How the World Wide Web is changing, but in some countries such as our own, for the worse. Especially in areas of privacy.
Believe this: The U.S. ranked 27th worldwide for “freedom and openness.”
Estonia, Greece, even Costa Rica scored better.
So concludes the second “Web Index” report issued last week by the World Wide Web Foundation and Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited with inventing the web 25 years ago.
Read this jarring paragraph from the report:
“The USA, the best performer in 2013 on use of the Web for social, political, environmental and economic empowerment through the Web, falls to fourth in the Index given mediocre scores on internet access, communications infrastructure, and the lack of adequate safeguards to protect users’ privacy from extensive electronic surveillance.”
Emphasis added.
The U.S. received a 95.2 out of 100 rating overall. In specific categories, we did receive a “100” for “impact and empowerment.” Universal access scored 85.1 and “relevant content” 88. But for freedom and openness, the score fell to 71.
That’s frightening.
The private sector is fighting back. The continuing fallout from the Edward Snowden scandal has triggered public claims by Yahoo, Twitter and even startup WICKR to better protect users’ information.
Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, has even claimed that the tech industry will create encryption tools that will defy National Security Agency cracking. Startups and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley see that there is money to be made in defying government snooping.
But who really believes the NSA – or other government agencies or even other governments – can’t break even the most sophisticated codes at some point? Who, after all, has more money and resources than the federal government?
Unfortunately, the U.S. isn’t the only country at fault. The latest Web Index report warns against government surveillance as well as censorship even as it also notes examples of countries where governments and the private sector are cooperating in efforts to ignite a “second Gutenberg revolution.”
As The Associated Press reported, Berners-Lee is not pleased with what some governments are doing.
”One of the most encouraging findings of this year’s Web Index is how the Web and social media are increasingly spurring people to organize, take action and try to expose wrongdoing in every region of the world,” he said.
“But some governments are threatened by this, and a growing tide of surveillance and censorship now threatens the future of democracy.”
The U.S. ranks fourth behind Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom. But in an ideal world shouldn’t the United States rank first?
The Top Ten
Here’s the top 10:
1. Swden
2. Norway
3. United Kingdom
4. U.S.
5. New Zealand
6. Denmark
7. Finland
8. Iceland
9. France
10. South Korea
While 39 percent of the world’s population is now online compared to just 16 percent in 2005, the Web Index report noted:
“A second Gutenberg revolution has yet to arrive for the majority of the world’s people. As the Web increasingly becomes essential to full participation in public life, concerted action is urgently needed to deliver on the WSIS [World Summit on the Internet Society] commitments to increase internet access, affordability and digital capacities; to provide adequate access to critical information; to find creative ways to bring currently unheard voices into the Web’s global conversation; and to protect privacy and freedom of opinion online.”
The Index spells out four primary goals for furhter development of a global information society with censorship and surveillance as the top concern to be address.
The Recommendations
“We call on governments, civil society organisations and companies to commit to the following actions to re-energize the information society:
1. “Reverse the rising tide of online censorship and surveillance.
“The rights of all citizens to freedom of expression, opinion, and association and privacy both online and offline must be enshrined in law and respected and upheld by all stakeholders. Governments and civil society groups should initiate robust and participatory national debates on the role of the Web in achieving human rights and advancing national development – bringing together all social groups and stakeholders to build a vision for the role of the Web in achieving human rights and national development, and to participate in defining the legal safeguards, policies and programmes needed to achieve that vision. Technology companies should accelerate their deployment of privacy-enhancing technologies; oppose the development of specifications that enable excessive and invasive violations of internet users’ rights; and cooperate in developing regulations on the export of censorship and surveillance technologies to repressive regimes.
2. “Make broadband affordable and accessible to all.
“Accelerate actions to achieve or surpass the UN target of reducing the cost of broadband below five percent of average per capita income by 2015. Encourage community wi-fi and
other innovative uses of spectrum for public benefit, and re-invest some of the revenue raised from the ICT sector (such as license fees and Universal Service Fund contributions)
in achieving universal access to mobile and fixed line internet.
3. “Guarantee that all women, men, girls and boys can access essential information.
“Essential information is that which is necessary to understand and secure individuals’ rights to health, education, shelter, livelihood, healthy environment and public participation. Steps needed include ensuring information is widely disseminated via the Web, in formats and languages accessible to excluded groups; allocating specific funds and creating incentives to support non-government actors and independent media to develop innovative public outreach strategies; proactively releasing government data for anyone to download and re-use; and strengthening the legal right of citizens to obtain information on request.
4. “Educate everyone on digital rights and skills.
“Ensure that all teachers receive basic ICT training as part of their professional education, and that all schools and public libraries offer digital literacy and skills training by 2015, with a focus on empowering consumers and young people to take a creative and critical approach to online communication, to make full use of technology to enhance their lives and livelihoods, and to ensure their own privacy and safety on the Web.”
Worthy goals, indeed, especially here at home.
