Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan: Cyber Baddies

March 12 is World Day Against Cyber-Censorship. To mark the day, the watchdog organization Reporters Without Borders published its “Enemies of the Internet” list. Not surprisingly, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan ranked among the worst of the worst.

Reporters Without Borders characterized Turkmenistan as among “the countries most hostile to freedom of expression.” It also said Asghabat is “imposing drastic censorship,” adding that only 2.2 percent of the population enjoys regular access to the Internet. On the bright side, the report noted that the Abadan tragedy last July offered an instance in which citizen journalists were able to circumvent government controls, at least temporarily, and transmit information about the event to the outside world.

“After initially covering up this [Abadan] incident, the authorities were eventually obliged to acknowledge it, though they tried to minimize it. But they quickly reacted by launching a wave of seizures, interrogations and incarcerations, though how many is still unknown,” the report states.

Commenting on Uzbekistan, Reporters Without Borders said officials in Tashkent, along with leaders in other authoritarian-minded states, stepped up their oversight of the Internet in response to the Arab Spring of early 2011.

“The [Uzbek] authorities are increasingly cracking down on technical intermediaries, ”the report said. “ISPs and mobile phone operators are now required to report mass mailings of “suspicious content,” and to disconnect their networks at the authorities’ simple request. The objective is clear: to prevent any mass distributions and rallies.”

The report also cited Kazakhstan for “straying from its fine promises” and embarking on “on the road to cyber-censorship.” Astana chaired the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010. But in recent months, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s administration has flashed a decreasing level of tolerance for dissent.