From Freedom to Walled Gardens - The Evolution of The Internet

The Internet has given people from all over the world unprecedented ability to communicate with each other. Anyone can create content and share their thoughts and opinions with the world. The Internet is not controlled by any one central body, and this is something that many governments are uncomfortable with. Ideas posted online may be stored on a server thousands of miles from the place where the content creator lives, and can be copied, shared and archived by an unlimited number of users.

As this infographic shows, some governments, including those in mainland China, North Korea and the UAE have taken measures to restrict the kind of content that users can access online. Those countries restrict content that is political or religious in nature. Other countries, including several in Europe, have started to filter content too, blocking websites that contain illegal content such as child pornography or copyright file sharing sites.

The original creators of the Internet wanted information to be free, and love the widespread sharing of ideas, no matter whether they agree with those ideas or not. Freedom of communication is under threat, and the threat may be closer to home than you think.

Infographic provided by CWCS