Iran least free place on the internet, says report

GVF — Iran has been named the worst country in the world when it comes to internet freedom, according to a new report from the NGO Freedom House.

The Freedom House report published on Monday says that Estonia, the US, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom have the most freedom on the net.

Iran, Burma, Cuba, China and Tunisia were named as some of the most restrictive countries with regards to internet freedom; Iran appearing at the bottom of the list with 89 points. The Freedom House’s internet freedom metric ranks countries' internet freedom from zero to 100, with zero being the maximum freedom and 100 the most restricted.

“Iran showed the greatest decline among the countries surveyed, placing it as the worst performer,” says the report. “Since the protests that followed disputed presidential elections in June 2009, the Iranian authorities have waged an active campaign against internet freedom, employing extensive and sophisticated methods of control that go well beyond simple content filtering, though this too has become more severe since the election. Tactics employed include deliberately slowing internet speeds at critical times to make basic online activities difficult and ordering blogging service providers inside Iran to remove ‘offensive’ posts.”

The Freedom House also noted the Iranian government’s efforts “to counter critical content and online organising efforts by extending state propaganda into the digital sphere” adding that “an increasing number of bloggers have been threatened, arrested, tortured, and kept in solitary confinement,  and at least one blogger died in custody.”

“Over 50 bloggers and online activists have been arrested, and a dozen remained in detention at the end of 2010,” adds the report.

“The Iranian authorities have taken a range of measures to monitor online communications, and a number of protesters who were put on trial after the election were indicted for their activities on Facebook and Balatarin.”