The Internet was supposed to spell the end of censorship – instead governments now have unprecedented possibilities for controlling what we do and what we read. But this is a revolution in free expression that can’t be stopped. Index examines the explosion in communication, the rise in new forms of censorship (and the ways to get round them) and the impact on social attitudes.
I wrote about what I’ve learned about internet filtering technology from my experience co-editing BoingBoing, which is routinely blocked by various censorware applications for all sorts of silly, inaccurate reasons. Nearly every day (certainly every week) we receive a perplexed message from a would-be reader asking “why is BoingBoing blocked from [library/airport/hotel/whatever place name] in [location name somewhere in the world]?”
Subscribe to the Index in print here. Longer list of other contributors to this issue, and their chosen topics, after the jump. This is a fine publication, and a fine bunch of writers from around the world sharing important ideas and testimonies — what a shame the contents are not freely available online.
Nart Villeneuve how to beat the censors; Jon Garvie on free trade free speech; David Weinberger the Internet race for the White House; Shiraz Maher on cyber jihad; Emily Bell on the engineers of expression; Steven Murdoch and Ross Anderson new borders; David Livingstone the challenge of extremism; Gus Hosein Big Brother comes of age; Ethio Zagol blogging in Ethiopia; Yetaai taking China Telecom to court; Andrew Wasley new activism; Nii Ayikwei Parkes the view from Ghana; Stan Cohen on how downloading became a crime; Bill Thompson on the end of privacy; Richard Morgan on a science fiction writer resists the messianic urge; Jimmy Wales, Don Tapscott, Iran Proxy and others call for freedom online; Geoffrey Robertson and Andrew Nicol examine the state of the media freedom; Leo Murray direct action on the front line; Alex de Waal on Darfur;
Kamila Shamsie dissects the West’s image of Pakistan; Maleiha Malik takes on incitement; Martin Rowson on Stripsearch.