Some always say that internet is a bad thing. We can witness the increase the no. of cyber dissidents around the globe. They are victims of governments who fear that the very technology needed to promote investment and economic competitiveness–the World Wide Web–also allows their citizens access to unprecedented power to make their voices heard.
One year ago Amnesty International launched the irrepressible.info campaign to highlight the plight of these cyber-dissidents and to celebrate the people’s fight for freedom of expression even when the consequences are dire. For Internet repression is rapidly expanding. According to the Open Net Initiative, five years ago serious and systematic Internet filtering was applied by three countries–China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Today they have detected filtering in more than two dozen countries.
The most talked about example of Internet censorship still remains China, a country surrounded by “The Great Firewall of China”, a filtering system which prevents tens of thousands of political, social, religious and cultural Internet sites reaching people inside the country. The firewall is backed by a matrix of control including a force of net surveillance police said to reach tens of thousands in number.
The Chinese government has promised “complete media freedom” surrounding the Beijing Olympics in summer 2008. But so far movement has been backwards. On 24 January, 07 President Hu Jintao had ordered officials to “purify the online environment” ensuring online information is “healthy” and “ethically inspiring”.
Meanwhile reports of various means of cyber-censorship and intimidation are reported on the Internet nearly everyday–from Russia and Uzbekistan to Pakistan and Fiji. In a new development, ONI recently reported that Cambodia ordered mobile phone message services to be cut off during elections. Iran is reportedly also considering targeting multi-media phone messages.
What has really shocked campaigners over the last year is the growth of Internet repression. Experts speak of the export of the ‘Chinese model’: extensive use of the Internet for economic purposes, with severely curtailed political potential. The latest Open Net Initiative (ONI) Report on Internet filtering shows that at least 25 countries now apply state-mandated net filtering including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burma, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia.
But filtering is only one aspect of Internet repression–politically motivated closure of websites and Internet cafes, as well as threats or imprisonment, are reported far more widely.
Around the world human rights defenders and activists are using the Internet to report, mobilise and campaign. We have got be on our guard against those who want to control access to information and take that free speech away. We must not let them stop that promise being delivered.