Net filtering is dangerously gaining ground, as a growing number of democratic governments consider or implement schemes aimed at blocking access to specific websites, sometimes without any judicial oversight. Established in the name of the regulating “violent” or child abuse content, or controlling online gambling, these schemes are both inefficient and disproportionate. Website blocking is imprecise by nature, creating a risk of “collateral censorship” by wrongfully blocking perfectly legitimate websites.

Even when mandated by the judicial authority, Net filtering infringes on fundamental freedoms and harms the architecture of the free and open Internet by "balkanizing" the network. It leads to generalised censorship and control of the Internet, as it is gradually extended to new fields such as defamatory content or copyright infringements. To respect freedom of communication, other enforcement measures must be implemented, such as taking down content at the source or blocking financial streams in cases of commercial websites.