In Turkey this past week, the discussion revolved in large measure around a law passed in May, 2007, called 5651. It is this law that the Transportation and Telecommunications Ministry is charged with implementing, including Internet filtering. Translation credits to Turkish lawyers: ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law. LAW ON REGULATION OF BROADCASTS VIA INTERNET AND PREVENTION OF CRIMES … Read more
From Turkey, talking to lots of people about the future of Internet filtering, I’m struck by the value of a broad, public debate about what kind of a network we want the Internet to become over time. There are decisions, made on a daily basis, by dozens of states around the world, that affect the … Read more
We’ve revived the iLaw program after a five-year hiatus. This year, it’s an experiment in teaching at Harvard Law School: part class (for about 125 students) and part conference (with friends from around the world here for the week). And JZ has taken the baton from Terry Fisher as our iLaw Chair. An exciting day. … Read more
I’m looking forward to a day of watching the fallout from the Google-China-HK announcement yesterday. I give Google an enormous amount of credit for the approach that they are taking; it’s a worthy effort to meet what they consider their human rights obligations while seeking to engage in the China market, both of which are … Read more
Xinhua is reporting that the MIIT in China has decided to delay implementation of the Green Dam Youth Escort software program. (HT: Rebecca MacKinnon, who has been doing a terrific job documenting the proposed Green Dam regulation from the start on her blog.) Much to their credit, leaders like Commerce Secretary Gary Locke of the … Read more
The New York Times’ Brian Stelter and Brad Stone have a very thoughtful piece in the paper today about the changing role of censorship in an Internet age, with references to ONI work. The final point, made in the story by Ethan Zuckerman, draws an appropriate connection to the Green Dam story in China from … Read more
We at the OpenNet Initiative have released our 2009 study of Internet censorship in Iran, including new data from our most recent rounds of testing.
These are heady days for the study of Internet and its relationship to the practice of politics and the struggles over democratic decision-making. Three stories — in China, in Iran, and throughout the Arabic-speaking world — make a powerful case for the deepening relevance of the use of new technologies by citizens to the balance … Read more
Our friends at StyleFeeder have offered up some great data about the geographic sources of social media spam on their tech blog. The background: Philip Jacob, the founder of StyleFeeder, is a long-time anti-spam advocate, while also being a careful guy who doesn’t want to ruin the Net in the process of fighting nuisance online. … Read more
As WIRED is reporting, a leaked Cisco presentation (online here) makes clear that, in 2002, Cisco team members saw censorship in China as an opportunity to sell equipment to the state. The presentation, in slide 57, cites what appears to be a Chinese official saying that one of the goals of Operation Golden Shield (what … Read more