The Chief Legal Officer of internet search giant Google, David Drummond, has spoken out and asked the United States government to view internet censorship as a trade barrier.

Drummond has revealed that Google has seen a massive increase in governments censoring the internet. As a lot of businesses now operate online, Drummond believes that this censorship should be viewed in the same way as blocking the trade of physical goods.

Internet censorship and barriers to internet communication can come in different forms. The main way seems to be the blocking of access to certain sites although in many countries, governments impose licensing requirements that require companies to have servers in the foreign countries.

Google has run into some criticism – again – for its Street View service. The internet giant has captured images of streets around many countries in the world and in the process, has inadvertently stolen unsecured Wi-Fi data and sparked outrage at the lack of privacy Street View offers. Now though, people are chafing at the lack of social responsibility that Google seems to show.

Last summer, Google’s Street View car took pictures of Middle Road, Worcester. Once these pictures went live on the internet, the local police received some very concerned calls, as the picture seemed to show a young girl, dead on the pavement. Her legs were sprawled out onto the road and yet the picture was still on the internet and the police had received no calls from Google. Who, it seemed, didn’t care that there appeared to be the corpse of a young girl on the street.

The mystery was thankfully cleared up. The young girl was identified as 10-year-old Azura Beebeejaun and she had fallen and was playing dead when the Street View car passed her. Residents of the area are angry at the lack of concern shown by Google though. Whoops.

Verizon and Google have finally given the world an outline of their plans for internet neutrality, the future of the internet. Both companies have agreed that where fixed-line broadband is concerned, the internet should be equal and open, with no priority given to any site.

However, when it comes to mobile broadband, it’s a different story. Mobile service providers will be able to offer a priority service to certain sites in return for a fee. However, Google and Verizon have both stated that web services in the health, education or entertainment sectors should be exempt from this rule.

The popular video networking site, internet sensation YouTube, has been blocked by the courts in Russia’s Far East.

According to information we received, the reason that the internet service provider was forced to block YouTube was due to a video earmarked as extremist by the Justice Ministry in Russia.

YouTube has been blocked by the court in the Komsomolsk-Na-Amure city. The video features members of the banned Slavic Union, ultra-nationalist group, making Nazi salutes amongst other things. The local provider in Komsomolsk-Na-Amure was also told to block access to a few websites that gave access to banned literature – namely Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf.’

Top government officials in the Netherlands and France have both called for international guidelines to deal with the growing problem of internet censorship. According to the governments of both countries, guidelines need to be brought into being to prevent internet censorship technology from being exported by private firms.

The main culprits of internet censorship seem to be China and Iran, both countries that frequently censor certain information and websites. The Netherlands and France plan to hold a ministerial-level meeting this October in order to come up with some relevant guidelines to control the sale of censorship technology by private businesses.

A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities to block access to nine websites; Google, Yahoo, Bing, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail, YouTube, Islam Exposed and In The Name of Allah.

Due to their offending of ‘the fundamental principles of Islam,’ Judge Mazhar Iqbal has ordered the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to block access to the websites. However, the PTA hasn’t yet received the orders and it is doubtful whether they’ll actually be implemented. The Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan has warned of dire consequences should the bans go ahead – saying that it will cut millions of people off from the internet.

This isn’t the first time that Pakistan has banned access to the internet and nor will it be the last. However, internet is the one thing that may cause the most friction between people and power. Let’s hope so.

In a landmark ruling, a judge has thrown out a court case against internet giant Google.

Google, which bought popular video website YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, was accused of allowing copyrighted material to be put up on the website.

Under American law, service providers like YouTube are protected from copyright laws as long as they promptly take down material that they are notified is copyrighted.

In the case, Google claimed it could not be held accountable for the actions of YouTube prior to buying it. However, the court ruling was that it isn’t the realm of the internet service provider to root out copyrighted material, it must simply remove it once notified.

Pakistan has decided to restore partial access to internet site YouTube but social networking site Facebook is still blocked.

Last week there was uproar in Pakistan after a Facebook page urged people to post images of Islamic Prophet Muhammad. This caused the Pakistan government to crackdown on internet websites that were “displaying profane or sacrilegious material.” Mainly, this meant video website YouTube and Facebook.

While partial access to YouTube has been restored, Facebook remains blocked until a court hearing at the end of the month.

Ireland is leading the nations in a crackdown on illegal filesharing. Eircom, the biggest broadband firm in Ireland, has already begun sending out letters to illegal filesharers. The Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) has been one of the first companies to provide Eircom with the IP addresses of offenders. Eircom is Ireland’s largest internet service provider, accounting for around 40% of the market.

The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is shortly due to publish guidelines on how to deal with persistent offenders. If Eircom find you downloading copyrighted content though, you could face a years’ suspension from the internet – so be warned!

We announced yesterday the decision by a Pakistan court to block Facebook in Pakistan, due to a Facebook page inviting users to post caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In Islam, depicting a Prophet is prohibited as it is seen as blasphemous and there were global protests in 2006 after a series of satirical cartoons again depicted the Prophet Muhammad.

Facebook has released a statement concerning the internet censorship, stating that it is disappointed Pakistan chose to block the site without discussing other options first. Facebook has also said that while some content may be seen as offensive on Facebook, with 400 million users of different faiths and beliefs, it would be impossible to please everybody. Facebook is considering blocking the offending page in Pakistan.