Tanvi Singh AGENDA

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Tanvi Singh AGENDA INTERNET ECONOMICS INTERNET AS A HUMAN RIGHT Tanvi Singh AGENDA PRIMER-INTERNET AS A HUMAN RIGHT- DEFINED 3 BIG EVENTS/ CONVENTIONS IN THIS DIRECTION 4 INTERNET CRITIQUES 5 CONS- “I DON’T ACCEPT IT IS A RIGHT” 6 IS INTERNET A CIVIL RIGHT? 7 GLOBAL INTERNET USAGE 8 LANGUAGES USAGE STATISTICS 9 GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE 10 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE- BBC POLLS 11 INTERNET AS A RIGHT: ECONOMY 12 INTERNET CENCORSHIP 13 SETBACKS AND PRIVATE SECTOR 14 MY TAKE 15 FUTURE 16,17 DISCUSSION TOPICS 18 PRIMER: IS INTERNET A HUMAN RIGHT!! “Right to Internet Access” in order to exercise and enjoy their fundamental human Rights: • RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH • RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT • RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY PRIMER: IS INTERNET A HUMAN RIGHT!! PRIMER: BIG EVENTS 2003: WORLD SUMMIT Geneva 2009-10: 2011: UN Special Rapporteur report Sept 2012: The Internet and Human Rights Berlin Building a Free, Open & Secure Internet Oct 2012: SILICON VALLEY Human Right Conference San Francisco PRIMER: IS INTERNET A HUMAN RIGHT!! Internet crifques Vint Cerf : Internet access cannot be a right in itself. Technology is an enabler of Rights, not a right itself Sherif Elsayed Denial to Internet would lead to a detriment in Ali: the quality of Life of people. Viviance Reding : Removal of this Right through Censorship or denial of internet access is breach to Human rights. La Rue: Each state should plan for making Internet accessible, available and affordable. CONS • “Just another problem created.” • “Rights are things govts can't take, not Providing internet to all is like things they must give.” Ma Asay creang another unsolvable drugs issue. • “Internet access is a responsibility not a right.” Ma Asay • “As a right providing universal access to mountains and islands is • “Internet is a luxury, not a right.” economically unviable.” Robert Lockard. • “Other taxpayers must pay for right to Internet of others” . • “Calling Internet a right is part of entlement culture” . Does that mean I'm guaranteed fast access, or will dial-up do?" “Internet Access” Is Not a Human Right!! IS INTERNET A CIVIL RIGHT!! • Jan 4, 2012: From the streets of Tunis to Tahrir Square, protests around the world on the Internet !! • Vinton Gray "Vint" Cerf: While technology is point of differenfaon between the "haves" and "have-nots”. Access to the Internet, a light bulb and a wheel are not fundamental Rights. What about the claim that “Internet access” is or should be a civil right? • Civil rights, different from human rights as are conferred upon us by law, not intrinsic to us as human beings. • United States has never decreed that everyone has a “right” to a telephone, the nofon of “universal service” — the idea that telephone service (and electricity, and now broadband Internet) must be available even in the most remote regions of the country. • Engineers have not only a tremendous obligaon to empower users, but also an obligaon to ensure the safety of users online. • Engineers/IEEE—With the advance of the art in technology ,we must be conscious of our civil responsibilifes in addifon to our engineering experfse. • "Access to the internet is akin to a civil rights issue for the 21st century”. Comcast to make affordable Internet connecfons for 2.5 million low-income households in US . • “Times”-There seems to be “all-round support for the internet as a civil right”. Malta PM Gonzi announced “Four new civil rights related to online behaviour” . • In July 2012, ARTICLE 19 stated the “Civil Rights Framework for the Internet in Brazil” (the ‘Marco Civil’). GLOBAL INTERNET USAGE INTERNET USERS IN 2010 AS PERCENTAGE OF COUNTRY POPULATION INTERNET USERS IN 2010 IN ABSOLUTE NUMBERS % OF INTERNET USERS BY LANGUAGE CONTENT LANGUAGE FOR WEBSITE LANGUAGE USED ON INTERNET GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE Physical Access Financial Access Socio-demographic Access CogniEve Access Design Access InsEtuEonal Access PoliEcal Access Cultural Access VOICE OF THE PEOPLE- BBC POLLS Almost 4 in 5 people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right. INTERNET