These Countries Are Enemies of Internet


1. Bahrain: Reporters without Borders said that this Arab country had harassed activists in favor of free-speech and human rights, and had arrested bloggers as well to bring about an “effective news blackout”. Bahrain has been plagued by unrest for more than a year now because of discrimination against Shiities, according to the LA Times. 

 

2. Belarus: This Eastern European country also practices the hostile blocking of the Internet and has laws that include imprisonment up to five years for insulting the President, Alexander Lukashenko who has been in power since 1994. While Lukashenko calls his rule an “authoritarian ruling style”, western countries have described Belarus as a dictatorship under his reign. The former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice even branded Belarus as one of the world's six “outposts of tyranny”. Most of the phone lines are operated by Beltelcom, a state-owned company, which also centrally controls the Internet in the country. Internet cafe owners have been required to keep records of their customers’ identities and the websites they visit since 2007, to help inspection by the security services.