A joint study about internet censorship by EDRI-member Privacy International and the GreenNet Educational Trust describes an alarming development of increased efforts to close down or inhibit the internet. Accelerated control is not just the case in countries like China and Burma where the medium has almost lost all usefulness for free speech. Worldwide, after the 11 September attacks governments have introduced new laws restricting a range of civil rights.

"While paying lip service to personal freedoms, the leaders of the democratic world have affirmed with uncharacteristic harmony that the pursuit of a safer society must prompt a reassessment of individual liberties and privacy. In its most blatant manifestation, this will result in a substantial increase in the right of the state to place controls on all citizens, shifting the default in favour of comprehensive surveillance over the population. Technology is at the same time the culprit and the saviour."

But the report isn't limited to state censorship. "One of the most important trends in recent years is the growth of multinational corporate censors whose agendas are very different from those of governments. It is arguable that in the first decade of the 21st century, corporations will rival governments in threatening Internet freedoms."

Silenced: an international report on censorship and control of the internet
http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/censorship/