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The Sydney Morning Herald.
Washington, February 10 2003. AFP
Authoritarian regimes, emulating China and Cuba, can and do control their
citizens' internet use, often to keep themselves in power, a study has found.
The study by scholars at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace suggests that authoritarian and
semi-authoritarian governments keep a close grip on the internet by limiting
access or filtering content.
The report, published in a new book, expands on earlier research by the
scholars on China and Cuba, examining internet usage in Singapore, Vietnam,
Burma, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
The study authors note that widely held beliefs that the internet would
foster democracy by allowing the free flow of information have, so far, failed
to materialise.
"Many people believe the internet will be a virus of freedom in
authoritarian regimes," said Shanthi Kalathil, co-author of the report.
But Kalathil said that the internet, like the telephone or television, is
simply a tool that can be used a number of ways.
"Many authoritarian governments are developing an internet that serves
their own goals," she told a recent forum here.
The report says that some regimes follow the Cuban model of limiting access
to computers and the internet. Others follow the Chinese model of using
technology to filter out sites linked to dissidents, pro-democracy activists or
other objectionable content.
In both cases, she noted, the regimes may crack down on those who try to use
the Web for anti-government activities.
"Users are intimidated (about using the internet) and are inclined to
self-censor," Kalathil said.
Still, the study's authors acknowledge that even in countries with
authoritarian rule, the internet can help facilitate economic growth that will
help expand the entrepreneurial class and middle class and that this could
eventually lead to democratisation.
"Use of the internet will contribute to change but not precipitate the
governments' collapse," said Kalathil.
Among the highlights of the book, Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact
of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule:
Chinese authorities have chosen "to encourage mass internet usage and
education in an environment that it is able to shape if not wholly control."
In Cuba, the government "has taken a more active role in controlling
unauthorised access (to the internet) ... reacting strongly against any attempt
to communicate outside official channels."
Singapore, described as a "semi-authoritarian" state, uses
sophisticated technology to control content of the internet, requiring that all
connections go through government proxy servers that filter out "objectionable"
content.
Vietnam is emulating China by using "a system of firewalls, top-down
access controls and the encouragement of self-censorship" to control the
internet, which is less widely used than in many countries.
Burma discourages internet access through a harsh 1996 decree that provides
prison terms of up to 15 years for possession of an unregistered telephone, fax
machine or modem. "The 1996 decree has largely done its job of discouraging
the public from attempting to access the internet illegally," the authors
note.
The United Arab Emirates, a country with "an authoritarian political
system," uses filtering to block pornography but may also limit dissident
political content.
Saudi Arabia uses perhaps the most extensive internet filtering, the authors
say. "Attempt to access a forbidden site are greeted with a message that
all access attempts are logged, which is certain to encourage self-censorship,"
according to the authors.
In Egypt, which the authors call semi-authoritarian, "there is no overt
censorship of public internet use (but) the government has cracked down on some
individuals who posted controversial material online." This has included
prosecution on persons soliciting gay sex on the Web. | 
