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View Full Version : Is there any online content is banned/blocked/filtered in your country



asifnaz
March 17th, 2011, 08:39 PM
In my home country there is absolutely no restrictions on any kind of content available on internet . One can use internet to view/access any kind of data .ISPs there even don't care what one is downloading from torrent .


I am on visit to another country now (for some reasons I will not tell its name ) here internet is heavily filtered p0rn/ skype / some blogs / many news sites / yahoo chat /

and many more content is blocked .

I just want to know what content is banned/blocked/filtered in your country .

and what do you think about these restrictions...???

fuduntu
March 17th, 2011, 08:58 PM
redacted


I would reply to this comment, however I can't read it due to it being blocked, banned, and filtered in my country.

:lolflag:

Tristam Green
March 17th, 2011, 08:59 PM
I would reply to this comment, however I can't read it due to it being blocked, banned, and filtered in my country.

:lolflag:

User was repressed by a repressive government for this post.
):P

fuduntu
March 17th, 2011, 09:01 PM
User was repressed by a repressive government for this post.
):P

I WAS NOCW#EF#@F$yvw4 cq23 4tq34t5234klt5m2vl 4

+++ATH0
NO CARRIER

clanky
March 17th, 2011, 09:01 PM
In my home country there is absolutely no restrictions on any kind of content available on internet . One can use internet to view/access any kind of data .ISPs there even don't care what one is downloading from torrent .


I am on visit to another country now (for some reasons I will not tell its name ) here internet is heavily filtered p0rn/ skype / some blogs / many news sites / yahoo chat /

and many more content is blocked .

I just want to know what content is banned/blocked/filtered in your country .

and what do you think about these restrictions...???

There is loads of blocked stuff in your country, you just don't know about it......







....'coz it's blocked!

asifnaz
March 17th, 2011, 09:07 PM
I did not intend to start a joke thread . If you are laughing at me for my poor English I cant help it .

Just come to point guyz :popcorn:

dirty_harry
March 17th, 2011, 09:08 PM
Originally Posted by clanky
There is loads of blocked stuff in your country, you just don't know about it......







....'coz it's blocked! Not that I know sth that is censored in Germany. But as you say, I do not know...


Reporters Without Borders, 2011, Internet Enemies:
http://www.reporter-ohne-grenzen.de/fileadmin/rte/docs/2011/110311_Internetbericht_engl.pdf

Tristam Green
March 17th, 2011, 09:09 PM
I did not intend to start a joke thread . If you are laughing at me for my poor English I cant help it .

Just come to point guyz :popcorn:

No jokes. If there *were* things blocked in this country, I doubt I'd recognize that fact since it'd be blocked.

Now, I recognize blocked sites at my work since we use Websense...

fuduntu
March 17th, 2011, 09:11 PM
I did not intend to start a joke thread . If you are laughing at me for my poor English I cant help it .

Just come to point guyz :popcorn:

I'm not laughing AT you, but I did take the opportunity to crack a joke. :D

asifnaz
March 17th, 2011, 09:14 PM
No jokes. If there *were* things blocked in this country, I doubt I'd recognize that fact since it'd be blocked.

Now, I recognize blocked sites at my work since we use Websense...


how it was difficult to recognize ...???

you go to www.wyz.com

and page appears this website is blocked by gov

what is difficult here ..???

SeijiSensei
March 17th, 2011, 09:16 PM
Well, what do you want to hear? That censorship is bad? OK, I think censorship is bad. Do I think governments will stop censoring the Internet in the next two decades? Of course not (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/opennet).

Now if we're talking about access to commercial materials like movies or music, then they are often restricted because of licensing arrangements. Hulu, for instance, isn't widely available outside the US because it would pose a problem for foreign broadcasters who run American shows a year or more behind their US releases. It it wrong for Hulu to block access like this? Morally I don't see anything wrong with it. The producers own the shows, and if they don't want them to be shown over the Internet in, say, Brazil, that's their business. Do I think these kinds of restrictions will survive into the long run? No, I think we'll start to see global distribution of some media properties over the next twenty years. Do I expect this to happen quickly? Not on your life. There's an enormous international infrastructure for the delivery of movies and television programming that has been built up over more than sixty years. It's not going to change quickly.

asifnaz
March 17th, 2011, 09:21 PM
Well, what do you want to hear? That censorship is bad? OK, I think censorship is bad. Do I think governments will stop censoring the Internet in the next two decades? Of course not (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/opennet).

Now if we're talking about access to commercial materials like movies or music, then they are often restricted because of licensing arrangements. Hulu, for instance, isn't widely available outside the US because it would pose a problem for foreign broadcasters who run American shows a year or more behind their US releases. It it wrong for Hulu to block access like this? Morally I don't see anything wrong with it. The producers own the shows, and if they don't want them to be shown over the Internet in, say, Brazil, that's their business. Do I think these kinds of restrictions will survive into the long run? No, I think we'll start to see global distribution of some media properties over the next twenty years. Do I expect this to happen quickly? Not on your life. There's an enormous international infrastructure for the delivery of movies and television programming that has been built up over more than sixty years. It's not going to change quickly.

