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World Day Against Cyber Censorship is an online event held each year on March 12 to draw attention to the ways that governments around the world are deterring and censoring free speech online.^[1] The day was first observed on 12 March 2008 at the request of Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International. A letter written by Jean-François Julliard, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders, and Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International, was sent to the Chief Executive Officers of Google, Yahoo!, Inc., and Microsoft Corporation to request observation of the day.^[2] The annual event is symbolized by a logo created by Reporters Without Borders consisting of a computer mouse breaking free from a chain.^[3]

Netizen Prize[edit]

On World Day Against Cyber Censorship, Reporters Without Borders awards an annual Netizen Prize that recognizes an Internet user, blogger, cyber-dissident, or group who has made a notable contribution to the defense of online freedom of expression.^[4][5] Starting in 2010 the prize has been awarded to:

• 2010: Iranian women's rights activists of the Change for Equality website, www.we-change.org.^[6]
• 2011: the founders of a Tunisian blogging group named Nawaat.org.^[7]
• 2012: Syrian citizen journalists and activists of the Media center of the Local Coordination Committees.^[8]
• 2013: Vietnamese blogger Huynh Ngoc Chenh.^[9]
• 2014: Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi.^[10]

Enemies of the Internet list[edit]

In conjunction with World Day Against Cyber Censorship, Reporters Without Borders updates its Enemies of the Internet and Countries Under Surveillance lists.^[11][12]

In 2006, Reporters without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press, started publishing a list of "Enemies of the Internet".^[13] The organization classifies a country as an enemy of the internet because "all of these countries mark themselves out not just for their capacity to censor news and information online but also for their almost systematic repression of Internet users."^[14] In 2007 a second list of countries "Under Surveillance" (originally "Under Watch") was added.^[15]

When the "Enemies of the Internet" list was introduced in 2006, it listed 13 countries. From 2006 to 2012 the number of countries listed fell to 10 and then rose to 12. The list was not updated in 2013. In 2014 the list grew to 19 with an increased emphasis on surveillance in addition to censorship. The list has not been updated since 2014.

When the "Countries under surveillance" list was introduced in 2008, it listed 10 countries. Between 2008 and 2012 the number of countries listed grew to 16 and then fell to 11. The number grew to 12 with the addition of Norway in 2020. The list was last updated in 2020.^{[citation needed]}

See also[edit]

• Internet censorship
• Internet censorship and surveillance by country
• Reporters Without Borders

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• "Privacy is for the powerless." Edward Snowden, at Amnesty International, March 2016