Deal all
I want to show you some obstacles that some countries face them every day.
For example when users from Sudan trying to access some web site they will get a *Forbidden Access Error* message.
And some messages say: you are forbidden to access this web site because your IP address appears form country black listed due to USA government policy.
I would like to issue a question here, who controls this Internet?
ThanksTarig
No one person or entity controls "the Internet", which itself is just a large collection of interconnected public and private networks that use the same protocols to communicate with each other. Many government entities exert some degree of control over the connectivity to, from, and within their contries. This ranges from overt restriction of access to certain sites, to overt/covert monitoring of user activity. Numerous examples have been discussed here over the years (China, Pakistan,
Iran, Burma/Myanmar, Australia, India... the list goes on and on).
Discussions related to the political reasons for such control are likely off topic for this list.
In the case of certain websites in the USA being forbidden from IP addresses listed as being registered to a Sudanese entity, that is the result either of a choice not to accept connections from Sudanese IP blocks (to the extent that they can be identified) or the site has content and is within the sphere of influence of the US government, which maintains a list of contries with whom they either do not have direct diplomatic relations (Iran, North Korea) or they keep at arms' length for other reasons (Syria, Sudan, Somalia, etc).
jms
a message of 27 lines which said:
For example when users from Sudan trying to access some web site
they will get a *Forbidden Access Error* message.And some messages say: you are forbidden to access this web site
because your IP address appears form country black listed due to USA
government policy.I would like to issue a question here, who controls this Internet?
It is not "the Internet", it is just some Web sites in the USA which,
for local reasons, ban access from Sudan. The Internet still
works. And, on the Internet, any Web site can unilaterally decide to
refuse access from country X or country Y, either because a *local*
law mandates it or because they just feel that way.
Go to Web sites in Japan or Costa-Rica and I assume everything will be
OK.
And why not the ICCAN take this reponsibity as an International
organization not USA government?
Since the ICANN is nothing more than a puppet of the US government, I
don't see the improvment it would make.
No one.
To be more clear, no on person, company, government, or any other entity controls "the Internet". Not even ICANN.
Also, I am interested in examples of sites that the US gov't has blocked or otherwise somehow limited access. Please exclude sites owned by the US gov't itself. (Any entity which owns a web server can configure the ACLs on that sever however they plz as far as I'm concerned.)
probabaly every web server in USA e.g. Google, Verisign and sourceforge.
What if a large orginization which has an infrstructure in many countires, in which regulations the will comply, in terms to ban other countries accessing to thier Internet resources.
my regards,
I would like to issue a question here, who controls this Internet?
The global abstract Internet ? nobody.
Your government/service provider and/or the government/service
provider of the destination you are trying to reach may
restrict/block/redirect/tweak/tamper/sniff/shape the free flow of
packets.
Have you ever considered trying to use Tor ?
(http://www.torproject.org/ well if you can get to it 
PS. ICANN has no responsibility or operational role denying access or services.
Regards
Hah, no.
~Seth
Deal all
I want to show you some obstacles that some countries face them every day.
For example when users from Sudan trying to access some web site they will get a *Forbidden Access Error* message.
And some messages say: you are forbidden to access this web site because your IP address appears form country black listed due to USA government policy.
I don't know of USG blacklists. There are certainly blacklists looked at by operators; they do this for their own reasons, not due to government pressure. Understand that the kind of thing that would motivate the USG to blacklist a country from looking at a given web site would be if the web site displayed information that would enable that country to threaten the US. There is information that is covered by a set of regulations called ITAR; it doesn't say what country can't receive information, it says what information a US citizen cannot legally communicate to anyone that is not a US citizen.
I suspect that what is really happening here is that the Sudan has a redirect in place that blocks information it considers its citizens should not be able to access. The web page you see is designed to get you to wonder about those evil devils, the Americans, rather than those who are actually blocking the traffic.
I would like to issue a question here, who controls this Internet?
Nobody, and everybody.
ThanksTarig
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probabaly every web server in USA e.g. Google, Verisign and sourceforge.
ALL companies that operate in the US are bound by law to abide by restrictions that are defined at http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/ and elsewhere. Failure to abide by those laws can result in criminal sanctions (that is, being thrown in jail for years).
However, the US is not the only country that restricts who does business with whom. I suspect you'll find pretty much every country in the world has a similar list in one form or another. In many cases, and depending on context, companies can obtain licenses that permit the provision of content and services to countries and people that are under sanction, but those companies have to do the work and I suspect most find it isn't worth the effort.
In addition, Intellectual Property owners may decide that they want to deny access to content for arbitrary reasons. Examples of this outside of the Internet are region encoded DVDs. These restrictions are determined by business models.
The issue isn't that the US has these restrictions, rather it is that there is a lot of useful content that is generated in and/or distributed from the US. One could argue that this encourages creation of and distribution channels for useful content outside the US...
