The Australian government recently just finished preliminary testing of a new Internet censoring software, that would limit access to limit age-appropriate content for users. They feel that a big problem today is that people are lying about their age online to get into age-restricted sites. Even games with violence or language in them will be blocked! Instead of bothering with teaching these kids not to do this or instating harsher laws, they just decided to restrict everyone from these sites.

This is previously unheard of, and privacy advocates are having quite a fit over it. It is one thing when an authoritarian nation like China or a turmoil stricken nation like Iran has these massive government censoring acts, but Australia is perfectly democratic and peaceful. Some worry it could be a catalyst for other democratic nations to follow suit.

Nine ISPs ran this trial censoring software on their users, but only those who opted in, and reportedly that was only a handful. Out of the people tested, feedback was positive. They say the system blocked everything it should have, and only a couple had minor complaints.

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Every college student in the U.S. gripes about the same general stuff; annoying roommates, tough classes, piles of homework, and expensive tuitions. The meme “broke like a college student” didn’t write itself. What you don’t hear them complain about however is their Internet quality. Oftentimes these students come home and search for a quick summary of a book they read, (or perhaps more likely, didn’t) research a popular historical figure for a biography, or just kick back and chat with friends. Some are even brazen enough to waste class time playing games while the teacher is droning on about some subject they don’t care about. While the last one is not a good example of Internet use, to each his own. Imagine not being able to do any of these things, and if you tried, jail time or a hefty fine could be the repercussions.

First we’ll discuss Chinese surveillance, as this is the most prevalent and infamous aspect of their e-dictatorship. As freedom is a luxury we often take for granted in the U.S. and other democratic countries, Internet police seem  like a funny cliché that would appear in an action movie. In fact, they are not, and almost 30,000 are employed to monitor and possibly arrest offending citizens and other “criminals”.

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As soon as you open the site http://www.rsf.org, you can tell they are here to bring the news to everyone. On their main page, you can choose to have the language of the site translated to French, English, Arabic, Spanish, Persian, and Chinese. Encompassing most of the major languages of the world, RSF is a tool of communication that tears down any barriers (even technical ones: they broadcast in RSS format for users of the service) that could bar the flow of information.

RSF (as the site will be referred to from here on) is primarily a news site, dealing with any issues that are pertinent throughout the globe., but particularly focusing on ones about freedom.

The site is very easily laid out. Some news websites can be quite convoluted, with headlines all over the screen, distracting your attention this way and that, but RSF lays their website out to be easily navigable: at the top, the major news. Near the middle, news organized by country and region. At the bottom, a “barometer”, showing journalist casualties, media assistants imprisoned, among other things to allow a quick check-up on foreign affairs. Underneath this, there is a search engine that allows you to view all things pertinent to a year, view Internet threats by country, or do an overall world report. On the side, there is merchandise to buy, and other sites the site recommends. Unlike some sites, RSF doesn’t have pop-ups touting its merchandise, and it doesn’t throw itself at you begging you to buy something.

RSF stands for “Reporter Sans Frontieres”, or, as the English speaking would say, “Reporter Without Borders.” The name follows suit with their organization; they don’t shy away from sensitive news, and won’t stop reporting just because a country doesn’t like it. They believe in Internet freedom, and demonstrate this by reporting the real news and hot topics all of the time, and not leaving anything out. Here you may find articles about the killing of journalists, or even writing protesting an oppressive leader’s habits. They take no prisoners; the way news should be. They don’t sugarcoat anything, calling Iran “the world’s biggest Internet jail”. This is true, and most news companies would have trouble coming out and saying it. The site even has a “Predators” section on its main page, which brazenly point out online predators to keep tabs on.

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The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his government are trying and limit its citizens rights through censorship and blocking, but the Iranians are fighting back; not with violence, but with technology.

Iranians are blogging on FaceBook, sending messages of their protest on Twitter, and Mahmoud Ahadinejad is trying to shut them down. His success is only minimal however; the output of these troubled Iran citizens has increased since the presidential election and the ensuing mass censorship attempt.

Just recently, on Twitter, links and news of peaceful protests coupled with photos have become the most popular searches on Twitter, according to a recent statistic.

Since protesting out in the open can often have deadly effects, some have made Twitter their virtual protest base. One of these silent protesters is Mir Hussein Moussavi. One feed advocating him (Moussavi1388) has almost 7000 fans, and regularly updates news and urging to keep up the fight.

While Twitter isn’t the only medium these e-protests seek safety through, (Mr. Moussavi’s FaceBook page has 50,000 fans) it would be safe to say it is their weapon of choice.

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A while back, China had been making headlines all over the world with its string of internet-related scandals. One recent one refers to a Chinese milk company called Sanlu that bribed China’s largest search engine (Baidu) to censor any negative information about their milk…. Twice.

Sanlu offered to buy $640,000 worth of advertising in exchange for the mass cover-up of their most recent foible; thousands of infants hospitalized, four deaths, and recurrent kidney illness, after consuming Sanlu’s milk. Sanlu attempted to make up for lost profits by “enhancing” the milk with melamine, rather than actually adding in satisfactory amounts of protein. Melamine is NOT a replacement for protein, and is actually found in plastics and is flame retardant.

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Skype, the popular software that lets users make phone and video calls over the internet using a microphone and speakers now has a Chinese version that isn’t so popular once you learn what it does.  First reported by news sources such as PC Magazine and Cnet, this alternate version of Skype watches for certain words, and then blocks them from servers.

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