Some issues arise as to who makes the decisions on what sites to block? Public accountability? How will the censorship be implemented?. There are some fears the blocking excercise, once started, could feed on itself and block many other sites not in the pornographic realm.
How will they do this blocking, with all the computer smart Egyptians out there I don't know, as there are numerous ways to create tunnels, anonymous surfing, torrents, URL masks, etc.
Egypt is not alone as they now join the group of 25 other countries implementing internet censorship to varying degrees.
quote below from this website
" Internet censorship, or content filtering, has become a major global problem. Whereas once it was assumed that states could not control Internet communications, according to research by the OpenNet Initiative more than 25 countries now engage in Internet censorship practices. Those with the most pervasive filtering policies have been found to routinely block access to human rights organizations, news, blogs, and web services that challenge the status quo or are deemed threatening or undesirable. Others block access to single categories of Internet content, or intermittently to specific websites or network services to coincide with strategic events, such as elections or public demonstrations.
Although some states enact Internet filtering legislation, most do so with little or no transparency and public accountability. Most states do not reveal what information is being blocked, and rarely are there review or grievance mechanisms for affected citizens or content publishers. Compounding the problem is the increasing use of commercial filtering software, which is prone to over-blocking due to faulty categorization."
It is not just countries, but most companies, and institutions also filter internet content. The last company I was involved with blocked most sites, even most legitimate technical sites personnel where trying to access to do there job. There was the option for the user to report to IT people a site was blocked and should not be. That of course put the IT people in "godlike" position and would decide whether or not to open the site, for that single individual or not.
Below are a few maps of countries favoring censorship and to the degrees of harshness. Click to enlarge. For more into visit this website .
Internet content filtering practices vary widely by country. In Iran, there is no nationwide uniform filtering system. Instead, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are responsible for implementing censorship following explicit guidelines stipulated by the state.
Individual ISPs choose how they filter, with some using American commercial filtering software while others use more manual methods. Users accessing the Internet on different ISPs can experience significant variation of accessibility to web sites. Iran uses this system to filter Iran-related and Persian/Farsi language content critical of the regime, including politically sensitive sites, gay and lesbian content, women’s rights sites, streaming media, and blogs.
While there are debates within government that openly acknowledge and discuss Internet content filtering policies, there is very little transparency about the specific content that is targeted for filtering.
Anyone interested, can study this website to see more details of internet censorship per country and what sites are blocked in real time and you can download a firefox addon to report any blocked sites - interesting and so I am part of that team now that will report every site I find blocked, in normal surfing. Not attacking purposely any porn sites as my kids can also see my surf history as I taught them how I check in 2 levels. Think about how you can contribute also in a very passive way.
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