Internet freedom
NOT too long ago, the World Wide Web was a venue for free flow of information, a place where peoples from various cultures were able to freely gather and exchange information that helped enhance their quality of life. However, over the past few years, this freedom had been abused with the proliferation of so much negativism – the culture of hate and impunity, cyberbullying, harassment and threats, among several others.
Trolls (people who delight in sowing discord by starting arguments) began to populate Internet with hate speech usually directed at women, colored people, transgenders, and other minorities. Internet’s speed and reach had made it difficult for government to enforce regulations that would address the growing number of “flarfs” or absurd nonsense that now litters the Net.
What had given rise to this “tyranny of the mob” according to a recent Time Magazine article is that these trolls who spend time spewing out threats and clever pranks find it easy to escape censure because of anonymity, invisibility, and because more often than not, their communication is often made not in real time. Sometimes they publish personal data such as Social Security numbers and bank accounts, and make crank calls such as calling in an emergency ambulance to a victim’s house.
A Pew Research Center survey about two years ago found that 70% of 18 to 24 year olds who use the Internet had experienced harassment, and 26% of women said they had been stalked online. Another study found that about 5% of Internet users identified as trolls tended to manifest dark traits such as narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism.
In the Philippines, a 2005 study of 1268 children in various regions of the country by a child-care nonprofit Stairway Foundation, showed that 80% had admitted having been cyberbullied by social media. They were bullied through threats, photoediting, or having private conversations exposed. Others exclude or impersonate the children through fake accounts.
The annual study by Freedom House (2015) shows interesting global trends. Although there has been an exponential growth in the number of people with access to the Internet (3 billion people), Internet freedom around the world had declined for the fifth consecutive year with more governments censoring information of public interest and placing greater demands on the private sector to take down offending content. Surveillance had been on the rise globally and several countries like France and Australia had passed new measures authorizing surveillance after being prompted by domestic terrorism concerns and expansion of international terrorist groups like the ISIS militant groups. In 2005, the Chinese government censored images of the famous cartoon Winnie the Pooh when Internet users began posting them and alluding to the similarity of the image of the cartoon to President Xi Jinping.
Among the frequently censored topics were (1) criticism of authorities; (2) corruption; (3) political opportunism; (4) satire; (5) social commentary; (6) blasphemy; (7) mobilization for public causes; (8) LGBT issues; (9) ethnic and religious minorities; and (10) conflict.
The good news about the 2005 Freedom House survey is that finally, the Philippines had been restored to its original category as among those enjoying full freedom of media. For at least three years, the country’s position had deteriorated to the status of being “Partly free” in the Freedom index.