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Freedom on the Net is an annual report providing analytical reports and numerical ratings regarding the state of Internet freedom for countries worldwide, published by the American non-profit research and advocacy group Freedom House.[1] The countries surveyed represent a sample with a broad range of geographical diversity and levels of economic development, as well as varying levels of political and media freedom.

Methodology

The surveys ask a set of questions designed to measure each country's level of Internet and digital media freedom, as well as the access and openness of other digital means of transmitting information, particularly mobile phones and text messaging services. Results are presented for three areas:[2] p.31

  • Obstacles to Access: infrastructural and economic barriers to access; governmental efforts to block specific applications or technologies; legal and ownership control over internet and mobile phone access providers.
  • Limits on Content: filtering and blocking of websites; other forms of censorship and self-censorship; manipulation of content; the diversity of online news media; and usage of digital media for social and political activism.
  • Violations of User Rights: legal protections and restrictions on online activity; surveillance and limits on privacy; and repercussions for online activity, such as legal prosecution, imprisonment, physical attacks, or other forms of harassment.

The results from the three areas are combined into a total score for a country (from 100 for "Most Free" to 0 for "Least Free") and countries are rated as "Free" (100 to 70), "Partly Free" (69 to 40), or "Not Free" (39 to 0) based on the totals.[2] p.31

Results

Starting in 2009 Freedom House has produced eleven editions of the report.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] There was no report in 2010. The reports generally cover the period from June through May.

Freedom on the Net Survey Results
  2009[1] 2011[3] 2012[4] 2013[5] 2014[6] 2015[7] 2016[8] 2017[9] 2018[10] 2019[12] 2020[13]
Countries 15 37 47 60 65 65 65 65 65 65 65
Free   4 (27%)   8 (22%) 14 (30%) 17 (29%) 19 (29%) 18 (28%) 17 (26%) 16 (25%) 15 (23%) 15 (23%) 15 (23%)
Partly free   7 (47%) 18 (49%) 20 (43%) 29 (48%) 31 (48%) 28 (43%) 28 (43%) 28 (43%) 30 (46%) 29 (45%) 28 (43%)
Not free   4 (27%) 11 (30%) 13 (28%) 14 (23%) 15 (23%) 19 (29%) 20 (31%) 21 (32%) 20 (31%) 21 (32%) 22 (34%)
Improved n/a   5 (33%) 11 (31%) 12 (26%) 12 (18%) 15 (23%) 34 (52%) 32 (49%) 19 (29%) n/a 23 (35%)
Declined n/a   9 (60%) 17 (47%) 28 (60%) 36 (55%) 32 (49%) 14 (22%) 13 (20%) 26 (40%) n/a 26 (40%)
No change n/a   1   (7%)   8 (22%)   7 (15%) 17 (26%) 18 (28%) 17 (26%) 20 (31%) 20 (31%) n/a 16 (25%)

2020 results

Freedom on the Net 2020[2]
  Free ·   Partly free ·   Not free
Country Score
 Iceland 95
 Estonia 94
 Canada 87
 Germany 80
 United Kingdom 78
 France 77
 Australia 76
 Georgia 76
 Italy 76
 United States 76
 Armenia 75
 Japan 75
 Argentina 71
 Hungary 71
 South Africa 70
 Kenya 67
 Colombia 66
 South Korea 66
 Philippines 64
 Tunisia 64
 Brazil 63
 Angola 62
 Mexico 61
 Ukraine 61
 Malawi 60
 Nigeria 60
 Zambia 59
 Malaysia 58
 Ecuador 57
 Kyrgyzstan 56
 Uganda 56
 Singapore 54
 Lebanon 52
 Morocco 52
 Sri Lanka 52
 India 51
 Libya 50
 Indonesia 49
 Jordan 49
 The Gambia 49
 Zimbabwe 46
 Cambodia 43
 Bangladesh 42
 Rwanda 39
 Azerbaijan 38
 Belarus 38
 Thailand 35
 Turkey 35
 Kazakhstan 32
 Myanmar 31
 Russia 30
 Sudan 30
 Bahrain 29
 Ethiopia 29
 United Arab Emirates 29
 Venezuela 28
 Uzbekistan 27
 Egypt 26
 Pakistan 26
 Saudi Arabia 26
 Cuba 22
 Vietnam 22
 Syria 17
 Iran 15
 China 10

