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Government Censorship of Search Engines Even the most democratic nations in the world employ at least some level of censorship of internet information. Though few specifically target search engine companies when such companies are acting as search engines, rather than ISPs or portals, as the internet grows so to grows the world's dependency upon this technology for gaining information. Likewise, the world’s governments, whether democratic or authoritarian, now have an increased stake in what types of information are retrieved by the search engines both within and outside of their borders. Like China, several countries in which civil liberties are restricted filter the internet content available to their citizens. Though not employing as technologically advanced methods as China, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Burma, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates filter extensively. Often limiting the numbers of available ISPs and content providers, these countries use government or privately-based programs to eliminate access to unauthorized websites or unauthorized content. As shown in the highlighted examples below, the effects of such filtering may reach far beyond a nation’s borders to the world at large and the internet as a whole.
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Congress has reflected a growing concern over the content distributed over the internet. This is evidenced by the Child Online Privacy Protection Act, the Child Internet Protection Act, the Child Online Protection Act, and the Communications Decency Act (held unconstitutional in Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997)). While these statutes restrict various aspects of the information supplied over the internet and access to other types of information, especially by minors, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) presently appears to have the greatest implications particular to search engine companies. [Click to explore United States: Search Engine Censorship] In terms of internet access, China is one of the most repressive governments in the world. Employing technological, political, and legal means to limit its citizens’ access to the internet, China polices every aspect of their online activity. Not only are these efforts aimed at fighting indecency or protecting the morality of the children, but they also include efforts to ban speech threatening “national unity.” [Click to explore China: Search Engine Censorship] Both France and Germany maintain very stringent rules against the dissemination of Nazi material, Nazi or neo-Nazi propaganda, or revisionist history. In order to comply with the laws of the countries, search engines are forced to remove specific websites from their search results. This is most often done without notification to the website owner or the search engine user. [Click to explore France and Germany: Search Engine Censorship]
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