ACCESS IS NOT ECONOMICAL I NTERNET • Ethiopia just declared Skype and other VoIP tools illegal in order to guarantee the profits of its telecommunicaon companies — as well as advocate for more internet censorship. AS A HUMAN INTERNET ACCESS HAS TO BE UNIVERSAL • Aser all, the lack of good internet connecfons won’t affect “just” the populaon RIGHT but can actually be the difference-maker in the development capability of a ? country, of a region. ECONOMY • Countries with almost no internet connecfons cannot be part of the global economy, and as much as the populaon may suffer as a whole, most economic sectors also suffer from the inability to get in touch with consumers inside and outside the country. • But at the same fme, the investment in opfcal fiber, submarine cables, and on the whole internet infrastructure in many countries — especially the developing ones- is inadequate. In Brazil — the investment in such infrastructure is years behind the current demand, and it lacks the capability to handle the future demand for GDP growth and development. INTERNET CENSORSHIP FREEDOM ON THE NET REPORTS REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS OPEN NET INITIATIVE Polical: Social: Conflict/security: Internet tools: Pervasive censorship Substanfal censorship Selecve censorship Under surveillance Lile or no censorship Not classified / No data Good Infrastructure and Internet Connecons is just the beginning…. SETBACKS AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR The series of problems that we must face and fight against, the Internet Divide to Censorship and Vigilansm. It might seem harmless, but as they have full access to ALL your info and to what you like and don’t like, they might also have access to your private messages, to stuff you think you have kept private. How safe is your CLOUD?? Case: just another simple YouTube, complaining about the dubious quality of the Brazilian telecommunicaon services. One of Brazil’s major companies censored the videos that crifcizes the quality of its 3G connecfon. If a private company can’t accept such crifcism, imagine if it started something bigger? MY TAKE ALREADY A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT!! SYNOPSIS DISCUSSION TOPICS .
Recommended publications
  • Internet Trends 2015 – Code Conference
    INTERNET TRENDS 2015 – CODE CONFERENCE Mary Meeker May 27, 2015 kpcb.com/InternetTrends Outline 1) Internet – Two-Thirds of a Generation In... 2) Key Internet Trends 3) Re-Imagining Continues... 4) America’s Evolving Work Environment... 5) Big Internet Markets = China / India 6) Public / Private Company Data 7) One More Thing... 8) Ran Outta Time Thoughts / Appendix 2 INTERNET TRENDS – TWO-THIRDS OF A GENERATION IN... TWO-THIRDS OF NEXT GENERATION OUT... Internet Users – 1995 2014... <1% to 39% Population Penetration Globally 1995 2014 35MM+ Internet Users 2.8B Internet Users 0.6% Population Penetration 39% Population Penetration 10% 21% 5% 22% 23% 12% 61% 0% 19% 28% USA China Asia (ex. China) Europe Rest of World Source: Euromonitor, ITU, US Census. 4 Mobile Phone Users – 1995 2014... 1% to 73% Population Penetration Globally 1995 2014 80MM+ Mobile Phone Users 5.2B Mobile Phone Users 1% Population Penetration 73% Population Penetration 40% 60% Smartphone Feature Phone Source: Informa, World Cellular Information Service (WCIS). Assumes in 1995, one mobile phone subscription per unique user (no duplication). Note: In 2014, user base per KPCB estimates based on Morgan Stanley Research and ITU data. Smartphone users & mobile phone users represent unique individuals owning mobile devices; mobile 5 subscribers based on number of connections & may therefore overstate number of mobile users. Public Internet Company Market Capitalizations – 1995 2015... Top 15 Companies by Market Capitalization = 1995 @ $17 Billion 2015 @ $2.4 Trillion Global
    [Show full text]
  • Share Information on Cyber Security Incidents
