[governance] US 2nd on Internet Freedom

Thu Jan 17 13:30:26 EST 2013

For those with an interest, it is worth taking the time to download the Freedom House: Freedom on the Internet report (662 pages) and going to the "Methodology" section on page 640 and following. 

The "methodology" appears to be as follows: 

·         A series of questions associated somehow (this is not explained) with a very high level definition of "freedom" loosely associated with the UNDHR have somehow been formulated but no evidence of pre-test or independent assessment of these questions is provided.  

·         These questions include multiple sub-questions -- some of which are mutually exclusive even internally contradictory, and most of which in turn require significant and in many cases somewhat technical definitions (e.g. "DoS attack) for which no definition or referencing is provided.  

·         These "questions" are in turn given for assessment to "experts" (no justification is given for how these "experts" are chosen, what their specific area of expertise might be, their independence relative to the subject, their standing among their peers as for example through lists of peer reviewed publication in the field and so on, is provided); 

·         These "experts" in turn are required to assign a single numerical score for each question to their designated countries. These scores are then compiled on a national basis and provided to a series of meetings of Freedom House staff and a range of "local experts, scholars, and civil society representatives from the countries under study" for a preliminary assignment of an "Internet Freedom" score.

·         The outcome of this process is then provided to Freedom House staff (who) do "a final review of all scores to ensure their comparative reliability and integrity". 

Right…

Please note that there is no referencing in the methodology (at least in the most recent report); nor is there an indication of any independent (peer) review, verification or assessment at any stage in the process.

Sadly, if not surprisingly, this "methodology" wouldn't pass muster in any reputable Master's (let alone Ph.D.) program that I have had any experience with and would be laughed out of the room in any peer reviewed publication or independent research funding program.

As a case study in using pseudo science as a way to manifest and justify researcher bias or as an exercise in applied ideology it might I think, be quite useful and I would recommend this to any suitable undergraduate program in social science methodology as a case in how not to do independent research. 

As a research study which this claims to be (the term "research" is used 5 time in the first three paragrapsh of the acknowledgements), this should be an embarrassment to both the host organization and the funders.

Best,

M

Michael Gurstein, Ph.D. 
Executive Director: Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training (CCIRDT) 
Vancouver, BC CANADA 

tel/fax: +1-604-602-0624 
email: gurstein at gmail.com 
web: http://communityinformatics.net 
blog: http://gurstein.wordpress.com 
twitter: #michaelgurstein 

From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Robert Guerra
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 7:25 AM
To: Internet Governance Caucus
Subject: Re: [governance] US 2nd on Internet Freedom

Guru,

Just because Freedom House gets its funding for the report from the US State Department (as well as other foreign govts may I add) isn't , I believe, sufficient grounds to summarily dismiss the report findings.

If you or others have issues with the report, then the most strategic way to challenge the findings is with actual data. For instance, it would be interesting to see if a 3rd party using their same methodology would achieve the same aggregate scores for the countries surveyed. 

My personal view is that  the scores for the US & UK would, in an independent review, would be far lower - indicating a far more contested digital rights environment. 

regards

Robert

On 2013-01-17, at 8:21 AM, 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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