Google battle over Internet censorship goes far beyond China

Google's fight with China over Internet censorship made headlines around the world, but it has been engaged in similar battles around the globe. At least 25 countries, many of them with repressive regimes but even those with democracies, have at times blocked the public's access to Google over the last several years.

All told, more than 40 countries actively censor the Internet, compared with a handful in 2004, which is when the OpenNet Initiative, a group of academics, began tracking global censorship. This shrinking of the World Wide Web is alarming consumer groups, academics and companies such as Google and Yahoo Inc. They argue that such state-imposed restrictions go too far, fettering access to politically or socially sensitive information on a wide range of subjects including abortion and euthanasia. They warn that if not carefully monitored, such restrictions could ultimately be used to sway public opinion and suppress voices outside the mainstream. Equally vexed are government agencies and political leaders elsewhere who are trying to figure out just how big a role they should — or technologically can — play in protecting their citizens from online abuses, privacy incursions and other dangers. Approximately 32% of the world's population has access to the Internet filtered by local governments, according to the OpenNet Initiative.