Prohibition enforcement Internet access in World Trade.

BUSINESS INFORMATION - Internet censorship in force a refusal at the World Trade Organization because it can limit the trade in services delivered online, says a study that will come.

A sensor in the WTO case could raise issues of sovereignty, given the clear right of member countries to restrict trade on moral grounds - for example, by blocking access to child pornography sites.

But the WTO ruling may set limits on the sensor and force countries rather than using filtering, according to the study, will be published on Thursday by the think-tank ECIPE.


"Many WTO member countries are legally obliged to allow an unlimited supply of cross-border Internet services," they wrote in their report, obtained by Reuters.

Many countries do censor the Internet for political or moral reasons. China has developed one of the systems, in Cuba unauthorized surfing is illegal, and many Western countries to restrict access to pornography sites.

Use of the Internet, especially in Asia. China, with 298 million people online, exceed the United States in the number of Internet users in the year 2008, the study said.

BUSINESS IMPACT

Internet censorship can have a serious impact on business, he said, noting how the local search engine Baidu, which followed the official rules on censorship, Google has beaten the global leader in the Chinese market.

There were even reports that authorities were diverted to make requests and other international Google.com search engine Baidu site.

In the third quarter of 2009 Baidu has 64 percent of 2 billion yuan ($ 293 million) in the Internet search market in China, while Google has 31.3 percent.

In Japan, Google may face similar linguistic barriers to entry into China, foreign-owned search engine has more than 90 percent of the market.

A challenge at the WTO by the laws of the United States Antigua to restrict online gambling shows that the commitment of members to open up in the next sector takes precedence over the prohibition and restrictions, even if they do not distinguish between domestic and foreign suppliers.

And a WTO panel decided against import restrictions on Chinese audio-visual entertainment, including the use of distributors in the country to control access to the material, in response to the U.S. challenge.i