Every country wishes to share in the prospective
benefits of the Internet. However, there are no
countries that are completely comfortable with
the newfound freedoms of expression and
access to information the Internet brings. As
a result, there are few countries left in the
world today that have not debated, planned, or
implemented Internet filtering. In the following
eight regional overviews, we provide broad summaries that exhibit the ways in which the countries within each region are grappling with the
implications of Internet freedom and the challenges of regulating online content.
Three of the eight regional overviews—Asia,
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and
the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS)—synthesize the findings of the technical
tests and the background research carried out in
these regions. These regional overviews present
the results of the forty country studies in a greater
context.
The other five regional overviews—United
States/Canada, Europe, Latin America, subSaharan Africa, and Australia/New Zealand—are
written to extend the coverage of the study
beyond the forty countries in which we were able
to test in the first year of this global filtering study.
These overviews are based solely on background research and secondary sources; the
OpenNet Initiative (ONI) did not carry out technical filtering tests in these regions with the exception of two countries—Ethiopia and Zimbabwe—
in sub-Saharan Africa and one country—
Venezuela—in Latin America. Although these
overviews fall short of a truly comprehensive
global view of Internet filtering, we believe that
they cover the major issues and trends as of
spring 2007.
In general, the regional overviews are structured to cover the targets of and approaches to
Internet content regulation, though the individual
composition of the eight overviews varies in
accordance with the quantity, focus, and strategies of regulation and filtering employed by the
countries within a given region. As ONI continues
to investigate and document Internet filtering in
future years, we expect to expand our regional
coverage to include more countries.
The overviews for Asia, MENA, and CIS
exhibit considerable variation in filtering practices
between and within those regions. This variation
is seen not only in the depth, breadth, and foci of
filtering, but also in the legal, technical, and
administrative tools used to enact filtering. For
example, the overview of Asia presents a region
with a range of filtering targets and strategies as
wide and diverse as its political and cultural landscape. The CIS overview displays a more narrow
range of activity, reflecting perhaps the common
history of the region. The MENA report evinces a
region with extensive social filtering regimes and
a growing penchant for targeting political
speech.
By contrast, the general picture that
emerges from Europe, the United States,
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is one of
more narrowly focused targeting of online content and a more diverse mix of strategies for
restricting access to that content. Filtering plays
an important part in these regions and countries,
though it tends to be voluntary and focused on a
much narrower set of issues—primarily child
pornography and, in a few cases, hate speech.
The primary content regulation strategies in these
countries tend to rely more heavily on taking
down domestically hosted Web sites and in
removing Web sites from search results than on
Introduction to the
Regional Overviews
benefits of the Internet. However, there are no
countries that are completely comfortable with
the newfound freedoms of expression and
access to information the Internet brings. As
a result, there are few countries left in the
world today that have not debated, planned, or
implemented Internet filtering. In the following
eight regional overviews, we provide broad summaries that exhibit the ways in which the countries within each region are grappling with the
implications of Internet freedom and the challenges of regulating online content.
Three of the eight regional overviews—Asia,
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and
the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS)—synthesize the findings of the technical
tests and the background research carried out in
these regions. These regional overviews present
the results of the forty country studies in a greater
context.
The other five regional overviews—United
States/Canada, Europe, Latin America, subSaharan Africa, and Australia/New Zealand—are
written to extend the coverage of the study
beyond the forty countries in which we were able
to test in the first year of this global filtering study.
These overviews are based solely on background research and secondary sources; the
OpenNet Initiative (ONI) did not carry out technical filtering tests in these regions with the exception of two countries—Ethiopia and Zimbabwe—
in sub-Saharan Africa and one country—
Venezuela—in Latin America. Although these
overviews fall short of a truly comprehensive
global view of Internet filtering, we believe that
they cover the major issues and trends as of
spring 2007.
In general, the regional overviews are structured to cover the targets of and approaches to
Internet content regulation, though the individual
composition of the eight overviews varies in
accordance with the quantity, focus, and strategies of regulation and filtering employed by the
countries within a given region. As ONI continues
to investigate and document Internet filtering in
future years, we expect to expand our regional
coverage to include more countries.
The overviews for Asia, MENA, and CIS
exhibit considerable variation in filtering practices
between and within those regions. This variation
is seen not only in the depth, breadth, and foci of
filtering, but also in the legal, technical, and
administrative tools used to enact filtering. For
example, the overview of Asia presents a region
with a range of filtering targets and strategies as
wide and diverse as its political and cultural landscape. The CIS overview displays a more narrow
range of activity, reflecting perhaps the common
history of the region. The MENA report evinces a
region with extensive social filtering regimes and
a growing penchant for targeting political
speech.
By contrast, the general picture that
emerges from Europe, the United States,
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is one of
more narrowly focused targeting of online content and a more diverse mix of strategies for
restricting access to that content. Filtering plays
an important part in these regions and countries,
though it tends to be voluntary and focused on a
much narrower set of issues—primarily child
pornography and, in a few cases, hate speech.
The primary content regulation strategies in these
countries tend to rely more heavily on taking
down domestically hosted Web sites and in
removing Web sites from search results than on
Introduction to the
Regional Overviews