Analytics, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Internet, Technology
International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics
Thursday, 28.03.2024, 18:12
Estonia, Iceland have the most internet freedom
Freedom
House assessed 65 countries on their levels of internet and digital media
freedom, based on a methodology developed with international experts. The
survey that covers 87% of the world's internet users tracks improvements and
declines in government policies and practices each year.
It found that the highest degree of freedom of the internet can be found in Estonia and Iceland, and the scores of both countries were unchanged from the previous similar survey conducted in 2016. Next came Canada, Germany, Australia and the United States, in that order.
For the third consecutive year, China was the
world's worst abuser of internet freedom, followed by Syria and Ethiopia.
Iran, Cuba, Uzbekistan and Vietnam were the other countries making up the
bottom seven.
The "Freedom on the Net" survey is divided
into three categories scored between 0-100 - obstacles to access, limits
on content and violations of user rights. The lower the score, the higher the
internet freedom, which makes 0 the best and 100 the worst, and a combined
score of less than 30 indicates freedom. Estonia was given 6 points in both
2016 and 2017.
According to the Freedom House report: Estonians have
access to a wide range of content online, and very few resources are blocked or
filtered by the government. Following court rulings on intermediary liability
for third-party comments, some Estonian media outlets have modified their
policies regarding anonymous commenting on their portals. There are no
indications of any increase of restrictions on content or of self-censorship,
and online debate is very active and open.
The report also says there are no indications of any
increase of restrictions on content or of self-censorship, and online debate is
very active and open. One of the very few content restrictions is found in the
Gambling Act, which requires all domestic and foreign gambling sites to obtain
a special license or face access restrictions.19 As of March 2017, the Estonian
Tax and Customs Board had nearly 1,200 websites on its list of illegal online
gambling sites that Estonian ISPs are required to block.20 The list of blocked
sites is transparent and available to the public.
There have been some instances of content removal
related to online communications. Most of these cases involve civil court
orders to remove inappropriate or off-topic reader comments from online news
sites, according to the report.
Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are
protected by Estonia's constitution and by the country's obligations as a
member state of the European Union. Anonymity is unrestricted, and there have
been extensive public discussions on anonymity and the respectful use of the
internet.
There have been no physical attacks against bloggers
or online journalists in Estonia, though online discussions are sometimes inflammatory,
the report says.