Internet censorship a growing concern

Internet recently turned 30, but it could be easily dubbed as 13 going on 30 looking at the ways in which it’s being dealt with by government authorities who are attempting to clamp the freedom of the online world—much like parents try to restrict their wayward teenagers. The very open and free nature of Internet was threatened in the 2012 as government around the world tried to clamp the service. While these attempts were met with protests from netizens, we can’t afford to let the guard down in the coming year or our Internet freedom will be seriously affected.The recently published Freedom on the Net 2012: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media report by Freedom House, an independent watchdog organisation, highlighted the increasing trend of censoring the web across the world. Out of the 47 countries it surveyed, it discovered that as many as 19 countries have since 2011 adopted policies to censor the web, which effectively hampers online speech. While it found Estonia with the greatest degree of Internet freedom, countries like Iran, Cuba and China were found to be on the other extreme.Governments of many countries are playing the Orwellian script by introducing draconian laws to censor the web. Let’s take a look at Internet censorship followed in some countries that drew lot of attention in the past year.         Click here for full story