Internet censorship around the world
Governments Censor the internet for a number of reasons:
- Obstacles to access specific applications or technologies , control over internet and mobile phone access providers.
- Filtering and blocking of websites
- Violations of user rights by legal protections and restrictions on online activity ,repercussions for online activity such as legal prosecution, imprisonment .
Countries that have a majority of censorship like China, Cuba, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, Iran, Pakistan, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the United Arab Emirates.
China:Internet censorship in China is among the most stringent in the world ,The Chinese government controls all ISPs in the country,and all international Internet gateways through which traffic travels between China and the rest of the world.
Cuba:Citizens in Cuba have to use government controlled “access points”, where their activity is monitored through IP blocking, keyword filtering and browsing history checking.The Cuban government continues to imprison independent journalists for contributing reports through the Internet to web sites outside of Cuba.
Saudi Arabia:The most aggressive censorship focused on pornography, drug use, gambling, religious conversion of Muslims, and filtering circumvention tools .”Immoral” (mostly pornographic) sites are blocked and citizens are encouraged to actively report “immoral” sites for blocking.
Iran:Filtering targets content critical of the government, religion, pornographic websites, political blogs, and women’s rights websites, weblogs, and online magazines. In addition , Many social websites like facebook, twitter, youtube are blocked in Iran , the government arrest the bloggers and journalists.
Syria:Syria government has blocked websites and monitors Internet for political reasons and arrested people accessing them.
Bahrain:The Bahrain government engages in extensive blocking of online content. They harassing human rights activists, arresting bloggers and other online activists
Ethiopia:The Ethiopian government’s complete control the internet and mobile phone services. Ethiopia has implemented a largely political filtering regime that blocks access to popular blogs and the Web sites of many news organizations, dissident political parties, and human rights groups.
Kuwait:Kuwait government has blocked a few type of websites such as gay, lesbian, pornographic websites , dating sites and political weblogs.
Uzbekistan: the national search engine of Uzbekistan’s government, Blocked websites include most independent news websites with social-political and human rights-related content on Uzbekistan. Some Internet cafes in the capital have posted warnings that users will be fined for viewing pornographic websites or website containing banned political material.