    © 2015 by Observer Research Foundation Digital Debates 2015: CyFy Journal Volume 2 Authors: Aaron Kleiner, Erin English, Gabi Siboni, Ankur Sarin, Kavitha Ranganathan, Kamlesh Bajaj, Rahul Jain, Fernando Crespo, Renato Flores, Karsten Geier, Jonah Force Hill, Patryk Pawlak, James Lewis, Parminder Jeet Singh, Yu-Chuang Kuek, Siddharth Verma, Sunil Abraham, Elonnai Hickok, Tarun Krishnakumar, Mahima Kaul, Samir Saran Editorial Team: Mahima Kaul, Anahita Mathai, Ritika Passi (ORF) Inside Design: Simi Jaison Designs Printed by: Vinset Advertising, Delhi Most of the papers IN thIS joURNal Were preseNted at CYFY 2014: The INDIA CONfereNce ON Cyber SecURIty AND INterNet GoverNANce, NeW DelhI, INDIA, October 14-16, 2014. Contents Editor’s Note Achieving Digital Proximity and Collective Voice............................................................................................................ 3 Samir Saran India and the Cyberworld 1. Today’s Decisions, Tomorrow’s Terrain: ........................................................................................................ 8 Strategic Directions for India in Shaping the Future of Cyberspace Erin English and Aaron Kleiner 2. Cyber Security: Build-up of India’s National Force ...................................................................................... 15 Gabi Siboni 3. A Case for Leapfrogging the Digital Divide ..................................................................................................... 23 Ankur Sarin and Kavitha Ranganathan 4. Data Security: Challenges
    [Show full text]
  • The State of Broadband 2020: Tackling Digital Inequalities a Decade for Action
    The State of Broadband: Tackling digital inequalities A decade for action September 2020 The State of Broadband 2020: Tackling digital inequalities A decade for action September 2020 © International Telecommunication Union and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2020 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https:// creativecommons .org/ licenses/ by -nc -sa/ 3 .0/ igo). Under the terms of this license, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that ITU or UNESCO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The unauthorized use of the ITU or UNESCO names or logos is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons license. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Neither ITU nor UNESCO are responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”. Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the license shall be conducted in accordance with the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization (http:// www .wipo .int/ amc/ en/ mediation/ rules). Suggested citation. State of Broadband Report 2020: Geneva: International Telecommunication Union and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2020.
    [Show full text]
  • Sentiment Analysis for Twitter Users of America
    Sentiment Analysis for Twitter Users of America Karyofyllidis Karyofyllis SID: 3306150008 SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science (MSc) in Mobile and Web Computing -i- DECEMBER 2018 THESSALONIKI – GREECE Sentiment Analysis for Twitter Users of America Karyofyllidis Karyofyllis SID: 3306150008 Supervisor: Prof. Apostolos Papadopoulos Supervising Committee Members: Assoc. Prof. Name Surname Assist. Prof. Name Surname SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science (MSc) in Mobile and Web Computing -ii- DECEMBER 2018 THESSALONIKI – GREECE Abstract This dissertation was written as a part of the MSc in “Mobile and Web Computing” at the International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece. Nowadays, social media has noted as a type of online communication where people and organizations connect online to share information, thoughts and ideas. Because of its speed and reach, ease of use, social media influence various topics that range from the politics and environment to entertainment and the technology industry. Examples in- clude Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. An important part of our information-gathering behavior has always been to find out what other people think, thus as mentioned above with the growing availability and popularity of social Media, people now can make use of information technologies tech- niques to seek out and understand the opinions of others through their posts. Techniques like Data Mining, Machine Learning, Sentiment Analysis will be introduced for the purpose of this thesis to classify opinions into sentiment states. Sentiment is a plain concept, simple to understand. It’s just a feeling or emotion, an atti- tude or opinion.
