[FYI] OpenNet Initiative Launched

["Axel H Horns" <axel.h.horns@gmx.net>]

<http://opennetinitiative.net/index.php>

OpenNet Initiative Launched
February 2004

The number of states seeking to control the Internet has risen 
rapidly in the recent years. Mustering powerful and at times 
compelling arguments -- "securing intellectual property rights," 
"protecting national security", "preserving cultural norms and 
religious values," and "shielding children from pornography and 
exploitation" - extensive filtering and surveillance practices are 
being proposed and put in place to curb the perceived lawlessness of 
the medium. Although these practices occur mostly in non-democratic 
regimes, many democratic countries, led by the US, are also seeking 
to police the Internet. Some regulation is to be expected as the 
medium matures. However, filtering and surveillance can seriously 
erode civil liberties and privacy, and stifle global communications.

The OpenNet Initiative is a University-based policy research project* 
documenting filtering and surveillance practices worldwide. Our aim 
is to excavate, expose and analyze these practices in a credible and 
non-partisan fashion - to uncover the potential pitfalls of present 
policies, and explore the possibility of unintended and unexpected 
consequences, and thus help inform better public policy and advocacy 
work in this area. To achieve these aims, the ONI employs a unique 
multi-disciplinary approach that includes: Advanced Technical Means --
 using a suite of sophisticated network interrogation tools and 
metrics; and Local Knowledge Expertise - through a global network of 
regionally based researchers and experts. OpenNet Initiative research 
will be published through this website in a series of national and 
regional case studies, occasional papers, and bulletins.

As part of it's work, the OpenNet Initiative also operates a 
"clearinghouse" for circumvention technologies which assesses and 
evaluates systems intended to let users bypass filtering and 
surveillance. We also actively develop circumvention technologies in-
house as a means to explore the limitations of filtration and counter-
filtration practices.




<http://opennetinitiative.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&fi 
le=index&req=viewarticle&artid=1>  

About ONI

The openness of the Internet is under seige. States are aggressively 
implementing national censorship regimes aimed at controlling and 
monitoring access to information available through the Internet. 
While this type of censorship and surveillance occurs most 
prominently in non-democratic regimes, many democratic countries are 
also seeking to restrict access and regulate content in the service 
of “securing intellectual property rights, “safeguarding national 
security,” and “shielding children from pornography and exploitation.”

Efforts to restrict Internet content are not unprecedented; they 
follow a pattern previously established with other forms of media and 
communication. However, the erosion of Internet openness is 
particularly worrisome for three reasons: First, in many countries 
censorship is not a part of the public policy discourse. Rather, 
decisions of what to block and how are carried out by administrative 
fiat, or are a consequence of the particular commercial software used 
to block "unsavoury" content (such as pornography). Indeed, many 
countries that practice state censorship deny that they engage in the 
practice at all. Second, knowledge regarding the extent of state 
censorship is lacking and is largely based on anecdotal evidence. 
Third, a capacity to track and investigate state censorship 
activities is also lacking; those actors for whom a closure of the 
digital commons should be an active area of research and advocacy are 
poorly equipped to monitor and report on these practices.

The mission of the OpenNet Initiative is to challenge these practices 
by providing civil society advocates, scholars and activists with the 
technical, methodological and empirical means by which to study and 
interrogate policies of state censorship and surveillance worldwide. 
It proposes to do so through five defined objectives:
A. Develop and deploy a suite of censorship enumeration tools and 
accompanying methodology;

B. Conduct major regional case studies;

C. Build capacity among networks of local advocates and researchers;

D. Establish a clearinghouse for circumvention technologies; and,

E. Contribute to building understandings of the scale, scope and 
consequences of national censorship practices. The OpenNet Initiative 
is a partnership between the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for 
International Studies, University of Toronto, the Berkman Center for 
Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, and the Advanced Network 
Research Group at the Centre for Security in International Society at 
the University of Cambridge.



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