China cracks down on wi-fi in public spaces

China has ordered public spaces offering wi-fi web access to install costly software to enable police to identify people using the service, state media said Thursday.

Australian government to introduce Internet filter

(AP) -- Australia plans to introduce an Internet filtering system to block obscene and crime-linked Web sites despite concerns it will curtail freedoms and won't completely work.

Australian Internet 'blacklist' prompts concern

(AP) -- A whistle-blower organization claims a secret list of Web sites that Australian authorities are proposing to ban includes such innocuous destinations as a dentist's office.

US relays concern to China over web filtering software

The United States has expressed concern over a new rule that all computers sold in China be rigged with Internet filtering software, a US official said here Monday, amid fears for online freedom.

China backpedals on filtering software order

(AP) -- China's authoritarian government has backed away from an order to load Internet-filtering software on every new computer after a major outcry by citizens used to the relative freedom of online life.

Middle East censors wield Western software: report

Even as Western leaders call for democratic freedom in the Middle East, software from US and Canadian firms is being wielded by censors in oppressive regimes, a report has said.

China launches crackdown on online gaming

China has launched a campaign to crack down on online games operating illegally and featuring content deemed to be unhealthy, state media reported Friday, in the nation's latest Internet clean-up effort.

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Content-control software

Content-control software, also known as censorware or web filtering software, is a term for software designed and optimized for controlling what content is permitted to a reader, especially when it is used to restrict material delivered over the Web. Content-control software determines what content will be available.

The restrictions can be applied at various levels: a government can attempt to apply them nationwide (see internet censorship), or they can, e.g., be applied by an ISP to its clients, by an employer to its personnel, by a school to its students, by a library to its visitors, by a parent to a child's computer, or by an individual user to his or her own computer.

The motive is often to prevent persons from viewing content which the computer's owner(s) or other authorities may consider objectionable; when imposed without the consent of the user, content control can constitute censorship. Some content-control software includes time control functions that empowers parents to set the amount of time that child may spend accessing the Internet or playing games or other computer activities.

In some countries, such software is ubiquitous. In Cuba, if computer user types a dissent keyword, the word processor or browser is automatically closed, and a "state security" warning is given.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA