It is common knowledge that the Internet in Uzbekistan is censored. The authorities have been filtering out the web resources whose loyalty is suspicious for five years already.

The censorship was total - and particularly so after the so called events in Andijan - but the authorities have never admitted its existence. Former Foreign Minister Eljer Ganiyev denied existence of Internet censorship with gusto just a year ago. "We live in the era of computer technologies, and all statements that the Internet is somehow censored or anything are a height of naivete," Ganiyev told foreign journalists once.

Foreign journalists sneered at hearing that, while local Internet services providers didn't find it a laughing matter at all. All attempts on the part of the local media community to draw attention of the international community to the problem were futile. Reporters Sans Frontiers was probably the only organization to list Uzbekistan as one of the "enemies of the Internet". All other international structures couldn't care less - or so it definitely seemed. Authors of several popular web sites of Uznet appealed to Mr. Fikret Akchura, Permanent Representative of the UN Development Program in Uzbekistan once. They wanted to know how come UzSciNet, a UN-sponsored provider, was serving as a filter for independent regional sources of information. Mr. Akchura never answered the open letter.

Off the record, employees of the Tashkent office of the UN Development Program told this correspondent that they wielded absolutely no clout with the state and secret services acting in the capacity of web-content censors. As a matter of fact, Tashkent office employees asked this correspondent to let the matter alone until the Information Society World Summit in Tunisia. They said that they would bring up the matter of China and Uzbekistan as Internet-freedom abusers at the summit.

The international forum in Tunisia took place in November 2005. With nothing to show for it, that is. Moreover, some presidents addressing the summit demanded a stiffer control over the Internet.

The subject of Internet-censorship has been a taboo in Uzbekistan for a long time. A piece on Internet-control nevertheless appeared in the Uzbek media - in the journal Infocom known as the mouthpiece of the Uzbek Agency for Communications and Informatization.

Titled "Software for Filtering Undesirable Content Out", the article gives an account of Defender, a software designed at the Young Software Specialist Training Center. The software was already certified and registered at the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Uzbekistan (No DGU01088). The article even gave a hyperlink where a demo version of the software was available. To quote the authors of the article itself, "the software is a tool for optimization of the system of filtration for individual users."

The software was designed for "home use" - allegedly to protect "kids" and "sensitive users" from certain web sites and to promote "a harmonious formation of personality in the existing cultural, religious, moral, and social trends."

Defender includes a built-in standard database of the "suspicious" web sites. The user is free to delete some web sites from the list or add new ones to it. Who decides which web site is suspicious is not said. Much to this correspondent's regret, he failed to install this software and therefore does not know what web sites are in the database.

"The software is just perfect for installation at Internet-cafes and educational establishments. It cannot be bypassed," said a software specialist from Tashkent who actually left Uzbekistan already but does not want his identity known all the same.

Uzbek secret services are not alone now in their zest to come up with new software that will turn the Uzbek segment of the Internet into something like what exists in China.

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Here is an incomplete list of web sites that are not available in Uzbekistan:

Uzmetronom.com

Ezgulik.org

Muhammadsalih.info

Uzbekistanerk.org

Shamelist.ru

Birlik.Net

Ferghana.ru