Bonum Certa Men Certa

Censorship Has Taken Over the Web. Now What?

Everyone is a child in his/her parents' bedroom now



Summary: Commentary about the state of censorship on the Web, and even the Internet as a whole (e.g. protocol blocking)

IN THE Western media we are pressured to think of ourselves as vulnerable, innocent children, drowning in a World Wide Web of violence, scams, paedophilia, terrorism, and "esoteric" material, including that 'horrific' thing which is sexuality. We are told that the governments need to protect us from the 'evils' of the Web, even though the Web has been fine and was expanding for many years even without censorship and so-called "protections". Thanks to the manipulative influence of corporate media, we are accustomed to hearing about censorship in Russia, China, and the Arab world (which we are supposedly in war with, or so we're told). Even Western allies in the Arab world are big Internet censors, not to mention the West itself. Saudi Arabian [1] or Turkish Web censorship [2] are still making the news, whereas in Holland there's reversal of a domain-level ban [3] imposed by some overzealous ISPs and those who pressure them (quite famously in the UK, even without any legal process). This is the latest development in the saga of British censorship which wins public support using the "protect the children" line but is actually being used to block sharing sites (corporate interests served) [4,5]. They can also claim that inappropriate bans are a "mistake", an "error" [6], and when people express themselves freely on the Web they can even be arrested by British police [7], then held in custody for nearly a year. So much for free speech, eh? In Estonia, even commenters in sites (anonymous in some cases) can lead the way to censorship, not by Web site maintainers [8] but by the state [9]. This is appalling.



In north America, book-burning makes a comeback [10,11] and blocking at ISP level (with no oversight) a legitimate practice [12], so our friends across the Atlantic are still ahead of the curve when it comes to censorship. Remember just how many domains got seized (not only blocked) with no trial. This is even worse than blocking. It's not filtering, either. Remember when Wikileaks cutoff was attempted at domain level, host level (Amazon), and even ISP/network level (parts of US networks banned Wikileaks).

The Web is becoming a sordid mess of censorship, no matter where one lives. There's no escaping censorship these days.

Related/contextual items from the news:


  1. Sites Blocked By Smartfilter, Censored in Saudi Arabia
    The moral, it seems, is that if you want an example of a censored web site to stick in people's minds, it either has to be a forgivable error, or an insane vindictive dick move -- because in either of those cases, people will understand why it happened. The vast swaths of censored websites on the spectrum in between, the ones for which there is no rational explanation for the blocking, go ignored.


  2. Parliament urged to rejected draconian Internet bill
    Reporters Without Borders is very concerned about an Internet bill that is to be debated by the Turkish parliament in Ankara in the coming days. Registered by a ruling AKP member in mid-December as proposed amendments to Law 5651 on the Internet, it would allow website blocking without a court order and mass surveillance of Internet users.


  3. ISPs No Longer Have to Block The Pirate Bay, Dutch Court Rules


  4. Inside Default Web Blocking - Part 1
    After sustained government pressure, 3 of the 4 major UK ISPs now offer web filtering products to their customers.


  5. Inside Default Web Blocking - Part 2
    Most commentators have ignored the programme to switch these filters on by default. To their credit, ISPs tried resisting calls for filters 'by default' - only BT is to introduce the feature for new customers later in 2013. There remains a level of ambiguity as to whether ISPs will implement filtering by default for existing customers as requested to by Claire Perry.


  6. How to complain about mobile filtering over-blocking
    The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is now involved in how mobile internet filtering works. In this post we explain what role they have and how you should be able to get over-blocking problems fixed.


  7. Chris McCann jailed over PC murders comments
    A man from Glasgow has been jailed for 290 days over a message on his Facebook page which mocked the murder of two police officers in Greater Manchester.

    Chris McCann, 30, claimed a friend had posted the comments the day after PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone were shot dead by Dale Cregan in September 2012.

    At Glasgow Sheriff Court, he admitted a breach of the peace by allowing them to appear and remain online.


