Thousands protest over net censorship

INTERNET ENEMIES: Iran and Saudi Arabia are on a list of countries accused of limiting online freedom, while Bahrain and the UAE are 'under watch'.

Thousands of ‘virtual dissidents’ took part on Wednesday in an online demonstration against countries accused of censoring the internet.

For its first Online Free Expression Day, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) invited internet users to take a stand in online versions of countries where protests are not normally possible.

“Anyone with Internet access can create an avatar, choose a message for their banner and take part in one of the cyber-demos taking place in Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Egypt, North Korea, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam,” the press freedom organisation said in a statement.

The demonstration, designed and produced by advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, runs for 24 hours, until 1000 GMT on Thursday 13 March.

Within hours of the launch more than 5,000 internet users had gathered to demand more online freedom, British broadcaster the BBC said on its website.

According to RSF, 62 cyber-dissidents are currently imprisoned worldwide, while more than 2,600 websites, blogs or discussion forums were closed or made inaccessible in 2007.

“From now on, we will organise activities every 12 March to condemn cyber-censorship throughout the world,” the group said.

“A response of this kind is needed to the growing tendency to crack down on bloggers and to close websites."

Ethiopia and Zimbabwe have this year joined the organisation’s 15-strong list of "internet enemies", which also includes Belarus, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Uzbekistan.

The regimes draw on an "arsenal" of online censorship methods, the group said, including legislation, monitoring internet cafes and controlling internet service providers (ISPs).

A second list of countries ‘under watch’ includes Bahrain and the UAE along with Eritrea, Gambia, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tajikstan and Thailand.

These countries do not imprison bloggers or significantly censor the internet, however “they are sorely tempted and abuses are common”, RSF said.

“Many of them have laws that they could use to gag the internet if they wanted. And the judicial or political authorities often use anti-terrorism laws to identify and monitor government opponents and activists expressing themselves online.”

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