Reporters Without Borders Issues 'Enemies Of The Internet' List

The Internet, due to its inherent free nature of connecting people across the globe without restrictions and borders, has been playing a very important role in changing political ideologies and belief systems of people. It has alerted a number of political powers about the strong potential this mode of communication bears within itself to create situations that might not always prove to be favorable to these powers.

Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organization based in Paris that advocates the right to inform and the right to be informed about the truth across the globe, has announced to issue its newest list of “Enemies of the Internet.” The list includes the names of those countries that have been suppressing the rights of their citizens to access the Internet to make themselves aware of the truth around us.

According to the new list, the scenario of Internet freedom is rapidly changing in the middle east after the Arab Spring, as a number of countries have been named “enemies of the Internet” in the list. These countries have been severely restricting freedom of expression on and access to the Web. Some countries have also been classified within the annual report as “under surveillance.”

As a news blackout is in place in Bahrain and bloggers there are being harassed with an aim to thrash the Shiite masses’ rebellion against the Sunni monarchy, Reporters Without Borders has added the country to the “Enemies of the Internet” list. Previously, it had kept the country in the “under surveillance” list.

“Bahrain offers a perfect example of successful crackdowns, with an information blackout achieved through an impressive arsenal of repressive measures: exclusion of the foreign media, harassment of human rights defenders, arrests of bloggers and netizens (one of whom died behind bars), prosecutions and defamation campaigns against free expression activists, disruption of communications,” the new report said.

At the same time, it suggests, the series of revolts that took place within the Arab world collectively known as “Arab Spring” have also brought about some positive changes in a number of Arab countries. After the regime of Moammar Gadhafi was uprooted in Libya, the country has shown some improvements as far as freedom to information is concerned, leading the organization to remove it from the “under surveillance” list.

“In Libya, many challenges remain but the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime has ended an era of censorship,” the report added. “The Internet and social networks have been conclusively established as tools for protest, campaigning and circulating information, and as vehicles for freedom. More than ever before, online freedom of expression is now a major foreign and domestic policy issue.”

Within the “Enemies of the Internet” list, countries that are notorious for having strict control upon the freedom to access content freely available on the Internet have been included, some of which are China, Myanmar and North Korea.

Last year, Reporters Without Borders visited Cameroon from September 26 to October 2 to assess the degree of media freedom during the campaign for the October 9 presidential election and to promote a series of reforms that are needed to improve media freedom, including a new media law and the decriminalization of press offences.