Tag Archives: China

Enemies Of The Internet

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1 billion users around the globe are surfing the Internet every month. In North America, 70 out of 100 surf the Internet. But in some parts of the globe, some governments are trying to deny their people their right of freedom through speech, while many others due to but have some kind of surveillance or censorship. They censor web content and prohibit flow of free information.

Countries with Internet Censorship

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

Surveilled Countries

  • Australia
  • Burma
  • Egypt
  • Eritrea
  • France
  • India
  • Malaysia
  • Russia
  • Thailand
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey

China having a population of 513 million internet users (which is more than the entire US population – 311 million) is the greatest enemy of the Internet according to me.

In China

  • Bloggers cannot use aliases or choose to maintain anonymity or their blogs will be shut down.
  • The government removed all references to ‘Occupy Wall Street’ from the Chinese internet.
  • It is currently impossible to use the word ‘occupy’ with the name of a Chinese city.
  • Keywords like ‘Egypt’ or ‘Jasmine’ have been banned.

Iran comes a close second to China with being the first country in history to give citizens death penalty for their online activity.

  • More personal information information is needed to log on at an Iranian cyber cafe than for an average Indian citizen to get a passport.
  • Cafe managers are required to install cameras at their premises.
  • The government also demands client names and a list of websites visited from the managers.
  • Iran currently has a task force of 250000 cyber policemen.

Syria

  • Tweets and blog posts are censored by the government
  • Authorities suspend Internet and mobile services in areas where protests are taking place.
  • Twitter accounts were created to send fabricated tweets with keywords that directed users to sports scores or tourist photos to confuse and distract the masses.
  • Soleiman Saleh Abazaid was shot and killed for running the Facebook page ‘Liberated People Of Horan’

These are just the three of many such enemies of the Internet.

With the temporary ban on SMS messages during the Assam riots and discussion about censorship in the parliament, India might be on the verge of being added to this list soon.