The New York Analysis of Policy and Government presents a two-part review
of state censorship of the internet.
The global condition of the internet is increasingly worrisome.
President Obama has fulfilled his goal of transferring control of the internet from U.S. to an international body. Unfortunately, that body contains a number of states that practice censorship and rigid control of this most important asset to the principal of freedom of speech.
As Human Rights Watch notes, “In international law, access to information and free expression are two sides of the same coin, and both have found tremendous accelerators in the Internet and other forms of digital communication. At the same time, efforts to control speech and information are also accelerating, by both governments and private actors in the form of censorship, restrictions on access, and violent acts directed against those whose views or queries are seen as somehow dangerous or wrong.”
The German publishing organization Deutsche Welle lists China, Iran, Syria, Ethiopia and Cuba as the nations with the least internet freedom. Privacy Online News notes that 17 nations, including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burundi, China, Cuba, Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Vietnam practice internet censorship.
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The publication notes that “Completely shutting off access to the internet is heinous as it is; however, we need to make sure that we don’t settle into a mindset where we believe it is OK for the government to shut off access to only certain parts of the Internet. Freedom of expression needs to be absolute or it doesn’t exist. Even broad bans, for instance on pornography, for moral or religious reasons, can lead to inappropriate takedowns of widely used sites. Take the story of Tumblr, for instance. Tumblr has previously fallen under blocks by Qatar, UAE, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and China. In some of those instances, the country’s government was enacting these bans at the behest of third party companies that would create lists to fit “morality filters.” Even without the pretext of religious offense, there exist examples of secular governments blocking access to everyday sites under the guise of stopping terrorism.”
The problem is getting worse. Reporters Without Borders found that “that there has been a deep and disturbing decline in respect for media freedom at both the global and regional levels. Ever since the 2013 index, Reporters Without Borders has been calculating indicators of the overall level of media freedom violations in each of the world’s regions and worldwide. The higher the figure, the worse the situation. The global indicator has gone from 3719 points last year to 3857 points this year, a 3.71% deterioration. The decline since 2013 is 13.6%…All of the Index’s indicators show a decline from 2013 to 2016. This is especially the case for infrastructure. Some governments do not hesitate to suspend access to the Internet or even to destroy the premises, broadcast equipment or printing presses of media outlets they dislike. The infrastructure indicator fell 16% from 2013 to 2016.”
Actions by these governments do not reflect the will of their citizens. Pew Research surveyed 38 nations, and found that “Majorities in 32 of 38 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center in 2015 believe that allowing people to use the internet without government censorship is important. And in 20 countries, at least 80% hold this view. Moreover, across the nations polled, a median of 50% say freedom on the internet is very important…”
As Deutsche Welle found, Russia, China, Cuba and Iran are among the worst offenders. Reporters Without Borders considers the Cuban situation among the worst—an issue that President Obama did not make a priority in his recent reopening of relations with Havana. “Cuba is among the worst nations in the world for Internet Access…less than five percent of households in Cuba have Internet access, which ranks 115th out of 133 countries. American aid worker Alan Gross, spent five years in a Cuban prison for working on a project to help provide Cuban citizens better internet access.”
The Report Concludes Tomorrow