  8. On Accountability


    Speaking personally, I have never, ever, switched off comments on my blog posts or deleted posts. Even when the Internet has seemingly come to get me, or when the press pick up on something and are critical, or when I have made a mistake and felt embarrassed at the outcome…I have never switched off comments and never deleted a blog post. This is because I feel I should be and I am accountable for my words.

    For me, this is an ethical issue; in the same way I won’t go and re-write or edit a blog post if I get criticism for it (outside of minor grammatical/spelling fixes). My posts are a time-capsule of my thinking at that point in my life.


  9. Civil Society Calls on the ECHR's Grand Chamber to Overturn Delfi v. Estonia Ruling
    Last October, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling against an Estonian news portal (“Delfi”), making the platform liable for defamatory comments posted by third users. This ruling threatens to encourage privatised censorship and to severely undermine public debate online. From a legal perspective, as NGO Article 19 wrote at the time, “this judgment displays a profound failure to understand the EU legal framework regulating intermediary liability. In addition, it conveniently ignores relevant international standards in the area of freedom of expression on the Internet”. Many organizations and companies all across Europe have sent the following letter to the ECHR's president to support Delfi's appeal to the Court's “Grand Chamber”, which still has the power to overturn this dangerous ruling.


  10. Health Canada scientists setting up unofficial libraries as national libraries fail
    More from the Canadian Harper government's War on Libraries (see also: literally burning the environmental archives). Dave writes, "Health Canada scientists are also facing difficulties with government controlled libraries. It takes an insanely long time for them to receive any materials due to third-party delivery companies; they've started opening up their own unsanctioned libraries and have started taking advantage of external sources (industry and universities). This is turning into an insane story. There's obviously demand for the material within government circles, but policy and cuts are making it impossible to access, resulting in statistics of diminished use, which results in more cuts."


  11. Health Canada library changes leave scientists scrambling
    Health Canada scientists are so concerned about losing access to their research library that they're finding workarounds, with one squirrelling away journals and books in his basement for colleagues to consult, says a report obtained by CBC News.

    The draft report from a consultant hired by the department warned it not to close its library, but the report was rejected as flawed and the advice went unheeded.


  12. How the FCC screwed up its chance to make ISP blocking illegal
    The commission can still put ISPs under its thumb, but it may not want to.


Recent Techrights' Posts

On the Internet, Nobody Knows Microsoft and Windows Are Becoming Niche Players Until Data is Shown Correctly, Not Microsoft-Sponsored Articles in Microsoft Publishers
Microsoft controls a lot of publishers and thus it controls information
 
