I didn't mean to teach you anything, the point is that censorship implies the existence of a well known authority, and officially there isn't any on the Internet... Anonymity is scary when things disappear without knowing who was behind it...
No it is fine. I was trying to discuss more into the real-life situations. It is true that nobody governs the internet itself, but in reality controls are applied into the internet usages of the people by the real-life authorities. They're standing in front of the gate that separates the real-life and the cyber-life.
Social network like Facebook, Twitter and Google services are accessible. It's mostly NSFW, offensive/objectionable material and copyright infringement sites that are blocked/redirected.
I voted to soon. Now that I have read some of the replies here, I would if I could change my vote to none. I do sometimes get blocked because of my location. I one case, it was I site I needed access to. I was block because of over aggressive IP blocking and was eventually able to get access after talking to the folks who operated it. I frequently get video not available in your area.
No redirection with the sites I use. Sometimes gmail just doesn't work on my phone and I have to turn on a VPN to get new messages or to send an email (other times it does works). Or StartPage (search) or Youtube won't load on my laptop and I realize I've forgotten to turn on the VPN. Other times sites do work, but they load really slowly and I need to turn on the VPN for faster surfing.
It's fear and self-censorsip that is the problem. Tell me you feel as free to speak your core beliefs on the net after the Snowden revelations. Tell me you don't think twice before searching some terms/words on the net as you did before. Tell me you feel as free to have intimate conversations with your gf or loved ones as you did before. Tell me you don't hesitate to visit some controversial websites as you did before that you never never thought twice about visiting before. I'm a Progressive, so does that make a danger to the establishment? Frankly, I'm too old to give a damn, but I bet many are susceptible to this type of self-censorship.
I've never been one to censor myself. If anything the Snowden revelations have had the opposite effect. It also helps that I'm not hearing "paranoid" and "tin foil hat" anywhere near as often as in previous years. I'm more vocal and more active now than I ever was. The NSA is the primary reason that I chose to run a Tor exit. Like you, I'm too old and ornery to care if they like it or not. IMO, if we don't find a way to change the course that this nation and world are taking, we'll end up with a world that's unfit to live in.
@pajenn Thanks. I suppose that even without any warning/redirection page ever encountered, it is quite an obvious internet censorship if very popular websites which are being used by most of the population of the globe are relatively constantly inaccessible. @hawki To be very honest, prior to PRISM incident I was being very thoughtful about my web browsing activity. I was always good at holding myself back to not accessing certain websites. These days though, I keep breaking the border and often times I intentionally go to the places where I used to self-banning them myself. It is not because Snowden had opened my eyes or something like that, I've already acknowledged that the western governments are having fun keeping their eyes and ears all over the places. What has changed me, is it seems to me that the cases of restriction of information sharing, have been more severe ever since the PRISM project was revealed to the surface of public attention (though it may not be related at all). And the eastern (and well... southern ) side of this world are really adoring this idea. "Angered" is probably not the best word to describe my feeling towards this concept, but that is the best word I could think of in my mind. As you all might have noticed, I'm sharp-tongued and pretty active to give critics. You wouldn't be seeing me doing all those 6 or 7 years ago. Although I'm still holding myself back to not overly impaling any hearts. I'm fine if things are restricted as long as there is/are sensible reasons can be provided which I can accept, like the usage of the seven words, as they might not give comfortable atmosphere in public discussions. However, I can not tolerate in any ways if things are not permitted to be discussed just simply because the discussion reveals the flaws of the subject. I can not tolerate in any ways if people are not allowed to speak their distaste of the accepted standards. I can not tolerate in any ways if nobody should be having objections towards what the oh-so-noble-the-choosen-ones have determined. I just can't, and I am not going to appreciate it.
I'm not sure, as I don't do torrents. It's hard to judge for me as a result. Torrenting (well, P2P I think) is a form of communication, but most use it as commercial file sharing medium.
I count it as censorship. Blocking torrent sites definitely is trying suppress information. The Piratebay is the most censored site on earth and the censorship is done in the supposedly free societies of western Europe.
Even if I don't use such sites anymore, I agree that it can be seen as a form of censorship. Though from the blockers point of view it's probably seen as "anti-piracy"
In the western European countries it exists in, it is state ordered and state enforced censorship. The only thing different is what is censored in regards to content but it is the same practice as in other places around the globe.
I would imagine North Korea would be well up there in the restricted top ten. I would have voted none but for the fact my ISP blocks certain P2P sites so I had to go for low. Regards Eck
UK (where I live) operates a number of types of censor - court ordered censorship, as mentioned a common one is torrents, but sites mentioning certain people/things (e.g. malicious/offensive/libel/copyright) are blocked by the ISP, (many) sites involved in illegal porn activities managed by IWF, (some) political/terrorism/extremism sites also. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_the_United_Kingdom
