Enemies of the Internet


One of the NGOs to the UN conference makes it's views known
Reporters Without Borders has published a list of nations who are enemies of the internet.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says much work needs to be done before the principles of the 2003 declaration are achieved. Julien Pain heads the group's section on Internet freedom. He says the biggest threats to human rights in cyberspace are repressive governments: "The most repressive regimes in terms of press freedom start trying to control the Internet, as well. It's the case in China. It's the case in Iran. Every dictator around the world is now trying to spy the web, track down dissidents on the Internet, and filter the web [to prevent the spread of uncensored information]."

China Tops List Of Enemies

Pain says Reporters Without Borders will present a list of countries that are "enemies of the Internet" during the Tunis summit: "The Chinese are, by far, the most repressive government in terms of Internet freedom [and] the most efficient at censoring the Internet. They have acquired technology from American companies which enable the Chinese authorities to censor very efficiently the Internet and to block access to every political voice which disagrees with the government's official position."

Pain says Iran and Belarus are on the "enemies" list because the governments there apply Internet censorship strategies similar to those used in China. In contrast are Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, whose approaches to the Internet Pain compares to those in Cuba or North Korea.

Reason enough not to let the U.N. control the top level domain name servers.

Do you really want a Chinese censor deciding what you can and can't read on the internet?

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - November 18, 2005 at 04:59 AM  Tag


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