Internet Enemies INTERNET ENEMIES / 12TH MARCH 2011/ WORLD DAY AGAINST CENSORSHIP ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2
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MARCH 2011 INTERNET ENEMIES INTERNET ENEMIES / 12TH MARCH 2011/ WORLD DAY AGAINST CENSORSHIP ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2 WORLD MAP OF CYBERCENSORSHIP....................................3 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................4 INTERNET ENEMIES...................................................................................11 BURMA............................................................................................................................11 CHINA...............................................................................................................................15 Cuba...............................................................................................................................24 IraN.............................................................................................................................27 NORTH KOREA....................................................................................................................32 SAUDI ARABIA....................................................................................................................35 SYRIA...............................................................................................................................38 TurkmeNIstaN.................................................................................................................43 UZbekIstaN.......................................................................................................................46 VIETNam............................................................................................................................49 UNDER SURVEILLANCE........................................................................ 54 AustraLIA........................................................................................................................ 54 BAHraIN............................................................................................................................56 BELarus............................................................................................................................59 EGYPT...............................................................................................................................62 ErItrEA..........................................................................................................................65 FraNce..............................................................................................................................67 LIBYA ..................................................................................................................................72 MALaYsIA..........................................................................................................................74 RussIA.............................................................................................................................77 soutH korea....................................................................................................................81 SRI LaNka........................................................................................................................84 THaILAND........................................................................................................................86 TUNISIA..............................................................................................................................89 TurKEY............................................................................................................................92 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.................................................................................................96 VENEZueLA......................................................................................................................99 INTERNET ENEMIES / 12TH MARCH 2011/ WORLD DAY AGAINST CENSORSHIP ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 3 WORLD MAP OF CYBERCENSORSHIP MEHB::7O7=7?DIJ9O8;H#9;DIEHI>?F ?dj[hd[j;d[c_[i Yekdjh_[ikdZ[hikhl[_bbWdY[ INTERNET ENEMIES / 12TH MARCH 2011/ WORLD DAY AGAINST CENSORSHIP ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 4 ThE NEW MEDIA: BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND REPRESSION, NET SOLIDARITY TAKES ON CENSORSHIP ARAB SPRINGTIME: IS THE WEB Facebook and Twitter served as sound boxes, amplifying the demonstrators’ frustrations and demands. They also REachING NEW HEIGHTS? made it possible for the rest of the world to follow the events as they unfolded, despite censorship. The role of The year 2010 firmly established the role of social networks cell phones also proved crucial. Citizen journalists kept fi- and the Internet as mobilisation and news transmission le-sharing websites supplied with photos and videos, and tools. In 2010 alone, 250 million Internet users joined Fa- fed images to streaming websites. cebook and by the end of the year, the social network had 600 million members. In September that year, 175 million The Tunisian authorities had imposed a media blackout on people were Twitter users – 100 million more than in the what was going on in Sidi Bouzid. Since the so-called “tra- previous year. ditional” media had failed to cover the protest movements that were rocking the country, at least at their beginning The Western media had praised the Internet and its “libe- in December, their role as news sources and vectors was rator” role during the 2009 Iranian revolution. According to taken over by social networks such as Facebook and Twit- The New York Times, the demonstrators “shot tweets” back ter, and news websites like Nawaat.org. Facebook in par- at bullets. However, Twitter was then used mainly by the ticular acted as a platform on which Internet users posted diaspora. “The Net Delusion,” a theory advanced by Evge- comments, photos and videos. The Bambuser streaming ny Morozov, an Internet expert, casts doubt on the Internet’s site also had its moment of glory. Everyone was able to role as a democratisation tool. Although the Internet is cer- track the events as they happened. The online calls for tainly used by dissidents, it is also used by the authorities to demonstrations spread to other countries: Egypt, Libya, relay regime propaganda and enforce a police state. Yemen, Bahrain, Oman, Syria, Iraq, Morocco, and even China and Vietnam, etc. The Internet remains above all a tool used for the better or the worse. In the most closed countries, it creates a space of freedom which would not otherwise exist. Its potential CONTROL 2.0 GAINS STRENGTH to disseminate news irritates dictators and eludes traditio- CENsorsHIP AND rePressION INteNSIFY nal censorship methods. Some regimes use it – mainly on Facebook and Twitter – to monitor dissidents and infiltrate Authoritarian regimes’ latest strategy is no longer to use their networks. pure and simple blocking as it is to use, but rather online tampering and propaganda. Naturally countries such as Nonetheless, the terms “Twitter Revolution” and “Fa- China, Saudi Arabia and Iran are still practicing strict filte- cebook Revolution” have become watchwords with the ring, which they tend to tighten during periods of unrest, events that rocked the Arab world in late 2010 and early notably with regard to micro-blogging sites and social 2011. The “online” movements were coupled with “offline” networks. Meanwhile, their netizens keep on learning new demonstrations, hastening the fall of dictators. The Tuni- ways to circumvent censorship. China in particular has sian and Egyptian uprisings turned out to be, first and fo- reinforced its “Electronic Great Wall” and is tackling the remost, human revolutions facilitated by the Internet and anonymity of Internet and cell phone users. Uzbekistan, social networks. INTERNET ENEMIES / 12TH MARCH 2011/ WORLD DAY AGAINST CENSORSHIP ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 5 Syria, Vietnam – to name but a few – have enhanced their “father of the Iranian blogosphere,” received the most se- censorship to stifle the echoes of the revolutions agitating vere prison sentence: 19.5 years. the Arab world. In this “Control 2.0” era, several tested methods are used Currently, one out of every three Internet users is unable simultaneously by the authorities to prevent dissidents to access a free Internet. Net censorship is becoming from ruling the web and to maintain better control over the the norm. Around 60 countries are implementing some regime’s disinformation. form of Internet censorship, which entails either content filtering or netizen harassment. Others may well join their ranks in the months and years to come. For the first time, BROADER RECOURSE TO Bangladesh has blocked access to certain sites because PROPAGANDA AND MANIPULATION of videos deemed offensive to the Prophet. Cambodia is censuring news sites. First, the use of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) cy- berattacks has become commonplace, as has phishing, Blogger and netizen arrests have continued and remained which involves stealing user passwords. One of the epi- at the same level in 2010 as in 2009. As of this writing, 119 sodes which received the most media coverage is un- netizens are behind bars, as compared to 120 in 2009. Al- doubtedly the pirating of Google’s website and those of though 2010 saw the release of several popular bloggers some 20 other companies in China in late 2009 and early such as Kareem