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Role of Censorship, Privacy, and Laws in INTERNET

Conference Paper · May 2013

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Role of Censorship, Privacy and Laws in INTERNET
Vinod Kumar Shukla Samia Moosavi
Department of Information Technology Department of Business Administration
Amity University Dubai Campus Amity University Dubai Campus
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai, United Arab Emirates
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—This paper first review about the Internet INTERNET CENSORSHIP

censorship and its control or suppression of what can be accessed,
published, or viewed on the internet. Areas of censorship include Internet censorship can be defined as the control and/or
copyrights, defamation, harassment and obscene material. It is suppression of what can be accessed, viewed and published on
done through various technical and non-technical methods the internet. Mainly it is controlled by the governments of
including content filtering and site blocking. In subsequent section
various countries, but this can also be carried out by private
of the paper there is the discussion of different initiatives by many
organizations and individuals for moral, religious or business
reasons.
NGO’s and activist groups in order to combat censorship and
privacy. It also talks about the different censorship acts like SOPA, Areas of censorship include:
PIPA, CISPA and ACTA and the peoples view about these laws. At
last the paper analyzes how censorship, privacy and laws affect • Copyrights: it is a legal concept, which gives the
society and business of various countries along with UAE. creator of original work exclusive rights to it, i.e;
nobody else has a claim on it.
Index Terms—SOPA, PIPA, CISPA and Internet Censorship.  • Defamation: it is the communication of a statement,
which could be true or false, intended to give an
INTRODUCTION individual, business or a product a negative image or a
bad name.
Internet is an interconnection of various networks worldwide. It • Harassment: it refers to behavior of an offensive nature
is a largely public portal for mutual file and resource sharing. that intends to disturb or upset an individual or a group
According to one study, the users of the Internet are nearly 90% of people. It can also be threatening at times.
male, 87% white, and with 33% having university level • Obscene material: it refers to statements or acts that
education. Approximately 71% of the users are from North hurt moral, religious, cultural or traditional sentiments
America, 23% European, and 5% from other continents. Users of society.
are young with about half of the World Wide Web users being
under the age of 30. [4] Liability and censorship also present legal challenges. The
University of Georgia, for example, has established an advisory
The number of services the internet provides is enormous, board for the computing operations to discuss and decide what is
ranging from basic home requirements, to fulfilling the needs of indecent and has prohibited access to “forbidden” newsgroups.[3]
multinational companies. It is utilized by people of all age
groups, people from diverse countries and people from Some general methods for implementing censorship:
multifarious professions.
Non Technical Internet Censorship Method
With the increase in usage of internet and its services, a great
degree of freedom of expression and speech has been granted to • Different publishers, authors, and ISPs may receive
the public. They are now free to share their thoughts and express formal and informal requests to remove, alter, slant, or
their views on any matter, such as science, philosophy, sports, block access to specific sites or content.
entertainment, politics, arts and others. • Publishers, authors, and ISPs may be subject to civil
lawsuits.
Alongside this astonishing growth, which is possible due to the • Access to the Internet may be limited due to restrictive
availability of low-cost computers and there hardware, free licensing policies or high costs, lack of the necessary
software, and inexpensive telecommunications, is the crucial fact infrastructure, deliberate or not.
that the Internet is not controlled by a single authority. • Equipment may be confiscated and/or destroyed.
Technical Internet Censorship Method Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard
University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa
• Internet Protocol (IP) address blocking
• Domain name system (DNS) filtering and redirection The main goal of OpenNet Initiative (ONI) is to monitor and
• Uniform Resource Locator filtering report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations.
• Packet filtering The project employs a number of technical means and also
• Network disconnection international network of investigators, to determine the extent
• Portal censorship and search result removal and nature of government-run internet filtering programs.

