Net Censorship Said to be Worsening

In its latest annual survey of the state of Internet freedom around the world, Reporters without Borders singles out China and a host of Middle East countries as prime offenders.

China, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tunesia and Syria were all singled out as "Enemies of the Internet," while Turkey was characterized as being "under surveillance" by the free speech advocacy group.

As if to live up to its billing, Iran over the weekend was reported to have put another 30 people under arrest. The regime claimed they belonged to a group linked to an Iranian exile movement and with "carrying out psychological war" against Iran over the Internet.

If you were hoping for an optimistic outlook, maybe next year. In 2009, Reporters without Borders said that sixty countries experienced some form of Web censorship, or twice as many as recorded in 2008.

"Netizens are being targeted at a growing rate. For the first time since the creation of the Internet, a record number of close to 120 bloggers, Internet users and cyberdissidents are behind bars for having expressed themselves freely online.The world's largest netizen prison is in China,which is far out ahead of other countries with 72 detainees, followed by Vietnam and then by Iran, which have all launched waves of brutal attacks on websites in recent months," according to the report.

But the The "Enemies of the Internet" list was reserved for the worst offenders. The full roster includes Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

[kayokay]

The least you could do is write the name of my country right, it's Tunisia.
And, yes, it's an internet black-hole.