Comparison with Other Datasets

Several other organizations measure internet freedom, such as the V-Dem Institute, Access Now, and the OpenNet Initiative.[14][15][16][17] V-Dem's Digital Society project measures a range of questions related to internet censorship, misinformation online, and internet shutdowns using surveys of experts.[15] Access Now maintains an annual list of internet shutdowns, throttling, and blockages as part of the #KeepItOn project.[14] The OpenNet Initiative formerly kept data on internet censorship of particular websites.[17] Freedom on the Net's report covers a range of concepts that the other datasets do not, such as new legislation passed, but lacks the country coverage of other datasets.[2][16]

Expert surveys such as Freedom House and V-Dem have been found to be more prone to false positives (they are more likely to find uncorroborated instances of censorship).[18] While remote sensing such as the kind done by Access Now and OpenNet Initiative are more likely to be prone to false negatives (they may miss some instances of real censorship).[19]

The Millennium Challenge Corporation used the Key Internet Controls portion of the Freedom on the Net report to inform its country selection process until 2020 when this report was replaced with data on internet shutdowns from Access Now.[20][21]

References

  1. ^ a b c Freedom on the Net 2009, Freedom House, accessed 16 April 2012
  2. ^ a b c d "Freedom on the Net 2020" (PDF). Freedom House.
  3. ^ a b Freedom on the Net 2011, Freedom House, accessed 15 April 2012
  4. ^ a b Freedom on the Net 2012, Freedom House, accessed 24 September 2012
  5. ^ a b Freedom on the Net 2013, Freedom House, 3 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Freedom on the Net 2014" (PDF). Freedom House. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Freedom on the Net 2015" (PDF). Freedom House. October 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Freedom on the Net 2016" (PDF). Freedom House. October 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Freedom on the Net 2017" (PDF). Freedom House. October 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Freedom on the Net 2018" (PDF). Freedom House. November 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  11. ^ "Freedom on the Net 2019" (PDF). Freedom House. November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Freedom on the Net 2019" (PDF). Freedom House.
  13. ^ "Freedom on the Net 2020" (PDF). Freedom House.
  14. ^ a b Taye, Berhan (2021). "Shattered Dreams and Lost Opportunities" (PDF). Access Now.
  15. ^ a b Mechkova, V., Daniel P., Brigitte S.,&Steven W. (2020). Digital Society Project Dataset v2.Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project http://digitalsocietyproject.org/
  16. ^ a b Fletcher, Terry; Hayes-Birchler, Andria (2020-07-30). "Comparing Measures of Internet Censorship: Analyzing the Tradeoffs between Expert Analysis and Remote Measurement". doi:10.5281/zenodo.3967398. S2CID 244992072. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ^ a b "West Censoring East: The Use of Western Technologies by Middle East Censors, 2010–2011", Helmi Noman and Jillian C. York, OpenNet Initiative, March 2011
  18. ^ Fletcher, Terry; Hayes-Birchler, Andria (2020-07-30). "Comparing Measures of Internet Censorship: Analyzing the Tradeoffs between Expert Analysis and Remote Measurement". doi:10.5281/zenodo.3967398. S2CID 244992072. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ Fletcher, Terry; Hayes-Birchler, Andria (2020-07-30). "Comparing Measures of Internet Censorship: Analyzing the Tradeoffs between Expert Analysis and Remote Measurement". doi:10.5281/zenodo.3967398. S2CID 244992072. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ^ "Guide to the MCC Indicators for Fiscal Year 2020". Millennium Challenge Corporation. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  21. ^ "Guide to the MCC Indicators for Fiscal Year 2021". Millennium Challenge Corporation. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_on_the_Net