What happen to websites and blogs after they get blocked? Do arrested and threatened bloggers and digital activists stop their online activities once they face a governmental threat?
my keynote for re:publica 10 conference, Berlin, April 15, 2010
14. 34% of those 67 blocked websites are dead (Tunisia)
Dead Websites Alive
44 23
Dead Websites
34%
Alive
66%
15. blocked websites, before & after (exp. from Tunisia)
http://www.ltdh.org/ website of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) becoming a chinese website!!!
16. blocked websites, before & after (exp. from Tunisia)
http://www.cnlt98.org/ website the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT) becoming a website with sponsored links!!!
17. blocked websites, before & after (exp. from Tunisia)
http://tounes.naros.info/ website of another Tunisian NGO, DNS reserved but empty!!!
19. deep packet inspection (DPI) killing content inside emails
email as seen from
outside Tunisia
same email as seen
from Tunisia
20. general consequences of online censorship for bloggers & webmasters
short-term: some publicity & support (tiny % of bloggers)
long-term: blogger will be left alone
isolating the blogger from his/her environment
significant decrease in readership
significant decrease in interactivity and conversation
shift from blogging to protest
doubting the values of blogging
scaring out and discouraging others bloggers
killing content
21. website/blog blocked, what next?
creating a new blog/website (easy)
losing page ranking + loosing referring links + confusing
readership
migrating (advanced/impossible)
redirecting to a new DNS (advanced/costly/impossible)
setting up mirror blog (advanced/costly/impossible)
setting up a secure website -https- (advanced/costly/
temporarily/impossible)
become an “exiled blogger” (temporarily)
relying on facebook and other web 2.0 platforms as “safe”
haven (temporarily)
self-censorship
stop blogging (RIP ?%)
26. an endless cat-and-mouse game...
thank you
sami ben gharbia
work
advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org
threatened.globalvoicesonline.org
blog & projects
samibengharbia.com
nawaat.org
babtounes.com
cybversion.org
twitter.com/ifikra
email
advocacy@globalvoicesonline.org