Top Internet Threats: Censorship to Warrantless Surveillance

Top Internet Threats: Censorship to Warrantless Surveillance
By David Kravets EmailMarch 20, 2009 | 3:44:20 PMCategories: Threats

Threatstory The internet is filled with threats real and imagined, from malicious hackers to government censors.

Beyond the hacks and cracks — and in celebration of Sunshine Week — we've compiled a brief list of some of the biggest public and private threats facing the internet.

Warrantless Government Monitoring: Following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the practice of wiretapping all internet traffic began in the United States with the Bush administration, and is now being defended in court by the Obama administration. All of the nation's major internet service providers are accused of funneling Americans' online traffic to the National Security Agency without warrants.

Private Censorship: From the mundane to the frightening, the examples run rampant. Wikipedia, the world's most trafficked online reference tool, is subject to shameful spin from trusted names of news organizations to the not so trustworthy engines of commerce. Among the examples, The Boston Globe enhanced the biography of a columnist while deleting information about his alleged plagiarism. Diebold excised an entire section critical of the company's voting machines.

Government Censorship: Reporters Without Borders reported last week that 12 nations — China, Burma, North Korea, Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba and Tunisia restrict internet access and often prosecute users for what they post online.

Even in democratic countries, censorship rears its ugly head. On Thursday, a secret blacklist surfaced detailing 2,395 webpages the Australian government is planning to filter from the internet. While about half of them dealt with illegal pornography, the remainder did not. Some of the sites were about gambling, dentists and even dog kennels.

In December, Wikipedia couldn't be edited by users in Britain. The entire site was put on a blacklist because it linked to the 1976 album cover of Virgin Killer by the Scorpions, which featured a nude young girl.

In the United States, a federal judge last year blocked WikiLeaks from operating in the country for a week after the renegade site posted allegedly stolen documents detailing individuals' Swiss bank accounts.

Deep Packet Inspection: Several U.S. internet service providers, including giants like Comcast and Cox Communications, have started inspecting the contents of internet packets, a practice (.pdf) allowing them to monitor, filter and ultimately control the traffic that passes through their pipes. In addition, online advertising services like NebuAd are paying ISPs to let it eavesdrop on web users via DPI.

ISP Tiered Pricing: Major ISPs, including AT&T, Time Warner and Comcast have moved or are gravitating toward pricing services based on the amount of bandwidth individuals use. Theoretically, the plans could unlock the internet door to low-income users. But we suspect the plans are designed to increase profits for ISPs as bandwidth use skyrockets — all of which may have a chilling effect on internet usage.

Recording Industry Association of America Proposes "Three-Strikes" Policy: The record labels are pushing for ISPs to ban service to customers the RIAA claims are file-sharing copyrighted music. Overseas, industry groups like the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry are pursuing similar efforts.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act Abuses: Unwarranted YouTube takedown notices by misguided copyright holders comes immediately to mind — including assertions by Universal Music that it need not consider whether a video, under the DMCA, makes a "fair use" of the copyrighted works in question. Google says 57 percent of takedown notices it received were sent by business targeting competitors and 37 percent were not valid copyright claims.

Tell us what you think are the most threatening threats to the internet:

Views: 51

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted blog posts
5 hours ago
Sandy posted a photo
18 hours ago
Sandy favorited tjdavis's photo
23 hours ago
Burbia commented on tjdavis's video
Thumbnail

Free (Acoustic Version)

"I had the Controversy album. Next was 1999. Was given Purple Rain for Christmas by four people. I…"
yesterday
Burbia posted a blog post

The Noticing Continues

American woman says “I’ve had enough” of the white hate pushed on the populationQ“We're the only…See More
yesterday
tjdavis posted a video

Free (Acoustic Version)

Provided to YouTube by Legacy RecordingsFree (Acoustic Version) · PrinceFree℗ 2025 NPG Records, LLC, under exclusive license to Legacy RecordingsReleased on:...
yesterday
Burbia posted a video

Why Does Israel Suddenly Want President Trump Dead?

Please help me counter injustices in Muslim world by supporting my journalism and CJWS here: ▶️ https://www.patreon.com/c/cjwerlemanor via YouTube here: ▶️ h...
Sunday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Saturday
Burbia favorited tjdavis's photo
Saturday
FREEDOMROX's blog post was featured
Saturday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's blog post WHY YOU MUST UNDERSTAND AMYLOIDOSIS AND AMYLOID PLAQUES June 13, 2022
Saturday
FREEDOMROX posted a blog post
Friday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post The Many Keys to Deadly Secrecy in our Government
"cheeki kea, thanks so much for your support."
Friday
FREEDOMROX posted a blog post
Thursday
cheeki kea favorited Doc Vega's blog post The Many Keys to Deadly Secrecy in our Government
Thursday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thursday
cheeki kea posted a photo
Jun 4
cheeki kea replied to cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
"Greetings to you John, You're right and it didn't take long for those manuals to totally…"
Jun 4
Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Many Keys to Deadly Secrecy in our Government

We now know thanks to the legislation of FOIA access to federal documents and evidence and the…See More
Jun 4
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's photo
Jun 3

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted