For those of you interested in how the Internet is not an unrestricted place for everyone, Reporters Sans Frontieres/Reporters Without Borders last month published their second annual report on censorship in cyberspace, “The Internet under Surveillance – Obstacles to the free flow of information online” which details “attitudes to the Internet by the powerful in 60 countries, between spring 2001 and spring 2003”.
The report looks at quite a few countries, although it leaves some obvious ones out: It looks at Australia, for example, but leaves out Indonesia and Brunei. Looking at China, for example: “Population : 1,284,972,000; Internet users : 59,100,000; Privately-owned ISPs : no; Internet Users and cyber-dissidents in prison : 42. The number of Internet users doubles nearly every six months and the number of websites every year. But this dizzying growth is matched by the authorities’ energetic attempts to monitor, censor and repress Internet activity, with tough laws, jailing cyber-dissidents, blocking access to websites, monitoring online forums and shutting down cybercafes.”
Download the full report as a PDF file here (2.5 MB).