OCT 5 Malaysia and Libya have the same Internet freedom ranking, which is 23 out of 47 countries. We trail behind countries such as the Philippines, Ukraine, Georgia, Uganda and Kyrgyzstan.

This is according to a recent study done by Freedom House, an independent watchdog organisation that monitors freedom around the world, called Freedom on the Net 2012.

In fact, the report even puts Malaysia under its list of countries at risk, which consists of another five countries (Russia, Sri Lanka, Libya, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Rwanda).

Malaysia definitely didnt start out this way when it came to Internet freedom. It started with former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamads declaration that the country would never censor the Internet.

Fast forward about a decade later, Malaysia has sort of still stayed true to the promise made by the old man even if he has retired from office.

But I guess the powers-that-be didnt anticipate the good that would come to the Malaysian people and its society with having an Internet that is free.

The 12th general election in 2008 was proof of this as many believed that Internet freedom was what caused Barisan Nasional to lose four states and its two-thirds majority in Parliament.

And so, they started devising about a gazillion other strategies that they could use and manipulate to slowly curtail that promised freedom.

And these same gazillion strategies are what Freedom House says is affecting Malaysias Internet freedom ranking adversely this year.

Section 114A, which I have written about, is at the top of the list. It basically means the owner of the computer or even a wifi network can be liable for content posted by others.

Read the rest here:

Internet freedom: It’s not that bad lah!