Internet Filtering Checks and Maps

Martin — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:27:34 +0000

Is your country / ISP filtering the Internet ? That’s a question that not many users in the Western Hemisphere are asking themselves assuming that Internet filtering is more of a method of oppressive regimes to control the information flow in their countries. Countries like Iran, China or Syria are known to filter the Internet but it is not that widely known that other countries filter the Internet as well. Not on the same level though but in my opinion one filtered website is to much.

The Opennet website offers a form where users can enter a url and check if it is banned in a country. Not every filtered url is know and not every country of the world can be selected, I guess it would be an impossible task to keep up with every countries filtering efforts. Just take a look at Turkey and Youtube if you know what I mean, feels like they ban and unban the video portal every other day.

The main emphasize lies on countries that are known to filter the Internet heavily which amounts to a list of roughly 20 countries currently. The website offers a global Internet filtering map that displays the level of political, social, conflict / security and Internet Tools filtering for each country in the world.

The website offers additional research which is more valuable than the two tools that I described before. Extensive country profiles are available for selected countries which give a in depths analysis of the current filtering situation in that country with lots of sources at the end of each report. It is furthermore possible to read regional overviews, articles about the subject, book recommendations and general news.

Tags: censor, censorship, china, internet, internet filter, internet filtering, iran, opennet, political filtering, social filtering

AT&T considering spying on its users

Martin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:06:08 +0000

AT&T are currently evaluating if they should implement a system that would in effect monitor all traffic coming through their lines in an effort to stop sharing of copyrighted material on the Internet using P2P networks. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson came up with a weak analogy to prove his point: “It’s like being in a store and watching someone steal a DVD. Do you act?”

Dear AT&T, dear Mr. Stephenson, are you aware that you can’t compare the theft of a DVD in store with downloading a DVD on the Internet. The theft of the DVD takes something away from someone while the second does not. It is not the same. But that’s not my main point of criticism, not at all.

AT&T is an Internet Service Provider which means that they provide the necessary infrastructure so that their customers can access the Internet. Let me ask you a question. What qualifies you to monitor or classify Internet traffic as copyright infringement ? Are you the police or a federal agency ? No you are not.

I’m not an expert in American law but I suppose that it is not allowed to spy on users that easily and even block traffic that has been analyzed before. Correct me if I’m wrong though.

What you are basically saying is that telephone companies should also eavesdrop on every call made because someone could plan or commit a crime over phone. What you are saying is that every letter and package send by mail should be opened and examined because someone could send copyright infringing material.

I’m sick of companies that side with the industry against their company. If you are a AT&T customer consider switching to another provider and LET THEM KNOW that what you will do if they follow this shady pass.

Tags: att, internet, internet filter, P2p, traffic

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Internet Filtering Checks and Maps

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