Internet censorship is control or suppression of the
publishing or accessing of information on the
internet.

Philippines has collaborated with ASEAN member nations
( Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam) on finding ways to control expression on the
internet. There were movements against it that
debated on the rights of freedom of speech. But there
are no laws in the Philippines regarding internet
censorship in the country.

Mark Verzo, a.k.a. Boy Bastos, was arrested by NBI due
to the press release of Loren Legarda. He was
eventually released when no charges can be pressed
against him regarding his pornography site. This
shows that there is no internet censorship in the
Philippines.

China’s government blocks topics it considers
sensitive or controversial. Those who try to go around
the ban are punished. The governement filters the
content of the mail, webpages, blogs and forums. It
blocks sites of some Western media outlets and human
rights organization that may be politically or
socially harmful. Information related to Taiwanes e
and Tibetan independence, the Dalai Lama, Tiananmen
Square, SARS, opposition political parties and
anti-Communist movements will not be found.

Singapore has a law on restricting material on the
internet. They regulate political, religious and
pornographic content online. Internet companies such
as service providers, cybercafes and organizations
with sites that provide political religious
information about Singapore must register with the
Broadcast Authority and abide by the rules. The agency
can impose fines and revoke the operating licenses of
companies that refuse to register.

Myanmar has filtering technologies that keep the
citizens from having access to sites hosted outside of
the country.

China, Singapore and Myanmar are supported by the
government and the technology they have. Also, they
have strict implementation. Philippines, on the other
hand, has a divided government that’s why it is hard
to implement laws such as censorships. Also, the
country doesn’t have the technology to monitor
providers and sites from publishing or accessing
information they want to censor.