Internet censorship by the great Belgian firewall

1 May 2009 507 views One Comment

It is possible that you have not heard about this great Belgian Firewall. There is never really voted on, and he is just behind the backs of all the people up. This Belgian Firewall will ensure that website will be blocked. The question is, where does it go once we start the first website to block in Belgium? What stops it?

You remember you still have all the fuss around the website: stop child pornography. It seems to strongly suggest that they have seen as a good opportunity for their firewall will enter into force as the first stop child pornography website which is blocked.

For example, if you even try to surf stopkinderporno.com then you should see.

stop-firewall-censuur

The morning wrote:

External websites offering illegal images could soon be blocked quickly and efficiently. At least as to the Minister for Enterprise and Simplification Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD), who primarily child of the network would eliminate.

In Norway, a relatively inexpensive system with blocking software, the Internet service providers are required to support their DNS servers (domain name service) to adjust each one finds that, from a specific domain name illegal content will be offered. Surfers come in instead of the address of the supplier's right to an illegal server of the government, with a website that shows why the domain name is made inaccessible. (...)

Internet as Telenet, Scarlet and ISPA in our country asking for a similar system. "The political will exists in the short term such a system will enter into force," says a member of the Cabinet of Minister Van Quickenborne, which is also responsible for telecommunications. "All parties involved are on the same line. The minister would like to work pragmatically and want short-term agreement that shut down Internet service on a voluntary basis, certain sites may be blocked until a later date to work legislative framework. (...)

The plan will FCCU a secret black list of foreign websites with illegal content, which will then be transferred to the Internet. The working documents of the working-Beirens that the editor could look shows that child pornography is not only endorsed but also zoöfilie, necrophilia, internet lit made including the use of phishing websites, and hatred and racism websites.

Unclear is whether the federal police fully autonomous black list will establish whether this decision by the federal prosecutor will be involved. A report written on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, recently came to the conclusion that the Dutch police do not have the power to determine which websites should be blocked.

The League for Human Rights wrote:

The League for Human Rights fear consequences for freedom of expression and complains of a lack of legal safeguards and external controls to. (...) Legal and external control mechanisms are as good as absent.

The Chinese firewall calls to us in many negative connotations. But the negotiations to reach an agreement on the Belgian block certain websites in anticipation of a legal basis is not so different. Again, all information will be inaccessible to the citizens and democratic participation. Obviously, these practices and foremost from the legitimate struggle against child pornography, but it gives immediate dell verification that this in other cases might have. What is next? No doubt this is a very bad trend.

The Internet has evolved into an instrument of choice for society as well as information and knowledge, to democratize. A State censorship from an ivory tower unilaterally decide the goegemeente can see and what does not belong in, or censored at the time, history.

The League believes that the decision to move to the blocking of websites should remain an exclusive competence of the judiciary. It is not that the police carte blanche to get its sole discretion to block certain websites ...

It strikes me a bit that whenever they appear on the Firewall comment that they can then transfer the block of child pornography. Of course everyone is sure that something must be done by that child pornography websites, but I do not think the proper way to block people go to these sites to go. You have the sites themselves addressing. Such a central Internet Firewall is not the only solution for this kind of websites.

If you want to stop you start it at the source know that even a child of 10 years.

If I would have a shop where I sell all sorts of illegal stuff, the police still can not build wall around my shop so that no more customers in my shop. No, it is just closed my shop. Why should that be different than websites. Just make sure that these websites are to be dismantled.

Moreover, there's always been much comment from our country on the Firewall and censorship in China. Why do we start now than themselves?

How does the Firewall

Firewalls work on the DNS level. This means that a website is requested to the DNS server of your ISP, and this will in turn convert the domain name to the IP address of the webserver where the website can be found. This ip address is returned to your computer and then your computer to retrieve the site using the ip address.

Now is that the DNS servers of the ISPs a sort of black list is kept of sites visited may not be. Will there be a request in for one of these sites will blacklist an ip returned from a server of the government instead of the ip of the appropriate Web server. In this public web you get a nice stop sign as in the screenshot to see the top.

If you just logical thinking is this type of block so ridiculously easy to circumvent. If you have the IP of the Web knows, you can paste it into your browser and you can just back into the website.

Who can be against now?

Here are some hidden seduction that this system should be acceptable to the public opninie. (Source: Luc Van Braekel - lvb.net)

The system will be used against child pornography and phishing. Two extremely harmful phenomena that deal with serious crime. Who can from now to that block?
ISPs who wish to use voluntarily, pending a later date to legal framework. The carriers are therefore (for now) is not forced. Who can now at a voluntary system?
They merely external websites. Ha yeah, because constitutional specialist Francis Delpérée find, for example, that the constitutional ban on censorship only applies to domestic publications. To censor foreign publications it already is nothing constitutionally wrong.
The system will only act on DNS level, in other words, the translation of domain names to IP addresses. Technically speaking, the traffic is not stopped, but you made it impossible for a website to "find".

How do I get the Belgian DNS Censorship

For those who want to make immune to the central black list, to use the DNS servers of OpenDNS. Normally you use always the default DNS server of your ISP that uses this black list.

What you do on your computer that you want to use OpenDNS servers. These servers do not use black lists. That way you can surf uncensored.

open-dns-instellen

To my knowledge this is completely legal because I do not think that the legislation states that the use of OpenDNS is prohibited. What is the Belgian legislation is fantastic.

Now the only hope that the movement does not go to the OpenDNS block.

Another thanks to Luc Van Braekel for information about this topic.

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