P.S. This is part one of series of post that I have planned on internet censorship, its pros and cons and the best practices adopted in the world to achieve it. We will try to figure out if censorship in Pakistan is bad or its the way how we do it is bad.
But before that, I want to ask my readers a simple question, which is: Please name a country on this earth that offers internet facility to its people but it doesn’t filter/censor internet at all.
You can respond to my question in comments.
Just name the country and that’s it. I will appreciate to-the-point and only relevant answers in the comments.
Please note that if a country censors a single website of any kind (repeat: of any kind) then it can’t be named below.
It would be USA.
think again: http://lunaticoutpost.com/Topic-US-Government-Blocked-84-000-Websites-last-week
So are you defending CP?
Well, I am not a supporter of “Freedom of Expression” shit, there should be some rules on every thing.
nobody’s defending CP but truth remains they are infact censoring internet. The only difference between us and them is that the principles on which we ban sites is not the same as them.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The US web is not really censored. DMCA is not censorship and COPPA is a violation of federal law for various reasons.
It is true that the US doesn’t have a national framework for censoring the Internet. However, it does exist in patchwork form on an ISP level.
seriously good post Amir, i love you.
Iceland, its prohibited to censor as per the Icelandic constitution.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/25/iceland-seeks-internet-pornography-ban
Those bans are opt-in or opt-out just like in the UK. If you can contact your ISP and turn off the filter then it is NOT censorship.
Also, Iceland is not doing anything at the moment, they have plans. Pakistan acts first and then makes plans later.
please lift the admin review on comments which contains external links, also review my comment above, (Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by ProPakistani.)
I think it was England where Porn was censored but it was little typical because people were asked their either they want to block the porn material on their connection or not.
What I get is that your answer is England. Noted, thank you.
papua new guinea….:)
can you access
spotify.com from papua new guinea :p
Uruguay blocked crunchyroll.com and many porn sites
Sweden
Wikipedia says: Sweden’s major Internet service providers have a DNS filter which blocks access to sites authorities claim are known to provide child pornography.
Child pornography should be censored, banned and the people that are responsible for its existence should be castrated.
Are you seriously going to defend CP when it comes to censorship?
I am not defending anything. I am just pointing out that a thing is censored, its about just narrating a fact.
Name one country that doesn’t censor CP.
Hint: There is none.
CP is outright illegal and the internet as a whole censors it, hosting websites have rules against it, domain resellers have rules against it, DNS hosts have rules against it. Heck, search engines don’t crawl the websites that come in a hundred mile radius of them.
Every country in the world has laws against it. If it is illegal everywhere then it is illegal on the internet.
Censorship comes into play when something that isn’t illegal gets banned by the government. (YouTube is NOT illegal, yet it is being banned).
Thank you for agreeing on this k there’s no country in the world that allows CP.
It’s illegal, I do agree with you.
For now, I am just collecting information. Expect a response on other matters in a future post please.
> Every country in the world has laws against it.
Nope. The law banning CP in Japan was just passed yesterday and doesn’t go into effect until next month. Even then, “In order to encourage disposal of material, the penalties will be delayed for one year after the revised law comes into effect”
Furthermore,
“Japan was the only member of the G7 group of industrialised nations in which the possession of child porn remained legal. It is banned and subject to penalties in more than 70 countries.”
So yeah, 70 countries is not equal to the whole world.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10908178/Japan-finally-bans-child-pornography.html
All right, I exaggerated. Sorry.
No worries.
Uruguay
Somalia they dont have proper internet why would it have censorship :D
yes you right adil im from somali and our gov dont have the capability to censor
Netherlands
Nwell Wikipedia didn’t support ur coment :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_the_Netherlands
Canada
In Canada, Some ISPs have voluntary censored sites but there is no such involvement/directive from government.
CHINA :P
China blocked social media in recent times :p
Perhaps, this data may help!
Little censorship will exclude the country from our list of no-censorship.
As I see it, there isn’t a country with tags: No-Censorship.
Albania, Algeria, Austria, Bhamas, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzogovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, canada, centeral african republic, chad, chile, congo, germany, hangary, nepal south africa, Tanzania
I stopped reading your comment after Germany. You need more research on this topic.
LOL
Sir there is no category which defines no censorship at all. You need to do more research
LOL. And some of the spellings are also incorrect!
well according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_by_country
there is no censorship in Austria, Albania, Bahamas, Croatia and Many more
Read again. It says, there’s no credible report of internet censorship in four categories that they monitor.
