Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(e.g., Paraná and Mato Grosso) have occasionally forced online magazines to
remove unfavorable articles, prevented publication of polls, and forced Twitter to
delete posts. Similarly, Argentina passed an anti-censorship decree for the internet.
In some countries, including Costa Rica, which is known for its democratic
governance, journalists have been harassed by the state when exposing corruption
in ruling circles on the internet (Privacy International
2003
). Argentina's National
Telecommunications
Commission
blocked
2
websites—leakymails.com
and
leakymails.blogspot.com—that leaked government emails.
Less draconian is the attempt of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, which
passed a bill allowing judges to punish internet users who are ''offensive to
morals'' or the ''public order'' (Cortes
2000
). The order was aimed at websites
located within Chile, i.e., with the.cl domain name, and was utterly ineffective
against sites located outside the country. An attempt to prohibit access to Alej-
andra Matus's The Black Book of Chilean Justice, an expose of the ineffectiveness
of the judiciary, led to its publication on the web and even wider readership. In
contrast with Chile, the Peruvian government passed the Transparency and Access
to the Public Information Act, which created public access internet terminals, and
established the Telecommunications Investment Fund, which is responsible for
promoting universal internet access. Peru's Transparency and Access to the Public
Information Act includes the creation of public information portals and considers
governmental information as accessible to citizens. In Mexico, the government
does not engage in internet censorship, but the drug cartels do, including disem-
boweling a young couple and hanging their bodies from a bridge with a sign
reading ''This is going to happen to all those posting funny things on the internet,
You better (expletive) pay attention. I'm about to get you.''
3.2.9 Europe
Southern European countries generally exhibit less tolerance for internet dissent
than do their northern counterparts. In Italy, the Vatican called for restrictions on
the internet's ''radical libertarianism,'' and the Italian government has shut down
websites critical of Catholicism. The government has also attempted to force ISPs
from allowing websites that defend or instigate crimes or portray the Mafia in a
positive light. Following the assassination of a town councilor in northern Spain, a
website for the Basque separatist electronic journal Euskal Herria, based in San
Francisco, was shut down by email bombs believed to be initiated by the Spanish
government (Conway
2007
).
In Eastern Europe, with a long history of censorship under Soviet occupation,
attempts to control the internet have been more explicit and widespread. In Bul-
garia, for example, the government's attempt to license ISPs that included the
collection of user names and passwords was defeated by the internet Society of
Bulgaria on the grounds that it served political rather than economic purposes.
Moldovan Internet café owners formed the Internet Club Association to lobby
