PARIS — November was a month during which many in the United States spent time reflecting upon what it had to be thankful for. The members of the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) advocacy, however, chose the month to release its “13 Enemies of the Internet” list, thus providing the world with at least 13 things to not feel thankful for.The organization, based in Paris, France, focuses on press freedom throughout the world and includes the internet in its studies, releasing an annual list of countries “that systematically violate online free expression.”
This year some familiar names have managed to drop off the list, while others have been added. For instance, Nepal, Libya, and Maldives have each become non-entities on the top 13, while Egypt has earned its place among the infamous baker’s dozen most aggressively suppressing freedom of speech.
Unlike previous years, Reporters Without Borders also organized an online protest to highlight the risks that many world citizens able to connect to the internet face, especially if involved with controversial or governmentally unpopular political views or stances. Participants had 24-hours during which they could vote for the world’s most heinous free speech offenders, as well as leave voice messages for Yahoo’s co-founder, Jerry Yang, condemning the search engine site’s cooperation with China’s policies of censorship.
The BBC quoted a representative for the Reporters Without Borders as saying that the protest’s goal was “to mobilize net users so that when we lobby certain countries, we can say that the concers are not just ours, but those of thousands of internet users around the world.”
The list will surprise few human rights followers, given that many of the countries are infamous for violations in other areas, as well. Egypt is the new addition to the list, primarily due to its treatment of bloggers. “Three bloggers have been arrested and detained this year (2006) for speaking out in favor of democratic reform. This is an appeal to the Egyptian government to change its position,” a spokesman for the rights group explained.
On the other hand, the same person observed that “The fact that this year we have removed three countries from the list is encouraging. It shows that the situation can change for the better.” Libya, for instance, no longer censors the internet, although its president, Maummar Gaddafi, is still viewed as a “predator of press freedom” by the group.
The 2006 list of 13 internet enemies, as determined by Reporters Without Boundaries is…
• Belarus — blocks opposition group websites, especially during elections. Hacks online publications.
• Burma — filters opposition websites, monitors internet cafes closely and mandates screen captures every five minutes, targeted internet telephony and chat services during June.
• China — the world’s most advanced internet filtering nation monitors tech to cut off new methods of communication, has targeted websites and chat areas but now focuses on video swap sites and its nearly 17 million bloggers, blocks “subversive” words, pressures providers to control content, changes blog content, successfully enforces citizen self-censorship and has imprisoned 52 people who spoke out against the government online.
• Cuba — uses multiple techniques to keep the two-percent of citizens who access the internet from using it in a “counter-revolutionary” manner. Among them is what is effectively a ban on private internet connections and the necessity of using public and easily monitored access points using government installed monitoring software in places ranging from internet cafes to hotel connections. Long jail terms for violating the law helps enforce self-censorship.
• Egypt — uses very little online filtering but has a president who seems keen to controlling internet use. Three bloggers have been arrested and held for months for supporting democratic reforms, while others have been harassed. A Council of State administrative court supported blocking, closing, or suspending websites thought to be a threat to “national security.”
• Iran — although less aggressive against bloggers than in the past, having released all but one of its 20 imprisoned bloggers, filtering is now the preferred method of censorship, boasting 10 million filtered “immoral” sites ranging from pornography to politics to religion to women’s rights. Broadband is now illegal.
• North Korea — one of the worst offenders, giving internet access to only a select few officials using connections rented from China. Its country domain is still un-launched and its few governmental sites are hosted in Japan or South Korea.
• Saudi Arabia — Entirely out front about its censorship, the government doesn’t even pretend it’s not filtering traffic. Instead, it clearly outlines what sites are forbidden, including porn, political opposition sites, homosexual material, and Israeli publications. The country tried to block access to blogger.com but backed off, now simply blocking any blog deemed unacceptable.
• Syria — Those picked up for being online dissenters are tortured and treated inhumanely. There are currently three people in prison for speaking ill of the authorities online. Arabic-language opposition sites and those concerning Syria’s Kurds are illegal.
• Tunisia — Irony of ironies, this country hosted the 2005 United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society. State-controlled internet cafes filter web content and are watched by the police. Users can not connect to the Reporters Without Boundaries website, bloggers are harassed, and self-censorship is rigorously encouraged.
• Turkmenistan — Beating out Cuba for numbers of citizens unable to access the internet, fewer than one-percent of the population is connected. President Separmurad Nyazov controls the media, has the internet censored, and simply won’t let most of his people online.
• Uzbkistan — President Islam Karimov’s government blocks most independent websites covering the country or disapproving of its human rights policies.
• Vietnam — In the hopes of romancing the World Trade Organization, the government has backed off on dissidents somewhat, releasing some from prison during 2005 and 2006. This has inspired pro-democracy supporters to be more assertive about internet use in an attempt to inspire political reform. Authorities are still willing to use violence and incarceration in order to promote their ends.
