Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual “Enemies of the Internet” index this week—a ranking first launched in 2006 intended to track countries that repress online speech, intimidate and arrest bloggers, and conduct surveillance of their citizens. Some countries have been mainstays on the annual index, while others have been able to work their way off the list. Two countries particularly deserving of praise in this area are Tunisia and Myanmar (Burma), both of which have stopped censoring the Internet in recent years and are headed in the right direction toward Internet freedom.
In the former category are some of the world’s worst offenders: Cuba, North Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Belarus, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Syria. Nearly every one of these countries has amped up their online repression in recent years, from implementing sophisticated surveillance (Syria) to utilizing targeted surveillance tools (Vietnam) to increasing crackdowns on online speech (Saudi Arabia). These are countries where, despite advocacy efforts by local and international groups, no progress has been made.
The newcomers
A third, perhaps even more disheartening category, is the list of countries new to this year's index. A motley crew, these nations have all taken new, harsh approaches to restricting speech or monitoring citizens:
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Aug 14[# Everybody kbows # ! ... that there is not such thing called '#Leak'. # ! It's #Promotion # ! #critics to #sharing are #resources to get extra money from # ! Authorities plus an attempt to #control the #culture #flow....] _________________ " Andy on August 6, 2014 C: 31 Breaking Outspoken movie director Lexi Alexander says that movie leaks, such as the recent one involving The Expendables 3, can happen as a result of directors and producers abusing their assistants. In a move further likely to irritate her Hollywood overlords, Alexander suggests that a high-security leaking mechanism could help to cut down on abuse. "
