India is #39 On Internet Freedom Scale - Freedom House Report
Freedom House has prepared a report on the countries to rank them in the order of Internet Freedom - and it puts India at #39 on the list. We're sandwiched between Mexico (#37) and Indonesia (#42) and are 'partly free' according to the report. The Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that aims to track the expansion of freedom all over the world. The report has a lot of interesting observations. It puts Estonia at the top followed by United States Of America as the 'most free' countries in the world while China, Cuba & Iran are labeled as 'not free'.
Talking of India, the report finds that out of a population of 1.3 billion people, Internet penetration is about 10%. The Indian Government has tried to block the Web 2.0 applications. It does not find any 'notable' censorship of the content on the Internet so far. It also finds out that India's seen bloggers being arrested for posting something objectionable on the Internet.
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The report finds out that the Internet penetration in India is 'low' by International standards and the average connection speeds in India is 844 Kbps (in 2011). Only 3% of the households had Internet connections and majority of Indian Internet users accessed it from public booths and cyber cafes.
Recently there was a huge uproar as the Indian Government ordered removal of content, what it thought was objectionable, from the popular social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and networks like Microsoft & Yahoo. After the 26/11 attack, the Government has been trying to gain more and more control of the digital content shared by Indians in the name of cyber security. It tried to control the communications through all mediums including the blackberry servers to make RIM give-in to the demands of the Government's security officials.
The latest news on the front is that Indian Government is now planning for a dedicated web monitoring agency to take care of all the content contributed by Indians online. It will be an independent organization empowered to take down the content it finds objectionable. Recently, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was jailed because of the cartoons he had uploaded to the website 'Cartoons Against Corruption'. The arrest led to fierce criticism from the blogger and social networking communities against the Government. Yet, the Government seems to be determined to take as much control of the web as it can.
When the traditional media is rapidly losing the confidence of people as a 'free media', the Internet offered a solid alternative that had unparalled reach. Do you think it's right for the Government to take charge of the Internet and what content is posted on social networking sites and blogs?
Source: PDF (PDF)
Talking of India, the report finds that out of a population of 1.3 billion people, Internet penetration is about 10%. The Indian Government has tried to block the Web 2.0 applications. It does not find any 'notable' censorship of the content on the Internet so far. It also finds out that India's seen bloggers being arrested for posting something objectionable on the Internet.
The report finds out that the Internet penetration in India is 'low' by International standards and the average connection speeds in India is 844 Kbps (in 2011). Only 3% of the households had Internet connections and majority of Indian Internet users accessed it from public booths and cyber cafes.
Recently there was a huge uproar as the Indian Government ordered removal of content, what it thought was objectionable, from the popular social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and networks like Microsoft & Yahoo. After the 26/11 attack, the Government has been trying to gain more and more control of the digital content shared by Indians in the name of cyber security. It tried to control the communications through all mediums including the blackberry servers to make RIM give-in to the demands of the Government's security officials.
The latest news on the front is that Indian Government is now planning for a dedicated web monitoring agency to take care of all the content contributed by Indians online. It will be an independent organization empowered to take down the content it finds objectionable. Recently, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was jailed because of the cartoons he had uploaded to the website 'Cartoons Against Corruption'. The arrest led to fierce criticism from the blogger and social networking communities against the Government. Yet, the Government seems to be determined to take as much control of the web as it can.
When the traditional media is rapidly losing the confidence of people as a 'free media', the Internet offered a solid alternative that had unparalled reach. Do you think it's right for the Government to take charge of the Internet and what content is posted on social networking sites and blogs?
Source: PDF (PDF)
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