a separate infrastructure where the technology is nearly impossible to shut down, to control, to surveil,” said Mr. Meinrath. “The implication is that this disempowers central authorities from infringing on people’s fundamental human right to communicate,” added.

and

The group’s suitcase project will rely on a version of “mesh network” technology, which can transform devices like cellphones or personal computers to create an invisible wireless web without a centralized hub. In other words, a voice, picture or e-mail message could hop directly between the modified wireless devices — each one acting as a mini cell “tower” and phone — and bypass the official network.

Mr. Meinrath said that the suitcase would include small wireless antennas, which could increase the area of coverage; a laptop to administer the system; thumb drives and CDs to spread the software to more devices and encrypt the communications; and other components like Ethernet cables.

and

In addition to the Obama administration’s initiatives, there are almost a dozen independent ventures that also aim to make it possible for unskilled users to employ existing devices like laptops or smartphones to build a wireless network. One mesh network was created around Jalalabad, Afghanistan, as early as five years ago, using technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Recent government internet shutdowns in the Middle East have spurred efforts.

That need is so urgent, citizens are finding their own ways to set up rudimentary networks. Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian expatriate and technology developer who co-founded a popular Persian-language Web site, estimates that nearly half the people who visit the site from inside Iran share files using Bluetooth — which is best known in the West for running wireless headsets and the like. In more closed societies, however, Bluetooth is used to discreetly beam information — a video, an electronic business card — directly from one cellphone to another.

Mr. Yahyanejad said he and his research colleagues were also slated to receive State Department financing for a project that would modify Bluetooth so that a file containing, say, a video of a protester being beaten, could automatically jump from phone to phone within a “trusted network” of citizens. The system would be more limited than the suitcase but would only require the software modification on ordinary phones.

By the end of 2011, the State Department will have spent some $70 million on circumvention efforts and related technologies, according to department figures.

* Slideshow

3:56 am on May 26, 2011 · censorship (19), filtering (3), free culture (25), free speech (12), internet freedom (81), open internet (25), un (40), United Nations (2)

UN Human Rights Council report on freedom of expression condemns Internet controls #netfreedom @UN_HRC

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UN Human Rights

UN Human RightsThe 17th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council takes place in Geneva from 30 May – 17 June 2011. In preparation a number of reports have been filed, including one from Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Frank de la Rue.

The report [pdf] “explores key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet”. It covers both content and access, and also examines what “exceptional circumstances under which the dissemination of certain types of information may be restricted”.

The report states:

States restrict, control, manipulate and censor content disseminated via the Internet without any legal basis, or on the basis of broad and ambiguous laws, without justifying the purpose of such actions; and/or in a manner that is clearly unnecessary and/or disproportionate to achieving the intended aim

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The Special Rapporteur is of the view that the arbitrary use of criminal law to sanction legitimate expression constitutes one of the gravest forms of restriction to the right, as it not only creates a “chilling effect”, but also leads to other human rights violations, such as arbitrary detention and torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Noting recent cases of imprisonment of bloggers, the report suggests that defamation be decriminalized globally and that only incitements to violence can be legitimately blocked. Additionally

the Special Rapporteur reiterates that the right to freedom of expression includes expression of views and opinions that offend, shock or disturb.

The report criticizes heavy-handed copyright protection schemes while noting that the most recent drafts of the ACTA agreement have dropped the ‘3 strike’ disconnection provisions.

It calls for universal access noting that a BBC global poll in March 2010 “79% of those interviewed
in 26 countries believe that Internet access is a fundamental human right”

The conclusions of the report are below:

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3:29 pm on January 28, 2011 · censorship (19), egypt (3), filters (1), isoc (163)

Internet Society statement on Egypt @internetsociety #egypt #jan25

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The Internet Society has issued a statement on the current situation in Egypt.

“We are following the current events in Egypt with concern as it appears that all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic has been disrupted. The Internet Society believes that the Internet is a global medium that fundamentally supports opportunity, empowerment, knowledge, growth, and freedom and that these values should never be taken away from individuals.

