[governance] US 2nd on Internet Freedom
Riaz K Tayob
riaz.tayob at gmail.com
Thu Jan 17 10:22:15 EST 2013
Well these kinds of metrics and systems are useful, up to a point only,
and who pays the piper often calls the tune. Of course, with some it is
the ideology that shapes the "success" factors.
If one looks at Transparency Intl ratings, Iceland that had a financial
fraud of 3 x its GDP, was rated as the least corrupt. After the
financial crisis, and the lack of prosecutions for fraud etc, with few
exceptions, not much has changed... of course these kinds of things do
help "discipline" poor countries...
Riaz
On 2013/01/17 03:21 PM, Guru गुरु wrote:
> 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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