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The 20 Enemies Of The Internet
An August 1999 report by Reporters San Frontieres (RSF). Reprinted with permission by RFE/RL. Many of the countries on this list are in the RFE/RL broadcast region.
Forty-five countries restrict their citizens' access to the Internet --
usually by forcing them to subscribe to a state-run Internet Service
Provider (ISP). Twenty of these countries may be described as real
enemies of this new means of communication. 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. Others control a single ISP or even several,
installing filters blocking access to web sites regarded as unsuitable
and sometimes forcing users to officially register with the authorities.
The Internet is a two-edged sword for authoritarian regimes. 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, 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
support its spread.
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, web surfers
can find ways round censorship: encoding, going through servers that
offer anonymity when consulting banned sites or sending email, connec
ting via GSM telephones and cellphones, and so on.
Reporters Sans Frontieres has selected 20 countries that it regards as
enemies of the Internet because they control access totally or
partially, have censored web sites or taken action against users. They
are: the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan),
Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam.
A bullet denotes countries or regions in the RFE/RL broadcast region.
- Belarus
In line with its repressive attitude towards other media, Alexander
Lukashenka's government does not leave its citizens free to explore the
Internet independently. Access is supplied by a single ISP, Belpak,
which belongs to the state.
Burma
Censorship is total, due to a state monopoly on access. In addition, 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.
- Central Asia and the Caucasus
In most of these countries, the authorities control or restrict Internet
access. In Tajikistan, a single ISP, Telecom Technologies, owned by the
government, offers web access - and only in the capital, Dushanbe.
Turkmenistan, a "black hole" where information is concerned, offers even
more restricted access. Although there are privately owned ISPs in
Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, their operations are controlled by the
telecommunications ministry, which is responsible for chastising those
who speak out against the government. In Kazakhstan, and to a lesser
extent in Kirghizia, the authorities demand prohibitively expensive
usage and connection fees from private ISPs.
China
Although Internet use is spreading rapidly, the government is trying to
keep up pressure on users. They are closely monitored and are supposed
to register with the authorities. In January 1999 a computer technician,
Lin Hai, was sentenced to two years in prison by a Shanghai court for
giving the email addresses of 30,000 Chinese subscribers to a dissident
site that publishes an online magazine from the United States. Meanwhile
officials fearing disturbances as the tenth anniversary of the Tiananmen
massacre (4 June 1999) drew near ordered the closure of 300 cybercafÈs
in Shanghai, on the pretext that they did not have the necessary
authorisation.
In order to prevent the Chinese from finding information on the web, the
authorities have blocked access to some sites. This happened to the BBC
in October 1998. Zhang Weiguo, editor of the New Century Net
(www.ncn.org) site, in Chinese, launched in the United States in 1996,
estimates that it takes two months on average for the Chinese
authorities to track down the relay server of a site and block access to
it. The sites then change their address. Some censored pages are
distributed by email, like underground newspapers that are photocopied
and passed around secretly.
Cuba
The government controls the Internet, just as it does other media. There
is no free expression in Cuba at national level. About ten independent -
and illegal - news agencies such as Cubanet and Cuba Free Press
telephone reports to organisations based in Miami which publish them on
their web pages. But this news is still the subject of repression: in
October 1998, a foreign ministry official filed a complaint for "insult"
against Mario Viera, of the independent agency Cuba Verdad, following
publication of an article criticising him on the US-based Cubanet site.
The journalist is still awaiting trial, and faces an 18-month prison
sentence if convicted.
- Iran
Censorship of the Internet is identical to that affecting other media
and covers the same subjects: sexuality, religion, criticism of the
Islamic Republic, any mention of Israel, the United States, and so on.
Because of the filters put in place by the authorities, access to some
sites is banned: medical students are denied access to web pages that
deal with anatomy, for instance.
- Iraq
People in Baghdad have no direct access to the Internet. Web sites of
the official press and certains ministries are maintained by servers
based in Jordan. In any case, because of the embargo very few people own
computers.
Libya
It is impossible to explore the web from Libya. The government carefully
keeps the population away from international information networks with
the aim of maintaining control of their minds.
North Korea
People in Pyongyang cannot access the Internet. The government
deliberately prevents the population from seeing any news other than its
own propaganda. The few official sites aimed at foreigners (the national
news agency, newspapers and ministries) are maintained by servers
located in Japan.
Saudi Arabia
Even though 37 private companies have been given permission 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". The Internet is officially regarded as "a harmful force
for westernising people's minds".
Sierra Leone
As part of their repression of the opposition press, the authorities
have also attacked an online newspaper. In June 1999, two journalists
from the daily The Independent Observer, Abdul Rhaman Swaray and
Jonathan Leigh, were arrested. They were accused in particular of
collaborating with the online newspaper "Ninjas", which is published on
a site based abroad (www.sierra-leone.cc) by journalists who have gone
into hiding.
Sudan
Through Sudanet, the only ISP, the state controls the few connections to
the Internet possible in this country where freedom of expression is
often suppressed.
Syria
Internet access is officially banned to individuals. Offenders may face
a prison sentence, just as they may for "unauthorised" contacts with
foreigners. Only official organisations are allowed access to the
Internet through the public telecommunications authority, whose ISP
maintains web sites for state newspapers, the national news agency and a
few ministries.
Tunisia
The Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) controls the two privately owned
ISPs, which are in fact connected with the authorities: one is run by
President Ben Ali's daughter and the second by another person close to
the government. Their central servers control the access of certain
users. In November 1998, following publication by Amnesty International
of a report on human rights violations, a web site with the address
www.amnesty-tunisia.org, deliberately designed to create confusion with
the non-government organisation, praised the president's work for human
rights. The director of the public relations agency that launched the
site - one of whose biggest customers is the Tunisian government -
claimed that he was merely coming to the country's defence. Meanwhile,
access to Amnesty International's official site was blocked by the
authorities.
Vietnam
Anyone who wants to access the Internet has to ask for permission from
the interior ministry and sign up with one of the two state-owned ISPs.
Access is blocked to sites maintained by Vietnamese organisations based
abroad and international human rights organisations. On 9 June, the
Police Ministry ordered the post office to cancel the journalist Nguyen
Dan Que's Internet account, after this former political prisoner had
released a communique through the Internet calling for freedom a month
earlier.
Recommendations
Reporters Sans Frontieres calls on the governments of these 20 countries
to immediately:
- Abolish the state monopoly on Internet access and, where appropriate,
stop controlling private ISPs.
- Cancel the obligation for citizens to register with the government
before obtaining Internet access.
- Abolish censorship through the use of filters, and stop blocking
access to certain sites maintained by foreign servers.
- Protect the confidentiality of Internet exchanges, particularly by
lifting controls on electronic mail.
- Call off the legal proceedings undertaken against Internet users who
have done no more than exercise their right to freedom of expression.
Reporters Sans Frontieres calls on Burma, China, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Saudi
Arabia and Tajikistan to ratify and enforce the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19 of which stipulates that
"everyone shall have the right (...) to receive and impart information
and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers (...)".
The organisation also asks those states that have signed the covenant
(Azerbaijan, Belarus, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Libya, North
Korea, Uzbekistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam) to
respect the undertakings they made by doing so.
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