Internet filtering is on the rise with 26 out of 40 countries blocking or filtering political or social content

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LONDON: Internet censorship is growing worldwide, with 26 out of 40 countries blocking or filtering political or social content, new research reveals.

The survey, carried out by experts at four leading universities, found that people in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were often denied access to information about politics, sexuality, culture or religion.

Conducting the first of what is planned to become an annual survey, experts at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the U.K., Harvard in the U.S. and Toronto in Canada found that the approach varied according to the country. For example, South Korea heavily censored only one topic – North Korea – while Iran, China and Saudi Arabia blocked a wide range of topics.

"Pervasive" filterers

The experts with the OpenNet Initiative, who carried out their research last year, listed six countries as "pervasive" filterers of political information: Myanmar, China, Iran, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam.

They categorised seven countries, all of them Muslim, as "pervasive" social filterers: Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Topics blocked were those considered antithetical to social norms, including pornography, gay and lesbian content and gambling.

Social filtering was also carried out by countries like France and Germany, where websites denying the Holocaust or promoting Nazism were blocked.

The survey found that Myanmar, China, Iran, Pakistan and South Korea have the "most encompassing national security filtering," targeting the websites of insurgents, extremists, and terrorists.

Stifling effects

"The survey shows us that online censorship is growing around the world," said John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, and clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Some regulation is to be expected as the medium matures, but filtering and surveillance can seriously erode civil liberties and privacy and stifle global communications," he added in a statement.

However the survey also found that a handful of countries where Internet filtering might be expected because of the social or political climate – such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe – were not filtering.

According to the researchers, Internet filtering techniques have evolved with the growing complexity of content. "Instead of just blocking static Web sites, such as pages ... that show pornographic pictures or information about human rights, online censors are blocking entire applications, such as YouTube," they said.

Other applications targeted include the internet telephony service Skype and Google Maps. Still others are blogs relating to political parties and local non-government organisations. "In the case of blogs, a number of countries, including Pakistan and Ethiopia, have blocked entire blogging domains," said the survey.

As the annual survey is expanded, Oxford University professor Jonathan Zittrain expects to find more countries that filter the Internet. This survey marks "the first step towards a comprehensive global assessment of Internet filtering practices," he said.