CORRECTED - Internet censorship liable to WTO challenge - study
(Corrects 12th paragraph to make clear that foreign-owned search engines, not just Google, have 90 percent of Japanese market. Also updates link to homepage with link to full report)
* Censorship breaks WTO rules if restricts service trade
* WTO challenge could clarify limits of censorship
GENEVA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Censorship of the Internet is open to challenge at the World Trade Organisation as it can restrict trade in services delivered online, a forthcoming study says. A censorship case at the WTO could raise sovereignty issues, given the clear right of member states to restrict trade on moral grounds -- for example, by blocking access to child pornography websites.
But a WTO ruling could set limits on blanket censorship and compel states instead to use more selective filtering, according to the study, to be published on Thursday by think-tank ECIPE.
"Censorship is the most important non-tariff barrier to the provision of online services, and a case might clarify the circumstances in which different forms of censorship are WTO-consistent," said the study by Brian Hindley and Hosuk Lee-Makiyama.
"Many WTO member states are legally obliged to permit an unrestricted supply of cross-border Internet services," they wrote in their report, obtained in advance by Reuters.
Many countries censor the Internet for political or moral reasons. China has developed one of the most pervasive systems, in Cuba all unauthorised surfing is illegal, and many Western countries limit access to child porn sites.
Internet use is particularly strong in Asia. China, with 298 million people online, overtook the United States in numbers of Internet users in 2008, the study said.
BUSINESS IMPACT
Internet censorship can have a serious impact on businesses, it said, noting how local search engine Baidu (BIDU.O), which follows official rules on censorship, has overtaken global leader Google (GOOG.O) in the Chinese market.
There have even been reports that the authorities rerouted requests for Google.com and other international search engines to Baidu's site.
In the third quarter of 2009 Baidu had 64 percent of the 2 billion yuan ($293 million) Internet search market in China, while Google had 31.3 percent. [ID:nSHA287944] Continued...
