An Introduction to Filtering Policies of Websites

At the beginning of the last decade of the twentieth century the number of the users of internet increased quickly and the governments started actions to organize this sphere and guarantee its security. In this regard the way the governments made limitations and filters has raised criticism. While some consider filtering as opposing to the concept of freedom of speech, others see unlimited freedom in the uncontrolled internet space harmful. Some other, while accepting the concept of minimal filtering, criticize vast filtering policies. An issue that is growing mostly in developing countries is filtering based on political agendas, ideas of specific individuals and the interests of specific groups. This paper is looking for the answer to the following question: are the current filtering policies effective? Performing a secondary analysis of 9 research articles, I have tried to address the harms of different ways of filtering and explore the negative results of intensive filtering practices. The results of this study show to what extent the filtering policies are effective and what policies can be productive and effective in this regard.