New 'Enemies of the Internet' Listed In Reporters Without Borders Study

New submitter Warmlight writes "The BBC reports that 'Bahrain and Belarus have been added to Reporters Without Borders' annual list of "enemies of the internet." They join 10 other nations on the campaign group's register of states that restrict net access, filter content and imprison bloggers. India and Kazakhstan have also joined RWB's list of "countries under surveillance" because of concerns that they are becoming more repressive.' I wonder how ACTA will affect this in the next year? In their report, they say, 'Resistance to ACTA is stronger than ever and the treaty may not see the light of day. Vigilance must be maintained.'"

Bahrain exempt under "But they give us oil" clause

[elrous0]

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia can do whatever they like as long as they keep that sweet, sweet crude coming. I've got an SUV to fill.

See, it used to be

[Compaqt]

the Internet was just "our little private world", like Second Life.

It wasn't "real life". It was just a separate little thing.

Nobody (especially governments) cared about since, mostly since they didn't even know about it.

Now that everybody's on it, they want:

-Nothing exposing misdeeds (US)
-Nothing about the Nazis (Germany)
-Nothing about competing brands (France)
-Nothing offensive (India)
-Nothing about how the rest of the world lives (China)

and so on.

If only there, there were another interconnected network ... hmm.

Re:Hm

[GameboyRMH]

Ah I think I understand now, if cash can be speech then why not bullets and tanks? They convey much more of a message IMO.

If the U.S. isn't on that list

[Anonymous Coward]

along with other first-world nations like Australia and the U.K., then the list isn't honest or accurate.

Re:"enemies of the West"

[interkin3tic]

The full list of "enemies" seems to be: Bahrain Belarus Burma China Cuba Iran North Korea Saudi Arabia Syria Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Vietnam

There's a subtle difference between "We're shutting you down because you're giving people free movies that you don't have the rights to" and "We're keeping you from accessing these websites because they say we are corrupt assholes." Or "We're going to kill you for saying things we don't like online."

Both are bad in my opinion, the US could easily slide into outright internet censorship, and the US is also hypocritical on this matter, but for right now I feel we're not in the same league as, say, Syria.

Where's the US?

[g0bshiTe]

I'd say that the US is the biggest enemy overall to the internet. I mean those others are just censoring for their people. The US has decided to censor it for the world. And if they can't do that, they'll just seize the domain.