[governance] US 2nd on Internet Freedom

[Guru गुरु]

The study has been done by Freedom House.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House  says

"As of 2010, grants awarded from the US government 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_federal_government> accounted for most 
of Freedom House's funding ..."

I suppose that helps to discount the wikileaks episode, cyber warfare on 
nations, sopa/pipa ..

regards,
Guru


On 01/17/2013 02:35 PM, Riaz K Tayob wrote:
>
>
>   U.S. Ranks Second in Internet Freedom, Behind Estonia
>
> Alex Fitzpatrick
> Sep 27, 2012
>
> The United States has the second highest degree of Internet freedom in 
> the world, according to a new study from Freedom House. What country's 
> ahead of America? Estonia, a country of 1.29 million in northeast Europe.
>
>
>
>     Estonia
>
> Why does Estonia top the list? According to Freedom House, it "ranks 
> among the most wired and technologically advanced countries in the world."
>
> "With a high internet penetration rate and widespread e-commerce and 
> e-government services embedded into the daily lives of individuals and 
> organizations, Estonia has become a model for free internet access as 
> a development engine for society," reads the report.
>
> Estonia's commitment to technological innovation in government is 
> especially remarkable considering the former Soviet state's weak 
> economy following the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. 
> Freedom House credits the country's first independent leaders with 
> putting the country on a track towards economic development through 
> technology and innovation.
>
> "The country’s new leadership. . .perceived the expansion of 
> information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a key to economic 
> growth and invested heavily in their development," reads the report.
>
> /Update:/ As a /Mashable/ reader pointed out, NATO's Cooperative Cyber 
> Defense Centre of Excellence was built in Estonia in 2008, resulting 
> in the funneling of funds to improve the country's IT infrastructure.
>
> Freedom House ranks countries' "Internet Freedom Status" in three main 
> ways: obstacles to access, limits on content and violations of users' 
> rights. It also factors in tertiary factors, including internet 
> penetration and blogger arrests. Estonia got high marks in almost 
> every category.
>
>
>     The United States
>
> The United States got nearly as excellent marks, with 78% internet 
> penetration and no notable arrests of bloggers. However, the debate 
> over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), 
> two bills considered a threat by many Internet free speech advocates, 
> raised some eyebrows.
>
>     "Internet access in the United States remains open and fairly free
>     compared with the rest of the world," reads the report. "Courts
>     have consistently held that prohibitions against government
>     regulation of speech apply to material published on the internet,
>     but the government’s surveillance powers are cause for some
>     concern. In early 2012, campaigns by civil society and technology
>     companies helped to halt passage of the Stop Online Piracy Act
>     (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), which were criticized for
>     their potentially negative effects on free speech."
>
> Freedom House also warned of greater U.S. government interference in 
> the open Internet.
>
>     "Several developments in recent years, however, have placed the
>     government and internet freedom advocates at odds over aspects of
>     internet regulation as well as issues surrounding online
>     surveillance and privacy. The United States lags behind many major
>     industrialized countries in terms of broadband penetration, and
>     network operators have challenged recent rules concerning network
>     neutrality. The current administration appears committed to
>     maintaining broad surveillance powers with the aim of combating
>     terrorism, child pornography, and other criminal activity.
>     Moreover, reports have emerged that the Federal Bureau of
>     Investigation (FBI) is seeking expanded authority to control the
>     design of internet services to ensure that communications can be
>     intercepted when necessary."
>
> At the bottom of the list were Iran, Cuba and China, while Belarus, 
> Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Thailand and seven other countries received 
> a rating of "Not Free."
>
> To read the full report, visit Freedom House 
> <http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2012>. Are 
> you surprised Estonia topped the list? Should the United States be 
> where it is, higher or lower? Share your thoughts in the comments.
>
> /Image courtesy of iStockphoto 
> <http://www.istockphoto.com/mashableoffer.php>, Olena_T 
> <http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-18654807-global-communications-america.php?st=089de8e>/
>

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