and amount of resources devoted to the endeavor, or it may be a reflection of the resolve and
political will to shut down large sections of the Internet.
The countries occupying the upper right of figure 1.1, including Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia, are those that not only intercede on a wide range of topics but also block a large amount
of content relating to those topics. Myanmar and Yemen cover a similarly broad scope,
though with less comprehensiveness in each category. South Korea is in a league of its own.
It has opted to filter very little, targeting North Korean sites, many of which are hosted in
Japan. Yet South Korea’s thoroughness in blocking these sites manifests a strong desire to
eliminate access to them. There is a cluster of states occupying the center of the plot that
Table 1.1
Filtering by state
Evidence of filtering
Suspected filtering
No evidence of filtering
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Afghanistan
Bahrain
Kazakhstan
Algeria
China
Egypt
Ethiopia
Iraq
India
Israel
Iran
Kyrgyzstan
Jordan
Malaysia
Libya
Moldova
Morocco
Nepal
Myanmar
Russia*
Oman
Ukraine
Pakistan
Venezuela
Saudi Arabia
West Bank/Gaza
Singapore
Zimbabwe
South Korea
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Thailand
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
* Testing in Russia was limited to a selection of ISPs in Moscow; these preliminary results may not extend
beyond this sample.
6
Robert Faris and Nart Villeneuve
political will to shut down large sections of the Internet.
The countries occupying the upper right of figure 1.1, including Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia, are those that not only intercede on a wide range of topics but also block a large amount
of content relating to those topics. Myanmar and Yemen cover a similarly broad scope,
though with less comprehensiveness in each category. South Korea is in a league of its own.
It has opted to filter very little, targeting North Korean sites, many of which are hosted in
Japan. Yet South Korea’s thoroughness in blocking these sites manifests a strong desire to
eliminate access to them. There is a cluster of states occupying the center of the plot that
Table 1.1
Filtering by state
Evidence of filtering
Suspected filtering
No evidence of filtering
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Afghanistan
Bahrain
Kazakhstan
Algeria
China
Egypt
Ethiopia
Iraq
India
Israel
Iran
Kyrgyzstan
Jordan
Malaysia
Libya
Moldova
Morocco
Nepal
Myanmar
Russia*
Oman
Ukraine
Pakistan
Venezuela
Saudi Arabia
West Bank/Gaza
Singapore
Zimbabwe
South Korea
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Thailand
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
* Testing in Russia was limited to a selection of ISPs in Moscow; these preliminary results may not extend
beyond this sample.
6
Robert Faris and Nart Villeneuve