Today, October 18, the American non-governmental organization Freedom House released its next world rating of freedom on the Internet “Freedom on the Net”. The authors note that over the past year, the situation in the whole world has worsened, and this is happening for the 12th year in a row.
Rating “Freedom on the Net” drawn up based on a survey of experts in 65 countries, where 87% of all Internet users live. The questionnaire includes more than a hundred questions related to problems with Internet access (lack of necessary infrastructure, lack of funds, independence of regulators, etc.), content restrictions (site and content blocking, censorship, etc.), violations of user rights (surveillance of online -activities, persecution for statements on the Internet).
The new ranking notes that the situation with Internet freedom has worsened in 28 countries, while the situation has improved in 26 countries. Iceland, Estonia and Costa Rica ranked first in terms of freedom on the Internet in this year’s ranking. The last ones are Iran, Myanmar and China. Libya and Sudan lost the most points over the past year (4 each), Myanmar (5) and Russia (7), which, in terms of freedom on the Internet, was in sixth place from the bottom in the current Freedom House rating – between Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
The authors of the report consider the main problems to be the massive blocking of objectionable sites by the authorities of a number of countries, censorship and the deterioration of the situation with the security of users’ personal data. “Authoritarian regimes are building digital walls that prevent the free flow of information and make it easier to silence dissenters, promote dangerous disinformation and gain access to personal data,” said Freedom House President Michael Abramovitz. online, strengthening Internet freedom can better protect freedom in general. Repression in the digital sphere leads to a general weakening of democracy in the world, making it difficult to fight authoritarianism.”