I am not talking about copyright material . what if you type in address of a news website in your browser and page appears that web page is blocked by government .


however , my question was is there any content blocked in your part of the world..???

KiwiNZ
March 17th, 2011, 09:31 PM
I will remind folks about the politics rule.

Or


Blocked

Jesus_Valdez
March 17th, 2011, 09:46 PM
Some famous file sharing network block my country, does it count?

wojox
March 17th, 2011, 09:59 PM
No, I live in the United States. My country was founded of thieves and bootleggers. :P

Dustin2128
March 17th, 2011, 10:35 PM
No, I live in the United States. My country was founded of thieves and bootleggers. :P
What are you talking about? The US's asinine copyright laws block all kinds of content.

mmix
March 17th, 2011, 10:44 PM
In South Korea, too many.

pricetech
March 17th, 2011, 10:45 PM
In before close.

TriBlox6432
March 17th, 2011, 10:53 PM
Yes. United States blocks child porn, and certain anti-government things. Not all, but some.

SeijiSensei
March 17th, 2011, 10:54 PM
What are you talking about? The US's asinine copyright laws block all kinds of content.

First, the OP asked about governmental censorship of the Internet in terms of sites being blocked and the like.

Second, in what way do US copyright laws restrict your ability to obtain content to which you have legal rights? It's hardly "asinine" that content you can't obtain legally is "blocked," whatever you may mean by that. Copyright law grants creators exclusive rights in their products; what's "asinine" about that? Moreover there are various exceptions to these rules for cases like public libraries as well as the often-misunderstood "fair use" defense.

I'd agree that the current term of copyright in the US is far too long, but that's a separate issue from whether it makes sense to grant creators exclusivity in their creations. We might argue over whether the "anti-circumvention" rules in the DMCA are reasonable or not as well. Those laws may make it illegal to import libdvdcss2 into the US, but I hardly think that's "blocking" your ability to watch a DVD you legally own.

Dustin2128
March 18th, 2011, 03:18 AM
First, the OP asked about governmental censorship of the Internet in terms of sites being blocked and the like.

Second, in what way do US copyright laws restrict your ability to obtain content to which you have legal rights? It's hardly "asinine" that content you can't obtain legally is "blocked," whatever you may mean by that. Copyright law grants creators exclusive rights in their products; what's "asinine" about that? Moreover there are various exceptions to these rules for cases like public libraries as well as the often-misunderstood "fair use" defense.

I'd agree that the current term of copyright in the US is far too long, but that's a separate issue from whether it makes sense to grant creators exclusivity in their creations. We might argue over whether the "anti-circumvention" rules in the DMCA are reasonable or not as well. Those laws may make it illegal to import libdvdcss2 into the US, but I hardly think that's "blocking" your ability to watch a DVD you legally own.
I'm against all internet censorship, and outrageously harsh american copyright law encourages that. But I won't go on about that and ask you not to, as we all know kiwi will shut this thread down. We could carry on via private messages if you wish though.

racie
March 18th, 2011, 06:11 AM
Recently I've noticed that numerous YouTube videos that people have linked to me are blocked here in the United States. I find that simply outrageous. YouTube really has gone downhill in the last few years in terms of excessive ads/Copyright infringement notices/etc.

Gerontion
March 18th, 2011, 06:43 AM
In answer to the OP, yes - lots. I live in Thailand and we have very strict censorship. (One figure I remember seeing was 100,000 websites, though I can't be sure of that.) Some gambling and some porn sites are blocked as are some political sites (including parts of facebook, youtube, etc). As far as I know, these are mainly (i) sites promoting the southern separatist movement (for those who don't know, there's a fairly violent insurgency going on on the Thai-Malay border), (ii) some sites promoting/related to the anti-government red shirts (again, for those who don't know, they oppose the current government claiming, with pretty good reason, that it's an illegitimate tool of the military and the ruling classes) and (iii) any sites with anything remotely rude about anyone connected to the royal family. On the last one, Thailand has extremely severe lese-majeste laws which are used with high regularity to imprison critics of the current administration as well as those with anything remotely resembling republican leanings; just within the last few days, the webmaster of the norporchorusa forum was sentenced to - I think - 13 years for posting material which was deemed insulting to the king. Freedom of speech is a distant dream, and it's getting more, not less, distant by the day. On the plus side, the employees of the Ministry of Thought-Crime Suppression are spectacularly ineffectual so it's not exactly hard to get around the censorship but then that's not really the point, is it.