    [Show full text]
  • Free Speech and the Internet
    University of Mary Washington Eagle Scholar Student Research Submissions Spring 5-2-2020 Free Speech and the Internet John Huebler Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Huebler, John, "Free Speech and the Internet" (2020). Student Research Submissions. 338. https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/338 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by Eagle Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Research Submissions by an authorized administrator of Eagle Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Free Speech and the Internet Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in Philosophy University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg, Virginia John Huebler Philosophy 485 April 24, 2020 Supervised by Professor Craig Vasey Huebler 2 Table of Contents – Free Speech and the Internet Part 1: The Marketplace of Ideas – A Framework on Free Speech ................................................ 3 I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3 II. On Liberty .............................................................................................................................. 4 III. Hate Speech .......................................................................................................................... 6 IV. Misinformation ..................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • ANNEX to ICANN BOARD SUBMISSION NO. 2010-08-05-01 Business Confidential and Proprietary
    ANNEX TO ICANN BOARD SUBMISSION NO. 2010-08-05-!" !"#$%&## ()%*$+&%,$-. -%+ /0)10$&,-02 3 4), 5)0 6$#,0$7",$)% 8",#$+& )* 9(:44 TITLE: Delegation of !"#$%. ("Falasteen") representing the Occupied Palestinian Territory in Arabic IANA REFERENCE: 319775 In accordance with ICANN’s obligations for managing the DNS root zone, IANA1 receives requests to delegate, redelegate and revoke top-level domains. This application has been compiled by IANA for presentation to the ICANN Board of Directors for review and appropriate action. Redacted 1 The term IANA is used throughout this document to refer to the department within ICANN that performed the IANA functions. Page 1 of 243 Redacted Page 2 of 243 Redacted Submitted by: Kim Davies Position: Manager, Root Zone Services Date Noted: 16 July 2010 Email and Phone Number [email protected]; +1 310 430 0455 Page 3 of 243 Separator Page 2010-08-05-01 Annex Palestine-enclosures Page 4 of 243 ENCLOSURE 1 TO ICANN BOARD SUBMISSION NO. 2010-08-05-!" Draft Public Report — Delegation of !"#$%. ("Falasteen") representing the Occupied Palestinian Territory in Arabic ICANN has received a request to delegate !"#$%. as a country-code top-level domain representing the Occupied Palestinian Territory. ICANN Staff have assessed the request, and provide this report for the ICANN Board of Directors to consider. FACTUAL INFORMATION Country The "PS" ISO 3166-1 code, from which this application's eligibility derives, is designated for use to represent the Occupied Palestinian Territory. String The domain under consideration for delegation at the DNS root level is “!"#$%”. This is represented in ASCII-compatible encoding according to the 2003 IDNA specification as “xn--ygbi2ammx”.
    [Show full text]
  • Maximizing the Opportunities of the Internet for International Trade
    Maximizing the Opportunities of the Internet for International Trade Policy Options Paper TheE15Initiative STRENGTHENING THE GLOBAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Acknowledgements With the support of And ICTSD’s Core and Thematic Donors: MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF FINLAND Published by International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) 7 Chemin de Balexert, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 917 8492 – E-mail: [email protected] – Website: www.ictsd.org Publisher and Chief Executive: Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz World Economic Forum 91-93 route de la Capite, 1223 Cologny/Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 869 1212 – E-mail: [email protected] – Website: www.weforum.org Co-Publisher and Managing Director: Richard Samans Citation: Meltzer, Joshua P. 2016. Maximizing the Opportunities of the Internet for International Trade. E15 Expert Group on the Digital Economy – Policy Options Paper. E15Initiative. Geneva: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and World Economic Forum. ©ICTSD and World Economic Forum®, 2016. Readers are encouraged to quote this material for educational and non- profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Non-commercial-No-Derivative Works 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. ISSN 2313-3805 REF 181215 Maximizing the Opportunities of the Internet for International Trade Joshua P. Meltzer on behalf of the E15 Expert Group on the Digital Economy January 2016 * The author would like to extend a particular thanks to Merit Janow who was the Theme Leader for the Expert Group on the Digital Economy and who provided leadership throughout the process as well as invaluable comments and insights on the paper.
    [Show full text]
  • Metaphoric Interaction with the Internet
    USERS’ METAPHORIC INTERACTION WITH THE INTERNET AMY LOUISE HOGAN A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Psychology March 2008 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with its author. This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation. .................................................................................. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS _____________________________________________ ii LIST OF TABLES __________________________________________________ xi LIST OF FIGURES ________________________________________________ xvi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS __________________________________________ xix ABSTRACT ______________________________________________________ xxi STRUCTURE OF THESIS _________________________________________ xxii DEFINITIONS ___________________________________________________ xxvi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH _________________1 1.1 OVERVIEW _____________________________________________________ 2 1.2 THE INTERNET _________________________________________________ 7 1.2.1 The contemporary Internet: 2001-2004 ____________________________
