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Not as free as you might think

Users of the internet, and all the options it offers, probably don't even think that it isn't quite as free and accessible everywhere as might be otherwise thought. A new report, just out, highlights that unfettered access to and use of the www is actually restricted in many parts of the word. It is not uncommon in some countries, notably some in the Middle East, Cuba and China, to actually imprison web-users or bloggers writing things which the powers that be don't like.

Technology Review [a MIT publication] provides the details:

"A report released today by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) concludes that the scale, the scope, and the sophistication of state-based Internet filtering have all increased dramatically in recent years. The survey highlights the tools and techniques used by countries to keep their citizens from viewing certain kinds of online material.

ONI is a collaboration among four leading universities: Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and Toronto. The group's testing was carried out during 2006 and early 2007. ONI used a combination of tools that can remotely test filtering conditions within given countries. The group also relied heavily on local researchers who evaluated Internet conditions from inside certain countries. Some countries, such as Cuba and North Korea, were deemed too dangerous for either remote or in-country testing. But of the 41 different countries tested by ONI, 25 were found to block or filter online content."

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