Internet Censorship

Think it can't happen, well think again!

Several European countries are moving forward with Internet filtering. Censorship has hit everything from the popular P2P site The Pirate Bay to sites with pornography.

In Finland, programmer Matti Nikki is under investigation for publishing a secret list of domains that authorities had allegedly censored in an effort to stop the spread of child pornography. Nikki published his list on his site lapsiporno.info to prove that the system was being abused, and was himself censored as a result.

Finland isn't the only country filtering content and blocking sites. Danish authorities recently decided to block file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. So far the only ISP that has been ordered to block the site is Tele2 but plans are in the works to expand the ISPs that have been ordered to block access.

But the censorship doesn't stop there. European Union Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini has asked ISPs to block access to Web sites hosting information about bomb-making, and U.K. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in January that she wanted action taken against sites that encouraged terrorism, including social networking sites.

Such actions could have wider consequences: "If the EU starts to filter sites related to piracy, terrorism and child pornography, it will have some serious effects on the freedom to communicate," said Swedish Internet activist Oscar Swartz.