Access controlled: the shaping of power, rights, and rule in cyberspace

Description

Smartly organized and edited, Access Controlled is essential reading for anyone interested in studying the methods governments are using globally to stifle online expression and dissent. There is simply no other resource out there like this; it should be required reading in every cyberlaw or information policy program. The book, which is a project of the OpenNet Initiative (ONI), is divided into two parts. Part 1 of the book includes six chapters on "Theory and Analysis." They are terrifically informative essays. The beefy second part of the book provides a whopping 480 pages (!) of detailed regional and country-by-country overviews of the global state of online speech controls and discuss the long-term ramifications of increasing government meddling with online networks. The book offers a useful taxonomy to illustrate the three general types of speech and information controls that states are deploying today. Throughout the book, various authors document the increasing movement away from "first generation controls," which are epitomized by "Great Firewall of China"-like filtering methods, and toward second- and third-generation controls, which are more refined and difficult to monitor. The individual authors seem to adopt a somewhat gloomy outlook toward the long-term prospects for "technologies of freedom" relative to "technologies of control." But I think it's vital to put things in some historical context in this regard. It's important to recall that, as a communications medium, the Net is still quite young. So, is the Net really more susceptible to State control and manipulation than previous communications technologies and platforms? I'm not so sure, although it's hard to find a metric to compare them in an analytically rigorous fashion. It's certainly true that the State has access to more data about its citizens than in the past, but it's also true that we have more information about the State than ever before, too! And, again, we also have access to more of those technologies of freedom than ever before to at least try to fight back. Compare, for example, the plight of a dissident in a Cold War-era Eastern Bloc communist state to a dissident in China or Iran today. Which one had a better chance of getting their words (or audio and video) out to the local or global community? Despite those small quibbles, Access Controlled is an indispensable resource that belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who covers information technology policy and wants to better understand global Internet regualtion. Highly recommended. [You can find my complete review at the Technology Liberation Front Blog] Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Author Biographies......Page 14 Foreword......Page 16 Part I Access Controlled: Theory and Analysis......Page 18 1 Beyond Denial......Page 20 2 Control and Subversion in Russian Cyberspace......Page 32 3 The EU Data Retention Directive in an Era of Internet Surveillance......Page 52 4 Barriers to Cooperation......Page 72 5 Intermediary Censorship......Page 88 6 Protecting Privacy and Expression Online......Page 104 Part II Country Profiles and Regional Overviews......Page 126 Introduction to the Country Profiles......Page 128 Commonwealth of Independent States......Page 134 CIS Overview......Page 136 Armenia......Page 154 Azerbaijan......Page 166 Belarus......Page 178 Georgia......Page 190 Kazakhstan......Page 200 Kyrgyzstan......Page 208 Moldova......Page 218 Russia......Page 226 Tajikistan......Page 244 Turkmenistan......Page 254 Ukraine......Page 266 Uzbekistan......Page 282 Europe......Page 294 Europe Overview......Page 296 France......Page 314 Germany......Page 324 Italy......Page 334 Nordic Countries......Page 342 Turkey......Page 358 United Kingdom......Page 374 North America......Page 384 United States and Canada Overview......Page 386 Australia and New Zealand......Page 406 Australia and New Zealand Overview......Page 408 Asia......Page 424 Asia Overview......Page 426 Burma......Page 448 China......Page 466 Pakistan......Page 506 South Korea......Page 520 Middle East and North Africa......Page 538 MENA Overview......Page 540 Egypt......Page 554 Iran......Page 562 Saudi Arabia......Page 578 Syria......Page 588 Tunisia......Page 598 United Arab Emirates......Page 606 Glossary of Technical Terms......Page 616 Index......Page 620