Using Slop for Images Does Not Make Your Site Look Advanced or Witty, It Just Makes Your Whole Work Look Like Presumed Plagiarism
Lazy slobs and Serial Sloppers use the guise/excuse of "AI" to plagiarise and spam the Web
Financing of the "Hey Hi" (AI) Bubble by Those Who Profit From Planetary Destruction (Global Warming)
It's about personal gain, too
Richard Stallman Will Speak in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress
it's good to see that the FSF pays considerable respect to it founder, who is moreover invited to speak at events
(At Least) Second Wave of Mass Layoffs in Microsoft This Month
This is not the first time this month that Microsoft has mass layoffs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 20, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 20, 2025
IBM Operatives Inside The Register MS and More Shady Money to Follow
The Register MS bites every banknote it can sink its teeth into
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms in Google News (e.g. Linux Journal and WebProNews)
Google plays an active role (if not deliberately then through utter neglect and carelessness) in plagiarism
Links 20/08/2025: Mass Surveillance Framed as "Artificial Intelligence" (All Old Things Reworded to Misframe Old Computer Issues), Europe Resists Capitulation to US(SR)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/08/2025: Trips and Permacomputing
Links for the day
Links 20/08/2025: Oracle Layoffs in India, "AI" Scammers/Profiteers Admit It's a "Bubble", Softbank-Saudi (Oil) Control Tech Companies
Links for the day
Social Control Networks Give You False Metrics to 'Addict' You To Them
Leaving social control media may seem hard, but the same is true for any other addiction
A Lot of What Happened in Twitter Was Bots, Botfarms, and Troll Farms. It's Even Worse Now (Under X.com) and People Are Noticing.
Last month we said the same was happening in YouTube
Microsoft May Have Become - at Least Partially - Like a Boiler Room Scam
Giving imaginary salaries using imaginary tokens based on imaginary value (with restrictions on conversion to cash)
In Vietnam, Microsoft's Search Engine "Market Share" Fell to Almost 0%, CocCoc More Than 5 Times Bigger
Why are people still investing in this company?
All That's Left of MSNBC (Microsoft-NBC) is Microsoft NOW
When plutocrats and large corporations (even deep in debt) buy all the communication channels
The Register MS, Paid to Promote "AI" Hype, Does "Sez" (Says) Pieces
every bubble-funded "news" site tries to make it a story about "AI"
Many Companies Are Run by Liars Who Ride Other People's Money
Or steal it
Before CoreAI There Was Builder.ai
GitHub isn't about "AI" (just a bunch of lies and storytelling for shareholders' patience)
Microsoft Windows in Croatia at New Lows
We've been keeping track of this trend for a while
Using the Best Tool/s for the Job: RSS Feeds and RSS Readers
Use RSS feeds. Reject those "modern" Web things
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 19, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/08/2025: Neovim, XML, and Alhena 5.2.9
Links for the day
Accessibility Isn't Overrated
Making things simpler typically means better accessibility
The Register's Slopfest
Remember when The Register UK (yes, UK) had better standards?
Latest Version of Windows (Vista 11) is a Failure 4 Years After Its Fake 'Leak'
Vista 11 became more scarce this month
Improving Our Archives
Our old archives are still accessed a lot. Making them better is well worth the investment.
Things One Learns as a Litigant in Person at the UK High Court
Don't fear the official manuals
Slopwatch: Lots of Fake Articles From Fake "Linux" Sites and About "Linux"
Google says it's committed to "AI" (it means slop, not AI); that seems like an excuse to dodge accountability
Links 19/08/2025: "Eavesdropping on Phone Conversations Through Vibrations" and Air Canada in Chaos
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/08/2025: Niche Spaces and "AI Pasta Sauce"
Links for the day
Links 19/08/2025: "NASA Is Giving Up on Climate Change Science" and "Earth's Continents Are Drying Out at an Unprecedented Rate"
Links for the day
Microsoft said “GitHub and its leadership team will continue its mission as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI organisation.” But it's just an empty shell created earlier this year.
In short, it's not too clear what Microsoft has just done except dumping GitHub - i.e. mostly a Web site that loses a ton of money (it always lost money) - into some mysterious new bucket
Phil Wyett evidence & Debian Zizian plagiarism, modern slavery tendencies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
IBM Layoffs in MCC, or Marketing, Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
IBM and Microsoft inflate their share price by circular financing
In Many Countries People Move Away From Vista 11
Vista 11 has been available for download for 4 years already, but adoption has been poor
Desktops/Laptops Fall to All-Time Lows in the UK, So Why Does British Media Quote a Famous Criminal on "End of the Smartphone Era"?
mobile usage (for Web access) has never been higher, based on an Irish surveyor, statCounter
The Groklaw Web Site Has Been Hijacked by Scammers
Groklaw.net isn't a safe site to access at this time
The Register MS gets Lazy, Uses Slop
Unlike 3-D renderings or "Classic" CG, slop images aren't quite original and definitely not fair use
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 18, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 18, 2025
Online Safety Act Does Not Tackle the Worst (and Biggest) Culprits
if our governments are serious about tackling online harms, then they need to look closely at GAFAM and social control media giants
Chat Control (1 and 2) in the European Union Sends the Wrong Message
This is an EU law
Slopwatch: Google News and Serial Sloppers (Fake Articles About "Linux")
Calling out the culprits
Gemini Links 19/08/2025: Digital Legacy and Chat Control
Links for the day