---

I should add that in addition to the formal censorship, there is even more widespread informal censorship by agreement between the various broadcast, print, and web media such that the government enjoys an overwhelming majority of public opinion formation. Until spring last year, this was counterbalanced by a vibrant network of local radio stations but these have been largely suppressed (including unexplained murders), as have alternative print media, which face constant harassment.

wormyblackburny
March 18th, 2011, 07:19 AM
I think the even more disturbing issue would be the government using the internet to invade our privacy or spy on us, rather than just censor what we can see. As far as America not censoring material.....ever hear someone say #$%#@%@ or *&(^&$#%$^ on network TV? Even better, when is the last time you saw a commercial for Marlboros on TV? All kinds of things are censored, but like someone before said; how do we know what is being censored?

Gerontion
March 18th, 2011, 07:49 AM
I disagree. Getting decades in prison for thought-crime is not better than being spied on by your government (which is still bad nevertheless, and which makes today's report in The Guardian that "The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda..." http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks extremely depressing - though unsurprising - reading.)

Starlight
March 18th, 2011, 08:49 AM
Fortunately, there's no political censorship on the internet here where I live, but it's quite often when I want to, for example, watch a video, and it says it's not available in my country. It's good that it usually seems to be possible to find it somewhere else to watch without restrictions.

asifnaz
March 18th, 2011, 09:41 AM
In answer to the OP, yes - lots. I live in Thailand and we have very strict censorship. (One figure I remember seeing was 100,000 websites, though I can't be sure of that.) Some gambling and some porn sites are blocked as are some political sites (including parts of facebook, youtube, etc). As far as I know, these are mainly (i) sites promoting the southern separatist movement (for those who don't know, there's a fairly violent insurgency going on on the Thai-Malay border), (ii) some sites promoting/related to the anti-government red shirts (again, for those who don't know, they oppose the current government claiming, with pretty good reason, that it's an illegitimate tool of the military and the ruling classes) and (iii) any sites with anything remotely rude about anyone connected to the royal family. On the last one, Thailand has extremely severe lese-majeste laws which are used with high regularity to imprison critics of the current administration as well as those with anything remotely resembling republican leanings; just within the last few days, the webmaster of the norporchorusa forum was sentenced to - I think - 13 years for posting material which was deemed insulting to the king. Freedom of speech is a distant dream, and it's getting more, not less, distant by the day. On the plus side, the employees of the Ministry of Thought-Crime Suppression are spectacularly ineffectual so it's not exactly hard to get around the censorship but then that's not really the point, is it.

---

I should add that in addition to the formal censorship, there is even more widespread informal censorship by agreement between the various broadcast, print, and web media such that the government enjoys an overwhelming majority of public opinion formation. Until spring last year, this was counterbalanced by a vibrant network of local radio stations but these have been largely suppressed (including unexplained murders), as have alternative print media, which face constant harassment.


Finally someone understood my question and answered it really in detail .

ssam
March 18th, 2011, 11:06 AM
UK:
by voluntary agreement the main ISPs (covers most consumer home/mobile connections) subscribe to a block list from http://www.iwf.org.uk/ .

there was a good WIRED article http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2009/06/features/the-hidden-censors-of-the-internet

This mostly came to light when a vast chunk UK wikipedia traffic started going through a single proxy, so that an image on an album cover could be blocked (the album was still available in high-street shops). This broke wikipedia's ability do block vandals by IP address (it looks like all the traffic was from a single address), so most of the UK was block from editing wikipedia for a while.

in terms of print media there is a system of court injunctions that can prevent the media mentioning a topic, and super injunctions that prevent them mentioning the injunction.

NCLI
March 18th, 2011, 11:31 AM
how it was difficult to recognize ...???

you go to www.wyz.com

and page appears this website is blocked by gov

what is difficult here ..???

Works just fine here.

TPB is blocked though, but it's easy to get around.

Tristam Green
March 18th, 2011, 12:30 PM
No, I live in the United States. My country was founded of thieves and bootleggers. :P

A wretched hive of filth and villainy, you say?


Finally someone understood my question and answered it really in detail .

I think more people than you realize understood and answered your question. I just don't think anyone answered it the way you wanted to hear it until then.

Grenage
March 18th, 2011, 12:40 PM
I just want to know what content is banned/blocked/filtered in your country .

and what do you think about these restrictions...???

Aside from the obvious material (child abuse, etc), I'm not aware of any real filtering in the UK; as far as I know, we mostly use reactive blocking. I've never had content blocked, but most of my browsing could be considered 'normal'.

While I don't normally censorship of any kind, I don't have a problem with some internet filtering. Some topics are both illegal, and abhorrent to 99.9% of the population

blueturtl
March 18th, 2011, 01:26 PM
Sites that criticize internet censorship, and probably some child pornography related links. Only the former is known for a fact.