The Great Firewall of China continues to expand beyond the mainland’s borders, with distressing news coming from Japan and Nepal.

First, from the ‘tiny archipelago’ Gaijin Biker reports:

Hot on the heels of recent news that Japan will discourage people from using the Internet anonymously comes another disturbing announcement. Kyodo News reports:

The government said Thursday it will promote the use of filtering software against what it judges to be harmful information over the Internet, in a bid to prevent such incidents as group suicides and production of explosives via use of the Internet.

The government will map out procedures and criteria for police to ask Internet service providers to disclose information on the senders of messages on planned suicides. It will also try to educate people about the dangers of "harmful online information," and enhance consultation services about it, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said.

Japan’s proposed censorship would be limited
to ‘DIY sucicide,’ bomb-making and generally reprehensible sites. Still, as Gaijin biker notes in the full post, there is a slippery
slope.

And ICE reports:

Reports suggest that the websites www.insn.org and www.samudaya.org are being filtered in Nepal. Recall that Nepal actually severed its connection to the Internet itself after the royal coup.

Nepal’s censorship seems limited to items critical of the ruling monarch. Or, in extreme circumstances, everything that hasn’t been state-approved. Yes, there is a slippery slope: Nepal is close to the bottom