45
Countries Suppress Internet Access - New Zealand Too?
posted 12th January 2001
The New Zealand Government is proposing legislation to allow
Internet data to be intercepted to and from New Zealand citizens.
PlaNet opposes this legislation (see earlier article). Once
again it seems New Zealand Governments are placing us in the
`developing world' oft-called `third world' group of countries
with their low wages, lack of environmental and socially protective
legislation and few rights for citizens - unless they are rich.
Governments in 45 countries across the developing world are
being taken to task for placing restrictions on their citizens'
ability to access information on the internet. In most cases,
government control has been achieved by compelling citizens
to subscribe to a state-run Internet Service Provider (ISP),
charges Reporters Without Borders (known by its French acronym
RSF, for Reporters Sans Frontiers). Some governments, on the
other hand, have imposed restrictions by installing filters
blocking access to web sites regarded as ''unsuitable'' and
sometimes forcing internet users to register with state authorities,
adds this Paris-based media rights monitor in a new study, 'The
Enemies of the Internet'.
For RSF, furthermore, 20 of the 45 countries surveyed in its
study may be described as the ''real enemies'' of this new means
of communication, given the extent of infringements that prevail.
''On the pretext of protecting the public from 'subversive ideas'
or defending 'national security and unity,' some governments
totally prevent their citizens from gaining access to the internet,''
it points out. Included in this list of ''real enemies'' are
nations such as Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya,
North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia
and Vietnam. Also identified are countries of Central Asia and
the Caucasus, like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In the case of Saudi Arabia, for
instance, despite the presence of 37 private companies permitted
to operate as ISPs, ''all traffic at the moment goes through
the servers of the Science and Technology Centre, a public body,
which is equipped with filters banning access to sites that
provide 'information contrary to Islamic values','' says RSF.
In that Arab nation, furthermore, the internet has been officially
regarded as ''a harmful force for westernising people's minds''.
Regards Cuba, on the other hand, the government controls the
internet in the same way it does for the other media, the study
reveals. ''There is no free expression in Cuba at the national
level.''
While in China, despite the rapid spread of the internet, the
government continues to ''keep up pressure'' on users. ''In
order to prevent the Chinese from finding information on the
web, the authorities have blocked access to some sites,'' notes
the study. Evidence RSF gathered from countries like Burma and
Sierra Leone point to other impediments to the internet culture,
too. In Burma, a law passed in September 1996 obliges anyone
who owns a computer to declare it to the government. ''Those
who fail to comply may face up to 15 years in prison.'' And
in Sierra Leone, the authorities have attacked journalists working
for an online newspaper. Its findings also expose the consequences
of such interference with access to the information superhighway.
For medical students in Iran, where censorship of the internet
is identical to that affecting other media, it has meant being
denied access to web sites that deal with anatomy. For RSF,
such efforts at censorship go against the grain of Article 19
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
which states that everyone shall have the right to receive and
impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of the
frontiers. Moreover, it adds, 14 of the countries where such
censorship occurs have signed this international covenant to
uphold the rights spelled out in it. These countries, declares
RSF, need to ''respect the undertakings they made''. The restrictions
have posed a dilemma for some of the 45 countries listed by
RSF. That stems from the economic potential of the internet,
as a catalyst for growth and development. ''The internet is
a two-edged sword for authoritarian regimes,'' remarks RSF.
On the one hand, ''it enables any citizen to enjoy an unprecedented
degree of freedom of speech and therefore constitutes a threat
to the government. ''On the other hand, however, the internet
is a major factor in economic growth, due in particular to online
trade and the exchange of technical and scientific information,
which prompts some of these governments to promote its spread,''
it adds.
This
dilemma, in fact, comes to light in two East Asian countries
Malaysia and Singapore. According to RSF, ''The economic argument
seems to be winning the day in countries such as Malaysia and
Singapore, where controlling 'dangerous' sites is proving difficult
for the authorities.'' Moreover, it also affirms that the efforts
by governments to block wide access to the internet is being
chipped away in some countries by ingenious web users. ''Web
surfers can find ways round censorship: encoding, going through
servers that offer anonymity when consulting banned sites or
sending e- mails, connecting via cellphones and so on.'' But
such measures need not be taken if access to the information
superhighway is open and free. And to achieve that in the 20
countries with severe restrictions, RSF has called on the governments
in question to implement change. Among RSF's recommendations
are: the abolition of state monopoly on internet access, a stop
to the control of ISPs, the cancellation of the obligation for
citizens to register with the government for internet access,
a stop to censorship through use of filters, and an end to legal
proceedings against internet users.