Virtual Borders, Real Laws

National governments are working to impose their jurisdiction on the traditionally border-free Internet. This month in IEEE Spectrum, David Banisar of Privacy International, a London-based international human rights group, looks at the trend to impose limits on the content of Web sites. Governments are attempting mandates and court action that would affect even Web sites hosted in another country. Looking at issues ranging from China's and Saudi Arabia's wholesale restriction of access to the Internet to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the United States, Banisar argues that decisions are being driven by the needs of law enforcement agencies, restrictive governments, and large corporations, and that the needs of citizens and consumers have largely been ignored.