Georgian filtering of Russian media sites is "defensive"

Inaccurate and inflammatory reports by Russian media sites are likely behind the decision by major Georgian ISPs to implement limited Internet filtering. The limited filtering of Russian media sites appears to be part of the governments declared state of emergency. At least two Georgian ISPs have implemented limited filtering this week as a "defensive measure" aimed at protecting the population and reducing the potential for panic during a time of national crisis. One of the two ISPs, the Georgian Research and Academic Network (GRENA), connects many of the country's schools. In recent days the scope of pro-Russian information attacks widened as sites like stopgeorgia.ru provide anyone connected to the internet with the opportunity to launch denial of service attacks against Georgian websites. Georgian government websites remain under attack. The website of the President of Georgia remains under heavy denial of service despite being moved to a service provider in the United States. Global Voices reports that Information attacks have spread to Web 2.0 with ICQ and social network sites targeted with pro-russian messages. The ONI's sister project, the Information Warfare Monitor continues to monitor the situation. The latest reports are posted to www.infowar-monitor.net.