Estonia ranked No. 1 in the world by Internet freedom
25.09.2012, 11:37Residents of Estonia have the most freedom to do what they want on the Internet, with the USranking second among 47 countries examined by Freedom House, a group that pushes for democratic freedoms worldwide.
Countries were ranked on three categories: obstacles to access, limits on content and violations of user rights
Estonia scored 10 points out of 100, followed by US (12), Germany (15), Australia (18) and Hungary (19).
The study called the Internet generally free in 14 countries, including the U.K., Brazil, Ukraine, Italy and Germany, although it found some problems in each of those countries. It rated the Internet in Nigeria, Jordan, Russia, Mexico and Egypt as partly free.
The study found the Internet not free in 13 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Pakistan and Iran.
In 26 countries, at least one blogger or Internet user has been arrested for content posted online or sent by text messages. In 19 countries, a blogger or Internet user was tortured, beaten or has disappeared apparently in response to their online posts, the study said. In five countries, an activist or citizen journalist was killed in retribution for posting information that exposed human rights abuses.