Google has released a new transparency report which shows the censorship levels around the world by detailing how often countries requested data or removal from Google and Youtube. You can also click on an individual country to see the removal requests which were complied with. There is also a traffic graph which, according to the website, "visualizes disruptions in the free flow of information, whether it's a government blocking information or a cable being cut". While the information isn't yet the easiest thing for a novice to make sense of, its symbolism is clear to all.
Internet censorship is an issue many are ignorant to - and one that many states would arguably want us to be. Internet censorship clearly contradicts many human rights like freedom of expression and while there may be many grey areas (should racist or terrorist content be censored for example?) it is still something we should all be advocating for.
In 2009, Reporters Without Borders published a list of the 12 "enemies of the internet", thus named because "all of these countries mark themselves out not just for their capacity to censor news and information online but also for their almost systematic repression of Internet users." These enemies are not a particular surprise being ones with matching repressive political systems, including Burma, China, Iran, South Korea, Syria and Vietnam.
But Google has shown there are no angels in this world as even the democracies that supported, insisted and legislated freedom of information have been caught out requesting the removal of data and blocking information. What is as yet unclear is what information these different governments were trying to prevent us seeing. I don't think any of us would mind if they were blocking paedophilia or political extremist websites but something tells me that there is more to it than that and no doubt there will be at least one government that has promoted freedom of expression while secretly blocking political websites that are against them.
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