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Indians are proud to belong to the world’s biggest <keyword id="6354914" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Democracy">democracy</keyword>, but do we enjoy extensive freedom online? Not to a great extent, going by the annual <keyword id="169089" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Web-Index">Web Index</keyword> ranking, where countries are tested against a series of parameters that measure how the World Wide Web empowers people and contributes to <keyword id="518920" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="socio-economic-development">socio-economic development</keyword>. This year, <keyword id="23050" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sweden">Sweden</keyword> takes the top spot out of the 81 countries in the list while <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> has been ranked 56th with an Index score of 32.4, ahead of neighbours China (ranked 57th with a score of 31.1) and Pakistan (77th with 10.4). The bottom two countries are Ethiopia and Yemen. 
 Incidentally, China has the <keyword id="1951187" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Largest-Internet-user-base">largest Internet user base</keyword> in the world – a little over 300 million. The US comes 2nd with an estimated 207 million users while India has the <keyword id="1951188" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Third-largest-Internet-population">third-largest Internet population</keyword> of around 200 million and counting. As per the I-Cube 2013 report, the number of <keyword id="414255" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="internet-users-in-India">Internet users in India</keyword> is expected to rise 18.53% to reach 243 million by June 2014. 
 The Web Index is a composite measure that sums up in a single (average) number the extent of ‘freedom’ and ‘utility’ of the Web in various countries. The ranking was started in 2012 by the <keyword id="1947701" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="World-Wide-Web-Foundation">World Wide Web Foundation</keyword>, an organisation set up by the <keyword id="1537311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Web-inventor">Web inventor</keyword> Sir <keyword id="251605" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tim-Berners-Lee">Tim Berners-Lee</keyword> in 2009. 
 The indexing has got bigger this year and 20 more countries have been added, bringing the total number to 81. Several criteria have been taken into account and scores have been given for universal access, education &amp; awareness, access &amp; affordability, <keyword id="1951195" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Communications-infrastructure">communications infrastructure</keyword>, <keyword id="1951196" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Relevant-content">relevant content</keyword>, <keyword id="1951197" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Web-use">Web use</keyword>, <keyword id="1746818" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Content-Creation">content creation</keyword>, freedom &amp; openness, <keyword id="1951189" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freedom-of-the-Web">freedom of the Web</keyword>, impact &amp; empowerment, <keyword id="1951201" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Political-impact">political impact</keyword>, social &amp; <keyword id="506859" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Environmental-Impact">environmental impact</keyword> and <keyword id="589977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="economic-impact">economic impact</keyword>. 
 Sweden has bagged the top spot for the second consecutive year (94.4 in universal access, 90.1 in relevant content, 86.1 in freedom &amp; openness and 92.2 in impact &amp; empowerment), followed by <keyword id="6356961" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Norway">Norway</keyword>, the UK, the US and <keyword id="22501" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="New-Zealand">New Zealand</keyword>. <keyword id="49968" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Denmark">Denmark</keyword>, <keyword id="6374076" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Finland">Finland</keyword>, <keyword id="55091" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Iceland">Iceland</keyword>, <keyword id="6354785" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="France">France</keyword> and the <keyword id="105814" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Republic-of-Korea">Republic of Korea</keyword> occupy the next five slots. It is not surprising that the US has got the lowest score under ‘freedom,’ following the <keyword id="6423563" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Snowden">Snowden</keyword> debacle. The country has also dropped two places from last year’s list. 
 Ranked at 30th, <keyword id="3746" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mexico">Mexico</keyword> is the best emerging market country while the <keyword id="3750" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Philippines">Philippines</keyword> is the highest-ranked developing nation at the 38th spot. But except for <keyword id="10331" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Morocco">Morocco</keyword> (ranked 54th in the Index), none of the developing nations achieved the 50% connectivity target of the UN World Summit on the Information Society. In <keyword id="12925" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Africa">Africa</keyword>, fewer than 20% people are using the Internet. 
 
As for category leaders, Iceland ranks highest in access, the UK tops in relevant content, Norway leads in terms of freedom &amp; openness and the US comes first for impact &amp; empowerment. 
 
