Internet Under Surveillance 2004 . . .

[OneBlueSky]

a report from Reporters Without Borders . . .

Internet Under Surveillance 2004
Obstacles to the free flow of information online
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=433

and a followup article from Wired News . . .

Progress Report for Net Censors
by Julia Scheeres
www.wired.com
June 22, 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,63940,00.html

(snip)

Here's a sampling of censorship tactics listed in the report:

• Blocking sites. Saudi Arabia officially acknowledges blocking nearly 400,000 sites, including those that feature pornography or information about women's rights. China uses DNS hijacking, which redirects users to another site when they try to access banned material.
• Targeted filtering. At one time, China blocked Google entirely. These days, Chinese users can access the search engine, but it will mysteriously freeze up if they type in a controversial term.
• Modified mirrors. Instead of blatantly blocking sites, authorities in Uzbekistan change or strip out the content deemed unfavorable. When Uzbek surfers type in the site address, they get an edited version of the original site, or a "modified mirror."
• Prohibiting Web-based e-mail and owning ISPs. Syria blocks access to sites offering free e-mail, such as Hotmail, forcing citizens to rely on e-mail services provided by state-controlled and -monitored Internet service providers.
• Forcing cybercafe users to show IDs. Vietnam requires cybercafe managers to register customers' identities and to use spyware that records the websites they visit.
• Banning access and equipment. Cuba bans the sale of computer equipment to private citizens and limits Internet access to government workers. The public only has access to an intranet that consists of sites that have been hand-picked by communist authorities.

- more . . .

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,63940,00.html

[dbt]

1. And this is all just field testing

for what some folks want to do here in Murka.

:freak:
dbt

[JuniperLea]

2. no surpirse here - coming soon to a computer near you

isn't this part of 'the patriot act'?