A Horrifying Interactive Map of Global Internet Censorship 158
An anonymous reader writes "Imagine a world where the book burners had won. A world where information is filtered and must be approved by governments before it can be accessed by their citizens. A world where people are held down and kept in line by oppressive regimes that restrict the free flow of information and bombard citizens with government-approved messages. Now stop imagining, because this horrifying world already exists..."
Link has no map? (Score:3, Interesting)
It links to an article that wants you to click a lot more before you ever get to any map. What the hell ever happened to accessing information on the web, as opposed to clicking just on a bunch of ads?
Imagine a world where global advertising has eliminated all information, never mind censorship. That world has already happened.
Lame.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Lame, lame and lame. It's been going on for years and just because your country doesn't ascribe to censorship they're most likely tracking your activities surreptitiously. While it was a lofty goal to have an Internet free from Censors, you're not going to get that to happen in every place all the time. There was once a trial in Canada over a very serious crime there was some testimony that was extremely sensitive involving the crime. The judge in the case issued a gag order including that of all Canadian press organizations not to publish details about it. That didn't of course apply to US journalists covering the trial who published the information in the US. This led to Canadian border agents seizing US newspapers because of the publication of the information. The point here is that some view censorship as beneficial in certain cases while others view it with disdain. For example, this week I saw a video of a beheading. Now after watching it I probably wish that somebody had filtered that for me.
Book burning... (Score:3, Interesting)
... is the cornerstone of decadence.
It actually started with the burning of the great library of Alexandria and the murder of Hypathia at the start of an era we call the Dark Ages when Christianity was born. Centuries of a murderous, and genocidal campaign was untaken to erase specific information from human knowledge and history.
I find it odd to read an article shared on /. starting with "Imagine a world where the book burners had won."
Re:What about.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Give me a little censorship in the States any day over Quebec's crazy-ass "cultural heritage" laws. I never have to sorry about being thrown in prison in the U.S. because I dare to put up a sign in the wrong language, or dare to piss off some crazy French nationalist by suggesting that England may not be so bad.
Stop being such a drama queen. (Score:5, Interesting)
"Imagine a world in which the book burners had won"
Please. "Horrifying"?
The OP pimps itself breathlessly as "This interactive map of global Internet censorship is the most important thing youâ(TM)ll see today" - yes, it's about as important (and surprising) as the sun coming up in the East.
The facts are that
a) the ubiquitous availability of information is a relatively new thing. Public libraries didn't even really exist until the latter 19th/E20th centuries. The internet is less than a generation old.
b) governments and power structures have controlled such information throughout the span of human history.
The panicked tone of the article implies that this is worse than ever, which is patently histrionic bullshit. Even in these heavily censored countries, these people have access to information that they NEVER would have had before.
I'm not even 100% convinced that the ideal of universal access to information is an unalloyed good. Certainly, from the POV of a midwestern, middle class educated individual I *assume* that the net result of having more information is beneficial - but I can certainly see that there are negative aspects to "everything open", such as people who clearly don't understand basic science drawing conclusions from unfiltered scientific data. Or statistics? How many people are easily manipulated by presentations of statistics that they don't even understand? Again, my gut tells me that the "net" is a benefit, but I can't say I'm certain.
Again, as a small-l liberal, I believe that information and communication is probably good in the long run; even the small trickles of illumination sneaking into those heavily censored places suggests to me that their ability to keep their people in ignorance will eventually expire. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.
A glass 95% empty is still a crapton better than no glass at all.
Corporate "laws" (Score:5, Interesting)
Takes some seriously Orwellian doublethink to pretend copyright enforcement isn't censorship.
I think this is the result of a very narrow view point when making the map. They seem to only care about censorship by the state through direct laws. Increasingly in the US, and so some extent the rest of the western world, it is not government which restricts our rights but companies. They need to make a second map showing countries where companies have used laws to force, or bully, people into being censored through the threat of massive financial penalties.
Your life is SO AWFUL. (Score:4, Interesting)
Takes some seriously Orwellian doublethink to pretend copyright enforcement isn't censorship.
If copyright issues are your biggest complaint, you have a pretty good life. I am betting you have electricity, running water, and toilets, things much of the "free world" doesn't have, much less relative freedom of speech. You simply have no idea what life is like outside your environment. Please do travel outside your local country. Hopefully, it will be an eye-opener (and heart-opener) for you.