Freedom House: Iran Ranked Worst in Internet Freedom

In the latest report by Freedom House, the state of internet freedom in Iran has been assessed as the worst in the world. Freedom House, in its annual report on internet freedom, identified the most severe declines in internet freedom in Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey, while recognizing the worst overall internet freedom conditions in Iran, Syria, and China. The report covering the period from May 2013 to May 2014 was published on December 4. It evaluates the level of internet and digital media freedom in 65 countries and assigns scores ranging from zero for the freest to 100 for the least free. According to the report, the state of internet freedom has deteriorated in 36 of the 65 countries since May 2013. Freedom House categorizes the state of internet freedom based on scores: from zero to 30 as free, from 31 to 60 as partly free, and from 61 to 100 as not free. The score for internet freedom is based on three main areas: barriers to access, restrictions on content, and violations of user rights. In this report, Belarus scored 62, Pakistan 69, Uzbekistan 79, and Iran scored 89, placing them in the list of countries with non-free internet. Barriers to internet access in Iran received a score of 22, restrictions on internet content scored 31, and violations of user rights scored 36. The report indicates that 31% of Iran's population of 76.5 million uses the internet and adds that social networks, information technology applications, and websites containing political and social content are blocked, with bloggers and users of information technology applications being arrested. Freedom House's report also mentions the continuation of severe criminal sentences and long-term imprisonment for internet activities in Iran. Additionally, it notes that Iran ranks 156th out of 192 countries in terms of internet speed, with the lowest average peak connection speed. The state of internet freedom in Iran received a score of 91 in last year's Freedom House report for 2013, 90 in 2012, 89 in 2011 (the same score as this year), and 76 in 2009 when Freedom House began preparing and publishing its annual report on global internet freedom. In its latest report, Freedom House states that around 41 countries have enacted laws to penalize freedom of expression on the internet, intensify control over internet content, or develop internet surveillance. In the Freedom House report, the state of internet freedom in the United States received a score of 19, a decrease of two points from the previous year, placing it sixth.