Site-blocking and content filtering remain popular censorship ONI classifies the magnitude of censorship or filtering occurring
tools for various countries. Although there exist certain in a country in four areas of activity. The magnitude or level of
circumvention tools to bypass these techniques and gain access censorship is classified as follows:
to blocked information, it requires a certain amount of skill and
knowledge which is usually possessed and applied by tech savvy • Pervasive: A large portion of content in several
individuals. Since the knowledge required is complex, most categories is blocked.
people are unaware, or do not know how to properly apply it. • Substantial: A number of categories are subject to a
medium level of filtering or many categories are subject
In some countries, the censoring authority cleverly blocks to a low level of filtering.
content to mislead the public into believing that censorship has • Selective: A small number of specific sites are blocked
not been applied. This is done by returning a fake "Not or filtering targets a small number of categories or
Found" error message when the user attempts to access a blocked issues.
site. • Suspected: It is suspected, but not confirmed, that Web
sites are being blocked.
Parental supervision is certainly one alternative to broad Internet
• No evidence: No evidence of blocked Web sites,
censorship. [5] Parents can restrict modem and computer usage.
although other forms of controls may exist.
Software companies have created products such as “Net Nanny”
which keeps a record of all information viewed on a computer. Countries impose censorship on internet for varied reasons, the
[5] Some software can be programmed to immediately log off most common being to protect the moral values of the society
the Internet when certain keywords are detected. [5] and protecting children from adult content.
How do the filters work? Sites promoting hate speech, containing pornographic content,
promoting illegal drug use, encouraging criminal activity or
• Blocking the websites that contain objectionable or
violence, and sites containing defamatory or libelous content are
obscene material.
generally blocked.
• Using a list of banned words: If the requested webpage
contains a banned word, then the page is blocked. There are some basic distinctions between obscenity and
• Others check the pages for embedded codes that pornography. The First Amendment guarantee of free speech
indicate the page is not intended/ suitable for children. does not extend to obscene material. [2]
• Filters can also be used to block sexually explicit text or
photographs; hate speech, pages inciting violence,
instructions on building weapons, and so forth.
A typical anti-censorship system is comprised of many
components working together [4]. Conceptually, a censorship
network can be viewed as a set of filters or a firewall and
possibly coupled with manual processes which restrict users from
accessing or publishing certain content.

FEW ORGANIZATIONS WORKING FOR

INTERNET CENSORSHIP
1. OpenNet Initiative

The OpenNet Initiative is a collaborative partnership of the Source: (OpenNet Initiative "Summarized global Internet filtering data
Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of spreadsheet", 29 October 2012 and "Country Profiles")
Working Concept of ONI:
2. Reporters without Borders (RWB)
The ONI collects global data on Internet filtering using technical
and contextual tools. The analysis is based on a fusion of expert This is a France-based international non-profit, non-
(qualitative) and statistical (quantitative) methods, and represents governmental organization which promotes and defends freedom
the current state of filtering referred from ONI's on-going survey of information and freedom of the press.
work.
Reporters Without Borders has two primary spheres of activity:
Graphical view of countries for Internet censorship. one is focused on Internet Censorship and the New Media, and
the other on providing material, financial and psychological
Political content: Content that expresses views in opposition to assistance to journalists assigned to dangerous areas.[6] Its
those of the current government, or is related to human rights, missions are to:
freedom of expression, and religious movements. [8]
Continuously monitor attacks on freedom of information
worldwide.

• Act in cooperation with governments to fight censorship and

laws aimed at restricting freedom of information;
• Morally and financially assist persecuted journalists, as well
as their families; and
• Offer material assistance to war correspondents in order to
Social content: Content related to sexuality, gambling, and enhance their safety.
illegal drugs and alcohol, and also related to other issues that
FEW LAWS TO CONTROL INTERNET CENSORSHIP
may be socially sensitive or perceived as offensive. [8]
1. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a United

States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith to
expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat
online copyright infringement and online trafficking
in counterfeit goods. It proposed to give the US Justice
Department and copyright holders the power to take down
Conflict and security: Content related to armed conflicts, border websites due to copyright infringement without hearing a defense
disputes, separatist movements, and militant groups. [8] by the website owners. By this copyright owners will have the
power to lodge complaints that websites infringed on their
copyright and seek compensation from any company that did
business with the website. They could also get the whole website
taken down, not just the infringing material, all without entering
a courtroom. The big problem with SOPA was that it would have
given the Justice Department power to shut down access to both
domestic and foreign sites in the US.

