Access Denied. The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering (2008)
Filed under book | Tags: · blogging, censorship, human rights, internet, internet filtering, journalism, politics
Many countries around the world block or filter Internet content, denying access to information—often about politics, but also relating to sexuality, culture, or religion—that they deem too sensitive for ordinary citizens. Access Denied documents and analyzes Internet filtering practices in over three dozen countries, offering the first rigorously conducted study of this accelerating trend.
Internet filtering takes place in at least forty states worldwide including many countries in Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. Related Internet content control mechanisms are also in place in Canada, the United States and a cluster of countries in Europe. Drawing on a just-completed survey of global Internet filtering undertaken by the OpenNet Initiative (a collaboration of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, and the University of Cambridge) and relying on work by regional experts and an extensive network of researchers, Access Denied examines the political, legal, social, and cultural contexts of Internet filtering in these states from a variety of perspectives. Chapters discuss the mechanisms and politics of Internet filtering, the strengths and limitations of the technology that powers it, the relevance of international law, ethical considerations for corporations that supply states with the tools for blocking and filtering, and the implications of Internet filtering for activist communities that increasingly rely on Internet technologies for communicating their missions.
Reports on Internet content regulation in forty different countries follow, with each country profile outlining the types of content blocked by category and documenting key findings.
Contributors: Ross Anderson, Malcolm Birdling, Ronald Deibert, Robert Faris, Vesselina Haralampieva, Steven Murdoch, Helmi Noman, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, Mary Rundle, Nart Villeneuve, Stephanie Wang, and Jonathan Zittrain
Edited by Ronald J. Deibert, John G. Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski and Jonathan Zittrain
Publisher MIT Press, 2008
Series: Information revolution & global politics
ISBN 0262541963, 9780262541961
Length 449 pages
Jean Noël Jeanneney: Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge: A View From Europe (2007)
Filed under book | Tags: · archive, google, internet, library, politics, search
The recent announcement that Google will digitize the holdings of several major libraries sent shock waves through the book industry and academe. Google presented this digital repository as a first step towards a long-dreamed-of universal library, but skeptics were quick to raise a number of concerns about the potential for copyright infringement and unanticipated effects on the business of research and publishing.
Jean-Noël Jeanneney, president of France’s Bibliothèque Nationale, here takes aim at what he sees as a far more troubling aspect of Google’s Library Project: its potential to misrepresent—and even damage—the world’s cultural heritage. In this impassioned work, Jeanneney argues that Google’s unsystematic digitization of books from a few partner libraries and its reliance on works written mostly in English constitute acts of selection that can only extend the dominance of American culture abroad. This danger is made evident by a Google book search the author discusses here—one run on Hugo, Cervantes, Dante, and Goethe that resulted in just one non-English edition, and a German translation of Hugo at that. An archive that can so easily slight the masters of European literature—and whose development is driven by commercial interests—cannot provide the foundation for a universal library.
As a leading librarian, Jeanneney remains enthusiastic about the archival potential of the Web. But he argues that the short-term thinking characterized by Google’s digital repository must be countered by long-term planning on the part of cultural and governmental institutions worldwide—a serious effort to create a truly comprehensive library, one based on the politics of inclusion and multiculturalism.
Publisher University of Chicago Press, 2007
ISBN 0226395774, 9780226395777
Length 92 pages
Konrad Becker: Die Politik der Infosphäre: World-Information.Org (2003) [German]
Filed under book | Tags: · arpanet, democracy, information society, internet, politics, privacy, security
Wir leben in einer Zeit des Übergangs zwischen einem Zeitalter, das auf industrieller Produktion basiert, und einer Gesellschaft, in der die Schaffung und der Austausch von Informationen den Mittelpunkt bilden. Mit der Entwicklung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien ist eine neue, globalisierte Wirtschaft auf dem Vormarsch, die nicht nur aktuelle politische Vorgänge beeinflusst. Gleichfalls hinterfragt sie den inneren Zusammenhalt der Gesellschaft, die traditionellen Werte und das bisherige Verständnis von Arbeit und Kultur.
“Die Politik der Infosphäre World-Information.Org” untersucht diese dramatischen Veränderungen und zeigt aktuelle Tendenzen dieses gesellschaftlichen Wandels auf.
Editors Konrad Becker, Institut für Neue Kulturtechnol
Publisher VS Verlag, 2003
ISBN 3810038660, 9783810038661
Length 272 pages
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