Internet censorship in Italy: An analysis of 3G/4G networks

Abstract

Users trying to access censored content may experience different results, depending on the technique adopted to enforce Internet Censorship, that in turn depends on different factors. Administrative control of the network (i.e. the entity managing network devices) is one of such factors. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to focus on censorship detection on 3G/4G (hereafter mobile) network operators, investigating the extent of differences in applying censorship inside a single country. To do so we performed an experimental campaign in Italy using the five major mobile operators. We introduce the censorship detection platform and tests we adopted, and aggregate the results according to the outcome of the tests in classes, related with censoring techniques and circumvention capabilities. Overall 15 different aggregated behaviors have been found in the experimental campaign. The analysis of measurement results reveals wide dis-homogeneity of treatment for a given censored resource across different mobile operators, with 99.5% of resources showing at least two different behaviors when probed. The discussion of reported results informs about the unexpected variability on transparency and precision of censorship, and also on effective detection and circumvention strategies, as measured from mobile networks in a single country.