Internet tools: Web sites that provide e-mail, Internet hosting, 2. Protect IP Act (PIPA)
search, translation, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
telephone service, and circumvention methods. [8] The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to
Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act,
or PIPA) is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US
government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access
to "rogue websites dedicated to the sale of infringing or
counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S.

While nearly identical in nearly all aspects with SOPA but there
are two main differences.
 • The first being that it doesn’t require search engines to and coordinated way, which is absolutely necessary to fight the
stop working with foreign, copyright infringing highly sophisticated counterfeiting networks spanning multiple
websites. It still allows for copyright holders to lodge countries. INTA (International Trademark Association) supports
complaints against foreign sites though. ACTA provisions that call for:
• The second is that it requires greater court intervention • Higher standards and stronger cooperation on
when pursuing copyright infringement. combating counterfeiting
• Stronger border enforcement especially with relation to
3. Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act goods in transit
(CISPA)- • More effective criminal penalties
• Stronger international cooperation between enforcement
CISPA, is designed to help prevent and defend against cyber bodies of the signatory countries
attacks on critical national infrastructure and against other • Increased cooperation between government and industry
internet attacks on private firms by obtaining and sharing "cyber
threat information". 5. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)
The main purpose of CISPA is to guard against “cyber threats” The law is supposed to apply to child pornography, drug-related
and has been expanded to also cover national security. If passed, material, extremist material, but the vague wording of the law has
military and government agencies will be able to collect and led most observers and analysts to conclude that the law is
share private data from companies without a warrant. Companies manifestly for the purpose of censoring freedom of speech.
will be able to share data with government agencies, as long as it
pertains to a cyber-threat. These threats include anything that’s in Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) (also called complete packet
relation to efforts to harm public and private networks, theft and inspection and Information eXtraction) is a form of computer
wrongful use of data. The worst thing about this bill is that it network packet filtering that examines the data part (and possibly
gives the government permission to monitor ALL of your also the header) of a packet as it passes an inspection point,
Internet activity, and use your information without liability. If a searching for protocol non-compliance, viruses, spam, intrusions,
government or military body shares your information because or defined criteria to decide whether the packet may pass or if it
they deem you a cyber-threat and it’s a mistake, you won’t be needs to be routed to a different destination, or, for the purpose of
able to seek legal recourse. collecting statistical information.
Tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and IBM, and Most digital inspection tools only look at the “headers” on a
cellular giants AT&T and Verizon, as well as banks and financial packet of data –- where it’s going, and where it came from. DPI
firms like the American Bankers Association and the Chamber of allows network providers to peer into the digital packets
Commerce, have all endorsed the current version of CISPA. composing a message or transmission over a network. “You open
While Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks has not the envelope, not just read the address on a letter,” said an
endorsed or openly supported the current version of CISPA. engineer dealing with DPI. It allows ISPs not only to monitor the
traffic, but to filter it, suppressing particular services or content.
In April 2012, the US House passed CISPA by a large majority. DPI has also elicited concern from leading privacy groups over
how this highly intrusive technology will be used by
4. Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)- governments.