How is India faring? If you are wondering why India has not made it to the ‘Top 10’, here is a score breakdown for greater insight. The country has got 28.6 for access, 22.6 for relevant content, 49.5 for freedom &amp; openness and 31.2 for impact &amp; empowerment. While scores in the first two categories are bound to improve with deeper Internet penetration and <keyword id="1951206" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Scaling-up">scaling up</keyword> of services across the country, impact &amp; empowerment can only happen when the burgeoning user base can actually leverage the numerous benefits of the Internet. 
 “This may happen in the near future as the Internet/Web-based industries are gearing up fast, sensing a really huge opportunity here,” observes a US and India-based <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="venture-capital">venture capital</keyword> firm. 
 But what may worry one most is the score under freedom &amp; openness – 49.5 compared to Sweden’s 86.1 and Norway’s ‘perfect’ 100. According to a <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> report published earlier this year, India made an average of 13 requests a day to Google for <keyword id="1951212" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Access-to-personal-details">access to personal details</keyword> of <keyword id="177767" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Web-users">Web users</keyword> during 2012. This was only second to the US, which made 45 requests a day on an average – the highest for any country. The US made a total of 16,407 requests to Google during 2012, followed by 4,750 from India, 3,239 from France, 3,083 from <keyword id="87" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Germany">Germany</keyword>, 2,883 from the UK and 2,777 from Brazil. 
 
Interestingly, China has scored 5.3 for freedom &amp; openness while Pakistan’s score for freedom &amp; openness stands at 9.8. 
 Commenting on the trend, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said, “One of the most encouraging findings of this year’s Web Index is how the Web and <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword> are increasingly spurring people to organise, take action and try to expose wrongdoing in every region of the world. But some <keyword id="6386287" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="governments">governments</keyword> are threatened by this, and a growing tide of <keyword id="6354565" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="surveillance">surveillance</keyword> and <keyword id="6425075" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Censorship">censorship</keyword> now threatens the future of democracy. Bold steps are needed now to protect our fundamental <keyword id="1850840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="rights-to-privacy">rights to privacy</keyword> and <keyword id="1951220" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freedom-of-opinion">freedom of opinion</keyword> and association online.” 
 
Key findings from Web Index 2013 
Targeted censorship of Web content by governments is widespread across the globe. Moderate to extensive blocking or filtering of politically sensitive content was reported in over 30% of Web Index countries during the past year. 
 
Legal limits on <keyword id="1951228" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Government-snooping">government snooping</keyword> online urgently need review. Around 94% of countries in the Web Index do not meet best practice standards for checks and balances on <keyword id="1951229" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Government-interception">government interception</keyword> of electronic communications. 
 
The Web and social media are leading to real-world change. 
In 80% of the countries studied, the Web and social media had played a role in public mobilisation in the past year, and in half of these cases, had been a major catalyst. 
 
Rich countries do not necessarily rank highly in the Web Index. 
The Philippines, with a per capita income of $4,410 per year, is more than 10 places ahead of Qatar, the world’s richest country, with an average income over 20 times greater than the Philippines. Saudi Arabia is overtaken by 10 of the sub-Saharan African countries. Switzerland, the world’s third wealthiest nation, is only one place ahead of Estonia. The study shows that once countries surpass a GDP threshold of $12,000 per capita, the link between wealth and Web Index rank weakens significantly. 
 
The rights and priorities of <keyword id="624" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Women">women</keyword> are poorly served by the Web in the majority of countries researched. Locally relevant information on topics such as reproductive health, <keyword id="6360589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="domestic-violence">domestic violence</keyword> and inheritance remain largely absent from the Web in most countries. Only 56% of Web Index countries were assessed as allocating ‘significant’ resources to ICT training programmes targeting women and men equally. 
 
