Internet Under Surveillance 2004 - Uzbekistan
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Internet Under Surveillance 2004 - Uzbekistan, 2004, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/46e6919ac.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
- Population: 25,705,000
- Internet users: 500,000 (2003)
- Average charge for 20 hours of connection: 10 euros
- DAI*: 0.31
- Situation**: difficult
President Islam Karimov said in May 2001 he was launching "The Internet Age," but censorship has increased in step with the medium's rapid growth.
About 350 firms provide Internet access and most go through the state-owned ISP UzPAK. So if UzPAK blocks a website, it automatically blocks it for more than 80 per cent of the other ISPs. The cost of connection is quite low, between 20 and 50 eurocents an hour, depending on the time of day. Most people log on from cybercafés, especially in the capital, Tashkent, and are mainly youngsters wanting to play online games or use e-mail.
Disturbing laws
A freedom of information law, which restricts news put out by all media, including the Internet, came into force in February 2003. Its article 4 says freedom to inform the public can be restricted to "protect the moral values of society, national security and the country's spiritual, cultural and scientific potential." This vague definition leaves plenty of room for interpretation and thus censorship. The same is true of other articles, which give pretexts such as "preserving cultural and historical values," "preventing psychological influence over and manipulation of public awareness" and preserving "social stability." But websites are not obliged to register with the authorities.
Many websites censored
The state security police (NSS) sometimes order ISPs to temporarily block access to opposition sites such as www.birlik.net and political or religious ones such as www.centrasia.ru, www.uzbekistanerk.org, www.muslimuzbekistan.com and www.uzbekistanerk.org. They have also blocked www.hushmail.com, which offers encrypted e-mail service. NSS censorship is selective and usually only targets certain pages, so news sites are not entirely blocked. Corruption, organised crime and human rights are the topics most often censored.
Access inside the country to the website of the freedom of expression organisation Ozod Ovoz has been blocked since 2 September 2003. Ozod Ovoz (www.ozodovoz.org), which is a member of CASCFEN, a press freedom network in Central Asia and the southern Caucasus, was launched in April 2003 for people whose freedom of expression has been restricted or who want to discuss the issue. It was blocked soon after messages criticising President Karimov appeared on it.
The site, hosted in Azerbaijan, was blocked in Uzbekistan by the state-owned ISP UzPAK. It cannot be accessed through a private connection or from cybercafés connected to UzPAK. Attempts to do so encounter a message saying: "you are not allowed to see this page." The site's editor, Bobomurod Abdullaev, said he was no longer able to update pages from inside Uzbekistan. Only CASCFEN, based in Azerbaijan, is able to do this.
Increased surveillance since attacks in 2004
In late March and early April, explosions, attacks and suicide bombings killed 47 people in Tashkent and Bukhara. Karimov said "terrorist forces" were "regrouping" in the country and immediately clamped down on electronic media to ensure there was no challenge to the official line of a Islamist plot. In the days after the attacks, the most popular news sites - www.ferghana.ru and www.centrasia.ru - were blocked in Uzbekistan.
The authorities also blocked access to Arena (www.freeuz.org), the website of the Uzbek Committee for Freedom of Speech and Expression. In mid-May, it still could not be accessed inside the country.
Links
- Global Internet Initiative (GIPI) in Uzbekistan - http://gipi.internews.uz/gipi_eng/gipi_e.html
- The Uzbek service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - www.rferl.org/bd/uz/index.html
- The news site Eurasianet - www.eurasianet.org
- Arena, site of the Uzbek Committee for Freedom of Speech and Expression - www.freeuz.org
* The DAI (Digital Access Index) has been devised by the International Telecommunications Union to measure the access of a country's inhabitants to information and communication technology. It ranges from 0 (none at all) to 1 (complete access).
** Assessment of the situation in each country (good, middling, difficult, serious) is based on murders, imprisonment or harassment of cyber-dissidents or journalists, censorship of news sites, existence of independent news sites, existence of independent ISPs and deliberately high connection charges.
