SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The State of Free Expression Online: 2014 in Review
In the midst of the global surveillance debate, talk of online censorship has often taken a backseat. Yet, all around the world, the inalienable right to freedom of expression is violated on a regular basis. While in 2014, issues such as terrorism and online harassment generated new discussions of speech rights, censorship of political and religious speech--as well as "obscenity" and content deemed a risk to "national security"--remains all too common.
Dec 27, 2014
In the midst of the global surveillance debate, talk of online censorship has often taken a backseat. Yet, all around the world, the inalienable right to freedom of expression is violated on a regular basis. While in 2014, issues such as terrorism and online harassment generated new discussions of speech rights, censorship of political and religious speech--as well as "obscenity" and content deemed a risk to "national security"--remains all too common.
A recent Guardian editorial declared online freedom to be "under attack" all around the world. Citing examples from serial offenders China and Russia, the authors state that "repressive techniques are being mimicked from one country to the next" and "repressive regimes have seized upon [surveillance by the US and UK] to introduce more online repression that increasingly leads to detentions."
Indeed, repression of speech is on the rise in a number of countries.
Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice claims to have "shut down" (blocked) more than 10,000 Twitter accounts this year. Bahrain has cracked down harder on social media, arresting embattled activist Nabeel Rajab once again, this time for remarks made on Twitter.
Censorship: Not Just for Repressive Regimes
Online repression isn't limited to those typically thought of as "repressive regimes," however. Along with Russia, democratic Turkey was recently deemed by Freedom House to have had the greatest increase in web censorship over the past year. In September, the country's parliament passed a resolution allowing the High Council for Telecommunications to temporarily block websites without a court order. The parliament had already passed laws in February allowing authorities to block without a court order any content that "violates privacy" or is "discriminatory or insulting".
In the UK, a woman was recently sentenced to five years in prison for "promoting terrorism on Facebook." This news comes after promises from UK telecoms to block "terrorist" and "extremist" content on their networks. The country also recently cracked down on certain types of pornography, which critics have said unfairly targets sex acts that focus on female pleasure. India has also taken new measures to block pornography this year.
A French anti-terror law passed this autumn provides harsher penalties for extremist speech posted online (as opposed to offline), raising concerns from civil liberties advocates in the country. And in Japan, lawmakers recently passed the controversial State Secrecy Act, effectively preventing government officials from blowing the whistle. The country is also under pressure from the United Nations to enact laws preventing "hate speech".
This article is part of EFF's Year In Review series; read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2014.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Jillian C. York
Jillian C. York is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's director for International Freedom of Expression.
In the midst of the global surveillance debate, talk of online censorship has often taken a backseat. Yet, all around the world, the inalienable right to freedom of expression is violated on a regular basis. While in 2014, issues such as terrorism and online harassment generated new discussions of speech rights, censorship of political and religious speech--as well as "obscenity" and content deemed a risk to "national security"--remains all too common.
A recent Guardian editorial declared online freedom to be "under attack" all around the world. Citing examples from serial offenders China and Russia, the authors state that "repressive techniques are being mimicked from one country to the next" and "repressive regimes have seized upon [surveillance by the US and UK] to introduce more online repression that increasingly leads to detentions."
Indeed, repression of speech is on the rise in a number of countries.
Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice claims to have "shut down" (blocked) more than 10,000 Twitter accounts this year. Bahrain has cracked down harder on social media, arresting embattled activist Nabeel Rajab once again, this time for remarks made on Twitter.
Censorship: Not Just for Repressive Regimes
Online repression isn't limited to those typically thought of as "repressive regimes," however. Along with Russia, democratic Turkey was recently deemed by Freedom House to have had the greatest increase in web censorship over the past year. In September, the country's parliament passed a resolution allowing the High Council for Telecommunications to temporarily block websites without a court order. The parliament had already passed laws in February allowing authorities to block without a court order any content that "violates privacy" or is "discriminatory or insulting".
In the UK, a woman was recently sentenced to five years in prison for "promoting terrorism on Facebook." This news comes after promises from UK telecoms to block "terrorist" and "extremist" content on their networks. The country also recently cracked down on certain types of pornography, which critics have said unfairly targets sex acts that focus on female pleasure. India has also taken new measures to block pornography this year.
A French anti-terror law passed this autumn provides harsher penalties for extremist speech posted online (as opposed to offline), raising concerns from civil liberties advocates in the country. And in Japan, lawmakers recently passed the controversial State Secrecy Act, effectively preventing government officials from blowing the whistle. The country is also under pressure from the United Nations to enact laws preventing "hate speech".
This article is part of EFF's Year In Review series; read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2014.
Jillian C. York
Jillian C. York is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's director for International Freedom of Expression.
In the midst of the global surveillance debate, talk of online censorship has often taken a backseat. Yet, all around the world, the inalienable right to freedom of expression is violated on a regular basis. While in 2014, issues such as terrorism and online harassment generated new discussions of speech rights, censorship of political and religious speech--as well as "obscenity" and content deemed a risk to "national security"--remains all too common.
A recent Guardian editorial declared online freedom to be "under attack" all around the world. Citing examples from serial offenders China and Russia, the authors state that "repressive techniques are being mimicked from one country to the next" and "repressive regimes have seized upon [surveillance by the US and UK] to introduce more online repression that increasingly leads to detentions."
Indeed, repression of speech is on the rise in a number of countries.
Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice claims to have "shut down" (blocked) more than 10,000 Twitter accounts this year. Bahrain has cracked down harder on social media, arresting embattled activist Nabeel Rajab once again, this time for remarks made on Twitter.
Censorship: Not Just for Repressive Regimes
Online repression isn't limited to those typically thought of as "repressive regimes," however. Along with Russia, democratic Turkey was recently deemed by Freedom House to have had the greatest increase in web censorship over the past year. In September, the country's parliament passed a resolution allowing the High Council for Telecommunications to temporarily block websites without a court order. The parliament had already passed laws in February allowing authorities to block without a court order any content that "violates privacy" or is "discriminatory or insulting".
In the UK, a woman was recently sentenced to five years in prison for "promoting terrorism on Facebook." This news comes after promises from UK telecoms to block "terrorist" and "extremist" content on their networks. The country also recently cracked down on certain types of pornography, which critics have said unfairly targets sex acts that focus on female pleasure. India has also taken new measures to block pornography this year.
A French anti-terror law passed this autumn provides harsher penalties for extremist speech posted online (as opposed to offline), raising concerns from civil liberties advocates in the country. And in Japan, lawmakers recently passed the controversial State Secrecy Act, effectively preventing government officials from blowing the whistle. The country is also under pressure from the United Nations to enact laws preventing "hate speech".
This article is part of EFF's Year In Review series; read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2014.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.