Internet Censorship / Democracy & Globalization / Economic Imperialism

Its clear this is an important issue, and perhaps the most productive discussion would center on the relationship of the internet, democracy and globalization.  We are talking about the responsibility of the State to uphold democratic ideals, and us confronting the fact that there must be an organization and processes that mediate between the economic and technological ramifications of a capitalist globalization and the masses.  Clearly some states have no intention to uphold democratic ideals, while others mainly attempt the minimum.  But I think it would be possible, with a high level of transparency, participation, and citizenship/technology education to develop some sort of democratic global program to research and re-organize the internet.  I would argue that our internet also reflects a capitalistic technological framework, and that the combination of Technology and Art/Creativity in design will allow us to develop more organic and productive ways to organize and share information.

The booming business of Internet censorship

Technology companies based in the West are producing the tools to censor content in the Arab world. by Jillian York (source: Al Jazeera) [http://philosophyforchange.wordpress.com/] Throughout most of the Middle East and North Africa, online censorship is the norm. The level of censorship varies; in Morocco, only a handful of sites relating to the Western Sahara, Google Earth, and Livejournal are deemed offencive enough to ban, while other countries – like Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria – filter the internet pervasively, banning political sites as well as social content. Though the filtering itself is conducted by the governments of each country, it is made possible by technology imported mainly from the United States and Canada. A new report from the OpenNet Initiative, which I authored with my colleague Helmi Noman, outlines the various countries in the region utilising these tools: In Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Sudan, and Kuwait, the censors prefer McAfee's SmartFilter technology. (continue + article by Samir Amin after jump)