Weaving the Authoritarian Web

1
Weaving the Authoritarian Web

• By Taylor C. Boas

2
Authoritarian Internet Control

• China Saudi Arabia publicly against freedom of
  speech and freedom of information respectively
• Many believe that control of the internet means
  stifling that technologys advance
• They have found ways to do both

3
History

• The history of the internet lends itself to
  evading central control
• Individual creators distrusted bureaucracy and
  only really trusted each other
• The US Department of Defenses ARPANET, designed
  to keep individual nodes independant

4
Saudi Arabia

• Censorship supported by public concern over
  pornography and other Islamic issues
• Country setup as one large network
• ISPs government controlled
• Use blacklisted sites with an appeal process

5
China

• Uses multiple layers to secure access
• Block specified IP addresses
• Filters site with keywords and phrases
• Hold ISPs, internet cafes and chatroom hosts
  accountable for actions of users

6
Perfect vs. Effective Control

• Precautions are no where near perfect
• Factors which contribute
• Risk
• Cost
• Skill
• Only an insignificant percentage can circumvent
  all three