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Internet restricted in the name of
terror
By Julio Godoy
PARIS -
Most countries have used perceived terrorist threats
after the September 11 attacks to step up censorship on
the Internet, a leading journalists group says.
A report published in Paris on Thursday by
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) says governments are
tightening control of communication over the world wide
web. This is among the "collateral damages" of the
so-called war against terrorism, the RSF report says.
The report lists China, North Korea, Tunisia and
Saudi Arabia, and Western democracies such as the US,
Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Denmark and Canada among
countries that have introduced censorship on the net.
The RSF is particularly critical of measures
adopted in some Arab and Asian countries. "North Korea
settled the question long ago," RSF secretary-general
Robert Menard said at the launch of the report. "This is
the only country where [the] Internet does not exist.
But this fact does not hinder the state authorities from
maintaining several propaganda electronic sites managed
from Japan."
The report says that "Saudi Arabia
has built a giant filter system in Jeddah, blocking
access to electronic addresses". In China, a country
with 20 million Internet users, the government has
created "anti-web police brigades to wage war on
anti-government and anti-communist articles published on
the Internet."
The Chinese government has also
cracked down on cyber cafes, the RSF points out. What is
called cyber criminality in China can carry the death
sentence, the report adds.
The report also lists
several decisions taken by governments and international
organizations to restrict the flow of information. Among
these it points to "Resolution 1373 adopted by the UN
Security Council on September 28, 2001, the US Patriotic
Act of Oct 24, 2001, the recommendations presented by
the Group of Eight and by Europe, and in France the
adoption of the Law on Daily Security". These are only
"some examples of the measures against freedom adopted
all over the world," the report says.
In the US,
where the spread of information via the Internet is
guaranteed by the first amendment of the nation's
constitution, right-wing groups have for long raised
"the phantom of pornography" to restrict this freedom.
The attacks of September 11 permitted the "triumph of a
radical security policy" and led to a tightening of
controls on the Internet. The US government is now
"playing the world policeman on Internet too", the RSF
report says.
In Germany the argument of a
terrorist threat has been used by the government of
Gerhard Schroeder to pass security laws that go beyond
the country's needs and restrict the freedom of
electronic exchange of information.
Other
European countries such as Spain, Denmark, France and
Italy have also adopted exaggerated security measures
that restrict freedom of communication and information
through the Internet.
Earlier in June the RSF
had urged Internet service providers and
telecommunications operators in Europe "not to submit to
new legislation and directives on data controls". Menard
said then that "police, internal security agencies and
other state agencies should have access to private
electronic information data such as faxes, e-mails and
Internet connections only if this access is officially
requested by a tribunal".
The RSF made that
demand after the European parliament amended a 1997
directive on data protection to provide for interception
of telephone calls, faxes, e-mails and other Internet
communications "for a limited period". The length of the
period was not specified and was left to each member
state of the European Union.
Menard said at the
launch of the new report that "this new legislation is a
challenge to the principle of a journalist's right not
to reveal sources", and to the confidentiality of
Europeans' professional and personal communications.
"These are grave circumstances which call for
vigilance," Menard said. "The climate of heightened
consciousness about security since the attacks of
September 11 is poised to legitimize a setback in
freedom of expression of Europeans."
In France
the Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertes
(CNIL), an independent agency reporting on freedom of
information in the electronic media claimed in July that
communication was not being censored. Menard wrote back
to the CNIL, "If we are to believe your report, there
was no September 11 effect upon French Internet
communications. This position of yours is surprising to
say the least. The contrary is true."
The RSF
encourages Internet users to encrypt their e-mails to
avoid censorship. It suggests use of PGP (Pretty Good
Privacy) software, a free program that allows exchange
of encoded e-mails. Internet experts say PGP is
difficult to break even with advanced decoding software.
(Inter Press Service)
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