World Day Against Cyber Censorship: Blogging, the Internet, and Democracy

Head's up from Penultimos Días about the report, "Enemies of the Internet: Countries Under Surveillance," out today from Reporters Without Borders.  It includes profiles of 23 countries considered to be "Internet enemies," including China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Australia, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey.

If this report interests you, you might also find the following four reports from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Univeristy enlighting reading.

1. The Internet and Democracy: Global Catalyst or Democratic Dud? (Download PDF)
Michael Best and Keegan W. Wade, September 30, 2005
This study explores the global effect of the Internet on democracy over the period of 1992 to 2002 by observing the relationships between measures related to democracy and Internet prevalence. Results show a significant correlation between Internet penetration (measured as the estimated number of Internet users per 1,000 people) and a common indicator of a nation’s level of democratization provided by Freedom House.

2. Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and Dissent (Download PDF)
Bruce Etling, John Kelly, Rob Faris, and John Palfrey, Internet and Democracy, June 17, 2009
This case study is part of a series produced by the Internet and Democracy project. It analyzes the composition of the Arabic blogosphere and its possible impact on political and democratic processes.

3. Mapping Iran’s Online Public: Politics and Culture in the Persian Blogosphere (Download PDF)
John Kelly and Bruce Etling, Internet and Democracy, April 6, 2008
This case study analyzes the composition of the Iranian blogosphere and its possible impact on political and democratic processes.

4. Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility: Battleground and Common Ground (Download PDF)
Rebecca MacKinnon, February 1, 2005
This is a conference reoprt from an event held in late January 2005 at Harvard, at which a group of 50 journalists, bloggers, news executives, media scholars, and librarians sat down to try and make sense of the new emerging media environment.