Bahamas:
Access to the Internet is unrestricted.[190] There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without judicial oversight. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice.[191] Strict and antiquated libel laws dating to British legal codes are seldom invoked.[190]
= NO CENSORSHIP
Bolivia:
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet. On 21 October 2012, Vice President Garcia Linera stated that the government records the names of people who insult President Morales on social media sites.[203]
= NO CENSORSHIP
Bosnia:
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms.
= NO CENSORSHIP
Do I need to go through the list manually because you can’t “read again” yourself?
May I know the web link of this data?
wikipedia.
@aamir7:disqus just would like to attract the traffic on his website otherwise, deep knowledge of internet censorship is widely available on internet.
I am unable to find the exact word who wrote Shahid Saleem in his above discussion. In Wikipedia, I searched, there is no clearly mention. That’s why, I need the website link.
Look above, the link is in faaria’s comment.
Thanks!
Internet Censorship in Bahamas in the making: http://www.thenassauguardian.com/opinion/editorial/46916-navigating-the-internet-censorship-minefield
Same is the case for Bolivia: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/25/world/americas/bolivia-social-media/
It’s so strange that you pick sources that work against you.
First link on Bahamas has no mention of censorship inside Bahamas. All it says is that people post certain kinds of things, they could go to jail. The government makes NO EFFORT to prevent people from accessing or posting such content, which is what censorship is.
Second link is two years old, can’t you find anything recent that PROVES that Bolivia censors?
— Bolivia requested Google to remove a blog post, claiming that it was not DCMA compliant. But later on it was found that blog-post contained political speech. Google didn’t remove it.
There are more examples available, just Google them.
That’s not censorship. That’s called playing by the books, following the rules.
If they had just banned that blog (like PTA does) then it would be censorship.
I am getting there. Currently we are just finding out if there’s a place that doesn’t filter/censor internet or not.
I am not sure about US, but I think Canada doesn’t censor the internet.
Australia banned import of some games like Saints Row 4 but they don’t censor the internet.
UK blocks porn, but you can call you ISP and get it unblocked.
Europe does censor its internet.
South Africa doesn’t censor its internet.
Israel doesn’t censor its internet.
South Korea doesn’t censor its internet.
Canada: http://www.examiner.com/article/canada-s-internet-censorship-law-kicks-on-canada-day
South Africa: http://themediaonline.co.za/2012/09/internet-is-the-least-free-of-all-the-media-in-south-africa/
Israel heavily sensors its internet. Google the topic and you will find much data.
South Korea: A lot of censorship is in place. Read Wikipedia for reference.
Venezuela
Read this: http://mashable.com/2014/02/20/venezuela-social-media/
Phir Pakistan Hi Bachta Hai
Did you read the below comment’s Shahid Saleem?
There are many countries in the world, where no restriction on access to the internet.:
1. Bahamas 2. Bolivia 3.Bosnia etc
aamir7 what about uruguay
Venezuela. Other countries with no evidence of Internet censorship include Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico, Chile and Paraguay. Reference: BBC.
LOL! Try browsing pro-US stuff in Venezuela.. most is banned. Mexico and Bolivia also censor internet. Not sure about others.
There is not a single country that doesn’t censor in one way or the other. However censoring some things are required, At the top of the list is CP.
It is illegal, sad and above all, immoral. There is a reason the age of consent exists in a lot of countries.
Secondly, whether we like it or not, piracy is illegal and if countries ban The Pirate Bay then they can, because it’s basically stealing. I do not want to spend three days making a theme for my website just so another person can copy paste the CSS, there is a reason copyright laws exist. Yes, some of them are very stupid, but they are needed because if they didn’t exist, all artists/programmers/writers etc would be beggars.
>Please note that if a country censors a single website of any kind (repeat: of any kind) then it can’t be named below.<
So my point being, underage stuff (CP), blatant copyright violations etc should not be called censoring. Where as banning information (any news site, twitter, facebook, youtube, web forums, blah blah blah) is a basic violation of our rights.
Thank you for agreeing on this k there’s no country in the world that allows CP.
It’s illegal, I do agree with you.
For now, I am just collecting information. Expect a response on other matters in a future post please.
Greenland
Not actually true, as Greenland is owned by Denmark, therefore all Danish laws apply there including exclusive filtering of anti-Jew content.
Netherland most probably
Naah. Anything against ex-Queen Beatrix or King
Willem-Alexander of Netherlands is censored and there are several other examples. EU has alot of censorship specially concerning the holocaust. I think Croatia, Ukraine & Bosnia Herzegovina are one of the few which don’t censor the Holocaust, but then they censor other stuff which involves their national security.
