Political, social and cultural content on the Internet are the primary targets of censorship, along with applications such as Google Maps and the Internet phone program Skype, according to the OpenNet Initiative, a partnership of more than 50 researchers who conducted tests on Internet access in 41 countries.

The research, conducted in 2006 and early this year, identified six countries with “pervasive” filtering of political content: Burma, China, Iran, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam.

Nine countries — including China, Pakistan and Vietnam — use technology to conceal their censorship, disguising it with techniques such as flashing network error messages.

The report was conducted by groups at four universities — Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and Toronto — and covered thousands of Web sites and 120 Internet service providers.

The researchers, often local experts, faced the threat of surveillance and even arrest in Iran, Syria and other countries, said Rafal Rohozinski of Cambridge. Two researchers in Uzbekistan were briefly detained for seeking access to political sites.

To the surprise of some researchers, no filtering was found in Russia, Egypt, Algeria, Israel or the West Bank and Gaza, even for information that might be seen as a threat to security.

“Israel and the West Bank were the most democratic locations in the Middle East” as measured by access to Internet content, said Rohozinski, who oversaw the research in the region.

The most active countries censoring social content, ranging from satire to religious debate to pornography, were in the Middle East: Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Some governments use selective or temporary filtering. Belarus blocked access to opposition and media Web sites for a week before a national election and then removed the filtering.

South Korea’s filtering system heavily censors information about one subject: North Korea.

Researchers chose the 41 countries based on reports of filtering and surveillance. North Korea and Cuba were not included because of security concerns. The United States and most European countries were not included because filtering practices are better known.

But many U.S. companies, including Microsoft, Google and Yahoo, provide the technology that allows countries to censor the Internet. John Palfrey of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School said the report would highlight efforts by human- rights groups, online activists, investment groups and Internet companies.Sanitizing the Web

The OpenNet Initiative conducted research in 41 countries suspected of Internet censorship. In some countries, the filtering is quite limited (India); others (China, Iran) it’s extensive. The breakdown:

• Evidence of filtering: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burma, China, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
• Suspected filtering: Belarus, Kazakhstan
• No evidence of filtering: Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Moldova, Nepal, Russia (based on preliminary tests), Ukraine, Venezuela, West Bank/Gaza, Zimbabwe

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Source: Berkman Center for Internet and Society