Questions & Answers

CTV's "Ask Us", (video clip here) tries to answer a question from a viewer regarding copyright in Canada:

"When I was going to university a professor of mine said it's legal to download music in Canada because the music industry is already compensated for their loss through taxes on blank CD's and cassettes. Is this true?"

Downloading "music" is legal! The question is, I assume, about downloading copyrighted music (which should also be distinguished from "uploading"). Quoting the Copyright Board of Canada, CTV says that downloading music from the Internet is in fact legal for personal use and the copy must be made to a tape or CD. As Russell McOrmond accurately points out, downloading is legal but uploading is not, despite the fact that the CRIA lost their most recent case against "uploaders". The CRIA lost because they presented a lousy case.

So why does CTV then highlight that the CRIA says it is illegal? Is it legal or illegal, just answer the question.

China Internet Filtering Report on ABC

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Asia Pacific program interviews Ron Deibert about the OpenNet Initiative's China Internet filtering report. You can listen to the interview here and read the transcript here.

The Theory of Everything

Ben Walker features myself and the OpenNet Initiative on his radio show "The Theory of Everything". The show covers Internet filtering in China and our recent work monitoring the lection in Kyrgyzstan. You can download the mp3 here.

Internet & Democracy

My recent trip to Washington D.C. to appear before the U.S. - China Economic and Security Review Commission has me thinking a lot about the Internet, censorship and democracy. This is an old but still interesting discussion. Some believe that there is basically a direct corelation between the Internet and democratization. Others suggest that the Internet can actually strengthen authoritarian regimes. But beneath the surface of the rhetoric we can and do see spaces of public debate expanding and the boundaries of information control challenged. Unfortunetly, these developments are often overlooked when they do not conform with preconcieved notions of what democracy is.

Filtering in Libraries

The ACLU has released a report on Internet Censorship in State’s Public Libraries. The study focuses on libraries in Rhode Island, which like libraries across the U.S., installed filtering software to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Rather than individually purchase and maintain filtering software, the libraries receive filterng services as part of the Cooperating Libraries Automated Network (CLAN). CLAN uses Websense to implement filtering and, by default, filters the categories "sex," "adult content," and "nudity." However, individual libraries can add additional categories; some have added the "Gambling", "Games", "Illegal" and "Chat" categories as well. The ACLU concludes that even the minimum default level of filtering "exceeds what federal law requires".

What I found particulary interesting was not the technical aspects of filtering -- the over blocking and underblocking that is inherent in filtering technology -- but the social aspect of the implementation of filtering. More specifically, the social controls used to deny people their constitutional rights to request that content blocked beyond the scope of the law be made accessible. In short, the chilling effects.

A recent visit to the Providence Library by the author of this report raised concerns in this regard. There, a librarian responded to a deactivation request ­ for a blocked Google search on nudism ­ with questions about subject matter, judgmental comments, and ultimately a refusal to disable the filter for viewing of what she wrongly characterized as "pornography."

One of the key points the ACLU makes is that "the U.S. Supreme Court declared use of blocking software to be constitutional, but only on the condition that it be deactivated for any lawful adult user who asks." Despite the law, the social enforcement of overblocking creates a situation in which people will not ask for blocking to be removed and if they do, the request can still be refused.

Civiblog

The Citizen Lab's Civiblog project is rolling along. We now have a new site design and a lot more bloggers.

• Civiblog is completely free - no hosting costs or licensing fees.
  
• Civiblog is targeted - designed by and for civil society workers.
  
• Civiblog is community-driven - news from around the world, written by you.
  

If you want a blog, sign up!

Internet Filtering in China Press Coverage

Press coverage of the ONI's study on Internet Filtering in China:
- China Soups Up Internet Censoring Filters - AP - IHT - Wired - The Guardian
- Snuffing out Net's benefit to democracy - Dallas Morning News (archived pdf)
- Study Finds Pervasive Chinese Internet Controls - Reuters - MSNBC
- China Censorship on Red Alert - Techtree
- Web Censors In China Find Success - Washington Post

Internet Filtering in China

ONI releases a study on Internet Filering in China:

The OpenNet Initiative tested China's Internet filtering of web content, blog postings, and e-mail correspondences. Our testing found efforts to prevent access to a wide range of sensitive materials, from pornography to religious material to political dissent. Unlike the filtering systems in many other countries, China’s filtering regime appears to be carried out at various control points and also to be changing over time. China operates the most extensive, technologically sophisticated, and broad-reaching system of Internet filtering in the world. China’s intricate technical filtering regime is buttressed by an equally complex series of laws and regulations that control the access to and publication of material online. However, ONI found that most major American media sites, such as CNN, MSNBC, and ABC, are generally available in China (though the BBC remains blocked). Moreover, most sites we tested in our global list’s human rights and anonymizer categories are accessible as well. (Full Report - PDF)

ONI Presents China Country Study to U.S. - China Economic and Security Review Commission

See ya in Washington. (I wonder if this will be on C-Span?)

On April 14, 2005 the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) will release its long-awaited report, “Internet Filtering in China in 2004-2005,” at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s public hearing on China’s State Control Mechanisms and Methods. “Internet Filtering in China in 2004-2005” documents the degree to which the Chinese government controls and manipulates the information environment in which its citizens live, including websites, blogs, email, and online discussion forums. To find out more about the event and the report, please read the ONI Media Advisory.

VOTE: Freedom of Expression blog awards

Internet Censorship Explorer (ICE) has been nominatedin the Freedom of Expression blog awards in the International category. So go Vote!

Home Filtering

A new survey study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project reports:

More than half of American families with teenagers use filters to limit access to potentially harmful online content – a 65% increase from the number of those who used filters in 2000.

The study also reports that 81% of parents and 79% of online teens agree that "teens aren’t careful enough when giving out information about themselves online". Of course, the use of filtering software does nothing to address this.

The report also notes:

It should be noted that other researchers have effectiveness of filters. Some investigators have out objectionable material ­ they "under-block" filters "over-block" content and prohibit internet contain objectionable content. They prevent teens raised important questions about the found that filters do not always screen content. Others have found that some users from accessing sites that do not from viewing innocuous things.

Academic Freedom

Academic freedom is something generally taken for granted, as is Freedom of Speech. Two recent events have caught my attention. The first in China concerning Professor Jiao Guobiao:

China's most prestigious university has dismissed a journalism professor who last year boldly called for the abolition of the Communist Party's powerful media censorship arm.

The BBC reports:

Publishing houses have already been banned from printing his books, and he was included in a blacklist of intellectuals forbidden from appearing in the media.

The second in the USA concerns Joseph Massad, a Professor at Columbia, who was recently cleared of Anti-Semitism charges by a commitee, that was formed after a campaign against him for teaching a course that provided a "critical historical overview of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict".

The commitee did find that:

...the involvement of outside organizations in the surveillance of professors teaching the Middle East increased. The watch-list of professors published online from late 2002 by a group called Campus Watch which invited students to send in reports on their instructors, led to the named professors receiving hate mail.