What if a large orginization which has an infrstructure in many countires, in which regulations the will comply, in terms to ban other countries accessing to thier Internet resources.
As has been pointed out, the Internet is a set of interconnected public and private networks. Each of those networks has their own rules about who they'll grant access and what resources they'll make available.
Regards,
-drc
The truth to your question is, anybody who wants to. Hackers, activists,
governments, terrorists all have the ability to control it. But probably not all
at the same time.
With the increase in irresponsible security disclosures by folks such as Tavis
Ormandy, power and control is very much being handed to "the people".
I have been campaigning for a while to get tighter laws introduced on
irresponsible security disclosures, to give the government more control over the
internet.
Andrew Wallace
Deal all
I want to show you some obstacles that some countries face them every day.
For example when users from Sudan trying to access some web site they will get a *Forbidden Access Error* message.
And some messages say: you are forbidden to access this web site because your IP address appears form country black listed due to USA government policy.
thats a nice, vague, and non-supportable message that is phrased to generate
anger. which web sites, what web proxies, and which orgin IP addresses are in question
here?
I would like to issue a question here, who controls this Internet?
the brief answer is - lots of people. ISPs, Telecoms companies, Government censors
and regulators, your content providers, access providers (the Internet cafe), and your
parents.
except ICANN has presumed for itself an operational role.
it has taken on root server operations for some years now
and is trying to take over root zone editorial control.
--bil
probabaly every web server in USA e.g. Google, Verisign and sourceforge.
In this case you will most likely discover that these are blocked by the
service provider at your end and not by Google et al.
What if a large orginization which has an infrstructure in many countires,
in which regulations the will comply, in terms to ban other countries
accessing to thier Internet resources.The local laws/regulations take precedence in each country and they must
abide to what's been set. This however isnt a concern to many since not many
countries impose such strict restrictions.
./TJ
The local laws/regulations take precedence in each country and they must
abide to what's been set. This however isnt a concern to many since not many
countries impose such strict restrictions.
I thought most countries had trade and export restrictions of one sort or another?
Best Regards,
Nathan Eisenberg
Hi Tarig
This is a bit like asking who controls friendship. Of course nobody does.
However if certain friends of yours are going to impose conditions on you,
you have to go along with it or find new friends.
One way round it is to use other friends as interlocutors, simply by using
proxy services, or, in more intense situations, something like Kaleidoscope
http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=1485
j
> I would like to issue a question here, who controls this Internet?
The truth to your question is, anybody who wants to. Hackers, activists,
governments, terrorists all have the ability to control it. But probably not all
at the same time.With the increase in irresponsible security disclosures by folks such as Tavis
Ormandy, power and control is very much being handed to "the people".I have been campaigning for a while to get tighter laws introduced on
irresponsible security disclosures, to give the government more control over the
internet.
Which government? There are rather a lot of them, and they all have a
legitimate interest in control over the internet (or at least their chunk of
it. Good luck deciding where their chunk ends though).
Tarig,
Just going out on a limb here, but who says the sites in the US are blocking
instead of the country itself? Maybe the Sudan government is blocking
access to the sites for whatever reason.
Allen
PS. ICANN has no responsibility or operational role denying access or services.
Regards
except ICANN has presumed for itself an operational role\. it has taken on root server operations for some years now and is trying to take over root zone editorial control\.
Sure, no doubt there are some groups under the ICANN umbrella
desperate to expand their "operational" role including the last move
about creating a DNS-CERT or GAC-ifing every decision.
Besides L server I don't think ICANN has much control of the rest of
the root servers.
Amen about the root zone.
I'd love to see how viable and what it would take to "go Postel",
screw ICANN and declare independence from it.
I'd say that today nobody has full control but among some
organizations (including now the other competing traveling circus aka
IGF) many want to have it.
Cheers
Jorge
Each individual government seems to control the information the enters or
leaves their borders. Do a search for "Internet Censorship Wikileaks".
Every government has their own set of morals and standards and politically
motivated black list. Certainly the USA wants to swagger and force its will
on not only its own people but the entire planet, but they are not alone.
Australia, China, North Korea, Germany........ Etc............ All with
their own agenda. It would be great if there was ONE entity that controlled
content and each country had to abide by their decisions in order to have
access to the backbone but that's only just a dream at this point. The flat
earth that should be the flow of information needs to be demanded by
everyone.
That's my 13 cents worth.
(Inflation sucks)
But who am I but just a thinking and caring animal of this planet?
Bob-
To add.......
This is a great reason to provide proxy servers or to use Tor. If enough
resources are thrown against it to make it irrelevant..............
Well........... Okay, so they will fight back with even more. Time to
shoot one's self in the head. 
In the immortal words of Bob Marley, "Get Up, Stand Up! Don't Give Up The
Fight!"
Bob-