Overview
It is not surprising that Asia, a region with extraordinary cultural, social, and political diversity, is
home to a broad range of approaches, policies,
and practices toward Internet censorship.
ONI conducted in-country testing in
Afghanistan, China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar
(Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, South
Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Afghanistan,
Malaysia, and Nepal do not use technical filtering
to implement their policies on information control,
but China, Myanmar, and Vietnam rely heavily on
pervasive filtering as a central platform for shaping public knowledge, participation, and expression. The filtering practices of Thailand and
Pakistan are more targeted, as ONI testing indicated that they blocked a substantial number of
sites across categories of content considered
sensitive or illicit. The remaining countries in Asia
tested by ONI filtered on a selective basis and on
targeted topics, including India (ethnic and religious conflict), South Korea (sites containing
North Korean propaganda or promoting the
reunification of North and South Korea), and
Singapore (pornography).
Of countries filtering political content, China,
Myanmar, and Vietnam blocked with the greatest
breadth and depth, spanning human rights
issues, reform and opposition activities, independent media and news, and discrimination
against ethnic and religious minorities. Thailand
and Pakistan blocked political content to a much
more limited degree than China, Myanmar, or
Vietnam.
A narrower range of social content was
blocked in Asian countries. Many countries,
including Vietnam, cited obscene content as a
major justification for engaging in technical filtering. Singapore, Thailand, China, Pakistan, and
Myanmar actually blocked pornographic content
to varying degrees. Pakistan filtered a number of
sites posting Danish cartoon images of the
Prophet Muhammad widely condemned as
blasphemous, while India also blocked a limited
number of sites providing extreme viewpoints on
religion. South Korea and Thailand filtered a
small selection of gambling sites.
Internet Filtering in
Internet Filtering in
Asia
It is not surprising that Asia, a region with extraordinary cultural, social, and political diversity, is
home to a broad range of approaches, policies,
and practices toward Internet censorship.
ONI conducted in-country testing in
Afghanistan, China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar
(Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, South
Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Afghanistan,
Malaysia, and Nepal do not use technical filtering
to implement their policies on information control,
but China, Myanmar, and Vietnam rely heavily on
pervasive filtering as a central platform for shaping public knowledge, participation, and expression. The filtering practices of Thailand and
Pakistan are more targeted, as ONI testing indicated that they blocked a substantial number of
sites across categories of content considered
sensitive or illicit. The remaining countries in Asia
tested by ONI filtered on a selective basis and on
targeted topics, including India (ethnic and religious conflict), South Korea (sites containing
North Korean propaganda or promoting the
reunification of North and South Korea), and
Singapore (pornography).
Of countries filtering political content, China,
Myanmar, and Vietnam blocked with the greatest
breadth and depth, spanning human rights
issues, reform and opposition activities, independent media and news, and discrimination
against ethnic and religious minorities. Thailand
and Pakistan blocked political content to a much
more limited degree than China, Myanmar, or
Vietnam.
A narrower range of social content was
blocked in Asian countries. Many countries,
including Vietnam, cited obscene content as a
major justification for engaging in technical filtering. Singapore, Thailand, China, Pakistan, and
Myanmar actually blocked pornographic content
to varying degrees. Pakistan filtered a number of
sites posting Danish cartoon images of the
Prophet Muhammad widely condemned as
blasphemous, while India also blocked a limited
number of sites providing extreme viewpoints on
religion. South Korea and Thailand filtered a
small selection of gambling sites.
Internet Filtering in
Internet Filtering in
Asia