Access Denied: Book Review
Citizens of 
Pakistan have been a victim of Internet censorship many times in recent past. The last attempt by PTCL to block YouTube resulted in side effects for the whole cyberspace. Here’s a review of Access Denied a recent book on this topic. Review is by Bruce Schneier . The book is edited by Ronald Deibert, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski and Jonathan Zittrain. Thanks to Shahzad Ahmad for sharing this at Pakistan ICT Policy discussion group.
In 1993, Internet pioneer John Gilmore said “the net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it”, and we believed him. In 1996, cyberlibertarian John Perry Barlow issued his ‘Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace’ at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, and online. He told governments: “You have no moral right to rule us, nor do you possess any methods of enforcement that we have true reason to fear.”
At the time, many shared Barlow’s sentiments. The Internet empowered people. It gave them access to information and couldn’t be stopped, blocked or filtered. Give someone access to the Internet, and they have access to everything. Governments that relied on censorship to control their citizens were doomed.
Today, things are very different. Internet censorship is flourishing. Organizations selectively block employees’ access to the Internet. At least 26 countries - mainly in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the former Soviet Union - selectively block their citizens’ Internet access. Even more countries legislate to control what can and cannot be said, downloaded or linked to. “You have no sovereignty where we gather,” said Barlow. Oh yes we do, the governments of the world have replied.
Access Denied is a survey of the practice of Internet filtering, and a sourcebook of details about the countries that engage in the practice. It is written by researchers of the OpenNet Initiative (ONI; http://www.opennet. net), an organization that is dedicated to documenting global Internet filtering around the world.
The first half of the book comprises essays written by ONI researchers on the politics, practice, technology, legality and social effects of Internet filtering. There are three basic rationales for Internet censorship: politics and power; social norms, morals and religion; and security concerns.
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