Thursday, October 11, 2007

A Journey to the Heart of Internet Censorship

Reporters Without Borders just released their latest report on China's Internet Censorship practices, outlining how exactly bureaucracy intersects with technology, perhaps the worst combination I could think of :

"The report also documents how the Beijing Internet Information Administrative Bureau has in practice asserted its daily editorial control over the leading news websites based in the nation’s Capital. It gives many examples of the actual instructions issued by officials in charge of this bureau. The last part of the report gives the results of a series of tests conducted with the mechanism of control through filtering keywords. These tests clearly show that, though there are still many disparities in the levels of censorship, the authorities have successfully coerced the online media into submission to censor themselves heavily on sensitive subjects."

Information is not free, but it just wants to be free and you cannot control the rules of curiosity and the basic right to know who's what and what's when -- even if you shut down the Internet access inside the country. China's Internet censorship is on the other hand a driving force for academic research across the globe. Even wondered what are the latest blocked keywords discovered filtered over time? Try the list of blacklisted keywords discovered by ConceptDoppler, as of 19 Sep 2007, part of the ConceptDoppler project - A Weather Tracker for Internet Censorship.

Related posts:
Twisted Reality
China - the biggest black spot on the Internet’s map
Chinese Internet Censorship efforts and the outbreak
Securing Political Investments Through Censorship
World's Internet Censorship Map
China's Interest of Censoring Mobile Communications
South Korea's View on China's Media Control and Censorship
China's Internet Censorship Report 2006
Media Censorship in China - FAQ
Google and Yahoo's Shareholders Against Censorship
It's all About the Vision and the Courage to Execute it
Gender Based Censorship in the News Media
Real Time Censored URL Check in China
Censoring Flickr in China

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