ACTA was negotiated by Australia, Canada, the EU and its 27 6. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Reform
Member States, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco,
New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), [7], is an
amendment made in 1986 to the Counterfeit Access Device and
The objective of the ACTA is to put in place international Abuse Act that was passed in 1984 and essentially states that,
standards for enforcing intellectual property rights in order to whoever intentionally accesses a computer without authorization
fight more efficiently the growing problems of counterfeiting and or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains information
piracy. The agreement covers three areas: improving from any protected computer if the conduct involved an interstate
international cooperation, establishing best practices for or foreign communication shall be punished under the Act.
enforcement, and providing a more effective legal framework
The CFAA is the federal anti-hacking law. Among other things,
ACTA would be one of the first international agreements this law makes it illegal to intentionally access a computer
designed specifically to combat counterfeiting in a harmonized
without authorization or in excess of authorization; however, the within the UAE, especially in Dubai. In 2005 the Government
law does not explain what "without authorization" actually also sponsored an ICT Development Fund, the first of its kind in
means. The statute does attempt to define "exceeds authorized the Middle East specifically geared towards the promotion of
access," but the meaning of that phrase has been subject to ICT in the country. Finally the government has supported the
considerable dispute. While the CFAA is primarily a criminal development of ICT through investment in infrastructure like the
law intended to reduce the instances of malicious hacking, a 1994 Dubai Technology E-Commerce & Media Freezone (TECOM).
amendment to the bill allows for civil actions to be brought under
the staute. In September 2005 the UAE launched an “ICT Development
Fund” to advance the ICT Policies of the country. The “ICT
There are seven types of criminal activity enumerated in the Development Fund” is a first of its kind in the region and aims to
CFAA: obtaining national security information, compromising position the UAE to be among the most advanced ICT countries
confidentiality, trespassing in a government computer, accessing in the World.
to defraud and obtain value, damaging a computer or
information, trafficking in passwords, and threatening to damage The UAE's telecoms regulator has moved to close a loophole that
a computer. Attempts to commit these crimes are also criminally allowed users of smartphones to access banned websites, after
punishable. complaints from parents that children were using the devices to
access pornographic websites.
UAE aspect on Internet Censorship
Conclusion and Future scope:
The UAE continues to prevent its citizens from accessing a
significant amount of Internet content spanning a variety of In the context of current issue of Internet censorship, a majority
topics. The UAE employs SmartFilter software to block content of people believe that have the right to read whatever is on the
related to nudity, sex, dating, gambling, the occult, religious Internet." On average 62 percent endorsed full access, while 30
conversion, and drugs. Web sites pertaining to anonymizer tools, percent said that the government should have the right to
hacking, translation tools (as these have been used as proxies), "prevent people from having access to some things on the
and VoIP applications are also filtered in this manner. Internet."

There are government efforts to monitor Internet activities in Even though there are some forms of misused internet
public Internet cafe´s to ensure that connections provided there censorship, it is not reasonable to conclude that all types of
do not bypass national filtering. Electronic surveillance to internet censorship violate freedom of speech.
monitor objectionable online activities is publically
acknowledged by the authorities. There is almost infinite amount of information that’s on the
Internet. Some of the information has literary, artistic, social,
The telecommunication services in the UAE are regulated by the political or scientific value, but some of the information is just
TRA, which was established in 2003 by a federal law and is garbage or even harmful to user who is looking at the
tasked with ensuring adequacy of telecommunications services information. One of the most common examples here can be
throughout the UAE and establishing and implementing a obscenity. There is no one person that can claim that he is able to
regulatory and policy framework.[9] The TRA is responsible for filter all the “bad” information out all by himself. There should
producing the Internet Access Management (IAM) policy, which be internet censorship provided to handle this kind of
outlines prohibited online content categories for ISPs. These information. It is also important for it to co-operate with local
categories include Internet tools for accessing blocked content, law enforcement. The reason why it has to co-operate with local
content providing information on criminal skills and illegal law enforcement is that not all “bad” information can be defined
drugs, content containing pornography and nudity, gambling if there is no law or regulation involved. It is also because that
sites, Web sites for hacking and malicious codes, content most of the different areas will have different opinions on what
offensive to religions, phishing Internet sites, Internet content the “bad” information can be.
that downloads spyware, Web sites providing unlicensed VoIP
service, terrorism content, and prohibited top-level domain,[10] Though the Internet is a great enabler of free speech,
apparently a reference to the top-level domain of Israel which is governments all around the world want to censor it. The beauty
blocked in the UAE. of the internet is that it "levels the playing field". It makes
organizing cheap and fast by getting together like-minded people.
The UAE is very progressive in it's policies towards and adoption
of ICT technology. The country has an established National Since it is within the reach of ordinary citizens, a powerful
Telecom Policy in place to advance development and innovation political movement can be started. To some governments and
organizations, this is a potentially dangerous thing, and that is 4. “Defeat Internet Censorship: Overview of Advanced Technologies
why they want to censor it. and Products,” Global Internet Freedom Consortium, Nov. 2007
5. Ryga, Barbara M., “Cyberporn: Contemplating the First Amendment
The philosophical battle will ultimately decide the censorship in Cyberspace,” Seton Hall Constitutional Law Journal, Fall 1995. 
issue. The open internet has its champions amongst governments,
and amongst the peoples of the world. We must hope that
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