Image: Wikimedia Commons

When Measuring Internet Freedom, India Ranks Better Than China, Pakistan

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> companies are marketing and selling spy tech to countries accused of using such technology to abuse human rights.</li><li>Official 2020 data analysed by Business Insider showed firms were licensed to sell <keyword id="6354565" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Surveillance">surveillance</keyword> kit to Pakistan, Oman, and the UAE, among other nations.</li><li>Activists criticized the sale of such technologies to countries with questionable records on democracy and human rights.</li><li>"These tools are used to indiscriminately monitor mobile phones, for example during protests, and seriously endanger activists and others around the world," said Edin Omanovic, the advocacy director of <keyword id="6355135" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Privacy">Privacy</keyword> International.</li></ul>UK companies are selling and marketing spy tech to countries accused of using these kinds of technology to violate human rights, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-1-january-to-31-march-2020">according to export license data analysed by Business Insider</a>.Such interception equipment can monitor and intercept mobile phones in a given area.The most common type is an IMSI catcher, essentially a fake mobile phone tower that logs the IMSI number, or international mobile subscriber identity, of every phone that connects to it.This can reveal the owner of the device and allows for more advanced snooping on communications.During the first three months of 2020, undisclosed British firms were granted licenses to export such tools to Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Oman, the UAE, and South Africa.Many of the licenses issued were temporary, allowing British companies to promote their products at international trade fairs, although these often become permanent once a formal deal with a client has been agreed.Since interception technology is a "dual-use" technology, or one that can be used for both military and civilian purposes, UK businesses must acquire a license from the Department for International Trade to sell these tools abroad.Like other dual-use products, exports of interception equipment are controlled due to "concerns about internal repression, regional instability or other human rights violations," according to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/beginners-guide-to-export-controls">UK government guidance</a>.However, the government's own disclosures cast doubt over the extent to which authorities have prevented exports on these grounds. Export license data covering the first three months of 2020 reveals that an unnamed British company was granted the right to export interception equipment to Pakistan during a time in which authorities have<a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/07/pakistan-isi-terrorism-surveillance-coronavirus.html"> dramatically increased their surveillance capabilities</a> on citizens in response to COVID-19. This has included using advanced technology normally reserved for counter-terrorism operations.Hija Kamran, program manager at the Pakistan-based nonprofit Media Matters for Democracy, said the use of this technology is particularly concerning in Pakistan, "where even acceptance of digital rights as basic human rights is still challenged.""Supporting the use of invasive technology in Pakistan puts citizens at risk of being disproportionately targeted with no recourse in sight, mostly for exercising or demanding their rights," Kamran said.A UK company was also authorized to export interception technology to the United Arab Emirates, a country with a long history of<a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-arab-emirates/freedom-net/2019"> clamping down on dissent online</a>."By continuing to license the sale of interception equipment to the UAE, the UK government makes it painfully clear that it puts lucrative trade deals and its vision of a 'global Britain' ahead of human rights and fundamental freedoms," said Sofia Kaltenbrunner, campaign manager of the International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE."The Emirati authorities have sought to utilize such technology to systematically crush freedom of speech and suppress peaceful dissenting voices," Sofia added.South Africa, a country whose judiciary only recently<a href="https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/3212/bulk-surveillance-unlawful-says-high-court-south-africa"> declared its bulk surveillance capabilities to be unlawful</a>, also imported interception technology from the UK in the first quarter of 2020.The decision is indicative of the ways in which "a blind eye is turned to the digital rights implications of these services at the altar of lucrative markets associated with surveillance technologies," said Juliet Nanfuka of the digital rights advocacy organization, CIPESA.<h2>The secretive world of commercial <keyword id="48511" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Spyware">spyware</keyword></h2>In 2016, Privacy International <a href="https://privacyinternational.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/global_surveillance_0.pdf">found 104 companies</a> in the UK that manufacture surveillance technology designed for evidence and intelligence gathering, including many that made and sold IMSI catchers and other interception devices. The UK was second only to the US, which has 122 companies. "These tools are used to indiscriminately monitor mobile phones, for example during protests, and seriously endanger activists and others around the world," said Edin Omanovic, the advocacy director of Privacy International.Aside from BAE Systems, one of the world's largest arms manufacturers, few of the British surveillance companies are household names.Despite that, international sales of the equipment is a lucrative business. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/17/uk-spyware-exports-human-rights-fury">Guardian report published in 2019</a> found that the UK had licensed $95 million worth of interception equipment since 2015.In 2019, the UK approved the sale of interception tools<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/20/uk-surveillance-tech-sales-hong-kong-protesters"> to authorities in Hong Kong</a> while protesters were increasingly surveilled as protests swept across the city.In 2017, a British company<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/ehandbook/Gamma-International-The-Macedonia-files"> exported IMSI catchers</a> to Macedonia while a bulk communications surveillance campaign was underway. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Oman, all of which are deemed 'Not Free' by the US non-profit Freedom House, have also benefited from UK-made surveillance technology. As the UK government's most recent data shows, the trend has continued. Kian Vesteinsson, research analyst for technology and democracy at Freedom House, said: "Such surveillance chills free expression whether successful or not, causing known targets and potential targets alike to restrict their speech to protect themselves."Samuel Woodhams is a freelance journalist focused on the intersection of technology and <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword>. He also works at Top10VPN, a London-based VPN review website, where he researches global digital rights issues.

UK firms are selling invasive spy tech to repressive governments around the world

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When Measuring Internet Freedom, India Ranks Better Than China, Pakistan

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UK firms are selling invasive spy tech to repressive governments around the world

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