Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 3.1 Map of Reporters Without Borders internet censorship rankings, 2011. Source data
drawn from http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html
Without Borders, an NGO headquartered in Paris and one of the world's preeminent
judges of censorship, ranks governments across the planet in terms of the severity of
their internet censorship (Fig. 3.1 ; see also Quirk 2006 ). Their index of internet
censorship is generated from surveys of 50 questions sent to legal experts, reporters,
and scholars in each country. Thus, countries in northern Europe, the U.S. and
Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan exhibit minimal or no censorship
(scores \ 10). Conversely, a rogue's list of the world's worst offenders, including
China, Vietnam, Burma/Myanmar, Iran, and Turkmenistan, exhibit the planet's
most severe and extensive restrictions (scores [ 80). In North Korea, internet access
is illegal, although the government uses it to send messages to the outside world
(Hachigian 2002 ). In between these extremes lies a vast array of states with modest
to moderate forms of internet censorship that reflect their diverse systems of gov-
ernance, the presence or absence of civil liberties, and the ability of various groups to
resist limitations on their ability or right to use the internet in whatever manner they
so prefer. Using the categories of Fig. 3.1 , Table 3.1 summarizes the distribution of
the world's population and internet users according to the level of severity of cen-
sorship. Thus, only 13 % of the world's people, but a third of internet users, live in
countries with minimal censorship; conversely, roughly one-quarter of the world's
people and internet users live under governments that engage in very heavy cen-
sorship (the vast bulk of whom are located in China).
Internet penetration rates—the proportion of the population with regular access
to cyberspace at home, school, or work—also shape the contours of censorship
geography. Penetration rates have important implications for state attempts at
control. In impoverished states, in which penetration rates are low and users rely
heavily on cybercafes, censorship is relatively easy and resistance is futile.
However, falling prices for personal computers, expansion of home ownership,
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