World Day Against Cyber Censorship marked today

This day was proposed to be observed by Reporters Without Borders to attract attention of the public to the problem of free access to the Internet worldwide.

Reporters Without Borders is an international press freedom organization that defends the right to inform and to be informed. It was founded in Paris in 1985. The aim of the organisation is to struggle against censorship, for release of journalists who had been persecuted for their professional activities. Every year the organisation publishes its own list of Internet Enemies.

“In many countries and especially in the CIS, Internet is one of important tools of access to information by the population, and mainly in the countries where no independent press exists. So we decided to hold such a day on the Internet,” stated a representative of the organisation Elsa Vidal.

“World Day Against Cyber Censorship is a day to advance and celebrate a free Internet as an open window to the world and denounce the attacks made on the free flow of information online. In the spirit of fostering freedom of expression, we are asking that you do not censor any of your search engines or blog platforms anywhere around the world on this day,” the website of Reporters Without Borders informs.

On the first Day Against Cyber Censorship on March 12, 2008 users were invited to visit the website of Reporters Without Borders www.rsf.org to protest against censorship abused by some governments, and demand more rights for internet users.

For 24 hours, from 11 a.m. Paris time (the noon in Minsk) March 12 to 11 a.m. March 13 users took part in one of cyber-demonstrations held in Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

Over a day users could create avatars for blogs, choose phrases for their banners and take part in cyber demonstrations. Besides, a new list of Enemies of Internet was published.

In 2008 the list of countries- Enemies of Internet included 15 countries: Belarus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Vietnam.

11 more countries are on observation of Reporters Without Borders. These countries do not imprison bloggers and do not use censorship on the web actively. However according to the organisation, they actively and in an organized manner try to restrict the freedom of speech in the World Wide Web. The countries on the list are: Tajikistan, Bahrain, Eritrea, Gambia, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

In the report published in the framework of the World Day Against Cyber Censorship 2009 the organisation called 12 countries limiting the right of their citizens to access information on the web, Enemies of Internet.

They are: Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. According to the organisation, the authorities of those countries give their citizens only partial access to information on the web.

Reporters Without Borders underline that cyber-freedom in Belarus is under threat because of the Decree on censorship on the web signed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, which comes into force in summer 2010.