Two interesting cases about online censorship and about privacy (Week 11)

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Internet was turned off

Internet censorship is the restriction or restriction of access to some (or all) websites, imposed on certain users. This can happen due to state, ideological, economic, geographical, labor problems.

Photo 1: Internet block [2]
For example, desperately clinging to power, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak turned off the Internet in the country in January 2011, thus depriving Internet journalists of the opportunity to report news to the world, and Egyptian users of access to Internet news resources.

The Mubarak government, which was losing ground, could not maintain its ban for long; Internet access was restored about a week later. But the tactic of slowing down or blocking Internet access was adopted from Egypt by the governments of Libya and Bahrain, who also faced popular uprisings. [1]

In the age of the Internet, governments have found many ways to control the flow of information - or at least try to do so - by interfering with or restricting digital communications.



Privacy violation: Youtube

Google has been punished for collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent. The company will pay a fine of about $200 million to the US authorities.

Photo 2: Youtube [3]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has completed the investigation regarding the violation of the "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act" by the video hosting. Targeted advertising, which is placed on the service, is based on the collection of information about the viewer. However, the law effectively prohibits companies from showing it to children under 13 without parental permission.

Analysts interviewed by the publication report that this is one of the largest fines, but for YouTube, which brings in annual revenues of tens of billions of dollars, it is insignificant. “Such a small amount of the fine is, in fact, a reward for Google, which participated in the massive and illegal collection of data without caring about the safety of children,” the expert commented on the decision of the commission. [3]

References

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/egypt-internet-mubarak/ [1]

2. https://tinydns.org/how-to-block-an-application-from-accessing-the-internet-with-windows-firewall/ [2]

3. https://www.scarymommy.com/google-fined-200-million-violating-childrens-privacy-law [3]

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