Think of the most Internet-censored countries in the world.
Go ahead, we’ll wait.
You probably picked North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Iran, Vietnam, maybe Myanmar (Burma), Tunisia, perhaps Syria.
You don’t generally think of…the United Kingdom (or, if Brexit actually happens, “England”).
And while the U.K. isn’t quite up there with Saudi Arabia just yet, a new proposal to create a British “national Internet filter” – in essence a country-wide firewall – designed to ramp up DNS filtering to curb cyberattacks, block malicious websites and malware, may very well be the first step down the slippery slope to censorship.
Hey, we’ve seen movies where Britain has become quite the authoritarian state…maybe this is the prequel to “V for Vendetta.” Or…maybe not.
Britain has recently created a National Cyber Security Center that falls under the aegis of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and this seems to be Chief Executive Ciaran Martin’s opening salvo to announce the new agency’s presence. Needless to say, free speech and free Internet proponents responded with alarm, but Martin has been quick to allay immediate fears by allowing individuals to opt out of the new directive, stating at a recent speech that privacy and choice were thus “hardwired into our programme.”
And while DNS filtering certainly has its place, and can reasonably effectively block known malware threats, it’s not going to find new polymorphic malware strains or stop any of the really sophisticated and virulent state-of-the-art attacks being developed and implemented by today’s malware producers.
Also, if the debate in England in any way mirrors the recent Net Neutrality fights in the United States, this could very well be the beginning of a long and drawn out process.
While British academics also raised an eyebrow or two in concern (as the British are wont to do), the consensus seems to be that since there are already existing bans on things like obvious copyright violations, child pornography, and a few other taboo topics, why not raise the general level of public security when it comes to fending off the most common malware attacks? If, as a nation, you’re effectively able to block a lot of the obvious threats, individual organizations are then going to be able to better focus on the more sophisticated threats and attacks without having to wade through so much static and “alert noise.”
Still, if you want to rile up the free speech advocates, start drawing up lists of unacceptable websites or material, announce your new policy to the world, and see what happens.
