Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 3.1
Global population and internet users by severity of internet censorship, 2011
RWB a
Score
Population (000s)
%
Internet
Users (000s)
%
0-9
912,137
13.4
629,208
31.9
10-19
743,610
10.9
320,059
16.2
20-49
2,826,536
41.5
400,853
20.3
50-79
732,971
10.8
139,775
7.1
80-115
1,602,751
23.5
480,462
24.4
Total
6,818,006
100.0
1,970,357
100.0
a Reporters without borders
Source Calculated by author
and rising technological prowess of users generate a population that is more dif-
ficult to monitor and discipline. Moreover, rising incomes, literacy rates, and
technical skills often lead to modernizing elites that actively resist censorship
through organized means. Indeed, unlike traditional media such as newspapers and
television, whose centralized structures make them amenable to state control, the
decentralized, rhizomic, interactive structure of the internet makes it much more
difficult for state authorities to manipulate. Nonetheless, it should be remembered
that ''it is actually easier for a government to computer search vast quantities of
E-mail than to open regular mail or monitor tapped telephones'' (Dunn 2000 ,
p. 467). There is no guarantee, however, that censorship measures succeed. As
Hachigian ( 2002 , p. 41) points out, ''The subtle choices regimes make about how
to treat the Internet are designed to reinforce their broader strategies for retaining
power, and those choices do not predict regime viability in a clear way.''
However, internet censorship should be seen as part of a more complex array of
contested relations in cyberspace: the Web is not simply a tool a tool of government
control, but an arena of conflict. Thus, the internet also serves a variety of counter-
hegemonic purposes, including human rights groups and ethnic or political move-
ments in opposition to governments (Warf and Grimes 1997 ; Kreimer 2001 ;
Crampton 2003 ). Attempts at censorship are often resisted, sometimes successfully,
by local cyberactivists, such as through the use of anonymizing proxy servers in
other countries that encrypt users' data and cloak their identities. Today, numerous
groups in civil society use the medium to connect isolated once-invisible popula-
tions (e.g., gays and lesbians), unite and empower women's movements, give voice
to human rights activists, and allow political minorities to promote their own
agendas. Thus, internet usage both reflects and in turn shapes prevailing political
orders. In authoritarian regimes with relatively weak civil societies, opposition to
state-control is often weak and ineffectual; in more democratic states, opposition can
be organized, vociferous, and effectual. When seen as a contested terrain of political
struggle, the interactions between government internet censors and the various
groups that resist such impositions resembles a cat-and-mouse game that continually
evolves over time. As the context of internet censorship changes, including rising
penetration
rates,
deregulation
of
telecommunications
providers,
and
new
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