[governance] US 2nd on Internet Freedom
michael gurstein
gurstein at gmail.com
Thu Jan 17 19:39:32 EST 2013
I've turned my earlier comments into a blogpost…
http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/with-friends-like-these-freedom-houses-freedom-on-the-internet-report-an-exercise-in-applied-ideology/
M
From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Sanja Kelly
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 4:17 PM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
Subject: FW: Re: [governance] US 2nd on Internet Freedom
Hi everyone,
A colleague mentioned to me that Freedom House’s index of internet freedom was being discussed on the list, so I wanted to jump in and offer a few explanations for those who may not be familiar with our methodology (for those who don’t know me, I direct the Freedom on the Net project at Freedom House).
Freedom House evaluates internet freedom through a series of questions ranging from obstacles to access, content regulation, to surveillance and censorship practices, attacks on bloggers, and so on. The methodology is posted on our website and the questions can be found here (p 642): http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/resources/FOTN%202012%20-%20Full%20Report.pdf . I think that some people perceive that FH staff gets together behind the closed door and arbitrarily decides on the scores:-), but the project is actually a collaborative effort of 60 independent researchers from the countries under study who act as primary report authors and additional 90-100 independent advisors who act as report and scores reviewers. The contributors are typically scholars, journalists, and civil society representatives who live in the country, but due to repressive political environment at home (China, Saudi Arabia, etc), many have requested to remain anonymous.
We apply the same methodology to every country around the world and in most instances the metrics are quite precise (e.g. if a country blocks, let’s say, 100 political websites, it’s going to get the same score on that particular question regardless of where it is or what kind of political system it has). While no metric is perfect, I think the project is quite unique and effective in measuring various aspects of internet freedom around the world. We also acknowledge that various audiences may have different definition of internet freedom, but that is true with many concepts in social science (just look at definitions of “democracy”).
Regarding some of the questions that were raised in previous comments:
• Yes, the United States scored 2nd on our evaluation; however, it is incorrect to say that we think that the U.S. is the second most free country in the world. As you will notice on our website and in the book, the United States scored 2nd among 47 countries that we evaluated last year. Since the project covered only 47 countries, it is very likely that had we included places such as Iceland, Finland, the Netherlands, and a few others, most of them would have scored higher that the U.S. Currently our country coverage is limited due to funding (I think you all can related to that!), but we are hoping to be able to gradually expand to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, media can often misrepresent numbers, thus you see the headlines like the one you cited earlier in the thread.
• Regarding SOPA, PIPA, etc. Our methodology and research process take a meticulous look at the existence and implementation of laws relating to various aspect of internet freedom. However, we only lower the score when proposed legislation actually becomes a law and is implemented. Had SOPA/PIPA passed in Congress and been signed into law, the United States scores would have dramatically worsened. Although you may disagree with this approach, it is the method we use when scoring any country around the world, which makes the index quite effective in comparing the developments internationally.
I am currently travelling, but would be happy to chat next week with anyone who is interested to provide constructive feedback, learn more, or get involved with the project (we are always looking for country contributors, and then advisors who independently evaluate the scores and reports written by the country contributors). Feel free to drop me a line (Kelly at freedomhouse.org) or schedule a Skype call. I don’t follow this forum, so it’s more effective to get in touch directly.
Cheers,
Sanja
Sanja Tatic Kelly
Project Director, Freedom on the Net
Freedom House
-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Betreff: Re: [governance] US 2nd on Internet Freedom
Datum: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:24:42 -0500
Von: Robert Guerra < <mailto:rguerra at privaterra.org> rguerra at privaterra.org>
Antwort an: <mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org,Robert> governance at lists.igcaucus.org,Robert Guerra
< <mailto:rguerra at privaterra.org> rguerra at privaterra.org>
An: Internet Governance Caucus < <mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org> governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
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> 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> 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> 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> http://www.istockphoto.com/mashableoffer.php>, Olena_T
>> <http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-18654807-global-communication
>> s-america.php?st=089de8e>/
>>
>
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