of all Internet users.
24
Over 70 percent of the 20.8
million bloggers (of which around 3.15 million
were active) are under thirty. 25 In Thailand those
under twenty-five years account for over half of
Thai users. 26 A Windows Live Spaces report on a
thriving blogging community in India, estimated
at 14 percent of Internet users, found that a vast
majority of bloggers are men under the age of
thirty-five, which conforms to the demographic
snapshot of Indian Internet users as predominantly male, middle class, and young. 27
Legal and regulatory frameworks
Each of the countries that practice pervasive
filtering in the region have issued ambitious
regulations that aim to bring Internet users under
government supervision and control, even if the
feasibility of such oversight remains in doubt.
Myanmar, China, and Vietnam engage in constant, unremitting supervision of and interference
with other forms of media. Well-established
strategies include the shuttering of reformist
newspapers and Web sites, the institutionalized
supervision over content, and the intimidation
and harassment of dissidents, journalists, and
human rights activists.
In the regulation of cyberspace, the corresponding phenomenon is the delegation of policing and monitoring responsibilities to ISPs, content providers, private corporations, and users
themselves. These frameworks are not structured
to accommodate only voluntary self-regulation
along industry lines, but rather they exact compliance with state-imposed requirements through
the looming threat of shutdowns, loss of license,
fines, job dismissals, and even criminal liability.
Vietnam and China apply a more direct form of
censorship through the detention of cyberdissidents, while in Pakistan the Supreme Court
authorized the police to register criminal cases
against publishers of content blaspheming the
Prophet Muhammad, even though no one was
apprehended. Although there are no known
cases of individuals detained for merely viewing
prohibited online content, there are scores of
journalists, writers, and activists who have been
imprisoned on the basis of publishing criticism of
government policies on the Internet, even in the
form of song lyrics or discussion of political
reform over VoIP. 28 The hidden, cumulative cost
of these tiered and overlapping controls is selfcensorship and a chilling effect that pervades all
speech.
China can point to dozens of regulations
that systematically proscribe nine to eleven types
of illegal content, and the number of regulations
is growing. The government has imposed new
regulations to keep pace with, and even anticipate, the explosion of online video sharing, blogging, and other Web 2.0 platforms, proposing
real-name registration requirements for bloggers
and national regulations for online video and
short film content. 29 With the support of a legal
framework where even unemployment rates
and certain family planning statistics are state
secrets, the central propaganda organ issues
instructions throughout the government hierarchy
to media organizations, hosts such as BBS and
blog platforms, and other content providers to
suppress discussion of an ever-expanding list of
proscribed topics.
Whether or not a legal basis for filtering is
implicit in content regulations, in many Asian
countries filtering has proceeded despite the lack
of clear authority to do so. This includes countries with established democratic systems and
protections for the press and other forms of
speech. For example, while India is in the
process of centralizing its filtering at the international gateway level and therefore improving its
efficacy, many still question whether its primary
legal authorization for filtering, the 2000 IT Act, is
valid in light of constitutional requirements for limits to freedom of expression.
In Thailand, where human rights protections
and press freedom have deteriorated in recent
years, the legal authority for filtering is not clear.
Indeed, the practice of filtering may in fact con158
Regional Overviews
24
Over 70 percent of the 20.8
million bloggers (of which around 3.15 million
were active) are under thirty. 25 In Thailand those
under twenty-five years account for over half of
Thai users. 26 A Windows Live Spaces report on a
thriving blogging community in India, estimated
at 14 percent of Internet users, found that a vast
majority of bloggers are men under the age of
thirty-five, which conforms to the demographic
snapshot of Indian Internet users as predominantly male, middle class, and young. 27
Legal and regulatory frameworks
Each of the countries that practice pervasive
filtering in the region have issued ambitious
regulations that aim to bring Internet users under
government supervision and control, even if the
feasibility of such oversight remains in doubt.
Myanmar, China, and Vietnam engage in constant, unremitting supervision of and interference
with other forms of media. Well-established
strategies include the shuttering of reformist
newspapers and Web sites, the institutionalized
supervision over content, and the intimidation
and harassment of dissidents, journalists, and
human rights activists.
In the regulation of cyberspace, the corresponding phenomenon is the delegation of policing and monitoring responsibilities to ISPs, content providers, private corporations, and users
themselves. These frameworks are not structured
to accommodate only voluntary self-regulation
along industry lines, but rather they exact compliance with state-imposed requirements through
the looming threat of shutdowns, loss of license,
fines, job dismissals, and even criminal liability.
Vietnam and China apply a more direct form of
censorship through the detention of cyberdissidents, while in Pakistan the Supreme Court
authorized the police to register criminal cases
against publishers of content blaspheming the
Prophet Muhammad, even though no one was
apprehended. Although there are no known
cases of individuals detained for merely viewing
prohibited online content, there are scores of
journalists, writers, and activists who have been
imprisoned on the basis of publishing criticism of
government policies on the Internet, even in the
form of song lyrics or discussion of political
reform over VoIP. 28 The hidden, cumulative cost
of these tiered and overlapping controls is selfcensorship and a chilling effect that pervades all
speech.
China can point to dozens of regulations
that systematically proscribe nine to eleven types
of illegal content, and the number of regulations
is growing. The government has imposed new
regulations to keep pace with, and even anticipate, the explosion of online video sharing, blogging, and other Web 2.0 platforms, proposing
real-name registration requirements for bloggers
and national regulations for online video and
short film content. 29 With the support of a legal
framework where even unemployment rates
and certain family planning statistics are state
secrets, the central propaganda organ issues
instructions throughout the government hierarchy
to media organizations, hosts such as BBS and
blog platforms, and other content providers to
suppress discussion of an ever-expanding list of
proscribed topics.
Whether or not a legal basis for filtering is
implicit in content regulations, in many Asian
countries filtering has proceeded despite the lack
of clear authority to do so. This includes countries with established democratic systems and
protections for the press and other forms of
speech. For example, while India is in the
process of centralizing its filtering at the international gateway level and therefore improving its
efficacy, many still question whether its primary
legal authorization for filtering, the 2000 IT Act, is
valid in light of constitutional requirements for limits to freedom of expression.
In Thailand, where human rights protections
and press freedom have deteriorated in recent
years, the legal authority for filtering is not clear.
Indeed, the practice of filtering may in fact con158
Regional Overviews