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Article

1 Aug 2011

Author:
Benjamin Shingler, The Canadian Press

Canadian software used to censor web abroad; prompts calls for cyberspace 'foreign policy'

Netsweeper Inc..has provided services for telecommunications companies in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen...[and] has blocked websites related to homosexuality, sex education and human-rights advocacy, as well as some newspapers and blogs and proxy websites that allow Internet users to browse anonymously...U.S. companies such as Websense and McAfee [part of Intel] SmartFilter have also been used by governments in the Middle East and North Africa...Netsweeper did not respond to an interview request and in the past has said it won't comment on the issue...[W]atchdogs argue [that such services] stifle basic freedoms online...[Some suggest that] Canada could...introduc[e] legislation making it illegal for Canadian companies to filter content in countries that violate the freedoms outlined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. [also refers to Research In Motion]