Amnesty International launched today their
Irrepressible.info campaign to demand freedom and expression of information on the internet.
The appeal is to coincide with the inaugural meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, a UN-sponsored meeting in Athens to consider the future of online communication - including freedom of expression as well as security and intellectual property rights.
In some countries where dissent is suppressed, the struggle for freedom of expression is now taking place online as governments devote increasing resources and attention to controlling access to information on the internet and to surveillance of users. Their objective is often to prevent dissemination of information that is critical of them, as well as to track and monitor dissidents, some of whom may subsequently be imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
"People have been locked up just for expressing their views in an e-mail or on a website," said Steve Ballinger of Amnesty.
"Sites and blogs have been shut down and firewalls built to prevent access to information. Companies have restricted internet searches to stop people accessing information that repressive governments don't want them to see.
"Countries and businesses have failed to respect, protect and promote the rights to freedom of expression, association and privacy, and the rights of human rights defenders."
All web users are urged to take action on behalf of the 61 individuals who have been persecuted and imprisoned simply for expressing their opinions online.
ACT NOW- call on governments to stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of expression online
- challenge internet companies - such as Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft - who cooperate with internet censorship.
You can pledge your support to this Amnesty 'Keep the Net Free' campaign at
http://irrepressible.infoClick here to see where in the world monitoring the internet is most prevalent.
