No Internet control in this information economy, no sir!

[pynchonoid]

<http://www.cincypost.com/2003/06/25/librar062503.html>

Local libraries are right in line with a U.S. Supreme
Court ruling Monday requiring public libraries to use
computer filters to block pornographic material on the
Internet if they want to receive federal funding. 

In a 6-3 decision, the court said such filters do not
hinder library patrons' First Amendment rights by
"overblocking" Web material and established that
protecting children from exposure to sexually explicit
material furthers a substantial government interest. 

"We filter every public terminal now and we're glad
the courts are allowing us to continue to do that,"
said Wayne Onkst, director of the Kenton County Public
Library. [...] 

<http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20030624_sprigman.html>


The free exchange of information over the Internet has
proven to be a threat to the social and political
control that repressive governments covet. But rather
than ban the Internet (and lose valuable business
opportunities), most repressive governments seek to
limit their citizens' access to it instead. 

To do so, they use specialized computer hardware and
software to create firewalls. These firewalls prevent
citizens from accessing Web pages - or transmitting
emails or files - that contain information of which
their government disapproves.

U.S. Internet users may be familiar with the kind of
firewalls that limit unauthorized access to
confidential information kept on personal, business,
or government computers. But the type of country-wide
firewalls this article will look at are broader, and
more pernicious. In countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran,
China, Myanmar, Singapore, and at least 20 others, the
only way to access the Web is through a firewall. 

Fortunately, however, this kind of wholesale Internet
censorship now faces a serious challenge. Hacker
groups such as Hacktivismo are determined to poke
holes in firewalls used for repression.

An Example: Saudi Arabia and The Internet

To understand what motivates the "hacktivists," it's
important first to understand how serious the
situation is in some countries.

Imagine, for example that you're a Saudi Arabian
citizen, surfing the Internet to find information on
converting to Christianity. You'd desperately like to
keep your surfing secret from the government; in Saudi
Arabia, apostasy from Islam is punishable by death.
But it may prove difficult for you either to find the
information you're looking for, or to keep your search
confidential. 

To begin, many of the sites you are seeking will be
blocked. Citing a passage from the Qur'an as
justification, the Saudi government significantly
restricts the types of information Saudi citizens can
access on the Web. 

As researchers at Harvard's Berkman Center for
Internet and Society have documented, the Saudi
government blocks not only pornography, but also a
wide range of relatively benign information about
religion, health, education, reference, humor and
entertainment. In particular, it blocks sites deemed
to be proselytizing against Islam, or containing
information hostile to Islam - even sites such as
religioustolerance.org that merely advocate religious
tolerance as a human right. 

Meanwhile, web surfing is not only restricted, but
also recorded. All Internet traffic in Saudi Arabia is
routed through servers operated by the government's
Internet Services Unit, and the Saudi government
admits that it keeps logs of Internet traffic flowing
through its servers. 

The government denies any spying on individual users'
browsing habits, but no one surfing for information
deemed illicit will want to take its word on that. 

How Repressive Regimes Censor the Net, and How U.S.
Companies Help

How do these "country-wide" firewalls work? First, a
user enters a URL - the address of a Web page - into
his or her browser. This URL gets passed to the
firewall, which checks to see if it is on a list of
Web sites banned by the government. If so, then the
firewall refuses to forward the user's request, and
may instead send a message back to the user indicating
that access is denied. 

Firewalls may also be configured to filter Web sites
for banned content; to log the IP addresses of users
who have requested access to banned sites; and even to
snoop on email communications. The consequences of
detection by a firewall can be severe - China has
jailed dissidents for downloading Internet articles
critical of China and executed hackers for committing
cyber-theft.

Ironically, some of the largest U.S. software
companies - firms that have built their fortunes on
open access to the Internet - have helped the efforts
of China, Iran, and other repressive regimes to build
and improve their firewalls. (A law preventing the
companies from exporting firewall software wouldn't do
much good, though: censorious governments would simply
get their software elsewhere.)  [...]




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