Uzbekistan and Internet Censorship

Officials pose in OSCE summit in Kazakhstan

While member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) gathered for the first two-day summit in 11 years in Astana, Kazakhstan, an independent online news media outlet Uznews.net published an article which outlined some significant points related to the censorship of the Internet in Uzbekistan.

According to Chapter 7, Article 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, “Everyone shall have the right to seek, obtain and disseminate any information, except that which is directed against the existing constitutional system and in some other instances specified by law,” but this fundamental right is regularly abused within the country as the authorities block access to web sites that contain information that goes against the official line.

This basically contradicts the Constitution's take on censorship. According to Chapter 15, article 67 “The mass media shall be free and act in accordance with the law. It shall bear responsibility for trustworthiness of information in a prescribed manner. Censorship is impermissible.”

Reporters Without Borders places Uzbekistan in its list of 12 “Enemies of the Internet” among other freedom abusers such as North Korea, China and Iran. Its report accuses Uzbek government of “massive censorship of politically oriented content” and highlights a long list of “sensitive” topics such as corruption among officials and criticism of the government that can result in web sites being blocked.

In a 2007 report, the OpenNet Initiative stated that “Among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, Uzbekistan is the undisputed leader in applying Internet controls”.

“Uzbekistan’s control of the Internet embodies the most pervasive regime of filtering and censorship in the CIS. It stands in stark contrast to the government’s official enthusiasm for information communications technology (ICT) development and the Internet,” the report added.

Since attacks in Tashkent in 2004, blamed on Islamic militants, and the Andijan massacre in 2005, Internet censorship has been stepped up as the regime seeks to keep tight controls on the information citizens can access.

The authorities in Tashkent regularly block independent news web sites in Uzbekistan including Uznews.net, ferghana.ru and uzmetronom.com. The web sites of opposition political parties and human rights groups are also blocked. In July of this year, the web site of the Expert Working Group, a Tashkent-based think-tank, was blocked in Uzbekistan.

Whilst the constitution enshrines the right to freely access information, the Uzbek authorities introduced legislation in 2002 that sanctioned restrictions to protect its citizens from the effects of negative information being disseminated via the Internet. Tashkent has used its compliant, state-controlled media to spread the message of the necessity of censorship to combat undesirable web sites that run stories contrary to the official news.

According to “The Enemies of the Internet 2010” report compiled by Reporters Without Borders, Uzbekistan has “opted for such massive filtering” that its netizens “have chosen to practice self-censorship”.

Filtering of web sites is carried out by UzPAK, Uzbekistan's National Information Transmission Network and it is believed that the Uzbek National Security Service is responsible for keeping an eye on the Internet and making sure that Internet Service Providers are enforcing the rules. Private email and chat rooms are also kept under close surveillance.

Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are increasingly being used to spread content from banned web sites and this has led to occasional blocking of these platforms. Facebook was temporarily inaccessible in October, 2010, after it was used to spread an article on the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders which ranked Uzbekistan 163 out of 178 countries monitored for their record on suppression of the media.

Internet cafés are also subject to monitoring and spyware is thought to be widely used. Notices in Internet cafés warn users against accessing prohibited web sites and the café owners face having their licence revoked if the connection is used to visit “anti-constitutional web sites”. Sites are also blocked on mobile Internet networks.

According to the Uzbek Agency for Communication and Information, there were around 6.3 million Internet users, roughly a quarter of Uzbekistan's population, as of July 1, 2010. As the number of netizens in Uzbekistan continues to grow each year, ensuring free access to the whole of the Internet takes on increasing importance as a way to counter the isolationist stance of the Uzbek authorities.

The OSCE called upon governments in Central Asia to “refrain from adopting new legislation and/or ammending legislation to restrict the free flow of information on the Internet” at the 12th Central Asia Media Conference held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in May 2010.

One of the OSCE's basic commitments is to “foster the free flow of information” and the Internet is recognized as a great resource for ensuring this freedom is upheld.


Link to the article: http://uznews.net/news_single.php?lng=en&sub=top&cid=3&nid=15805