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By establishing an infrastructure for monitoring and blocking networks in accordance with European Union (EU) law on preventive measures against the spread of information, EU member states have also made it easier to block websites and services and monitor information. While relevant studies have documented Internet censorship in non‐European countries, as well as the use of such infrastructures for political reasons, this study examines network interference practices such as website blocking against the backdrop of an almost complete lack of EU‐related research. Specifically, it performs and demonstrates an analysis for the total of 27 EU countries based on three different sources. They include first, tens of millions of historical network measurements collected in 2020 by Open Observatory of Network Interference volunteers from around the world; second, the publicly available blocking lists used by EU member states; and third, the reports issued by network regulators in each country from May 2020 to April 2021. Our results show that authorities issue multiple types of blocklists. Internet Service Providers limit access to different types and categories of websites and services. Such resources are sometimes blocked for unknown reasons and not included in any of the publicly available blocklists. The study concludes with the hurdles related to network measurements and the nontransparency from regulators regarding specifying website addresses in blocking activities., Peer Reviewed

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit Internetzensur innnerhalb der EU, und hier insbesondere mit der technischen Umsetzung, das heißt mit den angewandten Sperrmethoden und Filterinfrastrukturen, in verschiedenen EU-Ländern. Neben einer Darstellung einiger Methoden und Infrastrukturen wird deren Nutzung zur Informationskontrolle und die Sperrung des Zugangs zu Websites und anderen im Internet verfügbaren Netzdiensten untersucht. Die Arbeit ist in drei Teile gegliedert. Zunächst werden Fälle von Internetzensur in verschiedenen EU-Ländern untersucht, insbesondere in Griechenland, Zypern und Spanien. Anschließend wird eine neue Testmethodik zur Ermittlung der Zensur mittels einiger Anwendungen, welche in mobilen Stores erhältlich sind, vorgestellt. Darüber hinaus werden alle 27 EU-Länder anhand historischer Netzwerkmessungen, die von freiwilligen Nutzern von OONI aus der ganzen Welt gesammelt wurden, öffentlich zugänglichen Blocklisten der EU-Mitgliedstaaten und Berichten von Netzwerkregulierungsbehörden im jeweiligen Land analysiert., This is a thesis on Internet censorship in the European Union (EU), specifically regarding the technical implementation of blocking methodologies and filtering infrastructure in various EU countries. The analysis examines the use of this infrastructure for information controls and the blocking of access to websites and other network services available on the Internet. The thesis follows a three-part structure. Firstly, it examines the cases of Internet censorship in various EU countries, specifically Greece, Cyprus, and Spain. Subsequently, this paper presents a new testing methodology for determining censorship of mobile store applications. Additionally, it analyzes all 27 EU countries using historical network measurements collected by Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) volunteers from around the world, publicly available blocklists used by EU member states, and reports issued by network regulators in each country.

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit Internetzensur innnerhalb der EU, und hier insbesondere mit der technischen Umsetzung, das heißt mit den angewandten Sperrmethoden und Filterinfrastrukturen, in verschiedenen EU-Ländern. Neben einer Darstellung einiger Methoden und Infrastrukturen wird deren Nutzung zur Informationskontrolle und die Sperrung des Zugangs zu Websites und anderen im Internet verfügbaren Netzdiensten untersucht. Die Arbeit ist in drei Teile gegliedert. Zunächst werden Fälle von Internetzensur in verschiedenen EU-Ländern untersucht, insbesondere in Griechenland, Zypern und Spanien. Anschließend wird eine neue Testmethodik zur Ermittlung der Zensur mittels einiger Anwendungen, welche in mobilen Stores erhältlich sind, vorgestellt. Darüber hinaus werden alle 27 EU-Länder anhand historischer Netzwerkmessungen, die von freiwilligen Nutzern von OONI aus der ganzen Welt gesammelt wurden, öffentlich zugänglichen Blocklisten der EU-Mitgliedstaaten und Berichten von Netzwerkregulierungsbehörden im jeweiligen Land analysiert., This is a thesis on Internet censorship in the European Union (EU), specifically regarding the technical implementation of blocking methodologies and filtering infrastructure in various EU countries. The analysis examines the use of this infrastructure for information controls and the blocking of access to websites and other network services available on the Internet. The thesis follows a three-part structure. Firstly, it examines the cases of Internet censorship in various EU countries, specifically Greece, Cyprus, and Spain. Subsequently, this paper presents a new testing methodology for determining censorship of mobile store applications. Additionally, it analyzes all 27 EU countries using historical network measurements collected by Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) volunteers from around the world, publicly available blocklists used by EU member states, and reports issued by network regulators in each country.

