Watchdog names "Enemies of the Internet"

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(AP) PARIS - The Arab Spring is changing the face of Internet freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, which released its latest "Enemies of the Internet" list Monday.

The annual report classifies as "enemies" countries that severely curtail freedom of expression on and access to the Web. It also draws up a list of states "under surveillance."

The group added Bahrain to its enemies list, citing a news blackout and harassment of bloggers in an attempt to quell a yearlong Shiite-led rebellion against the Sunni monarchy.

The country had previously been under surveillance.

"Bahrain offers a perfect example of successful crackdowns, with an information blackout achieved through an impressive arsenal of repressive measures: exclusion of the foreign media, harassment of human rights defenders, arrests of bloggers and netizens (one of whom died behind bars), prosecutions and defamation campaigns against free expression activists, disruption of communications," the Paris-based group's report said.

"Enemies of the Internet" (Reporters Without Borders)

But the Arab Spring — the name given to a cascade of revolts across the Arab world — has also led to the opening up of some regimes.

Libya, where the repressive rule of Muammar Qaddafi was thrown off in a violent revolt, was removed from the list of countries under surveillance.

"In Libya, many challenges remain but the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime has ended an era of censorship," the report said.

The group said that the Arab Spring had also highlighted the importance of the Internet — and therefore the importance of protecting access to and expression on it.

"The Internet and social networks have been conclusively established as tools for protest, campaigning and circulating information, and as vehicles for freedom," the group said. "More than ever before, online freedom of expression is now a major foreign and domestic policy issue."

The enemies list contains countries that are well known for blocking Internet content, like China, Myanmar and North Korea.

But the list of those under surveillance contains some surprises like Australia and France.

Reporters Without Borders criticized Australia for persuading Internet service providers to create a national content-filtering system, which blocks access to child pornography sites and others deemed inappropriate. The group is concerned that the government is still also pursuing a system of mandatory content-filtering whose criteria are "very broad."

France landed on the surveillance list last year for a series of criminal indictments of journalists for stories they wrote. It remains on the list this year because of a law that could punish people who repeatedly illegally download content by cutting off their Internet access.

"Enemies of the Internet" - Countries which Reporters Without Borders says "combine often drastic content filtering with access restrictions, tracking of cyber-dissidents and online propaganda":

• Bahrain
• Belarus
• Burma
• China
• Cuba
• Iran
• North Korea
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Turkmenistan
• Uzbekistan
• Vietnam

[venusvegasvada]

They could have mentioned PIPA and SOPA too...

[Bojax39]

"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."

[Eosphorus]

Comissioner Pravin Lal is the man.

[Eosphorus]

Comissioner Pravin Lal is the man.

[interactive_ace]

somehow in this group's eyes, child poronoraphers, malicious haclers, and terrorists are not enimies of the internet.

[smittyc]

India has also begun blocking both facebook and google. Due to large differences in religious beliefs and philosphies the use of the internet throughout Asia and the Middle East will soon be restricted to companies within the borders of these geographical regions.

[Piercy0812]

They are not enemies of the internet they are enemies to people. The issue is with countries blocking and filtering as they see fit. If you could trust a government to just block child porn then great, however, in most cases governments can't be trusted with their own expenses let alone the whole countries freedom of speech. Imagine if the government could control and filter your internet. They could go round killing people just like hitler did and the rest of the world would be completely unaware what was going on.

That's not a country I would like to be a part of.