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2017 Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies Daniel Powell University of Central Florida Part of the Other Film and Media Studies Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Powell, Daniel, "Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 5482. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/5482 DIGITAL DISSONANCE: HORROR CULTURES IN THE AGE OF CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES by DANIEL POWELL M.A. Portland State University, 2002 B.S. Linfield College, 1999 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Texts & Technology in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2017 Major Professor: Rudy McDaniel © 2017 Daniel Powell ii ABSTRACT The first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed an abundance of change in the areas of textual production, digital communication, and our collective engagement with the Internet. This study explores these changes, which have yielded both positive and negative cultural and developmental outcomes, as products of digital dissonance. Dissonance is characterized by the disruptive consequences inherent in technology’s incursion into the print publication cultures of the twentieth century, the explosion in social-media interaction that is changing the complexion of human contact, and our expanding reliance on the World Wide Web for negotiating commerce, culture, and communication.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Digital Trade Agenda
    TheE15Initiative STRENGTHENING THE GLOBAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT A New Digital Trade Agenda Joshua P. Meltzer August 2015 E15 Expert Group on the Digital Economy Overview Paper ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Published by International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) 7 Chemin de Balexert, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 917 8492 – E-mail: [email protected] – Website: www.ictsd.org Publisher and Chief Executive: Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz World Economic Forum 91-93 route de la Capite, 1223 Cologny/Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 869 1212 – E-mail: [email protected] – Website: www.weforum.org Co-Publisher and Managing Director: Richard Samans Acknowledgments This paper has been produced under the E15Initiative (E15). Implemented jointly by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the World Economic Forum, the E15 convenes world-class experts and institutions to generate strategic analysis and recommendations for government, business and civil society geared towards strengthening the global trade and investment system for sustainable development. For more information on the E15, please visit www.e15initiative.org/ With the support of: And ICTSD’s Core and Thematic Donors: Citation: Meltzer, Joshua P. A New Digital Trade Agenda. E15Initiative. Geneva: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and World Economic Forum, 2015. www.e15initiative.org/ The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICTSD, World Economic Forum, or the funding institutions. Copyright ©ICTSD and World Economic Forum, 2015. Readers are encouraged to quote this material for educational and non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emerging Digital Economy (July 1998)
    THE EMERGING DIGITAL ECONOMY Project Director: Lynn Margherio Dave Henry, Economics and Statistics Administration e-mail: [email protected] Sandra Cooke, Economics and Statistics Administration e-mail: [email protected] Sabrina Montes, Economics and Statistics Administration e-mail: [email protected] Contributing Editor: Kent Hughes, Office of the Secretary For further information, contact: Secretariat on Electronic Commerce: 202-482-8369 U.S. Department of Commerce Washington, D.C. 20230 http://www.ecommerce.gov THE EMERGING DIGITAL ECONOMY Introduction ...............................................................1 Chapter 1: The Digital Revolution ...............................................3 Chapter 2: Building Out the Internet .............................................8 Chapter 3: Electronic Commerce Between Businesses ...............................12 Chapter 4: Digital Delivery of Goods and Services .................................. 24 Chapter 5: Retail Sale of Tangible Goods ........................................35 Chapter 6: Consumers in the Digital Age .........................................41 Chapter 7: Workers in the Digital Age ...........................................46 Chapter 8: Challenges Ahead ..................................................50 Appendix 1: IT Industries - Of Growing Importance to the Economy and Jobs Appendix 2: Building Out the Internet Appendix 3: Electronic Commerce Between Businesses: Analysis and Case Studies Appendix 4: Digital Delivery of Goods and Services: Analysis and Case Studies Appendix
    [Show full text]
  • Integrating Access Blockage with Cultural Factors to Explain Web
    Does the Great Firewall really isolate the Chinese? Integrating Access Blockage with Cultural Factors to Explain Web User Behavior1 RUNNING HEAD: Internet Blockage and User Behavior Harsh Taneja, Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA Angela Xiao Wu, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong2 Contact Information: Harsh Taneja Missouri School of Journalism University of Missouri 181C Gannett Hall Columbia, MO 65211-1200 USA Harsh Taneja <[email protected]> Angela Xiao Wu <[email protected]> 1 We thank James Ettema for his helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. The current version has also benefited greatly from extended discussion with James Webster, Stephanie Edgerly and Edward Malthouse. We are very grateful for the detailed and constructive feedback from the anonymous reviewers. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the terrific editorial support and direction from the editor of The Information Society. We wish to thank Rufus Weston who enabled the project by providing us access to the comScore data through BBC Global News. This research was partially supported by a Graduate Research Grant from Northwestern University. 2 Both authors have contributed equally to this manuscript. 1 Abstract The dominant understanding of Internet censorship posits that blocking access to foreign-based websites creates isolated communities of Internet users. We question this discourse for its assumption that if given access people would use all websites. We develop a conceptual framework that integrates access blockage with social structures to explain web users’ choices, and argue that users visit websites they find culturally proximate and access blockage matters only when such sites are blocked.
    [Show full text]