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit Internetzensur innnerhalb der EU, und hier insbesondere mit der technischen Umsetzung, das heißt mit den angewandten Sperrmethoden und Filterinfrastrukturen, in verschiedenen EU-Ländern. Neben einer Darstellung einiger Methoden und Infrastrukturen wird deren Nutzung zur Informationskontrolle und die Sperrung des Zugangs zu Websites und anderen im Internet verfügbaren Netzdiensten untersucht. Die Arbeit ist in drei Teile gegliedert. Zunächst werden Fälle von Internetzensur in verschiedenen EU-Ländern untersucht, insbesondere in Griechenland, Zypern und Spanien. Anschließend wird eine neue Testmethodik zur Ermittlung der Zensur mittels einiger Anwendungen, welche in mobilen Stores erhältlich sind, vorgestellt. Darüber hinaus werden alle 27 EU-Länder anhand historischer Netzwerkmessungen, die von freiwilligen Nutzern von OONI aus der ganzen Welt gesammelt wurden, öffentlich zugänglichen Blocklisten der EU-Mitgliedstaaten und Berichten von Netzwerkregulierungsbehörden im jeweiligen Land analysiert., This is a thesis on Internet censorship in the European Union (EU), specifically regarding the technical implementation of blocking methodologies and filtering infrastructure in various EU countries. The analysis examines the use of this infrastructure for information controls and the blocking of access to websites and other network services available on the Internet. The thesis follows a three-part structure. Firstly, it examines the cases of Internet censorship in various EU countries, specifically Greece, Cyprus, and Spain. Subsequently, this paper presents a new testing methodology for determining censorship of mobile store applications. Additionally, it analyzes all 27 EU countries using historical network measurements collected by Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) volunteers from around the world, publicly available blocklists used by EU member states, and reports issued by network regulators in each country.

This article identifies a ‘policy turn’ in questions of internet governance, as politicians and policy-makers across multiple jurisdictions grapple with the power of digital platforms, and associated questions of accountability, transparency, market dominance and content regulation. The EU Hate Speech monitoring code, the Christchurch Call, the UK Online Harms Bill and Australia’s ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry are manifestations of this trend, in what Philip Schlesinger has described as an emergent ‘regulatory field’. While corporate self-regulation has tended to be the dominant framework for digital sectors, there is growing pressure on the part of nation states for greater external regulation. In this article, we will consider different conceptual premises for understanding platform power, arising from neo-pluralist, class and elite theories, as well as the relative significance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nation state governments, corporate self-regulation (e.g. Facebook Oversight Board) and supranational governance mechanisms, such as Tim Berners-Lee’s proposed ‘Contract for the Web’.

Zero-rating practices and associated throttling practices have been an issue of intense public policy debate. This article evaluates such practices under the Open Internet Order's transparency, no-throttling, and general conduct rules. The evaluation separately considers application-agnostic zero-rating, class-based zero-rating, edge provider-based zero-rating, and affiliated zero-rating. The article evaluates sponsored data programs (AT&T Sponsored Data, Verizon FreeBee Data), zero-rating and throttling of video streaming (T-Mobile Binge On), free mobile Internet access to specific edge providers (T-Mobile Music Freedom), and zero-rated or unlimited access to affiliated content (AT&T Data Free TV, Verizon go90, Comcast XFINITY Stream TV).

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the views of internet stakeholders in Sweden, from the perspective of net neutrality. There does not exist one single definition of the principle, which makes defining net neutrality in the context of this thesis important. The basic concept of net neutrality is that all similar internet content should be treated equally. However there are several technical, economical and legal aspects to consider, and that makes an exploration of those aspects a part of our background. What peaked our interest was the combination of the high profile in the debate, complex topic and the result of a small survey we conducted that showed a low level of awareness. In this qualitative study, eight different respondents answered our questions, coming from three major categories of stakeholders (ISPs, CPs, and legal authorities). The analysis was based on interpretations of the answers and fitting them into a theoretical framework constructed by the authors to compare the views of the respondents. The reported views on net neutrality contains a wide range of concerns covering several disciplines. There is a mix of past, present and future concerns being lifted, with both technical, economical and legal aspects. The depth of the answers vary from shallow to very complex. To be able to comment on the findings we state our view of net neutrality as a starting point for our discussion. We found that the delicate and complex topic, high profile in the debates, and ongoing legal changes has led to a low response rate. From the responses received, the view of the stakeholders are more homogeneous among ISPs, and more varied among CPs. The respondents are pro net neutrality, more so from a theoretical perspective. The legal authorities has a pragmatic view and provided us with a deeper understanding. It would provide further insights to see how the view of the stakeholders might change when the guidelines from BEREC are presented in the late summer of 201

66 Fed. Comm. L. J. 415 (2014)