Internet is more essential commodity than ever. For the past six months due to lockdown, the world went virtual. The number of smartphones is increasing every day, the internet is becoming cheaper in countries like India. Along with expanding network follows more anarchy and then followed by restrictions.
Why people hate politics?- Read here
I remember writing on a topic on why people hate politics just a few months ago. I covered a couple of topics on why we need to understand politics and how it affects us. Today I am here to do an emphasis on this topic which I missed then but makes 100% sense today. Politics now dictate what we see, listen and do online. They will decide what all apps we use and what all we not use. We will discuss various cases across the globe, on how different countries are using internet restrictions/bans to score political points, or even establish their agenda and control over society.
The list is endless but we will discuss some of the most strict internet restrictions across the globe.
What all are the internet restrictions possible?
1. Obstacles to access- Where the government creates hurdles for the population to access the internet eg- High prices to keep vast population away from going online.
2. Limits on content- Where the government censors the content available like blocking websites and apps.
3. Violations of user rights- Here the government prosecutes people for using the internet or some selected content. eg- Imprisonment of people, suspension of accounts, fines etc.
If you think that internet restrictions have become easier throughout the timeline, but you are wrong. More and more countries are coming into the list.
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How does internet restriction affect us?
Restrictions on the Internet violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Violation of freedom of speech, freedom expression, access to information etc. You are kept away from something which you have the right to but you can't because you are living in the wrong place.
The countries which have internet restrictions-
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Iran
Being an Islamic country, there are multiple restrictions in the content just like any other Islamic country. In addition to that Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr etc. are banned ever since the 2009 election protests. Just like China, the regime is under constant threat from Western influence and thus it is under constant fear that they will lose their chair.
North Korea
This is one of the weirdest cases in the cyber world. Only 5% of North Koreans have access to the internet, either the rest of the population can't afford it or the government doesn't want them to. Unlike China-North Korea is cut off from the rest of the world. The information you get out of this country is also limited.
India
I would be surprised if India was ever added to this list in 2017 or 2018, but in 2019-20 period lot has changed.
In 2018, there was a ban on 800 porn websites which saw a massive outrage and the Supreme Court had to intervene to remove the ban. On June 29th India banned over 59 Chinese apps which included TikTok, UC browser, WeChat, Cam Scanner etc and on 2nd September banned another 118 apps including PUBG mobile, Alipay, Baidu etc.
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India banned these apps using Section 69A of the IT Act which gives the Indian Government the right to block any website. The govt said that the ban because these apps were threat to India's sovereignty and threat to Integrity. One of the biggest argument was said that these data is not locally stored but elsewhere and also that these were stealing user data.
The government doesn't have any proof that all these apps were a threat to user privacy and in what ways are these apps threat to the integrity of India. India was the first country to ban TikTok, and only 3rd country to ban PUBG. So it is pretty clear that the government intends to score political points by showing that it is taking action against China. Although we have no idea how will app ban stop China anyway.
On August 5 2019, the Government of India abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to Kashmir. From then on People of Kashmir were not given access till today. Despite SC intervention, only 2G internet was restored this year and 4G will be given back only on a trial basis. There is no clear explanation of how the Internet ban will stop terrorism. Even during the pandemic, when students have to attend online classes and business need to run but 2G internet won't be enough.
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The govt is saying that 2G internet is enough for running social media and other apps, but we clearly know that it is not. Even if Kashmiris want to chat with people of Pakistan, Whatsapp will handle 2G internet and even messages which go into the temporary cloud of Whatsapp, the message and multimedia will load properly in Pakistan. So, this move of keeping people away from the internet won't work.
China
The country with one of the strangest internet restriction ever. The country has so-called restrictions on multiple sites throughout the world, that these won't be available when you visit China. This is also called The Great Firewall of China.
Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter etc are blocked. Websites with mention of Tibetian independence, Tiananmen Square etc are blocked. Popular websites like CNN, Reuters, Al Jazeera etc are also blocked. Most of these websites are American and the Chinese believe that America is using western propaganda for a regime change. Facebook was blocked after it was found that it was used in Urumqi rights by the Uighurs. Later Zuckerberg had visited Beijing multiple times to resolve the issues.
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Here is the full list of banned websites.
The Govt of China through this aims to keep the population away from the western propaganda as well keep a check on the content the local population is exposed to. It is sovereign to the Chinese govt, but to say that FB, Google, twitter are spreading propaganda against China isn't true. This is just a political scoring. Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia are politically sensitive areas of China.
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To all the blocked websites you have alternatives too. For Google, you have Baidu, Youtube you have Youku, Whatsapp you have WeChat, Amazon you have Alibaba, Twitter you have Weibo etc. All these websites- Alibaba, WeChat, Weibo etc are quite popular across the world and are used by people to communicate in and out of China. For eg- if you are an American student in china, you will be using WeChat to chat and call home. Although using local VPNs and connections like Airtel and Jio you can easily bypass the firewall.
All these restrictions are not there in Hong Kong where you have democracy and is like a Singapore.
Saudi Arabia
Internet is available in Saudi Arabia through proxy servers run by Saudi Govt which filters the web content. Websites related to porn, religion, drugs, politics, Israeli domains etc are censored. Even a few Wikipedia articles are blocked. This country has one of the strictest scrutinies with respect to censorship.
UAE
All websites just like Saudi blocks are also blocked here. In addition to that VoIP calls like Whatsapp calls, Skype etc are also blocked here.
Eritrea
Less than 1% of the population has access to the Internet. Independent journalists, bloggers etc are jailed for voicing their opinion.
Myanmar
Censorship of the media is the primary aim of Myanmar's internet restrictions.
Thailand
Blocks sites of political opponents, anti-government, anti-King websites etc.
Turkey
Blocks websites which are anti-Turkish, insults Kemal supports, Kurdish freedom, etc. Kurds are an ethnic minority of Turkey which have faced discrimination in the past and are looking for separationism away from Turkey. So, politically the Turkish govt wishes to block the separationist's voice. On November 16, 2016, Turkey had temporarily blocked Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Even president threatened to shut down Twitter for its action against Turkey.
Egypt
Internet restrictions are there post-2011 Egyptian Revolution.
Cuba
Has the lowest computers/population ratio in the Americas. The government continues to crackdown independent journalists.
Venezuela
On 2019 Presidential crisis the majority of the social media was reported to be found blocked. As we know Venezuela is moving through one of the worst economic crisis and the regime is in danger. So, tightening the internet and freedom will be how Venezuela able to stop a regime change which the US has been trying to do.
Columbia
The country is one of the worst countries affected by drug trafficking, thus the country controls content relating to those.
Few questions to ponder-
- Should countries restrict the information you get online?
- Can countries block/ban apps and websites if they want to?
- Who will moderate the cyber world? The government of the country or a neutral body?
- Should countries take action against websites which spread hatred, insult people, used by drug cartels etc?
- Should access to the Internet be taken as a fundamental right? Should it follow basic freedom like free speech and opinions?
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The countries with no or very fewer Internet restrictions?
We talked a lot about negative stuff, let's speak something positive too. Here are some countries which don't censor or block any content on the internet.
- Japan
- Israel
- Canada
- New Zealand
- Australia
- European Union Countries
- United Kingdom
- Nordic Countries
What are your views on Internet restrictions? Should they be there due to political reasons? Which do you think is better- A country with a lot of free access to the internet but with strict censorship or country with few people having internet access but free from all kinds of restrictions?
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| Source- national coalition against censorship |
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