Is your facebook working in Lahore?
i have contacted many people in Lahore and they all are complaining that Facebook is down. ProPakistani, Please confirm this news. Thanks.
Facebook is facing issues. They are working on it.
its back :)
Iceland is a country which does not censor it’s internet in any way. Recently I heard they are considering blocking pornographic material, although nothing has happened as of yet.
Few other names. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Brukina Faso, Chile, Republic of Congo, Costa Rica (Tested), Croatia, Cyprus, East Timor, Estonia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Lesotho, Peru, Senegal, Sierra Leone… Yeah, most of these countries have less than 5% people using the internet.. but still, no cencorship is no cencorship :P
Australia
Lol. Australia is one of the countries that DOES censor internet pretty heavily and also admits doing it. It has a lot of surveillance programs running and blocks most sorts of porn*graphy.
Only CP is explicitly blocked here…otherwise there is no “censorship” program per se.
Parents can opt-in and download software that can be used to retrict some sites, but that’s optional.
Switzerland
Nope, they do block several websites, including anti-Jew and websites that deny the holocaust.
Anonymous Republic of Tor? ;P
The real question is not which country is not censoring Internet. The question would be who are the enemies of Internet right now?. And Pakistan is climbing this rank too fast.
With “Safe Surf” filter in action, and PTA/PTCL abusing it with such extend, There is no more hope left here.
PS. If I remember correctly, its all started with a so called porn allergic child Abdullah complaining to CJ. I don’t know which group of mullahs was behind this conspiracy, but this blog also extensively supported his view and thoughts.
Completely agree. The real question should be where does Pakistan stand among the world in terms of internet cencorship. We can never be the best, by not censoring internet, but I think we should not be the worst either. The way things are going on with the Government of Pakistan/Punjab, there might be a time where they would be blocking any website which opposes PML-N or criticizes any of their actions. Countries like US/UK have excellent Law & Order and unbiased Police/Bureaucracy. Pakistan is full of corruption and politicized bureaucracy that any laws in place can be abused pretty badly by the political leaders against their political enemies. Yes, Pakistan should have ALL the censorship and laws they want, but ONLY if they can be truthful, honest and have unpoliticized institutions which will only work on merit, and not on instructions of their political leaders against their political opponents. If Pakistan can have such bureaucracy then they should have all the laws and censorship they want.
Iceland
FB blocked in china
HULU restricted to US citizens only
HULU restriction has nothing to do with censorship. Can you tell me any way how HULU is being censored?
As for China, they are 100% not the example to follow. Do you know they even restrict Muslims who are government employees from fasting in Ramzan???
somalia
im from somali and our gov dont have the capability to censor
Denmark, Sweden, Netherland are Japan are a few that come to mind.
Have you been paid for writing such incredulous crap? Your pro-censorship got us in the whole YouTube mess.
If you don’t like to read this stuff, get to the tallest building available in your area, climb it and then jump off of it to your death. Or better yet, take some water if your hand, dip your nose in it and Kill Yourself.
These are simple articles for users understanding and to fulfill his part of the obligation. You should not have a problem with that in the first place.
What obligation?
Man, admin posted over 10 articles promoting filtering over the years. PROMOTING FILTERING.
And then when the PTA starts blocking facebook pages and websites for no anti-Islam/anti-Pakistan pages, which is exactly what he was warned would happen, he tries to put up this “poll” to gather data for a “detailed article” in a series.
He knew the filtering system would be abused. It is too late to change the system now. he was Obliged to consider all angles BEFORE taking a stance.
Netherland blocks piratebay
pakistan
Afghanistan perhaps????
Those who control the internet, they win.
Antarctica
Great Pakistan
I think whole Europe n US……
Finland
I strongly support censoring porno web sites but not politically related web sites and blocking right for expression.
NOT A SINGLE ONE, EVERY COUNTRY BLOCK SITE WHICH PUBLISH ANGAINST THEM.
Wrong. No one blocks anti-US sites. No one blocks anti-UK sites.
Venezuela
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6026
Norway, Denmark, Netherlands.
P.S: Banning child pornography of pornography in general isn’t discourse changer but in Pakistan banning is on changing discourse and thoughts.
Difference is there!
All 3 of them censor internet HEAVILY. Not just talking about child porn, anything concerning the royal family and the denial of holocaust, aren’t just censored, a penalty of upto 3 yrs applies too.
New Zeeland
Guatemala and Taiwan.
Australia :)
Isle of Man does not censor