As the Web has blossomed and access becomes ever closer to universal, optimists hoped that it might be a unifying force, a source of diverse information in societies where other media were controlled, and in general a shared experience for all citizens of the globe. At the moment, though, the universality of the experience is in doubt. Individual nations are taking more aggressive steps to control access to the Internet and block specific resources. While one might expect that sort of move from a totalitarian state, “free” nations are doing it as well. The latest indication of this is a surprising move by Italy to block gambling sites. The Italian government is requiring ISPs to block gaming sites based in Malta; those that fail to do so face stiff fines. It’s not clear, but it seems that the mechanism the Italians plan to use to accomplish this might block access to all Maltese sites. Meanwhile, UK-based gambling site operators are considering legal action. Although nominally the reason for the blockage is to prevent “phishing” and credit card fraud, gaming site owners consider the Italian move to be protectionist.
Recently, we saw a major flap when Google, the “do no evil” company, and other search engines capitulated to Chinese government requests to block some sites from search results; Chinese ISPs already block sites that are out of favor with the Chinese government.
While technology workarounds exist for users who want to access banned sites and content, these are often cumbersome and too difficult for non-technical users. These government bans tend to be largely effective in blocking the general populace from accessing the prohibited sites, even though some users find ways to circumvent the controls.
Unfortunately, as the power and popularity of the Internet have grown, so too have the desires of bureaucrats to keep portions of it away from their citizenry. We are in danger of the “universal” Internet becoming a nation-by-nation experience, with every country deciding what content is acceptable for their people to access. While the citizens in totalitarian nations may have little voice in fighting these actions, one hopes that those who live in democracies won’t sit idly by as their freedoms are infringed by pencil-pushing regulators.
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