xunzi
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India had the largest decline in Internet freedom in the year to April 2013, according to a new report on state censorship of online content in 60 countries, raising fears that restrictions on free speech in the country were tightening.
U.S.-based Freedom House, an independent monitoring group, scored countries between zero and 100 according to how open access to the Internet was for citizens and the level of online censorship. The higher the number, the lower the amount of freedom afforded.
The report gave India a score of 47, down from 39 the previous year. It was the biggest drop of all the countries assessed.
In three democracies India, the United States and Brazil Freedom House said it had seen troubling declines in Internet freedom.
Internet in India was partly free on a par with numerous 29 countries, including neighbors Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, according to the report which describes countries as free, partly free or not free.
Iceland had the greatest degree of web freedom of the countries analyzed, while the report said Iran, Cuba and China were the most restrictive.
Restrictions on Internet freedom continue to expand across a wide range of countries. Over the past year, the global number of censored websites has increased, while Internet users in various countries have been arrested, tortured, and killed over the information they posted online, Freedom House said in the report.
Citing examples of censorship in India, the annual Freedom on the Net ranking said the Indian government deliberately interrupted mobile and Internet service to limit communal tensions between Muslims and communities in the north east of India in August last year. Freedom House said hundreds of web pages were blocked in 2012, mainly at the request of the government and largely to control the unrest.
The government also ordered sites such as Google and Facebook to block over 300 specific items including apparently faked images of Muslims suffering violent attacks that it said were being circulated to exacerbate the violence, the report said.
A government spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the findings.
The government also disabled the Twitter handles of journalists who used their accounts to report on the unrest. Other content, including spoof Twitter accounts such as @DrYumYumSingh, a parody account of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also became inaccessible at the time, leading many to believe that political critics were being singled out too, a report in The Times of India said.
Freedom House added that Internet access was restricted in Jammu and Kashmir when Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on Indias parliament, was executed in February.
During the period covered by the report Indian police charged at least 11 people on account of posts on social media, including liking or tagging posts on Facebook, the monitoring group said. In one case, police in November 2012 arrested a woman under the Information Technology Act for using Facebook to criticize the shutdown of Mumbai after the death of Bal Thackeray, a right-wing Hindu leader. Her friend who liked the post was also detained by the police.
At the time, Kapil Sibal, Indias telecommunications minister, said he was saddened by the arrests. The charges were later dropped.
Although political activists are targeted most frequently, more and more ordinary, apolitical users have found themselves in legal trouble after casually posting their opinions and jokes, the Freedom House report said. It added that many users of this kind may be unaware that their writings could land them in jail.
Commentators are sometimes paid by political parties to manipulate online discussions in India and are used to smear the reputation of opponents and defend policies, according to the authors of the report.
The study revealed that most countries in the world, including India, have enhanced their surveillance powers over the past year.
Over half 35 of the 60 countries scrutinized have obtained more sophisticated technology and increased the number of people being monitored, Freedom House said.
It also expressed concern over the Central Monitoring System, which India began to roll out this year to allow the government access to phone calls, text messages, emails, social media conversations and online searches in real time.
While some of this activity might be justifiable, the lack of transparency surrounding the system, which was never reviewed by Parliament, is concerning, web freedom monitors said.
The systems potential for abuse is also disquieting, as is its inadequate legal framework, it added.
Report: Internet Freedom Plummets in India - India Real Time - WSJ
now,I didn't even count the other factors like espionage.we should have dedicated Cyber warfare unit to counter any espionage attempt(which is in trend right now).