The Internet Society considers this recent action by the Egyptian government to block Internet traffic to be an inappropriate response to a political crisis. It is a very serious decision for a government to block all Internet access in its country, and a serious intrusion into its citizens’ basic rights to communicate. If the blockage continues, it will have a very detrimental impact on Egypt’s economy and society. Ultimately, the Egyptian people and nation are the ones that will suffer, while the rest of the world will be worse off with the loss of Egyptian voices on the net.

However we are most concerned about the safety and security of the Egyptian people. Alongside the rest of the world, we share the hope for a positive and lasting solution to the problems that have risen to the surface there.

In the longer term, we are sure that the world will learn a lesson from this very unfortunate example, and come to understand that cutting off a nation’s access to the Internet only serves to fuel dissent and does not address the underlying causes of dissatisfaction.”

* ISOC Egypt Internet Shutdown Q&A

4:09 am on December 8, 2010 · censorship (19), DNS (36), free speech (12), isoc (163)

Internet Society issues statement re: Wikileaks

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ISOC logoThe Internet Society has issued a statement criticizing recent technical efforts to suppress the Wikileaks website.

It reads as follows:

Recently, we have witnessed the effective disappearance from the Internet of a website made infamous through international press coverage and political intrigue.

The Internet Society is founded upon key principles of free expression and non discrimination that are essential to preserve the openness and utility of the Internet. We believe that this incident dramatically illustrates that those principles are currently at risk.

Recognizing the content of the wikileaks.org website is the subject of concern to a variety of individuals and nations, we nevertheless believe it must be subject to the same laws and policies of availability as all Internet sites.  Free expression should not be restricted by governmental or private controls over computer hardware or software, telecommunications infrastructure, or other essential components of the Internet.

Resilience and cooperation are built into the Internet as a design principle. The cooperation among several  organizations has ensured that the impact on the Wikileaks organizational website has not prevented all access to Wikileaks material.  This further underscores that removal of a domain is an ineffective tool to suppress communication, merely serving to undermine the integrity of the global Internet and its operation.

Unless and until appropriate laws are brought to bear to take the wikileaks.org domain down legally, technical solutions should be sought to reestablish its proper presence, and appropriate actions taken to pursue and prosecute entities (if any) that acted maliciously to take it off the air.

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6:37 am on March 12, 2010 · censorship (19), internet freedom (81)

Mar 12: World Day Against Cyber Censorship

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Internet censorship is still a major issue in many countries worldwide. With that in mind, the Paris-based international organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) is promoting its yearly World Day Against Cyber Censorship on March 12th. On the occasion, RSF issued its latest list of “Enemies of the Internet“, where China, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Tunisia are among the most prominent examples of countries censoring the web.

Reporters Without Borders will celebrate World Day Against Cyber Censorship on 12 March. This event is intended to rally everyone in support of a single Internet that is unrestricted and accessible to all. It is also meant to draw attention to the fact that, by creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom. However, more and more governments have realised this and are reacting by trying to control the Internet.

via Global Voices Online » Global: World Day Against Cyber Censorship.

11:54 pm on December 8, 2009 · berkman (20), censorship (19), filtering (3), ONI (1), OpenNet Initiative (1), zittrain (9)

Access Denied: The Policy of Global Internet Filtering

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Rob Faris, the OpenNet Initiative’s Research Director and John Palfrey, one of the project’s Principal Investigators, lead a discussion of Internet filtering and provided a glimpse of the results of ONI’s first global survey of Internet censorship.

In the last year ONI has studied forty countries and found a substantial increase in Internet censorship, colored by complex and dynamic political, legal and social processes. The research will be documented in the forthcoming MIT Press book: Access Denied: the Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering.

The OpenNet Initiative is a partnership between the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, the Advanced Network Research Group at the Cambridge Security Programme at Cambridge University, and the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford.